new .... “That’s something inherited. We can put this DNA into the movie.” It’s a stupid and dangerous claim. To imply that Germans have a genetic predisposition to war is exactly the kind of racial essentialism that motivated the rise of Nazism. It was not German genes that led to war; it was German culture. In the same way, German movies aren’t German simply because of the language. They’re German because they exist in a cultural context—one that couples an economic framework for film production with a set of cultural conventions about the ways in which war and violence should be depicted. — Foreign Policy, 37 min ago

new Panelists include the Honorable Filsan Abdellahi Abdi — former Minister for Women, Children and Youth of Ethiopia — and Hayelom Kebede Mekonen, PhD — former head of Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital in Tigray. Hon. Abdellahi Abdi resigned from the Abiy government due to its censorship of her reports of government involvement in conflict-related sexual violence. Dr. Kebede Mekonen provided publicity and mobilized medical support for thousands of survivors of this conflict during a devastating humanitarian blockade imposed by the Abiy government. Together Hon. Abdellahi Abdi and Kebede Mekonen will share their insights on the impact of the war, the use of rape as a weapon of war, the psychological trauma faced by survivors, and the need for justice and healing even after the implementation of a fragile peace agreement. This discussion will be moderated by... — wustl.edu, 37 min ago

new The objective of the side event is to provide a platform for governments, Permanent Missions, and young leaders to present legislative proposals and capacity-building mechanisms for addressing water crises. The severity of water crises is a global issue that affects every country, leading to frequent floods, famine, drought, and even national security concerns. This conference aims to produce action plans that will be transpired into UN resolutions and national legislations that are sustainable and universal. — UNITAR, 37 min ago

new ...is designed to promote or bring about accountability, justice, sustainable peace, and reconciliation in post-conflict and transitional societies through judicial and other processes that include prosecutions, reparations, truth-seeking, repentance, and various kinds of institutional reform. To succeed, a process of transitional justice ought to fulfill a number of criteria that are lacking in Ethiopia. — Foreign Policy, 37 min ago

new The new 2023 SWAC/OECD report maps the rural-urban geography of conflict in North and West Africa since the late 1990 using a new interactive policy-making tool: the Spatial Conflict Dynamics indicator (SCDi). In a context of rapid urbanisation and unprecedented levels of violence, this report is particularly timely. It examines whether urbanisation has led to increased violence in cities or whether conflicts stay predominantly rural. The report fills a knowledge gap for policy makers: understanding where violence emerges, spreads and eventually dissipates is key to addressing its root causes. The report lays out a solid foundation for policy makers, experts and researchers to develop a more contextualised and spatialised approach to security and development. — International Partnerships, 8h ago

new The roots of the Sahel rural breakdown lie in failing governance structures. Local authorities, traditional nobilities, and sedentary local power holders have dominated local decision-making bodies, traditional councils, and the committees through which they enacted and enforced policies that deepened local imbalances between and within communities. This has eroded the credibility of local institutions, especially with nomadic pastoralists who have seen their interests and livelihoods being ridden roughshod over. The absence of trust in local governance systems has undermined state authority as many national governments have been unable or unwilling to redress local inequalities and inequities over access to and use of natural resources. The prolonged nature of this crisis of governance of rural areas and the toll it has taken on communities, particularly nomadic herders, constituted a perfect storm for political instability, violent communal conflicts, radicalization, and criminalization. The onset of the Sahel security crisis in 2012 lit the fuse that led to the political and security breakdown in several Sahelian rural areas. — PostX News, 21h ago

new ...“Iraq quickly fell prey to chaos, conflict and instability, experienced an uncountable number of deaths and displacements, and the erosion of health, education and basic services,” wrote Iraqi academic Balsam Mustafa. — The Sydney Morning Herald, 20h ago

