Veterans for Peace Radio Hour

Today we cover several topics. We start in Nashville where the Tennessee legislature has demonstrated clearly its white supremacy and misogyny. We talk to people in the gallery who came to witness the unjustified and racist expulsion of Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, and Gloria Johnson. We then listen to a presentation by Azmat Kahn investigative reporter on the deadly impact of US killer drones an...

Peace Workers US .org put together a collection of statements from the speeches of Dr. King and Harvey and I wanted to share some of them and relate them to what is happening today. While we realize how much we lost when he was assassinated in April of 1968, we are grateful that his words and wisdom live on if only we would listen. So we are hoping we are planting a seed and if you want to hear al...

Three great peace activists join us to discuss the upcoming protest at Holloman Air Force Base in April. Toby Blome, Colonel Ann Wright, and Ken Mayers talk about drones, the dangers, and the damage to people on the ground and people at the control. They also discuss the international ramifications of drones and their uncontrolled spread. With all that, they are protesting at Holloman Air Force Ba...

K.J. NOH returns to the show to update us on US relations or let's say US provocations of China. KJ talks about the recent China negotiations that led to a thawing of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran. This and of course the Chinese proposal for peace in Ukraine are triggering the US. He points out how the US continues to manipulate Pacific countries from Korea to Australia into provocat...

Greg Payton, an African American veteran of the Vietnam war, turned international peace activist with Vietnam Veterans Against War, Veterans for Peace, War Resisters’ League, and Black Veterans for Social Justice. Here he shares his stories from the racial battlefields of Vietnam to homeless vet to international peace activist. You will hear Greg relate how he was transformed and then how he has t...

Ricardo Levins Morales artist, activist, and counselor gave a wonderful presentation called the Praxis of Hope sponsored by The Leadership Center for Social Justice of the United Theological Seminary. In the presentation, he discusses the nature and emotion of hope as compared to the despair that seems to be running rampant through society, especially among the young.   He shares his tho...

After Harvey's update on the Golden Rule coming to Charleston, SC. this weekend, we turn the show over to our VFP comrade Carol Trainer from Louisville, Ky. to interview Poet, activist, counselor Roberto Schiraldi about this works, his poets, and his books on white supremacy and how to address it. You will hear several poems that address our need to recognize our own vulnerability as a way to rele...

Today we will hear about the US Military experience and the US Veteran experience from the African American perspective. Michael McPhearson former Executive Director of Veterans for Peace, Miles Thomas rapper (Megaciph), and Ronda Shelton member of the Hector Black Chapter of Veterans for Peace join the show to share their experience in the military and after. They weigh in on race, betrayal, corr...

On the first day of Black History Month, the College Board removed a number of authors, activists, topics, and organizations from their requirements for AP African American studies.  These voices critical to understanding the African American experience include author and activist James Baldwin.  Today we spend the hour listening to James Baldwin in his own words as he talks to high scho...

Today we have scholars, activists, clergy, politicians, and peacekeepers sharing their thoughts about the Dr. King that is rarely recognized, the Dr. King that was anti-militarism, anti-nuclear weapons, and anti-war. Senator Nina Turner, Rev. Liz Theoharris, Pastor Michael McBride, India Walton, and Khury Petersen-Smith participated in this portion of a webinar hosted by Defuse Nuclear War.  ...

When Janet Bates realized that her protests, her marches, her letters to the editor were still not stopping war, she got so frustrated that her husband recommended writing songs and so she did and we are so grateful.  Today we will talk to Janet about her activism and the stories behind the songs that we will hear.

What are you going to do to celebrate the second anniversary of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons?  Ralph Hutchison, outgoing Coordinator, and Tanvi Cardile incoming Coordinator of the Oakridge Environmental Peace Alliance, OREPA, join us to explain why celebrating this momentous treaty is so important.  Two years ago the majority of countries voted to support the Treaty o...

Bill Astore is a historian for peace and a prolific writer for TomDispatch, Huff Post, Alternet, Antiwar.com, and many others including his own Bracing Views and Word Press on substack. He is a retired AF Lt. Col and retired professor of history at the AF Academy and technical school in Pennsylvania. Today he shares his insights into US War Culture, the military and the lack of integrity, militari...

