Conflict Resolution (Also see Nonviolence)

No Image

64-page booklet with thorough info on the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) from 2015 from the Arms Control Association

May 17, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

In case anyone wants VERY THOROUGH information about the “Iran Nuclear Deal” (the JCPOA), you might click this link and read all or some of the 64-page booklet produced by the Arms Control Association, an expert organization. Or you might want to save it for future reference. We need to educate the public and Congress in order to prevent Trump from actually starting the war against Iran that he is eager to provoke. https://www.armscontrol.org/sites/default/files/files/Reports/ACA_Iran-BB_2015%20Aug6_FINAL.pdf      

No Image

URGENT!!! Demand that Congress PREVENT Trump’s war against Iran.

May 17, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

Trump keeps threatening war against two of the world’s largest oil-producing nations:  Venezuela and Iran. In each case, WE MUST DEMAND THAT CONGRESS TAKE STRONG ACTIONS TO PREVENT Trump’s reckless, violent actions, which are illegal under international law. Other blog posts deal with Venezuela.  Here is information about Iran. Trump has been LYING about Iran and DELIBERATELY ESCALATING TENSIONS in order to PROVOKE WAR. Sign this petition (starting on May 16, 2019) to the top Democrats in the House (Pelosi) and Senate (Schumer) to tell them to PREVENT Trump’s war against Iran:  https://act.winwithoutwar.org/act/pelosi_schumer_stop_war_with_iran?source=em20190516&t=4&akid=3577%2E763336%2Eg_4_Km Sign this petition urging several members of […]

No Image

Debunking the Myths of War — Here is a great resource!

May 11, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

The non-profit organization World Beyond War (www.worldbeyondwar.org) takes a bold stance: War is not necessary and is never good. We need to debunk the myths that keep war and militarism going. We can indeed choose peace. Debunking Myths of War See their powerful new PowerPoint presentation at this link:  Debunking-the-Myths-of-War1 On April 29, WBW’s Organizing Director Greta Zarro presented a talk on “debunking the myths of war” for the Beyond War & Militarism Committee in Syracuse, NY. In making the case for war abolition, the talk dispelled the myths that war is inevitable, necessary, beneficial, or just.    

No Image

Several insights into NONVIOLENCE are inspirational and practical.

April 25, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

“Nonviolence offers many ways to create permanent, long-term positive changes that would enable us to rebuild social institutions on a more humane and sustainable basis. . . . Each of us, whatever our station in life or relation to activism, can carry out his grand ‘experiment with truth’ according to our own capacities and the situation we confront.”  Michael Nagler wrote this.  He writes a lot of good materials about nonviolence.  Although Amazon lists many of his books, I encourage people to buy them from locally owned bookstores:  https://www.amazon.com/Michael-N.-Nagler/e/B001JS2SXE/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1548914216&sr=1-1&eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=c837e75d-37a4-4438-9de5-33bd77f131eb&pldnSite=1   “Revolutionary change does not come as one cataclysmic moment (beware […]

No Image

June 17-21, 2019: Learn how to mediate disputes.

April 25, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

The Dispute Resolution Center of Thurston County (the DRC at 360-956-1155 www.mediatethurston.org) offers TRAINING IN HOW TO MEDIATE DISPUTES. I highly recommend this 40-hour Professional Mediation Training during one week in June (17th through 21st), 2019.  It runs Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  It can help you strengthen your relationships at home, at work, and beyond.  The insights are practical in our daily lives.  I encourage people to take this training even if you do not think you’d want to be one of the DRC’s volunteer mediators. This fun and highly interactive 40-hour training will acquaint […]

No Image

PREVENT Trump from starting a stupid, counter-productive war against Iran.

April 23, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

If you disagree with somebody, the proper way to resolve the conflict is to TALK and use DIPLOMACY and perhaps use a MEDIATOR. The U.S. government sometimes — and especially Trump nowadays — chooses military violence instead. That only backfires. The U.S. keeps bogging itself down in unwinnable wars in many places. These wars waste our tax dollars, which we should be spending for useful purposes. These wars kill and injure many people in other countries. These wars turn world opinion against us. These wars subvert human rights and constitutional rights.   Trump has been trying to start a war […]

No Image

Sharply reduce militarism and guns. Schools should teach PEACE and NONVIOLENCE instead of Junior ROTC.

