Author: David Swanson

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

If you live among the Other 96% — that portion of humanity that the U.S. government does not claim to represent, but where the U.S. military maintains some 1,000 major military bases, here are some helpful tips and past examples of success.

First of all, do everything you can to let people in the United States know how much they are paying financially for the bases in your country. While some of us in the United States primarily object to bases because of their use in read more

I sent the New York Times this letter on March 20, 2019:

To the Editor,

Peter Navarro’s op-ed “Why America Needs a Stronger Defense Industry” argues that “Investing in the sector means more jobs at home and improved security abroad.” He praises the construction of tanks used in wars in Iraq.

Here is a study demonstrating that military spending produces fewer jobs than other types of public spending, or even than not taxing money from working people in the first place:
“The U.S. read more

This week, war industry employee Hans Binnendijk claimed in the weapons-advertisement conveyance Defense News that we all get five big benefits from NATO:

1) Russia refrains from seizing Eastern Europe.
2) The United States gets to have bases in Europe from which to attack the Middle East, and gets to trade stuff with Europe.
3) Europe’s militaries are united into one big happy military.
4) Asian countries refrain from cooperating with each other.
5) The world is at peace read more

By David Swanson, Director, World BEYOND War

If you saw a book in Barnes and Noble called “How Not to Go to War,” wouldn’t you assume it was a guide to the proper equipment every good warrior should have when they head off to do a little killing, or perhaps something like this U.S. news article on “How Not to Go to War Against ISIS” which is all about what law you should pretend authorizes a violation of the UN Charter and the Kellogg-Briand Pact?

In fact, the new book, How Not to read more

I think we can tentatively draw a few possible, and all of them encouraging, conclusions from the fact that the University of Virginia has announced a $15 per hour minimum wage for its direct employees.

One is this: actions you take can bear fruit later. When many of us demanded an $8 living wage back in the 1990s, the University dragged its feet. Local governments and businesses did move to $8/hour. And distant governments and other universities began adopting living wage standards. Activist groups read more

Villanova University is hosting a West Point Military Academy-supported event about “Just War” theory.

The professor who teaches “ethics” at West Point last year lost two debates on the topic of whether war can ever be justified. Videos: one, two. I admit to being biased, as I was the one debating him, but the first event polled people at the start and finish and found that read more

Omali Yeshitela is Chairman of the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace, and Reparations. The website is at blackisbackcoalition.org

He has agreed to speak on April 4th in Washington DC at the No to NATO — Yes to Peace events. The website for that is NotoNATO.org.

Chairman Omali is also Chairman of the African People’s Socialist Party USA and the African Socialist International, and is the founder of The Burning Spear newspaper. See theburningspear.com

Total run time: 29:00
Host: read more

Remarks at Student Peace Awards of Fairfax County, Va., March 10, 2019

By David Swanson, Director, World BEYOND War

Thank you for inviting me here. I’m honored. And I’m reminded of lots of happy memories of Herndon High School, class of 87. If there was encouragement back then to take on the sort of projects that our honorees today have taken on, I missed it. I suspect that some improvements have been made in high school education since my day. Yet I did manage to learn a lot at Herndon, and read more

U.S. military spending eight years ago was at $1.2 trillion per year, when one added in the nukes in the Energy Department, the Homeland Security Department, the CIA, interest on debt, veterans’ care, etc. Now it’s at $1.3 trillion. In the years since military spending has been dramatically increased, the United States has been made less safe, less read more