This July 4, we’re not celebrating. We know that no one is free and liberated until we all are — and war oppresses everyone. Instead of celebrating, we’re taking to the streets in car caravans across the country to demand liberation from police and war. We have caravans in cities from Washington D.C. to Taos, to San Francisco. Sign up here to engage locally to call for independence from cops and war

For true liberation, we need to defund the police and defund war. Did you know that the Pentagon has so much money they’ve sent $7.4 billion in “surplus” military weapons to local police departments since the 1990’s?

We spend over 55% of our discretionary budget on the Pentagon every year and almost half of that money goes into the pockets of private weapons manufacturers while the American people remain without sufficient health care or other necessities.

Even if you can’t join a car caravan this weekend, you can join us in demanding liberation from police and war by contacting your Representative and Senators and ask them to support a 10% cut to the Pentagon budget   

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CODEPINK has endorsed the Poor People’s Campaign’s Moral Budget to emphasize a simple framework: We need to divest $350 billion from the Pentagon budget and instead invest it in social programs like Universal healthcare, education, and a Green New Deal. We also need to enact these priorities in our local communities, taking action to #DivestFromWar locally. 

This week Congresswomen Barbara Lee, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Pramilla Jayapal have introduced a historic bill to cut the Pentagon budget by a whopping $350 billion—the exact amount called for by the Poor People’s Campaign.

Will you help them make history and ask your representative to support Barbara Lee and over 20 organizations who have endorsed the bill to cut Pentagon spending and invest in social programs?

Not only do we have to advocate to cut the Pentagon budget so we can invest in programs that will benefit people, we also have to work to organize people to take on the war machine in their local communities.

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by Ruth Robertson
Tuesday May 26th, 2020 9:10 AM

Photos by Simona Martin, Pro Bono Photo. Please credit the photographer.

On May 25, a Peace Caravan of activists drove in decorated cars through the streets of San Jose to demand human rights to health, housing, education, a living wage and all the components of a dignified life. The colorful caravan of about a dozen cars ended their protest at a homeless encampment where they made a donation and received thanks from Scott Wagers who serves and ministers to the city’s unhoused.

Participants in a Peace Caravan on Memorial Day say the holiday was established as a day to honor American service members who died in wars. But, they said on May 25th, glorification of war has never seemed more wrong than now, during this pandemic.

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