Join the global days of action on military spending

Join the 10th anniversary of the Global Days of Action on Military Spending: GDAMS 2021 April 10 to May 9, 2021.

The Global Campaign on Military Spending (GCOM) is a campaign of the International Peace Bureau (IPB). The Global Campaign on Military Spending was founded in December 2014 to convert the Global Days of Action (GDAMS), which started in 2011, into a year-round campaign. The main aim is to reduce the global military spending. More than 100 organizations from 35 different nations have joined the campaign.

The campaign started in 2005 when IPB launched its programme, ‘Disarmament for Sustainable Development’ (D for D), which was designed to direct widespread, public concern to the ongoing, high level of global military spending, and the evidence that all weapons – both the devastating weapons of mass destruction and those used on a frequent basis (small arms, cluster bombs, landmines, etc.) seriously impede sustainable development. Since several world conflicts over the previous decade demonstrated that military solutions were not useful in the attempt to establish peace throughout the world, IPB advocates for reductions in defence budgets and the adoption of a ‘human security’ approach.

How can you get involved?

As an individual:

• Join a local group working on the issue, or set one up! Here’s our list of partners.
• Organize/support GDAMS actions in your city /country.
• Do Online Campaigning: join our twitter storm on April 26; use your social media to help spread our message by sharing news, materials and actions;
• Contact your local/national representatives/congresspeople, ask them to position themselves by sending them letters or on social media.

If you’re part of an organization:

• Prepare your own GDAMS actions or join other organizations. Once you know the details please send us an email to coordination.gcoms@ipb.org
• Press conferences on April 26 will be a highlight this year. We’ll analyse the new data on military spending released that day by SIPRI and get our message on the media: we demand major reductions on defence budgets around the world and a refunneling of those funds to people and the environment!
  If you want to prepare a press conference in your city/country, reach to us and we’ll help you plan it.
• Be part of our Twitter Storm on April 26.
• Use your social networks to spread the word, and find allies; Reach out to groups in your country and to other organizations in your sector; Form a national coalition!
• Share ideas, articles, actions and comments with the GCOMS network: through social media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram), directly with other partners, or by sending an email to our Coordination Team

Stay tuned, more details will come soon!