8/4/2023

JRB,

            You recently said the sale of semi-automatic weapons "has no social redeeming value… Not a single solitary rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturers." I agree & encourage you to take that logic & extend it. Let’s eliminate the profit motive from the manufacture of weapons of all kinds!

Lockheed Martin just returned $1.5 billion to shareholders. That’s taxpayer $$ & it’s going to rich folks. Do young folks understand this?  

If you can’t tell, after reading an article titled, “Niger becomes latest domino falling to Western-trained militaries” in Responsible Statescraft, I am riled up because “Paris & Washington shrugged at the darker sides of Bazoum’s rule, including substantial use of the state’s legal & administrative powers to constrain and marginalize political opponents & critics.”

            Let’s stop propping up corrupt governments. Let’s build peace at the local level where individuals can address power imbalance & tensions, as suggested by Peace Direct & other NGOs.

            Let’s also “transition from an extractive to a regenerative economy…. Given the military’s position as both the world’s largest employer & its largest institutional emitter of greenhouse gases, a just transition should prioritize helping defense workers, who represent some of the nation’s top engineers, find green jobs as well… (Let’s) pair cuts to defense spending with a green industrial policy that retrains & rehires defense workers.” I got these ideas from the New Republic.

            As always, do what you can for Burma. The editors at the WP point out that digital “snitches” are ratting on people who post critiques on social media. They ask that “everyone who cares about free expression must remain vigilant against the use of digital tools by despots to suppress it.” Please support Telegram’s efforts to provide a platform for activists to stay in touch.

            BYBS,