YOUTHPEACE X
For the last ten years, WRL-New England has organized a YouthPeace Experiment, an annual weekend training for high school students in Voluntown, Conn. The name, chosen by the YouthPeace Club at Norwich Free Academy, comes from a quote by Gandhi: “Those who are attracted to nonviolence should, according to their ability and opportunity, join the experiment.”
The theme of YouthPeace X was “The True Cost of War.” Robert Davis, a high school junior active in the YouthPeace Club, wrote about it in the club’s May 2009 newsletter Youth Peace of Mind: “On the weekend of May 1, nearly 20 students and adults gathered at the Voluntown Peace Trust for the tenth annual YouthPeace Experiment. We met with Floyd Holt, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), and Mark Frucht, a vet from the first Gulf War, who shared their experiences and opinions about their enlistments. Both believe that recruiters withheld information that anyone interested in joining should know, information central to YouthPeace’s counter-recruitment efforts.”
Floyd is from a local town and less than ten years older than the students. He talked about the war in Iraq and the posttraumatic stress he suffers. “Along with sharing his story, Floyd discussed many things about the war and military that [are] usually kept in the dark,” said participant Kathiey Rose. “Floyd really shone light on a lot of things and gave the young people at the weekend a lot to think about.”
Sunday was about “Making Change Happen,” learning from successful projects and campaigns. They focused on a campaign done by the club several years ago against Coca-Cola’s civil atrocities in countries like India and Colombia, which gave them a better understanding of how to set goals, use art, and develop tactics. They also discussed how to improve their annual opt-out campaign to inform students of their right to keep their names from the list that goes to military recruiters.
WRL-DELAWARE
On Saturday, May 30, most of the WRL-Delaware members tabled at the Mennonite Church’s Peace Arts Festival in Frazer, Pa. They networked with local peace activists, handed out opt-out and Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) materials, as well as counter-recruitment brochures, and they signed up people for the email list and possible involvement in future actions. The Birmingham Friends Meeting in West Chester, Pa., had a similar event on Saturday, June 13. WRL-Delaware tabled there, too, making further contacts with the peace movement in the area. On Sunday, June 28, they held a garden party/fundraiser at a member’s house to benefit Courage to Resist. This was a follow-up to the March 22 letter-writing party WRL-Delaware held for the G.I. resisters.
During the summer, the group holds weekly vigils on Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon at Concord Square in Wilmington, on Route 202, some weeks in company with members of Delaware Pacem in Terris. They are also preparing for a late summer/early fall campaign to distribute the opt-out and ASVAB information to as many Delaware parents and students as possible. Visit www.wrl-delaware.tk for upcoming special actions or events or to contact WRL-Delaware.
THE ROAD TO NO WAR
On June 22–26, the Norfolk Catholic Worker and WRL affiliate Norfolk OffBase held a 5-day, 53-mile walk through Hampton Roads, Va. The action was endorsed by several regional and national groups.
Events began daily at 8:00 a.m., and participants walked between 8 and 13 miles per day. Lodging was offered by local churches, and volunteer groups prepared food daily.
The permitted event was a peaceful witness to militarism with a call for disarmament. According to a press release from Road to No War, the marchers advocate “for an end to the preparation, legitimization, and execution of all war, for our nation to be an example of disarmament for the world, for nonviolent solutions to conflicts, and for the conversion of our war-based economy to one based on meeting human needs and environmental protection.”
DELLINGER LECTURE
Nicholson Baker, novelist and author of the controversial history Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization, spoke at WRL's Dave Dellinger Lecture on Nonviolence on June 11 in New York City. Frida Berrigan of WRL moderated the event. George Houser, a World War II conscientious objector colleague of Dellinger, also spoke. Houser was part of the first Freedom Ride in 1947 and is the author of No One Can Stop the Rain: Glimpses of Africa's Liberation Struggle. Singer-songwriters Chris Brown and Kate Fenner performed. Human Smoke is dedicated to "the memory of Clarence Pickett and other American and British pacifists. ... They tried to save Jewish refugees, feed Europe, reconcile the United States and Japan, and stop the war from happening. They failed, but they were right." The event honors the memory of revolutionary pacifist and activist Dellinger, who died in 2004.
