Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek

Peacewarts: Dept. of Chronicled Courage - Women as Treaty Architects (Class 5) We study the 1915 International Congress of Women as a masterclass in parallel diplomacy. We reframe Jane Addams and her colleagues as intellectual engineers who drafted the blueprints for modern international governance while the world was at war. Homework: Look upthe 1915 International Congress of Women or the Women’s...

How AI Helped Me Make ZERO: A Field Guide to a Weaponless World (Part 1) In this episode I share the origin story of my book ZERO: An Every Person’s Field Guide to a Weaponless World. The project began with a simple research question: Have people ever written real plans for global disarmament? To explore the question, I opened a research conversation with my AI collaborator “G.” In this episode I...

Peacewarts: Dept. of Chronicled Courage - The Man Who Said No (Class 4) We study Vasili Arkhipov and his refusal to launch a nuclear torpedo during the Cuban Missile Crisis. We explore how a shift in frame of mind—from combat to communication—can break the physics of escalation and serve as a manual override for broken systems. Homework: Look upthe K-19 submarine accident (1961) or the Cuban Missi...

Peacewarts: Chronicled Courage 101 - The First Peace Treaty (Class 3) We enter the Hall of Records to examine the Treaty of Kadesh (1259 BC), the world's oldest surviving peace treaty. We deconstruct the myth of inevitable war by analyzing the "recorded logic" that ended a century of conflict between the Egyptian and Hittite Empires. By shifting our focus from the chariot battle to the scriptorium...

Peacewarts: Dept. of Chronicled Courage - The Myth of Inevitable War (Class 2) We deconstruct the lie that humans are biologically destined for combat. By examining archaeological records and the "Long Peace" of 1815-1914, we prove that peace is a deliberate, high-maintenance labor and the actual "default" of human history. Homework: Look up the Aaland Islands dispute of 1921 or the Concert of Eur...

Peacewarts: Chronicled Courage 101 - Peace Erasure & Jeannette Rankin (Class 1) We transition into the archives to study history as a lineage of persistence. This class defines "Erasure" as a political tool and examines the Jeannette Rankin Brigade (1968) and JFK’s "Strategy of Peace" as case studies in recovered memory and the "Great Refusal." Homework: Look upthe Jeannette Rankin Brigade or...

Javier Peke Rodriguez and Peacewarts Moves to Weekly In this transition episode, Avis shares a heartfelt appreciation for the music that sets the tone for our study of peace and announces an intentional shift in the rhythm of the Peacewarts curriculum. The Music of the Lab Avis shares a bit about Javier "Peke" Rodriguez, the acclaimed Spanish composer and pianist whose atmospheric and therapeutic...

Peacewarts: Living Roots 101 - Subsistence as Dignity (Class 14) We conclude our journey in the Department of Living Roots by reframing subsistence not as a state of poverty, but as the highest form of dignity and freedom. We explore how dependency has been used as a weapon through the get big or get out era and the cultural construction of peasant shame. By examining the resilience of Cuba’s orga...

Peacewarts: Dept. of Living Roots - The Lie of Independence (Class 13) We deconstruct the myth of self-sufficiency. Through the "Cowboy Myth," the global standards of the ICAO, the industrial success of Mondragon, and the history of the Siege of Sarajevo (1992-1996), we learn why structural interdependence is more durable than isolation. Homework: Look up the Mondragon Corporation’s list of produc...

Peacewarts: Dept. of Living Roots - Barter & Sharing (Class 12) We explore how local economies built on barter, time banking, and gift systems provide security during financial instability. This class examines the Argentine economic collapse, the global TimeBank movement, and how local currencies like BerkShares insulate communities from global shocks. Homework: Look up the work of Edgar Cahn ...

Peacewarts: Dept. of Living Roots - Planned Obsolescence & the Logic of War (Class 11) We examine how the "throwaway culture" of modern economics conditions us to accept human expendability. This class explores the link between the Rana Plaza disaster and precarious labor, the role of e-waste in Agbogbloshie, and how military "use-it-or-lose-it" logic mirrors consumer waste. Homework: Look up...

Ep 224 Peacewarts: Dept. of Living Roots - The Security of Knowing Your Neighbors (Class 10) We examine why social cohesion is a logistical requirement for peace. This class explores how loneliness drives radicalization, how the "Social Front" of the Danish Resistance saved thousands, and how the West African Ebola response proved that trust is more effective than force during a crisis. Learning T...

