NATO PA president talks Dayton, peace
The International Peace Museum in downtown Dayton hosted an intimate, thought-provoking and timely NATO Parliamentary Assembly panel Saturday addressing growing authoritarian threats and challenges within democratic institutions.
Moderated by Cincinnati native Joe Brinker, NATO Parliamentary Assembly Policy Fellow for Democratic Resilience, the panel featured: Marcos Perestrello, president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly; Tino Cuéllar, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and Kathleen McInnis, director of the Smart Women, Smart Power Initiative and Senior Fellow at CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies).
After the panel discussion, Perestrello answered questions from reporters across a variety of topics, including his experience in Dayton, the cost of the assembly, NATO’s relationship with the current U.S. administration and the history of the Dayton Peace Accords.
Panel discusses lasting peace from Dayton Accords
Thirty years ago, the Dayton Peace Accords marked an end to the Bosnian War, which resulted in the loss of roughly 100,000 lives. But the peace agreement wasn’t perfect, and efforts to reform the nation’s constitution have been attempted numerous times since.
Michael Murphy, the former U.S. ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina served on a panel discussion for the “The Dayton Dialogue: Conversations about Peace and Security in the Balkans” along with diplomat Ensar Eminovic; former Republic of Croatia Minister of Foreign Affairs Miomir Zuzul; and Jasmin Mujanovic, of the Western Balkans Observatory.
The event was held Saturday afternoon at the Roger Glass Center for the Arts at the University of Dayton.
Protesters march to separate bridges in Dayton
Two groups of protesters marched through Dayton around the NATO Village.
One group left from Deeds Point. Shortly after 2 p.m. the group crossed the Webster Street bridge, then went onto the Riverside Drive Bridge and started yelling toward the NATO compound.
Police on bikes and Polaris carts blocked traffic on the Riverside Drive Bridge at 2:10 p.m. because protesters stopped on the bridge. About 35 protestors were on the bridge and they used a bullhorn to try to communicate with NATO delegates and visitors inside the fenced off security zone at Riverscape MetroPark.
Another group left Cooper Park and marched around the NATO village to the Main Street Bridge, where they displayed a banner saying “Yes to peace, no to NATO.”
Along the way they chanted things like, “Resistance is justified when people are occupied.”
Barbara Howard and another protester, who gave her name only as Emerson, said they traveled to Dayton for more than five hours from Grand Rapids, Mich.
Howard’s message to NATO delegates was “resign.”
“Start a revolution among the delegates,” she said. “Say, ‘We don’t want to do this any more. We don’t want to be part of this. We don’t want to be complicit in all the death and destruction.’”
Emerson said her goal was to “combat NATO’s aggression against developing nations around the world. NATO represents the strong arm, the military of the United States, and even the allies of NATO will bow to U.S. power and authority. We think that’s wrong … we should combat war-mongering and militarization around the world.”
The two groups met up north of the river, hung protest signs on the railing facing Riverscape and marched east back over the Riverside Bridge shortly before 3 p.m.
• PHOTOS: Scenes from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly events in Dayton on Saturday
Credit: Thomas Gnau
Protests at Deeds Point MetroPark
About 75 people were at Deeds Point MetroPark Saturday afternoon listening to speakers who talked about a variety of topics, including oppression, the war in Gaza, and the problems the NATO assembly has caused to the Dayton community.
Speakers criticized NATO for spending huge amounts of money on military while they say the needs of the people and communities go unfulfilled.
People hung a Palestine flag on the Wright brothers sculpture at Deeds Point. People held signs that say “NATO out of Dayton now,” “community over colonizer,” and “save Gaza.”
One sign says, “they got money for NATO but can’t provide school lunch.”
The event organizer, Michael Harbaugh, said NATO is Israel. He said taxpayer dollars should be paying for the needs of every people instead of funding the war machine.
With downtown as the backdrop, some of the activists who spoke as part of the program said Dayton is investing in the wrong things.
