Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek

Ep 239 Peacewarts: Chronicled Courage 101 - Indigenous Peace Traditions (Class 7)

Peacewarts: Dept. of Chronicled Courage - Indigenous Peace Traditions (Class 7)

Episode Summary: We deconstruct the Haudenosaunee Great Law of Peace as a masterclass in constitutional design. We examine the 1142 CE founding, the role of Jigonhsasee, and how the Seven Generations principle created a system where peace was the operational norm.

Homework:

1. Look upthe Women's Nomination Belt (part of the wampum records) and find out how it protected the power of the Clan Mothers.
2. Write down one questionabout any of this episode's topics. If you don't have a question, write "no question."
3. Optional: Think about a decision you have to make this week. If you applied the Seven Generations principle to that decision—asking how it would affect your descendants 200 years from now—how would your choice change?

Learning Topics: The 1142 Founding: Breaking the "Mourning War" cycle through legal reform; Jigonhsasee and the Clan Mothers: Structural gender-balancing and the power to depose aggressive leaders; The Great Law of Peace: A participatory democracy that influenced federalism; The Eagle on the Tree: Peace as an early warning and diplomatic buffer; The Seven Generations Principle: Moving from short-term reaction to long-term stewardship.

• Get the book Peace Stuff Enough: AvisKalfsbeek.com/peace-stuff-enough

• Join the Community / Get the Books: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com
• Podcast Music: Javier Peke Rodriguez “I am late, madame Curie” https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

Ep 238 How AI Helped Me Make ZERO: A Field Guide to a Weaponless World (Part 3)

Ep 238 How AI Helped Me Make ZERO: A Field Guide to a Weaponless World (Part 3)

 Avis Kalfsbeeks continue a review of the publications from the past that advocate for a weaponless word.

Guterres (2018) vs. The 1960s Blueprints We examine whether Antonio Guterres’s 2018 disarmament agenda is a "rich" update or a "light" compromise compared to the 1960s plans by Clark, Sohn, and McCloy.

We discuss why these rigorous 1962 plans remained in the archives. Historically, these were "Smarty Pants" documents written by elites for elites. Without a public version the general public never had the technical manual needed to pressure governments toward a true "Stage 3" (Zero) disarmament.

Get the free book: ZERO: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com/zero

Podcast Music: Javier Peke Rodriguez “Dalai Lama Riding a Bike”

Bandcamp:  https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com/

Featured Document: Antion Guterres’s 2018 Securing Our Common Future: https://s3.amazonaws.com/unoda-web/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/sg-disarmament-agenda-pubs-page.pdf#view=Fit

Ep 237 Peacewarts: Chronicled Courage 101 - The Architecture of the Headline (Class 6)

Peacewarts: Dept. of Chronicled Courage – The Architecture of the Headline (Class 6)

We examine the role of modern media in the erasure of peace initiatives. By analyzing underreported crises in Sudan and Chad, and "invisible" protocols like the WHO’s Health for Peace, we learn how to spot the biases that frame our "reality."

Homework:

1. Look upone of the following: The "Health for Peace" initiative by the WHO or the current status of the Sudan peace talks.
2. Write down one questionabout any of this episode’s topics. If you don’t have a question, write “no question.”
3. Optional: Find a major news website and count the headlines. How many are about a "collision" (conflict) and how many are about a "cohesion" (cooperation)? If you were the editor, what "boring" act of peace from your own community would you put on the front page?

Learning Topics: The Conflict Bias: Why the media prioritizes "collisions" over "cohesion;” The Sudan/Chad Case Study: How geopolitical influence dictates media visibility; The WHO Health for Peace Initiative: Understanding health as a peacebuilding bridge; New Diplomacy: The roles of Qatar, Türkiye, and other mediators in non-binary conflicts; The Architecture of News: Understanding peace as an organic, slow-moving process.

• Get the book Peace Stuff Enough: AvisKalfsbeek.com/peace-stuff-enough

• Join the Community / Get the Books: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com
• Podcast Music: Javier Peke Rodriguez “I am late, madame Curie” https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

Ep 236 How AI Helped Me Make ZERO: A Field Guide to a Weaponless World (Part 2)

Ep 236 How AI Helped Me Make ZERO: A Field Guide to a Weaponless World (Part 2)

In this episode, I continue the story behind my book ZERO: An Every Person’s Field Guide to a Weaponless World. In Part 2, I explore the people behind the plans—the diplomats, lawyers, and scholars who worked on proposals for global disarmament.

Through a continued research conversation with AI, I look more closely at individuals including Grenville Clark, Louis Sohn, John J. McCloy, Valerian Zorin, António Guterres, and Melissa Gillis. The episode walks through the documents and initiatives they contributed to, along with brief biographical context and what came of their work.

I also look at how these efforts span from mid-20th century Cold War proposals to more recent United Nations frameworks, including António Guterres’s 2018 agenda for disarmament.

