On Sunday, September 15, CODEPINK launched Cut the Pentagon for the People, Planet, and a Future where a coalition of over 70 organizations have signed on. In Washington DC, 80 local people joined us for a teach-in, cutting of the (Pentagon) cake, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, march and community brainstorming session to discuss direct actions, teach-ins, mutual aid events, etc.
Speakers included Sean Blackmon of ANSWER Coalition, Echo Hyunsook of US Grassroots Network: Korea Peace Now, Patricio Zamorano Director of Council on Hemispheric Affairs, Reb Spring, youth climate activist with Extinction Rebellion, and Afeni Evans, an activist and abolitionist (pictured in order from left to right)
“The astronomical amount of money being spent on the US makes no sense for so many reasons. The US military is one of the biggest contributors to climate change in the world. Not only are its drones and jets and nuclear weapons directly destroying the lives of people in other countries, they’re also using an enormous amount of fossil fuels and producing a massive amount of carbon emissions,” says Reb Spring, a 15 year old climate activist who spoke on Sunday.
“But it doesn’t have to continue like this. We have to rise up to fight this problem because every year we’re wasting billions of dollars on the military, while people in our country and around the world are hungry, homeless, and suffering from the climate crisis. We can help millions of people have a better life, with stable housing and enough food to eat, we can be using energy from the sun instead of energy that’s destroying the Earth,” Reb continues.
Those in attendance were excited and ready for a transition from the war economy to the peace economy. The possibilities are endless on what we could fund instead considering in Afghanistan alone, over the past 20 years, we spent $300million a day.
We look forward to growing our coalition and expanding our big and beautiful tent to including more organizations and individuals who are ready to cut the pentagon, divest from war, and invest in communities!
Coalition Sign Up for Cut The Pentagon!
Volunteer to Host Activists in D.C. for Cut The Pentagon!
