FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Madison Tang | CODEPINK China campaign coordinator | [email protected] | (714) 337-5375
Amar Ahmad | Massachusetts Peace Action | [email protected] | (857) 399-3224
China is Not Our Enemy Coalition to Rally at Senator Markey’s Office in Boston, MA Thursday
WHERE: Outside JFK Federal Building
Cambridge St. near the corner of Sudbury St., Boston, MA 02108
WHEN: Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 2 PM ET/11 AM PT
July 21, 2021 — Tomorrow, July 22, 2021, a coalition led by CODEPINK; Massachusetts Peace Action; The People’s Forum, NYC; Pivot to Peace; The Raytheon Antiwar Campaign; RootsAction.org; World Beyond War; the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security; Boston DSA Internationalism Working Group; and local youth activists like Calla Walsh, who helped get Markey elected last term, will deliver a letter to Senator Ed Markey’s office in Boston, MA.
The letter, with over 2,700 signatures, condemns Senator Markey for voting in favor of the U.S. Innovation & Competition Act of 2021 (S. 1260), a vote which goes directly against his stated campaign promise to prioritize cutting the bloated Pentagon budget and addressing the climate increasingly-worsening crisis.
“The U.S. Innovation and Competition Act sends over $650 million of our tax dollars to funding foreign militaries, with an additional $225 million for military training, all to escalate conflicts and tensions with China,” the letter states. “The bill also includes half a billion dollars for U.S. propaganda that demonizes China and endangers Asians and Asian Americans.”
The letter calls for Senator Markey to “oppose further nuclear proliferation, out-of-control Pentagon spending, anti-Asian propaganda, and undiplomatic posturing that forestalls cooperation on our biggest global issues.”
Furthermore, activists at Thursday’s action will demand that Senator Markey end his support for anti-China focused militarism like that in U.S. the Innovation & Competition Act and the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act, stop undermining Climate Envoy John Kerry's climate deal with China and instead promote cooperation with China on clean energy initiatives, defund nuclear modernization and proliferation from the Pentagon budget, remove the anti-China Pacific Deterrence Initiative from the Pentagon Budget, and stop supporting funding for propaganda that endangers Asian Americans.
Madison Tang, coordinator of CODEPINK’s China Is Not Our Enemy campaign, said, “Senator Markey has been one of the Congressmembers leading this escalation of hybrid war on China since the Asia Reassurance Initiative of 2018, and the consequences of these policies are devastating not just for communities in the Asia-Pacific region, but also for carbon-sequestering forests, vulnerable coral reefs, and our global climate as a whole. If Senator Markey is to deliver on his campaign promise of protecting our climate, he must abandon this militaristic posture towards China — one which aligns with that of Republican Senators like Marco Rubio — and stop preventing cooperation with one of our biggest potential allies in climate change mitigation.”
“During his competitive primary, Senator Markey doubled down on progressive policies and rhetoric. Members of the progressive community, including myself, worked very hard to reelect him. However, Sen. Markey supports the Innovation & Competition Act, which increases military funding while utilizing racist rhetoric against China. Our progressive leaders should be cooperating with China on reducing global warming, environmental protections, and pandemic disease, not fearmongering against China,” said Amar Ahmad, an organizer with Massachusetts Peace Action.
Calla Walsh, one of the more vocal youth activists who supported Markey’s campaign during the primary, said, “The Pentagon is one of the world's biggest polluters, and Senator Markey's support for increasing military spending in the Asia-Pacific region is completely antithetical to the principles of the Green New Deal. As one of the young organizers who helped re-elect him, I hope Senator Markey stands against this imperialist aggression and stays true to his campaign values of justice, sustainability, and progressivism.”
Photos and videos of the action will be uploaded here.
###
