Radical Peace by William T. Hathaway
This symphony of voices—a loosely united network of war resisters, deserters, and peace activists in Afghanistan, Europe, Iraq, and North America—vividly recounts the actions they have personally taken to end war and create a peaceful society.
Frustrated, angered, and even saddened by the juggernaut of aggression that creates more counter-violence at every turn, this assortment of contributors has moved beyond demonstrations and petitions into direct, often radical actions in defiance of the government’s laws to impede its capacity to wage war.
Chapter 1: The Real War Heroes -
A wounded soldier escaped from military detention and deserted rather than being sent back to combat.
Chapter 2: Comrades in Arms
- After an African-American woman was raped by a fellow GI in Iraq, her commanding officer refused to prosecute the rapist and threatened her with disciplinary action if she "made trouble." We helped her to desert, and she's now living with a female partner in the Netherlands.
Chapter 3: Comparing Evils
- A gay Afghan refugee describes the similarities between the Taliban and the US Army.
Chapter 4: Exit Free
- A woman soldier deserted after being sexually harrassed by both male and female colleagues.
Chapter 5: Generations
- A Granny for Peace found young allies in her struggle against military recruiting.
Chapter 6: Coming Home -
A traumatized veteran has healing love affair with his mother.
Chapter 7: From Cheerleader to Enemy of the State -
Being fired and blacklisted for teaching her high school students how US foreign policy has provoked terrorism turned Judy Davis from a Republican into a revolutionary for peace.
Chapter 8: Keep On Rockin' -
When her friend returned home from Iraq crippled, a young woman hurled a rock through the window of the local recruiting office ... and discovered she likes the music of shattering glass.
Chapter 9: The Surge -
The US troop surge inspired a pacifist to another kind of surge.
Chapter 10: Saboteur -
An interview with Trucker, the code name of a man who is committed to aggressive forms of resistance such as destroying government property. He classifies his sabotage as nonviolent because it doesn't harm human beings, only things. His specialty is burning military vehicles.
Chapter 11: Peace Chaplain -
After a seminary student was assaulted by soldiers at a peace demonstration, she decided to learn to love her enemies by becoming a military chaplain and subverting from within.
Chapter 12: Refusal -
A sailor on weekend pass went to a Buddhist retreat and came back changed.
Chapter 13: SAMs for Uncle Sam -
An Iraqi student tells how US soldiers brutalized her family. The experience turned her into a pacifist and her brother into a resistance fighter.
Chapter 14: The Split -
A married couple is getting divorced after forty mostly happy years of marriage. A major cause of the split is their continuing bitter arguments over Israel. Although both are Jewish, they have diametrically opposed views about the Jewish state.
Chapter 15: Conscious Peace
- The author's quest for peace through the fields of gender studies, evolutionary biology, and techniques of consciousness.
Who is Trineday?
TrineDay is a small publishing house that arose as a response to the consistent refusal of the corporate press to publish many interesting, well-researched and well-written books with but one key “defect”: a challenge to official history that would tend to rock the boat of America’s corporate “culture.” TrineDay believes in our Constitution and our common right of Free Speech.
William T. Hathaway's other books include the novels A World of Hurt, CD-Ring, and Summer Snow. He also wrote the screenplay for Socrates, an educational film starring Ed Asner that was broadcast on PBS.
