World Beyond War July 2015 Social Media Campaign

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A world beyond war IS possible:
If more people BELIEVED it … and SAID it … what might be different?
(Please retweet this message!)

We had tremendous success with our July social media campaign!

We’ve stimulated lots of comments on our site and discussion on Twitter, Facebook, and elsewhere about what might be different if people believed and spoke and acted on the fact that a world beyond war IS possible. (Check out the comments below — and add your own!)

We’re particularly intrigued by the suggestion by Kenneth Ruby:

“As a growing number of people are recognizing the insanity of militarism and militaristic solutions in our world, pressure will increase irresistably to force the leaders to end imperialism and to demilitarize.”

We’ve asked for more ideas about this in our August social media campaign.

(More on the main World Beyond War social media page!)

NOTE to first-time commenters: our moderator will review and approve your comment within a day.

70 Responses

  1. As a growing number of people are recognizing the insanity of militarism and militaristic solutions in our world, pressure will increase irresistably to force the leaders to end imperialism and to demilitarize.

    1. There is no military solution to our challenges, our conflicts. We can create alternatives to war by respecting our common feelings and needs, sharing them with each other and making requests of each other, while placing the most value on the human connection. Nonviolent communication is indeed a language of the heart. The heart will open the door to no more war.

      1. It is like we are back during cave-man days when the only and the first thing that our ancestors came up with to solve problems was fight!

        But, now we can understand each others language and hopefully culture, too, therefore it is so uncivilized, inhuman, etc., to continuously go to war at the slightest provocation.

        We really should try to dialogue and instead of talking at each other, make an effort to talk with each other with understanding.

        Because, going to war will definitely not solve anything and in fact, create more problems than solve.

        Also, we are amassing far too many weapons that can destroy the earth many times over. Instead, all those resources could go into helping one another and to deal with ever growing poverty, worldwide!

    2. Thanks for your comment Kenneth! This makes a lot of sense. If more people believed a world beyond war is possible … and got in the habit of SAYING it … it would make a big difference in our ability to force leaders to end imperialism and to demilitarize!

  2. This Poem Is Dedicated
    To All Who Have Fostered And Protected
    The Truth Of Freedom’s Purpose !

    I AM AMERICA, I AM THE WORLD

    I represent the truth of freedom’s purpose
    within the colors of our flag unfurled
    Not bound by left or right or center leaning
    I am America . . . I am the World

    I am a Christian, Hebrew, Buddhist
    I am a Pantheist and Muslim too
    The God (or not) of every culture’s understanding
    is wrapped up in The Red, The White And Blue

    I am an African, Latina
    I am a Semite, Euro, Native too
    With all my heart I pledge allegiance
    and stand up for The Real Red, White And Blue

    I am a straight, gay, married person
    I am a celibate, trans-gender too
    I trust that all orientations
    are honored by The Red, The White And Blue

    I am for stewardship of this amazing planet
    I am for commerce built upon free markets too
    It is absurd to choose one or the other
    because I can live Green, Red, White And Blue

    I am a woman and a cultural leader
    I am a liberated stay-at-home mom too
    The choice is mine to have it all if I decide to
    here in the land of Red And White And Blue

    I am a gentle man with a strong backbone
    I am both brave and peaceful too
    The power to protect and not destroy is
    the essence of The Red, The White And Blue

    I represent the truth of freedom’s purpose
    within the colors of our flag unfurled
    Not bound by left or right or center leaning
    I am America . . . I am the World

    Theresa Shamanka ( c ) 2008

  3. I believe in a world without war, but the problem is it isn’t enough to believe. There are too many other factors out there; issues that in some cases have been in existence long before the oldest person on this planet; or issues that someone decides to bring to the forefront now that never existed prior. There are a lot of problems out there but I just hope more can listen and work it out instead of just throwing out guns, bombs and sacrificing others for the sake of self.

  4. NO WARS
    WARS – Kills people, and breaks up families and their love ones.

    When a parent gets killed, then all the responsibility is on the other parent to raise their children and provide for their families.

