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"What Brings Security?"
Budget Priorities Game - Online
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Budget Priorities Activity Leaders Guide and Supplementary Material (program and supplementary material also available from LPF as a pdf, on CD, or in print version) CONTENTS . A. Read Me First: an outline of how to use this package. B. Overview of the 2007-08 Budget Priorities activity C. Activities for Discussion and Action 1. Group Discussion 2. Responding Handout #1: Taking action for what we believe 3. Groups that can help Handout #2: Groups that can help D. Inspiration for the Task Handout #3: “Wall of Hope” list (or brochure) E. Resources on the
1.
3. Articles offering further insight 4. Year-to-year comparisons Handout #4: Trends and the FY 2008 proposal 5. Comparative statistics Handout #5: Top ten reasons to be worried… 6. An annotated resource list Handout #6: For further information (research guide) Appendix 1: Help us strengthen this activity. Please complete the brief evaluation online; or print and mail it; or email us a note at: lpf@ecunet.org. Appendix 2: The Wall of Hope, full list (120 movements and events throughout history) A. Read me first: To open the activity double-click on "BudgetPriorities.exe" (Windows only). How this game is set up: This game is designed to be highly participatory. The goal of the game is not to give answers but to help participants explore the issues and questions for themselves. Moving around in the activity is described on the pop-up on the first screen of the game: To move to the next screen, click the mouse anywhere on the right 9/10ths of the screen. To move back to the previous screen, click anywhere on the left 1/0th of the screen. On a few screens, you are directed to click on a small button provided. The role of the leader: Because the activity is participatory, the role of the leader is not to direct the group, but to help participants explore issues and questions for themselves. The leader is thus not a teacher of information but a facilitator of the process of discovery. This includes several tasks: 1. Making sure everyone can see the screen and read the brief captions and text. Some leaders invite their group members to take turns reading the onscreen text of the activity. 2. Keeping the game moving along, while ensuring everyone has had a chance to absorb each screen. 3. Giving everyone a chance to share their thoughts. We would appreciate hearing from you with your comments and suggestions. General comments are welcome, or use the brief evaluation form online or on the CD. (You can refer to any frame in the activity by noting the small black number in the upper right hand corner of the frame.) Your feedback is appreciated. The Budget Priorities activity and Leaders Guide are available online and from LPF as a CD or in a print version. B. Overview of the Budget Priorities activity The Budget Priorities Activity has five sections. Here is an outline of what they contain and approximate amounts of time most groups spend with each. If you have less than an hour, you may wish to move briskly through parts I, II, and IV to ensure you will be able to give adequate time to the discussion Questions and Next Steps. I. Options (4-8 min.) – brief intro to the federal budget and the ways it funds security from external threats II. Deciding (10-15 min.) – group activity (if you have less time, you may wish to move a few beans and then ask for participants to share their opinion on how many beans should be on each plate for each of the questions.) III. Questions for discussion (8-15 min.) – questions to help a group explore key budget priorities issues IV. Complications (4-8 min.) – two dimensions that to expand the group’s perceptions of the issues and Next Steps (10-20 min.) – for most leaders this section is key to encouraging responsible citizen activity (We would appreciate hearing from you with your comments and suggestions about this Activity. General comments are welcome, or you can fill out a brief evaluation. You can refer to any specific page in the Game by referring to the small black numbers in the upper right hand corner of each page.) C. Activities for Discussion and Action Go through the Discussion Questions and Next Steps in the Budget Priorities Game. Here are a few additional questions that with a little preparation ahead of time, you can use to add to what your group is able to explore, or for arranging follow-up sessions. a. Compare US spending for the military with spending on housing, health, education. For help see: www.nationalpriorities.org, www.sensiblepriorities.org/budget_analysis.htm www.warresisters.org/piechart.htm b. Find out how much of the tax dollars in your state go to housing, health, education, the military: locate your state at: www.nationalpriorities.org c. Explore inspiring "Wall of Hope" stories and activities on the use of force beyond military action: see Handout 3: Wall of Hope brochure; longer list in Appendix 2 and at www.LutheranPeace.org d. Discuss ways to express your opinion: talk with friends, share this Budget Priorities Game, contact your elected officials, encourage a community group to host a forum on budget priorities, write