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On February 15, 2003, the world said no to war. Over 20 million people in at least 600 cities around the world took to the streets to oppose the impending invasion and occupation of Iraq, giving voice to the sentiment of billions. The New York Times called it the rise of a new superpower: world public opinion.

 SAY NO TO GLOBAL WARS!

The US-led “global war on terror” never ended. The stakes are getting even higher. In Afghanistan, Iraq and now Syria, it has brought death, displacement and chaos and resulted in the rise of a new terrorist group, ISIS.  Military actions have expanded with the attack and destruction of Libya by NATO in 2011, and continue with regular drone strikes in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. Guantanamo is still not closed. In Africa, ethnic terror attacks have led to massive bloodshed, with little media attention compared to attacks against Europeans, and there are millions of refugees and internally displaced persons with urgent needs for humanitarian support across the Middle East.

Tensions between Russia and the U.S. and its NATO allies centered on the conflict in Ukraine have sparked rounds of nuclear exercises and confrontations among nuclear-armed militaries. The US “pivot to the Pacific” adds fuel to an incendiary mix of confrontations over borders, resources, and trade in the Western Pacific, involving three old nuclear powers—the US, Russia, and China, and the most recent addition to the nuclear club, North Korea.  A new nuclear arms race is underway in South Asia between India and Pakistan, with China playing a pivotal role. In the Middle East, nuclear-armed Israel and most of the other nuclear powers are involved in complex webs of alliances and proxy wars, with no end in sight. A quarter century past the end of the Cold War, the potential for nuclear war is ever present and growing.

SAY NO TO MILITARIZING OUR COMMUNITIES!  

At home, governments are spending untold billions on war and militarism, fostering racism, Islamaphobia and xenophobia to justify war, and demonizing and imprisoning immigrants and poor people while engaging in surveillance, intimidation and torture. Austerity programs worldwide cut funding for human needs. Education cuts, coupled with soaring tuition fees and minimal wages in dead end jobs are used to drive up military recruitment in what amounts to a poverty draft. One of the most heartless and cynical ways austerity funds war is on the backs of veterans. The same politicians who try to silence antiwar voices are the first to cut services for the veterans they claim to support and to persecute soldiers who say no to war.

Law enforcement agencies are being transformed from “serve and protect” to “repress and control” not only in the streets but expanding into schools, hospitals and stores.   Rights to assemble and protest are being shredded. Our safety and often our lives are put at risk. “Shoot first and ask questions later” has become the standard operating principle, especially when it comes to people of color. When the police are militarized, they see communities – especially communities of color – as a battlefield and the residents, particularly black and brown youth, as the enemy. Our democracy becomes collateral damage in the wars at home and abroad. It’s time to deepen our collaboration with the racial justice movement.

 SAY NO TO THE WAR ON OUR PLANET!

Wars in the Middle East and Iraq today, like in 2003, aren’t about security. They’re about oil, unfettered U.S. and allied power, and control of resources to ensure the continuation of a consumer-driven corporate monopoly-controlled economy. Meanwhile, millions of people are being driven into a life of basic survival against the forces of greed, ideology and ecological destruction. In North America, we stand in solidarity with the Indigenous nations and communities courageously putting their bodies on the line to prevent construction of pipelines that will move dirty oil from the tar sands of Canada to the Gulf Coast, and fracking, which poisons our air, water and soil. It’s time to deepen our collaboration with the environmental justice movement to keep the oil in the soil and the boots off the ground.

YES! IT’S TIME TO RISE AGAIN!

War, occupation and austerity have not made the 99% safer. War benefits the arms makers, military brass, energy cartels, war lords, drug lords and opportunistic and corrupt politicians everywhere, but leads only to misery, destruction, dislocation and death for the majority of ordinary people.

In honor of February 15, 2003 and the Global Superpower of the people, let’s rise again to work together to build a sustainable world without racism, militarism and police brutality, that is rooted in true peace with justice, dignity and respect for the planet and all that inhabit it!

•   February 15^th: The World Says NO to War! We Say YES to Peace with Justice! Consider organizing a rally, march, vigil, speak-out, die-in, reading of names; leaflet or engage in more creative nonviolent actions at police stations, military facilities , corporate offices or government buildings in your community.

• March 19^th: Commemorate the 12^th anniversary of “Shock and Awe” with candlelight vigils, demonstrations, direct actions, and discussions about the cost of war to our families and communities.

•  April 15 (Tax Day in the U.S.): This year’s Global day of Action on Military Spending is April 13. It will be observed in the US on April 15. Join with thousands around the world taking action to protest the expenditure of our tax dollars on armaments and militarism and demand that military spending be redirected to meet human needs. http://demilitarize.org/global-day-action-military-spending/

•  April 24 -26:Join the Peace and Planet Mobilization for a Nuclear-Free, Just and Sustainable World, international days of action in New York City and around the globe on the eve of the 2015 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference at the United Nations.  The nuclear-armed nations have not met their NPT disarmament obligations and are spending $100 billion a year to maintain and modernize their nuclear arsenals. We need to step up our demand for a nuclear-free, just, sustainable world.  www.peaceandplanet.org