    NO WARS!

    1. Thanks Rita! Without a doubt, awareness of the impact on women and children MUST be central to our work to end all war! (Thanks to our ally Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) for leading the way! see http://wilpfus.org/)

  5. Homo “sapiens” seems Hell bent on going extinct early in this sixth mass extinction rather than later, with famine (partly from GMO crop failures, global warming, and lack of water since we refuse to control our population), pestilence (with all of the super bugs and super weeds created by overuse of antibiotics and GMOs, and again, global warming), and of course, our all time favorite; war. But for Pete’s sake, why can’t we do without war? We should be helping each other, not trying to see who can get the most “power” by killing off others?
    Imagine there’s no countries,
    It isn’t hard to do,
    Nothing to kill or die for,
    No religion too…..

    1. I agree whole heartedly with you Stan Benton the words John Lennon wrote in Imagine is just what he would have loved the world to be!! what a sad place this world is becoming!

  6. It is hard to believe that world leaders have not as yet evolved enough or gained the skills of communication to prevent war. It is a sign of immaturity and incompetence to always want to settle a dispute with violence and harm to all people involved. The Iran situation is an ideal place to set the trend of achieving an understanding and commitment to solve disagreements without war. I am encouraging our world leaders to resolve to work together towards No More War!

    1. yes, iran seems to be on a fulcrum point
      consider what it would take to back off and turn around
      cold turkey?
      consider the racism behind our history of wars
      how much of the things you expect would you sacrifice for world peace?
      we are programmed for what we believe to be normal
      how do you face authority?
      what could the palestinians offer?
      i suggest that deep suffering is liberation
      i vote with my dollar: no gasoline, no inorganic food, minimal electricity, gardening, solar
      but i still drink imported coffee

    2. War is in the interest of a few i.e the leaders who encourage it. It is for their personal power gain and for economic gain. It has nothing to do with immaturity or imcompetence of the leaders. War is clearly planned behind the scenes to achieve these objectives.The masses are used as a means not only in civil society but also in a war environment to carry out the wishes of the minority war leaders. We the masses must change this situation, by not buying into the concept that war is necessary, by not perpetuating violence to solve porblems. World beyond war is possible if the masses stand up and neutralise the manipulation that is carried out by the war leaders. If we understand and know that the mass population of this planet, do not want to participate in war and that the majority of people want to live and carry on with their lives and not be manipulated and socially engineered into thinking that war is necessary. It is possible, there are more members of the mass population than there are war leaders. What if 90% of the world population said no more, we will not participate in your war for your own personal gain at the masses expense. Then what… no war. Spread the word that the masses have the power to stand up and not participate in war. We have had enough of being manipulated and used as cannon fodder for the benefit of a few.

  7. Completely agree. Power and Greed is manifested by this ‘insanity on steroids’ destruction of the environment and peoples’ lives.

  8. A world beyond war is possible – if together we believe it we would focus on the planet and all beings thriving. Our systems would shift to care over profit. Innovation and creativity would flourish. Conflict response would transform from violence to helpful management. We would change from worshiping consumption and individuality to revering healthy collectivity and come-unity – community.

  9. We have never invented a weapon that we didn’t eventually use. We now have the capacity ( and have had for decades) to destroy our entire world many times over. Yet we continue to spend BILLIONS on new weapons and their research. We could help millions of people out of poverty, take a big stride towards eliminating world hunger and many deadly diseases. Besides, we clearly cannot care for the thousands of male and female veterans who have returned from war maimed and mutilated, so why on earth are we sending more to war. I’s time to stop this insanity!

  10. yes ,…i would love to support you ,..spiritually ,..since i do not have a lot of money !!!!

    but the time is right for humanity to change ,….for a better destination ,…and that is after 6000 years of war’s now the time to do . yes ,…i like that song of john lennon ,….imagine ,….there will be no more wars …….bob marely ,….the cia killed him too ,……you can fool some people sometimes ,….but not all the people all the times .

    i know ,….we have won that war ,…no world war 3 ,….because of divine intervention ,

    love ,…unconditionally ,
    ali.

