Nuclear Weapons and the Peace Movement
I’m attaching an expanded version of what I said this afternoon to an audience of 40 senior citizens. Nuclear Weapons and the Peace Movement
Month: November 2022
Society and politicians need to recognize the SYSTEMIC PROBLEMS that cause homelessness
Too often we hear ordinary people and politicians blame the victims of our economic system. Trump specialized in this. He kept calling people “losers.” He did not mean that they were losing because capitalism is unfair – or that they were being hurt by systemic social injustice and discrimination. No, Trump’s accusation of “loser” was personal blame against the individuals who have been victimized by cruel systems in our society and our economy. In order to solve the problems, we must recognize that OUR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEMS cause the problems and make people poor. Also, OUR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC […]
Vietnam War: Here are a few interesting resources.
One of Martin Luther King’s most powerful and insightful speeches exposed the cruelty and stupidity of the U.S.’s war in Vietnam. His “Beyond Vietnam” speech on April 4, 1967 (exactly one year before he was murdered) put the war in the context of the U.S.’s long-standing foreign policy — and also in the context of the U.S.’s failure to provide real democracy for African Americans in our nation, even while our government falsely claimed that we were creating democracy in Vietnam. The speech was very, very controversial at the time because many people did not yet understand the connections. Every […]
PREVENT Congress members from trading stocks!!! They have CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS!!! This is CORRUPT!!!
Congress makes big decisions about many issues: Economics, energy, climate, military weapons, and on and on. Many of those issues involve BIG BUSINESSES in which Congress members OWN STOCK. Their inside information about what Congress will be deciding will influence whether certain business corporations’ stocks will increase or decrease. THIS IS CORRUPT. This problem has been going on for many decades, and Congress keeps failing to STOP THIS CORRUPTION. People who want HONEST DEMOCRACY are demanding that Congress PROHIBIT stock trading. I have an article about this from June 30, 2018, regarding Congress members who own stock in companies […]
URGENT! Congress must take these actions NOW!
The November 2022 election results show Republicans with a small majority in the House and Democrats with a small majority in the Senate. WE MUST URGE CONGRESS TO TAKE A NUMBER OF ACTIONS NOW in late November and December 2022 before the new Congress convenes in January 2023, when all legislation that is pending now will die. I have been urging ALL THREE of our members of Congress to PASS MANY good pieces of pending legislation: – Stay in session past the scheduled adjournment date – Work evenings and weekends to PASS the bills – Use the “Budget Reconciliation” […]
Nuclear Weapons and the Peace Movement
Below I’m attaching an essay I wrote that fleshes out the 6 points I made very briefly in the speaking engagement about the need for a grassroots peace movement to abolish nuclear weapons: The U.S. has been provoking nuclear weapons since 1945. Nuclear weapons exist in the overall context of U.S. foreign policy. We must de-militarize our foreign policy overall as well as abolish nuclear weapons. The problems came from the top down, so solutions must come from the bottom up. Only a nonviolent GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT can change our foreign policy and abolish nuclear weapons. […]
During World War II, Franz Jagerstatter was a Catholic who resisted Nazis in Germany
When people promote nonviolence against oppressors, some skeptics say that nonviolent resistance would not have worked against the Nazis in World War II. Actually, there was a lot of nonviolent resistance against the Nazis, and much of it was successful. Not enough people know about Franz Jagerstatter, a bold Catholic pacifist who resisted Germany’s Nazis. I’m sharing this information that a friend elsewhere in the country had sent to me. She said this information came from Jim Forest, a powerful member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation who died in January 2022. I met him and also Gordon Zahn, another Catholic […]
The 3 newest TV episodes in the series “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” — OCT, NOV, DEC 2022
After I produced these TV programs and posted them to my blog, my e-mail address changed from glenanderson@integra.net to glen@parallaxperspectives.org. When you watch a TV video and/or read the linked document, please use my new e-mail address if you have any questions or want more information. I invite you to watch and share these three new TV program in my TV series “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives. The October and November TV programs are already posted to my blog’s “TV Programs” category. Before November 30 I’ll post the December TV program. I encourage people to WATCH the TV video and/or READ the […]
