OMNI
ANTI-WAR, ANTI-IMPERIALISM,
ANTI-CANT NEWSLETTER #3. March 25, 2014.
Compiled by Dick Bennett for a
Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology. (#1 April 2, 2012; #2 Jan. 18, 2013).
This is a little book on
resisting US wars and imperialism and
the language used to rationalize them; a collection of some of the best writing
on how to end the US War system.
My blog:
War Department/Peace Department
Newsletters
Index:
See: Authorization for Use of Armed Force, Chemical
War, “Collateral Damage” (Language of War), Consequences of War, Costs of War,
Genocide, Imperialism, Individual Wars, Lawlessness, Militarism,
Military-Industrial Complex, Nuclear Weapons and War, Pentagon (the War
Department), Profits of War, PTSD, Secrecy, Suicide, Support the Troops? Torture,
War as a Racket, War Crimes, War Department, War on Terror, War System, Wastes
of War, and many more topics.
Anti-cant: The word Cant
possesses many meanings, including insincere or hypocritical statements, esp.
pious platitudes. Merely verbal
opposition to war and praise of world peace are very often cant. So be cautious about saying you hate war
and are for peace, if you are not prepared to act against war, because people
will measure you by the discrepancy between your words and your deeds.
Nos. 1-2 at end.
Anti-War Newsletter #3 CONTENTS AND CONTENTS NEED CORRECTING AND
THEN ORGANIZE
Introduction, Dick: Think Global, Act Local , Act Global [read Pierce on AUMF in Lawlessness
newsletter #2]
Pope Francis
David Swanson, War No More
Brayton Shanley: The Many Sides of Peace, Living the Agape Community Way
Lendman: Francis Boyle, Protesting Power, a Lawyer Defends Dissenters (Iran
Kathy Kelly, Our Vocation to
Abolish War
Winslow Myers, Living Beyond
Wars
Ann Wright: vs. Iraq War, Government Insider Dissenters,
Refusers
Refusing Military Service: 2
Books
Kohn: History of Draft
Violators
Kovac: WWII, COs , Public Service Camps
History: Who Goes to US Wars?
Keith, WWI, Southern US Poor
Man’s War
Satire on Vietnam War
Lewin, Report from Iron
Mountain
Contents Nos. 1-2.
Contact Senators Pryor and
Boozman
BECAUSE OF
THE GREAT BETRAYAL, WE MUST THINK GLOBAL, ACT LOCAL, ACT GLOBAL. By Dick Bennett
Countless people in my town and state (Fayetteville , AR
The mayor, the city council members, and other
city officials whom I know spend countless hours studying city problems in
search of structures and financing that truly serve to make life better for
people, through good schools, fair taxes, protecting the environment.
.
Three state legislators I know are also very well-informed and also support
affirmative government by creating laws that work for all of us, that help all
the people enjoy good medical care, education, transportation, infra-structures,
and job opportunities.
Hundreds of non-governmental
organizations reinforce affirmative government, helping and caring for the
needs of all.
And hundreds of thousands of citizens
support these active workers by keeping informed, by volunteering and donations,
and sometimes by pressure.
Our country does not lack capable citizens
devoted to the general good. We know
what good government is just by observing our caring public servants who walk
the talk of public service.
There are other kinds of citizens who,
for example, wish to disinvest in public health and education, or who want tax
reductions for the people who need it least.
But they are not the betrayers I am writing about here, although it is
closely related.
I am about the paradox of countless
examples of good local governance, of officials wisely elected to work for and
who are working for the public good, in contrast to the people who are elected
to national office and yet spend their time undermining all the principles and
actions we witness every day on the local level. How could this happen, and how is it possible
the people would elect such opposites?
I am referring to the enormous cost of the
wars—virtually permanent war—embraced by our presidents and members of Congress. A few days ago March 19 marked the beginning
of the second invasion of Iraq, a causeless invasion that arose from the
ignorance, prejudice, deceit, lack of empathy and compassion—the extraordinary
folly--of a few thousand warmongering officials and their deluded followers. No local government in my state would elect,
or at least retain in office, anyone exhibiting such behavior. Yet election after election, such people are
elected to our highest offices. And
consequently our nation and other nations experience dire distress.
