Events are being planned around the world to bury the Monroe Doctrine
on or about its 200th birthday on December 2, 2023, including in
Mexico, Colombia, Wisconsin, Virginia, etc. We’ll be posting the events
(and you can add your own) here.
The event in Virginia will be a burying of the Monroe Doctrine at
Monroe’s house at the University of Virginia, and Monroe himself may
make an appearance.
These resources may help:
There is probably a town, county, city, school, street, or monument named for James Monroe near you in the U.S., especially in Virginia (here too), or in Liberia, or in Argentina (here too).
Large version of image above.
Articles.
Book.
Online Course.
Descendants of people enslaved by Monroe.
Propaganda film with response.
Newspaper Theater (from Daphne Agosin and WBW Chicago).
Sample graphic.
Sample Flyer.
Sample Press Advisory.
Media Outreach Tips.
Sample Slide Show.
Sample Video Presentations: one, two, three, four, five.
Bumper sticker.
Letter to Biden calling for a real Good Neighbor policy for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Sample Letter to the Editor (you can use even if you don't plan an event):
The Monroe Doctrine turns 200 on December 2, 2023. The lines
excerpted, years later, from President James Monroe’s 1823 speech and
established as a “doctrine” have been used ever since to assert U.S.
dominance over the Western Hemisphere.
This doctrine has been used to justify numerous wars against and
dispossession of lands from Native Americans, as well as the
Mexican-American War, the Spanish-American War, and all variety of
coups, sanctions, and economic pressure.
While approximately half of the U.S. political establishment now
renounces the Monroe Doctrine in words, in actions there is less
disagreement. In fact, this first-ever doctrine (a concept found nowhere
in the U.S. Constitution) has led to many more presidential doctrines,
the accumulation of which has effectively expanded the Monroe Doctrine
globally.
When the United States began expanding westward, it was aided by the
belief that in supposedly opposing European imperialism, nothing it did
itself could be imperialistic, as well as the beliefs that anyone would
naturally want to be conquered by the United States, not to mention the
belief that many people were not fully persons at all – a belief
supported when, also in 1823, the Doctrine of Discovery was put into
U.S. law.
Now U.S. wars and weapons shipments are alleged to spread democracy,
defend the innocent, and guard U.S. “interests” – a concept with its
roots in the Monroe Doctrine. But the reality has never been as
advertised. The U.S. has never done much to support Latin American
democracies — quite the reverse. The Monroe Doctrine is not a legal
concept. And the world could not long survive two or more nations
advancing expanding Monroe Doctrines.
The time has come to hold a funeral for the very idea of imposing
U.S. will on other nations, for their own good or otherwise, and to
establish a new doctrine of peacemaking, the rule of law, cooperation,
demilitarization, and mutual respect.
On December 2nd there will be an event ____________________________.
***********
Sample replacement for the Monroe Doctrine to read at events:
The occasion is long overdue for asserting, as a principle for the
future conduct of the United States government, that other nations will
be treated with the respect that this government would like to be
treated with itself. Violations of the rights of one nation by another
will be referred by the U.S. government to international courts, which
the U.S. government will support, join, and hold itself likewise
accountable to. Such violations will not be used as excuses for wars by
the U.S. military. Nor will the U.S. government any longer speak of
distant imperial wars as “defensive” or of U.S. “interests” as
justifications for wars. The U.S. government will cease arming,
training, and funding foreign militaries, police, and prison guards,
cease sanctioning foreign populations, cease interferring in foreign
elections, and cease imposing conditions on foreign nations through
financial and trade policies. The U.S. government will join and support
human rights and disarmament treaties, hold other nations to the same
standard through its example and non-hypocritical action through a
democratized United Nations or replacement thereof. The United States
government will maintain itself as one among equals, and as an honest
beneficiary of nations less wealthy and of nations that have not done
the same sort of damage to our collective natural environment. U.S.
policy will be formed, not through extra-legal doctrines, but through
democratic or representative decision making, respecting all human and
environmental rights.
************
Let us know what you're up to!
—World BEYOND War
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