Fascism: A guide for study and resistance
Gates of Heaven Synagogue
James Madison Park
302 E. Gorham Street
Madison, WI 53703
Contact city alders and be sure they have all of the following information and links.
Dear Alder:
We/I write to ask you to support a City of Madison Back from the Brink (BftB) Resolution. It calls on the federal government to honor the Nonproliferation Treaty of 1970 (NPT), embrace the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) of 2021 and take the following steps to reduce the risk of nuclear war:
Madison, Wisconsin declared itself a nuclear free zone in a 1983 ordinance and passed a proclamation in 2019 commemorating August 6th as Hiroshima Day and August 9th as Nagasaki Day. The 2019 proclamation also called on the US to live up to its obligations under the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty and cancel the nuclear weapons modernization program.
We are asking for the City to make a financial commitment that aligns with its history of advocacy for nuclear disarmament. The Madison Back from the Brink Resolution includes a pledge by the City to end investments in and contracts with companies involved in nuclear weapons production such as those listed in the 2022 Don’t Bank on the Bomb “Hall of Shame”. We look forward to developing a workable plan with City of Madison staff.
Over sixty-five US cities have passed the Back from the Brink Resolution.
Fifteen US cities have so far passed resolutions committing themselves to nuclear weapon free investments and/or contracts.
For additional information, see links below:
-12/2022 Background on Back from the Brink.
– Summary of Divestment Information
– PSR Wisconsin Back from the Brink web page
We are eagerly awaiting your support of this Resolution.
Sincerely,
Back from the Brink resolution Co-sponsors:
How much military does the US government have? It all depends on what you consider a base or a site or a combat machine or what the government wants you to know and what is to be secret.
U.S. Defense Spending Compared to Other Countries (pgpf.org)
“The United States spends more on national defense than China, India, Russia, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Germany, France, Japan, and South Korea — combined.”
These numbers do not include spending such as:
“U.S. bases represent 90-95 percent of the world’s foreign bases, constituting the largest collection of extraterritorial bases in world history…”
Military spending has many points of contention: Closing overseas bases isn’t one of them (2019)
BY MEDEA BENJAMIN, JOHN TIERNEY, DAVID VINE, AND COL. (RET.) LAWRENCE WILKERSON
USA’s Military Empire: A Visual Database – World BEYOND War * NEW 2022 *
Comparing US military to China: US has 20 times the nuclear warheads. Twice the tonnage of warships at sea. The US has over 800 overseas bases, China has 3. The US military has over 2000 fighter jets compared to China’s 600, and the Lockheed F-35 program is set to deliver 2500 nuclear capable jets.
Washington Post: The Pentagon is using China as an excuse for huge new budgets
https://twitter.com/FareedZakaria/status/1373696826205999107
How often does the US distribute weapons to those who use them against us or against innocent civilians and noncombatants. It is illegal for the US to arm human rights abusers or criminals, such as Israel and Saudi Arabia.
The US is Arms Salesman to the World
“…let’s talk military budgets:
The US will spend, if we want to be purists, $716 billion on the military. It’s actually a lot more because the National Security Agency is part of the military, and the CIA to all intents and purposes is military in nature and between them their secret budgets top more than the $50 billion that was leaked in a Congressional hearing eight years ago, and could be double that now since so much more US military activity is now handled by Special Forces acting under the direction of the CIA, but for sake of argument let’s just leave it at $716 billion.
Russia’s military budget is $65 billion, and even if you tripled that to account for how much more expensive everything is in the US from soldiers’ pay to weapons systems would represent less than a third of what the US spends.
China’s military budget is $183 billion, and again, you could double that if you like to account for different costs and it would still be less than half of the US military budget.
That is to say, even if you put the Chinese and Russian militaries together, their budgets would be significantly smaller than the US military budget.”
Counterpunch – MARCH 18, 2021
Let’s Stop Pretending Russia and China are Military Threats BY DAVE LINDORFF
“The US today is the main imperialist power in the world and responsible for around 1,000 foreign bases in about 172 countries. This is around 20 times the number of foreign military bases as all other countries in the world combined. The countries with the second and third highest number of foreign bases are Britain and France, 2 of the US’s NATO allies.”
International Conference Against US/NATO Military Bases
“MEMBERS OF THE U.S. special operations forces deployed to 154 countries, or roughly 80 percent of the world’s nations, last year, but information about exactly where elite forces conduct missions, under what authorities they operate, who they’ve killed, and whether they’re adhering to the laws of armed conflict is closely guarded, buried in obscure legal provisions, shrouded in secrecy, or allegedly unknown even to Special Operations Command…” 
The Intercept, March 20, 2021
WILL THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION SHINE LIGHT ON SHADOWY SPECIAL OPS PROGRAMS? by Nick Turse
At Least Seven Hundred Foreign Bases
“It’s not easy to assess the size or exact value of our empire of bases. Official records on these subjects are misleading, although instructive. According to the Defense Department’s annual “Base Structure Report” for fiscal year 2003, which itemizes foreign and domestic U.S. military real estate, the Pentagon currently owns or rents 702 overseas bases in about 130 countries and HAS another 6,000 bases in the United States and its territories…”
America’s Empire of Bases (2004)
By Chalmers Johnson
“While we are opposed to all foreign military bases, we do recognize that the United States maintains the highest number of military bases outside its territory, estimated at almost 1000 (95% of all foreign military bases in the world). Presently, there are U.S. military bases in every Persian Gulf country except Iran…”
Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases
David Vine on Closing U.S. Military Bases – November 30, 2018
The Scott Horton Show
“Today, while there are no foreign bases in the United States, there are around 800 U.S. bases in foreign countries…”
Trumping Democracy in America’s Empire of Bases (2017)
By David Vine
“It’s hard to say since this country has long been working to create and support global arsenals of autocracy. If the arms industry were truly focused on “defending democracy” on this planet, its firms would have already allowed the above-mentioned reforms to go through without objection, or even, heaven forbid, supported them. The fact that they won’t do so tells you all you need to know about their true intentions in what is for them a genuine gold-rush moment.”
“It’s not a matter of whether the war is not real or if it is. Victory is not possible.
The war is not meant to be won. It is meant to be continuous. A hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance.”
~ George Orwell ~
Sunday, March 12, 2023
Capitol Square, Madison, Wisconsin
