The Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space has designated October 3 -10, 2020 “Keep Space for Peace Week,” an international week of protest to defund space forces and stop to the militarization of space.
In the midst of a global pandemic the U.S. and others have undertaken the creation of the “Space Forces” making “Space the world’s newest war-fighting domain”
The U.S. Space Force is a new branch of the Armed Forces for which the White House has allocated $15 billion in this year’s budget. Trump was heavily lobbied by aerospace corporations to establish this new military service, so they could secure lucrative government contracts.
This show of aggression by the U.S. is generating responses from others who are now forming their own military space forces—to either oppose or support the U.S. This presents a serious challenge to the concept, expressed in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, that “the exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all [human]mankind.”
Instead of creating a new arms race in space we should re-invest in and improve social programs and protect the natural environment of our fragile planet Earth— particularly by responding to the growing Climate Crisis.
Let’s work together to preserve the heavens as a peaceful domain. Keep Space for Peace Week is co-sponsored by World Beyond War, Peace and Planet News, and Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom, U.S. Section. For more information: www.space4peace.org
