World BEYOND War: a new podcast

We talk to CODEPINK's National Co-Director Danaka Katovich about recent events including a drone attack on the Freedom Flotilla for Gaza in the Mediterranean Sea and slanderous attacks on peace activists by corrupt US Senators opposed to CODEPINK's "China Is Not Our Enemy" campaign. Musical excerpt: "Sirens of Titan" by Al Stewart.

How do we even speak about genocide and apartheid in Gaza and Palestine? Words are not enough, and are too often a substitute for action. Three members of World BEYOND War's global community, Mohammed Abunahel, Maria Santelli and Marc Eliot Stein converge to share our frustration and agony and hear an update from Mohammed about his family which has been living under violent seige in Gaza for the past year and a half.

We live in revolutionary times, whether we're ready or not. Marc Eliot Stein urges peace activists around the world to find common ground and act decisively against the rising toxicity of the international war machine. We talk about South Africa, Ireland, Mikhail Gorbachev and the shocking arrest of student protestors all over the USA in March 2025. Musical excerpt: "Broken English" by Marianne Faithfull.

Brian Terrell speaks about the Global Day of Action to Close Bases, his life of protest and his upcoming imprisonment in Germany.

Nigerian peace studies professor and writer Oseremen Irene talks to Marc Eliot Stein about antiwar movements, structural violence, wealth inequality and leadership challenges facing the world in 2025.

Let's take a fresh look at how peace movements are changing to keep up with fast-evolving cultural trends. Online communities provide one useful model of peaceful coexistence that people intuitively and immediately understand. World BEYOND War's technology director Marc Eliot Stein proposes a new approach to the pursuit of world peace inspired by the decentralized, peer-to-peer methods of emerging communities.

Marc Eliot Stein urges the antiwar movement to avoid complacency, dare to imagine positive sudden societal change, and answer three difficult questions about border policies, wealth inequality and the concept of national identity.

"Out demons out!" On October 21, 1967, poet, activist, singer and DIY publisher Ed Sanders led an exorcism of the Pentagon in USA's capital city to protest the disaster in Vietnam. Coincidentally on the same day 57 years later, Ed Sanders talks to Marc Eliot Stein from his home in Woodstock about nuclear madness, the deep state, the disasters in Ukraine and Gaza, the absurdities of USA's looming Harris vs. Trump election, and the antiwar inspiration of Allen Ginsberg, Dorothy Day, Phil Ochs, Abbie Hoffman, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Gregory Corso. Music: "Dover Beach" by the Fugs.

Moral injury is a trauma that occurs when we are forced to act against our moral values, World BEYOND War's organizing intern Vanessa Fox tells us. With wars raging from Gaza to Ukraine to Sudan to the US/Mexico border, we are all suffering from moral injury right now. This is one of many topics Vanessa Fox and Marc Eliot Stein wander through in a conversation about religion, flowerness, empowerment and community.

World Beyond War's annual conference #NoWar2024 takes place in Sydney, Wanfried, Bogata, Washington DC and online next month. Introducing some of our upcoming guests, Marc Eliot Stein talks to Kazuyuki Nakazato and Katsuya Tamaki from the Okinawa Prefectural Government and Lilli Barto, an activist from Wage Peace 2 Disrupt Wars in Australia.

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. Musical excerpt: "The Healing Room" by Sinead O'Connor.

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.

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.

Antiwar activist John Reuwer joined a peace mission in Romania in 2022 with the goal of organizing nonviolent resistance to the raging war that began in February of this year. Visiting refugees outside Ukraine and working with pacifists in Kyiv and elsewhere, John found the best hope for healing in the cooperative movement to prevent nuclear meltdown in Zaporizhzhia. An extensive interview about a month in war-ravaged Europe with podcast host Marc Eliot Stein.

Did you know that Colombia has a truth commission working in rural areas to heal the proud country after 75 years of brutal civil war? This truth commission is only one of many far ranging topics we talk about with Maria Antonia Perez, a visual artist, graphic designer and peace activist in Medellin, Colombia who worked for humanitarian causes from Sri Lanka to Cambodia to Haiti before returning to her home country.