a letter to the editor of a local newspaper… e. Make use of sample letters to elected officials in Handout 1: Taking action for what we believe f. Examine budget priorities trends over the past few years in Handout 4: Trends and FY 2008 See ten ways of expressing our budget priorities in Handout 5: Top Ten Reasons… Examine alternative priorities: www.nationalpriorities.org/tradeoff and www.fpif.org/protected/securitybudget.html g. Share success stories of conflict resolution (www.cnvc.org), the peace corps (www.peacecorps.gov), development assistance (www.bread.org and www.lwr.org), or the use of nonviolence to intervene in conflicts (www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org, www.cpt.org) h. Explore ethical principles regarding security: see ”It’s Time to Talk…” or the update “We are called to be peacemakers” or “The Invisible Option: Alternatives to War” or “Just War?” or “Shalom! The potential of deeper, distinctly Christian approach to Conflict and Violence” at www.LutheranPeace.org i. Examine reports of groups active on budget priorities (for an annotated list of advocacy groups, see Handout 2: Groups that can help and Handout 6: For further information (a research guide) C-2. Getting Involved An example in the activity: In a democracy, it’s up to us. There are countless instances of people changing budget priorities. In this example, citizen groups urged Pres. Bush to increase development assistance over recent years. He proposed the Millennium Challenge Account and the HIV/AIDS initiative. Four times in recent years, Congressional leaders withdrew funding from them; each time we lobbied it back in. Now we’re working to hold onto and expand the biggest increase in poverty-based development aid in 20 years. So let’s join with others, learn together, share this budget game, contact our representatives in Congress, talk with our friends, write letters to the editor, and work for a new way of building real security. Taking action for what we believe Contacting an elected official: Many people don’t write or e-mail their elected officials because they find it intimidating, or wonder if it makes any difference. Yet, if we don’t do so, our point of view is undercounted. The solution: A simple 4-6 sentence note, written in 5 or 10 minutes. Begin by asking yourself what approach might work best for your particular member of Congress. Early in your letter state what you want your elected official to do. Add several sentences offering your reasons and perhaps a statistic. In your last sentence restate what you want and ask for a response. If you get inspired and write more, fine. If you want to make the most of your letter, send it to a local newspaper, too! See Handout 1: Sample letters on budget priorities C-3. Groups that can help: Many citizen groups and advocacy organizations offer a variety of ways for people to act on their beliefs about budget priorities. For an annotated list of a couple dozen of the most useful groups; most of whom offer additional links, see Handout 2: Groups that can help Handout 2 contains a list of education and advocacy groups in these categories:
This is the education and advocacy list. Handout 4 is the one geared for research. E-1. Key US Budget Documents…E-2. Sources of Data in Activity For 2005 to 2007 analyses and spending totals we used figures from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), especially the “Budget” and “Historical Tables” (at www.whitehouse.gov/omb), 2007. Several Dept. of State documents offered help with the various International Affairs (150) figures. The OMB’s “Analytical Perspectives” and “Appendices” as well as agency documents (e.g. Dept. of Defense, Congressional Budget Office) helped fill in other gaps. We are grateful for analysis and staff help from over a dozen think tanks and watchdog groups which added crucial insights (see sections D2 and D3). Here are breakdowns and sources of figures in the 6 areas of spending (the 6 half-plates) of this activity: 1. $694.35 billion: Defense Dept. functions (budget function 051) minus military aid, $548.88 billion; plus Energy Dept. nuclear weapons activity (function 053), $17.88 billion; NASA military programs (250), $3.08 billion; veterans benefits (701 to 705), $72.40 billion; OMB’s “other military programs” (054), $4.11 billion; civilian defense worker health and retirement costs, $47 billion. 2. $8.52 billion includes International Military Education & Training (IMET), $85 million (051). In International Affairs (150)it includes Foreign Military Financing (FMF), $4.45 billion; Economic Support Funds (ESF), $2.60 billion, two military-focused 150 drug war programs: Intn’l Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (INCLE), $704 million, the Andean Counterdrug Initiative (ACI), $570 million; plus the Anti Terrorism Assistance Program (ATA), $125 million. 3. $6.3 billion includes State Dept. programs and personnel active in conflict resolution, diplomacy, negotiation, and nonproliferation, and the entire US Institute for Peace budget (all in 150). 4. $1.5 billion includes 2 lines in International Affairs, 150: International Peacekeeping Activities (UN peacekeeping), $1.022 billion; and multinational Peacekeeping Operations, $517 million. 