World Beyond War: A New Podcast

Fiction writers are accustomed to seeing the layers of motivation and conflict that drive the plots around us. In this special episode of the World BEYOND War podcast, we welcome two novelists, Vanessa Veselka ("The Great Offshore Grounds", "Zazen") and Rivera Sun ("The Way Between", "The Dandelion Insurrection") who each have unique backgrounds in activism and organizing. We talk about the hero's journey, the way protest actions can change our lives, labor unions, anger, nonviolence and sexual violence, leadership, Sharon Blackie, Leo Tolstoy and the problem of conquest activism. Hosted by Marc Eliot Stein. Musical excerpt: "Wonderous Stories" by Yes.

Suman Khanna Aggarwal, Gandhian scholar and President of the Shanti Sahyog center for nonviolence and conflict resolution in New Delhi, India talks to Marc Eliot Stein about her organization’s work and her own journey towards an understanding of Gandhian nonviolence, the science of peace and the discipline of conflict resolution. We also talk about global peace movements, Richard Attenborough's movie, spirituality, Tolstoy, Socrates and controversial aspects of Mahatma Gandhi's life. (Music removed.)

Where is the USA headed? Following the 2020 election, six American peace activists and board members of World BEYOND War talk about this large, troubled North American country's place on the planet and trajectory in times of climate crisis, health crisis, racial crisis, economic crisis and constitutional crisis. Donnal Walter, Odile Hugonot Haber, Gar Smith, John Reuwer and Alice Slater join Marc Eliot Stein for an open conversation. Musical excerpts: Childish Gambino, Bruce Springsteen.

Roundtable discussion with five young emerging activists in five continents: Alejandra Rodriguez in Colombia, Laiba Khan in India, Mélina Villeneuve in UK, Christine Odera in Kenya, Sayako Aizeki-Nevins in USA. We talk about cross-generational activism, education and history curriculums, legacies of war, poverty, racism and colonialism, the impact of climate change and the current pandemic on activist movements, and what motivates each of us in the work we do. Hosted by Marc Eliot Stein and World BEYOND War’s education director Phill Gittins. Musical excerpt: Shawn Mendes.

A roundtable tribute to lifelong activist and Popular Resistance co-founder Kevin Zeese with Margaret Flowers and World BEYOND War's David Swanson, Leah Bolger, Pat Elder and Marc Eliot Stein. (Music removed.)

Part Two with Nicholson Baker, author of "Baseless: My Search For Secrets In The Ruins Of The Information Act", talking about the CIA's unethical past, the Korean War, today's antiwar movements, psychological warfare against historians, gaslighting, Obama, Trump, the effectiveness of nonviolent protest. Also featuring the song "When I See You Cry" and a brief interview with the young peace activist composer Margin Zheng.

Nicholson Baker's important new book "Baseless" is about the US military and CIA's past secret experiments with biological warfare, and about the author and historian's attempts to get the information about these disturbing secrets that he is legally entitled to. Part one of Marc Eliot Stein's in-depth two-part conversation with antiwar activist, novelist and historian Nicholson Baker ranges over topics including permasecrets, cultural archives, Joseph Pulitzer, the Korean War, bat vector bombs, psychological warfare, gaslighting and police brutality videos. We also check in with World BEYOND War's president Leah Bolger and new social media manager Alessandra Granelli about the organization's latest activities. (Music removed.)

Miles Megaciph talks to World BEYOND War's Marc Eliot Stein about his life journey from a US Marine stationed near Guantanamo Bay to a life of peace activism, hiphop performance and protest from Okinawa to USA. We talk about poverty, life on a Marine base, George Floyd, optimism, marriage and fatherhood. Music by Miles Megaciph.

From Milan to Caracas to Tehran to Brooklyn and everywhere else, peace activists around the world are experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic in vastly different ways. We speak with Jeannie Toschi Marazzani Visconti, who was organizing a global peace gathering in northern Italy at the time coronavirus shut her city down, and with Gabriel Aguirre, who describes how Venezuelans are staying unified while struggling with immoral sanctions. Thanks to Doug Tyler for translation. (Music removed.)

Piril Torgut is a young Cypriot artist who paints and sculpts visceral images of a marine world. Visual Voices is a global organization that supports artists who can help heal the troubled real world. In this episode of the World BEYOND War podcast, Piril Torgut and Alden Jacobs and Marina Neophytou of Visual Voices join Marc Eliot Stein and Greta Zarro for an unrestrained conversation about art, violence, the Greek/Turkish conflict in Cyprus, and our methods of finding hope through art. Music: "What The Water Gave Me" by Florence + the Machine.

