Connexions Resource Centre:
Focus on Peace

Recent & Selected Articles

1. This is a small sampling of articles related to peace issues in the Connexions Online Library. For more articles, books, films, and other resources, check the Connexions Library Subject Index, especially under topics such as peace, imperialism, international relations, human rights international, militarism, refugees, and U.S. imperialism.

1. Lawless in Gaza: Why the West Backs Israel No Matter What (October 13, 2023)
   As Western politicians line up to cheer on Israel as it starves and bombs Gaza's civilians, it's important to understand how we reached this point -- and what it means for the future.
2. Another Hiroshima is Coming - Unless We Stop It Now (August 3, 2022)
   Hiroshima and Nagasaki were acts of premeditated mass murder unleashing a weapon of intrinsic criminality. It was justified by lies that form the bedrock of 21st century U.S. war propaganda, casting a new enemy, and target - China.
3. The New Iron Curtain (May 16, 2022)
   The Ukraine crisis proves to be Europe's crucible and Europe proves a profound disappointment. And here's the thing about this profoundly misguided project. The populations of the Western post-democracies will pay a far higher price for letting their leaders build the thick stone wall of Cold War II than those it is supposed to consign to the wilderness. Westerners will pay this price in blindness, in ignorance, and in isolation from the global majority.
4. Russia, Ukraine and the Law of War: War Crimes (April 1, 2022)
   Scott Ritter lays out what the law says about war crimes and how it applies to the conflict in Ukraine.
5. Waltzing Toward Armageddon with the Merchants of Death (March 14, 2022)
   The doctrine of permanent war dominated our lives during the Cold War and dominates our lives now.
6. The Crisis in Ukraine is a Planetary Crisis Provoked by the U.S. that Threatens Nuclear War (March 7, 2022)
   
7. A Proposed Solution to the Ukraine War (March 7, 2022)
   An end to the invasion and war in Ukraine can only be guaranteed if Russia’s security is itself guaranteed. Security is largely indivisible. Security for one state requires security for others, says the Los Alamos Study Group.
8. The main enemy is at home (February 25, 2022)
   The outbreak of war is always a human disaster with unforeseeable consequences. The 'fog of war,' incessant propaganda, rapidly changing events, our own confused thoughts and emotions, all make it exceedingly difficult to know how to react.
9. Canceling talks with Russia won't achieve anything (February 23, 2022)
   The United States and its European partners have no vital interests in Ukraine — and therefore should be prepared to compromise.
10. The Day The World Ended (April 27, 2021)
    The day the world ended began like any other day. People woke up, had their coffee, checked their social media, kissed their loved ones, went to work. Nobody knew it was coming.
11. The planet cannot begin to heal until we rip the mask off the West's war machine (November 27, 2020)
    