  11. There are few voices for peace.
    There must be billions of people who would prefer peace, if they had a voice.
    Social media, perhaps, gives us an unparalleled opportunity to spread these ideas.
    Voluntary population control is a start. No family needs more than 2 children. Combined with many people remaining single, and infertile couples adopting unwanted children, we could keep our human population at 7 billion.
    No more destruction of forests in order to grow crops to feed animals, of which we have 80 billion. The vast increase in animal corpse consumption strains our water and food resources.
    Until recently most of the world lived on a mainly plant-based diet. Proper cultivation with natural composts and farming methods will ensure that everyone worldwide can be fed properly.
    1 billion people don’t even have clean water.
    1.8 billion don’t have simple sanitation and hygiene.
    Simple solar energy should enable most people to have household or village electricity, for lighting, cooking and security, even in the poorest communities, encouraging them to live and thrive locally, stopping the unnatural rush to cities, which become ringed by ever increasing slums.
    The United Nations and similar organisations know what is needed. Unfortunately powerful industries- the pharmaceutical- military-industrial complex mentioned by President Eisenhower, are not interested in people but their wealthy shareholders and bankers.
    Armies and soldiers worldwide need training in helping at home and abroad to provided infrastructure and security, really supporting people rather than waging wars.
    Schools and teachers worldwide need to educate all children to think rationally to help their communities and the world.
    Peace will come when enough of us learn and share our ideas and refuse to kill.

  12. The power of positive thinking … and the impact of powerful words are not enough in a world gone wrong with greed and corruption determining everyday life for 6.8 billion people … it needs the Power of Positive Action. The collective voice of humanity standing up as one and saying: Enough! The word for that is called; Revolution. Anything less … will simply allow ‘more of the same’ … war, poverty and suffering.

  13. Our super rich are bad jealous of those less well off than themselves and really want to be mean to the poor because it make the rich feel richer to tear down the poor.

  14. The world is slowly waking up. War is not so much about religious and freedom as it is power and financial gain. Governments have lost touch (if it was truly ever there)with the people. Corporations dictate “democracy” to the powers to be and they in turn spin the agenda to the masses. Again, the world is slowly waking up. To stop war and corruption is by no means an easy task, but with a from the ground up approach, voting, speaking out we may be able to turn things around. It is now that we need to start, so that our children will see things for what they truly are and take it to the next step and beyond. Again, no easy task, but one we must all buy into! Peace and Love all!

    NK

  15. We’d have more money to spend on the important stuff: education, arts, science, infrastructure, and a guaranteed basic income. And that’s just to start!

  16. We must stand up to the war mongerers. At times of such turmoil linked to the end to the american empire, we can change either change the course of history, or let it proceed along the path to mass destruction.

  17. Peace happens; we create it. By how we behave with each other, and what thoughts we put out into the world, and the community we influence, and hold dear.

  18. Michael Nagler’s book The Nonviolence Handbook shows that we can develop the soul force for nonviolent resistance. Why would we allow our beautiful young men and women to die for us? We can stand for our own lives and stand nonviolently.

  19. One must realize the extent of economic addiction in this world to the manufacture and sale of arms and munitions. To overcome this addiction, millions of jobs in manufacture and supply must diversify to a different kind of production or become unemployed. I am not saying that a world without war is not a possibility, but one has to realize the tremendous dependency that exists on this market world wide. Let’s get started, who goes first?

  20. Given our finite way of looking at things, it would appear that war is an integral part of life on this planet. Many of us can remember wars that have been unbelievably destructive and savage, but have been accepted as something unavoidable in our lives. But it isn’t! War can be avoided if sufficient numbers of people are prepared to work and struggle for peace, but it will be a long haul, particularly as armament firms are just interested in peddling their wares for money. However, the main thought is, or should be IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS!

