Military spending must be decreased everywhere. Global arms expenditure is higher than at any time since WWII, and consumes 35 times the total cost of the entire United Nations system.
Now, NATO countries are being pressed to increase their military spending by a further 2% in the coming years. For European countries 2% GDP spending for the military means a minimum increase of 300 billion Euros (from 500 billion to 800 billion). The United States will be spending more than US$ 700 billion dollars on its military in 2018. Elsewhere, both China’s and India’s annual military spending will increase by 8% this year, while the Australian Government has announced it will assist growth in arms manufacturing and exports. Vast sums are being spent prosecuting wars in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere. Saudi Arabia has now overtaken Russia as the third-highest on the military spending list. This spending is draining financial resources from vital services: including from schools, day-care centres, public housing, hospitals, public transportation, municipal infrastructure, retirement pensions, environmental reconstruction, climate justice, and international aid for empowerment and capacity building.
Furthermore, there has been no public debate regarding the adoption of security policies which demand increasing expenditures for military rearmament. Instead, we really need to invest in more resources devoted to conflict prevention which should be a major objective of foreign and development policy.
The use of the military does not solve problems. We need to oppose increased militarization. Alternative policies are needed.
A good start would be: stop military rearmament, reduce tensions, build mutual trust and create support for development and social security. This requires a strong and well-financed United Nations.
All countries need to settle conflict with dialogue.
We will work to spread these ideas and commitments throughout our societies. We must stop military conflicts and international confrontation.
No to an increase in military expenditure – disarming is the order of the day!
As the appeal evolved from a campaign, which was started in Germany in 2017 most of the German signatories can only be found on the German appeal (https://abruesten.jetzt/).
Initiated by:
Reiner Braun, Co-President of IPB (International Peace Bureau) | Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation) | Noam Chomsky, Professor at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) | Lisa Clark, Co-President of IPB (International Peace Bureau) | Paul Crutzen, Nobel Laureate of Chemistry| Marie Dennis, Co-President of Pax Christi International, USA | Bishop Kevin Dowling, C.SS.R, Co-President of Pax Christi International, South Africa | Antje Heider – Pottweil, Oberkirchenrätin i.R (member of the High Consistory), President of Church and Peace | Philip Jennings, General Secretary of UNI Global Union | Jagoda Munič, Director of Friends of the Earth Europe| Karin Nansen, Chairperson of Friends of the Earth International| Greet Vanaerschot, Secretary General of Pax Christi International
Signatories:
Gabriel Amard, Oranteur national de la France Insoumise, France | Samir Amin, Chair World Forum for Alternatives, Senegal | Jim Anderson , President of Peace Action New York State, USA| Maria Arvaniti-Sotiropoulou, President of IPPNW-Greece, Greece| Judith Benda, Die LINKE, Germany | Brigitte Berthouzoz, Parti Suisse du Travail, Switzerland| Pepe Beunza, First objector for political reasons Spain, Spain | Heinz Bierbaum, Die LINKE/European Left, Germany| Sonja Boeck Lid, Poet, Norway | Vincent Boulet, PCF, France | Kai Brand-Jacobsen, Director Department of Peace Operations, Romania | Ingeborg Breines, former director UNESCO, Norway | Annette Brownlie, Chairperson of IPAN, Australia | Giovanna Capelli, Partito Rifondazione Comunista, Italy | Anuradha Chenoy, India | Rheinhold Christian, Geschäftsführender Präsident Forum Wissenschaft und Umwelt, Austria | Jenny Clegg, CND National Council, UK | Gerry Condon, President of Veterans For Peace, USA | Ludo De Brabander, spokesperson Vrede vzw, Belgium| Jose de Centella, Partido Comunista España, Spain | Jayantha Dhanapala, former UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs 1998-2003 former President of Pugwash 2007-2017, Sri Lanka | Pol Dhuyvetter, Founder Peace University Babilônia, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | David Edwards, General Secretary Education International, USA | Carolyn Eisenberg, History Department, Hofstra University, USA | Aleksej Eliseev, Belarusian Left “Fair world”, Belarus | Tel Emel, President of Cyprus Turkish Teachers’ Trade Union, Cyprus | David Fernández, former member of the Catalan Parliament, Spain/Catalonia | Marga Ferrè, Izquierda-Unido (United Left), Spain | Paolo Ferrero, Partito Rifondazione Comunista, Italy | Tica Font, Director International Catalan Institute for Peace, Spain/Catalonia | Waltraud Fritz, KPÖ, Austria | Joseph