Roots of War: Community Voices

In this space the Community is encouraged to enter Posts on The Roots of War, or to Comment on existing Posts.  The Roots of War Speaker Series concluded on April 23 with Jo Comerford speaking on “How Federal Spending Priorities Make Us Less Secure.” Jo  provided evidence that our growing military spending is starving “Main Street” services, including schools, libraries, police and fire departments, and health and human services.  She  addressed, specifically, how the costs of the war in Afghanistan and the occupation of Iraq contribute to our recession-ridden economy and described what citizens can do to move the government toward a peace economy.

Jo Comerford is Executive Director of the National Priorities Project, a project which provides real-time data on war and national defense spending and the trade offs in local social welfare, education and renewable energy which result. She is former Director of the Food Bank of western Massachusetts and a board member of the War Resisters League.

Audio mp3 files of this talk and others in the series are available here.

More about this blog, how to enter Posts,  and the Roots of War speaker series…

Tabbitha Greenough

I chose to attend this event both for its convenience as well as its congruence with my own personal interests. I started my academic career as an international studies major, and one of the things I noticed was that my classes seemed to base the historical part of the curriculum on international conflicts or wars and their causes and consequences, so Prof. Klare’s specialty in globalization was of particular interest to me, in regards to the cause of hostilities. This event seemed to me to be a chance to hear something new about a familiar topic. Moreover, I was interested in the question and answer period, and whether that would bring about informed discussion, or as so often seems to happen, dissolve into grandstanding and angry debate. Read the rest of this entry »

Sam Eide

For this assignment, I chose to attend a lecture called “The Roots of War.” I chose this event because I am deeply interested with searching for the roots of concepts and issues that I find to be important. I believe that, like trees, harmful policies, institutions, systems and behaviors are unable to survive when their roots are severed. So when dealing with issues of social injustice and war I am inclined to focus on what I find to be the initial and deepest causes (roots) of these problems; these causes are often not immediately obvious and are often an ongoing source of fuel for these problems that enable them to persist (or to reoccur, after an apparent resolution or solution). This seems, to me, to be a practical approach because if the roots of a problem remain, no matter how many branches are removed, there is always potential for re-growth. Read the rest of this entry »

Lia Karras

For this observation assignment, I attended Professor Michael Klare’s lecture, which took place at GCC on Friday. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I very much wanted to involve myself in something informative, yet not ranting, because the topic already evokes emotion, so it becomes hard to rely on facts if they are not carefully offered. If information on an important topic is presented in a peaceful manner, although the topic itself is harsh, we have more of a reason to come together and make an effort for peace. I knew that the topic, roots of war, is difficult and complex. However, It is important to understand the causes of conflict, and to recognize what it is that has been ‘worth’ fighting for. I wanted to gain a better understanding of this for myself so that I can also understand more ways to work for peace. Read the rest of this entry »

Abbie Jenks

I am a child of the sixties and bring that unique perspective of the events of that time to the here and now. My work to help others has been, until recently, an assigned role from my family, a duty. Yet it became the beginnings of a personal path to healing.

In my family, I was the designated caretaker and this responsibility in my family had life and death consequences. My mother was a very depressed and troubled woman and two days before MLK was assassinated in April, 1968, my mother took an overdose of sleeping pills, prescribed to her by her doctor for insomnia. I share this because my work to help others became a path to healing and without my ability to heal, I could not have gotten to this next point – that of a peacemaker– in my life. The significance of the timing of her death, juxtaposed with the death of MLK doesn’t escape my attention, providing a further template from which to understand injustice. Read the rest of this entry »

Elliot Tarry

“…to understand war we have to get at its myths, recognize
that war is a mythical happening, …and that the love of war tells
of a love of the gods, the gods of war;…” 1.
-James Hillman

Blood sacrifice is a concept civilized people pretend to disdain, yet as a nation, as a people, we honor the blood shed by our youth upon the battlefield and elevate their sacrifices with tales of noble struggles and heroic glory in the cause of freedom. And the battlefields themselves are revered as sacred or hallowed ground. Read the rest of this entry »

Darcy Sweeney

In the documentary film, Afghan Women: A History of Struggle (Kathleen Foster 2007) a group of purposeful university men and women gather around a library table; in another image unveiled, casually dressed young women stand in the sun, smiling for the camera. One might assume (or hope) that these images were taken after the U.S. defeated the Taliban and George W. Bush gleefully proclaimed that the U.S. occupation had put an end to the submission of Afghan women. Not so; these images were taken decades earlier, before Afghanistan descended into the hell of ceaseless war. And as both the documentary and Ann Jones’ excellent book Kabul in Winter: Life Without Peace in Afghanistan (2006) make painfully clear, the plight of Afghan women has become ever-bleaker during the past 25 years of invasion, occupation, and civil war. Read the rest of this entry »

Mary Wentworth

Patriarchy is a worldwide system that predates recorded history and exists today as the world’s most powerful force, trumping other ideologies or political systems or religious beliefs. By definition, it is rooted in the subjugation of women. Moreover, the male violence that is necessary to control women is linked to the ability of patriarchs to engage in their quintessential activity — waging war. Read the rest of this entry »

Thoughts from the October 27, 2009 Roots of War Series with speakers Norman Solomon and Tyler Boudreau

Emily West

Norman Solomon was powerful last night. He has given the roots of war a great deal of thought and is clearly a compassionate human being as well as an astute journalist and visionary. He was captivating.

Thank you for allowing Tyler Boudreau to speak as well, the young ex-Marine who also has an amazing new book out Packing Inferno. I was fascinated by Tyler’s intensity, his restlessness, and his relentless quest for truth. His energy was palpable. And his transformation from dark warrior to enlightened wise man was evident and inspiring. Read the rest of this entry »

Betsy Hartmann
See other works by this author

Do the ends justify the means? This age-old question has relevance to today’s climate debate. This fall the Senate has the historic opportunity to pass legislation to curb U.S. carbon emissions. To win conservative votes, leading supporters of climate legislation are now recklessly playing the national security card. While in the short term this strategy may garner some votes, in the long term it threatens to militarize climate policy and subvert the mission of U.S. humanitarian and development aid. Read the rest of this entry »