The Berlin Wall fell 30 years ago this year, on November 9, 1989. This massive barrier that since the 1960s had effectively imprisoned the residents of Communist-ruled East Berlin was also a symbol of the larger Cold War division between Eastern and Western Europe and the Soviet Union and the United States. When Berliners broke … Continue reading East Germany’s Peaceful Revolution: Remembering the Berlin Wall’s Fall
Category: History
Nuclear Disarmament as a Social Justice Issue
Activists seeking to end or radically reduce nuclear weapons’ threat may find it difficult to get public attention. Despite the high stakes involved—the lives of millions and even humanity’s survival—the nuclear threat frequently seems distant and abstract. The danger is future and hypothetical, in contrast to current, actual situations of people dying or suffering from … Continue reading Nuclear Disarmament as a Social Justice Issue
Political Action’s Opportunities and Dangers: Some Lessons from Bayard Rustin
Social movements learn from one another: strategies and tactics that work on behalf of one cause may also work for another. Learning from other activists requires discernment, though: times and circumstances differ, so what worked for one movement at one historical point may require adaptation and selectivity to be effective for a different movement. The … Continue reading Political Action’s Opportunities and Dangers: Some Lessons from Bayard Rustin
The Wages of War, Part 2: How Forced Sterilization Came to Japan
World War II’s devastation of Japan, and the politics of the post-war American occupation, led to the Japanese Diet [parliament] passing the Eugenic Protection Law 70 years ago, in 1948. The law legalized abortion in Japan, with millions of Japanese children being killed in the womb over subsequent decades.[1] The law also legalized a non-lethal but still … Continue reading The Wages of War, Part 2: How Forced Sterilization Came to Japan
Apocalypse Averted: The Brink’s Tale of Near-Nuclear War
The world might have come close to ending in the early 1980s. Tensions had been rising between the United States and the Soviet Union for years, and Soviet leaders were convinced that their American counterparts were planning to launch a nuclear war. The Soviets became hypersensitive to possible warning signs of an impending American or … Continue reading Apocalypse Averted: The Brink’s Tale of Near-Nuclear War
The Wages of War: How Abortion Came to Japan
“I hate Japs. I’m telling you men that if I met a pregnant Japanese woman, I’d kick her in the belly.” — Remark attributed to Admiral William Halsey, commander of US naval forces in the South Pacific during the Second World War[1] “Tsubachan, I’m sorry I couldn’t give birth to you. I would have loved … Continue reading The Wages of War: How Abortion Came to Japan
Extermination by Hunger: Red Famine’s Story of Lethal Injustice
Joseph Stalin took a fateful trip to Siberia in January, 1928. Stalin, soon to become the Soviet Union’s supreme leader, traveled to the country’s outskirts to identify the causes of poor agricultural production and food shortages. He concluded that Soviet farming was too small-scale: most peasants tended small farms that were not economically efficient, while … Continue reading Extermination by Hunger: Red Famine’s Story of Lethal Injustice
Finding Common Ground on and Learning from World War II
Writing on the Consistent Life Network's blog, Rachel MacNair recently examined several moral issues related to the Second World War and how we interpret and remember that war today.[1] An observation in that piece that struck me was that when a nonviolence advocate discusses war with someone who supports it, a war supporter who “understands things as … Continue reading Finding Common Ground on and Learning from World War II
“More Lives Were Saved”: Annihilated Cities and Choosing the Lesser Evil
The American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (whose 72nd anniversaries were this past summer) have long been defended because they supposedly saved more lives than they destroyed. By using atomic bombs to force Japan’s surrender in August 1945, the United States (so the argument goes) avoided either an American invasion of Japan or a … Continue reading “More Lives Were Saved”: Annihilated Cities and Choosing the Lesser Evil
Self-Defeating Violence: The Case of the First World War
The United States recently reached the 100th anniversary of American entry into the First World War. Although American businesses had provided arms and money to the Allied nations (which included Britain, France and Russia) in their war against Germany and the other Central Powers, US President Woodrow Wilson had sought to avoid sending American troops … Continue reading Self-Defeating Violence: The Case of the First World War
Peacemaking for Life 