by Medea Benjamin and David Swanson / April 4th, 2025
We are passionate supporters of all but one of the items on the Hands Off agenda for the April 5 rallies. We couldn’t agree more that the corrupt U.S. government should stop destroying, privatizing, firing, and giving away the post office, schools, land, Social Security, healthcare, environmental protections, and all sorts of essential public services. But we are deeply disturbed to see NATO (The North Atlantic Treaty Organization) on the list of items that we are rallying to protect.
Many people believe that NATO is a peace-loving, defensive alliance, …
Host Faramarz Farbod interviews Robert Jensen, professor, journalist, activist, and author of many books, most recently It’s Debatable: Talking Authentically about Tricky Topics. They talk about how to think freely, speak responsibly, and live authentically in an uncertain world and end with a discussion of contemporary controversies like white supremacy, ecological sustainability, and trans ideology.
On March 26, Congressman Jim Banks sent a letter to Attorney General Pamela Bondi requesting that CODEPINK be investigated for our alleged funding from the Chinese Communist Party. According to him, our activism against the genocide in Gaza is antisemitic and undermines US-Israel relations, and therefore must mean we are acting on China’s behalf.
To state it very clearly: CODEPINK is in no way funded by China, nor any other foreign government or agency. We are funded primarily by donations from concerned citizens that support peace over war. Anyone can check. We pass every audit, unlike the Pentagon.
China …
Universities in the United States are facing one of the most serious attempts to impose political control on higher education since the anticommunist loyalty tests of the 1950s. Whatever one thinks of the issues being debated today, such as the Israel/Palestine conflict, playing politics with federal funding is a threat to open inquiry. Administrators and faculty are scrambling to respond and resistance is strengthening, although Columbia University’s capitulation to the Trump administration isn’t heartening.
It’s too early to write an obituary for academic freedom, …
When they shelled us with the second missile, I woke up and was surrounded by rubble. I realized that my leg had been cut off…. My father and mother were martyred. My brother Mohammad and my sister Dalia, too. I only want one thing: for the war to end.
The ongoing Israeli genocide of Palestinians has made Gaza “the world’s most dangerous place to be a child.” For every child Israel kills, many more are wounded or maimed, causing mass amputations …
Amid growing international chaos, it should come as no surprise that nuclear dangers are increasing.
The latest indication is a rising interest among U.S. allies in enhancing their nuclear weapons capability. For many decades, remarkably few of them had been willing to build nuclear weapons―a result of popular opposition to nuclear weapons and nuclear war, progress on nuclear arms control and disarmament, and a belief that they remained secure under the U.S. nuclear umbrella. But, as revealed by a recent article in London’s Financial Times, Donald Trump’s public scorn for NATO allies and embrace of Vladimir Putin have raised …
Liberation Day, as April 2 was described by US President Donald Trump, had all the elements of reality television perversion. It also had a dreamy, aspirational hope: that factories would spring up from rust belt soil in a few months across the United States; that industries would, unmoored from the globe, become vibrant and burgeoning. The world’s largest importer had decided to turn back the tide.
The imposition of what Trump calls reciprocal tariffs was broadly savage. Over 180 countries fell within their scope. A baseline tariff of 10% was applied on goods imported by the US. Countries were then singled …
According to three Australian university academics: “We argue that, contrary to the WEF prediction, an owner-less future would not be a happy one for individuals. Ownership should thus be preserved as a property concept and we offer an aspiration for it that better supports not just human happiness, but also a more socially just, sustainable, and emancipatory future.”
David Alfaro Siqueiros, The New Democracy, 1944-45
I’m simply going to posit, without a dollop of varnish applied, the following declaration outright: The foremost and defining reason for the present miseries of US culture: Generation after generation have internalized the grift perpetrated by high dollar capitalists predators and blood-drenched war profiteers: the citizenry has been induced into believing, in fact, defining their lives by the soul-sucking lie: that which does not make a profit is devoid of value.
A hidden agenda is veiled within the capitalist work ethic: those who do the day-by-day work enrich …
The new US administration is set to announce its reciprocal tariffs on Wednesday local time, prompting widespread concern and opposition over the uncertainty they could unleash, according to media reports.
