Quotable Quote
"We are free today substantially, but the day will come when our Republic will be an impossibility. It will be an impossibility because wealth will be concentrated in the hands of a few." - James Madison 4th U.S. President
It's time for "we the people" to work hard to undo the alarming fact that Madison's fear is being realized in our time.
"When Corporations Rule the World." by Professor David Korten.
Korten traces the history of corporations, and clarifies their dangers for the future of government "of the people, by the people, and for the people," not corporations.
A Good Movie "Too Big To Fail." Curious about the Wall Street collapse? Here is a view from the inside. Social stability is key to avoiding wars. And financial stability is key to social stability. If we want to end war, we need to be informed about our country's finances and make sure the financial system works for all the people. .
A Future Without War Believe in it.
Envision it. Work for it.
And we will achieve it.
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(Correction to this Newsletter: Rick Santorum, current candidate for the U.S. Presidency, is a former U.S. Senator, not a former Pensylvania Governor - we hope the third edit is finally correct. Our thanks to those who responded to correct us)
Warmongers - How to spot them and
how to treat them
We can learn something useful from former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. He's handsome, charming, intelligent, and ambitious ... and a classic example of a WARMONGER.
The overwhelming majority of world citizens would like a future of peace, at least they often claim they do. If they really mean it, they must recognize warmongers ... and refuse to follow them. To continue to allow warmongers, a small percentage of us, to generate wars, from which only they benefit greatly, is not only profoundly immoral, it's a kind of social insanity.
What exactly is a warmonger? How can we spot them? And how should all persons in touch with their moral compass who actually wish to put an end to war treat these ethically misguided and often morally twisted, destructive persons?
They don't look evil ... you'll see no twirling of dark mustaches. Nevertheless, it is our good fortune that it's not all that hard to spot them. To see how to recognize them, and how the world's citizens should treat all of them, check out the essay "Rick Santorum is a Candidate for the U.S. Presidency - and a Warmonger".
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Women's Progress -
A Necessary Key to Global Peace
Top 10 Inclusive Security Stories of 2011
Having women as co-partners in governing with men does not guarantee that we can create a future without war. Let there be no mistaken thinking. In warrior cultures, women support wars in a variety of ways.
If women are NOT co-partners in governing with men, however, our biology absolutely guarantees that we WILL ALWAYS make war, in one form or another.
The choice is ours to make: empower women or suffer endless cycles of war.
From Nobel Peace Prize Winners and contact with and recognition by the Clinton Global Initiative, 2011 was a banner year for The Institute for Inclusive Security and the field of women, peace, and security.
The stories below are exciting signs of the extraordinary momentum gathering around the world to include women in building and sustaining peace, and the Institute for Inclusive Security is one of the world's premier organizations working to explain why women must be included as decision-makers and acting to make that happen.
Below are their top 11 stories of 2011 with links to more information on each accomplishment. If you are interested in how women are advancing in the cause of peace, you'd do well to check out this Institute's work.
1. Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Two Members of the Women Waging Peace Network
2. Executive Order Signed by President Barack Obama and US National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security Launched by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
3. Women Leaders Set Global Precedent for Inclusion at the South Sudan International Engagement Conference
4. Women Leaders from Across South Sudan and Sudan Strive Together for Peace Despite Separation
5. Women Leaders from Afghanistan Included in Record Numbers at the 2011 Bonn Conference
6. Coalition of Pakistani Women Peacebuilders Publicly Launched
7. Clinton Global Initiative Recognizes Women, Peace, Security, and the Work of the Institute
8. NATO Seeks Inclusive Security Expertise to Improve Security in Operations In late May, Inclusive Security conducted research and facilitated two days of a meeting of the NATO Committee on Gender Perspectives. More than 50 delegates representing nearly 30 countries gathered to discuss how incorporating gender perspectives can improve NATO's operational effectiveness and increase the security of it s personnel. Inclusive Security also proposed practical and simple indicators related to gender that NATO forces could adopt to help increase security in operations. A publication on these recommendations is forthcoming. 9. Women Mediators Convene in the United States and Meet with the UN and US Government |
Can We Change?
Or Are We Doomed?
A recent contemplation of the fate of our species was offered in the updated, 2008 version of the great B & W film "The Day the Earth Stood Still." In an early scene the hero, Keanu Reeves, meets in a restaurant with an elderly Chinese man. At least he appears to be Chinese. But in fact he is an alien agent, living on earth for many years and tasked to study humans. To find out what make us tick. And most specifically, to find out if there is any hope that the destruction our species is inflicting on planet earth will be stopped by us ... if in fact, whether our destructive ways CAN be stopped.
The Chinese man reports to Reeves, who has been sent as the final arbiter of our fate. Reeves will decide whether to let us persist or eliminate us so that earth itself can survive with its species and ecology intact. The Chinese man reports that he has grown fond of us. But that sadly, we are incorrigible. He tells Reeves, "The tragedy is that they know they are doomed. They sense it. But they can't do anything about it."
Later in the film, when the heroine discovers that Reeves will set in motion the means of our obliteration, she begs him to wait, to stop, pleading that "We can change."
Ah. But can we? The first film by this name was about our inability to stop making war. Since we've (incorrectly) pretty much conceded that we can't, the 2008 filmmakers decided they would have to take on some other of our wicked ways. They settled on our alteration of the climate and rape of the earth's animal and plant resources.
In our real world, with respect to both issues-war and potentially fatal environmental destruction-the verdict is still out. Maybe we can't change. Maybe we are a kind of planet-wide cancer that needs to be excised for the planet's well-being?
A Future Without War-this website's entire work-is premised on the knowledge that humans are in fact capable of radical social/behavioral change. We could end the practice of war if we decide to do it. War is a matter of will....not biology. If you would like:
- historical examples of how we have changed radically and rapidly and even purposefully before, and
- discussion of why we could end war and what it would take to do it
here are two recent works of evolutionary biologist Dr. Judith Hand that can swiftly provide insight for you, your students, your friends and family, for all of us:
Essay: "To Abolish War"
DVD: "No More War: The Human Potential for Peace" |
 How Long Dismantling Will Take
One of the great difficulties A Future Without War regularly encounters when seeking to draw people and organizations into the great vision to do away with war is that everyone is BUSY! And a second common lament is that ending war would take such a very long time, and they are already working hard at both just getting through each day and doing what good works they have already taken up. They simply have no time to devote to an "ify" project that, in any event, would take hundreds of years to accomplish.
If you relate to any of these feelings, you can check out the essay "How Long It Will Take to Reach the Goal". Here you will find an explanation for why we could end war in two generations or less. Included is an explanation of the phenomenon called demographic transition, which is an example of remarkably rapid behavioral change. The essay "To Abolish War" also provides several other examples of rapid, shaped social change.
Combine "Shaping the Future" with a viewing of the 55 minute film "No More War" and the essay "To Abolish War" (all found on the www.afww.org website) and you will likely realize that your assessment of how long it would take to accomplish a feat that is difficult ... but NOT beyond human ability ... is overly pessimistic. We can do this. Two generations or less from the time we, as a global community, decide to. For All Children Everywhere. |
 A Reminder About AFWW Links
Don't forget that AFWW has completed an initial listing of over 100 links to a selection of organizations in the vanguard of efforts to create a better and less violent future. If you didn't check out the links earlier, here they are again. If you belong to or head up an organization, you may find your organization listed. You will find the links grouped by interest. |
A Future Without War |
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