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<h1>We All Have a Responsibility to End War</h1>

<p>In the last 25 years, the U.S. has officially gone to war with Iraq and Afghanistan. But it has also sent troops, launched airstrikes, carried out drone attacks, or provided critical support for military attacks on Syria, Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, Libya, Iran, Gaza, Lebanon, and Russia.</p>



<p>These wars have wiped out millions of lives; plunged masses of people into poverty, trauma, starvation, and the status of refugee; and left many U.S. veterans burdened with PTSD and homelessness.</p>



<p>Now, the Trump administration is taking the U.S. on a path to war with Venezuela.</p>



<p>Writing for <em>YES!</em> in 2020, Nancy Hill profiled dozens of veterans about their experience in combat. Their testimonies speak to the moral catastrophe of war and the necessity of mass resistance to military conflict:</p>



<blockquote>
<p><em><em><em>War breaks us. It detaches us from our core humanity. War removes us from ourselves and programs us to find enemies in anyone or anything that is unfamiliar. It robs us of our humanity and empathy. War poisons our hearts, minds, and spirits. It reduces us to cold shells — unfeeling, unloving — of ourselves first and then others, and back around. We can break that cycle though. The opposite of war is creation, nurturing, and healing. When we do our work to slow down, feel, and see ourselves in others, we can end wars. But we all have to do it. We all have to do the work to end wars.</em></em></em></p>
<cite><em><em>—Letty Martinez, as quoted by Nancy Hill</em></em></cite></blockquote>



<p><strong>Read the full article: </strong><a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2020/01/08/war-veterans-military"><a href="https://yesmagazine.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7cdb828972ea891738071b3bd&amp;id=de6906c6ba&amp;e=3ea3a64914" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Combat Veterans Tell Us What We Need to Know About War</a></a></p>



<hr/>



<h2><strong>From the Archives: War Budgets Lead to National Insecurity. What Creates Security?</strong></h2>



<p>The drive to war turns us away from systems that foster creation, nurturing, and healing. We all want to live in safety, but seeking security through the funding of so-called defense budgets ultimately takes us further away from realizing it.</p>



<p>“If we want a healthy Earth, justice, peace, and democracy, we need a 21st-century security agenda that addresses the causes of contemporary conflicts, encourages cooperation and diplomacy, and supports every person in their quest for a healthy and dignified life,” David Korten wrote for <em>YES!</em> in 2016.</p>



<p><strong>Read the article:</strong> <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/democracy/2017/01/18/big-trump-protests-are-fine-but-heres-a-to-do-list-fo-lasting-change"></a><a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2016/09/21/a-security-strategy-for-the-21st-century" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><a href="https://yesmagazine.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7cdb828972ea891738071b3bd&amp;id=dc39ed108d&amp;e=3ea3a64914" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Want National Security? Dismantle the War Machine</a></a></p>



<hr/>



<h2><strong>From the Archives: Workers Cooperatives for Our Mental Health</strong></h2>



<p>With Elon Musk on track to become the world’s first trillionaire, it’s time for us to recognize how inequality is a key source of our collective mental suffering. Writing for <em>YES!</em> in 2018, Tabita Green proposed democratic and collectively owned workplaces as part of the solution to the inhumane dynamics of capitalism.</p>



<p>“Clearly, many of those suffering mental and emotional distress are actually having a rational response to a sick society and an unjust economy,” wrote Green. “This revelation doesn’t reduce the suffering, but it completely changes the paradigm of mental health and how we choose to move forward to optimize human well-being.”</p>



<p><strong>Read the article:</strong> <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/democracy/2017/01/18/big-trump-protests-are-fine-but-heres-a-to-do-list-fo-lasting-change"></a><a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/issue/mental-health/2018/09/12/what-a-society-design-for-well-being-looks-like" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a><a href="https://yesmagazine.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7cdb828972ea891738071b3bd&amp;id=9986a5ff6c&amp;e=3ea3a64914" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">What a Society Designed for Well-Being Looks Like</a></p>



<hr/>



<h2><strong>New Work by</strong><em><strong> YES!</strong></em><strong> Contributors</strong></h2>



<ul>
<li><strong>Sarah van Gelder</strong>, founding editor of <em>YES!</em>, has written <a href="https://howwerise.substack.com/p/dear-billionaires-theres-something" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">an open letter</a> to billionaires, imploring them to give up their luxury bunkers and wealth hoarding, and instead invest in repairing the world.</li>



<li><strong>Sonali Kolhatkar, </strong>former racial justice and civil liberties editor at <em>YES! Magazine </em>and the host of <em>Rising Up With Sonali</em>, reported on <a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/11/26/starbucks-ignores-workers-demands-at-its-peril/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Starbucks workers’ ongoing strike</a> after months of stalled contract negotiations under the leadership of the company’s new CEO.</li>