My conclusion is that the best people have
given up on our nation’s foreign policy and those who have so warped it for
wars, and instead have turned their energy and talent to local policy. The result has been catastrophic. For the money and resources our local best
seek in order to create the good world they imagine for their town, county, and
state, have been squandered in fraudulent and futile wars. While our best citizens work assiduously locally
for adequate water supply and sewage now and in the future for their children
and grandchildren’s children, our leaders have wasted their future in wars, and
sending those children to kill and die instead of spending their lives for good
at home.
Thinking global and acting local was not
enough, was actually harmful. From our
admirable attention to saving at home—recycling, reusing, restoring—we were
diverted to the trillion-dollars scale of waste in wars. While we worked diligently for schools and
trails, our national leaders betrayed our generosity by wasting our treasury and
harming other people.
And worse, they spent billions of dollars
to deceive the public regarding this waste, misrepresenting the wars, abusing
our patriotism, valuing war-making immensely more than home- or city- or
county- or state-making. And they have
been successful. They have convinced
most of the people that helping locally battered women is good, but opposing an
invasion in which our soldiers kill women is bad; that contributing to local ambulance
service is good, but denouncing the killing and wounding of civilians by drones
without judicial process is bad; that local gardening is good but speaking out
against the encircling of China and Russia with our military bases is bad.
And they have spent other billions of
dollars to persuade parents to encourage their children to join the militaries,
to willingly submit to Basic Training, where their deepest values (thou shalt
not kill) are reversed, for senseless, illegal, cruel wars. And eventually they will have spent more
billions medically treating (or not) the returning wounded veterans, the
thousands of amputees, and many more thousands experiencing PTSD.
So the people, We, the People, turn local,
narrow our attention, because what can we do to stop the SuperPower (those few
men and very few women) hell-bent on controlling the world? What can we do to convert our money and
resources to where it is needed?
If we can ask these questions, we have
found the turning.
These questions strike the crux of our
situation, and the hope. Anyone who can
ask these questions can realize the inadequacy of the slogan, Think Global, Act
Local. We must Act Local of
course. But if We, the People, neglect the Global we will end
up—where we are today.
We know what and how to act Globally. We are already cooperating locally in
countless ways for curing cancer or building trails. Similar organizations exist for curing the
pathologies of war proponents or for building the paths to international
understanding and diplomacy. We simply
need to grasp the hope we already feel for local life and future, and pursue
the goals of world amity as determinedly as we have pursued the improvement of
our towns.
Thousands of groups exist in the US
An example is Veterans for Peace. They expose the full cost of US wars, and
they take action founded on that knowledge.
Particularly they seek to identify our leaders who search for more ways
to take us to war. Specifically, they
(and numerous other peace organizations) campaign to inform the People of the
catastrophic Authorization to Use
Military Force granted President Bush by Congress immediately after
September 11, 2001, because “. . . it
could become the basis for a perpetual, ever-expanding war that undermined the
traditional constraints on government power.
The result is an unintelligible policy without express limits or
protective walls.”
President Bush used this
unconstitutional, ruinous Authorization to illegally invade Iraq and to open the Bill of Rights-shredding Guantanamo Libya and
almost to war Syria China
and Russia , despite the encirclement
already of both countries by US
But the People are disastrously silent. Good work done locally, without equal attention
to the national government, will eventually lose, indeed has already lost the
nation. Pot holes may be filled, but ten
US US
state terrorism is allowed its brutal continuation in Afghanistan
But the People cannot do everything? We cannot put food on the table, educate our
children, participate in county government, and resist the countless harms of US
But the People must, we must. We must think and act locally and globally, we
must elect better leaders who will enhance life for all, or we will continue to
be betrayed into war after war.
Pope Francis: Christians should weep at tragedy of war
014-02-25 Vatican Radio
(from Anne Marie)
(We see war in the newspapers every day, Pope Francis said, and we’re used to reading about it: the number of its victims is just part of our daily accounts. We hold events to commemorate the centenary of the Great War and everyone is scandalised by the many millions of dead. But today it’s the same, Pope Francis exclaimed: instead of one great war, there are small wars everywhere. When we were children in Sunday School and we were told the story of Cain and Abel, we couldn’t accept that someone would kill their own brother. And yet today millions kill their own brothers and we’re used to it: there are entire peoples divided, killing each other over a piece of land, a racial hatred, an ambition.
