Image by Truthout.org via Flickr
by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy
Originally posted May 26, 2019
May 29, 2023
The U.S. Army tweeted a harmless rah-rah tweet and got hit with a burst of reality never encountered on corporate-controlled media. Score one for the internet.
Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
Watch the video below
Dandelion Salad
March 31, 2023
with Chris Hedges
TheRealNews on Mar 31, 2023
I first encountered Lori Grinker’s remarkable work as a photographer in her book Afterwar: Veterans from a World in Conflict, where a century of war is represented by and through portraits of individuals and their haunting stories of war.
Image by Mike Beauregard via Flickr
by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
January 18, 2023
Rivera Sun on Jan 6, 2023
This short video was made by Rivera Sun for the Culture Jamming Team, a collaboration between Campaign Nonviolence and World BEYOND War.
Image by Debra Sweet via Flickr
by Richie Merino
Workers World, Dec. 20, 2022
December 21, 2022
A Dec. 11 New York Times report highlighted how thousands of public high school students in majority poor, Black and Brown districts are funneled into the U.S. military’s Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program. Students are automatically enrolled and forced to participate as an explicit requirement without parental consent. Some high schools have saved money by using JROTC, which is ostensibly a feeder system for children to ultimately enlist in the military, as an alternative to hiring physical education or health teachers. (NY Times, Dec. 11)
Image by Justin Norman via Flickr
by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
November 17, 2022
In the drizzling rain, I yank up the military recruitment sign and throw it into the tall grasses on the side of the road. If anyone asks, I didn’t “destroy” government property. I merely relocated it. Think of me like a windstorm. A peace-loving, nonviolent windstorm countering military recruitment.
Image by borderhacker via Flickr
by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, Nov. 15, 2022
November 16, 2022
The one nation on Earth that has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the leading hold-out on basic human rights treaties in general, and the wealthy nation that imposes the biggest hurdles on young people seeking an education has a reason that’s seldom talked about for making college expensive and keeping the chains of student debt wrapped tightly around millions of ankles — and it’s a reason related to the militarized spreading of the Rules Based Order.
Image by Leo Reynolds via Flickr
by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, Nov. 2, 2018
Originally published Nov. 12, 2018
November 10, 2022
Some are inclined to recognize that Trumpies are dwelling in an alternative universe in which neither climate collapse nor nuclear apocalypse is a concern but terrifying wild hoards of Muslim Hondurans are skipping and dancing into the Fatherland armed with gang symbols, deadly rocks, and socialistic tendencies.
Image by Elvert Barnes via Flickr
by Howard Zinn
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Previously published Nov. 13, 2011
November 9, 2022
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.
Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, Oct. 3, 2022
October 4, 2022
Chris Hedges’ latest book, The Greatest Evil Is War, is a terrific title and even better text. It doesn’t actually argue a case for war being a greater evil than other evils, but it sure does present evidence that war is tremendously evil. And I think in this moment of nuclear weapons threats, we can consider the case pre-established.
Image by borderhacker via Flickr
by Robert C. Koehler
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
September 26, 2022
Ah, the children!
They belong to us, sayeth the Department of Defense. At least some of them do.
Image by Truthout.org via Flickr
with Chris Hedges
TheRealNews on Aug 5, 2022
Andrew Bacevich, a retired Army Colonel who fought in Vietnam, and Danny Sjursen, a retired Army Major who did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, have just published Paths of Dissent: Soldiers Speak Out Against America’s Misguided Wars.
Image by Official U.S. Navy Page via Flickr
by Pat Elder
Writer, Dandelion Salad
June 13, 2022
I saw “Top Gun: Maverick” yesterday. It was absolutely horrible. The film sets a new standard for state-orchestrated, pro-military, mass indoctrination. Goebbels, chief propagandist for Hitler’s Nazi Party, would be in awe of the shiny death plane and the spotlights and the movie star in his tuxedo.
Image by Truthout.org via Flickr
by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy
Originally posted May 26, 2019
May 29, 2022
The U.S. Army tweeted a harmless rah-rah tweet and got hit with a burst of reality never encountered on corporate-controlled media. Score one for the internet.
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.
Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
by David Swanson
Writers, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy
December 19, 2021
Most U.S. states still have excuses when asked to make voter registration automatic, but in various states — including here in Virginia — draft registration is automatic even for 15-year-olds who want a learner’s permit to drive a car. (This is still only for males, as Congress did not, in the end, extend draft registration to females, at least until next year — once in a while Democrats’ obeisance to Republicans works out well.) The application for the learner’s permit in Virginia, for which you must be 15-and-a-half-years-old, says:
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