12. Nuclear War: A Thought Experiment (August 30, 2020)
    
13. The military's carbon bootprint (January 30, 2020)
    As the biggest single user of fossil fuels, why is the military exempt from the climate discussion?
14. 'Combat Obscura' is a brutally honest look at the blurred morality of the war in Afghanistan (March 15, 2019)
    A documentary featuring footage from a 2011 deployment in Afghanistan shows the reality of the war.
15. The Long Goodbye of Antiwar Protest (February 5, 2019)
    There is a lack of real opposition - both by other governments and the public - to US-led regime changes.
16. Military 'Service' Serves the Ruling Class (November 12, 2018)
    Military veteran and peace activist Will Griffin comments on the military campaigns in which he participated, and why he believes that military service ultimately serves noboby but a minority ruling class.
17. On the 'Duty to Protect' (May 1, 2018)
    On April 14, 2018, U.S.-British-French forces launched a missile strike on alleged Syrian chemical weapons facilities, citing as justification the 'duty to protect'. Finkel make it clear that this attack was illegal under international law.
18. How to Start a Nuclear War (2018)
    A chilling look at the security measures and processes behind the U.S. nuclear weapons system. The article examines how safeguards and procedures have evolved, including more recent efforts to curb the President's absolute authority to push the button.
19. The Moral Corrosion of Drone Warfare (July 17, 2017)
    The Jerry Berrigan Brigade, named after Syracuse peacemaker Jerry Berrigan, were called to court for their nonviolent witness against drone warfare at the state-side drone base Hancock.
20. Nuclear Weapons Ban? What Needs to be Banned Is U.S. Arrogance (June 16, 2017)
    Nuclear disarmament will be possible only when leaders in Washington recognize that other peoples also have a right and a will to live.
21. Beating the drums for war with Russia (October 6, 2016)
    The US ruiling establishment is considering an escalation of US intervention. Such an escalation carries the very real threat of provoking a wider war.
22. Containing the United States (September 9, 2016)
    With Hillary Clinton about to be elected and some advanced cadres of the war party preparing to take charge, who is going to contain the United States? The U.S. political system has failed its populace and the world and has imposed no brakes on the war machine. The UN and EU are still too much under the U.S. thumb. Russia and China are too weak and with too flimsy an alliance system to threaten U.S. hegemony and do more than make direct U.S. aggression against themselves very costly.
23. US must stop playing with nuclear hellfire (July 26, 2016)
    The chances of nuclear destruction are higher than in the Cold War due to recent US foreign policy actions, including the positioning of armed forces positioned on Russia's borders.
24. NATO Prepares for War: Confrontation and Insanity (July 8, 2016)
    The US-NATO military alliance is gearing up for war, and its meeting 8-9 July, 2016 is yet another step to nuclear confrontation and a gigantic leap backwards in world sanity. The gathering in Warsaw, capital of implacably anti-Russia Poland (NATO member since 1999, when the US-inspired military push towards Russia's borders gathered further momentum), is a symbol of Western determination to menace Moscow.
25. Military Spending is the Capitalist World's Fuel (April 22, 2016)
    It is common for activists to decry the enormous sums of money spent on the military. Any number of social programs, or schools, or other public benefits could instead be funded. Not least is this the case with the United States, which by far spends the most of any country on its military. The official Pentagon budget for 2015 was $596 billion, but actual spending is far higher. (Figures for 2015 will be used because that is the latest year for which data is available to make international comparisons.) If we add military spending parked in other portions of the U.S. federal government budget, we’re up to $786 billion, according to a study by the War Resisters League. Veterans benefits add another $157 billion. WRL also assigns 80 percent of the interest on the budget deficit, and that puts the grand total well above $1 trillion.
26. Excerpts from Endgame: Pacifism (2016)
    Derrick Jensen looks at the main arguments normally presented by pacifists and examines them to see if they make any sense.
27. Why the rise of fascism is again the issue (February 26, 2015)
    Fascism is preserved as history, as flickering footage of goose-stepping blackshirts, their criminality terrible and clear. Yet in the same liberal societies, whose war-making elites urge us never to forget, the accelerating danger of a modern kind of fascism is suppressed; for it is their fascism.
28. This Is What War Does (January 7, 2015)
    Modern war is mass killing of civilians, always and everywhere, a practice which evolved in World War II and has done nothing but progress in that direction since. Even when they aren’t the actual targets, as in America’s nightmarish assassination-by-drone project, large numbers of dead or mangled civilians are the unavoidable consequence.
29. Global Warming's Unacknowledged Threat - The Pentagon (2015)
    The Pentagon has admitted to burning 350,000 barrels of oil a day (only 35 countries in the world consume more) but that doesn't include oil burned by contractors and weapons suppliers. It does, however, include providing fuel for more than 28,000 armored vehicles, thousands of helicopters, hundreds of jet fighters and bombers and vast fleets of Navy vessels.
30. War by media and the triumph of propaganda (December 5, 2014)
    The world is facing the prospect of major war, perhaps nuclear war -- with the United States clearly determined to isolate and provoke Russia and eventually China. This truth is being turned upside down and inside out by journalists, including those who promoted the lies that led to the bloodbath in Iraq in 2003. The times we live in are so dangerous and so distorted in public perception that propaganda is no longer, as Edward Bernays called it, an "invisible government". It is the government. It rules directly without fear of contradiction and its principal aim is the conquest of us: our sense of the world, our ability to separate truth from lies.
    Why are young journalists not taught to understand media agendas and to challenge the high claims and low purpose of fake objectivity? And why are they not taught that the essence of so much of what's called the mainstream media is not information, but power?
31. Militarism degrades, disrupts and destroys democracy (November 26, 2014)
    As the Canadian government plays at fighting wars in Iraq/Syria and in eastern Europe, we see daily examples of how militarism ultimately degrades, disrupts and destroys democracy.
32. The Zero-Sum Game of Perpetual War (September 2, 2014)
    Readers with a morbid sense of curiosity can visit a web site called NukeMap that allows visitors to witness the devastation caused by nuclear weapons of varying yields on a city of their choosing.
33. It's not just radicalised Islamists - what about foreign fighters who flock to the IDF? (July 28, 2014)
    Let us hope and pray that no UK citizens have been involved in such terrible deeds. But it wouldn’t be a bad idea, would it, if the lads in blue had a friendly word with them when they arrive back at Heathrow – and insist on knowing exactly what they were up to when they wore another country’s uniform.
34. Questions about Israel's attack on Gaza (July 23, 2014)
    Why do these terrible outbreaks of violence keep happening? Written during the Israeli attack on Gaza in July 2014.
35. Destroyed by Violence (July 8, 2014)
    Morale is destroyed by war. War’s objective reality always blows to smithereens not just the civilians it is supposed to protect, but the political, economic and chauvinistic rationalizations that get soldiers to kill in the first place.
36. Practical Approaches to Non-violence (June 1, 2014)
    The Quaker group Turning the Tide works with communities in the UK and Kenya to help different groups and organizations develop their own nonviolent approaches to radical change and social justice. Edward Dingwall catches up with staff member Steve Whiting on the Turning the Tide's aims and methods.
37. Shirkers and Conchies (June 1, 2014)
    Peace activists faced enemy treatment but left a legacy of perserverance, writes Tim Gee.
38. A World War is Beckoning (May 14, 2014)
    Why do we tolerate the threat of another world war in our name? Why do we allow lies that justify this risk? The scale of our indoctrination, wrote Harold Pinter, is a “brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis”, as if the truth “never happened even while it was happening”.
39. The Nature of War Has Changed (March 3, 2014)
    A new kind of war is developing. It is very different from the mass conflict of the First World War when governments mobilised millions of men and vast industrial resources. Wars have got smaller, but are equally and, on occasions, more vicious than in the past.
40. Libya's Hell, Enabled by Canadian Humanitarians (November 27, 2013)
    One of the darkest and most shameful chapters in Western military intervention continues to play out in spades in Libya. Recent news from Benghazi revealed that one of the (literally hundreds) of murderous militias opened fire on peaceful, white-flag-bearing protesters (protesting militias), killing at least 20 and wounding over 130.
41. Where War Reporting Goes Wrong (October 7, 2013)
    The four recent conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria have been propaganda wars in which newspaper, television and radio journalists played a central role. In all wars there is a difference between reported news and what really happened, but during these four campaigns the outside world has been left with misconceptions even about the identity of the victors and the defeated.
42. Remembering a Vietnam Veteran (April 10, 2013)
    