Helen Jaccard, Golden Rule Project Manager, and Gerry Condon former President of Veterans for Peace join us to get the new year off to an optimistic start. We visited with them about the Golden Rule the Veterans for Peace Peace Sailboat trip to Cuba as it is taking a detour from the Great Loop journey it is taking to bring a message of peace and nuclear disarmament.

2022 is over and in this show, we relive what we did on the show by sharing the hooks/the teasers for all but about 4 of our shows. We trace our steps from January and the Veterans for Peace alternative Nuclear Posture Review all the way to re-celebrating the Christmas Truce. We hoped that by sharing these hooks/teasers we might have seen some positive progress. It is hard to say that we did.

So you have always thought that the 1914, WWI Christmas Truce was spontaneous and it was the only one.  Well, buckle up because we have news you may not have heard.  Did you know that the military establishment was so upset that they wanted to shell their own troops?   Did you know about the Easter Truce or how about the Truces (that's right more than one) on the Eastern Front?...

After reflecting on their participation at a recent VA Community Healing Ceremony where veterans told their powerful and heart-wrenching stories of moral injury, Harvey and Jim turned their attention to one of the culprits of US War Culture, the media. Taking clips from a recent webinar hosted by the War Industry Resistors Network (veteransforpeace.org), we hear from author, activist, and professo...

Cindy Piester, a member of VFP Climate Crisis and Militarism Project, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and decades-long peace and justice activist, joins the show after just returning from COP27 in Egypt. Cindy shares her insights into what good (and there were some) and not-so-good (and there was a lot)came out of COP 27. She tells us that for the first time militarism and...

Charles Powell is a member of Veterans for Peace, an Air Force Veteran, and a veteran of the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Charles was stationed in South Dakota at an ICBM site and shared his story of those tense days when they believed it was not a matter of if but when they would launch their missiles.  He then shares how this experience and reflecting on US militarism, transformed him from a...

Dr. Kelly Denton-Borhaug comes on the show to discuss Moral Injury and the US War Culture and her powerful and important book "And Then Your Soul is Gone, Moral Injury and the US War Culture.."  She discusses and defines moral injury and the impact of US War Culture not only on the military and veterans but more importantly on the US Citizen.  She describes how that war culture is hidden...

As we approach another ARMISTICE Day (aka Veterans Day in the US), we bring back and update our interviews with Garett Reppenhagen and Keslie Carrion about the need to reclaim Armistice Day. We show how Veterans Day has turned a holiday (Armistice Day) that celebrated and encouraged peace and world respect into a day to glorify militarism, exceptionalism, and marginalization. We also discuss the s...

KJ Noh rejoins the show to update us on the issues and challenges in the Asia Pacific area. From the protests, disasters, and miss-management of the President of South Korea, to the re-election of Xi Jinping in China and the effects on the region, to the next US-provoked confrontation with a nuclear power in Taiwan, KJ gives us his insights, wisdom, and concerns about today and tomorrow. K J Noh i...

Daniel Ellsberg brings his experience and wisdom to the debate over how to understand and deal with Putin, Russia, and the war in Ukraine, as we continue to see both sides escalate. Using clips from the Brooklyn for Peace webinar and the Analysis News Website, we again find a respected source that says we must talk and he even gives a way to start negotiations with Putin.

Jeffrey Sachs spoke to the Brooklyn Peace Action and we share most of it in this episode. Jeffrey Sachs who has recently stirred controversy by alleging the US was responsible for the destruction of the Russian Nord Stream Pipeline, shares his wisdom from decades of working with both Russian and American leaders. He unequivocally calls for negotiations with Putin and explains why it is critical to...

Environmental activist and VP of the Veterans for Peace Chapter in Spokane relates the tale of how he blocked a train, got arrested, went to court, used the Necessity Defense, and won (kind of). George also explains why he is so environmentally conscious, the specifics of the Necessity Defense, and how his case can be a precedent for people taking non-violent direct action if they have to go to co...