#33 War Is Over - If You Want It ​(Jan 2014) 

Has the time finally arrived when the world community will act to end war?
​A Future Without War suspects that, in fact, that time has come. All the prerequisites needed to fire a great Nonviolence Revolution into action may finally be in place.
​On 1 February 2014 Dr. Hand will present a Keynote address "War Is Not Inevitable" at the "Visionary Voices: Alternatives to War" conference to be held in Vaasa, Finland. She will explain why, and how, the global community is poised to end war in two generations....or less. (see more information about the conference below). Further, the planning stages for a global movement to end war and create enduring peace is in the works.  It will combine the use of Constructive Programs and Obstructive Programs. (see more information about World Beyond War below)
Dr. Judith Hand's New Book - SHIFT

AFWW founder and evolutionary biologist Dr. Judith Hand's latest book, Shift, The Beginning of War, The Ending of War, is now available. "To read "Reviews" and "Look Inside," go to Amazon.com to purchase. If you know you want the book, you can support Dr. Hand's work financially by buying directly from CreateSpace.com. 

Praise for Shift
​
"Judith Hand marshals knowledge and insight from biological, cultural, and political sciences to argue persuasively that now is the time in human development to extinguish the fires of war. She demonstrates that such a mammoth shift of human spirit and politics is possible, in fact crucial to human survival...she invites us to take part in this historical psychological, social, and institutional shift toward resolving differences through law with justice instead of bullets and bombs."
Douglas P. Fry, Ph.D.
Director of Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research
Abo Akademi, University in Vasa, Finland
Author of Beyond War: The Human Potential for Peace

"On a level with Rachel Carson's Silent Spring....Shift offers grounds for hope that we may be close to permanently ending our love affair with war".
Sean English, Ph.D.
Former Director of Saor-Ollscoil (The Free University of Ireland 2000-2007)Convener, Peace Theories Commission of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA)
Author of The Collapse of the War System (2007)

"In Shift: The Beginning of War, The Ending of War Judith Hand has written a book for the ages....Many of us have been waiting years to read a book like this."
Clarence "Sonny" Williams
Sr. Executive, Commercial Insurance Industry

Shift is written for:
  • doing a research project on war or ending war;
  • social transformation activists in civil society and faith-based communities;
  • academics interested in human evolution and war, especially those in the fields of political science, anthropology, human evolutionary biology, and sociology;
  • academics in women's studies, because Shift presents a unique theory for the nature of women's use of aggression and general aversion to war;
  • any educated reader who is curious about war, from veterans who have personally seen or experienced war's many harms to mom's sending their children off to fight the next one.
  
Synopsis

"What if someone could convince you that we actually have the power to permanently end war? What if someone could convince you that once we resolve to make that happen, we could free ourselves from war in two generations or less?" With those words, evolutionary biologist Judith Hand opens her exploration of why we make war, when we started making war, and why and how we can, if we choose, move forward into a future without war. In accessible, clear language, Hand marshals knowledge and insight from biological, cultural, and political sciences to persuasively make her case. The depth and breadth of knowledge covered makes it essential reading for anyone interested in war and peace. The notion that we might actually be able to abolish war may seem utopian, but Dr. Hand explains why and how this achievement is possible. Shift: The Beginning of War, The Ending of War demonstrates that the current century blesses us with a rare but narrowing opportunity to achieve what generations before us could not. 
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The Three Tenors, John Lennon/Yoko Ono's "Merry Christmas, If You Want It, War is Over Now!"