5. $8.35 billion includes all 7 international functions in 150 defined as development assistance by InterAction for the 160 major development groups, plus two programs initiated under President Bush: the Millennium Challenge Account, $1.14 billion, and the HIV/AIDS Initiative (PEPFAR), $1.85 billion. (The 7 programs are: Child Survival and Health, $1.52 billion; Development Assistance, 1.51 billion; Disaster Assistance & Famine Fund, $349 million; Transition Initatives, $34 million; Migration & Refugee Assistance, $750 million, Emergency Refugee & Migr Assistancet, $35 million, and International Organizations and Programs, $289 million.) 6. $320 million is the Peace Corps line in international affairs (budget function 150). E-3. Articles offering further insight Alternative military budget, www.fpif.org/protected/securitybudget.html offers a brief summary as well as a more detailed analysis Explore ethical principles regarding security: see the NCC discussion guide and handout, “Ten Election Year Principles,” www.ncccusa.org/electionyearprinciplesguide.pdf and “What is Christian Peacemaking” members.tripod.com/~lutheran_peace/PP_christian_peacemaking_15.pdf Analysis of the 2007 budget by Christopher Hellman, www.armscontrolcenter.org/archives/002239.php For a longer academic paper on what's left out of most military spending figures, see: www.aug.edu/%7Esbajmb/paper-Brunswick.pdf (you can click on these links on our web site.) E-6. Sources of Further Information, Sources for this Activity Each year, hundreds of think tanks, citizen groups, and trade organizations produce analyses on the budget and budget priorities. The following are among the most useful – indeed, it is hard for the average citizen to get much of a perspective on the budget without help from groups like these. Most offer additional links: See handout #6, For Further Information (a Research Guide) Handout 4 contains a list of research and analysis sources in these categories:
This is the research lists, see handout #2 for list of education and advocacy sites. For more information or to order revised versions of this activity, contact Lutheran Peace Fellowship, 1710 11th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 206/720-0313 (1-5 pm), lpf@ecunet.org, www.LutheranPeace.org Handout #1 Taking action for what we believe Contacting an elected official: Many people don’t write or e-mail their elected officials because they find it intimidating, or wonder if it makes any difference. Yet, if we don’t do so, our point of view will be undercounted. The solution: A simple 4-6 sentence note, written in 5 or 10 minutes. Begin by asking yourself what approach might be helpful to your particular member of Congress. Start your letter by stating what you want your elected official to do. Then add several sentences offering your reasons and perhaps a statistic. In your last sentence restate what you want and ask for a response. If you get inspired and write more, fine. Here are two examples of letter to elected officials of varying points of view. Sample letters on budget priorities Dear Representative Jones, The continuing Iraq War and
I hope that you will work to cut funding for waste and costly duplication in military spending and to expand programs that reduce violence in the world. Thank you for listening. I’d appreciate a reply on what you’re doing about these concerns Your constituent, Mary Q. Public Dear Senator Smith, Several members of our church are
discussing this year’s federal budget proposal. I was disturbed to find that
Congress is proposing to again spend 100 times as much on military solutions to
conflict as for nonviolent solutions like diplomacy; or for all the various
I would like to see you work to cut military spending in areas that don’t increase our security – e.g. costly new fighter planes. Please work to increase funding for non-violent efforts (e.g. State Dept. diplomacy, UN Peacekeeping) and programs addressing root causes of conflict. Please work to fully fund the Millennium Challenge Account and the HIV/AIDS Initiative, without cutting other poverty-focused development aid). I look forward to hearing about your efforts in these areas. Sincerely yours, Make the most of your letter: Send it to a local newspaper, too! Newspapers publish letters in part by how many letters they receive presenting a particular point of view. Even if your letter isn’t chosen it can help others on the same general perspective get printed encouraging readers to learn and take action. Handout #2 Budget Priorities Groups that can help Many citizen groups and advocacy organizations offer a variety of ways for people to act on their beliefs about budget priorities. Here’s an annotated list of a couple dozen of the most useful groups; most offer additional links: Getting Started, Religious Groups ELCA Advocacy, www.elca.org/advocacy – offers advocacy assistance, updates, and resources on such issues as budget priorities, poverty, nuclear policy, the Middle East, etc. for Lutherans (formerly LOGA”) Lutheran Peace Fellowship, www.LutheranPeace.org – offers a range of resources and support for action Friends Committee on National Legislation, www.fcnl.org –unusually well-developed, reliable budget project Sojourners, www.sojo.net – helpful weekly e-newsletter, monthly magazine, study guides, web site… Getting Started, Peace Groups Fellowship of Reconciliation, www.forusa.org – grounded in nonviolence the FOR is the largest peace group in the world; links to Religious Peace Fellowships active in most faith communities: www.forusa.org/rpf Peace Action,
