Category: IO Deeds of Peace

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David Swanson: 15 Things More Important Than Debate Topics

11 Society, Communities of Practice, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, IO Deeds of Peace, Peace Intelligence
David Swanson

15 Things More Important Than Newt's Sex Life on the Moon

1. A war on Iran could kill us all. President Obama said in the State of the Union: “America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal.  But a peaceful resolution of this issue is s till possible . . . if Iran changes course.” So, unless Iran, which the Secretary of Defense says is not developing a nuclear weapon, ceases developing a nuclear weapon, we're going to war.  Sound familiar?  Ever seen this movie before?  Actually, we've seen it in every single war ever fought by any nation.  The best defense against the lies of the Department of Defense is good preparation.  Read this book: http://WarIsALie.org

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Use these resources: http://DontAttackIran.org

Join or create an event on February 4: http://worldcantwait.net

2. Occupation of DC under threat. The Park Service plans to try to remove all tents from both DC occupations (Freedom Plaza and McPherson Square) at noon on Monday, January 30th. Be there. Be nonviolent.  Be determined.  Be relentless.

Rise like Lions after slumber: In unvanquishable number,
Shake your chains to earth like dew: Which in sleep had fallen on you
Ye are many — they are few

3. California could solve healthcare. California has until Tuesday and is two senators away from enacting single-payer healthcare.  This is far more significant that anything that has been done at the national level for healthcare.  This solves the problem in one state and creates a model for the other 49.  You can help: http://warisacrime.org/node/60764

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4. Corporate personhood is on the defensive.  The Montana Supreme Court has refused to comply with Citizens United.  Citie s and states are taking action.  Stronger bills are being introduced in Congress all the time.  The latest is HJRes 100.  Rallies were just held in over 100 towns and cities.  Join this movement: http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5236

5. They're raising military spending and calling it “cuts.” The supposed cuts in all the headlines are cuts to dream budgets, leaving actual increases.  Small but real cuts would result from following the law after the Super Committee's failure (remember them?).  But bills in both houses would block all actual cuts to the military, and President Obama agrees with that agenda.  This will mean severe cuts to education, transportation, and — as Obama indicated in his State of the Union speech — to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. http://warisacrime.org/node/60747

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6.  New classic book on peace just out. An amazing new book that you will treasure has just been published.  It is first-person stories of war and peace and activism from all over the world, from victims, refugees, journalists, lawyers, and participants in numerous wars.  Every story is personal and moving.  There is not a drop of corporate media disinterestedness in the book.  You may know some of the authors and now you'll know them better.  It's 600 pages but you'll be sorry when you reach the end. http://www.amazon.com/Why-Peace-Marc-Guttman/dp/0984980202

7. Guess who says the anthrax attacks were pinned on the wrong guy (again)? The Department of Justice. Anybody else, and Obama would have charged them with “espionage”.  http://warisacrime.org/node/60765

8. We're re-occupying the Philippines, by jingo! On the plus side, we have not yet been told that this will benefit “our little brown brothers” (whether they like it or not). http://warisacrime.org/node/60746

9. Prevent Fukushima in Vermont. A Fukushima-style nuclear power plant in Vermont legally must shut down, but in reality is up and running. We can close it. http://warisacrime.org/node/60745

10. They hate us for our bases.  As in many other places around the world, in Japan and Korea, people are risking their lives to resist U.S. military base construction. Japan: http://warisacrime.org/node/60718 — Korea: http://warisacrime.org/node/60743

11. Torture lawyer John Yoo badly loses debate.  Professor Yoo agreed to debate a sane person, with predictable but still satisfying result: http://warisacrime.org/node/60738

12. The State of the Union speech only sounded good if you were screaming in terror.  http://warisacrime.org/node/60727

13. United National Antiwar Coalition Conference. Don't miss this! https://nationalpeaceconference.org

14. Occupy Spring! The National Occupation of Washington DC starts on March 30, 2012. http://nowdc.org

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15. No Immunity for Mortgage Fraudsters! The Obama Administration has been working on a mortgage fraud settlement that itself amounts to fraud, but attorneys general in several states are pushing back. Obama's speeches stress fairness and equality, but a settlement granting immunity to big banks is not fair. Robosigning and other fraudulent practices are ongoing.  The White House is offering the banks a plea bargain in the middle of a crime spree.  Attorneys general in Delaware, New York, Massachusetts, California, and other states are pushing in the right direction. Tell leading state attorneys general not to settle for less than an adequate settlement. http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5322

http://warisacrime.org/content/upcoming-events

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TEDxAmsterdam 2011 – General Peter van Uhm

04 Inter-State Conflict, 10 Security, DoD, Ethics, IO Deeds of Peace, Methods & Process, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence, Strategy

Tip of the Hat to Berto Jongman.

Phi Beta Iota:  Below is a typical comment.  Sadly, for this to be true, INTEGRITY in government is required.  As we have seen from Dick Cheney's hijacking of the US Government — and Obama's continuation of the Bush-era “war as a racket” policies now including the murder and imprisonment of US citizens without due process — sometimes the government's monopoly on force is the basis for a failed state, not its anti-thesis.

Very inspiring talk, i listened in silence to him and that doesn’t happen often.

As an ex VN soldier i fully support the generals opinion.

Even after losing his own son in Afghanistan he still firmly believes in his ideals and knows how to express them on a way that is understandable and inspiring to allot of people, i can only say general van Uhm made me proud to be Dutch today, and proud i served in the Dutch armed forces.

