Summer Signature Campaign 2012
Each year the Peace Economy Project takes a trip to Washington DC to hand deliver signatures on our Congressional Appeal. Last year, PEP Director and Intern were able to meet face to face with a number of different of Congressional Representatives, as well as meet briefly with our two Missouri Senators. Please take a moment to read and sign on to the Peace Economy Project 2012 Congressional Appeal, calling for a reduction in military spending. In this election year, it's important that we make clear our demands that our government decrease rampant military spending. Please take a moment to read and sign the letter to be delivered to DC this summer and please consider making a contribution. Thank you for your support
Save our Nation
Reduce Military Spending
Dear <
The Iraq war has finally ended, and there is general consensus that we are getting close to leaving Afghanistan. Soon for the first time in a dozen years we will not be engaged in a shooting war. The time has come to scale back our military might.
In keeping with the Budget Control Act, passed last August, the President has issued a new “Defense Strategy Plan” that calls for a cut back of $487 billion over the next ten years. Secretary of Defense Panetta has, in turn recommended a more specific set of cutbacks in the nearer term - $259 billion over the next five years. However, because these proposed reductions are against previously projected increases in expenditures, the real cuts, if they happen, amount to only 1.6 percent.
Average cutbacks after previous wars were substantial. For example, the reduction in troop strengths 8 to 10 years after the Korean, Vietnam and Desert Storm wars were 31, 43 and 38 percent respectively. Cutbacks after earlier wars were considerably higher. Why should it be different this time?
Because the 12 person “Super Committee” failed to reach consensus last fall, the Pentagon is committed to accepting an additional $500 billion in “sequestration” cuts over 10 years starting in 2013. That is unless the Congress and President reach a new deficit reduction compromise that changes the current law.
We believe that the additional $500 billion in Pentagon cuts is desirable. An overall trillion dollar cut in the military budget by 2023 would still be less than in previous wars. Many “experts” agree that we do not need 11 aircraft carrier groups, 2300 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter planes, a new submarine fleet, a new bomber, and 1550 deployed nuclear weapons. As former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated, the “gusher” is over. A more modest US military capacity can fully meet America’s defense requirements.
We, the undersigned ask that you honor the sequestration requirements. Cut the full trillion dollars out of the defense budget. The country and the world will be better off. We would welcome your questions and comments.
Signed
Challenging the Military Industrial Complex for over 30 years
The Peace Economy Project is a 501(c)3 non profit organization that researches military spending, educates about the hazards of an unchecked military-industrial complex and advocates for conversion from a military to a more stable peace-based economy. We focus our attention on local weapons manufacturing and its connection to global militarization. We collaborate with other organizations to raise consciousness of where our tax dollars are invested and to encourage others to reinvest in their communities.
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Black History Month Forum: Obama and Beyond
pictures from the PEP Feb. 20th Black History Month Forum
The Revolt of the Guinea Pigs
Mike Prokosch pictured here with Miriam Miranda at UMSL as apart of the PEP Fall Program
A giant experiment is about to begin in St. Louis.
Over the next decade, the federal government will repeatedly cut Head Start, education, environmental programs, Community Development Block Grants, fuel assistance, and much more. Working class families and communities of color will take the biggest hits, but everyone will hurt.
How will the experimental subjects react? Will St. Louis residents quietly accept ten more years of cuts in practically every city service? Will parents compete with senior citizens and library lovers to protect some programs at others’ expense? Might they come together and push back against all the cuts?
It’s up to the experimental subjects – the guinea pigs. That's us.
Peace activists in other cities, where the same experiment is underway, are forming coalitions with unions and community groups. We are mobilizing on “other people’s issues” – home foreclosures, layoffs, social service cuts. For many peace organizations, that's a big change, but most are thriving on the new energy, new connections, and new power we are building.
By showing up for other people's work, we are earning their support. In city after city we are agreeing on a four-point platform: create jobs, save services, tax the rich and corporations, and cut the Pentagon. Together we’re starting to build power that we don’t have alone.
We'll need that power next year and we can use it to:
Unite the many. Give all the separate fights against budget cuts a common focus: tax the 1% and cut military spending.
Push our demands up to Washington. “Bird-dog” candidates for Congress in 2012 and ask if they will support those solutions.
Enlist local elected officials. Urge the many city and county governing bodies in metro St. Louis to send “fund us – cut military spending” resolutions to Congress.
Mike Prokosch, organizer for New Priorities Network
Visions of the War Economy, Inklings of a Peace Economy
Clearly, the war economy is not working--- for tax-paying citizens, school children, or people abroad. However, it is working for local industries like Sabriner Corporation, Boeing, Belleville Shoe, Korte Compnay, and LMI Aerospace Inc. Boeing, in particular, runs a very profitable business—even with military cuts and 9,300 layoffs last year, the company's midyear portfolio for 2011 weighs in heftily at 4.5 billion dollars. Impeccable in its public relations, Boeing is a top corporate giver in St. Louis. Challenge yourself to find a major festival or public event not sponsored by Boeing. Good luck. It's a frustrating reminder of just how deeply the war machine has its fingers in the social fabric of St. Louis. This photo essay further explores the war economy’s hold over the city.
Q: How close is Democrat Claire McCaskill to Boeing?
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Congressional Appeal 2011
Peace Economy Project Executive Director Tila Neguse and PEP Inter-Campus Coordinator Justin Stein pictured with Senator Claire McCaskill at her office in Washington DC during the PEP Congressional Appeal visit
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