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Peace stories, peace scholars, peace heroes, peace visions, pillars of peace, nature’s peace, and levity peace, told and narrated by Avis Kalfsbeek, author of Pedro the Water Dog Saves the Planet book series.
Episodes
2 days ago
2 days ago
In this episode of the Wolff Peace series, host Avis Kalfsbeek explores Karl Marx’s concept of alienated labor and pairs it with the real-life work of Ella Baker, civil rights organizer and community-based changemaker.
Together, they help us understand the importance of meaningful work, grassroots power, and reclaiming our full humanity in the face of dehumanizing systems.
Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man is available on Amazon (I’m not an affiliate)
Learn more about the series and my books at aviskalfsbeek.com
Follow my Kickstarter please: https://www.aviskalfsbeek.com/kickstarter
Music: Dalai Llama Rides a Bike by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez.
Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW
Try my voice clone “Amaya Calm” on Eleven Labs for your audio book or other creative project: https://try.elevenlabs.io/peace (If you use this link, I earn a small commission)
4 days ago
4 days ago
In this episode of the Wolff Peace series, host Avis Kalfsbeek contrasts Jeremy Bentham’s philosophy of “the greatest good” with Leymah Gbowee’s people-powered fight for peace in Liberia. From theoretical utility to street-level courage, this episode asks us to rethink what really sustains peace—and whose happiness we’re measuring.
Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man is available on Amazon (I’m not an affiliate)
Learn more about the series and my books at aviskalfsbeek.com
Follow my Kickstarter please: https://www.aviskalfsbeek.com/kickstarter
Music: Dalai Llama Rides a Bike by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez.
Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW
Try my voice clone “Amaya Calm” on Eleven Labs for your audio book or other creative project: https://try.elevenlabs.io/peace (If you use this link, I earn a small commission)
7 days ago
7 days ago
In this episode of the Wolff Peace series, host Avis Kalfsbeek explores the tension between Thomas Hobbes’s vision of human nature and Satish Kumar’s path of spiritual ecology. Hobbes believed that peace required submission to state power. Kumar believes it arises from harmony with one another—and the Earth.
Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man is available on Amazon (I’m not an affiliate)
Learn more about the series and my books at aviskalfsbeek.com
Follow my Kickstarter please: https://www.aviskalfsbeek.com/kickstarter
Music: Dalai Llama Rides a Bike by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez.
Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW
Try my voice clone “Amaya Calm” on Eleven Labs for your audio book or other creative project: https://try.elevenlabs.io/peace (If you use this link, I earn a small commission)
Wednesday Jul 23, 2025
Wednesday Jul 23, 2025
In this episode of the Wolff Peace series, host Avis Kalfsbeek revisits Aristotle’s enduring vision of the political life: one rooted in virtue, participation, and civic education. But with that vision came exclusion—women, slaves, and foreigners were barred from the polis.
Enter Malala Yousafzai, who defied a Taliban bullet to fight for girls’ education and global citizenship. Through her story, we explore how access to learning becomes a form of political empowerment—and why it’s essential to building peaceful societies.
Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man is available on Amazon (I’m not an affiliate)
Learn more about the series and my books at aviskalfsbeek.com
Follow my Kickstarter please: https://www.aviskalfsbeek.com/kickstarter
Music: Dalai Llama Rides a Bike by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez.
Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW
Try my voice clone “Amaya Calm” on Eleven Labs for your audio book or other creative project: https://try.elevenlabs.io/peace (If you use this link, I earn a small commission)
Tuesday Jul 22, 2025
Tuesday Jul 22, 2025
In this special recap episode of the Wolff Peace series, host Avis Kalfsbeek reflects on seven thinkers and seven peace warriors who challenge our assumptions about political loyalty. From Socrates to Thoreau, from Sophie Scholl to Desmond Tutu, we explore the personal, political, and moral tensions of obedience in a world that often demands conformity.
In this episode:
- A guided overview of Wolff’s “Limits of Political Authority” section
- Peace Pairings who refused to obey unjust power
- Thought-provoking questions for your inner world
Visit aviskalfsbeek.com to learn more about the podcast and books.
Music: “Dalai Llama Rides a Bike” by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez
Try my voice clone “Amaya Calm” on Eleven Labs for your audio book or other creative project: https://try.elevenlabs.io/peace
Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man: Amazon link
Monday Jul 21, 2025
Monday Jul 21, 2025
In this episode of the Wolff Peace series, host Avis Kalfsbeek explores Robert Paul Wolff’s personal contribution to his 1966 anthology with the essay An Analysis of the Concept of Political Loyalty. Rather than obedience, Wolff suggests that loyalty is a kind of identification with the state—one that might even lead to principled resistance.