Music inspires. It touches yearnings deep inside us in ways words alone never do.  Take a moment to savor the message of this video.It is precisely the message that A Future Without War wants to share with you. Ending war does, in fact, depend on a critical mass of global citizens who decide that war IS over - that they intend to put an end to a cultural invention that has become dangerously maladaptive. That war is a threat to our civilizations. That it is a behavior the continuation of which is a form of social insanity, not a glorious enterprise.
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AFWW Founder, Dr. Judith Hand, to Present a Keynote Speech in Vaasa, Finland

Her speech - War Is Not Inevitable - will be presented at the "Visionary Voices: Alternatives to War" conference to be held in Vaasa, Finland. The conference is organized by noted anthropologist Dr. Douglas P. Fry and the Peace, Mediation, and Conflict Research program of
Abo Akademi University. Dr. Hand will share why she is convinced the global community is poised to embrace and bring off a new, Great Paradigm Shift, a Nonviolence Revolution, a shift that in its own way will have the profound cultural impact of the Agricultural, Industrial, and Digital Revolutions. A closely related speech is available on as a video at her website.   
New!
World Community Ready to End War
Judith Hand's new book: Shift
John Lennon's "War is Over"
Dr. Hand Speaking in Finland
World Beyond War
About AFWW
 
Quotable Quote 
 
It always seems impossible, until it is done. 
Nelson Mandela
 
​
 A Good Book
 
Waging Nonviolent Struggle. 20th Century Practice and 21st Century Potential.
The Harvard professor Gene Sharp has written classic analyses of many social transformation movements. Read this book to find out what works, and what doesn't work...and especially the astonishing power of strategic use of nonviolent struggle.
   
 
A Good Movie
  
"Budrus."  The film, written and directed by Julia Bacha, follows a Palestinian leader who unites Fatah, Hamas, and Israelis in an unarmed movement to save his village from destruction. Success eludes them until his 15-year-old daughter jumps into the fray.  ​
A Future Without War
Believe in it.
Envision it.
Work for it.
And we will achieve it.
 
QuickLinks
These three quick links are to Dr. Hand's core articles on paradigm shift:
To Abolish War
Shaping the Future
Paradigm Shift: Swift and Enduring

More Links:
How Long Ending War Would Take
Why Women Are the Key to Security
The Nine Cornerstones
AFWW Newsletter Archives
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World Beyond War: A Global Campaign to End War and Create Enduring Peace   

For nearly twelve years A Future Without War has looked for partners who would enthusiastically embrace a plan to begin a global movement to abolish war. 

It has become obvious to activists and lay people alike around the world that war is a great folly. Also obvious is that what social activists and lovers of peace have been trying for many centuries to do to stop war has utterly failed. So far, nothing has worked. That something new is called for is also obvious.

AFWW believes we have, within the last two months, finally made contact with an extraordinary set of partners who share our vision for that "something different" that will work, an effort that uses both Constructive (peace-education, peace-building) and Obstructive (nonviolent civil disobedience) Programs.  Progress is advancing. The initial partners have agreed on the (tentative) name World Beyond War: A Global Campaign to End War and Create Enduring Peace.

Our work in progress can be followed at the developing website WorldBeyondWar.org.  An invitation and opportunity to join the movement is also available on the website.
A Future Without War
About A Future Without War

We want to provide newsletter readers with a reminder about our extensive website,  www.afww.org. The materials can be a reference for personal use, something to share with friends or colleagues who doubt that it would ever be possible to abolish war, and as thought pieces to stimulate discussions, for example, by your students, a book group, or peace activist organizations. You will find on the site:
  • A Mission Statement
  • An Action Plan
  • Keynote Speech - Åbo University, Vaasa, Finland 2014 - "War is Not Inevitable"
  • Capstone Essay: "To Abolish War"
  • "Overview" Essays - 7 essays explaining the core rationale for why it is reasonable to believe we could abolish war if we make it a priority.
  • "Cornerstone" Essays - 9 essays explaining each of the broad categories of "good works" that we need to attend to simultaneously in any campaign to abolish war and maintain that state into the future.
  • "The Books" - a Table of Contents, reviews, and FREE download of Women, Power, and the Biology of Peace, links to purchase that book and also A Future Without War: the Strategy of a Warfare Transition"
  • A Link to the AFWW Blog
  • A Map of Nonviolent Cultures
  • A Video of Dr. Hand
  • Several Movie and Book Reviews
  • Archives of AFWW Newsletters
  • Links to over 150 Organizations involved in some aspect of the campaign to abolish war
  • Miscellaneous AFWW Essays​
These are titles of and links to current Miscellaneous AFWW Essays 
A Future Without War ​