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antiwar, Peace

War outlawed in 1928

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map showing the parties to the Kellogg Briand ...
map showing the parties to the Kellogg Briand Pact

According to Wikipedia, the Kellogg-Briand Pact passed in 1928 outlawed war.  A Peace organization has an annual contest to help fulfill the promise of the pact.

from Wikipedia:

The Kellogg–Briand Pact (or Pact of Paris, officially General Treaty for Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy[1]) was a 1928 international agreement in which signatory states promised not to use war to resolve “disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them”.[2] Parties failing to abide by this promise “should be denied of the benefits furnished by this treaty”. It was signed by Germany, France and the United States on August 27, 1928, and by most other nations soon after. Sponsored by France and the U.S., the Pact renounced the use of war and called for the peaceful settlement of disputes. Similar provisions were incorporated into the UN Charter and other treaties and it became a stepping stone to a more activist American policy.[3] It is named after its authors, United States Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg and French foreign minister Aristide Briand.

Essay contest from the west suburban faith-based peace coalition:  Continue reading War outlawed in 1928 →

antiwar, Nonviolence, Peace, Royal Book of the Week

Erasmus the Pacifist| War Is A Crime .org

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One of our goals on this site is to catalog the hidden history of pacifists.  This article does so beautifully.

The Genius of Erasmus | War Is A Crime .org.

Cover of "The Complaint of Peace"

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, who lived from October 27, 1466, to July 12, 1536, faced censorship in his day, and has never been as popular among the rich and powerful as has his contemporary Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli. But at a distance of half a millennium, we ought to be able to judge work on its merit — and we ought to have regular celebrations of Erasmus around the world.  Some of his ideas are catching on.  His name is familiar in Europe as that of the EU’s student exchange program, named in his honor.  We ought perhaps to wonder what oddball ideas these days might catch on in the 2500s — if humanity is around then.

In 1517, Erasmus wrote The Complaint of Peace, in which Peace, speaking in the first-person, complains about how humanity treats her. She claims to offer “the source of all human blessings” and to be scorned by people who “go in quest of evils infinite in number.”

Read the rest of the article.

Related articles  Continue reading Erasmus the Pacifist| War Is A Crime .org →
antiwar, Nonviolence, Peace, Royal Book of the Week, Social Justice

Oliver Stone discusses Pacifist Presidential Candidate Henry Wallace on DN!

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Oliver Stone's Secret History of AmericaDemocracy Now! aired a  report on how “Academy Award-winning Oliver Stone has teamed up with historian Peter Kuznick to produce a 10-part Showtime series called “Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States.'”  They have also produced a book of the same name.

The series centers on the effect that the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan had on the history of the US.  In questioning whether it was necessary to drop the A-bomb, Stone and Kuznick explore the different path the United States almost took if the pacifist Henry Wallace had remained as  Franklin D. Roosevelt‘s Vice President and had won 1944 Presidential nomination of the Democratic Party.  In the interview, Stone discusses the success of the progressive policies of Wallace as FDR’s Secretary of Agriculture prior to becoming his second Vice President:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO-Y8wNwbuA&t=8m13s]   Continue reading Oliver Stone discusses Pacifist Presidential Candidate Henry Wallace on DN! →