Turning anguish into action

On June 6, in Lisbon, 5000 people gathered in Alameda and marched down Almirante Reis Ave in a peaceful manner to protest against the killing of George Floyd and for the Black Lives Matter movement, remembering the portuguese victims of police brutality and racism since the 90’s. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Author: Anita Braga

By Marc Pilisuk

So many of my white friends and I are anguished over the injustice of yet another Black man murdered by police. We find ourselves agreeing with Black Lives Matter that the strong and necessary response to the recent killings involves working not only for justice in these individual cases, but also for addressing the systemic racism underlying the repeated injustices.

Calls for system change must be more than slogans to which we nod our approval. The change must involve going beyond our comfort zone—affecting how we communicate with political leaders and friends about the types of change needed, and impressing on them how urgent our efforts are. Even if we can prevent the imminent destruction to the planet posed by global warming and nuclear war, survival demands that we also work to build a more just society.

System change has many parts and provides many opportunities for involvement. A first step is to communicate to political leaders our dismay that a system providing greater funding for policing, criminalizing, and imprisoning people than for feeding, providing healthcare, and housing deprives people of dignity and healthy lives. We must also question why budgets for urban police provide military grade materials for surveilling and shooting protestors, when money for human social services is insufficient. In response to our own question, we must point out that this systemic misallocation of resources contributes to a bloated Defense Department budget that bolsters authoritarian governments that neglect the needs of their own people.

To take that first step, you can phone the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to obtain contact information for elected officials. You can send the same message to candidates for office and as op-eds or letters to local media. For example, you can recommend forming a nonpartisan group of experts to confront the legacy of slavery and racism in the U.S. and propose ways forward, as proposed by Representative Barbara Lee

A second action involves assisting community organizations to speak with a larger megaphone by joining together. Several groups across the country are working hard to promote racial justice in our systems, amplify Black voices, and rid our country of an implicit caste system. If you’re able to do so, you can help by splitting a donation among organizations such as these, Reclaim the BlockMovement for Black LivesBlack Visions Collective, and Violence in Boston, as recommended by Senator Elizabeth Warren.

In addition, an important step we can all take is to examine the often unnoticed ways in which our own actions may unwittingly impede the needed change from a racist society to a more just and fair society. There are ways to be more reflective and to be more active in addressing racism in sectors of our personal lives, in schools, in work situations, and within families. A well thought out compilation of resources specifically for anti-racism work can be found here.

Marc Pilisuk, Ph.D., is a Professor Emeritus, The University of California, and Faculty, Saybrook University Berkeley, CA 94708. The Hidden Structure of Violence: Who Benefits From Global Violence and War by Marc Pilisuk and Jennifer Achord Rountree. New York, NY: New York Monthly Review, 2015. Released July 2015. You can Order the book here. http://marcpilisuk.com/bio.html

This is a lightly edited post originally published by Dr. Pilisuk on the discussion group of the Psychologists for Social Responsibility, of which he is a member.

We have a lot of work to do

by Kathie Malley-Morrison

Baltimore Women’s March Gathering Rally, January 2018.This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Author: Elvert Barnes from Baltimore, Maryland, USA

If we learn of yet another murder of a person of color by police and do nothing about it, we are partly responsible for the next murder.

If we refuse to recognize the costs to everyone of the centuries of oppression, denied opportunity, income inequality, enforced poverty, and deliberately-induced hatred experienced by some of us, we are endangering the future of all our nation’s children.

If we blame peaceful protesters for the violence perpetrated by right-wing infiltrators in their midst, we are supporting the infiltrators and encouraging their violence.

If we support “law and order” over peace and social justice, we are promoting fascism at the expense of democracy.

If we “talk a good ballgame” regarding the evils of racism, but do nothing to end it, we are facilitating the next injustice.

If we take the knee once to show support for resistance to racism but do nothing more, we need to look harder for ways to make a real difference.

If we label protesters “terrorists” and let the government treat them accordingly, we are not only undermining First Amendment rights for everyone, but also empowering govenment terrorism against anyone (of any color) seen as a threat to the wielders of power.

So what can we do?

We can, for example, arm ourselves with facts-e.g., click here

We can also learn and share what white people can do to deal with the racism plaguing this continent since the first gun-toting white Europeans arrived here:

[Here’s just one example from that list: “Google whether your local police department currently outfits all on-duty police officers with a body-worn camera and requires that the body-worn camera be turned on immediately when officers respond to a police call. If they don’t, write to your city or town government representative and police chief to advocate for it.” ] Check out the others.

If you mean well, do well.

It’s in your power.

The time is right.

