Features
- Al-Qa’ida on al-Qa’ida
 Al-Qa’ida is neither irrational nor unable to intelligently articulate their objectives. The American government is able to disseminate propaganda globally while suppressing al-Qa’ida’s response. Thus, the English speaking world is forced to trust the analysis of al-Qa’ida provided by those who have shown themselves willing to lie in their pursuit of an unjust war. If the American public had been able to read al-Qa'ida documents they would have known that al-Qa’ida was explicit about their joy in America’s overthrow of Saddam Husayn. [more]
- Protesting the Republican National Convention
 We have witnessed two unjust wars — at least one American life lost each day overseas — a depressed economy, $87 billion to boost war profiteering, an environment open to exploitation, the demonization of queer Americans, a health-care crisis, the indefinite detention of immigrants, an attack on women’s right to choose, millions of children being left behind, and now this. We say, “Enough!” [more]
- Ink: The Work of Anna Hook
 Influenced by Dore, the American Thomas Nast, and the French Daumier, Anna Hook's inks on paper are astute political observations designed to provoke contemplation. Why War? has chosen Anna's work as an example of the emerging intelligent, critical movement. [more]
- Neocons and the Crash of the Event
 The end of history, the strike of events, the lost faith in meta-narratives, and the declared end of the individual all preceded neocons' total return wrapped-up in the alleged re-birth of the event itself — the “mother of all events,” as Baudrillard put it — on September 11th. [more]
- Film: Its Eyes
 The first film to be released by Why War? treats surveillance cameras as a biological organism slowly taking control of our urban space. Filmed on location in Chelsea and Harlem, we capture the diversity of surveillance cameras in New York City. [more]
- Targeting Diebold with Electronic Civil Disobedience
 Defending the right of a fair, democratic election, Why War? is rejecting Diebold Elections Systems’ cease and desist orders and initiating a legal electronic civil disobedience campaign that will ensure permanent public access to the controversial leaked memos. [more]
- Diebold Campaign Analyzed
- The Diebold electronic civil disobedience campaign was a spectacular success for the new movement. A small handful of individuals were able to force a multinational corporation into retreat. It was a nearly perfect campaign in every aspect of execution. Being fortunate enough to both witness and intimately guide the spectacle, I have written this text to spark ideas on new tactics. [more]
- Protesting for Fair Trade
 Activists descended on Miami as representatives from the Western Hemisphere discussed the FTAA, a trade pact expanding the powers of NAFTA. Quite simply, the plans would place corporations over people, allowing multibillion-dollar companies to sue governments over labor laws and environmental standards, among other provisions. After pressure from other countries and thousands of activists in its streets, the United States agreed to a watered-down version — but not before illegally detaining and persecuting the protesters. Federally-funded police illegally searched, detained and abused activists while simultaneously linking them with “terrorism.” [more]
- Is This What Democracy Looks Like?
- The Diebold scandal, Miami Parades Ordinance, and the USA-PATRIOT Act makes us wonder just how accurate George Orwell's prediction of the future might be. Peace protesters often chant, "This is what democracy looks like." Inverting this, two Why War? members ask "Is this what democracy looks like?" [more]
- Swarming and the Future of Protesting
 The question of how to effectively, and most powerfully, organize an information sharing network has seeped into activism. We are just now beginning to see the Internet's first attempt to challenge the world's superpowers. We are putting an emphasis on social networks that activate and initiate actions in the material, real world. The “smart mob” that we strive for is evolving before we can imagine or articulate it. [more]
- WTO in Montréal Met with Little Resistance
 On the first of three days of protest, a snake march quickly fell into acts of corporate window-liberation, graffiti artistry, and short intersection lockdowns. By the early afternoon, the swarm retreated to the declared Green Zone — a zone designated to be "safe" by the protest organizers — where 340 of the 600 would be promptly arrested after a short raid. [more]
- In First Large Protests, Millions Said No to War
 At least ten million people protested around the world Feb. 14–16, as the largest anti-war rallies "in history" in Britain (1 million+) and Australia (250,000+) took place. Protests topped 1 million each in Madrid, Rome and Barcelona, and hundreds of thousands marched in locales as far apart as Athens, Berlin, New York City, São Paulo, Montréal, Sydney, and Dublin. A handful of activists in Antarctica allowed the peace movement to claim demonstrations on all seven continents. [more]
- Hundreds of Immigrants Arrested
 The Justice Department mandated that men and boys older than 16 from nearly all Middle Eastern nations were required to register with the Immigration and Naturalization Service or face deportation. After mass arrests due to INS confusion, several civil liberties and immigrants rights organizations sued the US government. [more]
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Monitoring the narratives: Why War? maintains a continually updated database of the latest news and opinion relating to current international crises and the anti-war movement, including the best articles from national and international publications as well as contributions from our editors. You can subscribe to a regular e-mail update of the latest articles on our website for free. [more]
Influencing the narratives: E-mail forms the raw currents of information that later become distilled, excerpted, and referenced on websites. While the average Internet user doesn’t have the ability to alter the front page of a website directly, we all have the power to influence what that front page might feature through the use of e-mail lists. This project focuses on identifying the most influential e-mail lists, the most influential e-mail senders, and the most virulent memes. [more]
Protesting strategically: The peace movement can develop an infrastructure for instantly mobilizing large amounts of people to “swarm,” or flash-protest, a location with active civil disobedience. Not only will this defend the core group of activists and draw media attention, but it will further galvanize the movement itself, as each witness of the process decides to organize their own forms of direct action. [more]
Living activism: “What wakes me up and keeps me going is the realization that striving and struggling are so beautiful. It’s this weird activity that you can do in any situation but that increases in majesty as the repression worsens.” In the second year of Why War?, two of our founding members left college for twelve weeks and experimented with “living activism.” One went to Jordan and Palestine, later joining the International Solidarity Movement, the other traveled throughout America organizing anti-war groups on campuses nationwide. Both documented their trips in travel journals: Empathy in the Middle East (PDF); America’s Movement (PDF). Living activism is dedicated to immersion in activism. [more]
- Got Skills?
- Why War? is looking for a few talented individuals to help us grow. If you have technical or artistic abilities and have some time to spare, please consider applying for one of our open volunteer positions.
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