Author: David Swanson

The committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize was right not to give the prize to Greta Thunberg, who deserves the highest prizes available, but not one created to fund the work of abolishing war and militaries. That cause ought to be central to the work of protecting the climate, but it is not. The question of why no young person working to abolish war is given access to television networks ought to be raised.

The vision that Bertha von Suttner and Alfred Nobel had for the peace prize — the read more

If Trump were to finally shoot someone on Fifth Avenue, Nancy Pelosi and Jerrold Nadler and company would not declare it acceptable, absolutely not. But what they would do would be to open a months-long investigation into the history of the victim, what Trump had said earlier in the day, who had manufactured the gun, and — above all — what foreign government they could blame it on.

In fact, I’d be willing to wager that if Trump were to vomit on Nancy Pelosi’s head, she would open a very read more

English below the italian

L’Italia dovrebbe fare amicizia con il pubblico degli Stati Uniti e del mondo cacciando le basi militari statunitensi.

Di David Swanson

Alla fine degli anni ’80, quando ero un adolescente e uno studente di scambio a Bassano del Grappa, amavo l’Italia per le stesse ragioni per cui l’amo ancora, ragioni che includono le bellezze naturali, quelle create dall’uomo, e la bellezza umana.

Ho trovato gli italiani in generale amichevoli, gentili, generosi, amorevoli, divertenti, read more

Lisa Fithian has just published a terrific guide to direct action and strategic civil disobedience as the most radical and rapid means to social change, called Shut It Down: Stories from a Fierce Loving Resistance. Fithian has been described by Mother Jones magazine as “the nation’s best-known protest consultant.” She has supported countless movements including the Battle of Seattle in 1999, rebuilding and defending communities following Hurricane Katrina, Occupy Wall Street, and read more

By Pat Elder, World BEYOND War, September 18, 2019

Fire fighters at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County practice dousing a petroleum fire using carcinogenic foam.

There was an earthquake in California on August 23, 2019, although the ground didn’t move, and few noticed. That was the day California ordered the state’s water systems to establish the nation’s lowest Notification Levels for dangerous Per and Poly Fluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in drinking water.

Two of the deadliest PFAS read more

Kathy Kelly has traveled to war zones and lived alongside ordinary people in Afghanistan, Iraq, Gaza, and Lebanon. She and her companions in Voices for Creative Nonviolence believe the U.S. should end all U.S. military and economic warfare and pay reparations for suffering already caused by U.S. wars. Recently, Voices has helped organize vigils, forums, fasts, and nonviolent direct action calling for an immediate end to hostilities driving near famine conditions in Yemen. Kathy Kelly is a member read more

In the years following 2003, the U.S. military dotted Iraq with over 500 military bases, many of them close to Iraqi cities. These cities suffered the impacts of bombs, bullets, chemical and other weapons, but also the environmental damage of open burn pits on U.S. bases, abandoned tanks and trucks, and the storage of weapons on U.S. bases, including depleted uranium weapons. Here’s a map of some of the U.S. bases:

This map and the other illustrations below have been provided by Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, read more