The United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs made a statement on the occasion of GDAMS in support of our efforts to demilitarize for development. “In her message to mark the Global Day of Action on Military Spending, the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Angela Kane, highlighted the vast hidden human cost of excessive [...]
Through four months of fruitful outreach, fortifying and expanding the network of civil society groups that make up the Global Day on Military Spending (GDAMS) coalition, the second Global Day last Tuesday, 17 April, was a tremendous success worldwide. The International Peace Bureau (IPB) and the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) were able to convince [...]
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI, has published its annual calculations of global military spending. This year there is some reason for hope, as the slight increase in military spending around the world marks a major slowdown compared to global trends since September 11, 2001. Nevertheless, spending did go up from 2010, and modest cuts will not be enough to free up the resources necessary to reach the millennium development goals, nor to mark a true reversal of priorities from militarism and corporate greed to human needs and environmental sustainability.
The former Costa Rican President and 1987 Nobel Peace Prize winner has done us the honor of putting together this video in honor of the Global Day of Action on Military Spending! Without an army, Costa Rica has been able to invest public resources in the public interest – education, healthcare, development, humanity. Arias shares [...]
Our final Newsletter before the big day on April 17th is here. In it you will find a summary of the events planned around the world – we’re on every continent, in more than 35 countries with over 100 actions! You’ll also see some important reminders on how to maximize your event’s impact. We especially [...]
March 1st, 2012 
editor 
Check out our new February Newsletter entitled “Military Spending: Anti-Development.” In it, we talk about the global development agenda, the Rio+20 Earth Summit, and how Military Spending factors into the equation. It’s clear that with over $1.6 trillion of global resources being wasted in the military industries, the resources that need to be devoted to [...]
February 27th, 2012 editor 
EUObserver.com covers the recently-released Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) data on the European weapons market. Despite the economic crisis that has unemployment rates well over 20% in several EU countries, and austerity that threatens to destroy the European social safety net, over 75 billion Euro were made on arms sales in Eurozone countries. Check [...]
February 27th, 2012 editor 
Looking for some great visuals for your GDAMS action? Check out these graphics from New Internationalist Magazine for some inspiration. Transform them into signs and visual displays to show everyone just how much money is spent and wasted on war industries (and who spends the most)!
February 21st, 2012 editor Check out this exhaustive document released by our partner Org. Pax Christi. It’s a great resource on development, including on the estimated costs of the Millennium Development Goals, and on why development only seems so out of reach because of the elephant in the room: Military Spending.
January 29th, 2012 editor 
Our first Newsletter of 2012 is finally here! In it we will sum up global and regional trends in military spending, touch on a few of the development needs the world faces and cover a few steps you can start to take towards planning your action! There’s also a sneak peek of what we’ve got planned in Washington DC for April 17th!
January 27th, 2012 editor 
This graphic, released in the wake of announced budget-increase slowdowns from the Pentagon, shows the areas of the U.S. Military that readers of the Times would cut. Have a look, and play imperialist and design your own military budget here!
January 27th, 2012 editor 
This analysis from Steven Kull at World Public Opinion shows how ready Americans are to cut military spending. Polling on the subject reveals that less informed respondents are less likely to favor cuts. GDAMS participants should focus on raising peoples’ awareness of just how wasteful and excessive military spending is, and what human cost that carries.
Kull writes:
“As respondents are given more information, support for reductions rises. When Quinnipiac University in March simply told respondents that defense, Social Security and Medicare together constitute more than half of the federal budget, 54% favored cutting defense spending.
EVENT REPORTS & PHOTOS
Photos, videos, and reports are coming in from all over the world. Check out our Event Reports page to see the worldwide success of GDAMS 2012!
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