new While every survivor situation is unique, there are common threads that connect them. Most survivors are driven from their home countries due to lack of available resources, civil unrest, crime, economic disenfranchisement and natural disasters. Additionally, the promise of economic stability, freedom of choice and personal safety are strong incentives that force survivors to leave the familiarity of their home and their loved ones behind. Global structures and systems of oppression reliant on the exploitation of land and labor creates vulnerable populations, where human beings are seen as disposable commodities. Anyone can fall victim to human trafficking, regardless of their age, gender, race or socioeconomic status. Likewise, anyone can exploit another person. In many cases, survivors are trafficked by family members, their spouse or someone they befriended. Not all survivors are foreign nationals who cross international borders. Forced labor exists in several different industries. Survivors are... — International Examiner, 23h ago

new Luxembourg hosted its very first mapathon in May 2019, in partnership with the University of Luxembourg and the Liser [Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research]. 47 people participated in this very first edition and they mapped South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which was a priority country for the Missing Maps project. Indeed, in this area, there are unceasing humanitarian crises due to conflicts, seasonal disease epidemics and a population in constant flux. In this edition, participants mapped 3,186 buildings and 58 roads. — delano.lu, 1d ago

new Finally, shared vulnerabilities of various kinds, including economic vulnerabilities such as poverty, and environmental vulnerabilities such as droughts and floods caused by long-term climate change, are conducive to rising fear and intensified inter-ethnic violence. For populations with higher income levels, less hunger, and longer life expectancy, inter-ethnic or intergroup struggles tend to diminish in fervour. The dire facts of poverty and competition for basic economic resources, on top of usual inter-group stresses due to religion, ethnicity, or culture, are therefore conducive to this third kind of war. — Pearls and Irritations, 1d ago

new The call for a socialist democracy demands the creation of visions, ideals, institutions, social relations, and pedagogies of resistance that enable the public to imagine a life beyond a social order in which racial-class-and-gender-based violence produce endless assaults on the social contract, welfare state, immigrants, women, Black and brown people, the environment, and democracy itself. Such a challenge must address an assault by the savagery of neoliberal capitalism on the public and civic imagination, mediated through the elevation of war, militarization, violent masculinity, and the politics of disposability to the highest levels of power. Neoliberal capitalism is a death-driven machinery that infantilizes, exploits, and devalues human life and the planet itself. — LA Progressive, 1d ago

new Rakotonarivo says that ignoring farmers when developing pro-environment interventions will only lead to failure; if their needs aren't considered, programs "might fail to mitigate conservation conflicts through lack of engagement, uptake, and follow-through." Although many problems—farmers killing pest animals or clearing forests—are "commonly framed as human-wildlife conflicts," she says, the issues may be better addressed by looking at the "more complex social conflicts between different social groups."... — phys.org, 1d ago

new Rakotonarivo says that ignoring farmers when developing pro-environment interventions will only lead to failure; if their needs aren't considered, programs "might fail to mitigate conservation conflicts through lack of engagement, uptake, and follow-through." Although many problems -- farmers killing pest animals or clearing forests -- are "commonly framed as human-wildlife conflicts," she says, the issues may be better addressed by looking at the "more complex social conflicts between different social groups."... — ScienceDaily, 1d ago

new Rakotonarivo says that ignoring farmers when developing pro-environment interventions will only lead to failure; if their needs aren't considered, programs "might fail to mitigate conservation conflicts through lack of engagement, uptake, and follow-through." Although many problems-farmers killing pest animals or clearing forests-are "commonly framed as human-wildlife conflicts," she says, the issues may be better addressed by looking at the "more complex social conflicts between different social groups."... — Seed Daily, 1d ago

new It adds hugely to the challenge facing the next leader as they seek to rebuild the party and attract donors. What will they inherit? A party riven now by ideological conflicts, over the role of tax rises – Forbes told the Guardian she would not raise income tax to fund government spending; over Sturgeon’s progressive social changes – changes that Forbes and Regan have either distanced themselves from or repudiated; over the best strategy for achieving the SNP’s core ambition of independence – none of the candidates has a concrete or coherent plan for that; and over Sturgeon’s historic alliance with the Scottish Greens – a deal that only Yousaf has committed to preserving. — the Guardian, 1d ago

