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.
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 wrote: “Sensible 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.
Material submitted by Lewis Randa, who received an honorable discharge as a conscientious objector from the military during the Vietnam War in 1971.
May 15 is International Conscientious Objectors Day. Although conscientious objection to war is not a hot media topic today, respect, admiration, and appreciation for conscientious objectors (COs) will be expressed (mostly distally) around the world this Friday May 15; see here, for example.
The Peace Abbey, in Sherborn, MA, maintains a site that provides numerous materials regarding concientious objection, including historical information, a copy of the National Registry form , and a rich discussion of pacifism, reprinted here:
“Pacifism is opposition to war and violence. The word pacifism was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud (1864–1921) and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ahimsa (to do no harm), which is a core philosophy in Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism. While modern connotations are recent, having been explicated since the 19th century, ancient references abound.
Pacifism covers a spectrum of views, including the belief that international disputes can and should be peacefully resolved, calls for the abolition of the institutions of the military and war, opposition to any organization of society through governmental force (anarchist or libertarian pacifism), rejection of the use of physical violence to obtain political, economic or social goals, the obliteration of force, and opposition to violence under any circumstance, even defence of self and others. Historians of pacifism Peter Brock and Thomas Paul Socknat define pacifism “in the sense generally accepted in English-speaking areas” as “an unconditional rejection of all forms of warfare”.[4] Philosopher Jenny Teichman defines the main form of pacifism as “anti-warism”, the rejection of all forms of warfare.[5] Teichman’s beliefs have been summarized by Brian Orend as …’A pacifist rejects war and believes there are no moral grounds which can justify resorting to war. War, for the pacifist, is always wrong.’ In a sense the philosophy is based on the idea that the ends do not justify the means.[6]“
Lewis Randa is a Quaker, pacifist, vegan, educator, and social change activist. He is the founder and director of The Life Experience School for children with disabilities (1972); The Peace Abbey, an Interfaith Center for the study and practice of Nonviolence and Pacifism (1988); The Special Peace Corps., an organization that provides community service programs for adults with mental challenges (1990); The Courage of Conscience Award, an international peace award for nonviolent contributions to peace and justice (1991); The National Registry for Conscientious Objection, a register for people of all ages to publicly state their refusal to participate in armed conflict (1992); The Pacifist Memorial, a national monument honoring pacifists throughout history (1994); The Veganpeace Animal Sanctuary, a safe haven for animals that have escaped from slaughterhouses following the rescue of Emily the Cow (1995); Stonewalk, a global peace walk that involves physically pulling a two-ton memorial stone for Unknown Civilians Killed in War (Documentary shown on PBS) (1999 – 2005); Citycare, an empowerment program for the homeless (2000); R.A.T.C., the college-based Reserve Activist Training Corps; and The Lavender House, a Group Home for adults with disabilities (2002).
The three pillars of high finance and international movers are:
oil,
armaments (legal and illegal),
drugs (legal and illegal).
International capitalism has become hopelessly dependent on the activities of
organized crime, in fact adopting its Modus Operandi.
Government officials are hostage to their complicity with lobbies. The mafia
entered the system and imposed its ethics. This state of affairs is not
resolved with terrorism, but with radical changes not only in the paradigms of
economic, political and social structures, but also and especially in the
minds, in the individual consciences/consciousnesses that are beget in the womb
of reality. We are the builders of our own realities–from the personal to the
collective.
Need for an Alternative
For each Hitler there is a Gandhi. For each Trump there is a Nelson Mandela.
For each Bolsonaro or Boris there is a Luther King. Those who are not part of
the solution are, by necessity, part of the problem in a world with a record
population of 8 billion interdependent beings where everyone affects everyone
and nobody is an island. We represent a colony on earth—not a globalization
construct, not merely numbers, statistics or resources to be exploited.
It is undeniable that societies classified as Civilized, First World or
Developed, led by the USA and the West but spread throughout, retain the reins
of world markets, politics, economics and culture, being the main producers of
weapons, technology, science and atmospheric pollutants as well as wealth (or
poverty, depending on the viewpoint) and materialistic values. As such, they
also retain the greater share of responsibility for the misery that spreads
throughout the so-called Third World. After the fragmentation of the former
Soviet Union, the number of members of the underdeveloped has increased, not
because poverty has expanded, but because the labels have changed places. In
English, there is a rhyme: the West and the Rest.
We need a viable alternative–more benign–to the ‘trickle down’ economy, more
aptly named ‘trickle up,’ which slowly and inexorably corrodes and erodes the
spirit of nobility in everyone’s character, whether labeled or believed to be
civilized, barbaric or savage. We become slaves to the monster we believe in,
our Leviathan. The so-called Capitalist/Protestant ethics is outrageous,
ignominious. God is not the God of the affluent, white people. This is an
incongruity, heretic, unadulterated primitivism.
Our mental paradigm must change, both individually and collectively, towards
cooperation, nonviolence, conflict resolution by peaceful means, and
sharing–with equity and reciprocity–of the planet’s resources, instead of
lethal competition for them; passing through the elimination of sick
nationalisms and sociopathic and homicidal patriotisms that kill legally
en masse. Our mental constructions must be modified by ourselves, by education,
and not by the state. If there were no soldiers logically there would be no
wars as generals do not fight each other. We must achieve a degree of
civilization that does not require authority, police, justice, militarism or
weapons of any type or size for collective control and destruction. Replaced by
social servants, leaders. Utopia? I believe not; if we work for it.
United in our diversity and accepting our differences instead of dividing us
into races, we may, in any future, acquire a Consciousness of Civilized
Beings–and act on it. Without this shift in consciousness any other meaningful
change is unlikely as Darwin’s myopic and ethnocentric theory will continue to
influence our lives, private and public, and our spiritual (not religious)
evolution.