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.

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN TAKE ACTION TO DIVEST FROM WAR IN YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY:

Take the Pledge to Divest from the War Machine: Making the commitment to divest from the war machine is the first important step in joining a growing movement to divest from war and invest in life-affirming programs.

Urge your local Faith Communities to take action: Every major religious and ethical organization has taken a stand against war and violence as the solution to human conflict in the 21st Century. To move this position from theory to practice the Divest from the War Machine campaign invites faith communities to join cities and other institutions by divesting from the war machine. Faith communities must stand as the moral leaders in working to address the scourge of war by condemning and divesting from the companies that profit from selling the weapons that fuel violent conflicts around the world.

Sign the petition to tell Thrivent Financial to divest from war!

Click here to download our Divestment Guide for Faith Communities and Activists

Engage your local representatives: Weapons manufacturers and the NRA fund the campaigns of politicians to ensure they’ll continue to vote for more and more Pentagon spending every year. We can start to break this cycle by demanding that our politicians stop taking campaign contributions from weapons manufacturers. 

Take action now and email your Representative & Senators who have not yet committed to divesting from the war machine  

See how much money your Representative & Senators have taken from weapons manufacturers 

Download the Divest commitment and take it to your Representative & Senator’s office (including NRA).

Divest your city: Educating our local communities is the first step in in divesting from the war machine. Developing municipal resolutions that reflect our values is an important next step in divesting from war and weapons in our own communities. The Divest from the War Machine coalition has created this sample city council resolution to give citizens and municipal officials a roadmap in considering how their municipal policies can drive a new conversation around priorities that do not include supporting institutions that profit from war.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD OUR MAYORAL COMMITMENT

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD OUR MODEL CITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION

Divest your School: Students, alumni, and employees of universities and colleges are in a unique position to urge their school to divest its endowment from the war machine. Places of learning should not be supporting the companies that supply tools of warfare. Instead, schools should be supporting and nurturing a healthy and just society where community members are free from want and suffering, and are not financially supporting the suffering of others in the world.

Download our University guide for student activists here

Regardless of who you are or where you live, there are many ways you can get involved in our campaign to divest our local communities from the war machine. We at CODEPINK have the resources, the time, and the organizers to help you start to divest in your local communities. Email us at divest@codepink.org oe visit www.codepink.org/divest for more information.