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November 6, 2001
Evan Ravitz
Stop the War
Through
Direct Democracy
Steve
Perry
Hunger
in Afghanistan
November 5, 2001
Patrick Cockburn
Living
in the Minefields
David Price
Terror
and Indigenous People
November 3, 2001
Declan McCullagh
Nancy Oden Interview
Daniel
Wolff
The
Memphis Blues Again
Mark Weisbrot
War on Civilians
Dave Marsh
How
the RIAA (and the FBI)
Cheat Musicians
Robert Jensen
Speaking
Out Against
War on Campus
November 2, 2001
CounterPunch
Wire
Green
Party Leader Detained at Maine Airport; Prevented from Boarding
Any Plane
Alexander Cockburn
FBI Eyes
Torture
November 1, 2001
Dean Baker
Dying
for Patents
Sami Amarah
US Attempts
to Recruit
Russian Vets of Afghan War
Molly Secours
Where
Are the Voices of Reason? Let the Women
Be Heard
William Blum
Unleashing the
CIA
October 31, 2001
Tom Turnipseed
Terrorize
the Poor,
Subsidize the Rich
Chris Clarke
Thank God
for Berkeley
Steve
Perry
The
Silent Genocide
October 30, 2001
Rep. Ron Paul
War on Terror
Bad as War on Drugs
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Flying
Blind:
The Predator's Problem
Ali Abunimah
Dear Colin
Powell
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bin Laden
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The New Intifada:
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November
6, 2001
Scott Nearing on War
By Shepherd Bliss
Scott Nearing is best known for a book he wrote
with his wife Helen, Living
the Good Life: How to Live Sanely and Simply in a Troubled World.
in l954. The Nearings stimulated a back-to-the-land movement
that they embodied for 50 years, until Scott's death at  the age of l00 in l983. Scott's
writing during and between World Wars I and II have growing relevance
as the U.S. starts the 21st century's first major war. America's
weapons have developed, but the main reasons for its war-making
remain the same and were well-described by Nearing over 80 years
ago.
A young University of Pennsylvania economics
professor as World War I began, Nearing wrote a pamphlet about
war, "The Great Madness," that documented the commercial
causes of war. Nearing asserted that the main purpose of the
U.S. military was "to guard the hundreds of millions of
dollars...invested in 'undeveloped' countries." For such
views and speaking out against child labor, the university fired
Nearing.
In "The Menace of Militarism"
Nearing "analyzed... military preparedness and war-making
as sources of business profits. My 'Oil and the Germs of War'
explained the role of the petroleum and other big business interests
in the international struggle for sources of raw material, markets,
and investment opportunities." Over 80 years later, as the
U.S. (lead by oilmen) begins its Afghanistan War, once again
we have war caused partly by our oil dependency.
"War is an attempt of one group
to impose its will upon another group by armed violence,"
Nearing observes, adding, "But war has wider implications.
War offers those in power a chance to rid themselves of opposition
while covering up their designs with patriotic slogans."
The leaders of the U.S.'s current war pursue a domestic agenda
against "opposition," as well as an international one.
"War drags human beings from their
tasks of building and improving, and pushes them en masse into
the category of destroyers and killers." Wars transform
the societies that wage them. The Afghanistan War gives U.S.-based
terrorists permission to commit violence, including the use of
anthrax and other weapons.
"The event which finally tore me
away from my commitment to western civilization was the decision
of Harry Truman to blot out the city of Hiroshima,"Nearing
reveals. "This decision was one of the most crucial ever
made by modern man. The decision was the death sentence of western
civilization....the use of atomic weapons against Japan was not
only a crime against humanity, but was a blunder which would
lead to a gigantic build-up of the planet's destructive forces...Humanity
is today astride a guided missile equipped with a nuclear warhead."
War's degradation of nature also concerned
Nearing, "Man is able to live on the earth because its soil,
water, air, sunshine, and the radiant forces which play so large
a part in the preservation of life exist in relative abundance."
Nearing writes about how the planet's natural resources have
"been squandered in waging war," especially "supplies
of fuels and metals." He criticizes "the pollution
and poisoning of land, water, and air by the waste products of
concentrated urban life and of large-scale industry." Nearing
became a critic of technology and western civilization and a
practical conservationist.
In 1932, as he approached 50, Nearing
abandoned the city for country living. Scott and Helen inspired
thousands of visitors to their Forest Farm in Vermont and Maine.
That inspiration continues through their books and the Good Life
Center that still hosts events and welcomes visitors.
In "Freedom: Promise and Menace"
(1961) Nearing writes that "in the present world crisis
conservatives are using the 'freedom' slogan to win support for
their reactionary policies." As politicians once again shout
the "freedom" slogan, it is important not to be deceived.
Scott Nearing was one of America's greatest 20th century peace
activists and practical conservationists. As the Afghanistan
War threatens to spread, it is worth returning to Nearing's writing
and his model of living in harmony with nature. CP
Shepherd Bliss
visited the Nearings at their Forest Farm in the mid-80s and
now owns the organic Kokopelli Farm, near Sebastopol, California.
He can be contacted at: sb3@pon.net
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