Wars and rumors of wars ...

This coming Friday I'll be in a webinar on pragmatic nonviolence organized by the SUNY Distinguished Academy. In preparation, I've been looking over some of my  writing on violence, nonviolence, war and war resistance. It happens that the webinar is just a few days after the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. It's also just over a year since Russia invaded Ukraine. According to Brown University around 930,000 people have died in the wars since September 11, 2001. (Brown University

In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus is recorded as saying:

"And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs" (Matthew.6-8 NRSV).

Jesus got that right. For the 2000 years after he spoke, humanity has engaged in its wars (Russia and Ukraine for instance), and when not actively engaged has rumored of upcoming wars (China and Taiwan is repeatedly in the news cycles).

In 2009, I wrote a piece for a  Boston University journal I called "The War in Iraq: What Works?" I commented that in some respects war does accomplish limited goals. The Iraq War disposed of a brutal dictator Saddam Hussein, changed a regime to the beginnings of democracy, prevented terrorists from another major attack on the United States, and rejuvenated areas of the economy in massive increases in military budgets. The war worked ... sort of. America's early victory was replaced by a deadly insurgency, a civil war and the further destruction of the Iraqi infrastructure, the emergence of ISIS, the diminishing of the United States influence in the world, and all told the deaths of around 150,000 civilians (not to say more than 8,000 US personnel if we include the Afghan War). The outcome and aftermath of the Ukraine war are still uncertain. According to the New York Times (February 3) Russia alone has suffers over 200,000 dead and wounded. Whole cities in Ukraine have been destroyed.  In those terms war does not work. Yet war persists and the nations of the world lack imagination to find a better way.

If the goal we pursue is well-being for all (that includes respect for human and civil rights, the ability to fulfill one's capabilities, a life not interrupted by violence) then nonviolence as both a strategy for social change and as a comprehensive way of life is a better alternative.

It's that creative alternative that the webinar on Friday will explore. The webinar is free and open to all, but you do need to register to get the Zoom link. Friday 3.30-5.00 EST. Here's how:


Stay safe and be well,

+Ab. Andy