Webinar: End Militarism to Stop Climate Change

Communities across the U.S. and across the world have been devastated by military occupation, war, and state-sanctioned police violence. The U.S. military is also the single largest consumer of fossil fuels in the world and has served as the enforcer of the occupation of Indigenous sovereign lands while upholding violent resource extraction across the world. Addressing climate change requires ending the military-industrial complex. At the same time, increasingly militarized police forces perpetrate harm in Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, Arab, Pacific Islander communities, poor, and marginalized people, and violence against women, and gender non-conforming peoples.

A Just Transition to a Regenerative Economy must end wars, military culture, and the violence of militarized forces and police in our communities and across the world.

Anti-militarism and Abolitionist movements in the U.S. and delegates from our communities will convene in a virtual town hall with our international allies in the Global south while participating in the 2021 UNFCC in Glasgow, Scotland.

We will hear testimonies from communities resisting militarism and occupation in their communities both inside and outside the U.S. and ultimately call on U.S. elected officials to take action to move away from funding unending wars and military presence and prioritize investing in regeneration and repair for communities impacted by militarism in the U.S and all over the planet.

Speakers will include:

Participants at the COP26 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Glasgow:

• Alejandria Lyons – Southwest Organizing Project
• Ramon Mejia – GGJ Alliance
• Sheila Babauta – Micronesia Climate Change Alliance
• Sharif Zakout – Arab Resource & Organizing Center

Testimonies from international allies from the Global South and frontline community leaders in the U.S.:

• Seydi Sarr – African Bureau of Immigration and Social Affairs (ABISA)
• Kyle Kajihiro – Oahu Water Protectors
• Youkyoung Ko – WILPF, Korea Peace Now!
• Sha Merirei Ongelungel – Indigenous Environmental Network

Our speakers will discuss a just transition to a regenerative economy, alternatives to policing and military intervention, and a pledge for U.S. Members of Congress to sign on.

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Expanding Pathways to Citizenship Vigil

At Senator Schumer’s Office, 130 South Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo 14202. Join the New York Immigration Coalition, Justice for Migrant Families, ACCESS of WNY and allies – including the Immigrant & Refugee Justice (IRJ) Taskforce the WNY Peace Center – for a vigil demanding that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer keep his promises to our communities and deliver on a pathway to citizenship!

For decades, immigrants have relentlessly organized and fought for permanent protections from forced separation from their loved ones and displacement from a country where they live. This vigil, one of many across upstate New York, will hold space for the pain and suffering that our communities face every day without a road to citizenship. Immigrants have been on the front lines of getting our country through the pandemic and we can not #BuildBackBetter without inclusion of citizenship in reconciliation.

Immigrants, advocates and allies have rallied across the country for the past few months to demand that citizenship for essential workers is included in the infrastructure package. The Senate Parliamentarian, an unelected bureaucrat, advised against the inclusion of a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants.

Now it’s up to us to ensure that Majority Leader Schumer and Democrats in power keep their promise to us. We will not stop fighting until we create history and opportunity for our immigrant essential workers, Dreamers and TPS holders.

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