Alfred Nobel’s will, written in 1895, left funding for a prize to be awarded to “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”

The first such prize, awarded in 1901, went to Jean Henry Dunant and Frédéric Passy, two men who held and promoted peace congresses, two peace activists, two men who were not elected officials. Nor were they war makers.

As many of you will remember, I wrote a lot of posts here at FDL about the war in Iraq before I got ill and had to take a break. While writing less, I am still on the various “progressive” emails lists where “activists” talk about issues like the war and the traffic in recent days shook me up.

The first was an email inviting activists to join one group in an informal cocktail hour to “celebrate” the end of the war. I found myself sitting and shaking at the thought. What celebrate? How many years and we … celebrate?

Not yet 30, Evan Knappenberger has already lived several lives. His story destroys the U.S. government’s case against whistleblower Bradley Manning, exposes the toxic mix of fraud and incompetence that creates U.S. war policies, and highlights the damage so often done to soldiers who come home without visible injuries.

There is a feeling a jubilation and fellowship at Occupy LA, with people who normally wouldn’t come in contact with each other now hanging out, sharing common ground, talking, sharing food and stories. And within this, solutions are discussed, actions are planned, and plans hashed out. I saw a La Rouche supporter getting schooled by an activist while a decorated infantry specialist, a veteran of the Afghanistan War in full uniform, carried a sign asking why the government and financial institutions won’t do what’s right.

Sean Penn says “Occupy Wall Street protest is telling the world we cannot be controlled by fear anymore” and that the protests have made him prouder than ever to be an American. The whole interview is very inspiring, and Penn is a thoughtful and articulate American philosopher.

On the eve of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, my thoughts turn to peace. It’s hard to keep them there, though, because of the chorus of voices that scream for violence and war.

I grieve for those who died ten years ago in New York, DC, and Pennsylvania, as well as all who have died — and continue to die — in the wars spawned out of that attack. I long for the day when military fly-overs at football games become a thing of the past, and our cities have more statues to teachers than generals.

But the cheers for executions, and the willingness to spend billions of dollars on weapons to dole out death but mere pennies on social services that preserve life in one way or another for the most needy among us tell me that the day I long for is quite a ways off.

Fifty years ago today, East German soldiers began overseeing the construction of the Berlin Wall. That wall came down in 1989, but as Der Spiegel reminds us, other walls remain elsewhere in the world.

Even more insidious, though, are the invisible walls we build with money and defend with lawyers, all in an attempt to defend the status quo and nail things down as they are right now.

Sorry, but life is like a river, and you can’t nail it down. Count me among those who yearn for life without such walls.

The title here comes from a John McCutcheon song used in a video done as a 6th grade class project. To judge by this video, somewhere out there is a teacher named Mr. Cutler who is doing a very, very good job. The students were studying World War I, and they combined vivid and powerful images of that war and the ongoing war in Iraq with an equally powerful song by folk singer John McCutcheon called “Christmas in the Trenches.”

On this New Year’s morning, may peace be upon you all.

The fall and decline of an empire can take many years, but certain “benchmarks” (as imperial courts have been known to call them) can measure the progress in one year alone. Take, for example, the year 2010.

War is not politics, it is violence – murder – on an enormous scale. It does not lead to democracy, security, or good governance, it leads to anger, humiliation, and above all else, more violence.