By Nancy Price

The growing U.S. network of military bases and outposts is justified to protect our empire of political and economic allies no matter the financial, human and environmental costs. A new Coalition will hold the January 2018 Close U.S. Foreign Military Bases Conference, January 12-14, 2018at Baltimore University, Baltimore, Maryland.

The Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases is a new group of 13 organizations, including WILPF US, who endorse the reality that U.S. foreign military bases are principal instruments of imperial global domination through wars of aggression and occupation and the source of environmental pollution that threatens the health and lives of people in surrounding communities and of the ecosystems on which they depend.

Coalition member organizations include:  Alliance for Global Justice, Black Alliance for Peace, Code Pink, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, International Action Center, MLK Justice Coalition, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Popular Resistance, United National Antiwar Coalition, U.S. Peace Council, Veterans For Peace, World Beyond War, and WILPF US.

The closure of U.S. foreign military bases is one of the first necessary steps toward building a robust global movement of movements to create the just, peaceful and sustainable world we envision and must demand. The conference will focus on the history and economic costs of foreign bases, environmental and health impacts, and on five regions: South America and Guantanamo, Asia Pacific & Pivot to Asia, Europe & NATO, The Middle East and Africa.

The serious and long-lasting impacts of pollution on the health of people of all ages living in communities near bases must be carefully documented and exposed. 

Just now, for example, ten years after ousting the U.S. Navy, the destructive impact of Hurricane Maria has once again focused attention on the extensive contamination from 60 years of test bombing on the island of Vieques. Residents of this island to the east of Puerto Rico have faced serious debilitating illnesses and death over the decadeswith shamefully little help from the U.S. Navy or our government to acknowledge the impacts of contamination and address the public health disaster.

Conference Information

Click here for conference schedule and list of confirmed speakers. As more speakers are confirmed, full biographies and pictures will be posted.

Click here to endorse the Unity Statement as an individual or as a Branch.

Click here to register and place an Ad or a solidarity statement in the conference program. The regular registration fee is $50 and includes two lunches.  A low income/student rate of $25 is also available.

For more information on this important conference, please contact Leah Bolger, leahbolger@comcast.net or in Corvallis, OR at 541-207-7761