February 6, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

A few days ago I posted to my blog this information about the fact that the mass-murderer at the high school in Parkland, Florida, had learned how to become an expert marksman because he actually attended that same high school and was enrolled in its Junior ROTC program:  http://parallaxperspectives.org/the-mass-murderer-at-parkland-florida-was-trained-by-junior-rotc-at-that-school   This tragedy shows that BOTH militarism AND guns are out of control. Schools with Junior ROTC programs are training their students to commit mass murder — in the military against people in other countries — and perhaps also in their own local schools. WE MUST STOP THE CYCLE OF VIOLENCE! […]

No Image

Rescue U.S. foreign policy from ALL hawks including Trump

December 21, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

News coverage about General Mattis’s resignation as Secretary of Defense is surreal. They keep saying that Mattis was a stabilizing “adult” in Trump’s regime. But Mattis is an EXTREME HAWK known as “Mad Dog.”  He resigned because Trump decided to remove U.S. troops from Syria and to reduce U.S. troops in Afghanistan.  Those are small steps in the right direction.  Trump is no dove, but these modest steps reduce the reckless hawkishness in U.S. foreign policy. When Mattis resigns over those modest steps – and when mainstream media and bi-partisan members of Congress support Mattis’s extreme hawkishness instead of Trump’s […]

No Image

Trump + Pompeo plan to overthrow Iran’s government

December 20, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Trump is hell-bent to overthrow Iran’s government for several reasons. Trump hired John Bolton and Mike Pompeo for very high level positions in his administration.  Both are extremely aggressive opponents of Iran and opponents of honest diplomacy in general. Trump is utterly subservient to two nations that have long wanted to attack Iran:  Israel and Saudi Arabia. This article explains clearly what Trump is trying to do:  https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/5/1809961/-What-does-Secretary-of-State-Pompeo-mean-by-restore-democracy-in-Iran?detail=emaildksp This smart article provides several reasons to OPPOSE Trump’s pending war against Iran:  https://fpif.org/a-vital-primer-on-the-push-for-war-in-iran/ Here is another article with thoughtful insights into Iran and world politics:  https://popularresistance.org/europe-and-the-us-clash-over-washingtons-economic-war-on-iran/ The older information I report […]

No Image

Substitute PEACE instead of our militaristic foreign policy

December 4, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The U.S.’s militaristic foreign policy does NOT work. It makes problems worse and causes more problems. It wastes money. The document linked here explains why we should replace our militaristic foreign policy with a commitment to peace, human rights, and other good things. Notes for Substituting Peace Instead of the U.S.’s Militaristic Foreign Policy Near the end of that document I explain the reasons why we should replace the U.S.’s militaristic “National Security” model with a NONVIOLENT model of “TRUE Security.”  For a one-page summary distinguishing these two models, see this link: “TRUE Security TABLE”           […]

No Image

PART 2 of “Choose a Better Worldview to Build a Better World”

November 30, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Our nation and world are in a horrible mess.  The December 2018 episode of “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” TV series examines how to solve the problems. A person or an entire society has a “worldview” — a way of seeing reality — that strongly directs their behavior and public policy.  The worldview that currently dominates the U.S. government and society has caused escalating greed, corruption, cruelty, oppression, war, and other bad things.  Instead, we need to replace that worldview with its opposite — a worldview that is humane, compassionate, peaceful, fair to everyone, and environmentally sustainable. An unjust society seeks to […]

No Image

De-Militarize U.S. Foreign Policy

October 28, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

In 2016 I created a workshop to help people understand the U.S.’s violent foreign policy and see how we might de-militarize it.  I created a handout for people to use during the workshop, and so people anywhere at any time can walk themselves through the process. Here is a link so you can do that:  De-Militarize U.S. Foreign Policy — WORKSHOP Handout for Participants and Others    

No Image

Thomas Merton’s quotation about the violence in American culture

October 7, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Thomas Merton, the pacifist philosopher, theologian and mystic, wrote this (probably during the 1960s): “The real focus of American violence is in the very culture itself, its mass media, its extreme individualism and competitiveness, its inflated myths of virility and toughness, and its overwhelming preoccupation with the power of nuclear, chemical, bacteriological, and psychological overkill. If we live in what is essentially a culture of overkill, how can we be surprised at finding violence in it? Can we get to the root of the trouble? In my opinion, the best way to do it would have been the classic way […]

No Image

To Achieve Social Justice, We Must De-Polarize Our Society

October 7, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Oppressors like to use a “divide-and-conquer” strategy in order to keep the oppressed people from joining together to empower themselves to nonviolently fight against the oppressors. We need to recognize that tactic and refuse to let oppressors polarize us by race or religion or sexual orientation or any other factor. I wrote this article in 2018 and encourage people to read it and use its insights to de-polarize our society so we can join together to work for social justice: De-Polarize