Keeping Up Anti-military Actions in the Face of Two Horrible Wars

San Francisco demonstration against BlackRock investment company as part of Peace In Ukraine Global Action week, October 4th, 2023. WILPFers Predmore and Spencer stand either side of the right-hand banner. Photo credit: Leon Kunstentaar

by Cherrill Spencer, Ellen Thomas and Dianne Blais
Co-chairs of DISARM/End Wars Issue Committee

November 2023

Educating Ourselves and the Public about the Profits Made from War

On October 4th, as part of the Peace in Ukraine Global Action week, WILPF members demonstrated outside the BlackRock office in San Francisco. The investment company, which holds assets of $9 trillion, manages investments in many sectors, including weapons manufacturing, security operations, construction and natural resource extraction. Weapons investors reap huge profits from war and post-war reconstruction, and BlackRock wields much influence on our political system.

US weapons manufacturers play a pivotal role in forever wars, causing immense suffering and destruction across the globe. Using their enormous resources, they propel U.S. foreign and military policy to enrich themselves. A webinar on October 18th discussed the causes and consequences of these war profiteers and how a People’s Tribunal is holding them accountable. The recording of this webinar is available online.

WILPF US is a founding member of the Warheads to Windmills (W2W) coalition (https://warheadstowindmills.org), which demands that nuclear weapons be abolished and the money saved be used to tackle climate change. W2W had an informative online forum on October 14th with many great speakers on climate solutions, nuclear abolition solutions, and how we can bring these two powerful movements together. You can watch its recording here.

One strategy for countering the influence of the weapons manufacturers is to get investors to divest from them, and this will be the focus of a WILPF US delegation going to the Second Meeting of the States Parties (2MSP) to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) at the United Nations in New York City at the end of November. There will be a Global Day of Action to Abolish Nuclear Weapons on Sunday November 26th, organized by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). Please go here to find resources to help plan your local actions. (An email to your congressperson to co-sponsor the House bill HR 2775, the Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Conversion Act of 2023, would be an easy action. See http://prop1.org.)

On Friday October 20, 2023, several hundred people of many faiths and ages assembled in front of the Federal building on San Francisco's 7th street to paint one of Davit Solnit's street murals. The mural, addressed to Biden and Pelosi, illustrated seven large US bombs going to Israel to kill people in schools, hospitals and their homes. The bombs bore messages demanding a ceasefire and the implementation of international humanitarian law.  Photo by Leon Kunstentaar

Strategies to Prevent Wars from Starting

WILPF US has joined Law not War, a new public education and advocacy campaign to promote and enhance the role of the International Court of Justice to resolve international conflicts, prevent war and strengthen the rule of law in international relations. A recording of their October 23rd online panel, “Legal Alternatives to War: Increasing the universality and effectiveness of the International Court of Justice” is available online.

Next year, there are lots of events planned in Washington DC from July 6-8 for the No to NATO - Yes to Peace campaign, which DISARM is involved with. The campaign’s aim is to highlight that NATO is an offensive institution and no longer needed. The NATO leaders will be in DC for its 75th Anniversary summit. We will update you as we approach next summer.

Please send us images and text from actions you are involved in so we can include the photos on WILPF SMART and in eNEWS articles. Our DISARM/End Wars Issue committee welcomes new members – we have many ongoing campaigns that need people to work on them.  Write to disarmchair@wilpfus.org to request information and to join the DISARM/End Wars Committee, which meets the second and last Sundays of the month.

You can see photos of many PIU actions on our website. In addition, the WILPF US October 10th statement on the Gaza-Israel war is available here.

Contact your legislators in Washington, DC, NOW and tell them to oppose appropriations for war. The U.S. Capitol switchboard number is 202-224-3121.Keep reading here to learn about ways to counteract the military-industrial complex.