Think of the children starving in refugee camps, Pope Francis continued: these are the fruits of war. And then think of the great dining rooms, of the parties held by those who control the arms industry, who produce weapons. Compare a sick, starving child in a refugee camp with the big parties, the good life led by the masters of the arms trade. And remember, the Pope added, that the wars, the hatred, the hostility aren’t products we buy at the market: they’re right here, in our hearts. The Apostle James gives us a simple piece of advice: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” But the spirit of war, which draws us away from God, doesn’t just reside in distant parts of the world: the spirit of war comes from our own hearts.
Let us pray for peace, Pope Francis concluded, for that peace which seems to have been reduced to a word and nothing more. Let us follow James’ advice: “Recognise your misery”. Let us recognise, the Pope prayed, that misery which breeds wars within families, within neighbourhoods, everywhere. How many of us weep when we read the newspapers, when we see the dead on television? This is what Christians should do today, in the face of war: we should weep, we should mourn.
War No More: The Case for Abolition Paperback
by (Author) , (Foreword)
This book presents what numerous reviewers have
called the best existing argument for the abolition of war, demonstrating that
war can be ended, war should be ended, war is not ending on its own, and that
we must end war.
GOOGLE
SEARCH: DAVID SWANSON, WAR NO MORE,
March 25, 2013, first page
1.
WAR
NO MORE: The Case for Abolition | Let's Try ... - David Swanson
David Swanson
Sep 13, 2013 - ... RSS · Store ·
WorldBeyondWar.org · War No More. You are hereBlogs / davidswanson's blog / WAR NO MORE: The Case for
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2.
War
No More: The Case for Abolition | Let's Try ... - David Swanson
David Swanson
Video: David Swanson in Brunswick , ME
3.
War No More: The Case for Abolition: David C. N. Swanson, Kathy ...
Amazon.com
$13.26
War No More: The Case for Abolition
[David C. N. Swanson, Kathy Kelly] on
Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. This book presents what ...
4.
David Swanson - Michael Moore
Michael Moore
David Swanson is a longtime peace and
justice activist and author of War Is .... This article is
excerpted from the new book War No More: The Case for
Abolition.
5.
Lies and War - David Swanson on Reality Asserts Itself (1/3)
therealnews.com/idirect.php?i=11050
The Real News
Dec 16, 2013
David's the author of many
books, including War Is a Lie, When the World Outlawed War, War No More ...
6.
FDL Book Salon
Welcomes David Swanson, War No More: The ...
Oct 5, 2013 - David Swanson is driven—some might say
obsessed. ... A “good war” must sound to all of
us, says David, as no more possible than a ...
7.
davidswanson's blog | War Is A Crime .org
And they demand an ever larger and more frequently used
military, even if world domination can be achieved without it. War, for these war activists, is an end
in ...
8.
FOREWORD by
Kathy Kelly to War No More: The Case for Abolition ...
With no medical training, I
tried to be unobtrusive, as families raced into the ... David Swanson reminds me to look to
humanity's incredible achievements in ...
9.
War No More: The Case for Abolition by David
Swanson.
WAMM Bookclub: War No More: The Case for Abolition
by David Swanson. Community events. Date: Repeats every
month on the third Saturday until Sat Jan 17 ...
10.
David Swanson: Increasingly, people not buying what war activists ...
The Daily Cardinal
3 days ago - David Swanson: Increasingly, people not buying what war activists ...was much more common in the 19th
century, these agitators believe war ...
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New book by Brayton Shanley, one of Agape’s co-founders
The Many Sides of Peace comes out of thirty years of living in a Catholic lay community,
attempting to understand and practice the compelling ideas of gospel-centered
nonviolent love. The book attempts to speak to the signs of these times for
those who seek peace and liberation from both war and the looming ecological
Armageddon. It is a faith based on the revelation of Jesus and the conviction
that a love that is nonviolent will save this environmentally threatened
planet and its warlike people from an “at risk” status to a more peaceful and
sustainable one. This is a message of hope, a “how to live” spiritual manual
for human/earth survival that can help create a bold and beautiful world.
Available in Paperback and Kindle formats.
