{"id":40933,"date":"2022-10-18T11:33:49","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T19:33:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=40933"},"modified":"2022-10-18T11:33:49","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T19:33:49","slug":"peace-activists-220-groups-demand-us-cancel-f-35-fighter-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2022\/10\/18\/peace-activists-220-groups-demand-us-cancel-f-35-fighter-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Peace Activists, 220+ Groups Demand US Cancel F-35 Fighter Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Prominent antiwar voices including Medea Benjamin, Noam Chomsky, Abby Martin, and Roger Waters on Monday joined over 220 groups around the world in calling for the cancellation of Lockheed Martin&#8217;s $1.7 trillion F-35 fighter plane program.<\/p>\n<p>The women-led peace group CodePink is spearheading an international effort to urge President Joe Biden and members of the U.S. Congress to cancel the manufacturing and training of the F-35 fighter jet, which has been <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalpost.com\/news\/canada\/five-problems-with-americas-f-35s-now-that-canada-is-buying-its-own-f-35s\">dogged<\/a> by serious technical and operational problems since it first flew in 2006.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I joined over 200 organizations from around the world in calling on the US government to end the disastrous F-35 fighter jet program because as a global community we need to drastically change our priorities.&#8221; Waters, co-founder of the iconic rock band Pink Floyd, said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/newswire\/2022\/10\/17\/over-220-organizations-across-world-sign-letter-demanding-end-united-states-f35\">statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;To the people in the countries the F-35 is sold to and produced in, it&#8217;s time we demand a reinvestment into life, not war,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">NEW: Citing threats to communities and ecosystems worldwide, Roger Waters, Ben Cohen, Noam Chomsky, Bill Ayers, and 220+ organizations from around the world are demanding the US cancel the F-35 program and reinvest the funds in life-affirming goods and services. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/GroundTheF35?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GroundTheF35<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/MBXgmOOy52\">pic.twitter.com\/MBXgmOOy52<\/a><\/p>\n<p> &mdash; CODEPINK (@codepink) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/codepink\/status\/1581993614632050693?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 17, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1R2XEDWHSBlMIDdrT85nMaMclvuEoRMG1PIK5yFoW8zI\/edit\">letter<\/a> to Biden and US lawmakers signed by nearly 230 groups, CodePink says that its cancellation demand is &#8220;based on the harm caused abroad, cost of the program to the taxpayer, inefficiencies and failures, the environmental impact of F-35s, and the effects training has on local communities.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Some of those communities are in Vermont, where &#8211; despite railing against the military-industrial complex during his two presidential runs &#8211; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/bernie-sanderss-support-for-f-35-jets-in-vermont-angers-some-supporters-11566310652\">supports<\/a> the F-35 program.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Currently, F-35 training in Vermont disrupts the lives of working-class people,&#8221; the letter states. &#8220;The training is irregular and Vermonters go without warning of when these trainings will take place. The noise caused by the F-35 hits 115 decibels which especially hurts and injures infants and children, the elderly, and the disabled. The F-35 has 300 to 600 takeoffs and landings a month.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ben Cohen, cofounder of Ben &amp; Jerry&#8217;s ice cream and a Vermont resident, said that &#8220;the global community is fed up with overpriced, underperforming weapon systems like the F-35. It&#8217;s a complete waste of taxpayer dollars that causes harm abroad and here at home in Vermont.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Happy to join over 220 organizations across the world demanding an end to the U.S.&#39;s F35 Fighter Jet Program. h\/t <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/codepink?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@codepink<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cDkj6dukMW\">https:\/\/t.co\/cDkj6dukMW<\/a><\/p>\n<p> &mdash; Ben Cohen (@YoBenCohen) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/YoBenCohen\/status\/1582020478860169217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 17, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The only people this project benefits are the executives at Lockheed Martin,&#8221; Cohen added. &#8220;Real security is knowing you can see a doctor when you&#8217;re sick, not a boondoggle fighter jet that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcetimes.com\/news\/your-air-force\/2022\/02\/03\/air-force-to-upgrade-f-35a-gas-tanks-to-weather-lightning-strikes\/\">can&#8217;t fly<\/a> near thunderstorms.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s just one of the many problems plaguing the F-35. The warplane&#8217;s exorbitant cost has also raised critics eyebrows and ire. According to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation:<\/p>\n<p><i>The F-35&#8217;s price per unit, including ancillary costs like depot maintenance, ground support equipment, and spare parts is $110.3 million per F-35A, $135.8 million per F-35B, and $117.3 million per F-35C. Those totals do not include the nearly $1.3 trillion in life cycle costs to operate and sustain the aircraft over its 66-year life cycle, making it the most expensive weapons system in US history.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Ashik Siddique, a research analyst for the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/views\/2022\/09\/12\/canceling-all-student-debt-would-cost-about-much-pentagons-f-35-boondoggle\">recently noted<\/a> that canceling all US student loan debt would cost about $1.75 trillion, or about the same amount as the total cost of the F-35 program. Department of Education data <a href=\"https:\/\/nces.ed.gov\/programs\/digest\/d18\/tables\/dt18_333.10.asp?current=yes\">shows<\/a> that amount is also enough to eliminate all tuition at US public colleges for more than 20 years. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.childrensdefense.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Ending-Child-Poverty-Now.pdf\">According to<\/a> the Children&#8217;s Defense Fund, the projected cost of the program would also be enough to reduce child poverty in the United States by more than 60% for the next two decades.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The F-35 program is a microcosm of the military-industrial complex. Each year the US government funnels massive amounts of money into the program while letting places in the US go without clean water for months or years,&#8221; said CodePink national co-director Danaka Katovich. &#8220;Sustaining this program for any longer will have detrimental effects on human life and the Earth.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><i>Brett Wilkins is is staff writer for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/\">Common Dreams<\/a>. Based in San Francisco, his work covers issues of social justice, human rights and war and peace. This originally appeared at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/\">CommonDreams<\/a> and is reprinted with the author&#8217;s permission.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prominent antiwar voices including Medea Benjamin, Noam Chomsky, Abby Martin, and Roger Waters on Monday joined over 220 groups around the world in calling for the cancellation of Lockheed Martin&#8217;s $1.7 trillion F-35 fighter plane program. The women-led peace group CodePink is spearheading an international effort to urge President Joe Biden and members of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":372,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-40933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/372"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40933"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40935,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40933\/revisions\/40935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40933"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=40933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}