AntiWar.com: How Bitcoin Can Help End War

“Antiwar.com is the only consistently anti-war site that I’m aware of. Every time I view their material it is consistently opposed to the violence and wars of the state. They don’t make exceptions based on which political party is in power at the time of each specific war. Murdering strangers, because other strangers told you to, is wrong.  It’s wrong every time with no exceptions even if those strangers try to hide this fact by calling it a war.”
— – Roger Ver

Antiwar.com was founded by Eric Garris, in 1995. The site is responsible for breaking massive news such as;  The American bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, and an American missile attack on a civilian train, both during the Kosovo war. Since inception readership has grown exponentially. The site now averages 50,000 unique visitors per day, and on a slow month will get 2 million page views. Antiwar.com continues to be a source of original reports, from countries all over the world.

“I get calls constantly from major media sources to give them background information on things because they can’t find it themselves. In the last month I’ve had CNN, MSNBC, and Washington Post reporters call me for source material. Last week, antiwar.com was sited and quoted on topics in the Washington Post Foreign Policy Magazine and Bloomberg News”
— – Garris

In order to provide the world with valuable information, antiwar.com relies heavily on donations. The choice to accept Bitcoin for donations did not come easily to Garris. When he initially heard about Bitcoin, he was hopeful, as it sounded like a great idea, but he couldn’t picture Bitcoin gaining traction, or reaching critical mass.

“I was sceptical early on, but hopeful and I certainly wanted to be able to incorporate Bitcoin into fund drives in terms of how we get donations. At first I would say it was more opportunistic on my part.” Garris explains “My scepticism has been proven wrong because in fact Bitcoin is really taking off and no matter how many things get put in its way it is still advancing,”

Garris has noticed that not only are people willing to give through Bitcoin, but that the people using it are more committed to fighting the war machine, and actually making change, than the average donor. “They’re the hard-core part of our donor base.”

Antiwar.com has joined forces with Roger Ver, who offered to match donations made by the Bitcoin community. Ver has now doubled his initial offer, to match bitcoin donations of up to $10,000 USD, increasing his limit to $20,000.

”Ver gave us the matching funds in one of our previous fund drives and there were almost 400 individual bitcoin contributors. I said to him, ‘That went so well, is there any chance we could do something like this again?’ and he said ‘Sure, let’s do it now!’ Garris explained  “Roger doesn’t hesitate when he decided he wants to do something. I really admire that. I really like Roger, he’s a fascinating guy and he’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met.  He is very accessible and he likes to associate with the masses, he’s not aloof like you would expect someone like him to be. He’s in the trenches and he’s a general as opposed to somebody who is sitting in his ivory tower. “

The funds will assist Antiwar.com provide server security, increase site speed, and support the organisation, ”We don’t have big foundation funding, we don’t have any corporate funding. Our average dontation is $50.00. It goes to the upkeep of the operation. We do have six full time employees. Several part time employees and stringers. We also have a lot of volunteer workers. Even though they are not paid, there is money involved with keeping them working.” Garris explains, “We have people around the USA, but also in China, Eastern Europe, Russia, and Japan who continually send us links and sources and translations. That’s very important. Especially in the Middle East where things are going very hot and heavy right now.”

Roger Ver Matching Donations will be going until the end of the month, and should you wish to make a donation, visit their website here.

“Bitcoin is so important to those who value peace because it undermines the ability of the state to fund wars via inflation. Before the era of central banking, wars were over quickly because the governments funding them would run out of money quickly. If the world is using Bitcoin, then governments will no longer have the ability to print money at will to fund their wars of aggression. If there ever is such a thing as a just war, people will gladly fund voluntarily.  Gone will be the days of governments funding wars secretly through the trickery of inflation.  In the end, governments won’t regulate Bitcoin, Bitcoin will regulate governments”
— – Roger Ver

It is not just the monetary aspect of Bitcoin that appeals to Garris either. The ability for businesses to exchange with each other, whether they are down the road from one another, or across the world impresses him. Bitcoin has the ability to eliminate national boundaries and as Garris puts it, removes the “us vs. them” mentality, which feeds into the war philosophy. Garris told BNC, “One of the important connections is the fact that war is sustainable because of government plunder. Government plunder and war go hand in hand. The more war, the more they can plunder, and the more plunder the more they can conduct war. The most significant part of that is the federal reserve. The ability to get as much money as they need through debt and fiat currency.”

Antiwar.com celebrates its 19th anniversary this month, “Antiwar.com stands outside the Washington bipartisan consensus for reckless, expansionist, dangerous foreign policy, and thus gets no big corporate or foundation support. We rely on our readers to help us keep the establishment’s feet to the fire. Keeping on top of the warfare state in all its manifestations requires constant alertness, and we can’t do it without your help” – Antiwar.com