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

[James Lark]

Dear colleagues:

     I hope all is well with you.  I am writing in my capacity as Region 
5 representative to vote "nay" on the motion.

     As always, thank you for your work for liberty.

     Take care,
     Jim

     James W. Lark, III
     Dept. of Systems and Information Engineering
     Applied Mathematics Program, Dept. of Engineering and Society
     Affiliated Faculty, Dept. of Statistics
     University of Virginia

     Advisor, The Liberty Coalition
     University of Virginia

     Region 5 Representative, Libertarian National Committee
-----

On 8/28/2017 3:06 AM, Alicia Mattson wrote:
> 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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