Florida Mass March on Weapons Makers in Orlando

Here is an event in line with our recent pickets. Also on our calendar
“End the War Economy”

Healthcare, Not Warfare

12pm, Saturday, October 17th

ORLANDO – In mid-October peace activists will hold two days of protest against corporate war profiteers based at the Central Florida Research Park in Orlando .

On Wednesday, October 14, 2009, a 12pm rally will be held at the free assembly area in front of the Student Union Building on the University of Central Floridacampus. This will be a prelude to Saturday’s demonstration.

Starting at 12pm, Saturday, October 17th a rally will be held at the South East corner of Alafaya Blvd. (SR 434) and University Blvd , the main entrance to the University of Central Florida in Orlando . Following the rally participants will march 1/4 mile south along Alfaya Blvd. to the Central Florida Research Parkentrance to demand an end to the war economy.

Parking is available in strip mall lots on the west side of Alafaya Blvd. on both sides of University Blvd. (Beware of lots with parking restrictions and tow warnings.)
The October 17th march is being held in solidarity with anti-war groups around the nation who are participating in a day of protest and action on October 17. During the summer a call for a nationwide day of action was issued by the National Assembly Against the Occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan .
The events are being organized by the Florida Peace Congress (FPC), a group which seeks to empower and unite peace/anti-war groups throughout the state of Florida . To date the Orlando action has been endorsed by more than 20 groups representing Miami , Tampa , St. Augustine , and Jacksonville . (List of endorsers below.)

HEALTHCARE, NOT WARFARE

While more than 18,000 Americans die annually for lack of healthcare services[1](USA Today, 5/22/02) the United States allots more than $600 billion dollars for military spending each year. In June 2009 the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported that the U.S. accounted for 42-percent of the global arms spending in 2008. The U.S. military budget is more than 7 times that of China .

Orlando’s Research Park is home to four of the top 10 recipients of tax payer dollars via the United States ’ bloated military budget. These corporations and their respective rank and earnings among defense contractors are:

#2 Boeing - $32 billion (2007)

#4 Northrup Grumman - $24 billion (2007)

#5 General Dynamics – $21 billion (2007)

#6 Raytheon – $19 billion (2007)

In total, these four corporations received $96 billion dollars in tax payer dollars in 2007 via the military budget.

Protest participants will call on Florida elected representatives, weapons makers’ employees, and the Florida general public to denounce the U.S. wars in Iraq , Afghanistan , and Pakistan , and militarism in general.

In his April 4, 1967 speech, "Beyond Vietnam," Rev. Martin Luther King said: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” Organizers contend that the U.S. has a moral obligation to prioritize the funding of human needs over war profiteering.

Organizers also call on President Barack Obama to take note of Rev. King’s realization that "the potential destructiveness of modern weapons of war totally rules out the possibilities of war ever serving again as a negative good."

For more information contact Jay D. Jurie at 407-323-5247 or fogsmokefl@aol.com


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