Let's Try Democracy

In planning an upcoming conference aimed at challenging the institution of war, to be held at American University September 22-24, I can’t help but be drawn to the speech a U.S. president gave at American University a little more than 50 years ago. Whether or not you agree with me that this is the best speech ever given by a U.S. president, there should be little dispute that it is the speech most out of step with what anyone will say on Capitol read more

Nobody, not racist warmakers, not imaginary non-racist warmakers, not founding fathers, not radical protesters should be made into a deity, larger than life, in marble or bronze, on horseback or otherwise. Nobody is that flawless, and nobody’s story so withstands the test of time. We need human-sized statues and memorials of whole movements.

The U.S. Constitution, along with the Declaration of Independence, has a whole marble building dedicated to its worship: the National Archives in D.C., read more

Edward Snowden, NSA whistleblower and 2013 Sam Adams laureate, will be speaking with us by live video, as we gather for the NoWar2017 conference on September 22-24 in Washington, D.C.

Speaking in person will be: Medea Benjamin, Nadine Bloch, Max Blumenthal, Alice Day, Lincoln Day, Tim DeChristopher, Dale Dewar, Pat Elder, Bruce Gagnon, Kathy Gannett, Will Griffin, Seymour read more

By David Swanson
Remarks at George Mason University on September 13, 2017

Thank you very much for inviting me.

May I see a show of hands of those who believe we should eliminate all racism?

Thank you, and now those who think we should eliminate all war?

Thank you.

In a typical U.S. crowd, I suspect, many more will raise their hands for ending all racism than for ending all war.

Despite the notion that we live in a democracy being largely fraudulent, I think those shows of hands represent very roughly read more

Have you about had enough yet? I have!

Sixteen years of endless wars, endless spending, endless killing, endless dying, endless environmental destruction, endless erosion of our rights, endless suppression of activism, endless militarization of police, endless promotion of bigotry and hatred, endless generation of hatred and terrorism, endless threats of nuclear apocalypse.

Can we make it end now?

If I were to get some people together to work on, at long last, abolishing war, I would want whistleblowers read more

Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Glen Ford, along with my co-host Nellie Bailey. Coming up: Community control of the police activists in New York City take the struggle into the bowels of the subway system, while, in Philadelphia, activists present their case to the City Council; and, Dr. Anthony Monteiro says the time is right for a real progressive movement – but the Left doesn’t know how to take advantage read more

When I wrote a book about the Kellogg-Briand Pact my goals were to draw lessons from the movement that created it, and to call attention to its existence as a still-current law being routinely violated — in hopes of encouraging compliance. After all, it is a law that bans nations from engaging in war — the primary thing my nation’s government does, with a half-dozen U.S. wars going at any time now.

Now Oona Hathaway and Scott J. Shapiro have published The Internationalists: read more