BOOK: SWANSON: "Killing Is Not a Way of Life"

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BOOK: Beating Swords into Plowshares: A Review of "Killing Is Not a Way of Life"

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Saturday, 10 January 2015 11:33 By Eleanor J. Bader, Truthout | Book Review

Killing Is Not a Way of Life: Essays by David Swanson, 2014, Self-published in Charlottesville, Virginia, $20, 428 pages.

David Swanson, director of worldbeyondwar.org, starts his latest collection of essays, Killing Is Not a Way of Life, with the assertion that armed conflict is neither necessary nor inevitable.

The 92 articles in the anthology - many of them first delivered as speeches at conferences, meetings and rallies or onTalk Nation Radio - relentlessly emphasize this point, referencing the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928. That agreement, signed by 62 countries including the United States, was one of many post-World War I efforts to prevent more carnage by outlawing wars of aggression.

While military acts of self-defense are not covered by the pact, Swanson urges the people of the world to press their political leaders to abide by the little-known, and likely long-forgotten, document.

It would certainly be an amazing and wonderful step toward a new era of peace and prosperity if the pact were heeded. What's more, the earth itself would benefit.

For example, Swanson notes that in 2006, the US military burned through approximately 340,000 barrels of oil a day. Ending this, he writes, and cutting off the $1.9 trillion a year that the world currently spends on war, could not only help solve the climate crisis, but would free up funding for a wide array of needed human services.

"War kills primarily through taking spending away from where it's needed," Swanson reports, whether it's the provision of health care, decent schools, or programs that enhance community and build neighborhood cohesion. "For a small fraction of war preparations spending, college could be free here and provided free in some other parts of the world too," he writes. "Imagine how many more environmental activists we could have if college graduates didn't owe tens of thousands of dollars."

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INTERVIEW: David Swanson's New Book: Killing Is Not A Way Of Life

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By Susie Madrak December 6, 2014 7:00 am

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“The world needs more true advocates of democracy like David Swanson!” —Thom Hartmann, radio/TV host and author.

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Peace activist David Swanson has a great new book that just might be perfect for someone on your Christmas list:

David Swanson's past books, including War Is A Lie, When the World Outlawed War, and War No More: The Case for Abolition, have tended to be full-length, single-topic affairs. War Is A Lie is a sort of taxonomy of war lies aimed at creating a prepared and skeptical populace. When the World Outlawed War is an account of the peace movement of the 1920s and the creation of the Kellogg-Briand Pact -- a book aimed both at depicting a powerful movement and at creating awareness of a law still on the books banning all war.

War No More: The Case for Abolition is an argument for the possibility and desirability of ending the entire institution of war, a project taken up by Swanson and others at WorldBeyondWar.org . Swanson's past books have won him some fans. Ralph Nader put When the World Outlawed War on a short list of books everyone should read.

Cornel West says "David Swanson is a truth-teller and witness-bearer whose voice and action warrant our attention."
Kathy Kelly says "David Swanson predicates his belief that nonviolence can change the world on careful research and historical analysis."
And Thom Hartmann: "The world needs more true advocates of democracy like David Swanson!"

The new book, Killing Is Not a Way of Life is a collection of essays, all written between January and November 2014 and touching on a variety of topics, most heavily peace, justice, and environmentalism. We asked Swanson about this new publication:

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