IPB – GDAMS final Statement

The international Peace Bureau (IPB) has been organising the Global Campaign Against Military Spending (GCOMS) since 2011. This year, the campaign was held from the 10^th of April to the 17^th of May. Due to the Corona Virus, most actions took place online.

After five weeks of awareness-raising, demonstrations and other events, it is high time to look back on this month of campaigning. Jordi Calvo, Vice President of IPB, takes stock of the situation. During one month, over 150 actions took place in more than 30 countries on all 5 continents. An appeal was launched, to ask governments to reduce their military spending at the beginning of the campaign. Nearly 200 organizations endorsed the appeal around the world.

The campaign has had a huge impact on twitter as well: it reached an audience of 34 million people. Conferences and webinars were organised and vigils gathered people on the street. Jordi Calvo took the time to thank the many people involved in this campaign, and also stressed the importance of keeping on fighting for military spending to be reallocated to sectors such as health and education.

IPB Executive Director Reiner Braun highlighted the need for a campaign against military spending. Due to the amount of money spent every year for military purposes and the need for money in various other areas related to human well-being. “GCOMS is the only one that combines military spending with issues related to human needs”, according to Reiner Braun. Lastly, he wished that the campaign could gain momentum with new societal forces and new countries. And hoped that the campaign could once again move to the streets.