Where there is war, there are also people who bravely and conscientiously refuse to participate. That is true in the Ukraine, in Israel, in the US, and around the globe. International Conscientious Objectors Day, observed on the 15th of May, is a time to promote the right of conscientious objection and to support those who…
On September 11, 2001, War Resisters League staff person David McReynolds, wrote this from the WRL National Office which was only a mile and half north of the World Trade Towers:
“As we write, Manhattan feels under siege, with all bridges, tunnels, and subways closed, and tens of thousands of people walking slowly north from Lower Manhattan. As we sit in our offices here at War Resisters League, our most immediate thoughts are of the hundreds if not thousands of New Yorkers who have lost their lives in the collapse of the World Trade Center. The day is clear, the sky is blue, but vast clouds billow over the ruins where so many have died, including a great many rescue workers.”
August 7th is Linda Thurston’s birthday. She would have turned 65 this year. Linda Marie Thurston, WRL’s much loved Operations Coordinator, passed away suddenly in late May 2021. We held a celebration of her life last August. And we continue to honor and remember Linda in many ways…
As the Golden Rule continues its voyage up the East Coast, it is sailing into cities with historic connections. It is now in Philadelphia, home of crew member George Willoughby, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and so many Quaker supporters. Onto New York, home of the War Resisters League office which provided staffing and organizing….
Harry Belafonte stands with musicians at concert to raise funds for the Montomery Bus Boycott, May 24, 1956. (Photo courtesy WRL/David McReynolds Photo Project) WRL Executive Committee minutes from 1956 have an item on “Non-Violent Work in Race Relations”. Bayard Rustin and Ralph DiGia, WRL staff, were tasked with “Assisting in a fund-raising concert to support…
“History is not a collection of dramatic dates of great leaps from oppression to liberation. It is more often seemingly endless night broken by dawn. History is made by people as ordinary as ourselves, but extraordinary in that they have been seized by a dream for which they are willing to struggle and to…
The July-August 2001 Nonviolent Activist asked “What makes an action nonviolent?” The question had acquired urgency among peace and justice activists in the wake of the November 1999 massive protests in Seattle against the World Trade Organization. I picked this issue to review because Iíd wished that discussion had gone on longer and gotten deeper,…
Gandhi called for “complete Independence by truthful and nonviolent means.” He counseled that social change requires building the new society in the shell of the old, which he termed constructive program. The nonviolence movement in the West has not emphasized this goal for the most part. In the United States, we mostly focus on…
The War Stops HereBy Daniel Berrigan I think that over the years, from the Catonsville Nine to Plowshares, I recall the main discussion being twofold: So wanton thoughtlessness and mere destruction were out, from throwing trashcans to throwing bombs. The use of homemade napalm on draft cards and the pouring of blood of nuclear warheads…
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