Editor's Blog
Sam Diener, editor of Peacework Magazine, muses on global thought and local action. He will also highlight the online musings of the authors of Peacework Magazine. Please read the guidelines of Peacework's blogs and forums to participate in the discussion.
When I tell folks I'm co-editor of Peacework, one of the questions I get asked most is, "Where do you go for alternative news?" I'm never sure where to start, because of course, there are so many excellent peace and justice oriented magazines, newsletters, websites, and blogs out there. But in putting together a preliminary blog-roll for this site, I tried to pull together some of the sites I visit most often (see the blog roll on the right side of this page for links, and I'll paste the names in below as well).
I'd love to hear from you. If you check out any of these sites that perhaps you haven't visited before and like it, please let us know. Which sites do you found most useful, most original, most inspiring, most informative, most critical, most transformative? Which sites that I didn't mention would you add, and how come?
In Peace,
Sam Diener
Global Voices
Toward Freedom
Foreign Policy in Focus
Newsdesk - Overlooked News
OneWorld
IRIN - UN Humanitarian News
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
Common Ground News Service
Pambazuka - African Social Justice
Common Dreams
AlterNet
Truthout
Open Democracy
Znet
TruthDig
Buzzflash
Democracy Now!
Free Speech Radio News
A-Infos Radio Project
Movement Vision Lab
Wikileaks
MediaChannel - Watching Media
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Feminist Peace Network
Starhawk's Blog
Women of Color Blog
RaceWire - Colorlines
Black Commentator
Justice for All - Disability Rights
Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq
Electronic Iraq War Every Day
Dahr Jamail
Peace News
UFPJ Grassroots Action
CounterRecruiter
Courage to Resist
Conscientious Objector Alerts
Ruckus Society
Arms Control Wonk
GreenPeace Blog
Labor is Not a Commodity
Nonviolent direct action?
When I was reading the latest peacework magazine (12/07-01/08)I turned to page 16 and thought wow! Someone has done some impressive direct action work! Then my pacifist nonviolent mind started asking questions; Is this violent or nonviolent action? What if the signs were burnt intead of smeared with painted hand prints? What if the signs were stolen?
Then I read the article on the page; "Consequences of War Enacted at Blackwater Headquarters". Another direct action project came to mind when I read that this action was organized by the Catholic Workers at Jonah House. I believe it was in 1964 when the Berrigan brothers and other activists walked into a draft office in Baltimore, went through the files, and carried stacks of personal draft records outside and burnt them.
Do you consider that violence? Slashing military recruiter's tires, throwing bricks through military recruitment offices, burning someone's American flag on private property. Where are we headed with direct action? We know the facts of the thuggery and murder by Blackwater employees. We know the facts concerning the militarization of local police, the blatant violent use of physical force, pepper spraying, tasing, etc. How far will this militarization, violence and mockery of the Bill of Rights go? How do we in the peace and counter-recruitment movement respond to all this? What can we justify as "nonviolent direct action"?
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