Peace Action and NATO are in Chicago

By Judith Le Blanc

Peace Action and 38 groups and over 200 activists are meeting in Chicago at the Counter-Summit for Peace and Economic Justice while NATO meets to prepare for more war.

And the whole town is talking about NATO and those who believe it is time to retire that outdated military alliance. Read Chicago Area Peace Action’s opinion piece in the May 16 Chicago Tribune.

Yes, we are one of the voices  included in the mainstream media. Why? Because we are voicing the majority opinion: the US-NATO war in Afghanistan needs to end because the costs are too much to bear.

The people of the US and every NATO country are bearing the costs of this outdated military alliance. It’s time to retire NATO and form a new alliance to address unemployment, hunger and climate change.

NATO summit will be in the national news for the next 5 days. If you are not in Chicago, you can still be a part of the public education on why and how we can have a future without NATO and its wars.

With your help, we are launching a 5 day drive to write letters to the editor to take the message of the true costs of the war in Afghanistan and military spending into as many newspapers and online publications as possible.

Below is a sample letter to the editor.

Use the Frequently Asked Questions for facts you can use.

Read some of the media coverage of the Counter-Summit.

You can watch the live stream of the Counter-Summit plenary sessions on line, starting Friday and Saturday, May 18-19. Check the Network for a NATO Free Future for the Live Stream and times. 

SAMPLE LETTER to the EDITOR

Dear Editor,

As the NATO Summit in Chicago draws near, President Barack Obama should take a good look at what poll after recent poll has stated clearly: Public opinion in this country wants United States and NATO troops home from Afghanistan, sooner rather than later.

With our country still trying to dig out of the economic crisis and local services being cut, most people feel that we need to stop spending money on war and fund [INSERT SERVICES THAT ARE BEING CUT IN YOUR COMMUNITY] instead.

The trillions being spent on war would go a long way to restore [INSERT SERVICES BEING CUT].  In [INSERT YOUR CITY, STATE OR COUNTY] alone, tax payers will [GO TO http://nationalpriorities.org/en/interactive-data/trade-offs/ AND RESEARCH HOW MUCH YOUR COUNTY HAS SPENT ON THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN]

NATO should be retired, not re-purposed. Its Cold War-era ration­ale has ended, and we shouldn’t continue to funnel human and economic resources toward a military alliance that has outlived its purpose.

President Obama, the pro-peace majority in this county wants to take a different path.