writes:
in another brilliant edition to this show, I interview David Swanson who in my opinion one of the most brilliant anti-war activist and anti-imperialist thinkers of all time alongside past guest Cindy Sheehan & Canadian historian & anti-imperialist thinker Yves Engler. He is the founder and leading campaigner of World Beyond War, radio host on Pacifica to his own show called Talk Nation Radio, author of several books and is consistently anti-war/imperialist not selectively. I talk with David about World War I why though its often commemorated its not as celebrated or glorified compared to World War I, we talk about the remarkable but very underrated and untaught anti-war movement of the time, and I learn it wasn't just broad left-wing movements opposed to the war but even the anti-war/anti-imperialist right of the time, the Ron Pauls of that period. David even teaches me about the Spanish Flu and compares it eerily to the ongoing coronavirus 19 crisis at the moment, and how extreme press censorship and the Espionage Act used to criminalize anti-war dissent played a part in that pandemic breaking out and the powers to be who feel asleep at the wheel when that pandemic hit. David and I then discuss briefly why the Spanish Civil War isn't taught or discussed as much and is suppressed in public consciousness like World War I and we discuss at length how World War II is cynically used as "the good war" to justify much of the imperial conquests since then in political discourse in pop culture and Hollywood & international cinema. and what he and I would do in response to calls to take down monuments to racist generals, warmongers, and so fourth of the Confederate Army and if we take down those flags and heroes of that side of the war why not the Founding Fathers, Mount Rushmore, J.Edgar Hoover, and dare I say the current American flag and Abraham Lincoln. a brilliant discussion do enjoy and please share widely! to join David's organization and follow his writing and his own show or if you'd like to buy his books and donate generously and subscribe to him here are the links https://worldbeyondwar.org/ https://davidswanson.org/ https://soundcloud.com/davidcnswanson