Robbed All Around: Militarism Political Education Series

Photo and art from David Solnit

As we organize toward social justice for BIPOC communities, concepts such as the divest-invest framework push us to ask, why is there so much money for criminalization, but so little for public resources like education, housing, and health? If we look deeper, there’s an additional expense robbing communities - that of militarism.

In the recent years of escalating genocide in Palestine and the ever-tightening grip of U.S.-led and funded military violence around the globe, many of us have watched in horror and rose up in solidarity. At the same time, we have witnessed philanthropy stay far too silent. US militarism devastates communities around the world, and degrades the labor and lives of people living in the United States. In recent years, public awareness has grown, further revealing the ever-tightening grip of U.S.-led and funded military violence from Cuba to Palestine. For philanthropy to build on this momentum—moving beyond silence and individual efforts toward alignment of values, vision, and action—we must reckon with how our institutions are entangled with systems of repression, displacement, and imperial domination.

This summer NFG’s Rooted: Political Education program will offer a four-part series on US militarism. Through four sessions, we will cultivate a foundational understanding of militarism and how its dismantling deeply connects to frameworks for liberation. We’ll do this by building on our understanding of:

• structure of the war economy, 
• depth and breadth of US military occupation and subsequent profits, 
• economic subjugation present as a key component and continuation of imperialism, and 
• organizing in solidarity and resistance.

“Robbed All Around” will be a valuable space for funders who are knowledgeable about imperialism but ready to learn more, those wanting to build a greater understanding based on what they’ve witnessed the last few years, those curious how to integrate these values into their philanthropic practice, or anyone who has ever wondered just why inequality and violence is so enshrined in the United States. 

Participants will leave with sharper political clarity and tangible ideas to deepen their solidarity practice and shift their philanthropic work to be in alignment with collective liberation. The series will take place in four parts: