The Poor People’s Campaign has just ended its three day congress in Washington, DC. Fifty-five years after Martin Luther King, Jr., initiated the first Poor’s People Campaign, the issues surrounding the morality of our national budget remain largely the same. Even then, King made the connection between our wars and the depth of American poverty. In reference to the war of his day in Vietnam, he noted that “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift, is approaching spiritual death.”

Our budgets reflect our values as a nation. Even after the end of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, there continues to be an emphasis on spending our money on the instruments of death at the expense of poor and working people here in the U.S. 

                                             Source: National Priorities Project

This May’s budget deal reflected the current national priorities of our two political parties. As we faced a shutdown of the federal government which would have put millions of U.S. citizens in dire straits, the cuts the parties agreed on were aimed at social programs. There was never any discussion of cutting the bloated military budget. The “budget deal” melodrama resulted in raising the debt limit to, in part, accommodate a bipartisan, ironclad increase in U.S. military spending even as Congress reactionarily cracks down on the poor. The budget deal actually raised military spending 3.5% to $886 billion. 

At the same time, the budget deal cut health and social programs to poor and working U.S. Americans. Unused COVID funds, for example, will no longer be earmarked for pandemic prevention, which health officials warn that this would hamper the country in replenishing our vaccine stockpile and essential equipment. It also put greater burdens on those receiving help under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), puts the squeeze back on working Americans who have student loans, and loosens environmental requirements to make it easier for fossil fuel companies to start new projects, further putting everyone’s and the planet’s health at risk.

                                                           Source: Statistica.com

Like Martin Luther King, Cleveland Peace Action sees “war as an enemy of the poor,” and so CPA calls on our political leaders to prioritize a people-first budget that focuses on the needs of our most vulnerable citizens and for all working Americans. The first priority is for our political leaders to conduct a serious, meaningful debate on the excessive military budget and the diversion of tax dollars that prioritize peace and human development: employment, social programs, education, science, the environment and human welfare. 

In his oft-cited farewell address, President Dwight Eisenhower warned our nation of the growing influence of the military-industrial complex; the ever-growing influence of munitions companies in the spending priorities of the federal government. While Eisenhower recognized our defense needs, he noted we have to be aware of “ how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.” The “potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists” in how we prioritize our spending. 

Calling for immediate action by the collective governments of US, Russia, and Ukraine.
 
Ceasefire Now!
Unconditional Humanitarian Assistance!
Reject No-Fly -Zone!
Reject Funds to the Pentagon!
No NATO Expansion!
No Use of Nuclear Weapons!
Negotiate Peace!

View video of the Annual Meeting and Sen. Nina Turner’s keynote – passcode AnnMtg@2021

7:00 – Annual Meeting: Board Member/Officer Elections and Volunteer Recognition

7:30 – Keynote speaker: Nina Turner“Downsizing the Military-Industrial Complex”

All Cleveland Peace Action members are entitled to vote in Board Elections. A member is anyone who has made a contribution of time and/or money to Peace Action (local or national) in the last two years.
2021 Board Member Election Two-year term beginning 5/7/21: Francis Chiappa, Meghan Donovan, Dena Magoulias,  *Mary Ober, *Stephanie Riccobene

Officers: One-year term beginning 5/7/21: Mark Weber, President, Dena Magoulias, Treasurer, Meghan Donovan, Secretary

Two-year term beginning 7/24/20 (no vote necessary) Don Bryant Chantal Dothey Elizabeth Kravanya Faten Odeh Thomas Sodders Mark Weber   *Indicates new board member

Volunteer Recognition: Don Bryant, Bill Fickinger, Walter Nicholes, Rosemary Palmer

Keynote speaker: Nina Turner“Downsizing the Military-Industrial Complex”
Nina Turner was a Cleveland City Council member from 2006 to 2008 and an Ohio State Senator from 2008 to 2014. She supported Bernie Sanders in his 2016 presidential campaign and became president of the Sanders-affiliated group Our Revolution in 2017. She served as national co-chair of Sanders’ 2020 campaign. Turner is now a candidate in the 2021 Ohio 11th Congressional District special election.

Free and open to the public.

We will read excerpts from Dr. King’s speech and discuss its relevance for today in NE Ohio. View our reading of the speech on YouTube

Cleveland co-sponsoring organizations include: A Greater Buckeye, Black Lives Matter Cleveland, Black Spring Cleveland, The Cleveland Observer, Cleveland Nonviolence Network, Cleveland Peace Action, Coalition for a Better Life, dba Peace in the Hood, Coalition to Stop the Inhumanity at the Cuyahoga County Jail – Bail Reform and From Inside Committees, Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus, End Poverty Now!, Interreligious Task Force on Central America,Neighborhood Connections, New Era, Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, Ohio Poor People’s Campaign, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Cleveland, Young Latino Network.

Our local work is in coordination with the national Breaking the Silence effort. This coalition is conducting a national event and supporting creation of local events. Their multi-year purpose includes encouraging formation of local coalitions to work on these intersectional issues going forward to drive change and transformation. The national event will be held on April 4, 2021, the 54th anniversary of the speech.

Local contacts:

• Don Bryant, email.donbryant@gmail.com, 216.220.7160
• Mark Silverberg, marksilverberg@mac.com, 216.533.2778

Peace@ThePub HOME

Tuesday, January 12th

view program here – passcode P@PBiden2021

P@PBiden2021The new administration presents both opportunities and challenges for Peace Action’s advocacy work. While there’s reason for optimism, realism suggests there will be some difficult work ahead. Join us for a dialogue on the prospects for 2021 and beyond. 

Panelists:

Paul Kawika Martin, Senior Director, Policy and Political Affairs, National Peace Action

Pete Moore, M.A. Hanna Associate Professor of Politics, Case Western Reserve University

The Board of Cleveland Peace Action condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the murder by Minneapolis police officers of George Floyd, unarmed and handcuffed, a Black man and city resident. This latest murder of an African American citizen calls to mind earlier cases of police killings of people of color: Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, Sandra Bland, and Breanna Taylor to name a few. Beyond the usual expressions of concern by civic and political leaders, there is a desperate need for systemic change. Two concrete reforms should be mentioned.

1. In this time of pandemic devastation, we need a transfer of investment from the military budget to a domestic peace budget which directs funds to shoring up our public health programs, our public schools, and public service jobs for those who have no work due to the virus.  Jobs, health, and education should be our top priorities as a nation.
2. We also need to review the role of the police in our communities…especially communities of color. Programs aimed at militarization of local police must be halted. Quasi-military police training programs, like the one given to some Minneapolis police officers by Israeli companies, must be ended. Police are supposed to the servants of the people and not an armed force sent to occupy them. The time for rhetoric and “thoughts and prayers” is past. Cleveland Peace Action demands action NOW.

Don Bryant answers in this one minute video.

Then watch this short film on this absurd waste of taxpayer dollars from Brave New Films:

F-35: The Jet that Ate the Pentagon