Chapter Twelve - “Non-Violence: Neither Flight nor Fight”

Chapter twelve takes us to the middle east to try and grapple with the question of war. It begins with a contribution from Reefat Saabah a democracy activist from the West Bank reflecting on how violence has affected Palestinian resistance. It continues with a discussion with a group from the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) about how they intervene in the most violent places on earth to deescalate violence. This chapter begins a look at some intractable questions where there seem to be more questions than answers.

“I was very stimulated by my conversation with the CPTers . Clearly the anti-war movements have not yet managed to stop the war, despite the massive protests, but it is also hard to believe that practicing non-violence on a personal level will do much to end war. Progressive religious people have always preached that you must love your enemy, an idea I have found very difficult to understand, let alone embrace. But perhaps this new generation of activists, having come into a world where violence so obviously solves nothing, and benefiting from the knowledge that the interpersonal violence of sexism, racism, and homophobia is no longer acceptable, can come to the spiritual understanding of non-violence without belief in a higher power but through the belief in using their own power in a respectful way.”

Related Links:

Relevant Blog Entries:
http://transformingpower.ca/en/category/book-chapters/chapter-twelve

Alternatives (NGO)
http://www.alternatives.ca/rubrique25.html?lang=en

Bil’in Movement
http://www.bilin-village.org/

Burnt Church Struggle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnt_Church_Crisis

Butterfly, Julia
http://juliabutterflyhill.wordpress.com/

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT)
http://www.cpt.org/

Code Pink
http://www.codepink4peace.org/

Esgenoopetitj
http://www.cpt.org/work/aboriginal_justice/esgeno%C3%B4petitj

Fierce Light (film)
http://www.fiercelight.org/

Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
http://www.ftaa-alca.org/

Goodman, Amy
http://www.democracynow.org/blog/category/weekly_column

Hannah, Darryl
http://www.dhlovelife.com

Klein, Naomi
http://www.naomiklein.org/

Labour Party (Britain)
http://www.labour.org.uk/home

Malik, Abdul-Rehman
http://www.abdulrehmanmalik.com/

MAS (Movement Towards Socialism)
http://www.masbolivia.org/, http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/

Payne, William
http://www.cpt.org/speakers/william_payne

Quebec City Anti-Globalization Protest
http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/quebecreports.cfm#ZNet%20Update

Ripper, Velcrow
http://fiercelove.wordpress.com/

Sabbah, Refaat
http://www.teachercc.org/

Teacher Creativity Center
http://www.teachercc.org/

Tutu, Desmond
http://www.tutu.org

Voice of Women for Peace
http://home.ca.inter.net/~vow/

Wainwright, Hilary
http://www.redpepper.org.uk/

World Mennonite Assembly
http://www.mwc-cmm.org/