new The Government of Ethiopia is taking the first steps by publicly releasing a detailed green paper of transitional justice options based upon best practices and building upon the experiences of other states emerging from periods of mass violence. It has invited experts from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to join the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission to deploy a team of human rights monitors to conflict-affected areas to ensure that such acts have truly ceased. — United States Department of State, 1d ago

new Equally, we have in mind groups working on the rights of indigenous peoples, aid and development, conflict resolution, civil liberties and human rights, violence against women, refugees and asylum seekers, climate change and other threats to our environment, public health (not least Covid), justice for the poor and marginalised, and ethnic, religious and cultural diversity. All are adversely affected by great power confrontation, oppressive security laws, rising military budgets and destructive military activities, not to mention the prospect of nuclear catastrophe. ALL have a crucial part to play. — Pearls and Irritations, 2d ago

new The Wing Luke Asian Museum. Hours are Wednesdays through Sundays from 10am – 5pm. Just opened is “We Are Changing the Tide: Community Power for Environmental Justice”. This exhibit looks at BIPOC communities from the Quinault Nation fighting climate change to Duwamish River stewardship to the threat of rising seas on Pacific Island communities to Native Hawaiians opposing military installations and Beacon Hill neighbors fighting airplane noise and pollution. On view through April 23, 2023. “Reorient: Journeys Through Art and Healing” is on view now through May 14, 2023. Opening July 8, 2022 is “Be Water, My Friend: The Teachings of Bruce Lee”. “Resistors: A Legacy of Movement from The Japanese American Incarceration” is on view now through September 18, 2023. The exhibit leads visitors through a historical narrative beginning with the experience of Japanese American incarcerees in the 1940s and the complicated feelings of shame, anger, fear and varied forces of resistance within the community. Through art, first-person accounts, historical material, and artifacts, this show connects Japanese American resistance movements during WWII era to modern BIPOC justice movements and activism today. Includes the work of Laureen Iida, Kayla Isomura, Paul Kikuchi, Michelle Kumata, Glenn Mitsui, Erin Shigaki and Na Omi Shitani. “Woven Together: Stories of Burma/Myanmar” is on view through November 11, 2023. Ongoing are the following – “Honoring Our Journey” is a permanent exhibit dedicated to the Asian Pacific American experience, “I Am Filipino” looks at the story of Filipino Americans”, “Hometown Desi” covers the local South Asian experience and “Cambodian Cultural Museum and Killing Fields Memorial” looks at the Cambodian America experience and the impact of the Killing fields on that country’s history. There are virtual tours of the museum on weekday mornings. Pre-booking available for private groups. Contact the museum to sign up. Live virtual tours of the Freeman Hotel on Thursdays at 5pm PDT. Check out what’s in the gift shop with the Museum’s online marketplace. The monthly storytime programs can be watched at... — International Examiner, 1d ago

new Protracted human rights crises, as in South Sudan where a constant stream of subnational violence, combined with the transitional government’s lack of progress in implementing long overdue commitments, have continued to cause misery and death. The report on Syria describes how the regime continues to jail, torture, and kill political opponents, human rights defenders, and journalists. Over 154,000 persons remain disappeared or unjustly detained by the regime, ISIS, and other parties to the conflict. Authoritarian governments – like those in Cuba, Belarus, and Venezuela, among others – have condemned hundreds or thousands of peaceful protestors to lengthy and unjust prison sentences. In Cambodia, brave trade union activists who have led hundreds in a peaceful strike for over a year, have been reportedly met with arrest, detention, and other efforts to demoralize workers and silence their voices. — United States Department of State, 1d ago

