Oral

This session is a joint session organized by the Labor Caucus and Peace Caucus. Approximately two decades ago, the end of the Cold War provided the United States with a golden opportunity to build a new foundation for international security and to redirect billions of defense dollars to neglected domestic needs. However, the potential "peace dividend" never materialized. Spending to create full employment, environmental and public health protection has continued to be held hostage to militarism, including the over three trillion dollar war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The purpose of this session is to revisit the opportunity for building a peace economy in the face of the catastrophic impacts of climate change. In this session, participants will review our current spending priorities and highlight critical strategies being undertaken by organized labor and health professionals to reverse these distortions in our economy and redirect our efforts towards green jobs and healthy communities and other human needs.

Session Objectives: 1. Compare spending priorities in the US economy related to militarism and human welfare; 2. Demonstrate the adverse impact of these spending priorities on working people; and 3. Describe strategies for building a green "peace economy" which reverses these distorted priorities.