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David Swansson: When the World Outlawed War – A Model for Occupy to Achieve Electoral Reform Act of 2012

04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Articles & Chapters, Communities of Practice, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, IO Deeds of Peace, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence
David Swanson

When the World Outlawed War: An Interview with David Swanson

For those who know war only through television, criminalizing it sounds like proposing to criminalize government. But there was a time when the masses made war illegal.
Bruce E. Levine
Alternet, November 21, 2011

David Swanson’s recently released book, When the World Outlawed War, tells the story of how the highly energized peace movement in the 1920s, supported by an overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens from every level of society, was able to push politicians into something quite remarkable—the Kellogg-Briand Pact and the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy. The 1920s “War Outlawry” movement in the United States was so popular that most politicians could not afford to oppose it.

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David Swanson, since serving as press secretary in Dennis Kucinich’s 2004 presidential campaign, has emerged as one of the leading anti-war activists in the United States. While Swanson has fought against the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and tried to alert Americans to the fact that U.S. military spending is the source of most of our economic problems, his anti-war activism goes much deeper. He wants to stigmatize militarist politicians as criminals. In his previous book War is a Lie, Swanson made the case for the abolition of war as an instrument of national policy, and When the World Outlawed War provides an historical example of just how powerful war abolitionism can be.

Bruce Levine: At a college lecture that you recently gave, you asked the students and professors if they believed war was illegal or if they had ever heard of the Kellogg-Briand Pact, and only about 2 or 3 percent of a large group raised their hands. But what really seems to have disturbed you is when you asked if war should be illegal, and only 5 percent thought that it should be.

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Chuck Spinney: Paris-Berlin-Moscow Axis Reinstated

02 Diplomacy, 03 Economy, 06 Russia, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Articles & Chapters, Earth Intelligence, Ethics, Government, IO Deeds of Peace, Peace Intelligence
Chuck Spinney

The Paris-Berlin-Moscow Axis Back Again

by Immanuel Wallerstein

It always amazes me how the world's politicians and media spend most of their energy debating geopolitical prospects that are not going to happen, while ignoring major developments that are happening.

Here is a list of the most important coming non-events that we have been loudly debating and analyzing: Israel is not going to bomb Iran. The euro is not going to disappear. Outside powers are not going to engage in military action inside Syria. The upsurge of worldwide popular unrest is not going to fade away.

Meanwhile, to minimal serious coverage in the media and on the internet, the Nord Stream was inaugurated in Lubmin on Germany's Baltic Coast on Nov. 8 in the presence of Pres. Medvedev of Russia and the prime ministers of Germany, France, and the Netherlands, plus the director of Gazprom, Russia's gas exporter, and the European Union's Energy Commissioner. This is a geopolitical game-changer, unlike all the widely discussed non-events that are not going to happen.

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Tom Atlee: #Occupy Weekly Sparks = We Can Do It All

Advanced Cyber/IO, Analysis, Augmented Reality, Blog Wisdom, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Hacking, InfoOps (IO), IO Deeds of Peace, Methods & Process, Policies, Policy, Reform, Strategy, Threats
Tom Atlee

Random Communications from an Evolutionary Edge

 

#Occupy Weekly Sparks = We Can Do It All

Much has been said about the Occupy movement's lack of demands and vision. Some say it will have no impact unless it makes demands and organizes to make sure those demands are met.

Others respond that the People should just take charge of their democracy rather than petitioning official powers-that-be to do this and that. Still others say that any list of demands – any effort to focus OWS more narrowly and explicitly – could weaken the movement because Occupy Together is a broadly inclusive initiative that's about (a) changing whole systems and/or (b) creating microcosms of a better society in the occupation zones and/or (c) stimulating transformational conversations out in society at large and/or (d) passionately building and forcefully demonstrating the Power of the People to resist illegitimate, corrupt authority.

Others note that the disturbing lack of demands spreads OWS' surprising impact through a “blank slate effect” – OWS becomes a mystery or a mirror into which diverse individuals and groups project their various desires, hopes, frustrations, and agendas. Furthermore, that mystery helps by enhancing the movement's uncommon anarchic power that makes it so hard for authorities and others to figure out how to control, undermine or use it. Others insist that a shared vision – articulating what the 99% actually want – would be much more powerful than focusing on a laundry list of demands that many 99%ers might well disagree with. Simultaneously, many Occupiers are chronically frustrated with all this talk and want Action!! Their more thoughtful colleagues reply that pulling so many diverse people together in consensus requires taking the time to hear each other and generate collective wisdom.

Read balance of very deep and provocative commentary.

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Tom Atlee: Occupy the Future Together

11 Society, Civil Society, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, IO Deeds of Peace
Tom Atlee
#Occupy the future together

Things are still wildly bubbling in and around the Occupy movement, which is still radically expanding and evolving. Despite many growing pains, the co-creative, committed engagement of the participants is inspiring. So many among them are using the disturbances in and around them as a motivation for personal growth and collective innovation.

Occupy Together is, as they say, a phenomenon. It is such a passionate, complex, self-organizing initiative that even chaos and complexity theories have a hard time adequately explaining it. It is ALIVE!

The word “occupy” – as a connotation-rich idea or meme – is itself a fascinating part of the movement's impact. It invites everyone who wants a new and better world, to claim a space where they can work together to co-create that world. So far, that space is usually a public park. But that's expanding and morphing: More people are talking about occupying a school, a workplace, a bank, a heart, a profession, an industry, a government office, the airwaves, our minds – any “place” where some piece of the new world needs to evolve and replicate itself to become the actual New World. And the word “occupy” suggests commitment to that place, persistence in it, putting down some roots, claiming and owning and taking responsibility for holding it and making it good.

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