A recurring thread in this episode is that the plans themselves were not lost. Many of these frameworks still exist in archives and institutions, even if they are not widely discussed or revisited today.

This episode is Part 2 of the story behind the book ZERO.

You can download the book free here: www.aviskalfsbeek.com/zero 

Topics in this episode: Grenville Clark and Louis Sohn and their work on World Peace Through World Law, John J. McCloy and Valerian Zorin and the McCloy–Zorin Accords, brief bios and what came of each of these figures, António Guterres’s 2018 disarmament agenda and its four pillars, Melissa Gillis and the UN’s Disarmament: A Basic Guide, and the idea that many disarmament plans still exist in archives and have not been widely revisited.

Get the free book: ZERO: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com/zero 

• Podcast Music: Javier Peke Rodriguez “Dalai Lama Riding a Bike”

Bandcamp:  https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com/ 

Ep 235 Peacewarts: Chronicled Courage 101 - Women as Treaty Architects (Class 5)

Peacewarts: Dept. of Chronicled Courage - Women as Treaty Architects (Class 5)

We study the 1915 International Congress of Women as a masterclass in parallel diplomacy. We reframe Jane Addams and her colleagues as intellectual engineers who drafted the blueprints for modern international governance while the world was at war.

Homework:

1. Look upthe 1915 International Congress of Women or the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and find one of their 20 points that you think is still relevant today.
2. Write down one questionabout any of this episode’s topics. If you don’t have a question, write “no question.”
3. Optional: Think about a project or a conflict in your own life. Are you currently acting as a "moral figurehead" (just saying what's right) or an "architect" (designing a way for it to actually work)? What would it look like to move from a "protest" mindset to a "proposal" mindset?

Learning Topics: The 1915 Hague Congress as a diplomatic intervention, not a protest; The 20-Point Peace Program: Designing structural durability in international law; Jane Addams as a Systems Thinker: Translating civil ethics into hard policy; The political erasure of women from the Versailles negotiations; Intellectual Courage: The labor of planning peace in the midst of active conflict.

• Get the book Peace Stuff Enough: AvisKalfsbeek.com/peace-stuff-enough

• Join the Community / Get the Books: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com
• Podcast Music: Javier Peke Rodriguez “I am late, madame Curie” https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

Ep 234 How AI Helped Me Make ZERO: A Field Guide to a Weaponless World (Part 1)

How AI Helped Me Make ZERO: A Field Guide to a Weaponless World (Part 1)

In this episode I share the origin story of my book ZERO: An Every Person’s Field Guide to a Weaponless World. The project began with a simple research question: Have people ever written real plans for global disarmament?

To explore the question, I opened a research conversation with my AI collaborator “G.” In this episode I read part of that exchange and explain how it led me to discover a surprisingly rich body of historical work known as General and Complete Disarmament (GCD), detailed proposals for eliminating national militaries and building systems capable of maintaining peace.

The research pointed to several key historical sources, including:

• The Clark–Sohn Plan (1958) — a comprehensive proposal for restructuring the United Nations and phasing out national militaries over time.
• The McCloy–Zorin Accords (1961) — a Cold War agreement in which both the United States and the Soviet Union formally endorsed the goal of total disarmament.
• Superpower draft treaties (1962) submitted to international negotiations, revealing that the major disagreement was not the goal of disarmament but how to verify compliance.

One of the central discoveries in this research is that the blueprints for disarmament were never lost. Many of them remain archived in institutions such as the United Nations and the Kennedy Presidential Library. In many ways, the work today is less about inventing a plan than about rediscovering and updating the ones that already exist.

This episode is Part 1 of the story behind the book ZERO.

You can download the book free here: www.aviskalfsbeek.com/zero 

Topics: The concept of General and Complete Disarmament; Cold War–era plans for eliminating national militaries; The Clark–Sohn proposal for world law; The McCloy–Zorin agreement between the U.S. and USSR; Why verification and inspections became the major obstacle; How a research conversation with AI helped spark the book ZERO

• Get the free book ZERO: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com/zero 

• Podcast Music: Javier Peke Rodriguez “Dalai Lama Riding a Bike”

Bandcamp:  https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com/

Ep 233 Peacewarts: Chronicled Courage 101 - The Man Who Said No (Class 4)

Peacewarts: Dept. of Chronicled Courage - The Man Who Said No (Class 4)

We study Vasili Arkhipov and his refusal to launch a nuclear torpedo during the Cuban Missile Crisis. We explore how a shift in frame of mind—from combat to communication—can break the physics of escalation and serve as a manual override for broken systems.

Homework:

1. Look upthe K-19 submarine accident (1961) or the Cuban Missile Crisis depth charge signals to understand the high-stress environment Arkhipov was working in.
2. Write down one questionabout any of this episode’s topics. If you don’t have a question, write “no question.”
3. Optional: Think of a time you were in a "heated" situation—an argument or a group decision. Looking back, was there a different way to "frame" the problem that didn't involve a winner and a loser? How would that change of mind have altered the outcome?

