Editorial

What could we do with 1.75 Trillion US dollars? This is the question we are asking ourselves in the run up to the 2014 Global Day of Action on Military Spending, which this year falls on 14 April.  Global military spending in 2012 was 1.75 Trillion US dollars. It is almost impossible to think how much you could do with that amount of money as the figure is very difficult to grasp.  David Schwartz has a useful way to help us see the magnitude of this figure: "My favorite way to think of it is in terms of seconds... One million seconds comes out to be about 11½ days. A billion seconds is 32 years. And a trillion seconds is 32,000 years. I like to say that I have a pretty good idea what I'll be doing a million seconds from now, no idea what I'll be doing a billion seconds from now, and an excellent idea of what I'll be doing a trillion seconds from now."

Groups carrying out actions for the Global Day of Action have thought about what could be done with money that currently goes to the military, for example these graphics made in Spain show what you could do instead of paying for 1 Eurofighter (2 hospitals) or 1 tank (6 schools). Last year the Collective Action of Conscientious Objectors and Women for Peace in Colombia held an action where they asked people in the street to choose where they would like their taxes to go, and they could choose between education, health, environment and the military. See a video of the action here.

As we ask ourselves what we could we do with 1.75 Trillion dollars, I would like to ask us too what would happen if we didn't spend the money at all.

I understand the need for resources in health, education, jobs, etc, but also see the dangers of the monetarist system where the answer to all problems is more money. Following the ideas of Small is Beautiful of E. F. Schumacher, Gandhi's Swaraj, I like to think of a different concept of development, not based on more funds for this or more funds for that, but on how we can create living conditions that take care of our basic needs while protecting the environment and our communities on a smaller scale.

In many ways this is what indigenous and local communities have done for years and years, developing their own vision of development. Many of these communities are resisting extractive industries and the militarisation that comes with it on their lands. This months' 'Campaign of the month' highlights the work of Yasunidos in Ecuador, who are working to resist plans to extract oil from the Yasuní National Park. The same goes for Colombia, where indigenous people of the Cauca region are nonviolently resisting the militarisation of their communities.

When we say no to military spending we are not only saying no to money for arms, we are saying no to a militarisation that is sometimes more covert - our job is to make it visible so we can challenge it.

Javier Gárate