Lynn LaMance, a Dayton resident, said none of the taxes she pays should have gone to helping cover the costs of bringing NATO to the city.
One speaker led chants of “We want justice, you say how. NATO out of Dayton now.”
Speakers said it’s terrible that the working people of Dayton are helping pay for “NATO’s military aggression.”
Ukraine war debated
NATO Parliamentary Assembly delegates watched a respectful argument break out at the Schuster Center early Saturday on whether Ukraine can defeat the Russian invasion.
“On the (idea that) Ukraine can win — how?" asked Charles Kupchan, senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations and a professor of international affairs at Georgetown University. “Show me the numbers.”
Retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark, the former supreme allied commander in Europe, gently pushed back, arguing that a determined NATO and United States, with renewed sanctions, air defense, electronic warfare, intelligence and powerful long-range fire can beat back Russia.
Protesters gather at Cooper Park
Dozens of protesters gathered shortly before noon at Cooper Park next to the NATO Village.
Five musicians played songs underneath a large shade tree in the park as people hung out and talked and shared stories.
Attendees carried signs that read “No to NATO, yes to peace,” “NATO kills kids,” and “NATO: Silent on genocide.” There is also a large paper black missile with skulls and cross bones and the word “Armageddon” written on the side.
People chanted “Free Palestine.”
Darrin Broering, a volunteer with Veterans for Peace, chapter 183 out of Columbus, helped plan a protest at Cooper Park. He said NATO is focused more on getting weapons into the world to cause conflict than advocating for peace.
“They are some of the biggest contributors to climate change as well, and that we spent all this money on weapons, on violence that could be spent on helping people get out of crummy situations, and really, it could be spent on the people instead,” he said.
Greg Coleridge, co-director of the National Move to Amend Coalition and co-sponsor of this event, said he believes there are internal and external goals as to why people are speaking up today.
“Internal in this age, where people just feel so distraught and angry and paralyzed and wondering what can be done, the mere fact of coming together and pressing the flesh is so important,” he said.
External goals include “changing the law, changing the rule of the game, but that’s inextricably connected to changing the culture and a big part of changing the culture is saying no to what we think is wrong and to put forth a common alternative and then to figure out ways to collectively work for that alternative,” he said.
Dozens more protesters congregated inside the designated protest zone in the parking lot at the corner of East Second and Jefferson streets.
Key downtown locations
Much of downtown Dayton is closed down to the public and fortified for the NATO PA event.
Businesses outside the secure NATO Village are still open to the public, though, and many say they need the public’s support as foot traffic is reduced during the event.
Events inside the NATO village today include committee meetings and panel discussions involving NATO delegates at places like Caresource and the Schuster Center.
There are panel discussions open to the public at the University of Dayton’s Roger Glass Center for the Arts.
Here is a map of key locations in and around the NATO Village:
‘Trump Baby’ balloon debuts
Several protests are planned today around the NATO PA event.
This morning, the iconic “Trump Baby” balloon was inflated in a parking lot at the corner of East Second and North Jefferson streets. The parking lot is a designated area that police encourage protesters to use.
The giant balloon shows a shirtless, orange-skinned President Trump in a baby’s diaper, with a cell phone in hand. Trump was invited to the parliamentary assembly sessions in the city but isn’t expected to attend.
About fifteen people congregated in the protest zone by around 9:30 a.m. Saturday. Several protests are planned both in the zone and in other parts of the city throughout today.
Video tour of historic courthouse exhibit
The historic Montgomery County Courthouse is housing a special historical exhibit for the NATO PA.
Titled “Dayton Around the World,” the exhibit features artifacts and stories that celebrate Dayton’s legacy including the Wright Brothers’ groundbreaking aviation innovations and the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords.
The exhibit will be open to the public for two days following the event.
Our videographer visited the courthouse to produce a video sneak peak of the exhibit.
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