Gainza, Vermont Action for Peace, USA | Ramon Garrabou, Professor of Agrarian History UdG, Spain | Lindsey German, Stop the War, UK | Joseph Gerson, President, Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security, American Friends Service Committee, USA | Subrata Ghoshroy, MIT, Co-Chair of INES, USA | Xavier Giró, Professor of Journalism UAB, Spain | Van Gosse, Co-Chair Historians for Peace and Democracy, USA | Rafael Grasa, Professor of International Relations UAB, Spain | Theresa Griffin, MEP for the North West of England, UK | Birgitte Grimstad, singer, Norway | Gregor Gysi, Chair of the European Left, Germany | William D. Hartung, Director Arms and Security Project, Center for International Policy, USA | Johanne Margrethe Hartwig, Head Hardanger Academy for Development, Peace and Environment, Norway | Claudia Haydt, Board Member of the European Left, Germany | Dudley Herschbach, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1986, USA | Mikael Hertoft, Enhedslisten/Red-Green Alliance, Denmark | Angelika Hilbeck, ETH, ENSSER, Germany | Jlri Hudcek, SDS, Czech Republic | Kate Hudson, General Secretary Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, UK | Garry Jacobs, Chief Executive Officer World Academy of Art & Science, USA | Inger V. Johansen, Enhedslisten/Red-Green Alliance, Denmark | Birgitta Jonsdottir, Chairman for IMMI, Pirate Party, Iceland | Murat Kanatlı, YKP, Cyprus | Tawakkol Karman, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Yemen | Marylia Kelley, Executive Director Tri-Valley CAREs, USA | Martin Karplus, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2013, Harvard University, USA | David Krieger, President Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, USA | Sonja Krohn, Norway out of Nato, Norway | Jean-Paul Lainé, President of the WFSW, France | Pierre Laurent, Secrétaire National, Parti Communiste Français, France | Joaquim Lleixà, Professor of political science UAB, Spain | David Llistar, Director of the Office for Global Justice of the City Council of Barcelona, Spain | Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize 1976, Ireland | Jlri Malek, SDS, Czech Republic | Giorgio Marasa, Sinistra Italiana, Italy | Tayfun Mater, ODP, Turkey | Federico Mayor Zaragoza, Former UNESCO General Director, Spain | Michael McKinley, Prof. Emeritus Faculty Australian National University, Australia | Jean-Pierre Michiels, Parti Communiste, Belgium | Maite Mola, Partido Comunista España, Spain | Yanina Muazouskaya, Belarusian Left “Fair world”, Belarus | Roland Nivet, Le Mouvement de la Paix spokesperson, France | Tasio Oliver, Izquierda Unida, Spain | Arcadi Oliveres, President International University of Peace, Spain/Catalonia | Leoluca Orlando, Mayor of Palermo, Italy | Pere Ortega, President Centre Delàs d’Estudis per la Pau, Spain | Kyriakos Pachoulides, Co-President of Association for Historical Dialogue and Research, Cyprus | Jaime Pastor, Professor of Political Science, UNED, Spain | Bishnu Pathak, Senior Commissioner Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP), Nepal | Gerardo Pisarello, First Deputy Mayor of the City Council of Barcelona, Spain | John Polanyi, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1986, University of Toronto, Canada | Gloria Ramirez, Présidente de l’AIEP (Chair International Association of Educators for Peace), Mexico | Albert Recio, Professor d’Economia Aplicada de la UAB, Spain/Catalonia | Bob Rigg, former Chair, NZ National Consultative Committee on Disarmament, New Zealand | Xulio Rios, Director of IGADI, Spain| Jaroslav Roman, CPBDM, Czech Republic | Alain Rouy, Chair of Enseignants pour la Paix, France | Itziar Ruiz Giménez, Professor of Political Science UAM, Spain | Saila Ruuth, Left Alliance, Finland | Anne Sabourin, PCF, France | Wera Sæther, writer, Norway | Paula Shaw, WILPF, UK | Cristina Simó, Partido Comunista España, Spain | Murray Smith, Déi Lénk, Luxembourg | Mark Solomon, Professor of History, Emeritus, USA | Jack Steinberger, Nobel Prize in Physics 1988, Switzerland | Lefteris Stoufcogeorges, Syriza, Greece | Inna Supac, Party of Communists, Moldova | David Swanson, Director of World Beyond War, USA | Carlos Taibo, Spain | Marlis Tepe, Vice President Education International, Germany | Natessa Theodorakopoulou, Syriza, Greece | Paul Thévenin, Déi Lénk, Luxemburg | Panos Trigazis, President PADOP, Greece | Juha-Pekka Väisänen, SKP, Finland | Attila Vajnai, KPH 2006, Hungary | Dave Webb, President of CND, UK | Peter Weish, Ökobüro Austria, Austria | Chico Whitaker, Alternative Nobel Prize 2016 (Right Livelihood Award), Philippines | Ann Wright, resigned United States Army colonel, member of CODEPINK USA | Francis Wurtz, député honoraire du Parlement Européen, France | Jean Ziegler, Vice-President of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee UN, Switzerland | Gabriele Zimmer, Chair of the Confederal Group of the European United Left – Nordic Green Left, Germany.
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