Peace activist David Swanson will speak in Columbus on November 9 at the Free Press 2023 Awards Dinner on “War Abolition and the Ukraine Problem.” David is a regular guest at the Free Press Zoom salons and his weekly articles can be found on freepress.org. His podcast also plays on the local community radio station WGRN 91.9FM. David was one of the first to point out the lack of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq prior to the war and the hypocrisy of the United States lies about them.

This bio is taken from David's website. David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is the director of World BEYOND War, a global nonviolent movement to end war and establish a just and sustainable peace. He is campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org.

David’s books on war and peace include Leaving World War II Behind (an argument against the use of WWII as reason for more wars), War Is A Lie (a catalog of the types of falsehoods regularly told about wars), War Is Never Just (a refutation of just war theory), and When the World Outlawed War (an account of the 1920s peace movement and the creation of the Kellogg Briand Pact), as well as (co-author) A Global Security System: An Alternative to War (a vision of a world of nonviolent institutions).

David blogs at DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org. He hosts a weekly radio show called Talk World Radio. He speaks frequently on the topic of war and peace, and engages in all kinds of nonviolent activism. He recently drafted a resolution urging Congress to move money from the military to human and environmental needs, rather than the reverse. Versions of the resolution were passed by several cities and by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. David also organized, with a lot of help from the Backbone Campaign, a flotilla of 50 kayaks that held banners on the Potomac River in front of the Pentagon reading “No wars for oil / No oil for wars.”

David is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee and was awarded the 2018 Peace Prize by the U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation.

Swanson is on the advisory boards of: Nobel Peace Prize Watch, Veterans For Peace, Assange Defense, BPUR, Military Families Speak Out, Fields of Peace, and Peace in Ukraine Coalition. He is an Associate of the Transnational Foundation, and a Patron of Platform for Peace and Humanity. He is on the Consultative Council of the SHAPE Project.

David holds a Master’s degree in philosophy from UVA and has long lived and worked in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In 2022, Swanson’s words were featured and spoken by an actor in a film called Voices for Peace by Creative Action Unlimited and directed by Michael Kennedy and John Stevenson.

In 2020, Swanson co-edited a poetry collection, Second Name of Earth Is Peace.

From November 2019 to September 2020 Swanson was a member of the Retirement Commission of the City of Charlottesville, having led in the spring of 2019 a successful effort to divest the city’s operating budget from fossil fuels and weapons and to persuade the city to commit to doing the same with its retirement fund.

The Free Press Awards dinner is free and open to the public on Thursday, November 9 from 5-8pm at the Vanderelli Room, 218 McDowell Street in Franklinton. They will be honoring local community activists:

2024 Free Press "Libby" Award for lifetime achievement in Community Activism - Cynthia Brown of the Ohio Coalition to End Qualified Immunity

2024 Free Press Activist Artist Award - Alicia Jean Vanderelli of the Vanderelli Room

5-5:30 - Doors open
5:30-6 - Dinner and drinks
6 - Awards ceremony
Followed by presentation by David

Dinner features food from the Americas including vegan and gluten-free options.

RSVP: colfreepress@gmail.com or on Facebook