Foreign Policy Activism Opportunities

  • Divest from Nuclear Weapons Producers via @DontBankonBomb

    DBotB-banner-620x350.pngDon’t Bank on the Bomb is a regularly updated global report on the financing of nuclear weapons producers around the world. The report is produced by an organization from The Netherlands called PAX, which aims to bring together those who believe in peace and want to contribute to a just and peaceful world.

    The 2016 update of the report shows that 390 financial institutions from around the world invested 498 billion US dollars into just 27 companies involved in the production, maintenance and modernization of nuclear weapons since January 2013.

    Now, I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that about 60% of those financial institutions are U.S. institutions and they’re responsible for 68% of the total global investment. And, of course, you’ll recognize some of their names. BlackRock, Capital Group, Vanguard, State Street, Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase are the top 7 investors in the production, maintenance and modernization of nuclear weapons in the world.

    Whether you want to personally divest or put pressure on financial institutions to do so, head over to DontBankontheBomb.com and click the “Take Action” tab. There, you can tweet at your financial institution, download the organization’s Divestment Campaigner Guide, and get step by step guidance on how to personally divest from institutions supporting nuclear weapons.  Additional documents on engaging the public, media, government and financial institutions, as well as articles on the latest nuclear weapon news, are also available on the website.

    So, if stopping the further investment of nuclear weapons is important to you, be sure to hit the share buttons to spread the word about Divesting from Nuclear Weapons Producers via social media so that others in your network can spread the word too.

     

    https://youtu.be/Fkipas4Oqdo

     

    TAKE ACTION 

    Divest from financial institutions funding nuclear weapons production with DontBankontheBomb.com

    Get guidance on divesting, download the campaigner guide, and more, on the Action page

    Easily tweet at and tag financial institutions on Facebook to tell them to stop investing in nuclear weapons

    EDUCATE YOURSELF

    Who Invests? (Don't Bank on the Bomb)

    Who Divests? (Don't Bank on the Bomb)

    Nuclear Weapons Producers (Don't Bank on the Bomb)

     

    Posted March 6, 2018; Written by Best of the Left Communications Director, Amanda Hoffman

    Hear the segment in the context of Best of the Left Edition #1169: Playing with Winter (Threat and Effects of Nuclear War)

  • Fight the War Economy By Growing Local #Peace Economies via @CodePink

    PeaceEcon33.pngThe big marches happening over the next few weekends will likely have an additional anti-war component now that Trump has bombed Syria, provoked North Korea, and dropped the MOAB - the largest and most expensive non-nuclear bomb we had in our military arsenal - on Afghanistan. 

    We encourage you to get in the streets for those marches, but also organize local actions in your communities in the days in-between to voice your rejection of American imperialism and the war economy, and support of multilateral, diplomatic strategies and solutions. Calling Congress to express these opinions is also crucial to making our voices heard.

    But in addition to rapid response actions, we can work locally and personally in the longer term to create the world we want to live in. Code Pink, the women-led grassroots anti-war organization founded during the Bush years, has launched a campaign to help raise awareness and encourage reflection about the fact that each and every one of us is invested in the war economy. We invest by the way we live and the decisions we make each day. But they believe, as I do, that we can divest from the war economy and cultivate a just, “Local Peace Economy” that creates conditions conducive to life by redirecting our investments to our local communities and people.  

    The fact is that the war economy is killing us. America has been at war for the last fourteen years and now Trump has put us on the brink of multiple, new escalations. This perpetual war, the widening wealth inequality, and refusal to deal with existential issues like climate change, are inextricably linked. The wealthy few hold an immense amount of power and control political, social, and economic systems to safeguard and expand their power. As Code Pink explains, this situation has resulted in “a social, ecological, economic, and political crisis that threatens life on earth.” 

    On the Local Peace Economy campaign page on their website, Code Pink writes, “Even though there is evidence that shows that humans are predisposed to be cooperative and sharing, the war economy survives by creating the experience of scarcity that forces the reliance on greed, selfishness, competition, and a sense that we are separate.” 

