Watch Our Annual Peace Rally – Recorded May 29, Memorial Day at the Gates of Heaven in Madison, Wisconsin

Memorial Day Peace Rally 2023 

No to War, No to Fascism

Link to the Video

– The Progressive and Veterans for Peace –
at Gates of Heaven 

  • Emcee Norm Stockwell, publisher of The Progressive

 

 

 

 

  • Keynote Speaker Matt Rothschild, executive director of Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, former editor and publisher of The Progressive
  • Music by Old Cool 

  • Speakers: Father David Couper, Daryl Sherman, Paul McMahon and Will Williams

  • Bagpipes by Sean Michael Dargan

Thank you for everyone involved in making this event possible, and much appreciation to everyone who was able to join us. Thanks to Norm and The Progressive for producing the video. Photos from the event by Phil Fransen.

As we leave the event, we lay carnations at the base of the memorial for the actions of the Lincoln Brigade a who resisted fascism and promoted freedom.

 

Critical thought trumps fascism.

Fascism: A guide for study and resistance

 

Gates of Heaven Synagogue
James Madison Park
302 E. Gorham Street
Madison, WI 53703

“As people pass the little chapel in James Madison Park, few realize that the chapel was built in 1863. First located at 214 West Washington Avenue, it was designed and built by the first group of Jewish immigrants to arrive in Madison…”

The Progressive Inc. publishes The Progressive magazine and Progressive.org. They also operate the Public Schools Advocate and the Progressive Media Project/Progressive Perspectives as well as the annual “Fighting Bob Fest.”

Like us on Facebook: Madison VFP

The Progressive on Facebook

Photo by Terry Talbot, Talbot Gallery 2118

 

 

 

Ban Nuclear Weapons ~ Madison Alder Contact ~ #BackFromTheBrink

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:

  • 350 Madison,
  • Dane County Chapter of United Nations Association,
  • First Unitarian Society Social Justice Ministry,
  • Four Lakes Green Party, 
  • Friends Meeting of Madison,
  • Interfaith Peace Working Group
  • Madison Mennonite Church,
  • Physicians for Social Responsibility – Wisconsin,
  • Prairie Unitarian Universalist Society Social Action Committee,
  • Progressive Dane,
  • Raging Grannies of Madison/Dane County, 
  • Reverend Franz Rigert, Conference Minister of General Synod of United Church of Christ (UCC passed the resolution at the General Synod in June 2019),
  • Veterans for Peace – Chapter 25,
  • Wisconsin Network for Peace & Justice
  • Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and
  • World BEYOND War  

 

How Much is Enough? A Look at the US Military (Updated)

How much military does the US government have?

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:

* War Budget and interest on war debt
* Department of Energy (nuclear)
* Other Defense
* Homeland Security
* Military Aid at the State Department
* Intelligence
* Veterans
* Military Retirement

 

Mapping Militarism *New* from World Beyond War

Maps and background to allow you to explore the world, now and back through the years.

  • Which nations are spending how much money on militaries? Which are spending how much per capita?
  • Which are exporting weapons? Which are importing weapons from the dominant weapons exporter (hint: it’s also the self-appointed captain of the Rules Based Order)?

 


Counter-terrorism or terrorism?  Interesting maps.  Numbers seem very conservative.


“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

 

 


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

Home | Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

 



“…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.”

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


 

 

 


 

Military dot com: Base Guide  

 


 

“Today, while there are no foreign bases in the United States, there are around 800 U.S. bases in foreign countries…”

The official website for writer and professor 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 ~