CHIMES OF FREEDOM

The Freedom Bell which resides in the Washington Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge. his file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Author: Senojor1

by Stefan Schindler

William James, Mark Twain, I. F. Stone.  Emma Goldman, Helen Keller, Molly Ivins.  Jim Hightower, John Pilger, William Blum.  Lewis Lapham, Michael Parenti, Victor Wallis.  Vandana Shiva, Joan Baez, Naomi Klein.  Ami Goodman, Abby Martin, Daniel Berrigan.

David Talbot, James Douglass, Thich Nhat Hanh.  Oscar Romero, the Dalai Lama, Dan Ellsberg.  And, of course, Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn.  These are just a few of the torch-bearers of the spirit of Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King and John Lennon.

Peace is possible.  Progress has been made.  Meanwhile, the struggle continues.

A crisis can be ongoing and deepening for a very long time.  This has been the case with the USA for forty years at least.  1968 might well be seen as the pivot point.  The full and fatal swerve toward economic apartheid and the rollback of FDR’s New Deal began in earnest in 1981 with Reaganomics.  The hammer-blows against social enlightenment have kept the war machine in full throttle and kept too many Americans in thrall to sloganeering and sophistry.

The earth groans, bees disappear, and in 2020 the wasteland grows.

But danger is also opportunity.  Breakdown is often breakthrough.

Behind the news there is a global dance.  A collective invitation to give peace a chance.

What is true for the individual is true for the whole.  Fate is determined by the choices we make.  Let us use our freedom wisely.  What Kant said at the end of the 18th century is true now: “We live in an age of enlightenment; but we do not yet live in an enlightened age.”

Perhaps the essence of life really is learning and service.  Siddhartha Gautama, Meister Eckhart and Thomas Merton thought so.  I believe it too.

Keep the faith, my friend.  We may yet be on the verge of something great.  A turning of the civilizational wheel toward the wisdom of James and Twain and company.  You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.

New Leadership for a New Normal


World Peace Gong National Gandhi Museum. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license

by Andre Sheldon, Director of Global Strategy of Nonviolence

Question: After Covid-19, in a world divided and fraught with global crises, will people find a way to work together to create a “new normal” characterized by peace and justice for all? 

Answer: Yes, with new leadership that speaks truth to power, enlists the people, and—most importantly–embraces nonviolence, a new normal can be created that provides a better world….for the children.  

Jesus, Buddha, Muhammed, Krishna, Moses, all the sages through the ages, and Gandhi, King, and Mandela in the past 100 years, lived and died to teach us that nonviolence is the answer.  Are there leaders today who have the ability to influence the world’s people and all their governments to “commit to nonviolence?”  Yes, there are!

The ideal leader is a person who can see that the first thing we must do to achieve a more peaceful and just world is unite under one umbrella.  The response to Covid-19 of countless people confirms that people everywhere see the value of solidarity and unity.  The opportunity is here for leaders to create a new global peace movement to promote kindness, compassion, trust, respect, and stopping war! 

Leaders and Movements Must Come Together

Naomi Klein and Bill McKibben have highlighted the dangers and causes of catastrophic climate change, as well as remedies and strategies to rescue the planet.  Klein and McKibben know we have to unite and think big.  Klein wrote, “… strengthening the threads tying together our various issues and movements – is, I would argue, the most pressing task of anyone concerned with social and economic justice.” Klein also wroteSensible people are always telling us that change needs to come in small increments. Well, we rejected all of that.”

Recognizing the strength of the Golden Rule, religious scholar Karen Armstrong formed the Charter for Compassion 10 years ago to bring together leaders of all religions. According to the Charter, “The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves.”  

Other organizations promoting unity include Global Citizen, We, the People, founded by Rick Ulfick, and ONE, founded by Bono, is dedicated to eradicating extreme poverty.  World Humanists  , together with World Without War (WWW), recently sponsored the second World March for Peace and Nonviolence to promote the strength of unity for stopping war.  The founder of WWW, Rafael de la Rubia, visualizes nonviolence as the tool to change the world.

Covid-19 prompted U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to issue a call for a Global Cease-Fire— a critical recognition of the fact that stopping wars affects all issues and that we need peace to devote significant efforts to the other crises  As Guterres noted, “It is time to put armed conflict on lockdown and focus together on the true fight of our lives.” 

There are brilliant people leading their organizations and promoting new ideas that should be in the mainsteam:  David Swanson from World Beyond War, Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese from Popular Resistance, Marianne Williamson and Dennis Kucinich in politics, and economist Jeffrey Sachs from Columbia University who has his finger on the pulse of the world.

Madeleine Rees, the Secretary-General of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK, in 2015 highlighted their initiative’s slogans at the Geneva II Peace talks to stop the war in Syria.  WILPF’s slogan is “WOMEN’S POWER to STOP WAR.”  CODEPINK’s slogan is “WOMEN SAY NO TO WAR.”  These slogans highlight the direction to take to sustain and perpetuate the cease-fire and to create a nonviolent new normal.