<li><strong>Evette Dionne</strong>, former Executive Editor of <em>YES!</em>, has republished <a href="https://the-flytrap.ghost.io/honoring-alice-wong-access-series/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">selections from a <em>Bitch Media</em> series on access and disability</a> that was curated by Alice Wong, a disability justice activist and writer who died in November.</li>
</ul>



<hr/>



<h2><strong>New Solutions Journalism From Independent Media</strong></h2>



<p>? <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/how-somerville-became-the-first-us-city-to-vote-to-divest-from-israeli-apartheid/">How Somerville Became the First US City to Vote to Divest From Israeli Apartheid</a> - <strong>Truthout</strong></p>



<p>?️ <a href="https://deceleration.news/global-climate-talks-fumble-texas-campaigns-target-companies-powering-genocide-and-ecocide/">As Global Climate Talks Fumble, Texas Campaigns Target Companies Powering Genocide and Ecocide</a> - <strong>deceleration</strong></p>



<p>? <a href="https://inthesetimes.com/article/working-people-podcast-palestine-graduate-student-workers-repression-labor-trump">Graduate Student Workers Find Unity Amid Intense Repression</a> - <strong>In These Times</strong></p>



<p>☮️ <a href="https://wagingnonviolence.org/2025/11/the-playbook-of-every-successful-nonviolent-struggle/">The Playbook of Every Successful Nonviolent Struggle</a> <strong>- Waging Nonviolence</strong></p>



<p>? <a href="https://prismreports.org/2025/11/19/progressive-philanthropy-should-commit-to-funding-journalism/">It’s Time for Progressive Philanthropy to Commit to Funding Journalism</a> - <strong>Prism / Truthout</strong></p>



<hr/>



<h2><strong>Rising Up With Sonali</strong></h2>



<p><em>YES!</em> Media’s broadcast arm <a href="http://www.risingupwithsonali.com"><em>Rising Up With Sonali</em></a> is going strong after spinning off as an independent venture. Spearheaded by former senior editor <strong>Sonali Kolhatkar</strong>, the program offers solutions perspectives on news and politics via regular interviews with changemakers on the frontlines of social justice.</p>



<figure><img src="https://www.yesmagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/752fedce-6309-af29-685a-ac98f16d64be.jpg" alt="Support Indie Journalism - subscribe now at www.risingupwithsonali.com"/></figure>



<p>On <em>Rising Up With Sonali</em>, you learn about important efforts such as how <a href="https://risingupwithsonali.com/ending-dark-money-one-state-at-a-time-yes-its-possible/">Montana</a> is using an innovative approach to ending Citizens United, how <a href="https://risingupwithsonali.com/ai-data-centers-are-spewing-carbon-can-they-be-stopped/">climate-destroying AI data centers</a> can be stopped, what's really happening with the US attacks on <a href="https://risingupwithsonali.com/war-on-venezuela-why-trump-is-killing-people-in-the-caribbean/">Venezuela</a> and the Caribbean, and how <a href="https://risingupwithsonali.com/starbucks-ignores-workers-demands-at-its-peril/">Starbucks workers are engaging in a historic strike</a>.</p>



<p><strong>Sonali is sustaining this project entirely through subscribers at a very low </strong><a href="http://www.risingupwithsonali.com/membership"><strong>monthly rate of $4</strong></a><strong> – less than a cup of drip coffee at the union-busting Starbucks!</strong></p>



<hr/>



<h2><strong><strong>When We Connect Through Solidarity, We Make a World Without War Possible</strong></strong></h2>



<p>The US may be on a path toward war, but it’s crucial to remember that what we do next matters. As we heed the testimonies of those who have seen firsthand where war leads, remember that the worst is only guaranteed if we do nothing.&nbsp;</p>



<p>When we connect through solidarity, we reconnect with our core humanity – and make a world without war a possibility.</p>



<p>Please share this newsletter with others and encourage them to <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/get-yes-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>. Our next edition from the <em>YES!</em> digital archives will be sent (next year!) in January.&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>If you’re excited about this continuation of the </strong><em><strong>YES! </strong></em><strong>tradition and want to support the newsletter, please consider making a small </strong><a href="https://support.truthout.org/page/yesmedia"><strong>one-time or monthly donation</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p>



<p>Best,</p>



<p><em>t r u t h o u t</em></p>



<p></p>

<p>This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org">Yes! Magazine</a> at <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/2025/12/09/we-all-have-a-responsibility-to-end-war">https://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/2025/12/09/we-all-have-a-responsibility-to-end-war</a>.</p><link href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/2025/12/09/we-all-have-a-responsibility-to-end-war" rel="canonical"/><p>Yes! Magazine is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of ... . Learn more at <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org">Yes! Magazine</a></p><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://www.yesmagazine.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=125698&ga4=G-74QJNNY44Z" style="width:1px;height:1px;">

We All Have a Responsibility to End War

In the last 25 years, the U.S. has officially gone to war with Iraq and Afghanistan. But it has also sent troops, launched airstrikes, carried out drone attacks, or provided critical support for military attacks on Syria, Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, Libya, Iran, Gaza, Lebanon, and Russia.