Paired with Wolff is Pauli Murray—civil rights lawyer, poet, priest, and powerful legal mind behind some of the greatest progress in racial and gender equality. Murray’s life exemplified a kind of loyalty that held America to its best ideals.
In this episode:
- The difference between obedience and loyalty
- Pauli Murray’s legacy in civil rights and gender equity law
- Two reflection questions to consider your own loyalties
Visit aviskalfsbeek.com to learn more about the podcast and books.
Music: “Dalai Llama Rides a Bike” by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez
Try my voice clone “Amaya Calm” on Eleven Labs for your audio book or other creative project: https://try.elevenlabs.io/peace
Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man: Amazon link
Friday Jul 18, 2025
Friday Jul 18, 2025
In this episode of the Wolff Peace series, host Avis Kalfsbeek explores the story of Paul Le Meur, a French teacher who faced an impossible moral decision during Nazi occupation—and chose not to comply. His story is paired with the extraordinary resistance of the villagers of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, who sheltered thousands of Jews during the Holocaust without fanfare or credit.
Both remind us that peace often lives in quiet places—and in the brave hearts of ordinary people.
In this episode:
- A reading of Le Meur’s wartime decision
- The remarkable resistance of Le Chambon
- Two peace questions to guide your week
Visit aviskalfsbeek.com to learn more about the podcast and books.
Music: “Dalai Llama Rides a Bike” by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez
Try my voice clone “Amaya Calm” on Eleven Labs for your audio book or other creative project: https://try.elevenlabs.io/peace
Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man: Amazon link
Wednesday Jul 16, 2025
Wednesday Jul 16, 2025
From the U.S. Supreme Court to the streets of Cape Town: this episode of Wolff Peace examines what it means to protect conscience in law and in life.
Host Avis Kalfsbeek explores Robert H. Jackson’s stirring opinion in Barnette, which rejected forced patriotism in favor of moral independence, and pairs it with the radical compassion of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who led a nation toward justice without vengeance.
In this episode:
- The reversal of Gobitis in Barnette
- Desmond Tutu’s legacy of truth, justice, and reconciliation
- Two reflection questions to guide your personal and civic values
Visit aviskalfsbeek.com to learn more about the podcast and books.
Music: “Dalai Llama Rides a Bike” by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez
Try my voice clone “Amaya Calm” on Eleven Labs for your audio book or other creative project: https://try.elevenlabs.io/peace
Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man: Amazon link
Monday Jul 14, 2025
Monday Jul 14, 2025
In this episode of the Wolff Peace series, host Avis Kalfsbeek examines the tension between obedience and conscience by pairing Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter with Palestinian philosopher and peacebuilder Sari Nusseibeh.
Frankfurter’s ruling in Minersville v. Gobitis prioritized national unity over religious freedom, sparking backlash and violence. In contrast, Nusseibeh’s life work offers a model of nonviolent dignity and resistance under the weight of systemic oppression.
Together, their voices challenge us to rethink how peace interacts with the right to dissent.
In this episode:
- The logic and consequences of Minersville v. Gobitis
- The lived peace philosophy of Sari Nusseibeh
- Two reflection questions for your head and heart
Visit aviskalfsbeek.com to learn more about the podcast and books.
Music: “Dalai Llama Rides a Bike” by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez
Try my voice clone “Amaya Calm” on Eleven Labs for your audio book or other creative project: https://try.elevenlabs.io/peace
Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man: Amazon link
Friday Jul 11, 2025
Friday Jul 11, 2025
When loyalty becomes betrayal—and betrayal becomes peace. In this episode of Wolff Peace, host Avis Kalfsbeek examines the quiet power of disobedience. Political theorist Richard Schaar challenges the psychology of loyalty—and Sophie Scholl, executed at 21 for resisting Hitler, shows what it means to shift allegiance from nation to conscience.
In this episode:
- What makes us loyal—and what breaks the spell
- Sophie Scholl and the White Rose resistance
- Two reflection questions for your internal compass
Visit aviskalfsbeek.com to learn more about the podcast and books.
Music: “Dalai Llama Rides a Bike” by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez
Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW
Try my voice clone “Amaya Calm” on Eleven Labs for your audio book or other creative project: https://try.elevenlabs.io/peace
Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man: Amazon link