Global Campaign on Military Spending
Demilitarize! Invest in People's Needs
by IPB
Africa Europe Faith and Justice Network (AEFJN) has issued the February 2014 edition of its Newsletter ‘Echoes from AEFJN’ with updates on its activities around the world and also articles related to the causes it supports. More details can be found in the newsletter below.
by IPB
From Mattea Kramer at the National Priorities Project
“Yesterday Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel gave a major speech at the Pentagon, and a bold headline ran in The New York Times announcing that the Pentagon would shrink the Army to pre-World War II levels. While the speech did announce cutbacks in a number of military programs, the Pentagon isn’t planning any major reductions in spending any time soon.”
Read the blog at this link
by IPB
From the blog by Judith Le Blanc, Peace Action Field Director from the U.S.
“The International Peace Bureau’s Global Day of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) is April 15, US Tax Day. Peace Action is convening a cross section of peace and community, faith-based national groups who are supporting local actions across the country on Tax Day. Tax Day will be a day to shine a light on the Pentagon budget and how it drains the resources needed for our communities.
Not only does our government allocate a majority of the discretionary spending every year on the Pentagon at the expense of human needs and diplomacy, it also is one of the world’s biggest arms dealers.
The Tax Day actions are a call for changing national spending priorities, it is also a day of solidarity with all those who suffer from US wars past and present and the presence of over 1,000 bases around the world. The actions will call attention to the domestic impact of continuing to pour money into the Pentagon budget while community services are cut.
The recent Congressional budget deal delayed the next round of ”sequestration” or across the board budget cuts. Federal budget cuts were made but the Pentagon came out the big winner. In fact, the Overseas Contingency Operations account got bumped up while the war in Afghanistan is winding down creating a slush fund to blunt the impact of cuts!”
Read the full blog at this link.
Source: Peace Blog.