The upcoming #NoWar2020 antiwar conference in Ottawa, Canada will be a convergence of indigenous rights movements, urgency for climate change awareness, protest against military profiteering at the CANSEC weapons bazaar, and, as always, the core principle behind everything we do at World Beyond War: the goal to end all war, everywhere. In this podcast, we hear from four people who will be at #NoWar2020 in Ottawa: organizer Katie Perfitt, longtime resister Colin Stuart, and podcast hosts Marc Eliot Stein and Alex McAdams. (Music removed.)

Shahrzad Khayatian and Foad Izadi are part of the World BEYOND War community in Tehran. Shahrzad has written articles on the effects of sanctions on human lives in Iran, and Foad was a featured speaker at our #NoWar2019 conference in Limerick, Ireland. Following the sudden escalation between USA and Iran in January 2020, Shahrzad and Foad spoke with podcast hosts Marc Eliot Stein and Greta Zarro in the USA about the situation we are all in together. Musical excerpt: "Price of Freedom" by Salome MC.

Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK and economist Ivan Velaszquz of Universidad Mayor San Andres and Konrad Adenauer Foundation in La Paz join Marc Eliot Stein and David Swanson to talk about the current crisis in Bolivia, with special attention to the indigenous rights movement, the question of electoral validity and the problem of external influence on Bolivian politics. (Music removed.)

Ireland has been a global beacon for peace since the Good Friday agreements of 1998, yet antiwar activists in Ireland are struggling to be heard about PESCO and the illegal use of Shannon Airport by USA military forces. We talk to Barry Sweeney, who brought World BEYOND War's #NoWar2019 conference to Limerick, Ireland, and hear inspiring clips from this conference including Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire and Afri/Action's John Maguire. (Music removed.)

What is peace education? Tony Jenkins, Patrick Hiller, and Kozue Akibayashi use teaching and academic research to illuminate their activities against war. These three educators also contributed to "A Global Security System", the book that describes World BEYOND War's platform. These three educators join Marc Eliot Stein and Greta Zarro to talk about conflict resolution, peace science, feminism and the ways in which personal relationships can reflect and project violence. (Music removed.)

Antiwar activists and environmental activists need to work together. Why doesn't this happen more often? In this episode of the World BEYOND War podcast, Ashik Siddique of the National Priorities Project and Alex Beauchamp of Food & Water Watch join Greta Zarro and Marc Eliot Stein to talk about the research and advocacy work they do every day, and how we can build bridges between two movements dedicated to the same urgent cause: saving our planet and all the lives that depend on it.

Two notable literary novelists, Roxana Robinson ("Sparta", "Dawson's Fall") and Dawn Tripp ("Georgia", "Game of Secrets") join regular hosts Marc Eliot Stein and Greta Zarro for a unique discussion of the ways both fiction writers and antiwar activists try to use words to connect with strangers on urgent and heartfelt topics. We discuss USA in 2019, modern tribalism, the Quaker community, the legacy of slavery, gender and intersectionality and much more.

How is the antiwar movement staying focused and unified as shocking provocations and unconscionable moral threats demand our attention, from USA to Iran to Venezuela to Gaza? In this special episode of the World BEYOND War podcast, WBW's board president Leah Bolger and executive director David Swanson join Greta Zarro and Marc Eliot Stein for an honest and realistic look at the challenges, concerns and hopes that are on the minds of all antiwar activists in these urgent times.

We're talking about how art can amplify activism, elevate messages, grow movements and influence change. For episode 4 of the World BEYOND War podcast, Kim Fraczek of Sane Energy Project and Hanoi/DC-based activist Vy Vu join Greta Zarro and Marc Eliot Stein and talk about their experiences with creative activism, intersectionality, identity and where the antiwar movement is today.

In April 2019, an informal coalition of antiwar organizations including CodePink, Popular Resistance and ANSWER began protecting the Venezuelan embassy in Washington DC from an attempted takeover by the US federal government. We spoke to Margaret Flowers of Popular Resistance and Pat Elder of World BEYOND War, who are both inside the Venezuelan embassy and facing imminent arrest for resisting an ongoing regime change operation that endangers human lives with severe sanctions and threats of war.