Beyond War (distinct from World Beyond War) is a movement founded in 1984. It seeks to end

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

, on the premise that, in the broad view, the continued practice of war will ultimately lead to a global catastrophe.

Aims

Beyond War aims to end war by addressing the psychological and philosophical roots of human war making behaviors in preference to political causes. It is based on the observation credited to

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

: "With the unleashed power of the atom, everything has changed, save our modes of thinking, and thus we drift towards unparalleled catastrophe". Beyond War sprang into being during the early 1980s in the

Palo Alto Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

area of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, among a group drawing primarily from

academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

, the

computer industry A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as ''programs'', ...

and

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

. From the very start, the Beyond War group strongly held the conviction that "Life is at a crossroads. One direction leads to death, destruction, and possibly the extinction of life on earth. The other direction opens new possibilities for the human species; a world where all people have the opportunity to satisfy their basic human needs, where life has meaning and purpose." Due to this sense of imminent, climactic danger, the principle of commitment is foundational to the movement, in which leaders and serious volunteers have taken time off from their work to give a year or two of full-time volunteer help. Fanning out across the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and a number countries including

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, the Beyond War volunteer coordinators brought with them the "Interest Evening" and "Orientation" presentations. Employing an array of video, literary, philosophical, religious and marketing

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

approaches, the introductory "Interest Evening" culminates with the famously simple but effective " BBs demonstration". In this, the presenter, having described in graphic detail the devastating effect of a single thermonuclear detonation on a modern city, asks the participants to close their eyes and listen as 10,000 BBs, representing each of the 10,000 thermonuclear devices in the world, are poured into a large tin bucket. Participants, often visibly shaken, are typically asked to commit to a six-part vow "to build a world beyond war". The vows are divided into three guiding principles and three core practices.

Principles and practices

The guiding principles are: # War is obsolete # We are one on this planet # The means are the ends in the making. The core practices are: # I will resolve conflict. I will not use violence # I will maintain an attitude of good will. I will not preoccupy myself with an enemy # I will work together with others to build a world beyond war. In all these principles, the Beyond War movement remains notable for its ability to remain staunchly

non-partisan Nonpartisanship, also known as nonpartisanism, is a lack of affiliation with a political party and a lack of political bias. While an ''Oxford English Dictionary'' definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., ...

politically, and

non-sectarian Nonsectarian institutions are secular institutions or other organizations not affiliated with or restricted to a particular religious group. Academic sphere Many North American universities identify themselves as being nonsectarian, such as B ...

in the religious sense. In keeping with its global perspective, it attempts, with varying but generally substantial degrees of success, to avoid identification with any

nation A nation is a type of social organization where a collective Identity (social science), identity, a national identity, has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, t ...

political ideology An ideology is a set of beliefs or values attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely about belief in certain knowledge, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones". Form ...

, religious

creed A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) which summarizes its core tenets. Many Christian denominations use three creeds ...

etc. The aim is to be inclusive due to the guiding principle #2—"We are one on this planet". After the collapse of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, and the widespread perception that the threat of nuclear war was no longer imminent and the essential goals of Beyond War had been met, the founders met and decided to radically expand the goals of the movement. It was to become even more inclusive and the name was changed to Global Community, with a very

philosophical Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and internationalist leaning, also embracing environmental and social concerns not originally found in the single minded concern with war and

weapons A weapon, arm, or armament is any implement or device that is used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime (e.g., murder), law ...

of planetary scale mass destruction. This meeting was held without consulting the 24,000 membership worldwide, who were spectators on the sidelines of the momentous events of the years between 1989 and 2001, which included the breakup of Soviet communism, the first

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

and the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. However, with concern mounting about the direction of the " war on terror", and boosted by a certain amount of outrage at the second U.S. led assault on

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, taking place in March 2003, a group of long time Beyond War/Global Community members based in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

and

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...

, were roused to action. They had come to the conclusion that the goals of the original movement had not been met and that the danger of a global Armageddon had actually increased since the rise of the "war on terror" and the failure of the U.S. and Russia to continue to dismantle

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...

s below the level 7,000. With the full cooperation and assistance of the Global Community Board, the curriculum was updated and the use of web based technology adopted. By 2009, the membership had returned to approximately 2,000.

Framework for a Public Peace Process

The Beyond War Foundation and

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Center on Conflict and Negotiation worked together to bring to the California redwoods Palestinian and Israeli citizens leaders who then forged and signed the historic ''Framework for a Public Peace Process'' document. By 1993, government negotiators were clarifying their own plea for mandatory citizen relationships and creativity of People-to-People Programs in Annex VI of the 1993 Oslo Accords. The 1991 Framework immediately inspired the 1992 birth of the sustained Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group in the United States.

Award Ceremonies

The Beyond War Award was created in 1983 and ran for eight years (1983–1990) to honor the great efforts of humankind as it moves to build a world beyond war. The award attracted national and international attention through the nominating and selection process. * Second Beyond War Award Ceremony 1984. The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War received the second Beyond War Award. It was presented to the co-founders, Dr. Bernard Lown of the US and Dr. Yevgeni Chazov of the USSR, simultaneously through the use of a live satellite teleconference link or "spacebridge" between Moscow and San Francisco. This historic event was viewed live by over 75,000 people. Over 100 million Soviets subsequently saw the televised videotape.
Free Video at Archive.org
) * Third Beyond War Award Ceremony 1985. The Beyond War Foundation presented its award to six world leaders, President

Miguel de la Madrid Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado (; 12 December 1934 – 1 April 2012) was a Mexican politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who served as the 59th president of Mexico from 1982 to 1988. Inheriting a severe economic an ...

in Mexico, President

Raúl Alfonsín Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (; 12 March 1927 – 31 March 2009) was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 July 1989. He was the first democratically elected president after the 7-yea ...

of Argentina, Prime Minister

Olof Palme Sven Olof Joachim Palme (; ; 30 January 1927 – 28 February 1986) was a Swedish politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1969 to 1976 and 1982 to 1986. Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 until as ...

in Sweden, First President

Julius Nyerere Julius Kambarage Nyerere (; 13 April 1922 – 14 October 1999) was a Tanzanian politician, anti-colonial activist, and political theorist. He governed Tanganyika (1961–1964), Tanganyika as prime minister from 1961 to 1962 and then as presid ...

(now retired) in Tanzania, Prime Minister

Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgiou Papandreou (, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek academic and economist who founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and served three terms as Prime minister of Greece, prime minister of Third Hellenic Repu ...

in Greece and Prime Minister

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian statesman and pilot who served as the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the Assassination of Indira Gandhi, assassination of his mother, then–prime ...

in India, each in his respective country, at the same time on two-way television so they could all see and hear each other, and so the world could look on.

References

External links