How will you stop the war machine?

The US has been at war for 93% of its history, not counting covert actions. Its military budget is by far the largest in the world at more than $600 billion, spending supported by Democrats and Republicans alike.

But national and global peace movements are at work too, building broad-based, grassroots, intersectional movements against militarism and its ills. National and international actions include Keep Space for Peace Week, the Women's March on the Pentagon, the November 10 Peace Congress: End the Wars at Home and Abroad, and the First International Conference Against US/NATO Military Bases in Dublin. Alliance co-Chair Nancy Price will be attending both the DC and the Dublin conferences.

We hope to bring you updates and ideas for local organizing. Solidarity events are being planned for the Women's March on the Pentagon. A local event can be as simple as an evening or Saturday afternoon standout at a busy intersection, or a larger event with speakers working for economic justice, better health care and education, or climate protection--all areas seriously impacted by the US addiction to war and big military budgets. Or write a letter to the editor, an excellent way for one person to impact the public consciousness on war and peace.

And if you are attending candidate events, ask these questions:

1. Do you support cutting military spending and redirecting that money toward much-needed domestic programs? What would you cut and how much? Where would you reallocate that funding? 

2. Do you support auditing the Pentagon as outlined in the People's Budget and the Audit the Pentagon Act, in order to reduce waste and fraud?

3. Nuclear weapons stockpiles have shrunk since the height of the Cold War but no nation with nuclear weapons joined in the effort to negotiate and pass the recent UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Do you support nuclear disarmament? Do you think it is achievable? In the meantime, would you support legislation prohibiting the President from using the Armed Forces to conduct a first-use nuclear strike unless expressly authorized by a congressional declaration?

The Common Ground Fair, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardners Association’s huge celebration of all things agricultural and much, much more, takes place every year on the third weekend in September, drawing some 60,000 attendees to the Unity fairgrounds. This year Local Food Rules was there, presenting to a standing-room-only audience.

Their speakers were four of the dozens of town-level organizers who have brought the campaign's Local Food and Community Self-Governance Ordinances to Selectmen, Town Meetings, or City Councillors. Suzanne Dunham, Jesse Watson, Brooke Isham and Steve DeGoosh each told their stories and inspired listeners with tales of success in varying circumstances, and persistence when confronted by a hostile town government. 

There were many good questions from the audience, and Local Food Rules campaign coordinator and Alliance co-Vice Chair Bonnie Preston expects more ordinances will be passed as a result. The ordinance has now passed in 43 towns with at least one town in 14 of 16 counties in the state of Maine. 

Three of the Common Ground speakers will also take their stories to a November conference on relocalization for economic democracy--look for more info in our next e-newsletter. The Local Food Rules campaign is also organizing individuals who took charge of ordinance campaigns to talk to people in neighboring towns who are interested in the ordinance.

What has started as very local actions in very small towns has grown into a real drive to ensure food sovereignty for Maine people and communities, to protect and expand the state's small-farm economy, and to protect the health of people, environment, and soil. This is how grassroots organizing works, spreading quietly but inexorably from success to success.