The Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases is a far-left organization advocating for the U.S. removing all military personnel from foreign nations and against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It is a project of USPC Peace Education Fund, a small nonprofit organization.

Prominent far-left groups CODEPINK and Alliance for Global Justice are listed by the coalition as co-founders, and the organization’s list of endorsers includes people affiliated with far-left groups including the Communist Party USA, the National Lawyers Guild, and the 9/11 Truth Action Project. ¹

Mission

The coalition’s “unity statement” lists its reasons it opposes U.S. foreign military bases. In the statement the coalition claims U.S. bases to be “the principal instruments of imperial global domination and environmental damage through wars of aggression and occupation.” ² The organization also claims U.S. bases contribute to global warming. The coalition calls Guantanamo Bay an illegal occupation and claims that U.S. activities there violate international law. ³

Partners

According to the coalition’s website, “organizational endorsements” of the unity statement have come from people affiliated with the Communist Party USA, Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, Green Party of the United States, Friedrich Engels Institute for Marxist War and Military Analysis, North American Climate Conservation and Environment, Alliance for Global Justice, and Occupy San Francisco. ⁴ 9/11 Truth Action Project, a group that peddles the conspiracy theory that the U.S. government committed the terrorist attacks on September 11^th, 2001, has also signed the unity statement. ⁵

Activities

In 2018, the Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases held a conference in Dublin, Ireland. ⁶ The event featured many speakers, including members of the executive board. Two speakers of note were Aleida Guevara and Aengus Ó Snodaigh. Guevara is the daughter of Che Guevara, the communist revolutionary, who speaks about her father’s influence and teachings. ⁷ Snodaigh is a member of the Irish Parliament and the defense spokesman for Sinn Féin, the country’s historically militant far-left nationalist party. ⁸

On the coalition’s website, there are links to various online articles. One link titled “NATO: Deceptive and Broken Promises”⁹ takes the user to an article in Granma, the “official voice of the Communist Party of Cuba.” ¹⁰ The article says the people of Eastern Europe that threw off the chains of communism in the 1990s “sold their souls to the devil.” ¹¹ The article further claims NATO’s expansion justifies a Russian response.

Another link on the coalition’s website titled “North Korea Issue is Not De-Nuclearization But De-Colonization”¹² takes the user to the radical website Black Agenda Report. ¹³ The article is written by Ajamu Baraka, formerly the nominee for Vice President for the Green Party in 2016 and an executive committee member of Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases. ¹⁴ The article labels the Democratic Party, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and liberal cable news outlets MSNBC and CNN as “right-wing neoliberals.” ¹⁵ Baraka blames the U.S. for making North Korea feel threatened and forcing it to pursue nuclear armament as a deterrent. According to Baraka, white supremacy and “the rule of whiteness through the dominance of the Western capitalist elite” is the reason that the U.S. feels it can bring about a peaceful solution on the Korean Peninsula. ¹⁶

Coordinating Committee

The coordinating committee of the coalition is comprised of members with connections to left-of-center organizations. ¹⁷ One of CODEPINK’s founding members, Medea Benjamin, is a member of the executive committee. CODEPINK has expressed support for the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and the Communist regime in Cuba. ^{18 19} Alfred Marder, the president of the U.S. Peace Council, sits on the executive committee. Leah Bolger, the Chair of the Coordinating Committee of World Beyond War, serves on the executive committee. ²⁰ Tarak Kauff of Veterans for Peace is also a member of the executive committee. The president of Peace Action, Kevin Martin, participates in the coordinating committee. ²¹ Nancy Price a committee chair at Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom sits on the executive committee. Coordinating Committee member Alice Slater is the New York director for Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. ²²

1. “Unity Statement – List of Endorsers.” Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases. June 29, 2017. Accessed April 23, 2019. https://noforeignbases.org/unity-statement-list-of-endorsers/.
2. “Unity Statement.” Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases. July 26, 2017. Accessed April 23, 2019. https://noforeignbases.org/345-2/.
3. “Unity Statement.” Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases. July 26, 2017. Accessed April 23, 2019. https://noforeignbases.org/345-2/.
4. “Unity Statement – List of Endorsers.” Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases. June 29, 2017. Accessed April 23, 2019. https://noforeignbases.org/unity-statement-list-of-endorsers/.
5. “Unity Statement – List of Endorsers.” Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases. June 29, 2017. Accessed April 23, 2019. https://noforeignbases.org/unity-statement-list-of-endorsers/.
6. “Dublin Conference.” Global Campaign Against US/NATO Military Bases. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://nousnatobases.org/category/dublin-conference/.
7. “List of Confirmed Speakers.” Global Campaign Against US/NATO Military Bases. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://nousnatobases.org/list-of-confirmed-speakers/.
8. “List of Confirmed Speakers.” Global Campaign Against US/NATO Military Bases. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://nousnatobases.org/list-of-confirmed-speakers/.
9. “Europe.” Global Campaign Against USNATO Military Bases. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://nousnatobases.org/category/europe/.
10. Pérez, Elson Concepción. “NATO: Deceptive and Broken Promises.” Granma. June 27, 2017. Accessed April 24, 2019. http://en.granma.cu/mundo/2018-06-27/nato-deceptive-and-broken-promises.
11. Pérez, Elson Concepción. “NATO: Deceptive and Broken Promises.” Granma. June 27, 2017. Accessed April 24, 2019. http://en.granma.cu/mundo/2018-06-27/nato-deceptive-and-broken-promises.
12. “Asia/Pacific.” Global Campaign Against US/NATO Military Bases. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://nousnatobases.org/category/asia/.
13. Baraka, Ajamu. “North Korea Issue Is Not De-Nuclearization But De-Colonization.” Black Agenda Report. June 13, 2018. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://blackagendareport.com/north-korea-issue-not-de-nuclearization-de-colonization.
14. “About Us.” Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases. Accessed April 23, 2019. https://noforeignbases.org/about/.
15. Baraka, Ajamu. “North Korea Issue Is Not De-Nuclearization But De-Colonization.” Black Agenda Report. June 13, 2018. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://blackagendareport.com/north-korea-issue-not-de-nuclearization-de-colonization.
16. Baraka, Ajamu. “North Korea Issue Is Not De-Nuclearization But De-Colonization.” Black Agenda Report. June 13, 2018. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://blackagendareport.com/north-korea-issue-not-de-nuclearization-de-colonization.
17. “About Us.” Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases. Accessed April 23, 2019. https://noforeignbases.org/about/.
18. “Israel Publishes ‘BDS Blacklist’ of 20 Groups Barred from Entering Country.” I24NEWS. Accessed April 23, 2019. https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/164594-180107-israel-publishes-bds-blacklist-of-20-groups-barred-from-entering-country.
19. “Cuba: April 29 – May 7, 2017.” CODEPINK. Accessed April 23, 2019. https://www.codepink.org/cuba_april_may_2017.
20. “Leah Bolger.” World Beyond War. Accessed April 23, 2019. https://worldbeyondwar.org/leah-bolger/.
21. “Kevin Martin.” Peace Action. Accessed April 23, 2019. https://www.peaceaction.org/team/kevin-martin/.
22. “Alice Slater.” Accessed April 23, 2019. https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-slater-a250797/.