These wars have wiped out millions of lives; plunged masses of people into poverty, trauma, starvation, and the status of refugee; and left many U.S. veterans burdened with PTSD and homelessness.

Now, the Trump administration is taking the U.S. on a path to war with Venezuela.

Writing for YES! in 2020, Nancy Hill profiled dozens of veterans about their experience in combat. Their testimonies speak to the moral catastrophe of war and the necessity of mass resistance to military conflict:

War breaks us. It detaches us from our core humanity. War removes us from ourselves and programs us to find enemies in anyone or anything that is unfamiliar. It robs us of our humanity and empathy. War poisons our hearts, minds, and spirits. It reduces us to cold shells — unfeeling, unloving — of ourselves first and then others, and back around. We can break that cycle though. The opposite of war is creation, nurturing, and healing. When we do our work to slow down, feel, and see ourselves in others, we can end wars. But we all have to do it. We all have to do the work to end wars.
—Letty Martinez, as quoted by Nancy Hill

Read the full article: Combat Veterans Tell Us What We Need to Know About War

From the Archives: War Budgets Lead to National Insecurity. What Creates Security?

The drive to war turns us away from systems that foster creation, nurturing, and healing. We all want to live in safety, but seeking security through the funding of so-called defense budgets ultimately takes us further away from realizing it.

“If we want a healthy Earth, justice, peace, and democracy, we need a 21st-century security agenda that addresses the causes of contemporary conflicts, encourages cooperation and diplomacy, and supports every person in their quest for a healthy and dignified life,” David Korten wrote for YES! in 2016.

Read the article: Want National Security? Dismantle the War Machine

From the Archives: Workers Cooperatives for Our Mental Health

With Elon Musk on track to become the world’s first trillionaire, it’s time for us to recognize how inequality is a key source of our collective mental suffering. Writing for YES! in 2018, Tabita Green proposed democratic and collectively owned workplaces as part of the solution to the inhumane dynamics of capitalism.

“Clearly, many of those suffering mental and emotional distress are actually having a rational response to a sick society and an unjust economy,” wrote Green. “This revelation doesn’t reduce the suffering, but it completely changes the paradigm of mental health and how we choose to move forward to optimize human well-being.”

Read the article: What a Society Designed for Well-Being Looks Like

New Work by YES! Contributors

Sarah van Gelder, founding editor of YES!, has written an open letter to billionaires, imploring them to give up their luxury bunkers and wealth hoarding, and instead invest in repairing the world.

Sonali Kolhatkar, former racial justice and civil liberties editor at YES! Magazine and the host of Rising Up With Sonali, reported on Starbucks workers’ ongoing strike after months of stalled contract negotiations under the leadership of the company’s new CEO.

Evette Dionne, former Executive Editor of YES!, has republished selections from a Bitch Media series on access and disability that was curated by Alice Wong, a disability justice activist and writer who died in November.

New Solutions Journalism From Independent Media

? How Somerville Became the First US City to Vote to Divest From Israeli Apartheid - Truthout

?️ As Global Climate Talks Fumble, Texas Campaigns Target Companies Powering Genocide and Ecocide - deceleration

? Graduate Student Workers Find Unity Amid Intense Repression - In These Times

☮️ The Playbook of Every Successful Nonviolent Struggle - Waging Nonviolence

? It’s Time for Progressive Philanthropy to Commit to Funding Journalism - Prism / Truthout

Rising Up With Sonali

YES! Media’s broadcast arm Rising Up With Sonali is going strong after spinning off as an independent venture. Spearheaded by former senior editor Sonali Kolhatkar, the program offers solutions perspectives on news and politics via regular interviews with changemakers on the frontlines of social justice.

On Rising Up With Sonali, you learn about important efforts such as how Montana is using an innovative approach to ending Citizens United, how climate-destroying AI data centers can be stopped, what's really happening with the US attacks on Venezuela and the Caribbean, and how Starbucks workers are engaging in a historic strike.

Sonali is sustaining this project entirely through subscribers at a very low monthly rate of $4 – less than a cup of drip coffee at the union-busting Starbucks!

When We Connect Through Solidarity, We Make a World Without War Possible

The US may be on a path toward war, but it’s crucial to remember that what we do next matters. As we heed the testimonies of those who have seen firsthand where war leads, remember that the worst is only guaranteed if we do nothing.

When we connect through solidarity, we reconnect with our core humanity – and make a world without war a possibility.

Please share this newsletter with others and encourage them to subscribe. Our next edition from the YES! digital archives will be sent (next year!) in January.

If you’re excited about this continuation of the YES! tradition and want to support the newsletter, please consider making a small one-time or monthly donation.

Best,

t r u t h o u t