www.peace-action.org – the largest
Domestic Priorities Children’s Defense Fund, www.childrensdefense.org – fine advocacy group on behalf of children & families National Priorities Project, www.nationalpriorities.org -- specializes in state-by-state organizing on priorities Foreign and Military Policy Global Exchange www.globalexchange.org – excellent popularly-written materials, esp. on globalization Nonviolent Peaceforce, www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org – building a nonviolent crisis intervention force Human Rights, Military Aid, Training Amnesty International, www.amnestyusa.org – documents and campaigns for prisoners of conscience
Hunger and Development Bread for the World, www.bread.org – respected faith based organization offering excellent education and advocacy resources for individuals, groups, and congregations Food First, www.foodfirst.org – education and advocacy group on food, hunger, and development issues Political Organizing Council for a Livable World, www.clw.org , www.armscontrolcenter.org -- the largest group raising money for candidates committed to peace with justice MoveOn, www.MoveOn.org – large advocacy group noted for its particularly effective use of the internet Veterans and Victims Families Sept. 11th Families for Peace Tomorrows, www.PeacefulTomorrows.org – among the most active 911 groups Veterans for Peace, www.veteransforpeace – one of the best progressive veterans groups General informational and networking web sites www.alternet.org www.commondreams.org www.salon.com www.zmag.org For more information or for additions and updates on this activity, contact: Lutheran Peace Fellowship,
Handout #3 The Wall of Hope N onviolent efforts to bring about
peace and justice
are far more numerous than most people realize. This list and exhibit honors such movements
and heroes and seeks to encourage peace and justice efforts today. Over 500
events, schools, and colleges around the
1350 B.C.E. Hebrew
midwives, in the first recorded act of civil disobedience, refuse to obey
Pharaoh’s order to kill male Hebrew babies. After years of slavery in
600-520 As a teenager, Jeremiah is called to be a prophet, and like Isaiah and Micah, criticizes injustice and pleads for love and justice to become central in the lives of the faithful. 33 Jesus lives a life of nonviolence and compassion toward all without regard to age, social status, race, or gender. 40-80 Paul and the apostles preach the gospel of justice and nonviolence: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed... Live in harmony with one another. Do not repay evil for evil. If your enemies are hungry, feed them." (Romans 12) c. 340 Martin of Tours, a Roman army officer, renounces violence when he becomes a “soldier of Christ.” Martin Luther and Martin Luther King, Jr. are named after him. 1200 St. Francis of
1520s In contrast to the meaningless religious practice of his day, Martin Luther emphasizes that God is revealed in the cross and in love. In his final decades, Luther gives increasing emphasis to the importance of responding to the needs of the poor by the Christian. 1644 Eleven
black servants in New Amsterdam file a petition for freedom, the first
legal protest in the "
1681 William Penn writes letter and treaties that keep the peace between whites and Indians for two generations. 1765-75 American colonists conduct nonviolent campaigns against British rule, resulting in a condition of independence by 1775, a year before war is declared in 1776. 1780 Quakers organize an antislavery society in the
1840s The Underground Railroad helps slaves
escape to the northern
1846 Henry David Thoreau is jailed for refusing to pay taxes to support the Mexican-American War. He writes “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience,” which influences Tolstoy, Gandhi, and many others. For
the full text of the wall, descriptions of youth and adult group
activities, a list of 200 sources and
other materials, please contact: Lutheran
Peace Fellowship,
1848 Lucretia Mott, along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, organize the first women's rights convention. 1871 1000 women in
1873 Women celebrate the first "Mother's Day," a peace holiday proposed by Julia Ward Howe. 1898-1902 Thousands protest the brutal Spanish-American
War; leaders include Mark Twain, author of The War Prayer, A
1914 The Fellowship of Reconciliation is founded as World War I begins by a German Lutheran pastor and an English Quaker, pledg-ing "to keep the bonds of Christian love unbroken across the frontier." 1919-47 Mohandas Gandhi leads the struggle for Indian
indepen-dence from British rule through nonviolent means such as the 1930 Salt March across
Badshah Khan, a leader of the Pathans, a people with a strong warrior tradition, organizes a "nonviolent army" numbering as many as 100,000 people, to oppose British rule. He counters the myths that nonviolence is only for those who are gentle; that it cannot work against ruthless repression; and that it has no place in Islam. 1920 The
