War Is A Crime

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, September 6, 2023

A new guide has just been published at wordsaboutwar.org that provides clear standards for how to write about war, and how not to.

It includes many terms and phrases to avoid, superior alternatives, and explanations.

It also provides general rules for how to approach the use of language for communicating about war.

While I did my bit to help write this guide, I’m nonetheless making an edit in a speech I’m drafting as I look through this guide read more

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, September 6, 2023

As much as any other town in the U.S., my town, Charlottesville, has failed in recent years when it comes to opposing wars. We used to be a leader, passing early resolutions through our city council — inspiring others — to advocate against wars in Iraq or Iran, against armed drones, telling Congress to move funding to human and environmental needs, divesting public dollars from weapons companies, ridding local police of weapons of war, etc. read more

Biden and Trump are shattering the records — previously held by Clinton and Trump — for unpopular top presidential candidates. Professional election gurus who thought Trump had become too unpopular now think he has a shot because Biden is just as unpopular.

Pollsters have the numbers to show that most people think these guys are too old, and most media outlets offer up their elderliness as a key explanation for their unpopularity. I’m not convinced.

If Biden or Trump were championing popular read more

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

In a June 2012 piece headlined “Praying at the Church of St. Drone,” I wrote, “Be assured of one thing: whichever candidate you choose at the polls in November, you aren’t just electing a president of the United States; you are also electing an assassin-in-chief.” At that read more

AUDIO:

Talk World Radio is recorded on Zoom.

Here is this week’s video and all the videos on Youtube.

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

The old anti-Vietnam War song that began, “War, what Is It good for? Absolutely nothing!” couldn’t be more on the mark these days. Just imagine that you live on a planet where the truest “war” may be the one we’re waging against nature — and that nature is increasingly waging on us. That “war” could, in the end, simply broil us all.

This summer, the war in read more

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, August 29, 2023

World BEYOND War has just announced the four winners of its third-annual War Abolisher Awards. All are relatively unknown individuals or organizations working from different angles at the giant task of ridding the world of war.

Before explaining who they are, I’d like to offer a very brief explanation of why such awards are needed. It’s not because Alfred Nobel got something wrong in creating the Nobel Peace Prize, but precisely because he read more

The 2023 War Abolisher Awards have been announced.

See the announcements and acceptance videos, and those from past years too, at
https://worldbeyondwar.org/war-abolisher-awards

The 2023 Individual War Abolisher Award goes to Sultana Khaya.

The 2023 Organizational War Abolisher Award goes to Wage Peace Australia.

The 2023 David Hartsough Individual Lifetime War Abolisher Award goes to David Bradbury.

The 2023 Organizational Lifetime War Abolisher Award goes to Fundación Mil Milenios de Paz.

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, Agust 27, 2023

I’m pretty sure I usually read the New York Times differently from how some people read it. I read it looking for two things: the insinuations and the independent evidence.

By insinuations, I mean the bulk of it, the stuff that’s put in there to communicate without any straightforward assertion of verifiable facts. Here’s a sample article from Sunday, starting with the headline:

“A Former French President Gives a Voice to Obstinate Russian read more