anti-nuclear – Engaging Peace

During the Cold War, people–particularly those who called themselves conservatives–often accused individuals they didn’t like of being “dirty Commies.”

The Senator Joe McCarthy era was a scary time for socialists, liberals, artists, writers—anyone who intimidated the right wing, or made conservatives feel inferior. (A chilling treatment of this era can be found in Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, The Lacuna.)

The Cold War is over, but the U.S. government, with the help of the right wing, has given us new epithets for people distrusted by the right wing. You know the label—“terrorist.”

Consider the wording of the Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act (the Ag-gag laws), passed in Missouri, Iowa, and Utah, designed to stop animal rights and environmental activists from reporting abuses on factory farms:

“Special interest extremists continue to conduct acts of politically motivated violence to force segments of society, including the general public, to change attitudes about issues considered important to their causes. These groups occupy the extreme fringes of animal rights, pro-life, environmental, anti-nuclear, and other movements. Some special interest extremists — most notably within the animal rights and environmental movements — have turned increasingly toward vandalism and terrorist activity…to further their causes.” (quote from pdf document from corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council)

How about YOU?

Are you concerned about the treatment of animals in factory farms?
Are you concerned about the environment?
Do you oppose nuclear weapons?
Do you consider yourself a feminist? Beware: that’s all it takes for some people to call you a terrorist.

Don’t let the name-callers intimidate you. Joe McCarthy left Congress in disgrace. Follow the lead of the Montreal Raging Grannies and support nonviolence, humane behavior, and social justice. Better yet, tell us what you are already doing to make a positive difference in this country and in this world, both now during the season of non-violence and throughout the year.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

“There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for.” (Mahatma Gandhi, The story of my experiments with truth, 1927)

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, often known as Mahatma (“Great Soul” in Sanskrit) was born October 2, 1869. In 2007, the General Assembly of the United Nations approved a resolution to create an International Day of Non-Violence on October 2 to commemorate his birthday.

In anticipation of his birthday, we provide a list of some of the relatively recent non-violent movements and their goals:

Martin Luther King’s campaign in the 1960s to achieve his dream: “that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal'”
Anti-nuclear protests in the 1970s and 1980s—for example, at the Montague Nuclear Plant site where the actions of one man, Sam Lovejoy, led to cancellation of plans for a nuclear power plant
The Chinese pro-democracy movement of 1987-1989, most memorable for the protests in Tiananmen Square
The end of apartheid in South Africa in the early 1990s
The Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions of 2010 and 2011
The current demonstrations against economic and political control of the United States by Wall Street

To start a non-violent campaign of your own, you may find the steps offered in this document helpful.

Non-violence can achieve results.

Some wonderful examples can be found in the book A force more powerful: A century of non-violent conflict by Peter Ackerman and Jack DuVall.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology