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Dear John,
It’s up to us to prevent wider war.
We’re in a dangerous moment. War rages on in Ukraine, with no end in sight. This month, the world narrowly averted escalating military exchanges between Israel and Iran [[link removed]] . That tension was sparked by the devastation of Gaza, which is morphing from unfettered bombing into an entirely preventable famine. [[link removed]]
Each of these conflicts threatens to spiral into wider war.
Meanwhile, Congress just threw gasoline on the flames with $95 billion in new spending primarily to feed those wars. That money would be enough to power every household in the U.S. with solar electricity [[link removed]] - with money to spare.
We desperately need more diplomacy to prevent wider war and save lives, but that’s not the priority in this new funding.
This is a long-standing pattern. Last year, the average taxpayer - people like you - contributed $3,719 for the Pentagon and war [[link removed]] , versus just $58 for diplomacy - and less than $11 for renewable energy and energy efficiency.
We can change this. Around the U.S., protests of the war crimes in Gaza continue. Student protests of the war in Gaza are growing [[link removed]] , and beginning to meet with success. [[link removed]]
Our country’s spending priorities continue to enable war. But they don’t have to stay that way.
In solidarity,
Lindsay, Alliyah and Kufre
P.S. Check out our 2023 tax receipt here. [[link removed]]
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TRADEOFF: WAR vs. SOLAR POWER
Congress recently passed a months-in-the-making $95 billion war package [[link removed]] , and Biden promptly signed off on it. That amount is many times more than the $1 billion for global climate aid that Biden has pledged.
That $95 billion could transform the electrical grid of the U.S., providing every household with solar energy, with billions of dollars to spare.
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U.S. MILITARY SPENDING VS. THE WORLD
In 2023, the U.S. spent more on its military than the next 9 countries, combined - and far more than the bottom 144 countries combined. The U.S. spent nearly 8.5 times as much on its military than Russia does. And U.S. spending was slightly more than 3 times that of China, amidst an atmosphere of growing hostility with the United States. The recent TikTok ban [[link removed]] as well as growing conflict in the green energy [[link removed]] and semiconductor industries [[link removed]] have slowly been warming the cold war between the two nations.
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Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. [[link removed]]
PROTEST LIKE IT'S 1968
The war in Gaza recently passed its 200th day and student movements around the United States have been out showing their support for the Palestinian people [[link removed]] .
At Columbia University, 100 students were arrested on April 18th and had their tents and belongings destroyed by law enforcement officers, in an echo of protests more than a generation ago [[link removed]] . Since then, a wave of student protests - and arrests - has spread across the country. [[link removed]]
The protests are having an effect. Students at Portland State University protesting the war in Gaza recently won a pause on donations to the school from weapons manufacturer Boeing [[link removed]] .
"To give Netanyahu more offensive weapons at this stage, I believe, is to condone the destruction of Gaza that we’ve seen in the last six months."
- Representative Becca Balint (D-VT), on voting 'no' on Israeli military aid [[link removed]]
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READ/ WATCH/ LISTEN
Last Year, You Spent More Than a Month’s Rent on Pentagon Contractors [[link removed]]
Lindsay Koshgarian, OtherWords
An Earth Day Present to the Planet From Congress: $95 Billion for War [[link removed]]
Alliyah Lusuegro, Common Dreams
Immigration Makes Our Country Stronger. Cruelty Makes It Weak. [[link removed]]
Archi Pyati, OtherWords
Stopping the Dance of Death: Building a 21st Century Anti-War Movement [[link removed]]
Phyllis Bennis, Common Dreams
LISTEN: The Take: How much of Americans’ tax money funds war? [[link removed]]
with Lindsay Koshgarian, Al Jazeera
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National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies
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