Protesters Plan Rally In Newark: 'End Wars, Cut Military Budget'
NEWARK, NJ — The United States has continued to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on its military amid the coronavirus pandemic, even as waves of small businesses go under, hordes of people are evicted from their homes, and state and local governments desperately beg for federal aid.
And when you crunch the numbers, it’s one more reason that the country needs to “bring all U.S. troops home immediately,” a group of anti-war activists say.
On Wednesday, Dec. 16, organizers plan to hold a protest at 5:30 p.m. outside the offices of New Jersey’s U.S. senators, Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, at 1 Gateway Center in Newark. Their demand is simple: “End the Wars.” Learn more here.
Organizers announced plans for the Newark protest on Monday during a Facebook Live panel discussion. (Watch the video below)
The panel included Madelyn Hoffman, who ran against Sen. Booker and other candidates in the 2020 general election on the Green Party of New Jersey ticket.
Hoffman, a staunch environmentalist and Green New Deal advocate, has been a consistent voice for peace efforts in New Jersey. She’s advocated for cutting the military budget by “at least 50 percent” to reinvest in social services.
Monday’s panel also included Ajamu Baraka, a national organizer and spokesperson for Black Alliance for Peace, Cindy Sheehan, a peace activist and director of March on the Pentagon, and Lisa Davis, the vice chair of the Black is Back Coalition.
According to a statement from the organizers of the Dec. 16 rally:
“For more than 20 years, the United States has been at overt war with the countries in the Middle East and parts of Africa, with the almost complete silence of U.S. citizens … None of these countries invaded the U.S., and while the mainstream media completely ignores the travesties happening in the Middle East, the devastating consequences of allowing the wars to continue are mounting. Out of the United States’ 243-year existence, it has only been at peace for less than 20 years total since its illegal inception. But even during those 20 years of relative peace, it was still at war with the non-white populations in this country. This war footing of the U.S. cannot continue. Regarding the current wars that started on October 7, 2001 in Afghanistan, the U.S., on average, drops a bomb every 12 minutes. And while most people are led to believe that the conflict is only with about five countries in the Middle East, the reality is that the U.S. is currently engaged in conflict with 76 countries around the world. The estimated cost of that conflict since 2001 is $6.4 trillion dollars and counting.”
Organizers continued:
“There are over 800 U.S. bases around the globe. And yet in America on average every minute four people are served with eviction judgments, 30 million have no access to health care, $1.5 trillion is owed in suffocating student loan debt, and 63 percent of the population cannot afford a $500 emergency repair. The issue of climate change is high on the list of many – deep cuts in the military budget would free up billions of dollars for addressing this crisis.”
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This article originally appeared on the Newark Patch
