NEWS RELEASE
SIMCOE COUNTY 4 PALESTINE
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Simcoe County for Palestine and Collingwood Pivot to Peace came together today to participate in a Global Day of Action to Protest Military Bases throughout the world demanding an end to imperialism and climate catastrophe. It was a cold day, but community members from all across Simcoe County gathered at Peacekeepers' Park.
Members of community groups highlighted the role that Canada’s military plays in Israeli apartheid as well as the plight of the 10000 Palestinian political prisoners including 365 children who have been illegally detained by Israel. Members held a large banner that protested the role of the Canadian Military in Apartheid, and Palestinian political prisoners including women and children were highlighted.
Military bases are part of a growing and disastrous global increase in spending on wars and preparations for wars. This increased militarism makes wars more likely, and the most likely targets are bases and anything near them. Bases are often the worst environmental disaster sites, polluting air, soil, and water, and often generating horrific noise pollution. Foreign bases are often mini-apartheid states with second-class status for locals and criminal immunity for militaries — a situation that can often be traced back to stolen land and other injustices. Through public pressure, bases have been closed, plans for bases have been blocked, and bases have been converted to other purposes, superior environmentally, economically, and in terms of achieving peace.
For more information on the Global Day of Action to #CloseBases, see https://daytoclosebases.org and contact:
David Swanson, Executive Director of World BEYOND War, [email protected]
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