Join us for the second in a new webinar series exploring the intersection of the U.S. military, democracy, world peace, and the climate crisis. Hosted by Third Act Union, Veterans For Peace, and Veterans and Labor for Sensible Priorities, this timely conversation centers the voices of U.S. military veterans confronting unlawful and immoral uses of military power.

Date: February 17th

Time: 7:30pm Eastern, 4:30pm Pacific

Across the United States, anti-war and pro-peace veterans are drawing on their lived military experience to resist rising authoritarianism, oligarchy, and fascism—at home and abroad. Veterans and active-duty personnel are essential to the broader democratic resistance to Trump-era militarism, including illegal orders to deploy troops in U.S. cities, target civilian populations, or escalate wars in the Americas and beyond. As new conflicts unfold—such as war with Venezuela and threats toward Iran, Mexico, Colombia, and Cuba, and the annexation of Greenland—veterans are helping expose the human costs of militarism and the dangers it poses to democratic institutions.

This webinar will explore:

• How veterans confront and reach out to active-duty personnel to help them navigate illegal or immoral orders, including being used to police civilian communities or to carry out extrajudicial violence.

• How militarism, climate catastrophe, and democratic backsliding are deeply intertwined—and what that “existential” relationship means for movements for peace and climate justice.

• How veteran-led organizations are challenging endless war, opposing the normalization of state violence, and redirecting public priorities toward meeting real human needs, including healthcare, housing, food security, education, climate justice, and employment that provides a living wage and economic well-being.

• How non-military allies and organizations can stand in solidarity with troops who resist illegal orders and support veterans working to defend diversity, inclusion, civil liberties, immigrant and refugee communities.

If you are a veteran Third Actor and want to help with these conversations, please contact us at union@thirdact.org.