Today, we celebrate the Global Day of Action Against Military Spending. The Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations has joined with ecumenical partners to begin a conversation on the topic of global military spending.
According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), military expenditures are estimated to have reached $1.6 trillion in 2010. The Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations will work with ecumenical partners to discuss this trend and look for next actions at a luncheon today.
Hiro Sakuri (invited, Soka Gakkai Intl), Dennis Frado(accepted, Lutheran Office for World Community) and Alison Pytlak (accepted, Religions for Peace) have been asked to share briefly on the following subject in order to provoke our conversation around the following: “What is civil society’s role at the U.N., in the streets, and in the pew/temple/gurdwara/mosque regarding militarism, militarization and military expenditures?”
The collected group will follow these three diverse perspectives with table conversations regarding questions raised during the presentation and, are organizations interested in taking this issue on? Why? Or why not?