Disobedience
U.S. historian Howard Zinn once said, “The Holocaust might serve a powerful purpose if it led us to think of the world today as wartime Germany — where millions die while the rest of the population…
Category: The War-making State
Children of Vietnam
On Betty Lifton and Tom Fox, Children of Vietnam, 1972 The writer of children’s stories and a former IVS volunteer and journalist had to do something. So they compiled this Mev Puleo-ish book of stories and…
Just Received a Book in Today’s Mail…
And opened to a random page which was “xi” of Arundhati Roy’s foreword to the re-issue of Noam Chomsky’s For Reasons of State She writes: Perhaps this belief in its own divinity also explains why…
Modern Crucifixion in Central America
Every day during the years of conflict in Central America, tortured bodies were found along roadsides—as in Jesus’ day the crucified victims of the Roman Empire were displayed on the side of the road—to instill…
“Every Man Should Have His war”
One of the best books I’ve ever read is by Gloria Emerson, Winners and Losers: Battles, Retreats, Gains, Losses and Ruins from a Long War. A major themes in the book is how the Vietnam War affected Americans (or…
General William Dupuy’s Utter Confidence in the Efficacy of State Terrorism
The solution in Vietnam is more bombs more shells more napalm… until the other side cracks and gives up Source Christian Apply, Patriots: The Vietnam War Remembered from All Sides
Consider the Source
The Pentagon will gladly supply, on request, such information as the quantity of ordnance expended in Vietnam. From 1965 through 1969 this amounts to about 4.5 million tons by aerial bombardment. This is nine times…
What You Understand Depends on Where You Stand/1
For Brent and Brett On Daniel Berrigan’s Night Flight to Hanoi Night Flight to Hanoi is an account of Jesuit Daniel Berrigan’s odyssey in late January and early February 1968, when he and historian Howard Zinn traveled…
Deep Seeing
Dear Chris, For me, one of Thich Nhat Hanh’s greatest gifts is the original 14 precepts of the Order of Interbeing (first published by Parallax in 1987). As you know, I include the 4th precept…
Respecting the Vietnamese
On John Balaban’s Remembering Heaven’s Face: A Moral Witness in Vietnam For Chris, Carol, and Cristina John Balaban declared himself a Conscientious Objector during the VietnamWar; he ended up going to Vietnam, but as a member…