Robert Fantina's new book “Settler-Colonialism in Palestine and Kashmir” breaks down the massive human rights violations in two regions where populations are manipulated to remove people from their longtime homes, or to make life unlivable in their homes. Marc Eliot Stein talks to Robert Fantina about Kashmir's unique crisis, about Hindutva and Modi, and about his beginnings as a peace activist.

Robert Fantina's new book “Settler-Colonialism in Palestine and Kashmir” breaks down the massive human rights violations in two regions where populations are manipulated to remove people from their longtime homes, or to make life unlivable in their homes. Marc Eliot Stein talks to Robert Fantina about Kashmir's unique crisis, about Hindutva and Modi, and about his beginnings as a peace activist. (Music removed.)

At the age of 16, Hungarian-born Timi Barabas heard a song that inspired her to become an activist. Today, at the age of 20, she has founded organizations for climate awareness, anti-bullying, suicide prevention and poverty relief, and with her team at Rise For Lives led a large protest in New Zealand to raise awareness of the war in Yemen. We caught up with this amazing and unstoppable youth leader in New York City where she is working to find and discuss possible solutions for the war in Ukraine.

Podcast host Marc Eliot Stein talks about his path to antiwar activism, the Holocaust, his grandmother's family and the awareness of generational collective trauma that eventually led him to work for a global grassroots peace organization. Also featuring Marc's blog post welcoming songwriter/activist Roger Waters to a webinar in August 2022 and discussing the deep connections to social justice activism in Pink Floyd's long musical legacy.

Medea Benjamin is one of the most dynamic and dedicated antiwar activists in the world today. In this interview with World BEYOND War's Marc Eliot Stein, Medea talks about recent progressive wins in Colombia and all over Latin America, the tragedy of the brutal but profitable proxy war in Ukraine and the many ways peacebuilders and hardworking organizations are keeping the international struggle for a livable, humane planet alive. Musical excerpt: Emma's Revolution.

Alison Broinowski is an author, diplomat and global peace activist with an amazing career calling attention to the corruption and dysfunction motivating Australia's past military leadership. This month, in May 2022, Alison is bringing good news to the world as Australia mobilizes woman power to turn an election. Alison talks about this and more - including Australia's risky brinksmanship against China - in a freewheeling conversation with Marc Eliot Stein. Also featuring Greta Zarro with a preview of this year's upcoming World BEYOND War conference #NoWar2022.

Stakes are high for activists and advocates for a humane world to catch on to the shockingly rapid pace of change in the field of advanced technology. What is blockchain, and how can it help protect our freedom of speech? How do we monitor military spending in an age when bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies defy monitoring? What about artificial intelligence and cloud computing in the hands of monopolistic, US-centric tech giants? And is the world's cooperative open source software community staying healthy through all these paradigm shifts? Tech innovator and artist Robert Douglass joins Marc Eliot Stein for an in-depth discussion of futuristic topics that are already changing the landscape of progressive activist movements.

Peace activist Kathy Kelly has crossed borders into dangerous war zones and been arrested more than 80 times to help refugees and victims and gain an understanding of the true nature of war, sanctions, structural violence, imprisonment and injustice. In episode 34 of the World BEYOND War podcast, Anni Carracedo and Marc Eliot Stein talk to Kathy Kelly about her life of fearless activism and welcome her into the new role of Board President for this organization. Musical excerpt: "Para la guerra nada" by Marta Gomez.

We're joined by four peace students on four continents: Iryna Bushmina of Ukraine, Stephanie Effevottu of Nigeria, Brittney Woodrum of USA and Anniela Carracedo of Venezuela. These students led creative projects as part of the new Peace Education and Action for Impact program, along with Dr. Phill Gittins who founded this educational program along with World BEYOND War and Rotary International. Including musical excerpts from two of the projects, as well as a preview of the Water & War Film Festival with Greta Zarro and Rachel Small.

Peace activist Koohan Paik-Mander joins Marc Eliot Stein to talk about the crisis of military escalation in Europe and the specter of superpower proxy wars in Ukraine, Taiwan, Iran, Venezuela. Koohan talks about her life's work as an environmental and antiwar activist, and how a significant protest movement to stop the construction of a US military base in Korea's Jeju Island revealed to her the deep power of solidarity. We also talk about biodeiversity, anarcho-pacifism, white nationalism in US military and police forces, Xi Jinping's appearance at Davos, massive whale deaths in the Pacific ocean from military actions, the place of technology and social media in the lives of activists, the parallels between today's Ukraine/Russia buildup and Europe's collapse into the first world war in 1914, and what must be remembered from Barbara Tuchman's history book “The Guns of August”. Musical excerpt: Youn Sun Nah.