43. Beware the Anti-Anti-War Left (December 4, 2012)
    Ever since the 1990s, and especially since the Kosovo war in 1999, anyone who opposes armed interventions by Western powers and NATO has to confront what may be called an anti-anti-war left (including its far left segment).
44. Humanity Once Came to the Cliff's Edge of Total Self-Annihilation -- Let's Make Sure It Never Happens Again (October 15, 2012)
    The world stood still 50 years ago during the last week of October, from the moment when it learned that the Soviet Union had placed nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba until the crisis was officially ended -- though unknown to the public, only officially.
45. Stuxnet and the Bomb (June 15, 2012)
    Over the past decade, US experts have strenuously warned about the ominous possibility of other nations, rogue states, or even terrorist groups attacking US infrastructure through the Internet. As it happens, however, it is the United States itself that has developed malicious software in secrecy and launched it against another country.
46. How Empires Fall (March 1, 2012)
    Jonathan Schell discusses non-violent activism.
47. The Evil of Humanitarian Wars (2012)
    The West’s duty is not to intervene more but to intervene far less. We already massively arm tyrannies such as those in the Gulf so that they can protect the oil that we consider our birthright; we offer military, financial and diplomatic cover for Israel’s continuing oppression of millions of Palestinians, a major cause of political instability in the Middle East; and we quietly support the Egyptian military, which is currently trying to reverse last year’s revolutionary gains.
48. They Found Nothing. Nothing. (November 24, 2011)
    What is so breathtaking is that the apparent consensus on Iran, like the case against Iraq, is a fraud.
49. Connexions Archive Case Statement (September 24, 2011)
    Working together to secure a future for the past
50. Defining an American State of War (June 23, 2011)
    Nine common terms associated with our present wars that probably don't mean what you think they mean.
51. War of the Killer Robots (June 14, 2011)
    Drones are "killer robots," they do make war easy and game-like, and therefore likelier, drone strikes do kill too many civilians and they do violate the International Law of Armed Conflict. I am puzzled and disturbed that some feel that the debate over the use of drones in warfare can be enhanced by denying these facts.
52. A Strategy for Antiwar Organizing (January 1, 2011)
    There is a paradox here: The organized antiwar movement’s effectiveness has declined, even while public opinion polls showed that antiwar sentiment among the public as a whole has grown steadily. A movement which declines while opportunities for growth are becoming more favourable is a peculiar one indeed.
53. The Real Merchants of Death (September 22, 2010)
    The global arms trade is a $60 billion yearly business, of which the U.S. controls nearly 40 percent, and a political and economic juggernaut that defends its turf with the ferocity of a junkyard dog.
54. Calling Bono (January 8, 2010)
    Palestinians have been engaging in nonviolence for decades. The reality is that nonviolence is only as powerful as its visibility to the world.
55. Grinding Down the U.S. Army (December 15, 2009)
    Prolonging a stalemated war will only mean more hurt for both Afghans and Americans. The hurt to Afghans will undoubtedly be worse, for their homes are the battlefield, but our own hurt shouldn't be underestimated. More broken bodies and shattered minds. More echoes of the horrifying violence that accompanies war.
56. Connexions Archive seeks a new home (November 18, 2009)
    The Connexions Archive, a Toronto-based library dedicated to preserving the history of grassroots movements for social change, needs a new home.
57. Israelis Targeting Grassroots Activists (October 28, 2009)
    Israeli authorities are increasingly targeting and intimidating nonviolent Palestinian grassroots activists involved in anti-occupation activities who are drawing increased support from the international community. They see non-violent activists as a major threat because they undermine the legitimacy of Israel's occupation and apartheid policies.
58. No One Else Will Stop The Killing (October 27, 2009)
    Because we personally understand what war truly means, we have written, called and demonstrated repeatedly for an end to the killing in Afghanistan and Iraq.
59. A Brief History of Loyal Opposition to War (October 21, 2009)
    As Afghanistan erupts with redoubled violence, the author recounts the clutch of soldiers who have refused to serve or repented their service in every American war since the War of 1812.
60. Israeli refusers follow South African footsteps in the struggle against apartheid (October 21, 2009)
    Shministim are conscientious objectors. We are Israeli high-school graduates who refuse conscription into the military, and are repeatedly imprisoned as a result. We will not take part of the occupation of another people, the Palestinians, particularly when doing so goes against human values and cannot be explained on grounds of security.
61. Yes to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Against Israel (October 8, 2009)
    The BDS campaign was initiated by a broad coalition of Palestinian political and social movements. No Israeli who claims to support the national rights of the Palestinian people can, decently, turns his or her back to that campaign: after having claimed for years that "armed struggle is not the way," it will be outrageous that this BDS strategy will too be disqualified by those Israeli activists. On the contrary, we must all together join to "Boycott from Within" in order to provide Israeli support to this Palestinian initiative. It is the minimum we can do, and it is the minimum we should do.
62. Iran - The War Dance (October 1, 2009)
    
