Drop the MIC Mondays: Recent Episodes
About Face
Veterans who served in the military and realized the wars they were fighting were wrong and work to stop the systemic oppressions that keeps us in a perpetual state of war. Anchored by Natasha, Shiloh, and Olie
In this episode, we talk with impacted friends in Hawai'i; Andre Perez, a local leader and military veteran, and Jamie Williams, a researcher and Coast Guard spouse. Following prolonged water contamination from the Navy's Red Hill Fuel Storage facility in Oahu, Hawai'i displaced some 3,000 military members and their families. State health officials state samples from the Red Hill shaft contained petroleum 350 times the safe level.
Undoing militarism means activism on all fronts. We invite long-time About Face member Jovanni Reyes to share recent historical perspectives drawing a line to the US instigation in the proxy war on Ukraine, US propaganda, and imperialism at this moment under the guise of humanitarian driven by corporate interests (MIC) and strips from social needs here at home.
Join us in discussion with veteran-artist, Aaron Hughes who works to Drop the MIC and change our culture, build community power to see justice and counter violence. Hear about the latest projects with veteran art projects and how culture moves movements.
Ramon Mejia, the anti-militarism organizer for GGJ, jumps on the call to chat about the upcoming "No War, No Warming" pledge that representatives from congress have signed onto to reduce global warming and military pollution, and discusses the intersections the climate movement has with the anti-war movement.
Seven trillion dollars went to private defense contractors since 9/11. Veterans and average folks in the military know the money isn't going to them - it's going to the 700 lobbyists and their congress. Listen about spending on AFRICOM, Ukraine, and other conflict areas escalate tensions while making war profiteers all the richer. Expert Stephane Savell from Brown's Costs of War talks about the military-industrial complex, who makes money, and what policies we can push for to move money to a regenerative economy.
About Face: Veterans Against the War launches Drop the MIC Mondays, a space where you get to hear the latest on anti-war work in the world. This episode gives you background to this podcast and its hosts, Natasha Erskine and Shawna Foster, as well as a quick background on About Face: Veterans Against the War as it developed from Iraq Veterans Against the War and how the organization has evolved from a group of vets working against the Iraq war to veterans working for collective liberation from militarism.