World Beyond War: A New Podcast

Robert F. Keeler's new book "Sacred Soldier: The Dangers of Worshipping Warriors" is a tough indictment of USA's inane militarism, emphasizing recruitment horrors, rampant sexual abuse and corrupt leadership in today's armed forces. Marc Eliot Stein interviews Keeler about his Catholicism, his pacifism, his award-winning career as a journalist for Newsday, and his own life as a military veteran who refuses to pretend USA's war system deserves respect.

Before becoming technology director at World BEYOND War, podcast host Marc Eliot Stein endured three mind-blowingly bad contract positions with three departments of the federal government in a row during the years of the Obama administration. Here's a personal tale of a strange journey into deep mediocrity at the Department of Labor, Postal Regulatory Commission and the Center for Disease Control, and a harsh look at a capital city still haunted by a legacy of racism.

Podcast host Marc Eliot Stein explores his own past to uncover why he once believed in American exceptionalism and thought it would be a good idea to work for weapons manufacturers, Wall Street banks and media brands like Foreign Policy magazine - all steps on the path to the realization that he doesn't need to support the USA war machine to make a living. A surprising personal tale and a plea for wisdom by our regular podcast host - Part one of two. Musical excerpt: "Dead and Gone" by T.I. and Justin Timberlake

Guy Feugap joined World BEYOND War as a volunteer, founded WBW's Cameroon chapter, and is now our organizer for the entire continent of Africa. Marc Eliot Stein interviews Guy about his beginnings as a peace activist in Cameroon, about working with fellow organizers in Senegal, Mali, Nigeria, Burundi, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Togo, Zimbabwe and more, and the outlook for the movement all over Africa and the world. Music: "No To War" by Blaze Weka.

What does the antiwar movement recognize when a bridge collapses in Baltimore? Why have container ships replaced the Titanic as the world’s biggest metaphor, and what does the new "BDS the US" movement think we should do about it? We dive into all of these questions, plus a poem from Rainer Maria Rilke, as World BEYOND War’s technology director Marc Eliot Stein ponders various big questions.

Crystal Zevon travelled from Vermont to Washington DC to join protestors from Code Pink and elsewhere in confronting cowering politicians and diplomats in Washington DC about Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza. We talked to Crystal about her unique life story, including her marriage to late singer-songwriter Warren Zevon, her past struggle with alcoholism, the meaning of forgiveness, the reflections of a politically engaged life, and the condition of the antiwar movement in 2024.

This special episode honors World BEYOND War's 10 years of global antiwar organizing and action. Guest host Maria Santelli takes us inside WBW's day-to-day operations as we talk to founder and executive director David Swanson, education director Phil Gittins, technology director Marc Eliot Stein, Latin America organizer Gabriel Aguirre, Canada organizer Rachel Small, and Africa organizer Guy Feugap. End music: "Cyclone/Candles in the Rain" by Melanie.

Two and a half months of brutal and senseless slaughter in Gaza have shattered souls all over the world. This month’s episode of the World BEYOND War podcast is a free-flowing, no-agenda conversation between Jamelah Vincent, a Yemeni-American in Michigan, and Marc Eliot Stein, our Jewish-American host in New York. We talk about social media, cognitive dissonance, rampant ethnic prejudices in our own troubled country, Martin Luther King, how islamophobia and antisemitism are exploited by war profiteers, and finally about our mutual lost friend Judih Weinstein Haggai, who stands today as a symbol of peace-loving humanity destroyed by inhumane war. Music excerpt: "Blackbird" by Sarah McLachlan.

As the world roils with war from Gaza to Ukraine, organizations built around idealistic foundations are doing great work in every part of the world. In this roundtable chat, Maria Santelli of the Center on Conscience and War talks about her work with conscientious objectors in the US military and in Kyiv, and Kathy Kelly talks about the important Merchants of Death War Crimes Tribunal which is serving the public with an honest accounting of the crimes of major global military corporations. Musical excerpt: “I Ain’t Marchin’ Anymore” by Phil Ochs.

Poet, teacher, mother, grandmother and pacifist Judih Weinstein Haggai has been missing since the attack on her kibbutz near Gaza on October 7, 2023. Her two friends Anemone Achtnich in Germany and Marc Eliot Stein in New York City talk about Judih’s life and her ideals, and express their hope for a safe return of all hostages, and for ceasefire, peace, diplomacy, negotiation, compromise and eventual healing between the people of Israel and Palestine and Gaza and many other tragic war zones around the world.