63. Gaza Peace Protester Is Prisoner In Own Home (September 30, 2009)
    Nine months after he helped to organise protests against Israel's attack on Gaza, Samih Jabareen is a prisoner in his home in Jaffa, near Tel Aviv, an electronic bracelet around his ankle to alert the police should he step outside his front door.
64. Israel and US apologists rattled by UN report on war crimes in Gaza (September 24, 2009)
    Paul J. Balles considers the, "...lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia" inherent in the hypocritical reactions of Israeli officials, and of Israel's apologists in the United States, to the UN report on war crimes in Gaza.
65. War Is Peace (September 17, 2009)
    Because the United States does not look like a militarized country, it's hard for Americans to grasp that Washington is a war capital, that the United States is a war state, that it garrisons much of the planet, and that the norm for us is to be at war somewhere at any moment.
66. U.N. Team on War Crimes Condemns Israel, Hamas (September 16, 2009)
    A four-member United Nations fact-finding mission, which has just concluded an investigation into last year's brutal conflict in Gaza, makes a strong case for war crimes charges against Israel for its unrelenting 22-day military attacks on Palestinians, largely civilians, including women and children.
67. NGO Reports on Gaza War Belie Israeli Claims (September 11, 2009)
    This week, two respected human rights organisations - one Palestinian, one Israeli - each came out with very full reports into the extent of the damage caused by the assault Israel waged against Gaza last winter.
68. Killing America's Kids (September 8, 2009)
    Why is the Secretary of Defense so angry at having the war photographed? Easy: Spin control. Spin is so very important in war these days. While America is only barely a democracy, still, if the public, the great sleeping, acquiescent, ignorant beast, ever gets really upset, the war ends. The Pentagon is acutely aware of this.
69. Norwegian Pension Fund Divests from Israeli Military Giant Elbit (September 3, 2009)
    The Norwegian Ministry of Finance has excluded the Israeli company Elbit Systems Ltd. from the Government Pension Fund - Global, on the basis of the Council on Ethics' recommendation. The Council on Ethics has found that investment in Elbit constitutes an unacceptable risk of contribution to serious violations of fundamental ethical norms as a result of the company's integral involvement in Israel's construction of a separation barrier on occupied territory.
70. Why Not Sanctions for Israel? (September 1, 2009)
    The US led the imposition of sanctions against South Africa because of South Africa's apartheid practices. The sanctions forced the white government to hand over political power to the black population. Israel practices a worse form of apartheid than did the white South African government. Yet, Israel maintains that it is 'anti-semitic' to criticize Israel for a practice that the world regards as abhorrent.
71. Top 50 US War Criminals (August 18, 2009)
    Brief profiles of men and women who planned wars of agression and other war crimes.
72. Endless War: The Suicide Of The United States (August 12, 2009)
    Soldiers are returning from the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan destroyed mentally, spiritually, and psychologically, to a general population that is, mostly, willfully ignorant of the occupations and the soldiers participating in them. Troops face a Department of Veterans Affairs that is either unwilling or unable to help them with their physical and psychological wounds, and they are left to fend for themselves.
73. Echo Platoon (August 10, 2009)
    Echo and other platoons like it are grim yardsticks for measuring the desperation in which a military under immense strain is now operating. Looking up at that military from Echo's airless limbo, from a world of soldiers who have fallen through the cracks of a system under great stress, you can see just how devastating America's two ongoing wars have been for the military itself. The walking wounded, the troubled, and the broken are now being pressured to reenter the fray.
74. Israel: Misuse of Drones Killed Civilians in Gaza (June 30, 2009)
    Israeli attacks with guided missiles fired from aerial drones killed civilians during the recent Gaza fighting in violation of the laws of war, Human Rights Watch says.
75. Israel's Crimes, America's Silence (June 17, 2009)
    To date, too little mention has been made of investigations that show there is sufficient evidence to bring charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Israel's political and military leadership for their actions in Gaza. Recently, two comprehensive independent reports have been published on Gaza, and earlier this month a mission mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, and chaired by South African Richard Goldstone, visited Gaza to conduct a further investigation into Israel's offensive....
76. Selective Vision: Iran, Israel and Nuclear Arms (March 17, 2009)
    For many years, the corporate media has been amplifying supposed "fear" in the West about Iran becoming a nuclear-armed nation alongside the US, the UK, France, Russia - and Israel.
77. Is It Realistic to Demand the Right of Return of Palestinian Refugees? (February 23, 2009)
    
