Anything War Can Do, Peace Can Do Better by David Swanson

Image by denisedaysmith via Flickr

Note: David’s piece contains many pictures, so you may wish to read it in full on his website.

by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy
January 9, 2019

William James’ idea of the need to create a moral equivalent of war first struck me, decades ago, when I read about it, as about as sensible an idea as inventing a new way to punch yourself in the face. This was not purely because times have changed, because weapons have become more powerful, because the earth’s climate is collapsing, or because nonviolent activism has become widely understood as requiring courage, sacrifice, camarderie, dedication, discipline, and strength, without any of the counterproductive murder, maiming, destroying, occupying, hating, looting, pillaging, or stupidity.

Truth in Recruiting

Image by Justin Norman via Flickr

Sent to Dandelion Salad by Antiwar Comedy Shorts

Antiwar Comedy Shorts on Dec 8, 2017

A poster at an Army recruiting office reveals: “You might die, or get your arms or legs blown off.” From a series of 8 antiwar comedy shorts shot in 2016 and 2017. Two of these did the festival circuit, winning 11 awards and being selected in 79 festivals.

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

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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.”

Drawing Links Between US Militarism Abroad and Gun Violence at Home + Militarizing US Schools and Society Only Creates More Gun Violence and Police Brutality

Image by Tony Webster via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

TheRealNews on Jun 18, 2018

Boston teacher Nino Brown, of the ANSWER Coalition, speaks with TRNN’s Ben Norton about the links between US militarism, gun violence, and police brutality. He connects the epidemic of school shootings domestically to the endless wars internationally.

Abby Martin: Used and Betrayed: 100 Years of US Troops as Lab Rats

Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
Watch the videos below

Dandelion Salad

Published previously on May 23, 2016

with Abby Martin

teleSUR English on May 23, 2016

On Memorial Day, politicians will speak at ceremonies all over the country and repeat their favorite mantra: “Support the troops.” This pledge is hammered into the American psyche at every turn. But there is a hidden, dark history that shows that the politicians are in fact no friend to service members–but their greatest enemy. An easy way to prove this truth is to look at how they so quickly betray and abandon their soldiers after purposely ruining their lives, and even after using them as literal lab rats.

Women’s Draft? Sign Me Up To Abolish War by Rivera Sun + Feds Extend Deadline for Public Comments on Future Draft

Image by Wystan via Flickr

by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published June 21, 2016
May 22, 2018

For too long, the women of this nation have been complacent while our brothers, sons, husbands, and fathers are sent to kill, maim, brutalize, destroy and even die in defense of our alleged liberty.

Pat Elder: It’s Not A Volunteer Force, Amy. It’s A Recruited Force. + Militarizing Schools, Criminalizing Students

Image by Lorie Shaull via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Pat Elder
World Beyond War, Feb. 21, 2018
February 26, 2018

Part 1: Inside the U.S. Military Recruitment Program That Trained Nikolas Cruz to be “A Very Good Shot”

Democracy Now! on Feb 21, 2018

https://democracynow.org – Dozens of students who survived last week’s school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida have arrived in Tallahassee to push for new gun control measures. On Tuesday, the Republican-controlled Florida House of Representatives blocked a bid to bring up a bill to ban sales of assault-style rifles in the state. The Florida gunman, a 19-year-old white former student named Nikolas Cruz, was a member of the Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program before he was expelled from the school. Cruz was also part of a four-person JROTC marksmanship team at the school which had received $10,000 in funding from the NRA. For more, we speak with Pat Elder, director of the National Coalition to Protect Student Privacy, an organization that confronts militarism in schools. He’s the author of Military Recruiting in the United States.

Smedley Butler: I Was A Racketeer, A Gangster For Capitalism

Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr

Sent to Dandelion Salad by The Anti-Social Socialist

“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.” — Smedley D. Butler, War is a Racket, Round Table Press (1935)

A Veteran Remembers by Howard Zinn + How the U.S. Poisoned its Veterans

Image by Elvert Barnes via Flickr

by Howard Zinn
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Previously published Nov. 13, 2011
November 10, 2017

Let’s go back to the beginning of Veterans Day. It used to be Armistice Day, because at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, World War I came to an end.

Resistance Against Military Recruiters at Schools by Pat Elder

Image by Debra Sweet via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

Republished with permission from David Swanson at World Beyond War

by Pat Elder
World Beyond War, Oct. 28, 2017
November 1, 2017

More than a hundred mothers have contacted me over the years, alarmed at the relationships their teenaged children were developing with military recruiters at school. They wanted to know what they could do about it. They were angry, and they were worried.

Pentagon Recruiting Playbook Revealed, by Pat Elder

Image by Debra Sweet via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

Republished with permission from David Swanson at World Beyond War

by Pat Elder
World Beyond War, July 16, 2017
July 18, 2017

Ominous developments in three states this summer – Oregon, Texas, New Jersey, and one city – Chicago, provide a glimpse into the Pentagon’s new playbook to recruit soldiers from high schools across the country. In brief, the military has been engaged in a robust lobbying campaign to lower academic standards to make it easier to recruit youth.

Military Recruiting and How To Confront It by Pat Elder

Image by Debra Sweet via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

Republished with permission from David Swanson at World Beyond War

by Pat Elder
World Beyond War
June 30, 2017

This year the Army’s goal is to recruit 80,000 active duty and reserve soldiers. The Navy is trying to sign up 42,000; the Air Force is looking for 27,000, and the Marines hope to bring on 38,000. That comes to 187,000. The Army National Guard will also attempt to lure 40,000.

War Is A Racket By Major General Smedley Butler

Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr

Dandelion Salad
Originally published January 16, 2011

numoleen on March 11, 2009

War is a Racket by Smedley Butler is a famous speech denouncing the military industrial complex. This anti-war speech by two-time Congressional Medal of Honor recipient exposes war profits that benefit few at the expense of many. Throughout his distinguished career in the Marines, Smedley Darlington Butler demonstrated that true patriotism does not mean blind allegiance to government policies with which one does not agree. To Hell with war.

SPIN: The Art of Selling War (2004)

Image by Ted Swedenburg via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

Originally posted June 15, 2011

rushingfan on Jan 29, 2007

Directed by Josh Rushing, a veteran Marine Corps media spokesman, “SPIN: The Art of Selling War” is an investigative documentary that looks at the standard justification for going to war by the American administrations of past and present.