Beyond War is a movement, founded in 1984, which seeks to end war, especially nuclear and other wars of global destruction, on the premise that, in the broad view, the continued practice of war will ultimately lead to a global catastrophe.
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: “With the unleashed power of the atom, everything has changed, save our modes of thinking, and thus we drift towards unparalleled catastrophe”.[1] Beyond War sprang into being during the early 1980s in the Palo Alto area of California, among a group drawing primarily from academia, the computer industry and marketing. 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.” [2] 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 and a number countries including Canada, England, Sweden, Israel, and Germany, 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 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. [3] 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.[4]
The guiding principles are:
The core practices are:
In all these principles, the Beyond War movement remains notable for its ability to remain staunchly non-partisan politically, and non-sectarian 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, political ideology, religious creed 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, 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 and internationalist leaning, also embracing environmental and social concerns not originally found in the single minded concern with war and weapons 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 break up of Soviet communism, the first Gulf War and the September 11 attacks.
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, taking place in March 2003, a group of long time Beyond War/Global Community members based in Portland and Eugene, Oregon were roused to action.[5] 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 weapons 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.
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