78. Self-Defense Against Peace (February 5, 2009)
    Legally and morally, an aggressor cannot rely upon self-defence to justify violence against resistance to its own aggression. The most plausible reason Israel is fighting Hamas (and the PLO before it) is 'self-defence', not against rockets and mortars, but against having to make peace with the Palestinians on the basis of the pre-1967 borders as required by international law.
79. The UN in Israel's Crosshairs (January 16, 2009)
    History will record Israel's onslaught in Gaza as noteworthy not only for the wide destruction of institutions of state and civil society, but for the deliberate targeting of the United Nations and the refugees it aided and sheltered. And it certainly would not be the first time Israel has done so.
80. Israel in Gaza: A Critical Reframing (January 10, 2009)
    The critical reframing we offer, that of Israelis committed to human rights, international law and a just peace as the only way out of this interminable and bloody conflict, argues that security cannot be achieved unilaterally while one side oppresses the other and that Israel's attack on Gaza is merely another attempt to render its Occupation permanent by destroying any source of effective resistance.
81. Humanitarian Imperialism (September 1, 2008)
    Chomsky considers "humanitarian intervention" and "the responsibility to protect" as new norms in international affairs by examining the institutional structures which produced the policies responsible for such developments.
82. All options on the table? (2008)
    Chomsky responds to the 2008 meetings of world powers which addressed the topic of nuclear proliferation. He highlights the numerous ways in which these talks failed to live up to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
83. Who Should Bomb Iran First? (June 27, 2007)
    Mainstream media discussions of media balance are limited to a single question: Is the media too critical of powerful interests?
84. Azmi Bishara and Muslims Worldwide Say No to Attacks on Non-Combatants (June 6, 2007)
    We need the public to know that the choice is between supporting equality or supporting racism, not between opposing or supporting the killing of non-combatants, as the Zionists try to make the public believe. We should tell the public that, yes, we do disagree with the actions of some Palestinians, but that doesn't at all take away from the fact that Zionist ethnic cleansing is the root of the conflict and must be abolished.
85. The Wall, Apartheid and Mandela (March 2, 2007)
    During his years of struggle in South Africa, Nelson Mandela offered ideas worth examining closely, especially when considering that he and his followers defeated the very condition that Palestinians face today, Apartheid.
86. Addressing the Violence: My Roadmap to Peace (2007)
    In order for peace to set sail there should be some guiding principles. The most important is equality. This is not to say that the conflict is between two equals. Overwhelming Israeli power and unconditional United States support has no comparison on the Palestinian side, other than the tragic balance of terror that has been reached with Israel through suicide bombing. But neither side should be treated differently from the other.
87. Israel boycott may be the way to peace (December 15, 2006)
    The non-violent international response to apartheid was a campaign of boycott, divestment and UN-imposed sanctions which enabled the regime to change without bloodshed. We should try to follow the same route to a just peace.
88. Israel/Lebanon: Deliberate destruction or "collateral damage"? (August 23, 2006)
    Amnesty International calls for the immediate establishment of a comprehensive, independent and impartial inquiry into violations of international humanitarian law by both Hizbullah and Israel in the conflict. The inquiry should examine in particular the impact of this conflict on the civilian population. It should propose effective measures to hold accountable those responsible for crimes under international law, and to ensure that the victims receive full reparation.
89. Building blocks for peace in the Middle East (August 15, 2006)
    The minimal demands of both sides are compatible and legitimate; the maximum demands lead to endless war.
90. Letter to Palestinian and Lebanese filmmakers from Israeli filmmakers (July 22, 2006)
    We unequivocally oppose the brutality and cruelty of Israeli policy.
91. Hezbollah, Hamas and Israel: Everything You Need To Know (July 21, 2006)
    We are supposed to think that the current crisis in the Middle East has no historical roots.
92. If Israel Has the Right to Use Force in Self Defense, So Do Its Neighbours (July 18, 2006)
    There is no reason why Israel should be able to enter Arab sovereign soil to occupy, destroy, kidnap and eliminate its perceived foes - repeatedly, with impunity and without restraint - while the Arab side cannot do the same.
93. Israel's appalling bombing of Gaza (June 30, 2006)
    Destroying the only power source for a trapped and defenseless civilian population is an unprecedented step toward barbarity. It reeks, ironically, of the Warsaw Ghetto.
94. Solution in Sight (June 23, 2006)
    Chomsky presents the steps that must be taken in order to obliterate the threat of a potential nuclear apocalypse. Naturally, they do not include military solutions.
95. Journalism as a Weapon of War (April 14, 2006)
    On 14 April 2006, the Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University in New York brought together John Pilger, Seymour Hersh, Robert Fisk and Charles Glass for a discussion entitled 'Breaking the Silence: War, lies and empire'. The following is a transcript of John Pilger's address - 'War by Media'
    
96. Why an Economic Boycott of Israel is Justified (January 14, 2006)
    If singling out South Africa for an international economic boycott was defensible, it would seem equally defensible to single out Israel's occupation, which uniquely resembles the apartheid regime.
97. Calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Against Israel (2006)
    A call for sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law and universal principles of human rights.
98. How to Deal with The Lobby: The De-Zionization of the American Mind (2006)
    Countering the influence of the Zionist lobby.
99. Telling it like it isn't (December 28, 2005)
    Let's call a colony a colony, let's call occupation what it is, let's call a wall a wall.
100. Changing Modes of Canadian Complicity (August 16, 2005)
     It is important for those of us who see and criticize Canadian hypocrisy to point out that Hillier's comments and other similar things are perfectly consistent with Canada's actual history. But we also do ourselves a disservice if we fail to recognize the ways in which strategic deployment of such rhetoric is part of a project that aims to undo the paltry progressive victories that are still standing.
101. We Must Act Now to Prevent Another Hiroshima -- or Worse (2005)
     Noam Chomsky explains why society should be concerned about the threat of self-destruction, citing, for example, the failure of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
102. The Olga Document (July 12, 2004)
     A document written in a series of meetings in Givat Olga, Israel, and titled after the location, The Olga Document. Advoctes coexistence of the peoples of this country, based on mutual recognition, equal partnership and implementation of historical justice.
103. Words have failed (March 3, 2004)
     The written word is a failure at making tangible to Israeli readers the true horror of the Occupation.
104. Does The US Military Want To Kill Journalists (April 8, 2003)
     Are the killings of journalists by the U.S. merely accidents, or are they deliberate?
105. The Iraq Crisis in Context (March 12, 2003)
     A rogue state, heavily armed with weapons of mass destruction, openly contempuous of international law and the United Nations, plunges the world into crisis.
106. A Coalition of the Killing (2003)
     War, media, propaganda and language.
107. Preventive War 'the Supreme Crime' (2003)
     Chomsky illustrates how the US-UK coalition reconfigured the term "pre-emptive" into "preventive" in an attempt to justify the invasion of Iraq despite opposition from the international society.
108. These Weapons of Mass Destruction Cannot be Displayed
     Finally, the evidence!
109. Israeli Violations of Human Rights (June 20, 2002)
     Speech by Jeff Halper, Coordinator Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. Halper focuses on the fact that "virtually all of Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands violates human rights conventions and especially the Fourth Geneva Convention that forbids an occupying power from making its presence a permanent one."
110. Personal testimony of an Irraeli refusnik (February 1, 2002)
     Why would a regular guy get up one morning in the middle of life, work, the kids and decide he's not playing the game anymore?
111. Drain the Swamp and There Will Be No More Mosquitoes (2002)
     Chomsky parallels the pursuit of American interests through intervention in foreign regions to the creation of swamps, and respectively, terrorists to mosquitoes.
112. How We Ended the Cold War (November 1, 1999)
     Peace activists' demand for an end to nuclear madness played a decisive role.
113. Kosovo Peace Accord (1999)
     In response to the Peace Accord achieved between Serbia and NATO, Chomsky questions how peace could be declared or radical change expected considering the lack of institutional or structural adjustment in the region.
114. Critique of Violent Rationales (1997)
     Nonviolent activists and scholars will disagree with many of the arguments in the book but there is much that they can gain by examining them closely.
115. Guilt of War Belongs to All (1995)
     Chomsky discusses the guilt of war and Japan's refusal to apologize for its role in the Second World War.
116. CISPES: Radical, Pragmatic, and Successful (1994)
     Van Gosse analyzes the reasons for CISPES' success in developing a fresh and tenacious approach to solidarity work. Originally published in Crossroads Special Issue on El Salvador Solidarity, Spring 1994.
117. We're Winning -- Don't Ask Where! (February 1, 1992)
     
