Author name: davidswanson

A U.S. federal judge ruled Thursday that members of the so-called National Guard occupying Washington, D.C., do so only by obeying illegal orders. At Nuremberg, the U.S. and its allies tried and convicted Nazis despite their defense that they had been obeying orders, and despite some of the crimes having been invented after the fact for the prosecution.

On Tuesday, a group of Congress Members who had all “served” in the war machine published a read more

Ah, those were the days. The UN had been blocked by a worldwide popular movement from approving of a war on Iraq. British Prime Minister Tony Blair had dragged the UK along after secretly demanding that George W. Bush first attack Afghanistan, because Blair believed he would be better able to sell a war on Iraq once there was a war on Afghanistan. And once the destruction of Iraq was well underway, the UN crept out of some New York sewer pipe to support the occupation, er, excuse me, the peaceful read more

People of Ecuador 1 — Military Industrial Complex 0

In 2007, then-President of Ecuador Rafael Correa said he wanted a military base in Miami if the United States were to continue using a military base in Ecuador.

Bye bye, U.S. bases!

More recently, however, times changed. Pressures were applied. A new Ecuadorean government expressed its willingness to do as it is told.

But there was one flaw in the new plan for the spreading of U.S. democracy by force, namely democracy. The people of Ecuador have read more

Here’s a podcast I was on from USCatholic.org.

The interviewers asked good questions, but if you listen to the end you’ll hear them express all sorts of disagreements after we had ended the Zoom call. That’s a little disappointing in that it could have been a much better discussion if they’d spoken up sooner, and in that I had hoped they had heard anything I’d been saying. Of course, maybe my arguments are just worthless. Or maybe a book is a better tool.

Here’s read more

Trick question!

If you can still count your victims, you’re not worthy.

And the competition is mounting.

The Nobel Peace Prize is going to a Venezuelan advocate for deadly sanctions against — and an invasion of — Venezuela.

Meanwhile, a German advocate for escalating the war in Ukraine and thereby the risk of nuclear apocalypse is the winner of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.

I know what you’re thinking. That’s not fair! Lots of industries don’t have a read more

By Hudson Mohawk Magazine, November 5, 2025

As the threat of nuclear war continues to increase, President Trump says he plans to start testing nuclear weapons. He is also escalating his threats to Venezuela, sending a large naval force there as he kills people in boats that he claims are part of the drug trade. David Swanson of World BEYOND War discusses various peace issues with Mark Dunlea for Hudson Mohawk Magazine.

By HR Conversations

A rigorous conversation with David Swanson exploring the contradictions of U.S. foreign policy, the mechanics of modern warfare, and the role of nonviolent activism in a world driven by military-industrial interests. The discussion navigates historical patterns, contemporary crises, and systemic challenges, offering insight into how power, propaganda, and policy intersect—and what it means for those committed to peace and justice.

Opening remarks of #NoWar2025

Good morning, afternoon, and evening. Thank you to everyone who is here and to all of the wonderful speakers and participants we are about to hear from over the next three days and to all of our staff and volunteers, especially Greta Zarro our Organizing Director, who have planned this conference. We expect over 500 registrants from at least 42 countries to hear from at least 33 speakers. We have 22 endorsers and 10 sponsors. Those sponsors include our top or War Abolisher read more

Kathryn Bigelow once worked with the CIA to make a movie widely criticized for dishonestly promoting torture and glorifying killing (Zero Dark Thirty). (She has also explicitly advocated for war making.) Now she has made a movie highlighting the danger of nuclear apocalypse (A House of Dynamite). I know which film I would prefer for you to see. It’s on Netflix.

Netflix has a show called The Diplomat that supports false flag attacks, destructive fossil fuel extraction, government secrecy, read more

Trump is murdering the occupants of boats in distant waters. The problem is not that any memos his flacks may have written about it are secret, as Jameel Jaffer wrote in Thursday’s New York Times. Ever since Rosa read more

Super callous fragile racist lying nazi POTUS
Even though the Democrats are also quite atrocious
Vicious fascist Nazi youth are treated as precocious
Super callous fragile racist lying nazi POTUS

General general general strike
General general general strike
General general general strike
General general general strike

Because I was afraid to speak
When I was just a lad
Now this buffoonish fascist freak
Has nukes in a triad

However I have learned to say
What needed to be said
I’m read more

I want to share a few photos of Saturday’s No Kings event in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Yes, to the critics, I share your concerns. These things are full of more U.S. flags than a Trump rally, and stacks and stacks of signs promoting patriotism, and a whole forest of signs telling people to do nothing for years and then “Vote!” — an absurdity that I don’t think you could find in any other country.

Yes, you’re right, there is no plan for escalation or disruption or strategic direct action read more

Monday was Indigenous People’s Day, when much of the United States celebrates a murdering, enslaving, profiteering, imperialist Italian sailor mercenary and missionary who couldn’t tell one continent from another, wisdom from ignorance, or value from waste.

I was born and raised and have mostly lived in the eastern United States, and yet when I hear someone here refer to “how people lived several hundred years ago,” they almost always mean how people lived in Europe several read more