Author name: davidswanson

Thousands of civic-minded people have been voluntarily helping out the not-yet-extant pseudo-government agency named after the ruler of not-yet-sunk Venice: the DOGE.

On a convenient webpage they are signing a petition and sending tweets to billionaire efficiency-creator Elon Musk. The petition reads:

To: Elon Musk at the Department of Government Efficiency

Here’s how to improve government efficiency and cut spending: Audit the Pentagon, stop handouts to military contractors, and slash the read more

Netanyahu-free zones (ICC members) in blue. Source.

The International Criminal Court has taken an enormously important small step toward respectability and real internationalism by issuing arrest warrants for the very first time for war allies of the United States and Western militaries.

It took many, many inexcusable months for the prosecutor of the ICC to request the arrest warrants, and six more months for the court to issue them. The delays may be in part explained by the constant political read more

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The United States just held a presidential election between two pro-war, militarist candidates, each of whom could have been expected to shift yet more funding into war preparations, to arm the genocide in Palestine, and to wage and threaten war with abandon. And yet peace was, as it often is, a deciding factor.

Many voters demanding peace were otherwise inclined to vote for Kamala Harris. Had she simply committed to ceasing to illegally arm just one war, she probably would have won.

Many voters read more

I wasn’t going to read The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates because I’m doing what I can to end the genocide and occupation, and because Coates seems like such a nice guy that it saddens me that he nonsensically defended the U.S. Civil War.

I’m very glad that I did read it. I did so because someone led me to believe that in it Coates changed his mind about the Civil War. This turned out to be a misunderstanding that grew out of the fact that in the book he does slightly change his read more

In my town the cherry trees now bloom as winter approaches, and the curious thing is that people no longer mention the lovely spring days in November without adding they they are aware it’s an indication of a climate collapse that may rapidly render human life on Earth impossible. Everyone not only knows it but says it.

They still never add that they want to engage in any sort of activism to compel a change of course, even as the U.S. government is handed over fully to the oil companies and read more

Remarks in Göteborg, Sweden, November 11, 2024.

It’s wonderful to be here with many of you whose work I’ve known but whom I’ve rarely if ever been with in person. I am very grateful to John Jones and Tomas Magnusson and all those involved in arranging this event.

It’s wonderful to be in a country which — like Norway, where I was yesterday — some of my great-grandparents came from, including here in Sweden the ones who gave me my last name. I imagine some of you read more

Remarks upon acceptance of Real Nobel Peace Prize, Oslo, Norway, November 10, 2024.

PDF Pamphlet Here.

It’s wonderful to be here with many of you whose work I’ve known but whom I’ve rarely if ever been with in person. I am very grateful to John Jones and Tomas Magnusson for arranging this event. I am thrilled to be here at the start of what I expect will be years of terrific work by the Lay Down Your Arms Foundation — an appropriate name here in the House of Literature. The read more