National Budget Priorities: Cut Military Spending and Fund Our Communities; Move the Money Action Toolkit

Just as peace is more than the absence of war, national security is more than planes and bombs; it includes jobs, schools, housing, and healthcare.

AFSC is calling for:

• Deep cuts in the Pentagon budget
• Raising revenues through taxes on the wealthy and corporations
• Continuing protection for programs that aid the most vulnerable
• Short-run investments to stimulate job creation

AFSC: Shaping a Just National Budget

National Priorities Project

Fund Our Communities! Reduce Military Spending! Massachusetts Network

Military Spending and Jobs in Massachusetts - May 2012 Study by UMass Amherst's Political Economy Research Institute
'Massachusetts loses in two ways when federal dollars are allocated to the military beyond the actual security needs of the nation: it loses funds that may be used for education, healthcare, investment in infrastructure and environment and it loses the larger number of potential jobs that would be created from these alternate uses of federal dollars.'

Fund Our Future – Boston Public Hearing, April 22, 2011

Debt, Deficits & Defense: A Way Forward - Report of the Sustainable Defense Task Force

“Taking Aim at the Pentagon Budget” – The Nation – April 11, 2011

“How to Save a Trillion Dollars" - Time Magazine – April 25, 2011

New Priorities Network

Costly Inheritance: how to tackle the triple root of US debt that has been passed to us - Linda Blimes, Boston Globe - April 27, 2011

Move the Money action toolkit

Bring the war dollars home

Use this toolkit to talk to your community, the news media, and directly to Congress about keeping resources in your community.

AFSC Responds to the NATO Summit

NATO Counter Summit 2012cover

AFSC and our lead partner Peace Action, along with 38 endorsing organizations, worked for a year to organize a counter-summit to the official NATO Summit. This Counter-Summit was a remarkable convergence of peace, economic and social justice activists from across the country and around the world.

NATO Report.pdf

2012 Counter-Summit for Peace & Economic Justice Final Report

The May 18-19, 2012 Counter-Summit for Peace and Economic Justice, held in Chicago at the People’s Church was extraordinarily successful.  The conference - initiated by the American Friends Service Committee and Peace Action and organized in collaboration with 38 partner organizations - brought together 300+ peace, economic and social justice leaders and activists from 27 states and 16 countries. 

Final Report.doc

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Article by Dr. Joseph Gerson in Truthout: 'Kick the Habit: Fund Our Communities, Not War'

Dr. Joseph Gerson*, July 16, 2012

Full article available for download below or at Truthout

Question to Rev. Ulises Torres (former tortured Chilean political prisoner): "When do you know if you have a military government?"

Answer: "Look at your national budget."

Kick the Habit - Fund Our Communities, Not War.doc

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