new More to the point, by highlighting security considerations, the expansion of the pro-democracy camp has created a hierarchy which threaten to detach the interconnected threads that compose the ongoing crisis. The current effort to reach some accommodation on judicial matters in an effort to achieve at least the appearance of some stability resolves nothing. Moreover, it belittles the inherent link between judicial autonomy, the ongoing assault on the media, the perpetuation of inequality and personal liberties, and the less than subtle attempts to control elections. Put together, the dominance of religious and military strongholds works to undermine the normative base of Israel’s existence. — timesofisrael.com, 1d ago

new Political factors also equally impact India’s forex market. In general, a nation with a stable government attracts numerous foreign investments that shoots up the foreign capital in the country, resulting in a marked increase in the value of the domestic currency. However, the political state of a country is said to be stable when it is void of violence or terrorism, protests, social crises, uproars among common folks, agitations among various clans, and an untold sense of dissatisfaction among the people of all levels. When a nation encounters these strifes, there is a steep depreciation in exchange rates. The government turns unstable, expecting to be overthrown by those who elected them or by them they were appointed to hold offices. — CoinNewsSpan, 1d ago

new Radio is an important tool in areas of conflict for women. It can provide fast local and hyperlocal information, and promotes social cohesion. It provides basic information to the displaced population, while overcoming literacy barriers. It can also be accessed through mobile phones and transistors, and comes in multiple content formats. — WAN-IFRA, 1d ago

new ..., inculcating an “anti-state” sentiment among the youth. The overall education suffered as these planted faculty resorted to corruption to fill vacant academic positions. The deteriorating education environment and the detrimental influence of widespread violence and conflict intensified the socio-psychological trauma among the people and ruined the lives of thousands of students. — ORF, 1d ago

new A semblance of normalcy has returned, but Iraq still battles a range of entrenched challenges – from political instability to poverty and rampant corruption. — Daily Sabah, 1d ago

new The agreement of the new treaty, the result of decades of work and lobbying, is something to celebrate. However, a review of other international laws and treaties suggests that enthusiasm needs to be tempered with realism. Commonly, developed countries, due to their superior technology and financial heft, are the biggest economic beneficiaries of open access resources such the high seas, the atmosphere and outer space. They are also the worst culprits in terms of damage caused due to pollution and overuse. Getting these benefiting countries to change behavior has proved difficult. — Inter Press Service, 1d ago

new We need, rather, to redouble efforts for peace, simply because a conflict between nuclear powers would seal our environmental death warrant. No one should have illusions about Chinese dictators and their regime. But Iraq and Afghanistan provide an awful warning that military assaults on authoritarian regimes do not culminate in democracy and freedom, but instead intensify the misery inflicted upon ordinary people. — the Guardian, 1d ago

new The MAD concept worked, and it is still working. However, a nerve-racking shakiness has come to pass. The U.S. has signaled a reluctance to fund NATO at past levels, and new fears have emerged. New points of conflict have obviously erupted. Peace among nations implies a type of trust that requires new leadership and new international goals. Humanity wants that and it needs that. The existential nature of decisions being made today requires that our very BEST people become the leaders that move us forward. — Dinar Chronicles, 1d ago

new Although there are many types of humanitarian and fragile settings, we focus here on contexts affected by armed conflict and environmental disasters. Attention to the wellbeing of adolescents in such settings is essential because of the detrimental effects these contextual factors have on the physical, social, and cognitive changes experienced during this life stage. As humanitarian crises are often protracted, young people may spend much or all of their adolescence in such settings, with the resulting vulnerabilities continuing throughout their lives. Breakdown of family and supportive networks as populations are forced into displacement creates an unstable ecosystem for adolescents to form meaningful and emotional connections with others. These effects are often exacerbated by poverty, gender inequities, and human rights violations, as well as mental illness from the stressors derived from the crises themselves. These factors increase the vulnerability of adolescents to problems such as misuse of drugs and alcohol, sexual exploitation, academic underachievement because of interruption to schooling, reduced economic prospects, chronic poverty, poor psychosocial outcomes, and sexual and gender based violence. — The BMJ, 2d ago

