April 17..GLOBAL ACTION on Military Spending--- "Occupy the Military Industrial Complex"

[KoKo]

Occupy the Military Industrial Complex

March 28, 2012 · By V. Noah Gimbel
On April 17, thousands of people all over the world will occupy the military industrial complex as part of the Global Day of Action on Military Spending.

On April 17, thousands of people all over the world will occupy the military industrial complex as part of the Global Day of Action on Military Spending.

This is the second Global Day. Last year’s event, held on April 12, 2011, was a big success, with nearly 100 actions in 37 countries. In 2012, activists will organize many types of events, from protests at military bases to teach-ins. Each location will devise its own approach. But all the events will highlight the latest figure for global military spending, which will likely approach $1.7 trillion.

GDAMS is coordinated by the Institute for Policy Studies (Washington DC) and the International Peace Bureau (Geneva).

http://www.ips-dc.org/media/occupy_the_military_industrial_complex

[obey]

1. Levitate the Pentagon (1967)

On October 21, 1967, 70,000 demonstrators came to Washington, D.C. to "Confront the War Makers." This was the first of the biannual Anti-War demonstrations to fuse protest with the whimsicality of the counter culture and to take civil disobedience to new levels of confrontation. It would become the prototype for the demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago -- except that the latter was marred by extensive police violence.
Initiated and organized by "the Mobe" (the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam), a loose coalition of 150 groups, some of the events of the weekend were planned and some were not. They provided something for everyone, from committed pacifists to Vietcong sympathizers, united only by the common aim of ending the war.

http://www.jofreeman.com/photos/Pentagon67.html

[KoKo]

2. Thanks for that link from the past....

I love..."Levitate the Pentagon."

I wonder if we could ever get 70,000 there again. Most folks seem to be fine with what's going on. Even the Drone Strikes on folks who have no access to legal representation, no rights to trial by jury of peers or even access to information on why they were targeted to be killed...along with any bistander who becomes collateral damage.

I can't understand why Democrats are not freaked out by this.

[freshwest]

3. The difference is the draft. The MIC has left the public consciousness.

During the Vietnam War, every young man knew that he would have to answer for American foreign policy with his body so he thought about the war. It was unavoidable.

When we let the draft expire, it was expected that the ability to have an opportunistic war would be stunted. The country began to look at civil and human rights and preserving the environment and going alternative.

The MIC couldn't prosper so they manipulated things to get Reagan in. He kept on spending like a sailor to pay off his pals, and de industrialized American and shredded the economy in many ways.

Then came the volunteer army with Bush, Sr. Since then, despite the costs of the wars, it really has been something millions can not go through their lives and never think a thing about it unless they're prepped by the media.

The industries of today, as they've always been, got most of their innovations from the drive to produce weapons of all kinds. Now they are a major employer of civilians. These folks don't see anything but the economic end of this and also they've been swept into a culture of right wing ideology and evangelism and FNN. They don't even hear about this.

As far as Democrats are concerned, many of them work in military fields, or their children, unable to get educations, benefits and jobs, so they have joined this volunteer military. It's bread and butter now, more than it ever was. They depend on the MIC because the private sector is not providing work and benefits.

There is no mass resistance because more advantaged people can live their lives without considering war. The country is more prosperous for many and they never think about the poor. They are also isolated by their neighborhood, school experience and their church.

The world is much changed, does not have the unifying influence of universal public education and common threat from war. I think that's why.

[KoKo]

4. A Kick....Hoping tomorrow is a big success!

[Guerrilla23]

5. Agreed!

Now you are talking.

We need a new "Manifesto". Right on!