All posts by Peace Couple

Peace Calendar from WarIsACrime.org

Peace Calendar
World Beyond War Calendar

from World Beyond War.org:

In the United States there are holidays to celebrate militarism just about every week, and increasingly one hears about them on the radio, at public events, and in corporate advertising that apparently believes militarism sells. Other nations have seen a similar rise in military celebrations.

What would a calendar of peace holidays look like? At WorldBeyondWar we believe it would look something like this.

We’re making it available for free as a PDF that you can print out and make use of: PDFWord.

Continue reading Peace Calendar from WarIsACrime.org

TWL: Libraries

TWL: Things We LoveLibraries are the most American of institutions: community-based, democratic, pull-yourself-up by- your-own-bootstraps gathering places. Libraries were kicked off in this country by the most American of our founders: the self-made , earthy, inventor-scientist polymath Ben Franklin.

Libraries are about community.  They are a barn-raising or quilting bee for the mind, especially the young mind.  Everyone pools their resources so we can all have more than anyone of us could individually have access to when we need it.  and when we don’t need it, we leave it their for someone else to use.  Libraries are the well in the town square, where all can draw water and all have a stake in keeping them available.  Continue reading TWL: Libraries

RIP Jonathan Schell, anti-war anti-nuke, pro-Occupy activist

The Fate of the Earth by Jonathan SchellIn December 2013 post entitled Schell: Complete Disarmament is the only Sane Path, we wrote about an excerpt from Jonathan Schell‘s 1982 book The Fate of the Earth which forms the nineteenth chapter of The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace . 

Below are the obituaries from the AP and Democracy Now!   Continue reading RIP Jonathan Schell, anti-war anti-nuke, pro-Occupy activist

Erasmus the Pacifist| War Is A Crime .org

One of our goals on this site is to catalog the hidden history of pacifists.  This article does so beautifully.

The Genius of Erasmus | War Is A Crime .org.

Cover of "The Complaint of Peace"

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, who lived from October 27, 1466, to July 12, 1536, faced censorship in his day, and has never been as popular among the rich and powerful as has his contemporary Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli. But at a distance of half a millennium, we ought to be able to judge work on its merit — and we ought to have regular celebrations of Erasmus around the world.  Some of his ideas are catching on.  His name is familiar in Europe as that of the EU’s student exchange program, named in his honor.  We ought perhaps to wonder what oddball ideas these days might catch on in the 2500s — if humanity is around then.

In 1517, Erasmus wrote The Complaint of Peace, in which Peace, speaking in the first-person, complains about how humanity treats her. She claims to offer “the source of all human blessings” and to be scorned by people who “go in quest of evils infinite in number.”

Read the rest of the article.

RIP Tony Benn, Lifelong War Critic

Remembering British MP Tony Benn, a Lifelong Critic of War and Capitalism + Never be afraid of getting old | Dandelion Salad.

Tony Benn about to join the March 2005 anti-wa...
Tony Benn about to join the March 2005 anti-war demonstration in London

democracynow.org – Tony Benn, the former British Cabinet minister, longtime Parliament member and antiwar activist, has died at the age of 88. He was the longest-serving member of Parliament in the history of Britain’s Labour Party, serving more than half a century. He left Parliament in 2001, saying he planned to “spend more time on politics.” In 2009 he appeared on Democracy Now! to talk about the war in Afghanistan and Britain’s fight for a nationalized healthcare system.

“You’ve got to judge a country by whether its needs are met and not just by whether some people make a profit,” Benn said. “I’ve never met Mr. Dow Jones, and I’m sure he works very, very hard with his averages. We get them every hour. But I don’t think the happiness of a nation is decided by the share values in Wall Street.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE8CI012O1I]

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10 of the best Tony Benn quotes – as picked by our readers | Politics | theguardian.com.   Continue reading RIP Tony Benn, Lifelong War Critic

TWL: Vinegar

TWL: Things We LoveI admit that I do like the fancy Balsamic Vinegar that come in wine bottle shapes and make awesome dressings and marinades.  This post is not about that vinegar.

This post is about the white vinegar that you can find in the clear plastic gallon jug in the bottom shelf of the supermarket.  Even better is the extra-cheap store or generic brand.  We usually have at least two jugs of it around the house at a time.

No, we don’t use that much by putting it on our breakfast cereal every morning.

We clean with vinegar.  All the time.  Continue reading TWL: Vinegar

Nobel Laureates: End Afghan War

The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of PeaceThe final chapter in The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace is the  2001 International Appeal of Nobel Prize Laureates, Poets, Philosophers, Intellectuals and Human Rights Defenders for an Immediate End to the War against Afghanistan. This appeal ends the final section of the book: Post-Vietnam to the Present (1975- ) .

The appeal succinctly reiterates the points made in the last two essays.  The invasion of Afghanistan fails on two accounts.  It did not bring the perpetrators of 9/11 to justice.  It is increasing the future likelihood of terrorism against the US.

Since the Appeal is short, and a public document, I have reproduced it below:   Continue reading Nobel Laureates: End Afghan War