End Support for Warmongers at Yale

by Daud Shad, 2021 Yale College graduate

Members of the Yale community and beyond are joining the call for Yale to End Support for Warmongers! The US withdrawal from Afghanistan has renewed public scrutiny of the global military-industrial complex and the War on Terror, which has directly killed more than 900,000 people and cost over $8 trillion while completely devastating countries.

The recent resignation of Yale Professor Beverly Gage from the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy brings that public scrutiny even closer to campus. Professor Gage re-signed due to donor pressure to teach the program “the way Henry Kissinger would” and include Kissinger as advisor.

Kissinger, though admired by many in the American political elite, exemplifies all that is fundamentally wrong with the prevailing conception of “grand strategy”: the agency and precious lives of millions of people in foreign countries are disregarded for a chance at long-term hegemony for the most powerful country in the world. The devastation in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan are major examples of what practitioners celebrated by Yale, beyond Kissinger, have been instrumental in.

There’s a deep issue at the university where credentialism often trumps humanitarianism. In its foreign policy instruction, Yale seems to value the fame or title of an individual over a record that exemplifies care for human lives (e.g., no involvement in war crimes!). Tragically, many of the world’s poorest communities suffer from war and its immense consequences. Simultaneously, leading warmongers evade basic accountability and receive prestigious positions.

There are three policies we urge Yale to immediately implement in order to begin to disentangle the university from warmongering and imperialism: [1] Prevent donor conditions on academic freedom; [2] Adhere to a standard for Yale affiliation that would disqualify those involved in war crimes; [3] Refuse to invest in defense contractors.

Read the petition and sign it at tinyurl.com/YaleEndWar. Daud graduated from Yale College in 2021. As a student, he was co-coordinator for Dwight Hall at Yale. You can reach him at  [email protected].

Pushing the Envelope for Peace

by Nancy Eberg, Greater New Haven Peace Council

Our group has been involved in many diverse activities during the last year, some controversial. The Greater New Haven Peace Council opposes American intervention in the Middle and Far East, South America, and Africa; the rescission of many environmental protections and financial regulations; and the expansion of militarization.

We initiated the “Move the Money” governmental resolutions in New Haven which has spread across the country and was ratified by the US Conference of Mayors, resulting in public hearings showing how our taxes could be better spent on local issues than on war and weapons. Some of the Council attended international peace conferences in Cuba and Vietnam.

Our successful “No Foreign Bases” conference in Baltimore had representatives from around the US and the world. This was an attempt to form a more cohesive peace movement. Members of this group later engaged in an anti-war activity in NYC. Another anti-war conference at Middlesex College focused on American imperialism and the inherent violence in American society. Additionally, we held forums on the Cuban green energy initiative, Korea, and the opposition to the US military base on Jeju Island. The Board of Alders, at our request, held a public hearing with department heads specifying how decreased federal military spending could impact local government.

Our annual reading of MLK’s “Beyond Vietnam” speech was a success, despite the weather. We showed films high-lighting important issues, commemorated the anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and met with our Congressional representatives. Also, we sponsored and engaged in other groups’ initiatives — activities on last year’s International Women’s Day, marches on women’s issues, gun violence, and immigration and the Greenwich anti-war demonstration, among others. Every Friday, pamphlets about the week’s current events are given out in front of City Hall.

Thus, it is evident that our group has, and will continue to, strive against this administration’s initiatives. We believe that diplomacy, not war, should be utilized to solve nations’ differences. Although right now our efforts seem to be exercises in futility, in the long run, we hope to prevail.