Mohammed Abunahel, World Beyond War's researcher and expert on military bases, tells Marc Eliot Stein the incredible story of the efforts he had to go through to gain a higher education and build a meaningful life with his family from his beginnings in Gaza City. Music: "Dammi Falestani" by Mohammed Assaf.

Randy Janzen and Rachelle Friesen join Rachel Small and Marc Eliot Stein to talk about unarmed resistance, a broad nonviolent practice that is being used in war zones all over the world today. Nonviolent resistance is the theme of #NoWar2023, World BEYOND War's upcoming annual virtual gathering of peace activists from all over the world. In this conference preview, we talk about the work of organizations like Unarmed Civilian Protection, Community Peacemaker Teams and Nonviolent Peaceforce who have been quietly discovering new paths and routes to conflict resolution in a meaningful grasp for hope as the world burns. Music: "Hummingbird" by Dinah Thorpe.

What are antiwar activists saying about artificial intelligence? A whole lot. World BEYOND War's technology director Marc Eliot Stein walks through the political, economic, moral and philosophical questions that popular new AI tools like DALL-E and ChatGPT raise. We also talk about Marshall McLuhan, "Oppenheimer" and the history of neural networks. (Music removed.)

Ricardo Antonio Soberon Garrido and Gabriel Aguirre join Marc Eliot Stein for a virtual conversation about the urgent governmental legitimacy crisis in Peru, the problematic rise to power of Dina Boluarte, and USA's plans to exploit the country's crisis, ignore the needs of a diverse population struggling with climate change, and further divide Peru for its own geopolitical advantage with military displays like Resolute Sentinel. Musical excerpt: Dame Pa' Matala.

Educator and peacebuilder Nazir Ahmad Yosufi was born in 1985 in Afghanistan, and has persisted through decades of Soviet war, civil war and US war to devote his life to helping people see a better way. Along with his academic work, he's a marathon runner and environmentalist, and runs World BEYOND War's Afghanistan chapter from Hamburg, Germany. We talk about history, the war economy, the poetry of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rum, the ideas of Carl Jung and much more in this fascinating interview. Musical excerpt: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan based on Rumi.

Joseph Essertier is a peace activist who has lived and organized in Japan for 30 years, and is World BEYOND War’s chapter coordinator in Japan. We talk about Japan’s remilitarization, G7 in Hiroshima, Japan’s military partnership with USA, military bases in Okinawa, and several writers from Natsumi Soseki to Yukio Mishima to Kazuo Ishigoru.

In an impassioned plea for greater public resistance to rotten governments, Marc Eliot Stein talks about an empowering tweet by Caitlin Johnstone, a play by Jean-Paul Sartre, the hopes for a popular move towards decentralized and human-scaled governance, and the urgent need for peaceful revolutionary change in USA and around the world today. (Music removed.)

Edward Horgan began his determined life of peacekeeping as a member of the Irish Defense Forces, serving with the United Nations in conflict zones in Cyprus, the Sinai peninsula and the Middle East. Today, he works to recognize the names of war victims at Naming the Children, and was recently arrested and tried for protesting US military aircraft at Shannon Airport near Limerick, Ireland. Meet Edward Horgan, an antiwar activist giving it all he's got. Musical excerpts: "Working on a World" by Iris Dement, "Wooden Ships" by Crosby Stills Nash and Young.

David Hartsough began his amazing life of determined activism as a teenager joining the civil rights movement in Montgomery, Alabama alongside Martin Luther King and Ralph Abernathy, and kept up the struggle through more than 50 years of protest, organized resistance and nights in jail. The author of "Waging Peace" was also the co-founder of World BEYOND War in January 2014, and he joins us for a wide-ranging interview in January 2023.

Montreal-based activist and student organizer Maya Garfinkel spent 2022 working with World BEYOND War while completing her college degree at McGill University. As they prepare for the next steps in a life dedicated to the struggle against war, exploitation, extractivism and injustice, Maya spoke to Marc Eliot Stein about Canada's expanding militarism, Montreal's activist culture, protesting for climate justice alongside indigenous nations, queer identity and how the Jewish faith and heritage has informed her own awareness of social justice. Song excerpts: "The War Racket" by Buffy Sainte-Marie and "Train Comes Through" by Ezra Furman.