Peace and War

Some news of more resistance in Okinawa from Hiroshi Taka:

“I am writing this email to all the friends who have sent warm messages of solidarity to the people of Okinawa, who fought for a military base-free, peaceful Okinawa in the last weekend through the simultaneous elections at four levels: Governor of Okinawa, Mayor of Naha, three Prefectural Assembly members from Naha, Nago, and Okinawa City, and a member of Naha City assembly.  They won the governor election, the mayoral election, read more

The United States is a society incapable of producing a major documentary film opposing the institution of war and explicitly advocating its abolition. If it did so, the major corporate media outlets would not sing such a film’s praises.

Yet Watchers of the Sky is beloved by the U.S. corporate media because it opposes genocide, not war.  I’m not aware of any opponents of war who don’t also oppose genocide. In fact, many oppose the two as a single evil without the read more

Having been on the road, I have two brilliant insights to report.

1. No matter what sort of fascist state were ever established in this part of the world, Amtrak would never get the trains to run on time.

2. Respecting people and giving them credit for being smarter than the television depicts them is vastly easier when you stay home.

The well-known line is that people get the governments they deserve.  Of course nobody should be abused the way the U.S. and many other governments abuse them, read more

The following is excerpted and adapted from War Is A Lie.

We learn a lot about the real motives for wars when whistleblowers leak the minutes of secret meetings, or when congressional committees publish the records of hearings decades later.War planners write books.They make movies.They face investigations.Eventually the beans tend to get spilled.But I have never ever, not even once, heard of a private meeting in which top war makers discussed the need to keep a war going in order to benefit the read more

A case can be made that democracy worked in this month’s U.S. midterm elections, while representative democracy failed miserably.

On ballot initiatives all across the country, people in so-called red and blue states voted for raising the minimum wage, banning fracking, funding schools, taxing millionaires and billionaires, legalizing marijuana, reducing prison sentences, providing paid sick leave, and imposing background checks on gun purchases.

Want smaller government? I think we’ve read more

This advertisement for permanent war appeared in my local newspaper today.

By pointing out this fact I am neither opposing working with religious groups that favor peace nor asserting that Martin Luther King Jr. was a warmonger.

But religious peace activists could, as far as anyone can tell, be peace activists without the religion.

This advertisement could NOT promote war without religion. Its entire basis for promoting war is religion, for which no substitute is imaginable.

Exactly like an read more

From World Beyond War:

Open this PDF for a joint statement from over 20 peace organizations and what you can do: Alternatives-to-War

Here’s a more in-depth answer to “What About ISIS?” from World Beyond War.

November 11 is Armistice Day. Here’s a tool kit from Veterans For Peace that you can use in celebrating and educating. And here’s an read more