new This idea that widespread and violent conflicts inevitably develop over internationally shared water has been prevalent in media and policymaking circles for decades. However, researchers from around the world have demonstrated that water is more likely to be a source of cooperation. Based on the rich information collected in the Transboundary Freshwater Diplomacy Database and its latest updates, the following findings are of particular relevance and interest:... — New Security Beat, 2d ago

new ...of Federal Lebanon, proponents of federalism underscore what they term “Sovereignty First,” or sovereignty and neutrality as a national foundational priority to rid Lebanon, among other things, of political violence, sectarian polarization, corruption, foreign intervention, and illegal weapons. Writing in Lebanon Files, Salim al-Bitar Ghanem argued that national unity and coexistence will not be an obstacle to a new system that prevents hegemony and secures social justice, balanced development, and economic stability. As per the Federal Republic of Lebanon... — The Washington Institute, 2d ago

new Political violence has entered the mainstream in the U.S. and many other countries over the past few years. The net effect of these demonstrations, uprisings, and coup attempts is weakened political and economic systems. Brazil, Italy, France, Germany, Sri Lanka, Peru, and Ecuador have all seen violent protests that hamper policies and programs that create wealth and stability. Ardent believes these actions will continue to spread globally throughout 2023 with destabilizing economic effects. — cporising.com, 2d ago

new The Iraq War was the start of the decline of the US' soft power since the end of the Cold War, Zhu Weilie, director of the Middle East Studies Institute at Shanghai International Studies University, told the Global Times on Sunday."Global trust in the US plummeted after the Iraq War," Zhu said. The US failed to provide any convincing evidence to support its pretexts for launching the war, and the pretext itself has proven to be a lie. After the war, the US failed to provide better governance and development for the region, but made everything worse, Zhu noted.When more members of the international community realized that the US is untrustworthy and unreliable, and perceive the danger of US hegemony, they will consider how to deal with the hegemony and better protect each other from US interventions, long-arm jurisdiction and sanctions, said experts.The latest diplomatic victory of resuming diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran with China's mediation and support is a positive signal showing that major powers in the Middle East have realized the importance of independent decision-making, and to jointly find the way for peaceful coexistence and cooperation in the future, in other words, to jump out the trap of a "clash of civilizations" set by the US, analysts noted. More importantly, the US' hard power is declining, as it has no strength to launch another invasion against a country of Iraq's size, and China with rising influence and strength has brought more energy to the side of justice in the international arena, making more and more developing nations have the confidence to seek their own ways for development and security, experts said. Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times that "to contain US hegemony, it's crucial that all nations in the world should respect the authority of the UN, making Washington unable to legitimize its unilateral military actions against other countries. But this is not enough, and we have a lot more things to do."Compared to the US which exports wars and chaos, China is now more actively providing public goods to contribute to world peace and development, such as the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiatives, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative, and these initiatives are not just words, but come with effective actions, Zhu noted. The school construction project that Mfatan is working on is an example, as it is launched by the Power Construction Corporation of China. Mfatan said "the Iraqi people have gone through many wars. I hope these wars will not return. I wish security and stability for the Iraqi people, and since I work with Chinese companies, I would like to thank the staff and the Chinese people for their support for Iraq in construction and reconstruction."... — globaltimes.cn, 2d ago

new Irish land in the 1880s was a site of ideological conflict, with resonances for liberal politics far beyond Ireland itself. The Irish Land War, internationalised partly through the influence of Henry George, the American social reformer and political economist, came at a decisive juncture in Anglo-American political thought, and provided many radicals across the North Atlantic with a vision of a more just and morally coherent political economy. Looking at the discourses and practices of these agrarian radicals, alongside developments in liberal political thought, Andrew Phemister shows how they utilised the land question to articulate a natural and universal right to life that highlighted the contradictions between liberty and property. In response to this popular agrarian movement, liberal thinkers discarded many older individualistic assumptions, and their radical democratic implications, in the name of protecting social order, property, and economic progress. Land and Liberalism thus vividly demonstrates the centrality of Henry George and the Irish Land War to the transformation of liberal thought. — New Books Network, 2d ago

