Author name: davidswanson

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, October 16, 2022

There’s probably not a corner of the Earth lacking talented, creative, and wise composers of lyrics for songs. It’s unfortunate that no nation has been able to locate any of them to assist with its national anthem.

Of course, I’m unfamiliar with many artistic genres and most languages. I read most anthem lyrics in translation. But the best ones seem to be the shortest, and their primary recommendation seems to be their length.

Here are read more

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, October 13, 2022

Global NGO World BEYOND War sought to rent four billboards in front of NATO headquarters in Brussels with messages of peace. These were small billboards at train stops. Here is the image that we sought to use:

The U.S.-based organization Veterans For Peace has partnered with us on this campaign. We’ve successfully rented a read more

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, October 7, 2022

I’ve just read In Search of Monsters to Destroy by Christopher J. Coyne. It’s published by the Independent Institute (which seems dedicated to untaxing the rich, destroying socialism, and so forth). The book begins by citing as influences both peace advocates and rightwing economists.

If I had to rank the reasons I want to abolish war, the first one would be avoiding nuclear holocaust, and the second would be investing in socialism instead. 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 recipients who blatantly are 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.”

With its eyes on the news of the day, there was no question that the Committee would find some way to focus on Ukraine. But read more

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, October 6, 2022

(Note: Together with several other people, I sent this note to the Washington Post, asking for a meeting with their editorial board and criticizing their atrocious reporting on Ukraine. They declined to meet and suggested we send an op-ed. I send them an op-ed and they complained that I’d referenced read more

By the undersigned, October 5, 2022

To the Editorial Board of the Washington Post

We would like to request at your convenience a brief in-person or online meeting to discuss Ukraine.

We have not been able to find in your pages any opposition to weapons shipments or advocacy for ceasefire and negotiation — despite the recent advocacy for just that by 66 nations at the United Nations, and the support for it by various governments around the world since February.

We have not seen in your paper any read more

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, October 3, 2022

Chris Hedges’ latest book, The Greatest Evil Is War, is a terrific title and even better text. It doesn’t actually argue a case for war being a greater evil than other evils, but it sure does present evidence that war is tremendously evil. And I think in this moment of nuclear weapons threats, we can consider the case pre-established.

Yet the fact that we’re at major risk of nuclear apocalypse may not interest or move some people the way read more

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, September 30, 2022

I wholeheatedly and enthusiastically recommend Andrew Bacevich’s latest book, On Shedding An Obsolete Past, to almost everybody. I have second thoughts only on recommending 350 pages of denouncing warmaking to those who are already out ahead of it and have come to understand the need to abolish wars and militarism before those things abolish us.

Bacevich names not one war relevant to the current day that he supports or justifies. He vaguely read more

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, September 27, 2022

What would we do in a world lacking police, prisons, surveillance, borders, wars, nuclear weapons, and capitalism? Well, we might survive. We might sustain life on this little blue dot a little longer. That — in contrast to the status quo — ought to be sufficient. We might, in addition, do a lot more than sustain life. We might transform the lives of billions of people including each person reading these words. We might have lives with read more

By David Swanson, September 24, 2022

Remarks in Seattle on September 24, 2022 at https://abolishnuclearweapons.org

I am so sick and tired of wars. I’m ready for peace. What about you?

I’m glad to hear it. But pretty much everybody is for peace, even the people who think the surest way to peace is through more wars. They have a peace pole in the Pentagon, after all. I’m pretty sure they ignore it more than worship it, although they do make a lot of human sacrifices for the cause.

When I ask a read more

A preview of the film “Riotsville” is here.

There’s a good review of the film here, and another here.

In the late 1960s, the U.S. military built a fake town called Riotsville (or a fake “inner city” actually) on the Fort Belvoir base in Virginia, and then another at Fort Gordon in Georgia — the same state where the Atlanta police are now working on the construction of an enlarged, updated, high-tech Riotsville commonly called “Cop City.”

The film “Riotsville” read more

By World BEYOND War, September 21, 2022

Debate set up by World BEYOND War on September 21, 2022, International Day of Peace.

Arguing that war can never be justified was David Swanson, an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is executive director of World BEYOND War and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org. Swanson’s books include War Is A Lie. He hosts Talk World Radio. He is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and U.S. Peace Prize recipient.

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By David Swanson

Imagine the trash compactor scene in Star Wars running for five straight years. Now you can skip thousands of reports on the walls closing in on Trump. You’ve got the idea.

In 2019 at RootsAction.org we published a list of 25 proposed grounds for impeaching Trump, complete with evidence. The trouble was and remains that most of the abuses by Trump were also routine abuses by Congress Members, including Democrats. read more

By Unity Earth, September 20, 2022

With World BEYOND War Executive Director David Swanson, Education Director Phill Gittins, and Canada Organizer Maya Garfinkel.

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, September 19, 2022

Remarks on September 19, 2022 for online event at https://peaceweek.org
Powerpoint here.

Thank you for including us. After I speak, World BEYOND War Education Director Phill Gittins will discuss the educational work that can move us away from war, and World BEYOND War Canada Organizer Maya Garfinkel will discuss the nonviolent activism that can do the same. This way, I can talk just about the easy part, which is why we should abolish war.

It’s read more