War Endanger Us
There is a common perception that wars keep us safe, but in fact, war, and preparations for war, endanger more than protect. War has a history of provoking more war, not peace.
VIOLENCE PROVOKES VIOLENCE
According to the Global Terrorism Index, terrorism actually increased during
the so-called “war on terror.” “The past decade has experienced the largest
surge in terrorist activity in the past fifty years.”
EN Fact Sheet –World Beyond War
War Erodes Our Liberties
War is often justified by claiming that it is in defense of freedom in the home country and is promoting freedom and democracy abroad. This is usually not the case and, in the case of the war on terror, is patently untrue. War not only denies human rights to those people in the countries directly involved in the conflict, but it also often erodes the civil liberties – including the right to freedom of speech & assembly, due process, and protection from unreasonable searches – of the domestic populations of the aggressor countries. Often this is accomplished by first removing rights from people designated as enemies, and later by applying the same standards to others.
EN Fact Sheet –World Beyond War
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1.5% of Global Military Spending Could End Starvation on Earth
The world spends $2 trillion a year on war and preparations for war. That’s not counting the trillions required to clean up the devastating aftermath on communities and the environment.
In 2008, the UN estimated that $30 billion per year could end world hunger. Thus, doing the math: 1.5 % of $2 trillion = $30 billion, meaning that only 1.5% of global military spending could end starvation on earth.
EN 1.5% Flyer –World Beyond War
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War is Immoral
War is nothing other than murder on a large scale. Over the centuries and decades, death counts in wars have grown dramatically, shifted heavily onto civilians rather than combatants, and been overtaken by injury counts as even greater numbers have been injured but medicine has allowed them to survive. Deaths are now due primarily to violence rather than to disease, formerly the biggest killer in wars. Civilian fatalities in wartime have climbed from 5% at the turn of the 20th century to more than 90% in modern wars. Suicide is now the leading killer of U.S. troops.
EN Fact Sheet –World Beyond War
War Impoverishes Us
EN Fact Sheet – War Impoverishes Us
Militarism creates the threat of nuclear apocalypse and is the single biggest cause of climate and environmental collapse, but in the short term, it kills more by the diversion of funds from useful projects than through all the horrors of war.
It is common to think that, because many people have jobs in the war industry, spending on war and preparations for war benefits an economy. In reality, spending those same dollars on peaceful industries, on education, on infrastructure, or even on tax cuts for working people, would produce more jobs and, in most cases, better paying jobs than would spending that money
1 on the military.
EN Fact Sheet –World Beyond War
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War promotes Bigotry
War Promotes Bigotry
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously called racism, militarism, and extreme materialism the three evils, interrelated forms of violence that exist in a vicious cycle. War and war propaganda have often fueled and been fueled by bigotry, including racism, religious hatred, and nationalism.
EN Fact Sheet –World Beyond War