Talk World Radio

Mark Isaacs is the author, among other books, of the new book, The Kabul Peace House, which we discuss, and which describes a community of peace activists in Afghanistan. Mark is president of Sydney PEN, an affiliate of PEN International, a worldwide association of writers which defends freedom of expression and campaigns on behalf of writers who have been silenced by persecution or imprisonment. He speaks with us from Australia. His website is markjisaacs.com

The Kingsbay Ploughshares 7 are facing 25 years in prison for their action at a nuclear submarine base. We speak with six of them: Elizabeth McAlister, Martha Hennessy, Mark Colville, Clare Grady, Patrick O'Neill, and Carmen Trotta.

https://kingsbayplowshares7.org/

Jeffrey Sterling is a former CIA case officer who was convicted of violating the Espionage Act and was in federal prison in Colorado. I don't think that prior to this program Sterling has been asked whether he believes the official purpose of the progam he worked on giving nuclear bomb plans to Iran. Does he really think the purpose of giving obviously flawed bomb-part plans to Iran was to slow down a nuclear weapons program that may not even have existed? Or does he believe the purpose was to plant evidence on the government of Iran? Listen to his answer.

Before his trial and conviction, Sterling worked at the CIA, including for the Iran task force, for nearly a decade. He studied political science at Millikin University and holds a law degree from the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. He was released from prison in January 2018. While Jeffrey was in prison, his wife Holly was on this program.

Jeffrey Sterling has a new book out called Unwanted Spy: The Persecution of an American Whistleblower. We discuss it.

Here's a review.

E. Ahmet Tonak is the author and editor of several books including Measuring the Wealth of Nations: The Political Economy of National Accounts (with Anwar Shaikh), Turkey in Transition: New Perspectives (edited with Irvin Schick) and Marxism and Classes (edited with Sungur Savran and Kurtar Tanyılmaz). Trained as a mechanical engineer at Istanbul Technical University, he earned a Ph.D. in economics from the New School for Social Research. Tonak taught for many years at Istanbul Bilgi University, Middle East Technical University, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, and is currently a visiting professor at UMASS Amherst and works as an economist at Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, Interregional Office, Northampton, Massachusetts. He wrote for several Turkish dailies and contributes to sendika.org, an alternative news portal in Turkey. We discuss his new report: "The Rate of Exploitation: The Case of the iPhone."

Lisa Fithian has just published a terrific guide to direct action and strategic civil disobedience as the most radical and rapid means to social change, called Shut It Down: Stories from a Fierce Loving Resistance. Fithian has been described by Mother Jones magazine as “the nation’s best-known protest consultant.” She has supported countless movements including the Battle of Seattle in 1999, rebuilding and defending communities following Hurricane Katrina, Occupy Wall Street, and the uprisings at Standing Rock and Ferguson. The website for Lisa's new book, which I strongly advise getting is http://shutitdownnow.org

Photo by Leon Alesi.

Kathy Kelly has traveled to war zones and lived alongside ordinary people in Afghanistan, Iraq, Gaza, and Lebanon. She and her companions in Voices for Creative Nonviolence believe the U.S. should end all U.S. military and economic warfare and pay reparations for suffering already caused by U.S. wars. Recently, Voices has helped organize vigils, forums, fasts, and nonviolent direct action calling for an immediate end to hostilities driving near famine conditions in Yemen. Kathy Kelly is a member of World BEYOND War’s Advisory Board. See:

http://vcnv.org

https://worldbeyondwar.org/nowar2019

Russell Gray grew up in Kansas City, graduated from college in 2017 and took a banking regulation job with the U.S. government. He left that job in November 2018 to help start the climate group Extinction Rebellion ( https://extinctionrebellion.us/ ) in the United States. He's now working to shut down DC on September 23rd ( see http://strikedc.org ) as a follow up to the September 20th global climate strike and a lead up to further climate strike actions around the globe. Join World BEYOND War's affinity group for Strike DC at http://bit.ly/wbwaffinity

See also: This Is Really Not a Drill

http://davidswanson.org/this-is-really-not-a-drill/

and: Nonviolence Denial Is As Dangerous As Climate Denial

http://davidswanson.org/nonviolence-denial-is-as-dangerous-as-climate-denial/

Ken Mayers and Tarak Kauff are out on bail and forbidden to leave Ireland. They attempted to inspect a U.S. plane for weapons in supposedly neutral Ireland. They will be taking part in #NoWar2019 (https://worldbeyondwar.org/nowar2019).

Ken Mayers was born in New York City and grew up on Long Island prior to attending Princeton University. Upon graduation in 1958 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corp, eventually rising to the rank of major. He resigned his commission in disgust with American foreign policy at the end of 1966 and returned to the University of California at Berkeley where he earned a Ph.D. in political science. He has been a peace and justice activist ever since. He has served six years on the Veterans For Peace Board of Directors, five of them as national treasurer.

Tarak Kauff was a U..S. Army paratrooper from 1959 – 1962. He is a member of Veterans For Peace, the managing editor of Peace in Our Times, VFP’s quarterly newspaper, and was a member of the VFP National Board of Directors for six years. He has organized and led delegations of veterans to Okinawa; Jeju Island, South Korea; Palestine; Ferguson, Missouri; Standing Rock; and Ireland.

Clare Daly is an Irish politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament from Ireland since July. She is a member of Independents 4 Change, part of the European United Left–Nordic Green Left. She served as a Teachta Dála or member of Ireland's parliament from 2011 to 2019. Clare Daly will be speaking at the NoWar2019 conference and rally being planned by World BEYOND War for Limerick, Ireland, on October 5th and 6th.

https://worldbeyondwar.org/nowar2019

Recorded by Dale Lehman / WZRD and posted at Radio4All (listen here). Or listen below.

This is a keynote talk by David Swanson for the West Suburban Faith-Based Peace Coalition at their Peace Essay Contest Awards Presentation on August 27, 2019, the 91st Anniversary of the Kellogg-Briand Pact.

It was Swanson's 2011 book, "When the World Outlawed War", an inspiring but forgotten story from the 1920s of how people created a treaty to ban all war — a treaty still on the books but ignored, given to Frank Goetz, the Coalition's just past President and Peace Essay Contest coordinator, by peace activist Kathy Kelly, that inspired him to establish the Peace Essay Contest, now in its 7th year.