War Is A Crime

In 1985, at age 41, I visited Disney World for the first time. I remember the experience for two things: the endless lines so cleverly organized that you never knew how long they truly were and the Hawaiian Luau dinner I attended. Yes, a genuine Hawaiian feast that reminded me of American Chinese food circa 1953 and the unforgettable “entertainment” offered by “native” read more

September 14, 2017

What It Would Take to End Racism and War

By David Swanson
Remarks at George Mason University on September 13, 2017

Thank you very much for inviting me.

May I see a show of hands of those who believe we should eliminate all racism?

Thank you, and now those who think we should eliminate all war?

Thank you.

In a typical U.S. crowd, I suspect, many more will raise their hands for ending all racism than for ending all war.

Despite the notion that we live in a democracy being largely fraudulent, I think those shows of hands represent very roughly read more

September 13, 2017September 13, 2017

Focus: Brexit Update – Sept 12, 2017

Theresa May faces multiple rebellions over EU withdrawal bill challenging use of Henry VIII powers, calling for vote on the final terms of Brexit and demanding retention of the charter of fundamental rights – The Guardian

Tories threaten to team up with Labour to ruin Brexit bill – Daily Mail Online

John Penrose op-ed: With my proposed changes to the repeal bill, Henry VIII will stay in his grave – The Guardian

Statement of Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State Keir Starmer following the vote in the House of Commons on the EU Withdrawal Bill – Labour Press

Labour publishes amendments to the EU withdrawal bill: Details – The Guardian

Scottish government recommends rejection of EU withdrawal bill – Reuters

Full text of the a total of 136 amendments and 29 clauses to the EU withdrawal bill tabled by MPs – parliament.uk

Hammond says U.K. is seeking Brexit transition in which it temporarily keeps its access to the European Union’s single market after it departs – Bloomberg

Main points on EU transition from Philip Hammond’s evidence to the Lords economic affairs committee – The Guardian

Brexit: read more

September 12, 2017

The Gathering to Abolish War

Have you about had enough yet? I have!

Sixteen years of endless wars, endless spending, endless killing, endless dying, endless environmental destruction, endless erosion of our rights, endless suppression of activism, endless militarization of police, endless promotion of bigotry and hatred, endless generation of hatred and terrorism, endless threats of nuclear apocalypse.

Can we make it end now?

If I were to get some people together to work on, at long last, abolishing war, I would want whistleblowers read more

September 12, 2017

Tomgram: William Astore, The Superpower That Fought Itself — And Lost

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

After 19 al-Qaeda militants armed only with box-cutters and knives hijacked four American commercial airliners, the U.S. military moved with remarkable efficiency to rectify the problem. In the years since, in its global war on terror, the Pentagon has ensured that America’s enemies in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere have regularly been able to arm themselves with… read more

September 12, 2017

Black Agenda Radio – 09.11.17

Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Glen Ford, along with my co-host Nellie Bailey. Coming up: Community control of the police activists in New York City take the struggle into the bowels of the subway system, while, in Philadelphia, activists present their case to the City Council; and, Dr. Anthony Monteiro says the time is right for a real progressive movement – but the Left doesn’t know how to take advantage read more

September 12, 2017

How Outlawing War Changed the World in 1928

When I wrote a book about the Kellogg-Briand Pact my goals were to draw lessons from the movement that created it, and to call attention to its existence as a still-current law being routinely violated — in hopes of encouraging compliance. After all, it is a law that bans nations from engaging in war — the primary thing my nation’s government does, with a half-dozen U.S. wars going at any time now.

Now Oona Hathaway and Scott J. Shapiro have published The Internationalists: read more

September 11, 2017

Tomgram: Alfred McCoy, How the Pentagon Snatched Innovation From the Jaws of Defeat

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

In the early 1950s, my father ran a gas station on Governors Island, a military base in New York harbor. In those years, it would be my only encounter with the suburbs. And there, for maybe a dime on any Saturday afternoon, I could join the kids from military families at the local movie house for the usual Westerns or war movies preceded by either a Buck read more