BELGIUM – Brussels
Click to see how the sensible people of Brussels’ responded to the survey (French)..
Agir Pour la Paix (Belgium) posted 1500 letters from a pseudo-government agency called ‘Department of National Expenditure’. In the letter, the ‘agency’ demanded money for the purchase of fighter planes from the people of Brussels. The activists then interviewed the recipients of the letter asking whether they would give to the ‘agency’s’ appeal and most of them answered ‘no’ and would prefer to spend money on social costs instead.
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Pour la Journée Mondiale d’Action sur les Dépenses Militaires, Agir pour la Paix a réalisé cette vidéo d’action contre le remplacement des F16 belges. L’association a posté à Bruxelles 1500 fausses lettres de la Défense Nationale, ici rebaptisée la « Dépense Nationale ».
Read this article (French)
Pax Christi – Vlaanderen issued a statement of support for GDAMS (Flemish).
CYPRUS – Nicosia
Demilitarised Nicosia organised a meeting in Nicosia to highlight the role of military spending in causing and perpetuating the economic crisis in Cyprus.
FINLAND
Two War Resister’s International-WRI affiliates and Rauhanliitto-Peace Union of Finland came together to display a banner which read, “If we had $1.8 trillion, we’d #movethemoney to education, renewable energy, healthcare” in multiple languages.
FRANCE
The Mouvement de la Paix issued a press release entitled ‘Un fardeau insupportable et inadmissible pour les peuples!’ (An unbearable and unacceptable burden for the people!) and distributed flyers.
Click the image to read the press release (French).
GERMANY
The International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms (IALANA), the World Future Council, and the International Peace Bureau circulated an ‘Appeal to Members of the German Bundestag: Stop the new arms race – disarmament for a sustainable future!’
Click on the image to read the appeal (English).
IRELAND – Dublin
Members of the Triratna Buddhist Community and AFRI held a street meditation to raise awareness about how vast military spending makes the world a more dangerous place as well as diverting resources away from tackling real issues such as poverty, health care and protection of the environment. This street meditation demonstrates that there is a more radical way to deal with conflict – a way that is simple, mindful and peaceful.
Pete Mullineaux wrote the poem, “The Wave”, ‘in response to GDAMS’ call to ‘wave goodbye to weapons’. Click on image to read the full text.
ITALY
Rete italiana per il disarmo created a Un “bellissimo” F-35 oppure… video series to promote the campaign “Taglia le ali alle armi” (roughly translation: ‘Cut the wings of weapons’ ).
Click to watch the ‘NO F35 Campaign’ video
NORWAY – Oslo
Breakfast meeting with the media at the Peace house in Oslo 9th April with the title : “Excessive military spending. Why do we not talk about it? “
In the panel were from the media: Truls Lie, editor Ny Tid, Mari Skurdal, head of editorial team, Klassekampen and Truls Lie, editor Norwegian Le Monde Diplomatique.
Alexander Harang, Norges Fredsråd, Borghild Tønnessen-Krokan, Forum for Environment and Development and Ingeborg Breines, IPB, represented civil society.
Ny Tid presented the same day a feature article by Ingeborg Breines on why the media is not bringing more to the forefront the excessive military spending that hinders development and peace building and contributes to the warming of the planet.
Alexander Harang had made a fact sheet for the occasion showing recent developments in military costs. The Grandmothers for Peace made a GDAMS-flyer that they distributed outside the Parliament.
Ingeborg Breines, IPB Co-president, speaking at the forum.
Organizers : The Norges Fredsråd/Norwegian Peace Council, Grandmothers for Peace International, International Peace Bureau, The Norwegian Peace Alliance, Changemakers, Doctors against Nuclear Weapons, Norway
SPAIN – Andalucia
“En 2015, como viene ocurriendo cada año, el presupuesto militar español carece no solo de transparencia sino también de realismo. En un contexto permanente de crisis económica, en el que las necesidades sociales son una prioridad para la ciudadanía, se vuelve a aumentar el gasto militar, retrayendo recursos de las políticas que persiguen el bien social”.
Read the Red Antimilitarista y Noviolenta de Andalucìa (R.A.N.A) GDAMS media release (Spanish).
SPAIN – Catalunya
Centro Delàs d’Estudi per la Pau came out with drawings and infographics which compared military spending with social spending. It also published the article Global Day of Action on Military Spending in its website.
UNITED KINGDOM – Abingdon
The Abingdon Peace Group decided to do a ‘People’s Ballot: NHS Not TRIDENT’ poll as a choice of how the Trident money could be otherwise spent – 5 marbles to distribute between 5 containers – Health, Education,Nuclear Weapons, Renewable Energy, Housing and Other. They thought that was a more meaningful way of engaging with passers- by. They also had the Trident Quiz and various handouts as additions/alternative ways of engaging. More details on this action.
UNITED KINGDOM – Basildon
The Campaign Against Arms Trade campaigners in Basildon have called on the government to invest in public services rather than spend on the military. The South Essex Campaign Against the Arms Trade held a people’s ballot, asking the public to vote on how they wanted public money spent. During two hours in Basildon Town Square, people used colored balls to choose, with the NHS emerging as the most popular option. They landed in the news.
UNITED KINGDOM – Cornwall – Penzance
More than two dozen people linked arms in the centre of Penzance on Monday to show solidarity for the blockade of the Faslane Nuclear Weapons base in Scotland. Organising the event were members of the West Cornwall branch of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom who were joined by local politicians – including parliamentary candidates, Tim Andrewes (Greens) and Cornelius Olivier (Labour), and members of the public in the campaign to end the Trident nuclear weapon system.
UNITED KINGDOM -Leeds, Yorkshire
In Leeds, the Yorkshire Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament activists held up banners outside the office of Jacobs UK, the engineering firm that is involved in production and maintenance of British nuclear weapons. Read about Jacobs and their waste of British tax dollars.
UNITED KINGDOM – London
Women in Black London organized their Wednesday Vigil in central London. The vigil was an anti-Trident/nuclear weapons vigil, and they made a GCOMS banner for each side of the Edith Cavell statue where they stand. The vigil was well received, and they gave out about 250 of their Trident leaflets, and about 40 of the GCOMS Call to Action to those people who stopped or appeared particularly interested.
UNITED KINGDOM – London – Euston
Pax Christi UK and the Quakers ran a ‘Give peace a budget’ ballot where people were requested to vote for their spending ‘priorities’ to make the world a safer place. Here are the results: Health & education (115); tackling climate change (81); international cooperation and development (61); and military spending (14) as the least important.
Prior to GDAMS, they also conducted an online survey and asked the same questions. One of the respondents said that: “Security is a fundamental part of Government responsibility. However, I think we will achieve a more secure and safe world by working with other countries to help them develop, tackle climate change and generally reduce the tensions that grow out of huge disparities in wealth between countries.”
UNITED KINGDOM – Scotland – Faslane Naval Base
The Scrap Trident Coalition‘s ‘Bairns Not Bombs’ followed an anti-nuclear blockade of the Faslane Naval Base on the Clyde. The demonstrators aimed to shut down the base and they succeeded. Faslane is home to the UK’s Trident nuclear weapons system. More from BBC News and the Scrap Trident Coalition’s video channel.
UNITED KINGDOM – Westminster, Ministry of Defence
Organizer : Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
UNITED KINGDOM – Wimbledon
Edwin Cluer’s striking handpainted poster board caught the eye of passers-by. Alison Williams of the United Nations Association and Joanna Bazley join him in campaigning for GDAMS. Organizer : Wimbledon Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