“The Many Sides Of Peace” Book Tour
Don’t miss your chance to discuss “The Many Sides of
Peace” in person with Brayton Shanley. He is appearing at several locations
across the
—THOMAS
GROOME, Professor of Theology and Religious Education,
“When it comes to nonviolent and
sustainable living, the most prophetic people I’ve met in my journey are
Brayton and Suzanne Shanley. The Many Sides of Peace is a beautiful book arising from how
well they walk the walk and talk the talk. Treat yourself to the discomfort it will cause, even while it
gives you hope.”
—LIZ
MCALISTER, Cofounder, Jonah House
“Brayton Shanley draws from
Scripture, his life experiments with his wife of more than thirty years, and
from the wisdom of the prophets of nonviolence to invite us all to explore nonviolent living in an unspeakably
violent time… This book could be a handbook for future
communities seeking a better and nonviolent way of life.”
—DAVID
O’BRIEN, Professor Emeritus of History, College of the Holy
Cross
“Brayton Shanley is a peacemaker.
He now offers us a stunning account of a life lived for peace, guided by nonviolent
love. This is a personal report of a remarkable experiment: a
lifelong effort to live with full integrity, that is, to live each day by
one’s most basic commitments of mind and heart. The story speaks of the inner
life, of the intimate relationships of marriage and family, of building
community, and of facing the world as it is and accepting responsibility for
the human family.”
—FR.
EMMANUEL CHARLES MCCARTHY, International Retreat Leader and
Teacher
“The Many Sides of Peace is a nonfiction account of the workings of consciousness and
conscience within the Holy Spirit of nonviolent love towards all—agape,
ahimsa—and how that process can bring about actual systemic, social,
economic, and spiritual change as it clashes with the values and beliefs of
the exploitive empire. It is a clearer call to God and God’s ways and means
than a church bell on Sunday.”
—KATHY
KELLY, Co-coordinator,
Voices for Creative Nonviolence
“Brayton Shanley aims to give
readers a clear, coherent, and practical message about ways to work toward
peaceful relations among ourselves and, as much as possible, with all of
planetary being… Why not work, every day, to build
rational communities capable of transforming our world? Here is a thoughtful,
absorbing book, offering a way forward for peacemakers enamored with agape.”
—MICHAEL
TRUE, Emeritus Professor,
“The Many Sides of Peace is a thoughtful account of a family
and community deeply committed to nonviolence as a way of life and to
sustaining themselves on the land. . . . The teachings of the apostles of nonviolence, from Jesus to
Gandhi to Martin Luther King Jr., are made concrete by the community’s involvement in
nonviolent resistance to war and injustice. The author faces the challenges
of the dominant culture, commenting on recent events and miscarriages of
justice, and offering an alternative to the violence of the status quo.”
Photo by Claudia A.
McNeil
BRAYTON SHANLEY
Brayton Shanley has an MA in Pastoral Ministry from the
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Francis A. Boyle's Protesting
Power - War, Resistance and Law, Reviewed by Stephen Lendman
Francis A. Boyle is a distinguishedUniversity
of Illinois
Boyle's book is powerful, noble and compelling, and he states its purpose upfront: Today, a "monumental struggle (is being waged) for the heart and soul of (America
Boyle has the antidote: "civil resistance, international law, human rights, and theUS
The Right to Engage in Civil Resistance to Prevent State Crimes
Francis A. Boyle is a distinguished
Boyle's book is powerful, noble and compelling, and he states its purpose upfront: Today, a "monumental struggle (is being waged) for the heart and soul of (
Boyle has the antidote: "civil resistance, international law, human rights, and the
The Right to Engage in Civil Resistance to Prevent State Crimes
KATHY KELLY
Kathy
Kelly, “Our Vocation to Abolish War”
I read the article by this
title in The Catholic Worker (Jan.-Feb.
2014). I could not find it on Google
didn’t locate it, but the following titles appeared, and this is a good
opportunity to foreground Kelly’s unceasing work for peace and to abolish war. This article refutes a US soldier in Afghanistan
who was quoted as claiming that “girls in Afghanistan
now have better access to education than they did before the US Afghanistan Afghanistan
and NY City, the extraordinary costs of the military occupation, and the
prospects to US and world companies for resource exploitation in Afghanistan Afghanistan
1.
FOREWORD by Kathy Kelly to War No More: The Case for Abolition ...