    Head over to CodePink.org/peaceeconomy to read more about the campaign, take the Peace Economy Pledge and read the Next Steps to begin growing your Peace Economy now.  

    The next steps include questions to ask yourself to see where in your life you are not living your values, a list of suggested organizations and causes to engage with that align with Peace Economy goals, how and where to invest financially in your local community, and much more. 

    So, if supporting an economy that promotes peace over war is important to you, be sure to hit the share buttons to spread the word about Fighting the War Economy by Growing Local Peace Economies via social media so that others in your network can spread the word too. 

    Mr. Roger’s once said, “We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say, ‘It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.’ Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.”

     

     

    TAKE ACTION

    Visit codepink.org/peaceeconomy to learn more about divesting from war and investing in your community

    Take action with Next Steps to building a Local Peace Economy 

    Follow Code Pink @codepink or their Peace Economy campaign account @PeaceEcon

    EDUCATE YOURSELF

    What does an 'America First' Policy Actually Mean? (The Nation)

    No Rural-Urban Divide Here: We All Want Good Jobs and Strong Local Economies (YES! Magazine)

    What a Policy of Real Solidarity with the Syrian People Looks Like (YES! Magazine)

    Why These Missile Strikes Won't Make Things Better for the Syrian People (YES! Magazine)

    To Billionaire Doomsday Preppers: Your Wealth Won't Save You (YES! Magazine)

    Is War Good for the Economy? (Huffington Post Blog, 2013)

    A State of Perpetual War (Huffington Post Blog, 2010) 

    The US and NATO are Preparing for a Major War with Russia (The Nation, 2016)

     

    Posted April 14, 2017; Written by Best of the Left Communications Director, Amanda Hoffman 

     

    Hear this segment in the context of Best of the Left #1095: Reckless Empire and the Forever War (Foreign Policy)

     

  • #SaveSusiya via Jewish Voice For Peace ( @jvplive ) — Best of the Left Activism

    You’ve reached the activism portion of today’s show. Now that you’re informed and angry, here’s what you can do about it. Today’s activism: Save Susiya.

    Susiya is a Palestinian village in Hebron Hills — part of the Occupied West Bank. Over the summer it was marked for imminent demolition by the Israeli army, which would have displaced 340 people. A campaign by Rebuilding Alliance and other groups lead to protests in the European Union and lead to Israel lifting the demolition date, but with violence continuing — over 2000 Palestinians have been injured since the beginning of October, the village is hardly safe from destruction.

    Just since the beginning of October, over 2000 Palestinians have been injured and 77 have been killed. Illegal settlements in the West Bank fuel the clashes. Prime Minister Netanyahu attempted to downplay the size of the illegal settlements at the Center For American Progress this week, saying that settlement construction has made up a tiny fraction of built up land — around one-tenth of one percent. The reality is that settlements technically cover one percent of the West Bank, but with ten percent of the West Bank included in what’s called the “municipal area,” around 40% of the land is off-limits to Palestinians with hundreds of kilometers of roads that further divide and destroy Palestinian territory.

    Jewish Voice for Peace — who’s mission includes seeking an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem; an end to violence against civilians; and peace and justice for all peoples of the Middle East — has a petition at JewishVoiceForPeace.org asking John Kerry to pressure the Israeli government to prevent the destruction of Susiya and recognize the right of the Palestinian families who live there to plan their futures on the land they rightfully own.

    A recent Mic.com photo essay — "16 Eye-Opening Photos Show What It's Like Going Back to School in Palestine and Israel” — shows why Jewish Voice for Peace and others have left up their campaigns in support of Susiya despite the threat of demolition being downgraded from imminent to “on hold.” The terrain that very young school children must navigate is overshadowed only by the threat of harassment and violence.

