Norwegian Peace Council
GDAMS in Norway was organized for the second time by Norwegian Peace Council together with other organizations from the Peace House in Oslo. The Norwegian Peace Association, Grandmothers for Peace, No to Nuclear Weapon, Changemaker, Peace Brigades International, Conscience and Peace Tax Norway put all their efforts to organize a meaningful and important day. The event was consisted of two integral parts: an action in the city and a panel debate with experts. The action took place in front of parliament in Oslo which is the most visible venue in the city. Each organization had a stand where it could present its issues in relation to GDAMS. This year GDAMS was dedicated to one of the most important issues in Norwegian military policy – buying of the fighter plane F-35. We wanted to pay attention of the citizens to the problem of how our tax money is spent. Passersby have received a symbolic note of Norwegian currency Krone and they could decide how to spend their money; military spending or social needs? The voice of Norwegian citizens was strongly against military spending. People were indicating the need of important social issues: education, health service or investment in the public transport. The panel debate was an occasion to resolve potential doubts. The discussion was led by Hedda Langemyr, director of Norwegian Peace Council. Our main expert was John Berg – defense analyst who presented his last book “Kampflyene som bomber forsvarsevnen”. Alexander Harang from the Norwegian Peace Association presented report on military spending, what gave an overview about current situation. The audience actively took part in discussion afterwards.