  21. I think the problem is that we believe in baddies – we teach our children to believe in baddies – then of course, the goodies kill the baddies. Simple. But the truth is that anyone who kills is a baddy. You can’t be a goody by killing baddies. But what do you do? Let the baddies get away with bad behaviour!!! You have to do something, they are so scary. So you become a baddy. The way out of this conundrum is to teach children that all people are good, they need have no fear. If occasionally a person does act bad, then he or she may be constrained, but with the utmost kindness and compassion. We are all good, with a few bad apples who need help. If we treated all others as good, they would in fact be more good than they would have been.

  22. Just think of all the good that could be done with the billions and billions of dollars wasted on war.

  23. War is so 20th century, We are in a new paradigm of peace, love and harmony.
    The internet has given us a voice !!!
    I urge everyone to use the internet to be heard.
    PEACE TO ALL BEINGS !!!
    NAMASTE.

  24. I am totally on board as I fully believe a world with out war is possible however it will only happen when enough of us say we have the power as we the people are far more then the 1%. Belief is the key which is how we need to live our lives. Visualize and speak it out loud and when enough of us come together we can change the world! I’m in!

  25. Peace will only be possible when Justice reigns supreme.

    It is possible and will happen.

    Maitreya, the World Teacher for this time spells it out for us.
    Only by Sharing the Worlds Resources can justice prevail.
    Check out his ideas on http://www.share-international.org

    The will of people united has, can, and will create change.

  26. One of the most crucial pillars of World Peace is the strategy to convert the global military industrial complex into producing output for civilian use. This will help to alleviate fears and resistance on those who may be threatened by military plant closures should we the peace activists start to gain position.
    After all, it will make no difference on a person’s livelihood if their factory is producing missiles or tractors to build infrastructure. I am sure given the choice, most will surely choose the latter.

  27. The trouble (or one of them) with these initiatives to my mind is that they do not sufficiently reassure people “coming cold” to them that they are not simply “fronts” for some other “suspicious” leftwing (in the 50s it would have been “Commie”) agenda. Nor are the proposed concrete steps towards the objective spelt out in a nice short list which does not require reading the books touted on the site.

  28. ik ben tegen alle vormen van geweld, macht, machtsmisbruik en onderdrukking.
    Ik ben VOOR gelijkheid van elk mens op deze aarde van welke aard of stand dan ook.
    Er staat niemand boven je / onnder je

  29. Ik ben tegen alle vormen van geweld, macht, machtsmisbruik, manipulatie en onderdrukking.
    Elk mens is gelijk aan de ander van welke stand dan ook op deze aarde.
    Er is genoeg voor iedereen, voedsel (gezond voedsel) geld of wat dan ook.

  30. The primary obstacle to a world without war is that people don’t realize it’s possible because they don’t see the alternative, what a world with peace looks like. For that reason we published A Global Security System: An Alternative To War, available from Amazon and viewable on the website, worldbeyondwar.org. It’s the blueprint for peace.

  31. Dialogue is the best way of resolving our differences, if we couldn’t achieve peace through dialogue, then war will only shatter us completely. We say no to war, no to militancy, no to genocide.

  32. COMBATING FEAR, WAR, AND OFFICIAL TERRORISM. Since the large anti-war protests in the U.S. and Europe against the invasion of Iraq, there has been very limited action against AmeriKan militarism. The policies of official terrorism are recognized as such by too few people. Unless the United States militarily intervenes in Iran or Syria, there does not appear to be much current activity leading to campaigns of protest such as occurred during the Vietnam War or even the world wide mobilizations prior to the Iraq invasion. In part this may be due to the more immediate oppressive class situations that bear down on the downtrodden´s sense of priorities. But the incessant fear mongering of the War on Terror has to be addressed. Official Terror and War abroad and the diversion of public funds to militarism are the root causes of the measures that bear down on people´s lives in the Homeland. To become an effective movement against the culture of fear, war, and the terrorism of the powerful, the complex around the State of National insecurity, the misappropriation of public funds from social wellbeing to creating world havoc, the Movement needs to engage tactics that bring these issues to the fore and show the connection to people´s lives at home. AmeriKa Inc. needs a massive peace movement that rivals that of the Vietnam War era. Since militarism and the State of National Insecurity are the roots of all domestic evil, this is a broad class and popular issue, a unifying issue for diverse causes, and should be brought to the top of the list of strategic concerns and mobilizations.

