Author name: davidswanson

Salon duc Tape – Afghanistan: What do Peace Advocates Have to Say for Themselves Now? – August 27th, 2021

Should peace advocates be apologetic for the unfolding disaster in Afghanistan?

Events in Afghanistan have been moving quickly since the U.S. announced it would withdraw by September 11th, 2021. Each new day seems to bring news of another city taken by the Taliban. At the salon on Friday, August 27th, David Swanson of World BEYOND War will provide read more

Afghan villagers stand over bodies of civilians during a protest in the city of Ghazni, west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 29, 2019. An airstrike by U.S.-led forces in eastern Afghanistan killed at least five civilians. (AP Photo/Rahmatullah Nikzad)

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, August 15, 2021

So, people get hurt when you stop waging wars, and peace is dangerous, and . . . and . . . well, women’s rights!

What do the stupid peace lovers say now?

Well, here’s what this one says:

On September read more

I’ve written a short new book. I wrote it for Ollie (age 7) but you might like it too. It’s called Snippers Saves The World.

To take recent news reports seriously, it seems just possible that sometime this year the U.S. Congress might pass a pair of pieces of legislation that combine to do more good than harm.

Not only that, but this might happen because the better members of the House of (Mis-?)Representatives take a stand by refusing to vote for something unless they get what they say they want. Should that actually happen, the precedent might be at least as valuable as the particular legislation.

This idea depends read more

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, August 9, 2021

A new film by Molly Castelloe called “Vamik’s Room,” introduces the viewer to Vamik Volkan and psychoanalysis of international conflict.

The idea is not as mystical as it may sound. There’s no notion that a conflict has a psychology, but rather that those engaged in it do, and that anyone engaged in diplomacy or peace making should be aware of what are often unstated and even unacknowledged motivations in the parties engaged read more

By Sky News Australia, August 9, 2021

I read Daniel Sherrell’s Warmth: Coming of Age at the End of Our World sitting on the edge of what was left of the Shenandoah River after a summer of very little rain. Six inches is enough to canoe in but it’s less than that in many places. Fish are few and far between, yet humans are out there in canoes, dragging them over rocks, casting their lines, luring the last fish to their doom. I know the fish murders are not the problem, read more

Mushroom cloud of unspeakable destruction rises over Hiroshima following the first wartime dropping of an atomic bomb on August 6, 1945 (US government photo)

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, August 5, 2021

In 2015, Alice Sabatini was an 18-year-old contestant in the Miss Italia contest in Italy. She was asked what epoch of the past she would have liked to live in. She replied: WWII. Her explanation was that her text books go on and on about it, so she’d like to actually see it, and she wouldn’t read more