Staughton Lynd seemed like a personal force almost more than a person within the antiwar movement of the 1960s. My Country Is the World largely and usefully recounts the controversies that came with his rise in the peace movement of the middle 1960s
The picture emerging from this powerful militarist trend illustrates the continuing strength of the mantras inherited from the Cold War, summed up in the notion that more weapons mean more security and that si vis pacem, para bellum (if you want peace, prepare for war).
The author is strongest when he deals with the government’s direct attempts to influence public opinion through comics either through the Writers’ War Board (WWB) of World War II or the creation of propaganda comics during the early Cold War.
Until we have proven ourselves worthy to lead, we cannot expect others to march to our drum.
It may be that the vision about the role of popular movements of the latter Berlinguer was too far ahead of its time, but it is still proving to be the only viable alternative to the disasters of the present.
States battle over abortion rights, and the Amazonization of work
In the shadow of the Cold War, the rise of creative writing programs and ‘show don’t tell’ philosophy drained fiction of its political bite. Author Sandra Cisneros, writing about her college program said: How can art make a difference was never asked
Heightened rhetoric about Russia and China seeking to undermine American influence will only reinforce Washington’s support for repressive regimes. The consequences of that could, in turn, prove to be potentially disastrous.
The war is shaped by global neoliberalism, sexism, and racism—not just Cold War dynamics. Only by understanding Eastern Europe beyond the old dichotomies of the free West versus the authoritarian East can we begin to grasp the war’s significance.
Today we face an avoidable crisis that was predictable, actually predicted, willfully precipitated, but easily resolved by the application of common sense.
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