are still rewards: a meaningful life, the community and friendship we find on the vigil lines, in the paddy wagons, and even in the long meetings. The communities we build among ourselves are an antidote to despair and selfishness. They hold us accountable and challenge us to be more radical. And, surely, at this time in our history, we have to nurture more radical activism.
“Activism is my rent for living on this planet.”
—Alice Walker
THE PATIENCE
TO WIN
EISHA MASON
Eisha Mason is the executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Nonviolence. She has worked with teens for more than twenty years and coauthored the 64 Ways to Practice Nonviolence curriculum and resource guide. She is also the cofounder and director of the community outreach ministries of the Agape International Center of Truth.
If we listen uncritically to the mass media, we may believe that we in the peace movement have endured one defeat after another in the past few years. That is, however, far from the truth! A successful movement is so much more than a series of protests. It is more than a single campaign. Our individual and collective efforts to stop the war in Iraq became a catalyst for building the necessary framework of a movement capable of winning true peace and justice for our society and the world. We have much to celebrate and much to build upon as we face the challenges ahead of us.
In his reflections on the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The ultimate tragedy of Birmingham was not the brutality of the bad people, but the silence of the good people.” Let us, therefore, celebrate that we were not silent. At a time when it was so easy to be cowed by media hysteria and an administration that called us “traitors” and “collaborators with the enemy,” we dared to question authority and think for ourselves. When it was easier to keep silent in family gatherings or in the lunchroom at work, when neighbors may have turned away from us, when we sometimes thought we were all alone, we chose to stand in truth. When we were pumped an intravenous diet of fear each day, we chose to be true to our own consciences.
We created public debate . Even though we were all but shut out of the mainstream media, we created forums in which other voices representing intelligence communities, the government, progressive media, and peace and justice organizations could share information that corporate media could not or would not report. We countered the myth that this war was justified and that it would make us safer.
We united globally . Just as our spirits soared when we learned of the millions of people worldwide demonstrating for peace, for justice, and for international law, so did our global brothers and sisters take heart when they learned of our efforts in the United States. Our voices and actions might not have been covered effectively at home, but we were accurately reported abroad. Never before have ten million voices made a single cry: “Peace Now!”
We organized an infrastructure . In neighborhood peace and justice groups, we established our local communication networks and agreed on the principles by which we would operate. We came up with a process for decision making and conflict resolution, with methods of outreach, and with effective ways of working together and raising funds.
We connected the dots . We began to grasp the relationships between global trade policies and civil and economic policies in America. We came together with other populations in our communities, populations we did not previously take the time to know—and because of this, our movement broadened and deepened in numbers, in diversity, in resources, and in strength. Today, our togetherness continues, and many of us are supporting striking or locked-out workers, immigrants, and marginalized children and families in our communities.
We chose love . We have grown in love and compassion, because we learned that our
“Activism is my rent for living on this planet.”
—Alice Walker
THE PATIENCE
TO WIN
EISHA MASON
Eisha Mason is the executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Nonviolence. She has worked with teens for more than twenty years and coauthored the 64 Ways to Practice Nonviolence curriculum and resource guide. She is also the cofounder and director of the community outreach ministries of the Agape International Center of Truth.
If we listen uncritically to the mass media, we may believe that we in the peace movement have endured one defeat after another in the past few years. That is, however, far from the truth! A successful movement is so much more than a series of protests. It is more than a single campaign. Our individual and collective efforts to stop the war in Iraq became a catalyst for building the necessary framework of a movement capable of winning true peace and justice for our society and the world. We have much to celebrate and much to build upon as we face the challenges ahead of us.
In his reflections on the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The ultimate tragedy of Birmingham was not the brutality of the bad people, but the silence of the good people.” Let us, therefore, celebrate that we were not silent. At a time when it was so easy to be cowed by media hysteria and an administration that called us “traitors” and “collaborators with the enemy,” we dared to question authority and think for ourselves. When it was easier to keep silent in family gatherings or in the lunchroom at work, when neighbors may have turned away from us, when we sometimes thought we were all alone, we chose to stand in truth. When we were pumped an intravenous diet of fear each day, we chose to be true to our own consciences.
We created public debate . Even though we were all but shut out of the mainstream media, we created forums in which other voices representing intelligence communities, the government, progressive media, and peace and justice organizations could share information that corporate media could not or would not report. We countered the myth that this war was justified and that it would make us safer.
We united globally . Just as our spirits soared when we learned of the millions of people worldwide demonstrating for peace, for justice, and for international law, so did our global brothers and sisters take heart when they learned of our efforts in the United States. Our voices and actions might not have been covered effectively at home, but we were accurately reported abroad. Never before have ten million voices made a single cry: “Peace Now!”
We organized an infrastructure . In neighborhood peace and justice groups, we established our local communication networks and agreed on the principles by which we would operate. We came up with a process for decision making and conflict resolution, with methods of outreach, and with effective ways of working together and raising funds.
We connected the dots . We began to grasp the relationships between global trade policies and civil and economic policies in America. We came together with other populations in our communities, populations we did not previously take the time to know—and because of this, our movement broadened and deepened in numbers, in diversity, in resources, and in strength. Today, our togetherness continues, and many of us are supporting striking or locked-out workers, immigrants, and marginalized children and families in our communities.
We chose love . We have grown in love and compassion, because we learned that our
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