You may have heard that the U.S. House of Representatives just passed a bill to spend $741 billion renaming military bases that have been heretofore named for Confederates. You may think that’s a grand idea but still wonder at the price tag.
In this World BEYOND War webinar, Yale Magrass and Charles Derber, authors of the new book “Glorious Causes”, consider how elites galvanize people for war and bring them to adopt political-economic identities which contradict their rational self-interest.
Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom-US Section, Black Alliance for Peace, & World BEYOND War hosted this webinar on the United States African Command (AFRICOM) and Human Rights in Africa on Friday, Dec. 4.
We urge President-Elect Joe Biden and U.S. Senators to choose a Secretary of Defense who is unencumbered by a history of advocating for bellicose military policies and is free of financial ties to the weapons industry. Michèle Flournoy does not meet those qualifications and is ill-suited to serve as Secretary of Defense.
Despite polls that suggest most Canadians do not support warplanes used to kill and destroy things around the world, the federal government seems determined to spend tens of billions of dollars to expand that capability.
Michele Flournoy represents the epitome of what is worst about the Washington blob, the military-industrial complex’s revolving door,” says CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin.
AUN Human Rights Council report recently named Canada as one of the parties fuelling the ongoing war in Yemen by means of arms sales to Saudi Arabia, one of the war’s belligerents.
Canada needs a conversion to a green economy, away from fossil fuel production, to include a fair transition and retraining of displaced workers. There is a need for extraordinary investment in the new economy to enable a move towards climate change mitigation, environmental sustainability and social justice. We do not need increased investment in things that have no redeeming social value by endlessly preparing for war.
David Vine is Professor of Anthropology at American University whose books include Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World. David Vine’s latest book is called The United States of War: A Global History of America’s Endless Conflicts, From Columbus to the Islamic State.