I lived in Iraq
2.
Kathy Kelly - Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
Kathy Kelly is a co-coordinator of
Voices for Creative Nonviolence and a ... (see www.vcnv.org) Kelly
has been involved in numerous nonviolent campaigns to end war,... Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the
revolutionary spirit and ...section about an international skype
phone call between U.S.
3.
War without end - Waging Nonviolence
The U.S. war in Iraq
4.
New Clear Vision | Kathy Kelly
Oct 29, 2013 - In such a turbulent
world, we must abolish the organized violence
by governments known as war, because its
continuation risks our extinction.
5.
Kathy Kelly - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wikipedia
Kathy Kelly (born 1952) is an
American peace activist, pacifist and author, one of ....Review of the Afghan war, they hosted two
international call-in days using the Skype ...by the Upstate NY
Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars. .... prepared than most of my companions for the
grueling roar of warplanes, the ...
6.
Peace Activist Kathy Kelly :: The Marc Steiner Show
Dec 30, 2013 - Kathy Kelly and her companions
helped send over 70 delegations to Iraq
7.
War No More: The Case for Abolition: David C. N. Swanson, Kathy ...
Amazon.com
$13.08
War No More: The Case for Abolition [David C. N. Swanson, Kathy Kelly] on ... as did good Tom Paine:
'We have it in our power to begin the world
over again.
8.
For Whom the Bell Tolls, By Kathy Kelly | PINKtank - CodePink
Jan 20, 2014 - Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the
revolutionary spirit and go ... King Center announced
its “Choose Nonviolence” campaign, a call on people to ... They talked about the
futility of war and the predictable
cycles of revenge ....Democratic Underground · Diane4Justice
· End the Occupation ...
Winslow Myers
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Sunday, February 23, 2014
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Winslow Myers
Winslow Myers, the author of “Living Beyond War: A Citizen’s
Guide,” serves on the Board of Beyond War, a non-profit
educational foundation whose mission is to explore, model and promote the means
for humanity to live without war. Myers writes for PeaceVoice.
ARTICLES BY THIS
AUTHOR:
September 29, 2013
September 1, 2013
January 20, 2013
June 22, 2012
March 28, 2012
March 3, 2012
February 23, 2012
January 6, 2012
November 10, 2011
March 2, 2011
·
1
HOPE FOR ENDING WARS: DISSENTING OFFICIALS
THURSDAY,
FEBRUARY 28, 2008
Ann Wright - Dissent: Voices of Conscience
Jan 13 2008 6:00 pm Books of Books
During the run-up to war in Iraq Dixon U.S.
WWI
Rich Man's War,
Poor Man's Fight: Race, Class, and Power in the Rural South during the First
World War by Jeanette Keith.
Refusing
War, Affirming Peace: A History of Civilian Public Service Camp #21 at Cascade
Locks by
Jeffrey Kovac
REPORT FROM IRON MOUNTAIN
by Leonard C. Lewin (Author) , (Introduction)
How does a left-wing satire from
the 1960s become a "bible" to today's Radical Right? Recently
resurfacing into polite society by way of a front-page story in The Wall Street
Journal, this book makes a chillingly convincing claim to be a sinister
government document on the dangerous effects of "permanent peace" on
society and the economy. Brilliantly rendered in the vein of Dr. Strangelove,
this report proves frighteningly prescient of our current social and economic
dysfunction.
Contents of #1
Antiwar.com
Amy Goodman
Hochschild on WWI
Hedges, Myth of War
Contents of #2
Dick: North American
Directory
5 ANTI-WAR ORGANIZATIONS
HAW Annual Conference
Veterans for Peace
Military Families Speak Out
Citizen Soldier:
www.citizen-soldier.org
War Resisters League
INDIVIDUALS
Howard Zinn for Truth,
Justice, Peace
Giffey, Veterans’ Paths to
Peace in Many Wars
HISTORY
NBC, War as Entertainment
CONTACT ARKANSAS
SENATORS
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Boozman,
John - (R - AR)
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Class III
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320
Hart Senate Office Building
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(202)
224-4843
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Pryor, Mark
L. - (D - AR)
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Class II
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255
Dirksen Senate Office Building
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(202)
224-2353
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END
ANTI-WAR NEWSLETTER #3
