Author name: davidswanson

The great portraitist Robert Shetterly has a new collection out in a book titled Portraits of Peacemakers: Americans Who Tell the Truth.

The first thing we need to obtain and maintain peace is investment in the education and activism that prevents wars and that ends occupation and misgovernance without making use of wars.

One of the most impressive things about U.S. elections always appears to be the way in which the 96% of humanity outside of the United States consents to doing nothing at all for the better part of a year, so that U.S. media outlets can focus fulltime on the election. Of course, it could be that this, like much else in U.S. elections, is a bit of an illusion.

The highlights of the recent debate would seem to be, from the discussion that has followed:

1. an aging fascist buffoon falsely claiming that a group of people he’s demonizing wants to eat your pets — the wrong kind of animals, you should be serving the livestock industry that is helping render the Earth uninhabitable — and
2. the same racist nitwit fumbling around about having “concepts of a plan” for healthcare — but please pay no attention to the healthcare solution long since found by every other wealthy nation on the planet and shunned by both major political cartels in Washington.

And yet, the most significant bit of the debate read more

Rotary and World BEYOND War have together been offering an online course called Ending War 101. You can take it here.

We recommend first doing the course and then joining us on September 27 for a live webinar on the general topic of “So, now what do we do?”

The webinar is free and open to all.

Register here.

By Santita Jackson Show, September 5, 2024

David Swanson, Ariel Gold, and other guests discuss gun violence and militarism following yet another mass shooting in the United States.

Remarks on Canada-Wide Peace & Justice Network webinar on August 28, 2024

When NATO gathered in Washington D.C. several weeks ago, we held a counter-summit and a rally, did a bunch of interviews, wrote a bunch of articles, etc. All the videos and reports are at nonatoyespeace.org to watch and read at your convenience. I won’t try to read them to you. We had a minimal impact on U.S. and global communications about the NATO summit. We promoted Sevim Dagdelen’s book which is a bestseller in read more

What if you were to combine what Salon.com says Kamala Harris' speech said (Freedom Is What Normal Americans Want) with portions of Harris' speech?

While party platforms are usually full of insincere popular promises, this year’s from the Democrats spits in the face of the majority of Democrats who want peace.

Normally, U.S. political party platforms should not be read as outlines of what a party will do if given power. (Lists of donors should be read as outlines of what a party will do if given power.) Platforms should be read as the question section of a beauty contest. (And be grateful there’s no swimsuit section.)

Four years read more

According to the New York Times, U.S. officials say there's no excuse, on the warmakers' own terms, for the genocide they are arming.

Tim Walz was in 2015 part of the successful public campaign to pressure then-President Obama not to bomb every inch of Syria. Tim Walz does not hate China. That seems to be his direct antiwar record.

His pro-war record is longer: He has not opposed any war once it started. He’s not supported any treaty, international law, international court, or sought to hold any U.S. war criminals accountable. He’s famously claimed to support the mass murder and destruction of Iraq even at the height read more

On August 10, Military Times published an article demanding that NATO support the use of cluster bombs, bombs that litter the ground with colorful little bomblets that are very attractive to children during the last moments of those children’s lives or of their possession of various limbs or body parts.

The article was written by two folksy guys referred to in the credits as “John and Dan.” John Nagl is employed by the U.S. Army War College and is former president of the weapons-funded read more

In the August 4 San Francisco Chronicle, Brett Wagner, formerly of the U.S. Naval War College, and now adjunct fellow at the weapons-funded Center for Strategic and International Studies, writes that the “Department read more

According to The Guardian on Tuesday, “Washington insiders role-played a second Trump presidency. Can it save democracy?” I’m pretty sure the “it” in that headline is “Washington insiders.”  Apparently it is a bipartisan group of them, all serious, responsible adults who recently ran through five “war games” to determine whether and how they would defend so-called “democracy” from Trump.

In one, Trump calls out the military to prevent read more