    It isn’t enough that the demolition equipment isn’t currently stationed at Susiya’s edge. When our government regularly reminds the world that we are “a friend to Israel,” the violence and human rights atrocities committed in the West Bank have our name on them. Sign the petition at JewishVoiceForPeace.org asking Secretary Kerry to step in. You can also follow the #EndTheOccupation hashtag to keep up on the latest not reported by our corporate media.

    TAKE ACTION:

    SIGN: Tell John Kerry to Defend Susiya! via Jewish Voice for Peace

    FOLLOW: #EndTheOccupation & #IsraeliIncitement

    Additional Activism/Resources:

    SIGN: "Free Political Refugees Hisham Shaban Ghalia and Mounis Hammouda From ICE custody” via Not1More

    Sources/further reading:

    5 Questions Prime Minister Netanyahu Should be Asked Today via Amnesty International

    "Families from threatened Palestinian villages Susiya and Um al-Kheir bring their stories to the US” at Mondoweiss

    "Israel, Don’t Level My Village” — Nasser Nawaja at The New York Times

    "16 Eye-Opening Photos Show What It's Like Going Back to School in Palestine and Israel” at Mic.com

    "Mapping the dead in latest Israeli-Palestinian violence”

    Hear the segment in context:

    Episode #968 "The continuing quagmire of an apartheid state (Israel/Palestine)"

    Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich

  • "Move the Money" - Reducing the Pentagon Budget via @VFPNational — Best of the Left Activism

    You’ve reached the activism portion of today’s show. Now that you’re informed and angry, here’s what you can do about it. Today’s activism: "Move the Money" - Reducing the Pentagon Budget.

    This month, Congress spends a significant amount of time on the military budget for the following year. They debate the National Defense Authorization Act — or NDAA — and lay the groundwork for foreign policy based on how much money can be spent where and on what.

    The National Priorities Project explains the NDAA and military budget process is super simple terms at NationalPriorities.org:

    • The NDAA is an authorization, not an appropriation; it gives the government the authority to spend money and sets policy direction.
    • Drafts of the NDAA are not open and transparent.
    • The current draft has Congress ignoring its own budget caps, allotting some $90 billion off the books to fund the supposedly over Iraq and Afghanistan wars. 
    • The NDAA has billions allocated for equipment the military says it doesn’t need or want and protects military contractors.

    The NDAA is an authorization, not an appropriation; it gives the government the authority to spend money and sets policy direction. Drafts of the NDAA are not open and transparent. The current draft has Congress ignoring its own budget caps, allotting some $90 billion off the books to fund the supposedly over Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The NDAA has billions allocated for equipment the military says it doesn’t need or want and protects military contractors.

    Veterans For Peace is taking this opportunity to lobby Congress and engage those of us who would rather see our money invested in people and peace than war and destruction to let our representatives know we support a shift in policy.

    Use ContactingTheCongress.org to get your representatives’ phone, address, and social media handles and let them know you support the Veterans For Peace priorities listed under the “Legislative Update” section of “Take Action” at VeteransForPeace.org.

    Budget change demands include: moving money from the military to urgent domestic needs like health, education, environment, and infrastructure; closing bases from wars waged in previous generations; reining in profits of Pentagon contractors; and auditing the Pentagon to eliminate waste.

    If you’re looking for a way to get more involved with Veterans for Peace, registration is open for their annual convention August 5-9 in San Diego, CA. You can’t miss the tab at VeteransForPeace.org.

    TAKE ACTION:

    Use ContactingTheCongress.org to tell your representatives to follow the Veterans For Peach plan to “Move the Money” & “Audit the Pentagon”

    Additional Activism/Resources:

    Register for the Veterans For Peace 30th Annual Convention, August 5-9

    Sources/further reading:

    "Praying for Peace While Waging Permanent War?” via CounterPunch<?p>

    "National Defense Authorization Act: Five Things You Should Know” via the National Priorities Project

    Hear the segment in context:

    Episode #931 "From rewriting wars to waging peace (Foreign Policy)"

    Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich

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