Author name: davidswanson

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, October 24, 2023

I don’t recall getting to vote on sending more weapons to four wars at a time in the name of democracy, do you?

Has anybody asked you whether you agree with the media’s universal consensus that having a House Speaker who could facilitate the prolongation, escalation, and creation of numerous wars would be obviously better than not having a House Speaker?

Has a single member of the House even agreed to shut up and stop speaking during what should read more

In the popular Western imagination war resembles a sport with what Joe calls “teams” with differently colored uniforms on an identifiable and uninhabited “battlefield” where mostly soldiers die.

That almost no war has resembled this since World War One does not stop the endless outcries, during each and every war:

“This is not a war! It’s an occupation!”

“This is no war! Stop calling it a war! It’s a genocide!”

“This is not a war at read more

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, October 19, 2023

Remarks on October 19 at Uniting for Peace Conference

Likely place to find video: https://unitingforpeace.com

For Western media consumers, Yemen, Syria, Sudan, Azerbaijan, and various other ongoing wars might as well not exist. But Joe Biden is seeking money from the U.S. Congress for four wars at once, so that he can pay the world’s largest merchants of death to ship massive piles of free weapons to Ukraine, Israel, and (even if it’s not a read more

November 9, 2023: Columbus, Ohio

The Columbus Free Press Annual Awards Dinner
5:00 – 8:00 p.m.
The Vanderelli Room, 218 McDowell St, Columbus, OH 43215
Free – all are welcome

Featuring peace activist David Swanson on “War Abolition and the Ukraine Problem”

Honoring local community activists:
2024 Free Press “Libby” Award for lifetime achievement in Community Activism – Cynthia Brown of the Ohio Coalition to End Qualified Immunity
2024 Free Press Activist Artist Award – read more

With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hellbent on genocide, people keep sharing a scandalous article from 2015 called “Netanyahu: Hitler Didn’t Want to Exterminate the Jews.” I’m afraid it may give people the wrong idea. Netanyahu’s lie was that a Muslim cleric from Palestine convinced Hitler to kill Jews. But when read more

The latest escalation in Palestine is discussed somewhere in the middle of this video.

By World BEYOND War, October 9, 2023

Needless to say, the horrors underway in Palestine and Israel did not just begin and trace their roots to the Nakba and to the criminal violence that has not ended since then. It’s very necessary to add that nothing excuses the violence committed by Hamas. The Israeli government has not chosen to learn that its violence may produce more violence. Hamas has not chosen to learn that its violence may produce more violence. It’s very necessary to be mature enough read more

Many years ago, it occurred to me to try teaching foreign policy in preschool.

In a typical preschool, anywhere on Earth, when children have disputes, there can be pushing, shoving, crying, screaming, and all sorts of unpleasantness. The teacher cannot always know what happened from the beginning. He or she may only see the ending. The general theory is that first one must stop any physical altercation, next comfort each child, and finally — when things have calmed down — teach each child to read more

The Nobel Committee has yet again awarded a peace prize that violates the will of Alfred Nobel and the purpose for which the prize was created, selecting a recipient who blatantly is not “the person who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses.”

There is no question that advocating for human rights is a good thing, or that doing so under an oppressive government is a read more

I suppose it's important to find a balance between imaging the new and fantasizing about the highly improbable, but if you're not going to imagine anything at all, then why write a book?

Here’s a new response to a 1930s propaganda movie about the glories of the Monroe Doctrine.

By World BEYOND War, October 2, 2023

First published by Pressenza.

In this 1.5 hour friendly debate, moderated by Marcy Winograd (coordinator of CODEPINK Congress and co-chair of the Peace in Ukraine Coalition), we hear 3 perspectives debated: 1) Russia had no choice but to invade Ukraine, argued by former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, 2) Ukraine had no read more

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, September 27, 2023
Remarks in Charlottesville, Va — Video here.

War and peace could be a very simple issue. We make it very complicated. People say and do things that I simultaneously want to cheer for and condemn.

This week Senator Rand Paul said he wants to stop supporting Ukraine in order to support the United States. The phrase “support Ukraine” is shorthand for fueling a war that is destroying Ukraine, damaging the world, and threatening nuclear apocalypse. read more

A public discussion featuring Medea Benjamin, Helena Cobban, Ray McGovern, and David Swanson.