Progressive Policy Canada

Short Report, December 14, 2001

Canada's NDP is Out of Step with Worldwide Social Democratic Opinion on the War in Afghanistan

At a December 13th Washington luncheon address sponsored by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (Foundation), the German Social Democratic Party's (SPD) international foundation, Matthias Machnig, SPD Federal Executive Secretary and chief election strategist, came straight to the point when asked about the Red-Green (SPD-Green Party) coalition's support of U.S.-led actions in Afghanistan. Said Machnig, " September 11th was an assault on the values we all share and the U.S. can bank on German solidarity the same way Germany has benefited from U.S. solidarity for the past 50 years." Reiterating his party's support for NATO, Machnig reminded the audience that Germany, since SPD Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's election in 1998, has been clear that the country, "sharing all of the benefits of NATO, must also share all of (the Alliance's) burdens."

Machnig informed the audience that not only had the SPD rank and file overwhelmingly backed Chancellor Schroeder's promise of military support for the war in Afghanistan, the Green Party membership, meeting in a party congress last week, also voted in favour of Germany's military contribution. Not only are targetted military actions necessary in Afghanistan, continued Machnig, but "bloodshed in the Balkans could have been averted if NATO and the international community had reacted with force in the early 1990's" instead of waiting for countless atrocities to be committed first.

Machnig's comments are a further reminder that Canada's NDP, despite the best intentions, and, despite, in many ways, an admirably principled stand against the U.S. led military intervention in Afghanistan, is seriously out of step, not just with Canadian public opinion, but with social democratic opinion around the world. Machnig did not qualify SPD support of actions in Afghanistan by asking for a UN debate and UN sanction, nor did he question military tactics. He did, as should the NDP, call for a more robust international forum, under the auspices of the UN, to coordinate future international interventions and to devise strategies to avoid future large-scale bloodshed and terror.