Unarmed Civilian Protection over Military

RootsAction Campaign created by Charles J.

Petition Text

To: The Green and Democratic Parties

The Green and Democratic Parties must bring nonviolence to US foreign policy, and adopt Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP).

Why is this important?

The US cannot play a positive role on Earth while it uses destructive conflict resolution. Constructive methods like Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) must replace destructive ones, like US military action.

Practiced by some 50 groups over the last 30 years, UCP has proven more effective, affordable, humane, and Earth-conscious (unlike Earth’s largest single user of fossil fuels, the US military) in deadly conflicts than armed protection. 

UCP is now recognized as effective by the U.N. It is nonviolent, nonpartisan, empowers locals rather than making them dependent, and brings reconciliation rather than resentment. 

UCP addresses root causes of conflict rather than surfaces, building sustainable peace. It protects life without taking life, and brings emancipation from “us-them” views. It shows the world we can solve deadly conflicts without carrying, much less using, weapons.

Evidence shows we can’t shoot, bomb, or regime-change violence out of existence. UCP changes hearts and minds on the ground, something the most surgical drone strike cannot do. It engages those at all power levels in conflicts, rather than just those at the top.

How does UCP work? It uses four main methods: proactive engagement, monitoring, relationship building, and capacity enhancement. For more details, see: https://worldbeyondwar.org/unarmed-civilian-protection-ucp-a-concise-overview/

In short, US conflict resolution worldwide can use Martin Luther King Jr.’s school of thought, not Harry S Truman’s.

The Green and Democratic Parties (and someday the Libertarian and Republican Parties) can embrace this “idea whose time has arrived.”