Marc Eliot Stein talks to Matthew Petti, an up-and-coming journalist studying Arabic in Amman, Jordan. The wide-ranging conversation covers the politics of water, the credibility of journalism, the status of refugee communities in Jordan from Palestine, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, the outlook for peace in an age of imperial decline, empires from USA to Russia to China to Iran to France, "middle east" vs. "west asia" vs "holy lands", Saddam Hussein nostalgia and much more. Musical excerpt: "Yas Salam" by Autostrad.

An interview about the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow with Tim Pluta, World BEYOND War's chapter organizer in Spain. Tim joined a coalition to protest COP26's weak stance on the “carbon bootprint”, the disastrous abuse of fossil fuels by military forces that USA and other nations refuse to acknowledge. Host Marc Eliot Stein talks to Tim about his experience on the streets of COP26 along with Nancy Mancias and Greta Thunberg, about his life as a veteran turned peace activist, and about the mood of political conservatism in Spain. Musical excerpt: "La Rata" by Mala Rodriguez.

An interview about the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow with Tim Pluta, World BEYOND War's chapter organizer in Spain. Tim joined a coalition to protest COP26's weak stance on the “carbon bootprint”, the disastrous abuse of fossil fuels by military forces that USA and other nations refuse to acknowledge. Host Marc Eliot Stein talks to Tim about his experience on the streets of COP26 along with Nancy Mancias and Greta Thunberg, about his life as a veteran turned peace activist, and about the mood of political conservatism in Spain. (Music removed.)

On October 6, 2021, World BEYOND War presented the first War Abolisher awards to Peace Boat, Mel Duncan and Save Sinjajevina. This episode brings us into the ceremony where Peace Boat founder Yoshioka Tatsuya, nonviolent defense pioneer Mel Duncan and Save Sinjajevina activists Milan Sekulovic and Petra Glomazic talk about their inspiring achievements, introduced or joined by friends and allies Ann Wright, John Reuwer, Rosemary Kabaki, Leah Bolger, Pablo Dominguez and Persida Jovanovic. With live music by Ron Korb. Also including a chat with World BEYOND War's development director Alex McAdams about the organization's exciting growth.

Jodie Evans learned about civil disobedience from Jane Fonda as a teenage activist in the late 1960s, and is still being arrested with Jane Fonda in 2021. Along the way, she worked on the disruptive presidential campaign of Jerry Brown, co-founded CODE PINK with Medea Benjamin, and travelled on peace delegations to North Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela. Today she is leading “China is Not Our Enemy”, with an urgent message of cross-cultural bridge-building as a remedy for insane hyper-militarism. For the 28th episode of the World Beyond War podcast, Marc Eliot Stein interviews Jodie Evans about her remarkable life of peace activism. Musical excerpt: George Harrison.

Jodie Evans learned about civil disobedience from Jane Fonda as a teenage activist in the late 1960s, and is still being arrested with Jane Fonda in 2021. Along the way, she worked on the disruptive presidential campaign of Jerry Brown, co-founded CODE PINK with Medea Benjamin, and travelled on peace delegations to North Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela. Today she is leading “China is Not Our Enemy”, with an urgent message of cross-cultural bridge-building as a remedy for insane hyper-militarism. For the 28th episode of the World Beyond War podcast, Marc Eliot Stein interviews Jodie Evans about her remarkable life of peace activism. (Music removed.)

USA's investment in high-tech weapons and military artificial intelligence is rapidly accelerating, as Microsoft and Amazon enter the top ranks of corrupt military profiteers. The people are completely left out of the conversation as our governments devote billions of dollars to the grotesque science of mass murder, and our familiar tech giants betray our trust. Jan Weinberg of Show Up America joins Marc Eliot Stein to talk about Project JEDI, Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2), killer robots, “Black Mirror”, facial recognition, surveillance clouds, autonomous nuclear weapons triggers, the Senate Armed Services committee and the need for greater investigative journalism on this topic. Musical excerpt: “American Idiot” by Green Day.