War Is A Crime .org - When the World Outlawed War

A Nuclear Kellogg-Briand Pact Is An Even Better Idea Than Its Author Thinks

davidswanson — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 04:20:55 +0000

A Georgetown Law professor named David Koplow has drafted what he calls a Nuclear Kellogg-Briand Pact. In an article proposing it, Koplow does something all too rare, he recognizes some of the merits of the Kellogg-Briand Pact. But he misses others of those merits, as I described them in my 2011 book When The World Outlawed War.

Koplow acknowledges the cultural shift that the pact was central to, that shifted common understanding of war from something that just happens like the weather to something that can be controlled, should be abolished, and would henceforth be illegal. He acknowledges the role of the pact in motivating trials (albeit one-sided trials) for the crime of war following World War II.

2017 Peace Essay-Response Contest Rules

davidswanson — Tue, 20 Dec 2016 17:21:46 +0000

The West Suburban (Chicago, Ill., U.S.) Faith-Based Peace Coalition is once again sponsoring a Peace Essay Contest with a $1,000.00 award to the winner, $300 for the runner-up, and $100 for third place. As in the previous year’s contest, essays will have to be directed to a person who can help promote knowledge of the Kellogg-Briand Pact (KBP) and, from whom a response is expected. Essays will be judged not only on the quality of the essay but on the impact of the response. Everyone is eligible to participate; there are no restrictions regarding age or country of residence. Participants are required to take the following 3 steps:

The Really Strangest Dream

davidswanson — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 18:25:28 +0000

Watch the video:

What in the world is he singing about? This: http://davidswanson.org/outlawry

Kellogg-Briand Pact Day 2015 in Albuquerque, NM

davidswanson — Mon, 14 Sep 2015 18:56:33 +0000

Let us recommit to peace

davidswanson — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 20:47:15 +0000

By Herbert J. Hoffman / Albuquerque Veterans For Peace
PUBLISHED by Albuquerque Journal

Four score and seven years ago many nations brought forth on many continents a pact that made war illegal.

The Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed on Aug. 27, 1928, by 15 Nations, ratified by the U.S. Senate the following year with a single dissenting vote, signed by President Calvin Coolidge in January of 1929, and on July 24, 1929, President Hoover “caused the said Treaty to be made public, to the end that the same and every article and clause thereof may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United States and the citizens thereof.”

Thus, the pact became a treaty and therefore the law of the land.

The treaty established the important point that only wars of aggression – not military acts of self-defense – would be covered.

In the final version of the pact, the participating nations agreed upon two clauses: the first outlawed war as an instrument of national policy and the second called upon signatories to settle their disputes by peaceful means.

A call for peace: City activities honor 85-year old treaty outlawing war

davidswanson — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 20:44:02 +0000

Sally Alice Thompson, left, and Dr. Hakim Zamir, center, release white doves symbolizing peace prior to the start of a presentation by former CIA agent turned peace activist Ray McGovern at Albuquerque Mennonite Church on Thursday. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal)

By Maggie Shepard / Journal Staff Writer
PUBLISHED by Albuquerque Journal

An 85-year-old international agreement aimed at ending American and world wars – while unsuccessful – is still worth attention, Albuquerque City Councilors declared this month, naming Aug. 27 as Rededication to the Kellogg-Briand Treaty Day.

Also in honor of the Kellogg-Briand Pact, signed in 1928, internationally known CIA agent turned peace activist Ray McGovern visited Albuquerque as part of his work fighting against “out-of-control military spending” and U.S. military policies that he said are undermining American security by causing the deaths of innocent people and fueling terrorism.

“The nation spends billions of dollars on bombs … that we don’t need,” he told a crowd of about 70 gathered Thursday afternoon for a reception hosted by the area chapter of Veterans for Peace. He urged nonviolent federal policies toward other nations.

War: Legal to Criminal and Back Again

davidswanson — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 20:59:14 +0000

Remarks in Chicago on the 87th anniversary of the Kellogg-Briand Pact, August 27, 2015.

Thank you very much for inviting me here and thank you to Kathy Kelly for everything she does and thank you to Frank Goetz and everyone involved in creating this essay contest and keeping it going. This contest is far and away the best thing that has come out of my book When the World Outlawed War.

I proposed making August 27th a holiday everywhere, and that hasn't yet happened, but it's begun. The city of St. Paul, Minnesota, has done it. Frank Kellogg, for whom the Kellogg-Briand Pact is named, was from there. A group in Albuquerque is holding an event today, as are groups in other cities today and in recent years. A Congress member has recognized the occasion in the Congressional Record.

But the responses offered to some of the essays from various readers and included in the booklet are typical, and their failings should not reflect poorly on the essays. Virtually everyone has no idea that there is a law on the books banning all war. And when a person finds out, he or she typically takes no more than a few minutes to dismiss the fact as meaningless. Read the responses to the essays. None of the responders who were dismissive considered the essays carefully or read additional sources; clearly none of them read a word of my book.

Grave of Man Who Outlawed War Found in Chicago

davidswanson — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 15:23:38 +0000

Thanks to David Karcher and Frank Goetz and the staff at Oak Woods Cemetery, the grave of Salmon Oliver Levinson has been found:

It's not that it had been lost so much as that nobody had looked for it. Various websites identify the graves of all the supposedly notable people in this same cemetery. None mentions Levinson.

If you don't know that Levinson started a movement that created a treaty, still on the books, that bans all war... If you don't know that war was perfectly legal until that happened... If you don't appreciate what this did to stigmatize war, reduce war, prevent wars, allow the first-ever prosecutions for the crime of war, and advance the cause of war abolition... you haven't read my book on the subject, which Ralph Nader once put in his annual list of the books everyone should read:

When the World Outlawed War

I'll be speaking about this in Chicago with Kathy Kelly on the 87th anniversary of the treaty's signing.

Join us.

Radio with Kathy Kelly and David Swanson on Kellogg-Briand

davidswanson — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 11:36:06 +0000

Phone in Tonight

davidswanson — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 13:50:37 +0000

Tonight, Monday, August 3, 2015, 6-7pm CT
Listen to David Swanson on Chicago's WCEV, 1450 AM, or http://tunein.com/radio/WCEV-1450-s23599/
And phone in with questions and comments 312-263-4752
Topic: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20150803/discuss/150809848/
Event coming up in Chicago on 27th: https://www.facebook.com/events/1451800825124185/