Peacewarts: Living Roots 101 - Local Food Networks as Anti-Propaganda (Class 9) We explore how centralized food systems act as an "invisible leash" that makes populations vulnerable to war-time propaganda. By examining the 1941 Great Famine of Greece and the Black Panther Free Breakfast Program, we discuss how local food autonomy serves as a decentralized defense system and a psychological break f...

Peacewarts: Living Roots 101 - Water Rights & Watersheds (Class 8) We explore the "Functional Peace" of the Indus Waters Treaty. Despite three wars, India and Pakistan have maintained this water agreement for over 60 years. This class examines how shared water management creates a "biological floor" that can survive even the most intense political hostilities, and asks: if we can cooperate to...

Peacewarts: Dept. of Living Roots - The Time It Takes (Class 7) We explore Slowness as a foundational strategy for peace. By contrasting the 500-year cycle of topsoil creation with the frantic pace of modern markets, we discuss how "Ecological Time" prevents extractive panic. We highlight the Iroquois Seventh Generation Principle as a masterclass in deliberate deceleration and long-term security....

Peacewarts: Living Roots 101 - Repair as Resistance (Class 6) We examine the act of repair as a strategic tool of nonviolent resistance. From the 1953 legal battle against the Phoebus Cartel to the logistical sabotage of Gandhi’s spinning wheel and Cuba’s ingenious "Rikimbili" inventors, this class teaches how maintenance reduces the global pressure for extraction. Homework Look up"The Phoebus Car...

Peacewarts: Living Roots 101 - The Victory Garden Myth (Class 5) We reframe the "Victory Garden" as a blueprint for community independence rather than a tool of war. We look at the staggering 40% production levels of 1943 and the Russian Dacha system—where 3% of the land produces over 80% of the vegetables. We discuss how nutritional sovereignty is a fundamental requirement for a peaceful society...

Peacewarts: Living Roots 101 - Hunger as a Weapon (Class 4) We examine the brutal history of manufactured famine as a tactical instrument of war. From the Holodomor to the "soft power" of the 1960s Food for Peace program, this class teaches scholars how to recognize when hunger is being used as a logistical weapon of control and why local agricultural sovereignty is a vital peace strategy. Homewor...

Peacewarts: Living Roots 101 - The Scarcity Script (Class 3) Episode Summary: We explore how the concept of "shortage" is used as a psychological and political tool to justify war. This class examines the history of the Enclosure Acts, the chemical dependency of modern agriculture, and the "Food as a Weapon" strategy to reveal how scarcity is often a manufactured policy rather than a biological re...

Peacewarts:  Living Roots 101 - Seed Sovereignty (Class 2) We move from the soil to the seed. This class explores why the right to save and exchange seeds is a foundational act of a peaceful society. We examine the transition from "Common" to "Commodity," the hidden costs of the 1960s Green Revolution, and the heroic sacrifice of the Vavilov Institute scientists who guarded the world's genetic her...

Peacewarts: Living Roots 101 - Orientation & Soil as a Peace Treaty (Class 1) We descend into the Greenhouse to introduce the Law of Return. This class focuses on the historical cause-and-effect chain between soil health and social stability, examining Mesopotamian salinization, the American Dust Bowl, colonial monocultures, and modern fertilizer dependency.  Homework: Interrupt your routine –...

In this episode, Avis pauses the Peacewarts series to explore a long tradition of walks for peace. Across history, people have chosen to walk slowly and publicly as a form of nonviolent witness, reclaiming roads and landscapes through presence rather than force. From Gandhi’s Salt March and Vinoba Bhave’s land gift walks to Peace Pilgrim, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez, and monastic peac...

Peacewarts: Universal Understars 101 - Peace as Infrastructure (Class 14) In this final lesson of the Understars series, we explore why peace is a stable infrastructure while war is a fragile system requiring constant upkeep. We summarize the "Understars Perspective" and dive deeper into JFK’s 1963 "Strategy of Peace" speech as a blueprint for human-made solutions. We define our role as Peace Scho...

Peacewarts: Universal Understars 101 - The Tools of Peace: A Survey (Class 13) We shift our focus from philosophy to the practical "infrastructure" of peace. We survey the various tools—from shared scientific endeavors to verification treaties—that allow humanity to maintain the High View. We look back at what we have named The Great Disarmament (1963) to see how tools like the Partial Test Ban Tr...

Peacewarts: Universal Understars 101 - The 1967 Outer Space Treaty (Class 12) We examine the 1967 Outer Space Treaty as the "Magna Carta" of planetary peace, detailing its core articles and historical origins between the US, UK, and USSR. We also address the modern "scramble" for orbital space by private corporations and why the treaty must evolve to protect the night sky from satellite clutter an...