COP27: Militarism Fuels the Climate Crisis

CODEPINK will join hundreds of high school students from all over the Bay Area, led by the group Youth Vs. Apocalypse (YVA), for a COP27 Climate Strike march with the theme "Militarism and Climate". March Route Map here

Cynthia Papermaster, SF Bay Area Coordinator for CODEPINK Women for Peace explains: "Youth of the Bay Area are leading the way in speaking out for policies to halt the climate crisis. Their future is being threatened by the U.S. military, the largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels in the world and therefore the biggest institutional emitter of greenhouse gas emissions. It's tragic that the military's emissions have never been included in the UN climate talks and agreements. COP27 is happening right now and CODEPINK is on the scene in Egypt, insisting that reducing the military's emissions be included in climate agreements. The military is Earth's greatest enemy. Young people understand this."

YVA will gather in Embarcadero Plaza, across from the SF Ferry Building, at 10am. At 10:30am they and the many groups joining them will march to a military recruiting office where an Iraq veteran will speak about anti-military recruiting and the military's climate destruction. The march then continues to a Lockheed Martin office at 275 Battery Street, where the students will create a giant street mural and will mark the sidewalk with blood-red handprints to show that Lockheed Martin, the world's largest weapons dealer, is making huge profits from weapons sales and war while it actively lobbies against peace in the world. Veterans and CODEPINK members will be risking arrest at the Lockheed Martin office. The march will then return to Embarcadero Plaza for speakers, Hip Hop performances, workshops, and lunch. Climate and anti-militarism groups will have tables and activities. CODEPINK will have a photo booth where people can have their picture taken with "Billionaire for War" Lockheed Martin CEO James D. Taiclet along with his Lockheed missiles and bombs. Mr. Taiclet will lead the huge gathering in a "Duck and Cover" drill to prepare them for a nuclear war that he expects will make Lockheed Martin even richer.

"Duck and Cover" song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg9scNl9h4Q

The YVA youth organizers say "We call out Lockheed Martin for their role in climate destruction and making money off war, for their huge influence on foreign policy and endless war. We call out the billions of dollars of federal subsidies that go to enriching their CEO instead of addressing the climate emergency. Lockheed Martin is responsible for building nuclear weapons the world is now being threatened with. We know that military escalation leading to nuclear war would wipe out 99% of life on earth. We call for an end to militarization and escalation. Young people are rising against war, militarism, and the escalating attacks on life on earth. We refuse to be sacrificed, and we refuse to watch our world be sacrificed to make someone else a profit. Just as military expansion sacrifices the lives of youth of color through military recruitment, and of communities around the world through militarization and violence, it is also waging a war against our planet."