Andy Lichterman of WSLF on High-tech Militarism and Global Crises

Against a background of economic, military and political upheaval, the U.S. continues to pursue a strategy of developing nuclear weapons, missile defense systems and the militarization of space. The support in Congress for various kinds of advanced weaponry has been less than it was during the Cold War, a fact no doubt owing much to that era's decline. But the plethora of global crises has prompted a strong push by the U.S government and military to show its strength in a most familiar guise - its military power. We have seen in a post-cold-war world a series of pulling back from disarmament treaties as well as missed opportunities at new treaties, while the U.S. military, despite calls for disarmament by people as unlikely as Henry Kissinger, aims for development of global superiority through advanced weapons systems.

On Tuesday, October 7, during the annual Keep Space for Peace Week, Andy Lichterman, Program Director for the anti-nuclear weapons organization Western States Legal Foundation, will explore our country's efforts to dominate the rest of the world militarily. Lichterman will make connections between the development of such destabilizing hardware as space weapons and missile defense systems, and our standing on the world stage. "The question," he says, is 'what's it all about?'" That is, what is our government - and weapons contractors such as Lockheed-Martin and Raytheon - hoping for? The question for the audience is very likely to be, "what does this strategy mean, and what should we as citizens have to say about it?"

Peace Action of San Mateo County will present this free public event at 7:30 PM on October 7 at Beck Hall of the Unitarian Universalists of San Mateo, 300 E. Santa Inez Avenue (at Ellsworth) in San Mateo. Beck Hall is wheelchair accessible.