Moving Forward

I believe the two individuals who most convincingly speak truth to power, and show the potential to unite all movements, all religions, all governors, mayors and community leaders, and all the “people” in every village, town, and city in every country under one umbrella – nonviolence, are Medea Benjamin and Naomi Klein.  

Medea Benjamin can connect all the women’s organizations and initiatives that have already begun and have practiced mobilizing — the Women’s March on Washington, Women that marched in Jerusalem, Women that Crossed the DMZ in Korea, Women in India, and the #MeToo movement-into one powerful force. It is time to “harness the energy and power” of women and nonviolence to create trust and respect between nations and people!

Naomi Klein can connect all the leaders mentioned above to join together, to take THE LEAP, to promote both the climate movement and the peace movement in unison.  We need both urgently!

Benjamin and Klein have the knowledge and ability to create a “CHAIN REACTION” of leaders coming together around the world to begin and promote a new global peace movement in September 2020!  A list of leaders for the chain reaction is compiled and available for review.

Introducing a Global Movement of Nonviolence, For the Children

In 2002, the summer after the attacks on 9/11, I began my efforts to stop war because I believed the United States could have addressed the attack without using the military.  I found that grassroots initiatives for peace and humanitarian efforts were everywhere, all trying to unite.  Research supported my theory that women had an advantage for creating peace by promoting nonviolence (take away the threat of violence), especially if it was about protecting the children. 

It is my honor to announce a comprehensive plan for a Global Movement of Nonviolence (GMofNV), For the Children, led by women.  A GMofNV is not just for women, it is for everyone, as the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. was for everyone, not just African Americans.  The children are the motivation for everyone to unite!

The plan is for a GMofNV to be implemented by an initiative called a CALL to WOMEN, a World-Wide Unity Campaign.  Non-governmental women leaders will ask women to be the first to rise-up and unite as the peacemakers.  I have presented a GMofNV to U.N. Secretary-General Guterres for review!  A GMofNV includes the largest marketing plan the world has ever seen.

We need something different and special because the obstacles to create a nonviolent new normal are enormous.  A GMofNV is designed to be outside the box but it has tentacles reaching into every part of society.  Historian and activist, Howard Zinn was my confidante.  He wrote to me, “Your ‘Call to Women’ is excellent. Well written, clear, strong.  No doubt women represent nonviolence best.”

A new nonviolent normal will not be easy to attain and will have risks.  We need to create a new power to change the old; therefore there will be contention.  Professor Marshall Ganz, on NOW, stated that we need contention.  Therefore, we need a peace movement! 

We need elections, but we also need a peace movement because we are in an emergency situation.  Mary Robinson, Ban Ki Moon, and Jerry Brown, at the Doomsday Clock Update (see video and Fast Forward to 25:30) highlighted the world’s crises and asked for action in 2020 because the global crises are so extreme.  Also, experts are predicting that economic difficulties and potential chaos will be larger than the world has ever previously experienced. Ban Ki Moon, in a recent Post by the Elders, called for a people movement.  People movements work, as illustrated by Bill Moyers in his compilation of different episodes of NOW. 

There will be no life-sustaining new normal if we do not commit to nonviolence, do not support a cease fire, and do not have a unified peace movement. Without such a commitment, military spending will take away our ability to achieve sustainable solutions to problems.  Without a peace movement, the climate movement will fail, which means we failed. 

It is time for non-governmental leadership to guide the people to work together for peace and humanity!  All the mechanisms are in place.  The opportunity is here now!  A GMofNV is one step away from beginning – enlist peace, social justice, and environmental leaders to promote a GMofNV and a CALL to WOMEN.  The world must promote clean energy and change to a green economy to provide the basic needs of the people if peace is to be enduring.

The women leaders cited in this paper can create a unified peace movement.  All the leaders together, promoting one voice for peace, can move the world along that path, building on the incredible ideas that exist for a new nonviolent normal. 

Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland, former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, current Chairperson of the Elders, and founder of the Mary Robinson Foundation is a leading voice in calling for action and unity in 2020.  Robinson stated, “We are faced by a gathering storm of extinction-level consequences, and time is running out. We cannot continue with business as usual.

Every time I promote a GMofNV, it makes me feel good.  We need visionary leaders.  The time is now and the plan is ready. 

Peace and Love!

Contact:  Andre@GlobalStrategyofNonviolence.org 

Andre Sheldon began working for peace in 2002 to find solutions other than military action in response to the attacks on September 11, 2001.   Andre is a member of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), National Organization of Women (NOW), follows CODEPINK, and is an Honorary Co-founder of the Library of Peace in Atlanta, GA.  He is founder and director of the Global Strategy of Nonviolence, which was formed to promote a new narrative of committing to nonviolence and committing to helping others.  He has tirelessly networked with non-governmental women leaders from around the world to set in motion a new global peace movement.