As the date approaches, global financial markets including the US stock market have experienced a rollercoaster ride as investors’ anxiety continues to worsen.
Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Wednesday. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 edged up 0.28 percent higher to close at 35,725.87, and the broader Topix index closed down by 0.43 percent at 2,650.29. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.62 percent to close at 2,505.86 while the Kosdaq declined 0.95 percent to …
Reports that a US national has been arrested after landing on North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean to make contact with the uncontacted Sentinelese people are “deeply disturbing”, Survival International’s Director Caroline Pearce said today.
“It beggars belief that someone could be that reckless and idiotic. This person’s actions not only endangered his own life, they put the lives of the entire Sentinelese tribe at risk. It’s very well known by now …
On April 2, Reuters headlined “US officials object to European push to buy weapons locally,” which means that Trump’s demand for Europe to increase greatly its ‘defense’ spending is, indeed, part of his plan to keep the boom in the U.S. stock markets going. This needs to be understood in the relevant context:
by Aaron Kirshenbaum and Melissa Garriga / April 3rd, 2025
As the world braces for another Earth Day, the environmental justice movement is at a critical juncture. While much of the climate conversation continues to focus on Big Oil and other corporate polluters, there is a glaring, often overlooked, contributor to the climate crisis: the U.S. military. In a bold statement of solidarity and urgency, several leading environmental justice organizations—including 350.org, Sunrise Movement, Climate Defenders, and National Priorities Project as well as frontline groups like NDN Collective, Anakbayan, and Diaspora Pa’Lante—have signed onto an open letter initiated by CODEPINK, urging …
Last Friday night, I went out to support a friend’s oldest boys. They had a high school rugby match in Bedford, Texas.
It was a great evening for it, and it felt good to be back out at the pitch (rugby field). I’d played in college and still held a catalogue of deep and abiding memories of my teammates and the matches we played in, the remembrances a comfort and a reminder of the bonds we forged and still shared.
It was no minor joy to see a younger generation of ruggers making …
In America, lying by the Government is routine because the Government represents not the public but only the wealthiest billionaires who provide most of the money that funds political campaigns. Any candidate who doesn’t represent the megadonor won’t get their money and will therefore be defeated by one who DOES represent the billionaires and NOT the public. Consequently, the winningest political candidates are the best liars, who (get all lof the billionaire money that they need in order to) deceive the most voters the most — and who fulfill on their public campaign promises to the …
Ironically, it was the US under President Trump which has broken with the US national security establishment’s bi-partisan strategy of incremental encirclement and escalation against Russia. That break offered Europe the opportunity to escape the trap created by its past lack of policy vision. Instead, Europe has proved plus royaliste que le roi (more royal than the King) and has remained loyal to the US national security Deep State.
In her recent “Threat Assessment” testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Director of Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard reasonably described Russia as a “formidable competitor.” However, in keeping with Trump’s desire for improved …
At the request of the United States, Argentine president Javier Milei ordered the declassification of all archives related to Nazi war criminals who fled to his country, including lists of those who sought asylum and were under protection, their bank accounts and financial transactions, as well as records held by Argentina’s Defense Ministry. On top of that, Milei promised full cooperation to organizations engaged in the search for escaped Nazis.
Despite the fact that of the approximately 10,000 war criminals who left Europe via the so-called “ratlines”, about 5,000 were settled …
Want to imagine that no Africans actually live in Africa? Want to go on safari and pretend that you’re not on Indigenous people’s lands? Then Colonial Holidays – supported by big conservation corporations – is for you. Photo by Fokke Baarssen via Pond5
A new travel company has launched today, offering stunning safari holidays with a guarantee of no Africans to spoil the view.
Colonial Holidays is a joint venture between exclusive tour operators and the conservation organizations WWF, WCS, The Nature Conservancy and African Parks.
Paranoia manifests in various ways. It can eat away individuals in desperate solitude, whittling away sanity and balance. It can be enlisted in the making of policy. The latter can be particularly dangerous, notably when readying for a fantastic threat. For the Baltic States, Poland and Finland, there is much talk about the Russia threat, one that will supposedly manifest in boots, armour and missiles once the war against Ukraine concludes. Unfortunately, that talk is now manifesting in preparations for war. So eager are these countries in making such preparations, they are willing to exit important treaties in doing so.