    To mention at this point just one avenue of resistance–totally neglected are actions against military recruitment. The recruiters are taking advantage of the very disadvantaged situation of youth to entice them into the Armed Forces with the promises of all kinds of benefits not available in civilian life. With the build-up of the War on Terror, thousands of military recruiters visit high schools, urge youth to join up with the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, offer bonuses of $17,000 and up, promise free education and other benefits after military service. The recruiters especially target poor and minority youth. During the period of the Iraq War and Occupation, the military lowered their recruitment standards of education, aptitude, and criminal record. No doubt the recruitment of criminals, gang members, persons affiliated with racist organizations (themselves created by the workings of the System) has to do with the atrocities and rapes by American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Follow the recruiters and force them out of schools! Educate youth what they face in military service. Bring outside agitators to the outskirts of U.S. military bases! Work in every way to resist militarism, xenophobia, and irrational fears.

    Demand amnesty for Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, and all Whistleblowers. End Amnesty for War Criminals.

    More broadly, what is needed is the eventual dismantling of the State of National Insecurity by demanding an end to impunity for crimes against humanity. And demanding the For Now Impossible. The CIA is a very convenient target.

  33. Our fear leads us to hide behind our military, rather than trusting in diplomacy and aid. Being peacemakers requires as much courage as being warriors. Let’s have the courage to believe in and practice and work for peace.

  34. Fortunately, perhaps a hundred million people or more on the planet, according to Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson, authors of The Cultural Creatives, are on the upward slope of the return to stability. However few they may be in number, they’re growing in numbers quickly, they are strong, they have a vision of the promised land, and most important of all, they have hope because they survived hitting bottom. They went off the cliff and bounced. They have uncovered their deepest feelings and released them.

    To me, this is the real meaning of the word responsibility, the combination of two words, “response” and “ability.” We all have this ability to respond to change, to adapt, to grow, and it is in this ability that we find our most human qualities. When we forgive ourselves for being unable to respond, we discover we can respond. The word “responsibility” is often used in the phrase “taking responsibility” or “assuming responsibility,” with the meaning of accepting blame and the heroic duty to repair whatever is wrong. This way of thinking can cause us to take on overwhelming problems and feel totally stuck.

    On the other hand, if we think of ourselves as “giving response-ability” from our innate talents and abilities, then a whole new range of options open up for us, and we can flow into solutions that were otherwise impossible. When we move out of the despair within ourselves, we end the cycle of addictive behaviors. When I change my inner world, my external behavior shifts to match, and I become a creative source of systemic change.

  35. It really is very simple: We can’t afford war …we have to put all our energy and resources into working together to save the planet and our species from past mistakes.
    We should start by recognizing that we need the talents of BOTH genders, and particularly the life preserving behaviour of mothers.

  36. I could go on and on, but won’t. Just one observation, look at the language that we choose to describe the signalling of a war’s beginning: “Waging War”.

    We are paid Wages, which is our income and used to support our personal lives/families, and we could CHOOSE to Wage Peace♥

    So, SERIOUSLY, we understand that ANY and ALL wars have been ‘picked’ (as in pick a fight) to bolster economies and financial goals; and yet War is the largest user of our finances and our MOST Precious assets, our people, usually our children and youth.

    The funds needed to continue healthcare and support for all of the military personnel during and after a war is gigantic and a counter intuitive to the WAGING of a war to grow the economy as well.

    Humbly submitted♥
    Lynn

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