Ending Police Militarization: News

Tear Gas - What You Need To Know

From 2012 to 2014, War Resisters League ran the Facing Tear Gas campaign aimed at exposing the tear gas industry: who's making it, who's buying it, and where it's used. Tear Gas, unsurprisingly, was found to be a common tool for state oppression from the United States to Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, and elsewhere.

Now in 2020, the use of tear gas is back on the forefront of people's minds for its use against Black Lives Matter protestors across the United States. Not only are police using a chemical weapon on protestors, but they are also using it during the context of the COVID-19 pandemic - compounding the danger to people's lives.

While some cities across the United States have implemented a 30-day ban, War Resisters League continues to push for a total ban of tear gas.

For more information on tear gas, including domestic and international testimonials, research behind companies, and a workshop you can use to educate others, visit our website here. We've pulled some key information below:

Militarized Response Tracker #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd

We’re heartbroken and outraged and like so many of you, refuse to allow the systematic killing of Black people in the United States to continue without a fight for justice. There is a lot to be outraged about: from how the politics of COVID-19 pandemic put the lives of Black and indigenous folks at risk, to how calls for release of prisoners still haven’t been met, to the fact that police brutality has taken the lives of Ahmaud Arbury, Dreasjon Reed, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Taylor McDade, and far too many others. 

What We’re Tracking: Militarized Responses to #Justice4GeorgeFloyd

When we talk about police militarization, there is still belief in the notion that if police weren’t militarized, then we wouldn’t have a problem - even within the antimilitarist community. That's not true. We need to push back on this idea and the myth of “a few bad apples in the police force.” The truth is: “regular policing” has always and continues to harass, detain, brutalize, and terrorize Black people. It’s why there are virtually never repercussions for police officers who commit murder. And the militarization of domestic policing isn’t entirely new either - in fact, the history goes back decades.

Just out! Article by WRL Organizers Ali Issa & Tara Tabassi

Militarized mentalities rely heavily on cultures of fear, white supremacy, heteropatriarchy, and warfare logic of “us vs. them,” while successfully permeating through agencies, such as police departments, normalizing violence against those already deemed disposable, dangerous and/or “radical,” and dramatically amplifying the force of militarism through our communities.
Over the last year we have deeply researched 6 SWAT trainings/weapons expos across U.S. regions (Southern California, the Bay Area, the Midwest, and Upstate NY, among others), seeding cross-community campaigns to resist them, as inspired by solidarity work with movements facing tear gas in Egypt, Chile, and beyond. This work has offered many takeaways we find valuable for organizing.

Sanctuary Cities Beyond Militarism

WRL stands with all migrants in the U.S., especially the many facing renewed threats of mass deportation under the new Trump administration. Criminalization of many communities and nationalities is on the rise, but most prominently the release of executive orders in the new administration’s first week targets Latinx and refugee communities in expanded ways, and defense must be a priority for our collective and intersectional movements.

STOMP (STop Oppressive Militarized Police) Coalition forms in Boston

A new coalition of groups against militarization forms in Boston and announces community event. From their facebook page: "STOMP, STop Oppressive Militarized Police, aims to bring together activists and communities struggling against the wars on drugs, immigrants, dissent, and terror to mobilize and build cross-movement dialogue about the militarization and federalization of our local police departments. What happened in Watertown last year wasn't an anomaly.

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