What would annexation by the US portend for Greenlanders?
by Kim Petersen / April 1st, 2025
United States vice president JD Vance traveled to Kalaallit Nunaat (colonial designation: Greenland) to join his wife. He issued a statement that speaks much to the imperialist mindset of the Trump administration:
I’m going to visit some of our guardians in the Space Force on the northwest coast of Greenland and also just check out what is going on with the security there of Greenland. As you know, it is really important: a lot of other countries have threatened Greenland and threatened to use its territories and its waterways to threaten the United States, to threaten Canada and of course to …
The struggle for Western Sahara stands as one of Africa’s longest-running battles against colonialism and neocolonial occupation. Since Spain’s withdrawal in 1975, the Sahrawi people have resisted Moroccan annexation, enduring forced displacement, repression, and the theft of their land and resources. Today, as Morocco consolidates its illegal occupation with U.S., French, and Israeli backing, including through AFRICOM-linked military exercises, the Polisario Front has reignited armed resistance, refusing to let Western Sahara remain the last colony in Africa.
This fight is not isolated. It mirrors the broader contradictions of imperialism on the continent, …
Leading the Kennedy Center and The Institute of Peace
by Dan Lieberman / April 1st, 2025
The Donald Trump salvage corporation has started to dismantle the neo-liberal structure that guided United States’ economic, foreign, and political policies for decades. To complete their destructive agenda, the Trumpsters are dismantling the social and cultural fabrics that accompanied the neo-liberal agenda, starting with gutting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) social programs and continuing on to reconstitute the Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts and The U.S. Institute of Peace.
After Trump used presidential authority to purge his opposition from the Kennedy Center board, and the newly appointed board voted unanimously to elect him as its new chairperson, self-cancellation culture came …
The US is a peace-loving country that promotes harmony across the globe and treats other countries with respect.
The US has the greatest respect for international law. It meticulously honors its treaties, and uses the UN to constructively resolve any disputes between nations.
The enormous wealth of the US is shared equitably across its population and is instrumental in keeping the standard of living for all citizens at peak levels.
All US citizens enjoy equal opportunities for a good life, self-improvement and comfort, and a better future for coming generations.
The political leaders of the US are exemplary: intelligent, well-informed elected officials of the …
Call for Solidarity and Truth in the Face of Disinformation
by Veterans for Peace / April 1st, 2025
Image by Gerry CondonIn a powerful demonstration of international solidarity, seven members of Veterans For Peace (VFP) visited Nicaragua in mid-to-late March as an official VFP delegation. Veterans from five U.S. states flew to Nicaragua on March 19 for a week-long visit to community clinics, regional colleges, vocational schools, youth groups and mayors in several Nicaraguan cities, including the capital Managua, Matagalpa, Masaya and Ciudad Sandino. The veterans were most impressed to learn that Nicaragua, the third poorest country in the western hemisphere, is providing free, high quality …
There has been a fascinating, near unanimous condemnation among the cognoscenti about the seemingly careless addition of Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic to the chat chain of Signal by US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz. Condemnation of the error spans the spectrum from clownish to dangerous. There has been virtually nothing on the importance of such leaks of national security information and the importance they serve in informing the public about what those in power are really up to.
Rather than appreciate the fact that there was a journalist there to receive information on military operations that might raise …
I saw a hunger not only for food to supply the Iftar meal, but also for safety, for peace, for an end to this nightmare.
by Farida Algoul / March 31st, 2025
A food kitchen prepared 1,000 meals for Iftar — before it had to close due to the Israeli blockade. Photo: Farida Algoul
In Gaza, where the threads of life and death intertwine, and where moments of worship intersect with the horrors of war, people live their daily lives with unyielding resilience. During the holy month …
Recent news reports brought to my attention something that I completely missed when it first happened almost two months ago: JD Vance opining ignorantly and dangerously on Jesus of Nazareth’s teachings about “doing unto others as you would have done unto you.” Less than a month into the Trump/Musk/MAGA regime, Vance said this:
“You love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.”
In Islam, one whole month of Ramzan is devoted to fasting. The Islamic calendar is lunar, thus shorter than the solar year by 10 to 11 days; thus Ramadan comes in every season.
