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The Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) military exercise is the world’s largest international maritime exercise that includes combined operations trainings conducted in and around the Hawaiian Island chain every two years. The US Pacific Fleet departs from San Diego to join other forces of the Indo Pacific Command of the US military to host the war games in US-occupied Hawai'i. At least 22 nations--all allied to the US--with 49 surface ships, six submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel participate, involving the Philippines and even countries from far outside the Pacific including Israel and Germany.
RIMPAC is conducted in line with the US’s Indo Pacific Strategy and is a major show of force of the US and its allies amidst intensifying competition between the US and China. The sea, land, air, cyber and space weapons tech exercised here make this RIMPAC a major investment opportunity for the weapons and tech industries.
These drills will further erode Native sovereignty while putting the land and the people at even more risk for environmental damage. RIMPAC is a source of major harm to the islands, emblematic of a larger contradiction--that practice in military power and war directly impact environmental health and Hawaiian sovereignty all while military operations more broadly constitute one of the single greatest contributors to climate change.
Military exercises and war games are not merely chances for reactionary militaries to practice tactics. They are meant to test dangerous and cutting-edge technology, show off provocative might to deter rival states abroad (a dangerous step towards direct military confrontation) and instill imperialist propaganda through nationalistic rhetoric around military patriotism in the communities they take place in.
San Diego is literally a launching pad for warfare in the Asia-Pacific and the world, serving as a center in which military technologies and practices are being advanced and developed to be used to repress people all over the world in the interest of the ruling class. While RIMPAC serves as an opportunity to flex the US’s military might and maintain its imperialist hegemony every two years, San Diego serves as the base for the rapid and endless race for “advancement” every day, as well as the port from which the Pacific Fleet sets sail for RIMPAC. The day-to-day suffering brought upon by imperialist warfare, from Palestine to the Philippines, US-backed coups that create crises at the border, and the state neglect of working class communities in San Diego, is the result of the billions of dollars poured into the military economy in San Diego. Because of this, San Diego is one of the clearest venues in which to wage our anti-war work in the country and hold the peak of our Cancel RIMPAC campaign this year.
This year, the call to isolate Israel for its genocidal war against Palestine has been added to the overarching call to Cancel RIMPAC. With this call, the anti-RIMPAC movement has the chance to unite Filipinos, Native Hawaiians, Palestinians and the peoples of all RIMPAC countries against the use of their reactionary militaries in a show of force by US imperialism, and prevent the US from advancing its Indo Pacific Strategy which threatens to bring the world ever closer to provoking World War 3.
