Nick Brana

Citizens’ Action to Demand that Congress Stop Funding the War

This is the edited transcript of the presentation by Nick Brana to Panel 2, “Peace Through Development,” of the Schiller Institute’s Nov. 22 conference, “For World Peace—Stop the Danger of Nuclear War: Third Seminar of Political and Social Leaders of the World.” Mr. Brana is national chair of the People’s Party in the United States. The full proceedings of the conference are available at the Schiller Institute website.

Brothers and sisters, we gather today as the world stares into the abyss of nuclear Winter, that long freeze that follows the raging fire of humanity’s last war. A cold and dead world, all that remains of a once lush oasis in the vast emptiness of space. We gather because we stand on the edge of that future; a new Ice Age of our own making where the ash of humanity blocks out the Sun. Where the oceans freeze and the crops perish; where the lights flicker and fade; where famine and plague kill all who survived the blasts; the sudden extinction of all life on Earth.

I’ve often wondered if every intelligent civilization in the cosmos confronts this great test during their technological adolescence and transition to global abundance. A test of whether their wisdom and empathy can triumph over the division and conflict of their past. A test of whether they can embrace cooperation over competition. Perhaps this is a form of cosmic screening, where violent civilizations destroy themselves before they can spread out into the universe. The question then is, what kind of civilization are we?

Just one week ago, the world had a brush with death. A Ukrainian missile killed two in Poland, and nearly triggered a Third World War. NATO governments and the Western media quickly blamed Russia and were slow to correct their stories. We escaped with our lives last Tuesday, but we are playing Russian roulette with the fate of the world. And if we keep pulling the trigger, we will get a bullet.

Even if we manage to avert nuclear catastrophe during this crisis and the next, many new existentially threatening technologies are emerging. From engineered super viruses to infrastructure grid hacks, from rogue artificial intelligence to weaponized nanotechnology, from asteroid-redirection to the permanent totalitarianism of [Aldous] Huxley’s Brave New World, humanity’s progress in science and technology has outstripped our advancements in government and economics.

We Get To Decide

We now have the ability to abolish poverty, hunger, homelessness, and scarcity worldwide. But our financial system still siphons wealth to a ruling class of corporate billionaires. World affairs are still dominated by military blocs, imperialism, and war. Politics and law are still instruments by which the powerful subjugate the people.

If humanity remains trapped in an economic system that pits families and nations against each other for resources and power, then existentially threatening technologies will continue to develop and proliferate without restraint. And it is only a matter of time before catastrophe strikes and billions are killed. Humanity will not survive the next few decades without a reinvention of our global security and development architecture toward collaboration and abundance. The decline of the U.S. empire cannot be reversed, nor should it be. It has only brought misery and death to the world and the American people

But we do get to decide what kind of global structure comes next. Will it be the rise of the second financial and military empire? Another Cold War? Or a step forward into an entirely new collaborative and prosperous system?

The people of the world and the Non-Aligned countries must come together to demand an end to this war in Ukraine, and the abolition of nuclear weapons, NATO, and all military blocs. They must unite to write the rules of the next global economic, financial, and security system.

Americans must protest their government, build independent parties, and demand that the U.S. stop all weapons to Ukraine and negotiate peace with Russia. Let our legacy be one of abolishing imperialism and poverty for all time, one of the greatest milestones in human history. The rich and powerful in the West would sooner see the world burn, than share its abundant resources.

But my spirit calls out in rebellion against the forces of war and annihilation. My spirit calls out for all who suffer from this war and the countless future generations whose lives hang in the balance. My spirit calls out, joined by millions who refuse to accept the destiny written by the most violent among us. We refuse to accept the fate that they have ordained.

So long as we draw breath, we will not allow the life of this world to be extinguished!