Students hold press conference after meeting with a U.S. Senator’s office.
By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, June 11, 2025
In the United States, Canada, and hopefully other places soon, college students in some cases, and high school students in others, are starting chapters of World BEYOND War — in some cases as student groups through their school.
As polling on public policy seems to always find better, more decent and human opinions the younger the responding group is, it makes a lot of sense for young people to be taking leading roles in organizing, educating, and agitating for peace. Older peace activists, after all, in large part became peace activists when they were young.
It can require extra work to maintain organizations in places where the whole population turns over in four years, but we’re confident it can be done, and that graduates can stick with World BEYOND War in chapters meant for all ages.
So if you are or know students with an interest in avoiding nuclear war, feel free to share the idea with them and to contact us.
In Madison, Wisconsin, a WBW chapter has raised funds, hired campus organizers, and seen new chapters emerge at the University of Wisconsin and at Madison Area Technical College.
One of those organizers is Elias Lyman, who says, “Since joining World BEYOND War last year as a student activist I have helped organize a range of activities, including lobbying state representatives, organizing protests, hosting film screenings, and facilitating roundtable discussions. Each of these actions serves as a reminder that peace is not a partisan issue, it is a fundamental human right. My hope is that through these actions, people learn how to get involved and make a difference when, for many, these issues feel unapproachable. Since founding our WBW club on campus, we have worked to understand and expose the pervasive yet overlooked influence of the military-industrial complex. It is embedded in our economy, politics, and educational institutions, shaping our world in ways most people don’t realize. My goal is to create a space on campus where students can critically engage with these deeply ingrained and emotionally taxing realities.”
Elias tells me this chapter has met with their U.S. Representative and one of their Senators, held multiple film screenings, and Cartonera workshops (I had to look it up) and antiwar cafés, as well as inviting students to protests and community actions. “Our work culminated in this year’s Solidarity for Peace event, which featured Representative Pocan as a speaker. Sixteen peace-focused community organizations and campus clubs participated in the event, tabling and connecting with students in an effort to foster unity across movements and raise awareness about actionable opportunities.”
Elias has proposed that we connect campus chapters globally, which I think is a terrific idea!
In Fremont, California, a new chapter of World BEYOND War has been started up by high school students. Chapter Coordinator William Soe tells me the chapter regularly hosts educational events. “One of our upcoming activities is a flyer-making event where we will provide materials and resources, and participants will each create a flyer about a current global conflict. They’ll post these flyers in public spaces, and we’ll offer community service hours as a way to recognize their engagement.”
Asked how he became involved, Soe said: “I became interested in anti-war activism while studying history in school. Learning about the terrible events and suffering caused by past wars made me want to understand more about what is happening in the world today. I started looking into current wars and how the system behind them continues to cause harm. My interest became more personal because my parents are immigrants from Myanmar, which is currently experiencing a civil war. They came to the United States seeking asylum, and that made me think more deeply about the real human cost of war. That’s when I found World BEYOND War. I was inspired by WBW’s mission to end all war through education, action, and peaceful solutions. It felt like a powerful way to make a difference, both in my community and as part of a larger global movement.”
One Response
Absolutely inspiring to have young people looking to make a change in how we perceive the world by no longer accepting looking at others through the barrel of a gun or through the camera of a drone, especially with such a reputable organization as WorldBeyondWar. I personally wish I could organize a chapter myself in the Raleigh-Durham area of NC, but since I’m no longer in college, it’s difficult to meet people to have these harder conversations about the relationships America has with the greater part of the world and what we can do to change it. I no longer want to be a part of the military industrial complex, I no longer want to have my taxes be taken every day and spent against my wishes to harm people for profit and campaigns of genocide and hatred. I’m proud that so many others are able to work towards expressing the same. Empathy and compassion is the natural order of human existence, we must simply find it in ourselves again.