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Friday, November 22, 2019

NATO propaganda infiltrates Greek schools — Imperialist brainwashing targets schoolchildren

Through the project "#WeAreNATO", which was launched in 2017, the imperialist North Atlantic Treaty Organization tries to spread its propaganda to the young generation, especially in universities and schools. A new incident in northern Greece comes to verify that NATO's propaganda infiltrates schools under the pretext of "educational programmes". 

The most recent case is the 3rd Primary School of Pylea-Chortiatis Municipality in Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city, which was invited by NATO to visit the organization's Joint Forces Command in Naples, Italy. 

In an announcement posted on the school's website, the school's administration expresses "proud" because it is the first Greek primary school that is going to visit NATO's command. Furthermore, the administration calls NATO "an international organization for security and peace in the world" and points out that the invitation consists a "special honor" for the school! 

In a letter sent to the Pylea 3rd Primary School, NATO's Public Affairs Office in Naples writes: "The NATO command of JFC Naples, located in Via Madonna del Pantano, Lago Patria Giugliano in Campania, Naples has the pleasure to invite the students and the teachers of your school to spend a tour of the base and receive some informative briefings about the headquarters' structure, missions, current operations and challenges". 

The letter also adds: "The schools/universities/cultural associations/institutional departments visits at JFC Naples are part of the Public Affairs Community Relations Program, in line with the #WEARENATO campaign, to let the visitors better understand who we are, what we do and why we exist and to strengthen the relationship between NATO and the national and international communities". 

The issue has caused controversy, with multiple negative reactions about the school administration's decision to participate in NATO's propagandistic campaign. Communist Party (KKE) MPs Giannis Delis and Leonidas Stoltidis submitted a question to the Ministers of Education, National Defense and Foreign Affairs asking from the government to proceed to the immediate cancellation of the "educational trip". The KKE MPs point out, among other things, that "this educational trip can only be perceived as a provocation, in order to embellish NATO in the consciousnesses of the children and hide its role as a war machine of the imperialists". 

The Allied Joint Force Command HQ
in Naples, Italy.
From its side, the Education Secretariat of the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) has expressed its complete dissagreement with the visit of students in NATO Command Offices and asks from teachers and students to deny any participation in such projects. In a statement the Secretariat of PAME points out that the trip in the premises of an imperialist organization that has murdered thousands of civilians around the world does not fulfill any educational need and adds: "As teachers and educators we cannot allow schools and students to become a 'decor' in efforts for the embellishment of NATO murderers". 

In an open letter addressed to the administration of the 3rd Primary School of Pylea, the Greek Committee for International Detente and Peace of Thessaloniki (EDIETH) explains the murderous role of the imperialist alliance and calls for the cancellation of the trip. In a similar statement, the Parents' Union of Pylea-Chortiatis Municipality demands the immediate cancellation of the trip, stressing out that "our children have no relation with killers and war machines". 

The case of the 3rd Primary School in Pylaia is not the first one that is related to NATO's propaganda in Greek schools. A year ago, the 6th High School of Heraklion, Crete had accepted an invitation to visit the premises of NATO's Allied Forces Command in Naples. 

Both NATO and the U.S. government, having the support of the Greek governments, promote campaigns and programmes in universities and schools, presenting their supposed contribution to "peace and stability", in an effort to mislead the young generation and obfuscate their true imperalist and murderous role.