Catholic Workers call for "Weekend without Capitalism" to protest NATO-G8

Midwest Catholic Workers released the following statement and call for nonviolent action in response to the NATO-G8 summits this May. More information about specifics to come. Join us in our protest as we removes ourselves and limit our complicity with unjust economic structures in favor of more just, sustainable, and peaceful alternatives.

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As Catholic Workers, we call for May 18-21 to be a weekend of nonviolent protest against the capitalism and militarism of NATO-G8. Catholic Worker communities around the country are invited to engage in “A Weekend without Capitalism”— a four day act of noncooperation where we refuse to participate in the political and economic structures that oppress our sisters and brothers, harm our communities, and destroy our environment. We will take time off work and school and, instead, invest this time into healthy, just, and sustainable alternatives for our communities. We will not support the corporate state by using our cars or consuming goods or services from which the state profits. Instead, we will do as Jesus taught us: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the imprisoned. We will protest injustice and war, host free markets and skills shares, work on community gardens, invest in alternative economics, act as peacemakers and organize our neighborhoods for direct action.

Dorothy Day often quoted St. John of the Cross: “Love is the measure by which we shall be judged.” This May, Catholic Workers from around the country will join thousands of others to protest the NATO summit meetings being held in Chicago and the G8 meetings in Camp David, MD. Ours will be a nonviolent protest—motivated by love for each other, our earth, the poor, and our opponents—as we make our voices and our bodies a visible sign of resistance to the institutions that bear so much responsibility for the suffering, violence, and poverty in the world.

Since the end of the Cold War, NATO forces—led by US interests and the West's insatiable appetite for oil and free markets—have been controversially involved in conflicts in the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. In 2010, NATO countries spent a collective $1.08 trillion on defense and military expenditures, including a resurgence of nuclear weapons. The US and NATO are leading the way for the militarization of the globe at the expense of human and environmental needs. We say no to nuclear weapons, no to the out-of-control defense spending, and no to the logic of violence.

The G8—the Group of Eight, including the US, Russia, Canada, Japan, Italy, Germany, France and the UK—represent the destructive engines of capitalism whose “growth-at-all-costs” mentality has desecrated communities, the environment, and human rights all in the name of progress. As people of faith and conscience, we advocate relationships and economics rooted in love: the works of mercy at a personal sacrifice, craft and worker-based cooperatives, gift and barter economies, agrarian communities, and a more simple lifestyle. Let love be our guide for our collective future without war and capitalism.

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Potential Talking Points (there are more!:

Emphasize non-cooperation and withdrawal of our support/consent from exploitative industries. We are advocating a “strike” from economics as usual; we will take time off of buying, cars, and work for wages (as much as possible) etc. and (intensively put our time and energy into positive alternatives that build community locally.

The idea of the “Weekend without Capitalism” is that it unites diverse communities in a patchwork kind of way without dictating what each community needs to or should do. Each community is free to decide what they are capable of doing and what their best response is to the systemic injustice and institutional violence of NATO-G8. We are practicing democracy.

Each community has its own ideas; We invite neighborhoods across the city (and elsewhere!) to host actions, big and small, according to the needs in your local environment: start a community garden, have a meal share, do an energy fast, hold a free health clinic for a week? In Rogers Park, Chicago we are planning to have a hub where there will be free concerts, food not bombs, free markets, skill shares, workshops on how to start a co-op, compiling a DIY guide to life without capitalism, a bike trip to a community farm.

Spread the Word:

Encourage other communities to engage in this weekend of mutual aid; see if your local Occupy community is willing to participate and spread the word. Take it to your faith or worship community. Invite students from local universities or high schools to be involved.