118. Global Militarism and the Environment (February 1, 1991)
     The connection between militarism and environmental damage.
119. Hanging on by our Fingernails (January 12, 1991)
     The West offers a false sense of security, and we are all at risk.
120. Ballad of the Peace Pushers (1991)
     Poem by Dorothy Livesay.
121. Defence without armies
     The word 'defence' is often associated with the word 'violence.' However, Social Defence represents a different perspective.
122. Connexions Annual Overview: Peace (October 8, 1989)
     It must be remembered that soldiers themselves are often recruited from the ranks of the poor and the jobless, and that a movement for peace and social justice should be attempting to reach them too with its message. A movement for peace must in the end also include the soldiers if it is to prevail.
123. Connexions Annual Overview: Development, International (October 1, 1989)
     the principle of `Thinking Globally, Acting Locally' can and must also be extended to acting locally on behalf of and in solidarity with those in other parts of this globe.
124. Setting Up a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (June 1, 1987)
     How to mobilize a community to declare itself a Nuclear Weapon Free Zone.
125. The March (April 1, 1987)
     An account of a peace march.
126. The Bomb won't go away on its own (June 4, 1982)
     Our task is to break out of this closed self-justifying system by depriving governments of the passive populations they need, by refusing to accept the choices we are offered and instead becoming active participants pressuring them to accept our proposals.
127. Designing Pacifist Films (1961)
     
128. The Story of the Christmas Truce
     On Christmas Day, 1914, in the first year of World War I, German, British and French soldiers disobeyed their superiors and fraternized with "the enemy" along two-thirds of the Western Front. German troops held Christmas trees up out of the trenches with signs, "Merry Christmas." "You no shoot, we no shoot." Thousands of troops streamed across no-man's land strewn with rotting corpses. Soldiers embraced men they had been trying to kill a few short hours before. A shudder ran through the high command on either side. Here was disaster in the making: soldiers declaring their brotherhood with each other and refusing to fight.
129. Anti-patriotism (1905)
     Our war-cry against war is "Insurrection Rather Than War!"
130. Civil Disobedience (1849)
     An essay by Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849 which argues that people should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that people have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the government to make them the agents of injustice. Thoreau was motivated in part by his disgust with slavery and the Mexican-American War.

Selected Websites and Organizations

1. This is a small sampling of organizations and websites concerned with peace issues in the Connexions Directory. For more organizations and websites, check the Connexions Directory Subject Index, especially under topics such as peace, imperialism, international relations, human rights international, militarism, refugees, and U.S. imperialism.

• Antiwar.com
  Libertarian-capitalist site opposed to imperialism and war, with extensive news and analysis.
  
