Friday, May 21, 2010

And continues to, spiral down

I thought you might like to read the first chapter of my new book, RADICAL PEACE: People Refusing War, which has just been published by TrineDay. Telling the first-person experiences of war resisters, deserters, and activists in the USA, Europe, Iraq, and Afghanistan, it's a journey along diverse paths of nonviolence, the true stories of people working for peace in unconventional ways.
Disappointed by Obama's continuation of the killing, they have moved beyond demonstrations and petitions into subversion and direct action to stop the war. Being peaceful doesn't mean obeying a violent government, they say. They are helping soldiers to desert, destroying computer systems, trashing recruiting offices, burning military equipment, and sabotaging defense contractors. These criminals for peace are defying the Patriot Act and working underground in secret cells to undermine the US military empire.
Noam Chomsky called it, "A book that captures such complexities and depths of human existence, even apart from the immediate message."

That's the opening to William T. Hathaway's "RADICAL PEACE: People Refusing War" (OpEd News) and, if you use the link, what follows is chapter one of the book, Radical Peace Refusing War, list price $14.96 and on sale at Amazon right now for $11.96. To find out more about Hathaway, you can read this 2006 article by Daniela Rommel (CounterCurrents). FYI, tomorrow's entries will include a talking entry. We'll note the book and other things in that entry and I'm doing it (a) because Beth asked for it (she's getting a ton of e-mails) and (b) because I need to get with Jim and Dona for a solid hour on Saturday hour on Saturday to figure out about Third in terms of this weekend and next weekend and also figure out who'll be working on what. (Memorial Day vacation is coming up. At this site, we will post an entry every day as we always do. No holidays here.) And, because I'm listening to it right now and I love it as a title --

Now it all begins
Or continues to
Spiral down
Spiral down

Look upon the self
Look upon the other
We need a better understanding
Or we'll spiral down

Spiral down
Continue to spiral down
I'm no where near my peace
As you spiral down
-- "Spiral Down" written by Michael Timmins, recorded by the Cowboy Junkies on their album at the end of paths taken


Meanwhile Kari Petrie (St. Cloud Times) reports that, "The Minnesota National Guard’s Bloomington-based 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, has been alerted to prepare for duty in Operation New Dawn, the name of the U.S. drawdown phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom." Elizabeth Baier (Minnesota Public Radio) also reports on the deployment and notes that Col Eric Kerska will be on his third deployment to Iraq since the start of the war. Gretel C. Kovach (San Diego Union-Tribune) reports:

A young sailor provided a stark example for military leaders gathered this week in San Diego for the Navy’s conference on combat and operational stress control. Hours after an admiral on Wednesday described the strain on his forces amid a quickening pace of deployments and nine years of war, the 24-year-old man, who was about to ship out, shot himself in the head.
The operations specialist, scheduled to leave the next day on a seven-month tour with the Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group, was found dead in his garage at the Murphy Canyon military housing. His wife had called 911 Wednesday evening, reporting that he was suicidal.

The Senate Democratic Policy Committee continues to highlight the economy and finances in a number of videos this month. Click here to be taken to the DPC video page. We'll note Senator Bill Nelson addressing the Gulf Coast environmental disaster. (An important topic and note this is a different video than the one we noted yesterday.)



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