Nuclear weapons: How the U.S. provoked the arms race, escalated it, and trapped the world in nuclear terror
Ever since 1945, the vast majority of Americans believed what the government said about nuclear weapons. Not only did the politicians tell us what to believe, but – as always – the mainstream news media reinforced the official government messages. Here are some crucial steps in how the U.S. trapped the world in nuclear weapons: #1. Since the 1940s, the U.S. government – and mainstream news media – have been telling us that our nuclear weapons are a “deterrent” that prevent nations from attacking us. Actually, the U.S. military could repel any attempted invasion without using nuclear weapons. #2. The […]
Some wise, powerful quotations about NONVIOLENCE
“I have come into this world to see this: the swords drop from men’s hands even at the height of their arc of rage because we have finally realized there is just one flesh we can wound.” — Hafiz (the great Persian poet from the 1300s who is still highly respected in Iran nowadays) “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.” — Nelson Mandela “If you want to see the brave, look at those who can forgive. If you want to see the heroic, […]
Republicans are an ongoing, EXTREME DANGER to the Constitution and honest democracy!
Here are some ideas from mid-November 2022 and some articles, etc., from July to early November 2022. This is only a small part of the massive information that exists about this crisis for American democracy. #1. In many parts of the U.S., voters in the November 2022 election were smart enough to rebuff some of the worst Republican candidates and defeat some of the worst ballot issues — and to actually elect a number of progressive Democrats and to pass a number of progressive ballot issues. BUT REPUBLICANS REMAIN AN EXTREME DANGER to our nation. #2. For a […]
“Christian Nationalism” is HISTORICALLY FALSE — with bad politics and bad theology
Increasingly in recent years, the FALSE claim that the U.S. was designed to be a “Christian nation” has been gaining strength among right-wing Christians and people with right-wing political beliefs. “Christian Nationalism” is HISTORICALLY FALSE, and it is very dangerous to our nation and to people’s human rights. It also has perverted many people’s religious beliefs. This article explains how “Christian Nationalism” fueled the January 6, 2021, violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and is threatening democracy itself: https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/how-christian-nationalism-fueled-the-insurrection-and-threatens-democracy/ One of the loudest voices comes from David Barton, who is NOT a real historian, but pretends to be. […]
During World War I, German and British troops stopped fighting and celebrated Christmas together.
At Christmas time in 1914 – during World War I – German and British troops got out of their trenches, refused to fight, and celebrated the holiday together. Besides refusing to fight, they also shared music, singing, chocolate, alcoholic beverages, photos from their families back home, and so forth. John McCutcheon wrote and performed a great song about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJi41RWaTCs Also, I encourage you to watch this 21-minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYwKD2dc33A&feature=youtu.be
GRASSROOTS ORGANIZING can help us MAKE MORE PROGRESS on issues we care about!
Governments keep FAILING to take the bold, progressive actions that are necessary. Entrenched “politics-as-usual” and Big Money and constraining assumptions about what is “politically feasible” keep limiting people and preventing the progress that we need. The public is far ahead of the politicians, so we must ORGANIZE GRASSROOTS MOVEMENTS to make the big changes in public policy that the people want! Many people feel overwhelmed by the many serious problems. But that causes many people to feel overwhelmed and disempowered. Instead of lamenting how bad the problems are, we can organize to solve them. The November […]
STOP this right-wing scam: PREVENT an “Article V” convention to replace the Constitution!!!
One of the MOST DANGEROUS scams the right wing is promoting is to use our Constitution’s Article V to convene a convention to rewrite (and very likely replace) the U.S. Constitution with one that the right wing wants. This movement has gained enormous support, but it is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. It could result in these being written into the U.S. Constitution and enforced by law: Abortion is prohibited by the Constitution Conservative Christianity is the U.S.’s official religion; others — if allowed — would have fewer rights Men are the head of the household; women must be subservient to them White […]