Ever since World War II, the US economy has become increasingly reliant on the war industry to provide jobs. It was, in fact, World War II that converted our existing economy into one dependent on government spending from the Pentagon and its associated agencies and industries. But it is possible to convert the economy back the other way, from one centered on the war industry to one that generates good jobs while addressing the existential threats of the climate emergency, pandemics, and ecological devastation.

In this panel discussion recorded on March 10, 2021, and organized by the War Industries Resisters Network (WIRN), panelists discuss the existential need to transition away from the war economy and the practical steps that would make it possible. (WIRN is a coalition of local groups and organizations across the US and around the world that are opposing their local war industries and collaborating to confront corporate control of US foreign policy.) With permission from the event organizers, we are sharing this recording with TRNN audiences.

Panelists Include: Miriam Pemberton, founder of the Peace Economy Transitions Project at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC, and author of the upcoming book Six Stops on the National Security Tour: Rethinking Warfare Economies; David Story, a third-generation union member born and raised in Alabama, President of the Machinists & Aerospace Workers Union Local 44 in Decatur, Alabama, and a founding member of the Huntsville IWW; Taylor Barnes, an award-winning, multilingual investigative journalist based in Atlanta who covers military affairs and the defense industry, and whose work has been published in local and national media outlets, including Southerly Magazine, Facing South, Responsible Statecraft, and The Intercept. This panel is hosted by Ken Jones of Reject Raytheon Asheville, a local movement of activists and peacemakers who have come together to ensure that the economic development of Buncombe County relies not on incentives given to war profiteering multinational corporations, but rather on investments in a sustainable local economic model.

Read the transcript of this interview: https://therealnews.com/a-just-transition-away-from-the-war-economy-and-military-industrial-complex-is-possible

Post-Production: Cameron Granadino

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26 thoughts on “A just transition away from the war economy is possible”
  1. 1:19 – The skill transition is near impossible… The skills required are more technical than the average veteran who used to repair the same jets? It's cultural, personal, tribal… Relating directly to the humans who command where and when production takes place. Veterans coming from this military, the last 20 years of "war" are nothing like the WW2 veterans from the "Boomer" generation of workers. We are hearing from the children and grandchildren of boomers who defended their jobs for their kids.

    The kids weren't the most qualified to run those factories or design jets. But, they got the jobs anyway because pops was a union man…

  2. 41:54 – Taylor Barnes has a habit of sucking her teeth, or otherwise making a high pitched noise using her mouth. It's a pausing compulsion. It's tiring on headphones. I think it could be edited out. Her message is important.

  3. We have a quicker idea. Arrest the Kennedy killing Jewish Federal Reserve Bankers & execute them. And we are not just talking about it. Who is Semite & who is Yiddish? The world is about to change. ☠🇮🇱☠
    Who's 1st? 😎🇺🇸

  4. Go after the flouride industry – they wage war against We The People! They steal our water , add flouride and lie to us about how safe and effective flouride is! Flouride is a known carcinogen and toxin more poisonous than lead! They are stealing our water , adding poison and charging us for this crime against humanity! Flouride is not safe, rather it’s poison and it has no health benefit!! Help !! Help! Rape!

  5. Barnes is a tool of the US military Industrial complex! She is promoting US imperialism and expansion under the guise of military is good for the economy! There are other alternatives than military expansion for our economy!

  6. Well meaning and I dearly love the Energy sentiment and conscientiousness. But it is my experience that there are dark forces CIA FBI who will come investigate start files folders and various investigations and surveillance operations. The network of influence you hope to Interfere with are dangerous and in some cases immoral to an extent that would raise the hair on your neck.
    This is not to say you can’t be Successful but it is to say please be careful.

  7. To many disenfranchised voters. Not enough people remain to represent the will of the people accurately. Alot of my friends aren't even aware or involved. How to get all to become impowered and involved?

  8. HEY! Climate changes! Not caused by man!! Science agrees there was an ice age BEFORE man supposedly created so much CO2. If climate didnt change then the earth would still be frozen!!

    Do you realize that one active volcano puts out more fictitious “green house gasses” than man does!? The Mount Fagradalsfjal volcano has been continuously erupting since 19 Mar 2021. How much fictitious “green house gasses” has that spewed forth!?

    Here is something you all may have forgotten.. plants INHALE CO2 and EXHALE oxygen!! You want to control CO2 in the atmosphere?.. plant more plants!! If you all keep trying to reduce the CO2, the very thing plants need to live, then you really will have problems when all the plants die off, stop cleaning the air and CO2 does run away..

    Self fulfilling prophecy.. idiots
    smh

  9. A shift to a very competitive space economy, to create a future for future generations on worlds around other stars. Humanity without anything to aim for becomes a genitally obsessed narcissistic nothing, they need real goals to capture the imaginations and drive real human progress, from planetary species to galactic species. Keep them busy conquering space rather than each other ;D.

  10. Please let more people there is actually a option for peace and demilitarization!Please let people know that they are not alone in rejecting the war industry!Please let folks know how to do this!

  11. Remember Sheeple, buy more War Bonds and stay tuned to mainstream news. We must promote Democracy through illegal CIA regime change. Hail Big Daddy Warbucks. Now we know why Little Annie was an orphan.

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