GDAMS Organizers Packet

8/7/2019 GDAMS Organizers Packet

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GDAMS Organizers Packet

Global Day of Action on Military Spending

April 12, 2011

Organizers Packet

1. Read This First2. Letter to Other Participants3. Sample Press Release4. Timetable5. Fact Sheets & Information

a. Global Military Spending Factsheetb. Global Military Spending vs. Millennium Development Goalsc. World Military Spending Graphic

6. Examples of Actions7. Sample Flyer8. Checklist

www.demilitarize.org


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1. Read This First

Thank you for volunteering to organize an action on our Global Day of Action on Military Spending, which

will take place on Tuesday, April 12, 2011. On that day, you will be part of actions taking placing all over the

world by people who are outraged at the amount of money spent on the military. Last year, the governments

spent over $1.53 trillion, and we expect the figure released by the Stockholm International Peace Research

Institute (SIPRI) this year to be even higher.

Were organizing these actions on April 12, 2011 to coincide with the SIPRI report on global military

expenditures for 2010. This report usually gets a good amount of press attention, but we want to make sure

that global military spending and the public outcry at this waste of money becomes a really big story for

the global, national, and local media.

The media likes pictures. So we are going to provide the media with photo opportunities. Instead of running

the story of SIPRIs report with a picture of a tank or a jet fighter, we want them to run pictures of people all

over the world protesting these huge expenditures.

In this organizers packet, we will provide you with some guidance and materials for an event you can hold on

April 12 that will attract the interest of the press. It contains a sample letter you can use to reach out to other

participants in your area, a sample press release, and a sample flyer. Theres also a timetable and a checklist

for you to organize your promotional outreach, and a one-pager with information on global military spending.

To attract a crowd and the attention of the press, youll want to adapt this model to your country and yourissue of focus. But were asking all of our event organizers to include the number for global military spending

in your activity. We will be able to provide you with that number approximately one week before April 12.

Until that time, you should use the 2009 figure of $1.53 trillion in your outreach. Please make sure to share

video, photos, or descriptions of your events with us at [email protected].

We are at a critical crossroads. We must, as a planet, start spending our money on what we need food, clean

water, clean energy, health care, and peacekeeping. We have the money. We just have to spend it sensibly. On

April 12, we will tell our governments and our militaries that weve had enough of guns and war.



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2. Letter to Other Participants

Location, Date

Dear ____________,

In 2009, global military spending surged to an all-time high of US $1.53 trillion. The United State was

responsible for nearly half that amount. And our country spent xxx billion.

Given the numerous crises facing the planet -- economic, environmental, health, diplomatic -- it is imperative

that we create a global movement to shift this money to human needs. We know that there are thousands of

organizations and millions of individuals who support this point of view. We need now to begin a serious

mobilizing effort to make it visible.

As part of this campaign, we are organizing an event as part of the Global Day of Action on Military

Spending for April 12. We will gather in [place, time], where we will [describe action]. On this day, people all

over the world will join together in joint actions to focus public, political, and media attention on the costs of

military spending and the need for new priorities. Such events will help us to build the international network

around this issue.

Please join us on April 12 so that we can make our voices heard, here in [country] and globally.

Sincerely,

Local organizer for the Global Day of Action on Military Spending



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3. Sample Press Release

MEDIA ADVISORY

12 April 2011

CONTACT: [Organizers name]

[Organizers phone number]

[Organizers email address]

[Group Name] Hosts Event for Global Day of Action on Military Spending

To raise awareness and citizen opposition to the disparity between ballooning global military spending and

under-funded global development [or other issue of interest], [Group Name] will host a [event type

demonstration, sit-in, street theater action, etc.] to coincide with other actions around the world as part of a

larger Global Day of Action on Military Spending.

The event coincides with the release of 2010 global military expenditures published by the Stockholm

International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). It promises to be an excellent photo opportunity to

complement the release of SIPRIS report.

WHAT:

WHO:

WHERE:

WHEN: April 12, 2011 at [time]

To learn more about the Global Day of Action on Military Spending and to read about other actions

happening all over the world, please visit http://www.demilitarize.org.



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4. Timetable

December:

- Second newsletter goes out- Use newsletter to promote GDAMS locally

January:

- Reach out to other organizations in your area for endorsements- Begin soliciting What I would do with $1.6 trillion photos

Early February:

- Begin preparing background materials in native languageLate February:

- Hold a local meeting to start planning for the event- Provide information to GDAMS organizers so that it can go on website

March:

- Arrange for necessary permits for the event; start putting together a press list for the press releaseApril:

- April 4: Meeting to rehearse April 12 event- April 7: Short press release to press list date, location, event- April 11: Receive SIPRI global military expenditure numbers for 2010

Send full press release to press list

- April 12: GDAMS!



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5A. Global Military Spending Fact Sheet

Global military spending has topped $1.5 trillion dollars. It has increased 49% since 2000.

The United States accounts for 46.5% of the world total military spending. China makes up 6.6%, France

4.2%, the United Kingdom 3.8% and Russia 3.5% of the total world military spending.

From 1998 to 2001, the Unites States, the UK, and France earned more income from arm sales to developing

countries than they gave in aid. The US, the UK, France, Russia, and China make up 80% of conventional

arms exports. U.S. and European corporations received enormous tax breaks and even lend money to other

countries to purchase weapons from them. Therefore, tax-payers from these countries subsidize arms.

Developing countries are the main recipients of arm sales.

As a result of global financial and economic crisis many nations have cut back on public spending while

increasing military spending.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the massive increase in US military

spending has been one of the factors contributing to the deterioration of the US economy since 2001. Over

half of the US discretionary budget is used for national defense. The US military budget is $700 billion.

The UN Security Council -- the US, the UK, France, and Russia, and China comprise the worlds top

military spenders. Though the UN was created after WWII to preserve peace through international

cooperation and collective security, the UNs entire budget equals approximately 1.8% of total world military

spending. One year of global military spending could fund 700 years of UN operations.



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5B. Global Military Spending vs. Millennium Development Goals



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6. Examples of Actions

Be creative! Here are a few ideas to get you started.

1. Bring together 160 people, each of whom represents $10 billion in military spending. Put them in aformation of something obviously military (a bomb, a gun). At a signal from the organizer, the crowd

reforms as a peace sign.

2. Circle your ministry of defense with people carrying things that symbolize what we should bespending our government budget on (flowers, food, bandages, clean water).

3. Create large signs that show what $1.6 trillion could be spent on instead (reducing the worlds carbonfootprint, eliminating world hunger, providing free education to all the worlds children).

4. Host an interactive public display that highlights disproportionate military spending. For example,make a Tax Dollars Dartboard, with concentric circles proportionate to government budgets. Everydart throw can represent a dollar spent.

5. Create a public display demonstrating the imbalance between military spending and other globalpriorities. IPS used flags, as shown below:

www.demilitarize.org 9


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7. Sample Flyer

Please use the text fields on the attached page to fill in your organizations information.

www.demilitarize.org 10


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8. Promotion Checklist

Outreach to Community/Participants

Seek local organization endorsements

Host Planning/Logistical Meeting

Email plans [email protected]

Prepare materials: flyers, one-pager, signs, banners

Apply for relevant permits

Send press release to local media

Distribute flyers/raise awareness

Plan event rehearsal

Secure recording equipment for event

Send media of event [email protected]

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Documents

GDAMS Organizers Packet