1933 The Catholic
Worker is founded by Dorothy Day,
emphasizing hospitality to the poor, pacifism, and voluntary poverty. Catholic Worker houses and newspapers are
organized in dozens of cities in the
1940-45
Public resistance in
1941 Lutheran Peace Fellowship is founded to provide support for fellowship, workshops, advocacy and worship resources, a newsletter and other publications, and a place to explore faith responses to issues of peace and justice. 1942 German students form the White Rose resistance movement and distribute thousands of leaflets on the Nazis and their treatment of Jews. The Nazis hang several leaders. 1943 Lutheran youth leader, pastor, and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer is jailed for his
efforts to help German Jews. Refusing
safety in the
1945 The United Nations is founded to resolve disputes and prevent war. The UN develops programs for refugees, children, women, human rights, hunger, peacekeeping, etc. 1955 Rosa
Parks is arrested for not moving to the back of the bus where blacks had to
ride. The
1957 Despite threats and insults, Elizabeth
Eckford and eight other students become the first blacks to attend the
previously all-white
1960 Four black students “sit in” at a Woolworth lunch counter to protest the rule that only whites can eat there. The nonviolent tactic of "sit-ins" encourages efforts to desegregate restrooms, movie theaters, restaurants, and libraries. 1961 Amnesty International is founded to protest torture and the death penalty with many chapters in schools and colleges. 1963 The March
on Washington, the largest demonstration to date, brings more than 250,000
people to
1964 700 young Freedom Summer volunteers help register voters in
1964-73 Resistance
to the
1964 A half million pupils stay
home from school in
1965 The United Farm Workers union launches a grape boycott led by Ceasar Chavez and Dolores Huerta to allow farmworkers to organize for decent pay and conditions. Thousands of schools and churches support the boycott. 1969 Greenpeace dramatizes its call to protect the environment adopts with creative nonviolent direct action tactics like . sailing boats into nuclear testing and whaling areas. 1970s The Liberation
Theology movement in
1970 The killing of four students by the National
Guard at
1970 The
first Earth Day is held in cities
around the
1971 At the age of 90, Jeanette Rankin leads 8000 woman to the Pentagon to protest the Vietnam War. 1000 veterans also protest; many throw their medals onto the Capitol steps. 1973 Bread for the World is founded by Lutheran pastor Art Simon to educate, organize, and lobby on hunger issues. 1977 "Mothers
of the Plaza" in
1977 The Nestle boycott leads to a World Health restriction on selling infant formula in poor countries: it is less healthy and more costly option, especially with a lack of clean water. 1979 Gay
Rights March draws 100,000 demonstrators
to
1980 Archbishop Oscar Romero of
1980s Witness for Peace sends thousands of
Americans to
1982 750,000 people gather in
1982 Sister Helen Prejean becomes a pen pal to a prisoner on death row. She later writes Dead Man Walking on her experience which is later made into an award-winning movie. 1986 The nonviolent People Power movement brings down the oppressive, ruthless Marcos
dictatorship in the
1986 The Palestinian Intifada or "resistance" begins, using mostly nonviolent means to protest Israeli military occupation. 1989
1989 The Chinese government crushes a nonviolent student protest at
1989 Student
protests lead 20% of
1990 Disabled demonstrators at the U.S. Capitol demand passage of a bill guaranteeing their civil rights; 60 protesters crawl out of their wheelchairs and up the Capitol steps. 1990-91 Protests in 20 cities protest
1992 In the former
1994 Nelson Mandela is elected the first black President of South Africa, just four years after he is released from jail. 1995 Human rights
activist Aung San Suu Kyi (Nobel
Peace Prize in 1991) released from detention; her political party won the 1989 election in
1996 Stand
for Children march in
1998-99 Many groups, schools, churches, and 31 synod assemblies endorse the Nobel Appeal for Peace. The United Nations designates the years 2001-2010 as the “Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence.” 75 million people sign a pledge of nonviolence, the largest number of any such effort in history! Major
sources… for more information: Peter Ackerman and Jack
DuVall, A Force More Powerful; Robert
Cooney and Helen Michalowski, The Power of the People: Active Nonviolence
in the U.S.; Glen Gersmehl, Social
Movements; Staughton Lynd and Alice Lynd, ed., Nonviolence in America: A
Documentary History; Pam
McAllister, You Can't Kill the Spirit, and This River of Courage; Michael True, Justice Seekers, Peace Makers, and To Construct Peace; and
Walter Wink, The Powers That Be. For further Wall of Hope
information, see: www.LutheranPeace.org
at LPF,
Handout #4 Budget Priorities Trends and the FY 2008 Budget Proposal US Federal Budget figures for 2008 (admin. request), 2007 (request, estimate), 2006 (est.), and 2005 (actual)
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