On February 23 and surrounding days, individuals and organizations around the world took coordinated action in their communities to call for the closure of all military bases as part of the Global Day of Action to Close Bases. Details about plans for the day, participants, motivations, and goals are at DayToCloseBases.org.
Over 60 events took place in Australia, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, England, Finland, Germany, Guam, Ireland, Japan, Lithuania, Malawi, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, South Korea, Sweden, United States, Venezuela, Wales, plus online events from Argentina, Bolivia, and Italy.
Over 70 organizations endorsed the day of action.
Events included a public demonstration in Malawi, petition deliveries to embassies in Cameroon, a march and protest on Jeju Island in South Korea, vigils and demonstrations at bases across Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Scotland, England, Germany, the United States, and Canada, and much more, including actions on five continents and Pacific islands. There were protests of U.S. bases in Sweden and of Russian bases in Belarus.
“The combined efforts of so many thousands of people today should alert us to the physically massive yet remarkably hidden problem of military bases,” said David Swanson, Executive Director of World BEYOND War, one of the organizations involved in planning the day.
“The impact of military bases on their surroundings are significantly underplayed and wide-ranging, from environmental and noise pollution, to creating an economic vacuum, to generating a hostile dynamic with local communities,” added Sean Conner, Executive Director of International Peace Bureau, another organization that planned the day of actions. “The proliferation of military bases and facilities has not made communities or nations safer, instead contributing to the growing military-industrial complex and straining relations between nations and peoples.”
The coalition of groups that created this day of action listed five reasons to demand the closure of bases:
- Bases often perpetuate colonialism, removing Indigenous people from their lands. From Panama to Guam to Puerto Rico to Okinawa to dozens of other locations across the world, militaries have taken valuable land from local populations, often pushing out Indigenous people in the process, without their consent and without reparations. For example, the entire population of the Chagos Islands was forcibly removed from the island of Diego Garcia by the UK so that it could be leased to the U.S. for an airbase.
- Bases cost an exorbitant amount of $$. The cost of U.S. foreign military bases alone is estimated at $80 billion a year, money that could be better spent on healthcare, education, renewable energy, and so much more.
- Bases exacerbate environmental damage and the climate crisis. Military emissions are exempted from climate agreements, like the Kyoto Protocol. The construction of bases has caused irreparable ecological damage, such as the destruction of coral reefs and the environment for endangered species in Henoko, Okinawa. Furthermore, it is well documented at hundreds of sites around the world that military bases leach toxic so-called “forever chemicals” (PFAS/PFOS) into local water supplies, which has had devastating health consequences for nearby communities.
- Bases can have violent and harmful impacts on local communities. Militaries have a notorious legacy of sexual violence, including kidnapping, rape, and murders of women and girls in nearby communities. Yet troops stationed at foreign bases are often afforded impunity for their crimes due to Status of Forces Agreements (SOFAs) with the so-called “host” country. Bases can also bring a rise in property taxes and inflation in areas surrounding them which has been known to push locals out.
- Bases heighten tensions and provoke war-making. The presence of hundreds of thousands of troops, massive arsenals, and thousands of aircraft, tanks, and ships in every corner of the globe facilitates war-making and promotes an arms race. Additionally, bases make locations into targets for attack. And foreign bases implicate countries in the crimes of foreign militaries.
Core mobilization organizers of this day of action were:
● No to War – No to NATO Network
● War Industry Resisters Network
For more information on the Global Day of Action to #CloseBases, see https://daytoclosebases.org and contact:
David Swanson, Executive Director of World BEYOND War, david@worldbeyondwar.org