David Swanson - War is a Lie: What Your Tax Dollars Buy

 

David Swanson spoke at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Oneonta, NY on April 24, 2016 as part of a tour for his book War Is a Lie.

David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is director of WorldBeyondWar.org and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org. Swanson's books include War Is A Lie. He blogs at DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org. He hosts Talk Nation Radio. He is a 2015 and 2016 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee.

Listen to the 58 minute podcast on iTunes.

From the Organizers:

Swanson will speak about and take questions on a variety of approaches to resisting, reducing and eliminating war, from counter-recruitment in schools, ending the draft, and conscientious objection, to lobbying, protesting, and dramatically disrupting the machinery of war. He will focus, however, on the process of educating people to recognize false justifications for war and to reject them.

Swanson argues that, while the prevention of a U.S. bombing campaign in Syria in 2013 and the upholding of a nuclear agreement with Iran in 2015 left much to be desired, they also provide grounds for encouragement, and were built on the public understanding of the lies about Iraq that had been promoted in 2002-2003. Swanson argues for a different understanding of current U.S. wars in Western Asia from that most often promoted on television. Frightening beheading videos, he suggests, were intended to draw the United States into war, and succeeded only because the U.S. public is not yet sufficiently resistant to such manipulation.

Author David Swanson was invited by the UUSO Social Action Committee.

This event was funded by a grant from the New York State Convention of Universalists.

Co-sponsors:

Schoharie County Peacemakers
SUNY Oneonta Social Justice Society
SUNY Oneonta Africana and Latino Studies Club