new ..., it is a serious violation of laws and customs applicable in international armed conflict to intentionally direct attacks against protected objects, including buildings dedicated to religion, art, or education. However, those agreements do not always protect people and cultural properties. In the war between Russia and Ukraine, hundreds of cultural heritage sites have been damaged or destroyed, including more than 100 religious sites,... — asisonline.org, 2d ago

new By the end of May 2023, Nigeria will have a new president following February’s elections.Among his many duties, the person who takes over will be expected to appraise the nation’s performance and its commitment to protecting the environment. Nigeria is a signatory to many international conventions on environment-related treaties. Nigeria’s biological and physical environments – in particular, its forests, inland waters, and coastal waters – have inevitably been affected by its population growth. This rise in population has led to growing socio-economic needs. These include residential buildings and more physical infrastructure, such as roads, hospitals, and schools. More space is needed for people, at the cost of natural environments; and people’s activities have also contributed to pollution.The biggest threat to the environment in Nigeria is people’s lack of awareness and understanding of what they can do to keep it clean and healthy. A commitment to the environment should begin at the family level. It extends from there to the top. The incoming-president will have to initiate and drive progress on policies and plans that preserve the country’s natural resources.What’s under threatNigeria’s rapid urbanisation has taken a toll on the natural environment as cities and towns have expanded and become interconnected. These developments have also led to the fragmentation of the forests, making many species that depend on a wide geographic range susceptible to poaching. Animals could become threatened or extinct once their habitats are lost or fragmented.Nigeria’s inland waters (streams, rivers, and lagoons) and coastal environment are not faring well. Many people dump their waste into the waterways. The pollutants are then carried by large rivers into lagoons and, eventually, the sea. Plastic waste is the chief pollutant of Nigeria’s water bodies. No decisive action has been taken to manage the problem.Decades of oil exploration, too, have severely contaminated some of the country’s important rivers. The level of mining effluents in some of the country’s waterways is alarming. What needs to be doneThe country’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan has set a number of targets.Environmental education: My research group conducted a study in which we discovered that Nigeria had not yet met the first target. This was that by 2020, at least 30% of Nigerians should be familiar with the idea of biological diversity.We recommended, that environmental education be made compulsory at all levels. Government agencies should use electronic and social media to educate the public about the need to protect natural ecosystems.Establishment of conservation areas: The sixth target of the environmental plan is that at least 10% of Nigeria’s territory should be conservation areas. This is vital in view of the country’s expanding population and encroachment into natural environments.To start with, the undisturbed forests, rivers, and streams, especially those that harbour threatened species, should be designated as conservation areas as soon as possible. Once a conservation area is established, encroachment will stop as these locations are normally off-limits to human habitation. Managing population growth and infrastructural development: Nigeria’s population exceeds those of countries with much larger land areas, such as Ethiopia, Tanzania and Angola. Population growth should therefore be a focus area for the new president. Housing policies should discourage indiscriminate building, especially in forested areas. Housing estates should be environmentally compliant. Each household should be required by law to plant and nurture at least one tree to maturity. This could help create green environments, reduce carbon buildup in the atmosphere, and create a cool environment.Funding: The next president will also need to make more budgetary allocations for environmental education and conservation projects. There are still many unexplored natural sites with threatened species in Nigeria. They need to be protected before they are lost.Laws: The plastic pollution bill hasn’t been passed. It needs to be sent back to the National Assembly as soon as possible for quick passage. Single-use plastics should be banned for tourists in all protected areas, parks, and beaches. Nigeria can’t afford to be complacent. Several African nations have passed laws prohibiting plastic pollution and are enforcing them to varying degrees.Specialists: To drive this agenda, the nation needs to employ professional zoologists, botanists and environmental scientists in the ministries, departments, and agencies of government that are responsible for protecting natural environments. There are two constraints to this happening. First, many young Nigerians find some of these courses less appealing. Second, career prospects are low: some of the available positions are filled by people who aren’t natural scientists. Enrolment in environment-related programmes (especially in fee-paying private universities) should be encouraged with incentives such as scholarships and career opportunities. Four of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals have an environmental emphasis, which is not surprising, given that, as humans, we are only as healthy as our environment. Thus, the next president of Nigeria should give environmental protection as much care as he does the economy and the security of lives and properties. — Financial Nigeria International Limited, 2d ago

