[Lnc-business] Email Ballot 2017-18: Unity Statement

[Alicia Mattson]

We have an electronic mail ballot.


*Votes are due to the LNC-Business list by September 7, 2017 at 11:59:59pm
Pacific time.*
*Co-Sponsors:*  Vohra, Bittner, Harlos, Demarest

*Motion:*  The Chair is authorized by the LNC to sign the following
petition on behalf of the LNC:  http://noforeignbases.org/

--------------------Resolution Text--------------------

Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases

Unity Statement

We, the undersigned peace, justice and environmental organizations, and
individuals, endorse the following Points of Unity and commit ourselves to
working together by forming a Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military
Bases, with the goal of raising public awareness and organizing non-violent
mass resistance against U.S. foreign military bases.

While we may have our differences on other issues, we all agree that U.S.
foreign military bases are the principal instruments of imperial global
domination and environmental damage through wars of aggression and
occupation, and that the closure of U.S. foreign military bases is one of
the first necessary steps toward a just, peaceful and sustainable world.
Our belief in the urgency of this necessary step is based on the following
facts:

1.  While we are opposed to all foreign military bases, we do recognize
that the United States maintains the highest number of military bases
outside its territory, estimated at almost 1000 (95% of all foreign
military bases in the world). Presently, there are U.S. military bases in
every Persian Gulf country except Iran.

2.  In addition, the United States has 19 Naval air carriers (and 15 more
planned), each as part of a Carrier Strike Group, composed of roughly 7,500
personnel, and a carrier air wing of 65 to 70 aircraft — each of which can
be considered a floating military base.

3.  These bases are centers of aggressive military actions, threats of
political and economic expansion, sabotage and espionage, and crimes
against local populations. In addition, these military bases are the
largest users of fossil fuel in the world, heavily contributing to
environmental degradation.

4.  The annual cost of these bases to the American taxpayers is
approximately $156 billion. The support of U.S. foreign military bases
drains funds that can be used to fund human needs and enable our cities and
States to provide necessary services for the people.

5.  This has made the U.S. a more militarized society and has led to
increased tensions between the U.S. and the rest of the world. Stationed
throughout the world, almost 1000 in number, U.S. foreign military bases
are symbols of the ability of the United States to intrude in the lives of
sovereign nations and peoples.

6.  Many individual national coalitions — for example, Okinawa, Italy, Jeju
Island Korea, Diego Garcia, Cyprus, Greece, and Germany — are demanding
closure of bases on their territory. The base that the U.S. has illegally
occupied the longest, for over a century, is Guantánamo Bay, whose
existence constitutes an imposition of the empire and a violation of
International Law. Since 1959 the government and people of Cuba have
demanded that the government of the U.S. return the Guantánamo territory to
Cuba.

U.S. foreign military bases are NOT in defense of U.S. national, or global
security. They are the military expression of U.S. intrusion in the lives
of sovereign countries on behalf of the dominant financial, political, and
military interests of the ruling elite. Whether invited in or not by
domestic interests that have agreed to be junior partners, no country, no
peoples, no government, can claim to be able to make decisions totally in
the interest of their people, with foreign troops on their soil
representing interests antagonistic to the national purpose.

We must all unite to actively oppose the existence of U.S. foreign military
bases and call for their immediate closure. We invite all forces of peace,
social and environmental justice to join us in our renewed effort to
achieve this shared goal.

---------------End of Resolution Text---------------

-Alicia
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