David Swanson and Charles Lenchner: Refusing Military “Service”

Image by Mario Klingemann via Flickr

by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, Jan. 4, 2022
January 5, 2022

This week on Talk World Radio we’re talking about refusing military “service.” Our guest Charles Lenchner is a veteran peace activist, organizer, and political campaigner. Born in the United States, he grew up in Israel where he became an anti-occupation activist at a young age. In 1987, he was drafted into the Israeli Army and subsequently refused orders and spent time in military prison. More recently he was a co-founder of People for Bernie Sanders and today is part of the RootsAction team that publishes ProgressiveHub. I also work for RootsAction.

They Went to Jail for Justice by David Swanson

Image by Wystan via Flickr

by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, July 9, 2018
December 12, 2018

C.J. Hinke has produced probably the best collection I’ve read of writings by and about conscientious objectors and war refusers behind bars. It’s called Free Radicals: War Resisters in Prison.

Chris Hedges: A Socialist Soldier’s Tale of Resisting the American Empire

Image by eirigipics via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Sep 29, 2018

Journalist Chris Hedges interview former combat veteran and US Army officer, Spenser Rapone about bravery and morality. The second lieutenant was given an “other than honorable” discharge June 18 after an Army investigation determined that he “went online to promote a socialist revolution and disparage high-ranking officers” and thereby had engaged in “conduct unbecoming an officer.”

Chris Hedges: Fighting Fascism

Image by Smabs Sputzer via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

Originally on RT America on Sep 3, 2016

The Chris Hedges YouTube Channel on Jul 7, 2022

On this week’s episode of On Contact, Chris Hedges is joined by journalist and author Adam Hochschild to remember the rebels in history whose moral conviction drove them to battle. Hochschild chronicles rebels who joined the fight against fascism in his latest book Spain in Our Hearts: Americans and the Spanish Civil War. RT Correspondent Anya Parampil provides a brief history on why the idealists from the U.S. and Europe made the journey in the 1930s to join the civil war.

Chris Hedges: Why the Brutalized Become Brutal

Image by Dean Terry via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

teleSUR English on Apr 4, 2016

In this episode of Days of Revolt, Chris Hedges interviews two veterans of the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Michael Hanes and Rory Fanning. They lament the brutality of the American military presence, which they say creates the conditions for terrorism and fuels attacks in places like Brussels. They also speak out about the painful struggle of coping with PTSD, and the alienation faced by many soldiers when they come home.

Radical Peace: People Refusing War, Ch. 15: Coming Home by William T. Hathaway

Image by Gary Lund via Flickr

Warning: for mature readers only

by William T. Hathaway
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Germany
August 21, 2015

Coming Home
From the book
Radical Peace: People Refusing War
By William T. Hathaway
Published by Trine Day

RADICAL PEACE is a collection of reports from antiwar activists, the true stories of their efforts to change our warrior culture. In this chapter a mother tells of her son’s return from combat. She wishes to remain anonymous.

Gaither Stewart’s Time of Exile reviewed by Kendall Mercer

Dandelion Salad

by Kendall Mercer
crossposted from greanvillepost.com
August 11, 2015

Prefatory Note
In Defense of the Political Novel

TIME OF EXILE, the third volume of Gaither Stewart’s Europe Trilogy, is a political novel. I see no reasons to conceal it or to feel shame. On the contrary.

Are the novels of Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Miguel Angel Asturias not political? And worthy of the Nobel Prize.

Don’t Enlist, But Don’t Just Take My Word For It by Lo (repost)

Image by Mario Klingemann via Flickr

by Lo
Editor, Dandelion Salad
originally posted July 12, 2012
May 25, 2015

This is the most important blog post on Dandelion Salad. Please pass this on to anyone you know who may be considering enlisting as a soldier (mercenary). Stop them from selling their souls.

First is a list of the best videos with a description of the video followed by the link. Next is a short list of article links, then the archive of posts for “Before You Enlist” and websites for more information.

Army Makes Case Against Enlisting by David Swanson

by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
warisacrime.org
March 19, 2014

Image by United States Marine Corps Official Page via Flickr

Remarkably, the U.S. Army War College has published a report (PDF) that makes an overwhelming case against enlisting in the U.S. Army. The report, called “Civilian Organizational Inhibitors to U.S. Army Recruiting and the Road Ahead,” identifies counter-recruitment organizations that effectively discourage young people from joining the military.

The Folly of ‘Commemorating’ War, by Lesley Docksey

by Lesley Docksey (with grateful thanks to Nick Spurrier)
Writer, Dandelion Salad
England
September 9, 2013

Any student of history knows that many of the problems the Middle East and Africa are now experiencing stem from the Great Powers having parcelled up the land, drawn borders where none had existed and put into power various friendly leaders in the aftermath of World War I. That includes the failures of Western actions in Iraq and Libya, and the ongoing failure of Syria, the West’s refusal to accept a popular President in Bashar al Assad and its efforts to undermine him, resulting in a horrific humanitarian mess.

Israeli Refusnik, Maya Yechieli Wind: Israel is a Nation of Soldiers

Dandelion Salad

breakingtheset Nov 21, 2012

Abby Martin talks to Maya Yechieli Wind, an Israeli activist and dissenter, who advocates against Israeli aggression toward occupied Palestine.

Chris Hedges: War Exposes The Lies Of Patriotism

Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr

by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
October 10, 2012

Oct 8, 2012 by catwatters4

55 Water Street NYC at the Veterans Memorial. The Vets for Peace had a gathering to send a message to end these unjust wars. Just as Chris Hedges began his very inspiring and moving speech, fireworks started and continued throughout his talk adding poignantly to his message.

Ch 11: Exit Free (A collective in the USA that helps women leave the military by discharge or desertion) by William T. Hathaway

by William T. Hathaway
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
October 6, 2012

Image by Joelstuff V4 via Flickr

Exit Free
From the book
RADICAL PEACE: People Refusing War
By William T. Hathaway
Published by Trine Day

The following report was contributed by Naomi Golner, one of the founders of Exit Free, a collective in the USA that helps women leave the military by discharge or desertion.

I’ve become a criminal for peace. How I got there is a complicated story, beginning when the community college where I teach reduced most of its humanities faculty to adjunct status.

The Maimed by Chris Hedges

Video: Chris Hedges: War Exposes The Lies Of Patriotism

by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
October 8, 2012

Image by World Can’t Wait via Flickr

Chris Hedges gave this talk Sunday night in New York City at a protest denouncing the 11th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. The event, at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, was led by Veterans for Peace.

Many of us who are here carry within us death. The smell of decayed and bloated corpses. The cries of the wounded. The shrieks of children. The sound of gunfire. The deafening blasts. The fear. The stench of cordite. The humiliation that comes when you surrender to terror and beg for life. The loss of comrades and friends. And then the aftermath. The long alienation. The numbness. The nightmares. The lack of sleep. The inability to connect to all living things, even to those we love the most. The regret. The repugnant lies mouthed around us about honor and heroism and glory. The absurdity. The waste. The futility.

Don’t Enlist, But Don’t Just Take My Word For It by Lo

Image by Mario Klingemann via Flickr

by Lo
Editor, Dandelion Salad
July 12, 2012

This is the most important blog post on Dandelion Salad. Please pass this on to anyone you know who may be considering enlisting as a soldier (mercenary). Stop them from selling their souls.