new ...are enormous - already, 690 million people (or 1 in 11 people) on the planet are hungry, which is exacerbated as climate change continues to cause loss of work and access to resources, interrupt agricultural cultivation and production, and increase displacement and conflict. People living in conflict zones and displaced from their homes are at greatest risk, including women and girls, who experience increased risks of violence and exploitation. Battering... — The IRC, 2d ago

new A conflict with enormous potential repercussions for Europe is brewing between Ukraine and Russia. The confrontation already bears striking resemblance to the early phases of the Balkan wars, with the notable exception that none of the factions in former Yugoslavia had nuclear weapons. But disintegration in Ukraine is no more inevitable than was war in Bosnia, should the world community act decisively before words turn to violence. There are two parallel sources of tension in Ukraine: the growing unhappiness of the Russian minority, and the geopolitical rivalry between Kiev and Moscow. Should both of these conflicts continue to escalate and converge with one another, Ukraine could well break apart, with Russia making territorial bids on its southern and eastern regions.Although ethnic Russians comprise... — In These Times, 2d ago

new World BEYOND War supports getting in the streets everywhere on April 2nd for peace and nonviolent action with Europe for Peace. World BEYOND War members in Europe will spread the word and take part, and we will encourage our chapters around the world to join in. I’m executive director of World BEYOND War, and I live in the United States where antiwar activism is most needed and least present. We have lots of excuses: the vast distances over which we are spread out, the intense propaganda in U.S. media, the economic insecurity. But none of them measure up against the need to preserve life on Earth in the face of a growing risk of nuclear war raised by people seemingly intent on destroying everything before the collapse of our ecosystems can do so. The epidemic of inactivism wasn’t always with us. On April 2nd in 1935 thousands of U.S. students went on strike against war. College students in the mid to late 1930s grew up feeling the horrors of WWI throughout France, Great Britain, and the United States, believing that war benefitted no one, yet fearing another. In 1934, a U.S. protest including 25,000 students was held in remembrance of the day the U.S. entered WWI. In 1935, a “Student Strike Against War Committee” was started in the U.S. attracting an even larger movement of 700 students from Kentucky University joined by 175,000 more across the U.S., and thousands more around the world. Students from 140 campuses from 31 countries left their classes that day feeling: “protest against mass slaughter was more beneficial than an hour of class.” As concerns grew about Germany’s occupations, trouble between Japan and the Soviet Union, Italy and Ethiopia, the pressure built for students to speak out. At KU, Kenneth Born, a member of the debate team, questioned the $300 billion spent on World War I, arguing that “rationalism could bring a better solution.” While he was at the podium, the crowd was exposed to tear gas, yet Born persuaded the students to stay by declaring, “You will face worse than this in war.” Charles Hackler, a law student, described the demonstrations as reminders that “war was not inevitable,” calling the current ROTC parades “war propaganda for capitalists, munitions dealers, and other war profiteers.” As many of these same students were finally coerced into fighting and dying in Europe, Asia, and Africa during WWII, their words have become ever more poignant. To hear those activists from April 2nd 1935 or to hear anyone in the West talking sense about Ukraine today, we have to wade our way through 80 years of accumulated WWII propaganda sludge. In the United States right now people believe that Putin is Hitler, that anyone violently fighting Hitler is the world’s savior, and that the world needs the help of U.S. weapons whether it knows it or not. If anyone can convince the U.S. public that they are qualified to say “No Thank you” it is Europeans. So we need to celebrate and amplify around the world every European voice that is saying Thanks but no thanks, keep your missiles, your tanks, your guns, and your planes. Leave us a planet. — World BEYOND War, 2d ago