• Bat Shalom (Daughter of Peace)
  Feminist peace organization working toward a just peace between Israel and its Arab neighbours.
• Connexions Library: International Affairs & Development Focus
  Selected articles, books, websites and other resources on international issues.
• Gush Shalom
  Gush Shalom (Translated from Hebrew, the name means "The Peace Bloc")
  is the hard core of the Israeli peace movement. Often described as "resolute", "militant", "radical" or "consistent", it is known for its unwavering stand in times of crisis, such as the al-Aksa intifada. For years now, Gush Shalom has played a leading role in determining the moral and political agenda of the peace forces in Israel, as well as in breaking the so-called "national consensus" based on misinformation. Gush Shalom is an extra-parliamentary organization, independent of any party or other political grouping. Some of its activists do belong to political parties, but the Gush is not aligned to any particular party. The primary aim of Gush Shalom is to influence Israeli public opinion and lead it towards peace and conciliation with the Palestinian people.
• Israel/Palestine: Resources for peace, justice, and human rights
  A selection of resources for those looking for a solution to the situation in Israel/Palestine based on peace, justice, and human rights.
• Jewish Voice for Peace
  A diverse and democratic community of activists inspired by Jewish tradition to work together for peace, social justice, and human rights. Supports the aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians for security and self-determination.
• Media bias on the Middle East
  Part of the Palestine: Information with Provenance (PIWP database). Provides documents from all points on the ideological spectrum, both Zionist and anti-Zionist, along with background on everybody whose opinion you find here. Also lets you see what our sources say about each other.
• Peace Magazine
  Articles about disarmament; conflict resolution; nonviolent sanctions; peace institutions (e.g. the United Nations and the World Court); conflicts and crises around the world; profiles of activists and researchers; and controversies about development, population, and environmental protection.
• Peace News
  The international antimilitarist magazine. Peace News is written and produced by and for activists, campaigners and radical academics from all over the world.
• Press for Conversion
  Social, legal, psychological and economic factors essential to the transition from a world based on war, greed, deception and violence, where "might is right," to a world based on peace, justice, truth, human rights and nonviolence.

Other Links & Resources

• Center for Defense Information
  
• Development Issues Topic Index in Sources Directory of Experts
  A subject guide to experts and spokespersons on topics related to international development in the Sources directory for the media.
• Global Peace Index
  An Index that ranks the nations of the world by their peacefulness and identifies some of the drivers of that peace.
• GlobalFirepower.com: Strength in Numbers
  GFP provides a unique analytical display of information covering nations from around the world with statistics based on various public sources. Countries covered include the major global players prominent in today's international landscape along with other smaller nations making the news - this spectrum helping to produce a broad comparison of military strengths from across the globe. This is a personal and experimental site meant for entertainment and to stir up dialogue.
• Human Rights & Civil Liberties Topic Index in Sources Directory of Experts
  A subject guide to experts and spokespersons on topics related to human rights and civil liberties in the Sources directory for the media.
• Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
  A non-violent, direct-action group originally established to oppose and resist Israeli demolition of Palestinian houses in the Occupied Territories, now also engaged in resistance activities in other areas - land expropriation, settlement expansion, by-pass road construction, policies of "closure" and "separation," the wholesale uprooting of fruit and olive trees and more.
• Military War Peace Topic Index in Sources Directory of Experts
  A subject guide to experts and spokespersons on topics related to the military and war and peace in the Sources directory for the media.
• Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter - October 15, 2016
  The risk of nuclear war is as great now as it was at the height of the Cold War. From the time the Warsaw Pact dissolved itself and the Soviet Union collapsed, the United States has single-mindedly pursued a hyper-aggressive strategy of surrounding Russia with hostile military forces and missiles aimed at the Russian heartland.
• Refuser Solidarity Network
  Supports Israelis who refuse to serve in the Occupation.
• Ta'ayush
  A grassroots movement of Arabs and Jews working to break down the walls of racism and segregation by constructing a true Arab-Jewish partnership.
• Violence Topic Index in Sources Directory of Experts
  A subject guide to experts and spokespersons on topics related to violence in the Sources directory for the media.

Books, Films and Periodicals

1. This is a small sampling of books related to peace issues in the Connexions Online Library. For more books and other resources, check the Connexions Library Subject Index, especially under topics such as peace, imperialism, international relations, human rights international, Iraq, militarism, refugees, and U.S. imperialism.

1. Arms Canada
   The Deadly Business of Military Exports
   Author: Regehr, Ernie
   Regeher explores the secretive world of Canadian arms manufacture and debunks many of the myths aboutf the benefits of arms sales.
2. Breaking Ranks
   Author: Everett, Melissa
   The riveting inside account of men who have emerged from fulfilling, respected, and often lucrative and influential jobs in the military-industrial complex to work for peace. Based on extensive interviews, Breaking Ranks attempts to trace the fascinating, often mysterious and convoluted routes these people take from one world to another. Their inspiring journeys push us along our own.
3. Drone
   Author: Schei, Tonje Hessen
   This documentary covers diverse and integral ground from the recruitment of young pilots at gaming conventions and the re-definition of "going to war", to the moral stance of engineers behind the technology, the world leaders giving the secret "green light" to engage in the biggest targeted killing program in history, and the people willing to stand up against the violations of civil liberties and fight for transparency, accountability and justice.
4. Dropping the bomb: How to ban nukes and save the planet
   New Internationalist June 2008
   A look at nuclear weapons and their transportation in Britain.
5. Great Peacemakers: True Stories from Around the World
   True Stories from Around the World
   Author: Beller, Ken; Chase, Heather
   
6. How to Start a Revolution
   Author: Arrow, Ruaridh (Director/Producer)
   A documentary on the work and ideas of Gene Sharp, a theorist of non-violent revolution.
7. The Junius Pamphlet
   The Crisis of Social Democracy
   Author: Luxemburg, Rosa
   The voting of war credits in August 1914 was a shattering moment in the life of individual socialists and of the socialist movement in Europe. Those who had worked for, and wholly believed in the ability of, organized labour to stand against war now saw the major social democratic parties of Germany, France, and England rush to the defense of their fatherlands. Worker solidarity had proved an impotent myth. Rosa Luxemburg had for years warned against the stultifying effects of the overly bureaucratized German Social Democratic Party and the anti-revolutionary tendencies of the trade unions that played such a large role in the party's policy decisions. She spent much of the war in jail, where she wrote and then smuggled this pamphlet. Published under the name "Junius," the pamphlet became the guiding statement for the International Group, which became the Spartacus League.
   
