Our Values, Our Strategies - Speaking to the BRAC and One-Shipyard Issues

by Greg Field, PAM Executive Director

In the Spring 2005 Peace Talk, I suggested that we need to think long and hard about how we present our issues. If we are ever going to build a peace movement that is broad and deep we need to frame every issue within a core set of values.

"We know what we value," I wrote in that column, "government that lifts the least among us and protects and promotes the public sphere from local schools to national parks; vibrant communities that celebrate diversity and compassion; and international relations built on the rule of law; onconsent, and on equity and justice."

Working together for the common good; investing in our future; protecting our communities-from our own backyards to our global community-are good ways to frame our values. We need to keep coming back to these frames. Now, you might say these look good on paper, but how do we do this when we are caught up in the midst of an avalanche launched by the right-wing.

Here's one example of how we might address a current issue anduse our core vision as we do the work. We can do our immediate work, tie it to our long-range program, and frame it within a progressive vision. For example, the initial report in the Base Realignment and Closure process (BRAC) has designated Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for closing, Brunswick NAS for remaining open with a skeletal staff, and closing the Defense Accounting office in Limestone. At the same time, there are rumblings that the Navy may pursue a one-shipyard approach for the next generation of Destroyers-leaving BIW adrift as the one yard would likely be Ingalls in Mississippi.

How can we respond to this within the context of our values?:

* How can we work together to invest wisely for our future?

We need to ask where federal resources are going. The BRAC and one-shipyard issue simply take resources from Maine and send them South. They divert money from the northeast and reflect the regional bias already evident in our national politics. The plane squadrons based now at Brunswick are simply moving to Florida. The submarine maintenance done at Portsmouth is moving to Virginia.The one-shipyard formula still commits this nation to billions spent on a new generation of destroyers. The BRAC and one-shipyard issues do not alter the direction of government's heavy investment in military hardware while investment in renewable energy, education, environmental protection all run dry.

* What will make us more secure?

Not only have they moved the money south, but they have cut funding for community protection — emergency rooms, firefighters, first responders, public health agencies — in Maine by 76% in this year's federal budget.

Public investment in renewable energy, not shifting funds for bases or ship building from Maine to Florida and Mississippi, will strengthen our communities. With a commitment from the federal government to spur development and production of windmills and other renewable energy products we will all be safer. We will protect our communities' economies with decent jobs, in a sector that will continue to grow. More renewable energy means less pollution from fossil fuels, a real problem here in Maine as we are the exhaust pipe of the nation's coal-burning factories, and will mean less dependence on foreign oil. Less dependence on foreign oil means no more oil wars.

What we want is not the shell game the government is now playing — a con game where they shift funds south and leave us running on empty. Now is the time for a real conversation about what a real realignment would look like, with investment in new initiatives that will bring lasting economic development, a cleaner environment, and real national security. This realignment can happen, and can serve the common good.

 

Back to: Summer 2005 Peace Talk