Global Day of Action on Military Spending
The International Peace Bureau is happy to announce that the 4th edition of the Global Day of Action on Military Spending will be held on Monday, 14 April 2014. The GDAMS initiative was co-founded in 2011 by the International Peace Bureau and the Institute for Policy Studies.
This year’s day of action coincides, once again, with the release by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) of their annual statistics on global military spending. In the USA, Tax Day actions will be held on 15 April and some groups will combine the GDAMS actions with those. Peace Action through Judith Le Blanc, is the U.S./North America Coordinator. In other places, activists may prefer to do an action on the weekend, i.e 12-13 April. This could be followed by an extra activity on the Monday, and/ or the release of an action-report to the media on that day, together with the latest SIPRI figures. So there are a number of options available in terms of timing. Whatever works for you!
Similarly, the themes featured by each group will vary according to domestic and regional political circumstances. Some groups are focusing on opposing the governments’ purchase of more war hardware: F-35 and Gripen fighter planes and drones; re-negotiating the Pentagon budget in the U.S.; calming the drumbeat on regional political tensions; resisting amendments to laws that would lead to militarism; demanding an end to military violence, and the ultimate goal of persuading governments to reallocate military expenditures to peace, sustainable development, environment (especially climate change and biodiversity loss), social justice and green employment creation. We are building this in in the materials and resources we are creating centrally.
All we ask is that everyone makes an effort to make known the actual global spending figures which had reached 1.75 Trillion US dollars in 2012. After all, even if in some countries the national military budget is not so very large, or is even being reduced, it is the overall global total which is the real political and moral scandal.
Here at IPB Secretariat we will do all we can to ensure a smooth coordination of our activities. Among other things, we will negotiate with SIPRI – as in previous years – a pre-view of the basic data which can be made available to partners one week ahead of time, subject to signing an agreement not to release it ahead of 14 April.
Do try to draw in a wide range of partners in your area/country/sector in the process. For inspiration, you may find it fruitful to look at the Organizer’s Materials or have a look back at the regional actions done in the previous editions of GDAMS.
Send us details of your planned events and we will post them in the world map of actions.
Likewise, we encourage you to take photos or videos of your group while taking action on the Global Day and either email them to us for uploading to or you may post them directly in the GDAMS Facebook page.
Actually, you can start taking your photos right now. Take part in the recently launched “If I Had $1.75 Trillion…” ‘selfie’ campaign to collect your opinion as well as to create public awareness on what the budget currently invested in the military sector could be reallocated to instead.
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