8. Karl Marx's Theory of Revolution
   Volume 5: War & Revolution
   Author: Draper, Hal; Haberkern, E.
   The subject of this volume is Marx and Engels' views on the relation between war and revolution. Its thesis is that, over the course of decades, their views on this question changed -- evolved is a better word -- although, in this case as in others, they wrote no definitive statement of their views. Instead, we have a considerable corpus of ad hoc responses to the events of the hour, many of them politically explosive, from which we have to reconstruct, not a line, but an approach. To complicate things further, many of these crises, while they were the news of the day at the time, have since faded from memory.
9. Media Lies And The War Drive Against Iran
   Author: Pilger, John
   Iran's crime is its independence. Having thrown out the US's favourite tyrant, Shah Reza Pahlavi, Iran remains the only resource-rich Muslim state beyond US control. As only Israel has a 'right to exist' in the Middle East, the US goal is to cripple the Islamic Republic. This will allow Israel to divide and dominate the region on Washington's behalf, undeterred by a confident neighbour.
10. The No-Nonsense Guide to Conflict and Peace
    Author: Ware, Helen (ed.)
    
11. The No-Nonsense Guide to Terrorism
    Author: Barker, Jonathan
    An in-depth look at the nature of terrorism that discusses questioning terrorism, assessing it, the difference between state terrorism and group terrorism, morality and history, and war and politics.
12. The No-Nonsense Guide to the Arms Trade
    Author: Burrows, Gideon
    A review of the increasingly prolific global arms trade and its economic, political and social impact on exploited and vulnerable nations.
    
13. Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter - October 15, 2016
    Lurching to War
    Author: Diemer, Ulli (ed.)
    The risk of nuclear war is as great now as it was at the height of the Cold War. From the time the Warsaw Pact dissolved itself and the Soviet Union collapsed, the United States has single-mindedly pursued a hyper-aggressive strategy of surrounding Russia with hostile military forces and missiles aimed at the Russian heartland.
14. Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter - January 22, 2017
    Disobedience
    Author: Diemer, Ulli (ed.)
    Ultimately all power structures depend on the obedience of those over whom they rule. It helps if people believe in the legitimacy of those who wield power, but the crucial thing is obedience. Once people start to disobey in significant numbers, the dynamic of power changes fundamentally. Disobedience, especially on a large scale, shakes the power of the rulers, and increases the power of those who disobey. Disobedience is the theme of this issue.
15. Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter - August 27, 2017
    Official Enemies
    Author: Diemer, Ulli (ed.)
    Why and how do some countries become 'enemies'? How and why do governments and media work in tandem to demonize official enemies? Who are the people who live in those countries, what are their lives like, and why should we consider them our enemies?
16. Peace Mom
    A Mother's Journey Through Heartache to Activism
    Author: Sheehan, Cindy
    An American mother loses her 24-year-old soldier son, killed in action in Iraq, and leads her to become a prominent US anti-war activist.
17. Peace News
    The international antimilitarist magazine. Peace News is written and produced by and for activists, campaigners and radical academics from all over the world.
18. Peacemaking in Your Neighbourhood
    Reflections on an Experiment in Community Mediation
    Author: Beer, Jennifer E.
    Describes ten years of work of the Community Dispute Settlement Program, an innovative program in a suburban area near Philadelphia, founded by the Society of Friends (Quakers). The program set out to try to help solve community disputes using the guidelines of nonviolence, alternatives, and empowerment.
19. The Roadmap to Nowhere
    Israel/Palestine Since 2003
    Author: Reinhart, Tanya
    An urgent and searing exposé of the 'peace process' by a prominent Israeli thinker.
20. The Unconquerable World
    Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People
    Author: Schell, Jonathan
    Traces the history of non-violent social change.
21. War, Peace and the Media: Propping up the U.S. Empire and Risking the Planet
    Fourth Edition, Expanded and Updated
    Author: Zwicker, Barrie (ed.)
    This fourth and greatly expanded edition of a work first published in 1983 questions the dominant narratives about militarism and war, and their relationship to global heating, as well as the role of the media in distorting and suppressing truths about their relationship. Contributors to this new edition of War, Peace and the Media challenge the U.S./NATO version of the Russia-Ukraine war and its historical causes, and highlight the role of mainstream and social media in sidelining or silencing dissenting information and opinions.
22. Working for Peace
    A Handbook of Practical Psychology and Other Tools
    Author: Wollman, Neil (ed.)
    A survey of the attitudes and tools that can be used in working for peace.

Learning from our History

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Resources for Activists

The Connexions Calendar - An event calendar for activists. Submit your events for free here.

Media Names & Numbers - A comprehensive directory of Canada’s print and broadcast media. .

Sources - A membership-based service that enables journalists to find spokespersons and story ideas, and which simultaneously enables organizations to raise their profile by reaching the media and the public with their message.

Organizing Resources Page - Change requires organizing. Power gives way only when it is challenged by a movement for change, and movements grow out of organizing. Organizing is qualitatively different from simple “activism”. Organizing means sustained long-term conscious effort to bring people together to work for common goals. This page features a selection of articles, books, and other resources related to organizing.

Publicity and Media Relations - A short introduction to media relations strategies.

Grassroots Media Relations - A media relations guide for activist groups.

Socialism gateway - A gateway to resources about socialism, socialist history, and socialist ideas.

Marxism gateway - A gateway to resources about Marxism.

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