new ...“The UAE’s position is clear regarding the need for Syria to return to the fold by activating the Arab role and this was confirmed by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed during his meeting today with President Bashar Al Assad. A decade and a half of war, violence and destruction is enough, and the time has come to enhance co-operation and collaboration among our Arab countries to ensure stability and prosperity in the region.” Dr Gargash wrote on Twitter. “The UAE’s approach and efforts towards brotherly Syria are part of a deeper vision and a broader approach aimed at strengthening Arab and regional stability, overcoming difficult years of confrontation. The events associated with the decade of chaos and their repercussions have proven that our Arab world is more deserving of addressing its issues and crises, away from regional and international interference.”... — South Front, 2d ago

new ..., Iraq “remains a country at very high risk of humanitarian crisis” and warned it was facing “three overlapping crises”: the devastating repercussions of years of conflict including displacement and poverty, political instability and the impact of Covid, as well as ongoing violence from armed groups. It is also facing growing water scarcity and droughts. — inews.co.uk, 2d ago

new ...in 2022, Ukrainian pacifists warned: current escalations of armed conflicts in Ukraine and the world are caused by the fact that educators and scientists are not fully perform their duties of strengthening the norms and values of a non-violent way of life, as envisages the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, adopted by the UN General Assembly. Evidences of the neglected peace-building duties are the archaic and dangerous practices which must be ended: military patriotic upbringing, compulsory military service, lack of systematic public peace education, propaganda of war in the mass media, support of war by NGOs, etc. We see as goals of our peace movement and all peace movements of the world to uphold human right to refuse to kill, to stop the war in Ukraine and all wars in the world, and to ensure sustainable peace and development for all the people of the planet, in particular, to tell the truth about the evil and deception of war, to learn and teach practical knowledge about peaceful life without violence or with its minimization. — World BEYOND War, 2d ago

new The World Wars changed Africa’s relationship with colonialism in countless ways. This course brings the military history of Africa into focus and explores the social, political and cultural changes these wars brought about on the continent. You’ll learn of the effects of war—intended and unintended—that have shaped its inhabitants in the decades since. — Whitman College, 2d ago

new ...” explores the tensions that arise when a social-justice movement like feminism equates long prison sentences with justice and uses progressive rhetoric to achieve regressive ends. How can we respond to injustices without bolstering a criminal system that throughout history has caused grave injustices and oppressed many people? Do knee-jerk punitive impulses like those at play in the recall effort serve any goal other than satisfying popular outrage, or are they simply, as James Baldwin wrote, the “habits of thought [that] reinforce and sustain the habits of power”?... — MSNBC.com, 2d ago

new ...(then the European Coal and Steel Community, 1951) represented a permanent settlement of the human predicament. Peace, cooperation, relatively open borders, capitalism chastened by various safety nets, a common world language (English), and two primary western currencies (the dollar and the euro), appeared to characterize professor Fukayama’s “end of history.”Unfortunately, it may be that the post-war “settlement” will turn out to have been a golden interlude. It may be that human life on Earth is less secure than we had all come to believe, that war, plague, famine, economic shock, social disruption and violent weather have not been, and perhaps cannot be, permanently retired.It’s not all bad news, of course. Thanks to pharmaceutical chemistry and intense government incentives, we... — Governing, 2d ago

new ...which, in a wise long-term political vision, is the best way to combat globalist monopolarity. But this friendship, these relations of concord and mutual cooperation, cannot disregard the denunciation of the coup d’état perpetrated against humanity by dangerous subversives whose declared purpose is the establishment of an infernal tyranny, in which hatred of God as well as hatred of man created in His image, illness, death, ignorance, poverty, violence, selfishness, and corruption reign supreme. It is the kingdom of the Antichrist. This Leviathan must be identified and combated, with an action that involves all free peoples, first of all by rejecting the programmatic points of the... — RAIR, 2d ago