On Friday, March 23 U.S. President Trump signed the bill for a $700 billion military budget, the largest in U.S. history. These funds will continue to fuel the new era of war and occupation, the deadly war drive of the U.S. government that began with the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. This path of death and destruction that has been carved throughout the Middle East and North Africa has also been leveled against people at home in the United States. What Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said in 1966 during the U.S. war on Vietnam still rings true today “the bombs in Vietnam explode at home.”
As the U.S. government and their allies ramp up their attacks on people both at home and abroad, there will be a coordinated period of action based in the United States known as the “Spring Mobilizations to End the Wars at Home and Abroad.” These important actions are organized by a broad coalition of peace and social justice groups including the Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases, the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), the Black Alliance for Peace, Veterans for Peace, and the ANSWER Coalition.
As the resolution calling for the days of antiwar actions states, “While the United States ranks first by far in military spending, it ranks 7th in literacy, 20th in education, 25th in infrastructure quality, 37th in quality of health care, 31st in life expectancy, and 56th in infant mortality.” It continues, “since 2001 the United States has used its military force for invading and bombing in numerous countries — Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan, eventually costing the American taxpayers $4 trillion in Afghanistan and Iraq alone — and is now threatening to attack Iran and North Korea.”
Actions are set to take place in New York City, Washington DC, San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, Minneapolis and Atlanta, among other cities across the United States, from April 13-21. Vancouver’s peace coalition Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO) has joined in this international period of action as well and will be organizing a protest on Friday April 13th at the Vancouver Art Gallery at 5pm demanding “Stop the Wars at Home and Abroad! U.S./Canada/NATO Hands Off: Yemen, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Libya, North Africa & the Middle East!”
For more information on the coordinated Spring actions visit:
www.springaction2018.org
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