Learning Topics: The structural pressure of the B-59 submarine launch protocol; Reframing the Crisis: Moving from a war-mindset to a peace-focus; Arkhipov’s background: Why the K-19 experience informed his courage; Asymmetry of Restraint: Why refusal is a disciplined, active military act; The pattern of restraint: Petrov and the Norwegian Rocket incident.

• Get the book Peace Stuff Enough: AvisKalfsbeek.com/peace-stuff-enough

• Join the Community / Get the Books: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com
• Podcast Music: Javier Peke Rodriguez “I am late, madame Curie” https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

Ep 232 Peacewarts: Chronicled Courage 101 - The First Peace Treaty (Class 3)

Peacewarts: Chronicled Courage 101 - The First Peace Treaty (Class 3)

We enter the Hall of Records to examine the Treaty of Kadesh (1259 BC), the world's oldest surviving peace treaty. We deconstruct the myth of inevitable war by analyzing the "recorded logic" that ended a century of conflict between the Egyptian and Hittite Empires. By shifting our focus from the chariot battle to the scriptorium, we explore how peace functions as social infrastructure and a primary technology for solving problems that violence cannot touch.

Homework:

1. Look up the Treaty of Kadesh and find one of the specific clauses (like the rule about refugees or mutual aid) that sounds surprisingly modern to you.
2. Write down one question about any of this episode's topics. If you don't have a question, write "no question."
3. Optional: Journal. Think about a relationship in your life where you have reached a stalemate. If you were to write a non-aggression clause for that relationship today, what is the one specific "territory" or topic you would both agree never to invade again?

Learning Topics: Peace as Social Infrastructure; The Treaty of Kadesh (1259 BC); The Battle of Kadesh Stalemate; Reciprocal Diplomacy; The Non-Aggression Clause; The Mutual Assistance Clause; The Erasure of Human Competence; Version 1.0 of Recorded Logic.

• ZERO, The Every Person’s Field Guide to a World Without Weapons:AvisKalfsbeek.com/zero
• Join the Community / Get the Books:AvisKalfsbeek.com
• Podcast Music: Javier Peke Rodriguez “I am late, madame Curie”https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

Ep 231 Peacewarts: Chronicled Courage 101 - The Myth of Inevitable War (Class 2)

Peacewarts: Dept. of Chronicled Courage - The Myth of Inevitable War (Class 2)

We deconstruct the lie that humans are biologically destined for combat. By examining archaeological records and the "Long Peace" of 1815-1914, we prove that peace is a deliberate, high-maintenance labor and the actual "default" of human history.

Homework:

1. Look up the Aaland Islands dispute of 1921 or the Concert of Europe and find one diplomatic tool they used to prevent a fight.
2. Write down one question about any of this episode’s topics. If you don’t have a question, write “no question.”
3. Optional: Think about your own "natural" reactions to conflict. When have you felt "hard-wired" to argue, but chose to pause instead? Was that pause "passive," or was it an act of labor?

Learning Topics: The 100-Year Peace (1815–1914) and "Congress Diplomacy;” The Aaland Islands Dispute (1921) as a model for cancelled conflict; Archaeological evidence: Challenging the 2% violence myth; The political purpose of the "Inevitability Myth;” Human nature as a capacity for choice, not a destiny for violence.

• Get the book Peace Stuff Enough: AvisKalfsbeek.com/peace-stuff-enough

• Join the Community / Get the Books: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com
• Podcast Music: Javier Peke Rodriguez “I am late, madame Curie” https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

Ep 230 Peacewarts: Chronicled Courage 101 - Peace Erasure and the Jeannette Ranking Brigade (Orientation & Class 1)

Peacewarts: Chronicled Courage 101 - Peace Erasure & Jeannette Rankin (Class 1)

We transition into the archives to study history as a lineage of persistence. This class defines "Erasure" as a political tool and examines the Jeannette Rankin Brigade (1968) and JFK’s "Strategy of Peace" as case studies in recovered memory and the "Great Refusal."

Homework:

1. Look upthe Jeannette Rankin Brigade or the 1963 American University Speech and find one detail that isn't typically taught in a standard history class.
2. Write down one questionabout any of this episode's topics. If you don't have a question, write "no question."
3. Optional: Think of a time you were told something was "inevitable." Looking back, was it actually inevitable, or was there a path of refusal you didn't see at the time?

Learning Topics: The Mission of the Hall of Records; Erasure vs. Realism: How curated memory shapes our expectations of conflict; The Jeannette Rankin Brigade (1968): A 50-year bridge of anti-war activism; The Great Refusal: Rankin’s votes in 1917 and 1941 as principled alternatives to the military-industrial complex; The Burial of Traditional Womanhood: The radical shift in 1968 activism.

• Get the book Peace Stuff Enough: AvisKalfsbeek.com/peace-stuff-enough

• Join the Community / Get the Books: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com
• Podcast Music: Javier Peke Rodriguez “I am late, madame Curie” https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW