Can we Raise Awareness Toward Disrupting the Business Model of War?
- If we become aware of the interconnected systems and interests of political & planetary oppression, we can publicly speak to these issues, and disrupt their functions.
- We hold that a truly peaceful world demonstrates flourishing – which is present when people, societies and ecologies co-evolve and regenerate their well-being.
The Western business model of war creates enemies to sustain a publicly-financed business of violence, utterly destroying the flourishing of humans in target civilizations. - War business functions are sustained by political, industrial and media organizations that benefit directly from public finance, and yet we fail to hold them accountable to profiteering.
We can define the situation as one of a reliable and enduring business model between the US Congress and NATO, their network of lobbyists and think tanks, politicians and their election funders, the weapons industry, institutional investors, and crony board management across related industries. We call this the business model of war, and we seek to disrupt or replace it as a matter of human survival and of a principled society. We can co-create and promote alternatives to the war business that replace the work, capital, and political functions of the obsolete military system.
This workshop will trial the workshop for the upcoming World Beyond War conference held at OCAD Sept 21-22, 2018. The #NoWar2018 event brings a serious movement to Toronto with the aim of ending wars through international law and agreements that maintain peace.
The DwD community is invited to participate in World Beyond War 2018 and to co-create and deliver this workshop at the conference. A 90 minute workshop is to be presented by a Toronto and DwD/OCADU-based team to reframe the business model of war. We will present a summary of the policy (or business model) proposals at the conference after the workshop, in a summary brief in the plenary. It can be inspiring for participants to see that real effort has gone into a workshop program and a continuing action plan would be maintained after the event.
For pre-readings, please see the following:
- Joan Roelofs, Counterpunch The Political Economy of the Weapons Industry
- RT: Visualization of the Vast Flow of US Arms Exports
- Economist (Daily Graphic): Measuring the Arms Merchants
- Anti-Media: Stocks Prices for Weapons Manufacturers Rise Sharply After Paris Attacks