The following was sent to a number of people involved (via listservs) in the peace movement in both Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. We publish it here for its heartfelt and accurate portrayal of what types of questions we need to ask ourselves during the ongoing evolution of the “peace movement.” — The Editor Friends
This morning I am overwhelmed with conflicting and powerful emotions. So much has happened to our world, and to me, in the past few days, that I feel as though everything is new and confusing and I am a baby once again not knowing what to do. Please permit me to share a few of my thoughts with you.
Since Thursday, I have done some things I didn’t expect to do. I was in the front of the group that stormed the freeway Thursday evening. I saw us turn as one and pour amongst cars full of astonished people. I saw the police rush past us in a panic, telling everyone to stop, telling us we were all under arrest. I could have held back, but I chose, from one instant to another, over and over again, with each step, to continue no matter what. I watched the police line, riot-geared, one face young and terribly afraid, another older and twisted in anger, many trying to stay neutral, professional, to overcome whatever they were feeling and just do their jobs. Many perhaps wondering what it was really all about.
I stood, as a woman leapt from her car and began to berate us, traitors she called us as the spittle flew from her mouth and her arms flailed in uncontrollable rage. I looked at drivers’ expressions and body language and saw many reactions. I too began to wonder what it was all about.
Yesterday, the weekly march immediately took over a street, with one die-in after another, intersection after intersection, chalk outlining the moaning supine protestors, then up and on, flowing past the announced, usual turnaround at the Art Museum and wildly up the street in a raucous display of revulsion and outrage. More riot gear, paddy wagons, tension.
As I have done the past several marches, I handed out flyers to bystanders about resources on the war. But yesterday I felt that we, and I, had moved past the stage of being soft, polite, genteel. I practically forced them into people’s hands, yelling over the crowd, Information on the war — you’re being lied to, our country is being destroyed, read and decide for yourselves — wake up!!” Eye contact. Boldness. Arguments ensued. Some people tore up the little handouts and threw them in my face. There was nothing genteel about anyone’s behavior.
You may think I’m about to tell you I’m ashamed of what I did. That’s not the case at all. I still believe, as I did before all this happened, that we do need to ratchet up the protests. I believe that civil disobedience has its place in this most dire of circumstances. I believe that if Gandhi or Martin Luther King were here, they would endorse what we are doing. They disrupted things too, nonviolently as we are doing, and they made people late for work and they got in people’s faces. Yes they did. Non-violence is not all about making nicey-nice. It’s about being at once bold and nonviolent, about realizing that we are not just playing an advisory role, that we are in the midst of all this. So I am glad for what we have done and for what we are doing, proud and exhilarated.
But there is something else. There are those who question this shift in strategy, the sudden though unsurprising rise to leadership of a more vocal and more defiant element. There are those who wonder whether this will work against the cause, by alienating otherwise moderate elements and driving them over to the other side. And I agree that we need to be concerned about this and talk about it and decide what to do now.
I have seen so much hatred in the past few days. This is not what we are about. And I have watched as the peace movement has predictably divided into two camps. I feel all this leaves something important unsaid.
So with that lengthy preamble, please allow me to interject an idea that is perhaps new and may be of help in moving us forward, past the shoals of the “How to protest” discussion.
For me, the questions of the day are: 1.) How do we educate the tremendously ignorant people of America and help them to see how they are being hoodwinked by the biggest scam in American history? 2.) How do we reach out to our fellow citizens in a way that will open their eyes and unharden their hearts and get them to think?
If we continue ONLY to protest, missing the opportunity to educate, we and our country and perhaps the world are doomed. Of course, the urge is to vent our outrage. That is natural. And it is appropriate, necessary, to do so. But while we are shouting, “NO!” as we must, let’s not ignore the much more difficult task of facing people, one-on-one or in groups, in all kinds of situations, and showing them how to say, “YES!” to peace, democracy, justice. I believe that is the hard work we must now undertake.
You know, it really doesn’t take much courage to march up the street with hundreds of people who think and believe like you do. It doesn’t even take much courage to face a police line. But how challenging it can be to sit down with someone who opposes your viewpoint and have a genuine dialogue. So I ask you, how many of you have done that, on a regular basis, with an open heart, an open mind, with kindness and love and intellectual rigor and all your powers of persuasion? If you haven’t, would you consider taking on this challenge? Would you agree with me that this is what we need to do to save our country and our world as we all so much want to do?
I would like to know how you feel about this. I would like to know the depth of your commitment, the degree of your willingness to do what is both effective and difficult.
I don’t think we should stop marching. But I do think we should make a greater effort to connect with those who observe us. For months now, I have seen the wonder and unguarded curiosity in so many faces as we walk by. And this week I saw much of that turn to anger, defensiveness and fear. Do we want to be feared by our fellow citizens? I think not.
As I speak with people, I understand over and over again how little they know, how effective the propaganda machine has been, how dangerous is their ignorance and complacency. That’s what we need to work on.
Since the presidential election of 2000, my heart has broken over and over again until I hardly know how I will be able to continue. I now hope that the peace movement will not be the next to break it.
