Peace Action is the nation’s largest grassroots peace network, with chapters and affiliates in 30 states. It organizes its grassroots network to place pressure on Congress and the Administration through write-in campaigns, internet actions, citizen lobbying and direct action. Through a close relationship with progressive members of Congress, it plays a key role in devising strategies to move forward peace legislation, and, as a leading member of United for Peace and Justice and the Win Without War coalition, lends its expertise and large network to achieving common goals.
For 50 years Peace Action has worked for an environment where all are free from violence and war. It understands that long-standing global conflicts require long-term solutions, and that US foreign policy has a lasting effect on the world. It is working to promote a new US foreign policy that is based on peaceful support for human rights and democracy, eliminating the threat of weapons of mass destruction, and cooperation with the world community. It organizes against pre-emptive war, and calls for a full withdrawal of American troops, bases and contractors from Iraq.
There are still more than 30,000 nuclear weapons in the world. The US and Russia still have thousands of nuclear weapons on hair trigger alert ready to launch in minutes. While the Cold War may have ended, the nuclear threat has not. The only way to ensure that nuclear weapons will never be used – whether purposefully, or accidentally – is global abolition. The U.S. must lead the way to a safer world by taking our weapons off hair trigger alert, halting our research and development of new nuclear weapons and disarming and demilitarizing our warhead stockpile of over 10,000 nuclear warheads. We can reduce the threat to the world posed by nuclear weapons, but we must start by getting rid of our own weapons of mass destruction.
As the Pentagon s budget soars to over half a trillion dollars annually, 17% of American children live in poverty. Basic infrastructure is crumbling, schools are using outdated textbooks, and millions of Americans are without basic health insurance.
We have choices. For what the US has spent so far on the War in Iraq, either 48,801,253 children could have attended a year of Head Start, or we could have built 3,317,543 additional housing units for low-income people, or hired 6,385,283 additional public school teachers for one year, or provided 17,861,650 students four-year scholarships at public universities (according to the National Priorities Project). We believe that these are priorities that should come before war.
Peace Action recognizes that real change comes from the bottom up and it is committed to educating and organizing at the grassroots level. Together, we have the power to change the world.
Web site: http://www.peace-action.org/
