<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">From: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">"U.S. Peace Council U.S. Peace Council" <<a href="mailto:USPC@USPeaceCouncil.org" class="">USPC@USPeaceCouncil.org</a>><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">Subject: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Statement of the U.S. Peace Council on 2020 U.S. Elections</b><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">Date: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">December 14, 2020 at 9:58:34 AM CST<br class=""></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">To: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="mailto:cgestabrook@gmail.com" class="">cgestabrook@gmail.com</a><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">Reply-To: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="mailto:USPC@USPeaceCouncil.org" class="">USPC@USPeaceCouncil.org</a><br class=""></span></div><br class=""><div class=""><meta charset="UTF-8" class=""><center style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration: none;" class=""><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" align="center" id="backgroundTable" role="presentation" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-collapse: collapse; height: 1607.9375px; width: 1090px; line-height: 16px;" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td align="center" valign="top" style="border-collapse: collapse;" class=""><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" align="center" role="presentation" style="border: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-collapse: collapse;" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td align="center" valign="top" style="border-collapse: collapse;" class=""><table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="border-collapse: collapse;" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td valign="top" style="border-collapse: collapse; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 10px 10px 40px;" class=""><table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="border-collapse: collapse;" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td valign="top" width="600" style="border-collapse: collapse;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;" class=""><center class=""><img src="https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/email_templates/logos/000/023/829/original/USPC_Logo-Letterhead-SM.jpg" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none; max-width: 140px; width: 140px; margin: 20px auto;" class=""></center><h2 style="text-align: center; font-size: 18px; line-height: 30px; font-family: impact;" class="">Statement of the U.S. Peace Council on 2020 U.S. Elections</h2><p style="margin: 1em 0px; text-align: center; font-size: 30px; line-height: 34px; font-family: impact; color: red;" class=""><strong class="">Our Struggle for Peace and Social Justice<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></strong><br class=""><strong class="">Must Be Intensified!</strong></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;" class=""><strong class=""></strong></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;" class=""><strong class="">December 12, 2020</strong></p><div style="margin: 1em 0px;" class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="margin: 1em 0px;" class="">November 3<sup class="">rd</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>has passed and slightly more than a third of the eligible electorate chose the Democrat, slightly less than a third the Republican, and the remaining third chose none of the above by either not voting or casting a ballot for a third-party alternative. The threat of an October surprise did not materialize although Trump’s desperate attempts to nullify the results of the elections continue.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><div style="margin: 1em 0px;" class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="margin: 1em 0px;" class="">The important issues of war and peace facing humanity, especially for those of us in the belly of the beast with a special responsibility to address the actions of our own government, were non-issues in most if not all U.S. election campaigns.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class=""></span></p><div style="margin: 1em 0px;" class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="margin: 1em 0px;" class="">Regardless of who occupies the Oval Office, the decadent trajectory of neoliberalism continues: imperialism abroad and austerity for working people at home. The permanent institutions of the state — the Pentagon and the national security and surveillance apparatus — endure.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><div style="margin: 1em 0px;" class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="margin: 1em 0px;" class="">Although Trump did not start any new wars, he did not end any of the now perpetual U.S. military engagements. The U.S. policy of sanctions against 39 countries, constituting a third of the world’s population, are a form of warfare that kills and maims similar to bombs. The wars abroad are increasingly mirrored by wars on the people at home, by the militarization of society — in particular the police — and by strangulation of the economy. The response by the major imperial powers to the pandemic of COVID-19, in particular in the U.S. and Europe, has exacerbated this war at home and exposed the social, political and economic cracks in late stage, monopoly capitalism.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><div style="margin: 1em 0px;" class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="margin: 1em 0px;" class="">Behind the ethnic and gender diversity of Joe Biden’s announced appointments is the continuity of the Obama-Biden administration’s engagement in permanent war and regime change and commitment to “full spectrum dominance.” The promise of U.S. “leadership” means, in fact, U.S. dominance of billions of people who did not choose the American state to rule them. These scourges will be not exorcized with the defeat of Donald Trump.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><div style="margin: 1em 0px;" class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="margin: 1em 0px;" class="">This fundamental continuity, beneath a façade of bipartisan bickering, calls for an independent peace movement to promote these actions, among many others:</p><div style="margin: 1em 0px;" class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><ul class=""><li class=""><span class=""></span>Drastically cut the military budget.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></li><li class="">Return all troops from all war zones and close all the foreign military bases.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></li><li class="">End all unilateral coercive measures (blockades and sanctions).<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></li><li class="">Stop supporting allied wars and stop U.S. and allied assassinations.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></li><li class="">End the nuclear weapons escalation and sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></li><li class="">Stop the cold war with China.</li><li class="">Reestablish diplomatic relations with Cuba, end the blockade, and return Guantánamo.</li><li class="">Negotiate with Iran, not assassinate and threaten military attacks.</li><li class="">End the asphyxiating sanctions on Venezuela and reestablish diplomatic relations.</li><li class="">Recognize and respect the right of Palestinians to self-determination and end its financial and diplomatic support for the apartheid state of Israel.</li><li class="">Repeal the Nicaragua Investment Conditionality Act (NICA Act).</li><li class="">Fully abide by the UN Charter.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></li><li class="">Demilitarize the police.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></li></ul><div style="margin: 1em 0px;" class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="margin: 1em 0px;" class="">Above all, we need to intensify our struggle for a just transition from a military to a peacetime economy to meet human and community needs and restore the environment, and join hands to build a world founded on cooperation, peace and respect for sovereignty of all nations.<strong class=""><span class=""></span></strong></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; text-align: center; color: red;" class="">***<br class=""></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; text-align: center; font-size: 9pt; font-family: arial;" class="">U.S. Peace Council • P.O. 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