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

[Patrick McKnight]

I vote no.

Patrick McKnight
Region 8 Rep

On Sep 3, 2017 9:30 AM, "James Lark" <jwl3s at eservices.virginia.edu> wrote:

> 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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>
>
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