A conversation with two veterans of American wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan – about their work with “We Are Not Your Soldiers” – informing high school and college students about the morally unpleasant truths of the US military.

In 2008 the anti-war organization – “World Can’t Wait” -- invited American war veterans to share their military experiences with high school and college students – challenging the American culture’s overly positive patriotic narratives.

Joe Urgo grew up in a white conservative, middle-class NYC neighborhood. He tells young Americans about his experiences in Vietnam in the US Air Force. In 1971 -- Mr. Urgo helped organize the Winter Soldier Investigation detailing the war crimes of American soldiers in Vietnam and Cambodia.

Shaniyat Turani-Chowdhury is a freelance investigative journalist living in Queens, NY. He writes about Middle East politics, war and climate change – and most recently reported on the effect of Israeli airstrikes on the Lebanese people. In 2020 Shanityat ran for Congress on a Free Palestine platform.

CONTACT: barcrawlradio@gmail.com

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For this BCR series I have been asking American peacemakers: “What are we talking about when we talk about ‘The American’?”

This program looks to a Jesuit priest and peacemaker Thomas Merton. At the end of “The Root of War” published in The Catholic Worker in 1962 – Thomas Merton wrote – “The first job of all is to understand the psychological forces at work in ourselves and in society.” That in a nutshell is the purpose of my conversations with American peacemakers.

Merton’s autobiography -- “The Seven Storey Mountain” -- is about “a young man who led a full and worldly life and then, at the age of 26, entered a Trappist monastery.” In Kentucky, Merton focused his thoughts and prayers on nonviolence and influenced all the major peacemakers of the second half of the 20th Century -- Martin Luther King, the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tuto, the Berrigans, Dorothy Day and on and on --

Father John Dear will help us delve into Merton’s non-violence. Dear was born in North Carolina – graduated with top honors from Duke University – received two masters degrees in theology – and was ordained a Catholic Jesuit priest in Baltimore in 1993. John has worked with people scheduled to executed – served at a community center for low-income African-American women and children in Virginia – worked as pastor to parishes in the high desert of New Mexico and founded Pax Christi New Mexico. Worked at a Jesuit Refugee camp in El Salvador. On and on –

In a recent email, John described himself as follows:

Just so you know, like Merton, Dorothy Day, and Dan Berrigan, I consider myself a Christian anarchist. I'm done with America.

It helps to be arrested 85 times and spend time in jail and have several felony convictions. I don't believe in America; I think it's all a lie.If anything, we're global citizens, or citizens of God's reign of universal love and peace. We're all one.

That's where I'm at; and I get that from those three -- very few hold it.

If this sounds like something you want to ask me about, then ok, let's talk,

All the best, peace,

John

In January 2014 Dear left the Jesuits for reasons that become obvious in this conversation.

Alan WInson

barcrawlradio@gmail.com

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This is the third in the BCR series "Talking About The American" -- We are asking American peacemakers to try to explain how they see the qualities of our countrymen. This episode – How’d we do with AIDS?

I was in Syracuse for a Veterans for Peace pro-Palestine rally at the James M. Hanley Federal Building. Before the rally I had breakfast with Christian Caurla – an Italian journalist – at the home of Michael Desalvo -- where he and his partner Nick Orth – have provided home-based care for people with AIDS since October 1992.

That morning -- Michael served Chris and me a delicious frittata with brussels sprouts. While we ate – I asked Michael about the Syracuse Friends of Dorothy Catholic Worker House which he and his partner renovated – and about their early hospice work with people with AIDS.

Michael supports the Dorothy House with his work as a hairdresser.

CONTACT Alan Winson barcrawlradio@gmail.com

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