From:

I am Mazin B. Qumsiyeh, a Palestinian American citizen who lived in the US for 29 years before deciding to move to Palestine nearly two years ago.  I received my higher education (Masters, PhD, medical genetics board certification) in the US and served as a faculty member in schools of medicine at the Universities of Tennessee (2.5 years), Duke (6 years), and Yale (5 years). I also helped start a private laboratory in New Jersey that now employs 20 people.  I wrote several books and the last one to be published this year is titled “Hope and Empowerment: A History of Popular Resistance in Palestine”.

What attracted me to the US was the openness and welcoming attitude that allowed me to work not only in my profession as an academic, clinician, and researcher but also to advocate and speak out for human rights.  I gave hundreds of talks and participated in many vigils and protests for example against the war on Iraq and for justice and equality in Israel/Palestine. There was of course always a tiny vocal and rather aggressive minority of Jewish Americans who were attempting to suppress the truth and defend the indefensible. But as time passed by, more and more people of all backgrounds (Jews, Chrsitians, Muslims, etc.) got involved in the struggle for freedom.  This is because they knew that freedom for Palestinians and challenging the delusional Zionist agenda is good for all people.  This is true for US citizens who already paid a heavy price in blood and treasure in places like Iraq because of a special interest lobby in Washington that is now pushing for conflict with Iran.  Iran will certainly cost us far more than the cost of Iraq (so far $3 trillion, few thousand dead Americans, tens of thousands injured for life).

Once I relocated to Palestine, I proceeded to do the same activities I was engaged in here in the US.  I teach at two universities (Bethlehem and Birzeit) and helped establish a master’s program in biotechnology.  I also pursue my passion of educating others on human rights and engaging in other civil resistance actions such as protests and vigils.  Being a believer in civil nonviolent resistance is not easy in an area where there is an occupation and military rule.  Recently, the situation deteriorated in my home town and we became more active in our nonviolent struggle.  Concomitantly, the Israeli army decided to increase the repression.

The Bethlehem district is surrounded by Israeli settlements and military installations on three sides.  The 130,000 Bethlehem residents now have access to only 20% of the original land of the district. And more than half of those residents are refugees from the ethnic cleansing of 1948, or displaced people from post 1967 settlement activities.  Now the settlers, protected by the Israeli military, want to build a settlement in the only remaining area of Bethlehem (to the east).  The town people of Beit Sahour (the Shepherds Field) is known  for a  history of nonviolent resistance (including tax revolt in 1988-1989).  We are 70% Christian and 30% Muslim town with limited resources but highly educated middle class (there are over 300 PhD holders among the population of 12,000).

It was thus not a surprise that the town people decided to resist nonviolently the additional Israeli encroachment on our town.  We have already lost a lot of land. The Israeli response was rather brutal.  Our first prayer vigil was attacked while the Lutheran priest was leading us in prayer (see video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4he1vayLrfo).  Being a member of the committee that organized that vigil and another peaceful event a week later, I was targeted.  An Israeli officer warned me not to participate and threatened me saying he knew I was leaving to the US for a lecture tour.  the day after I left to the US, they invaded our neighborhood at 1:30 AM (Tuesday morning) and demanded to see me.  My mother, sister and wife were terrorized for no reason.  They told the military I was already out of the country but would be happy to go talk to them when I return if need be.  The military left a paper that demands I show up at their offices. I came back here to deal with this through my lawyer but it looks like these were acts of intimidation and to scare others. Mine is the mild case.  There are far worst cases from holding activists in administrative detention to shooting and killing them.  We now commemorate the seventh anniversary of the murder of peace activist Rachel Corrie (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHCJ-wUIPV0). Justice must be served and the oppression must end.

Being that Israel receives billions in our tax money, I as a US citizen ask our government to defend those of us (Americans, Palestinians, others) who engage in nonviolent resistance.  I ask the US to finally put a stop to the Israeli colonial activities.  The spit in the face of Vice President Biden by announcing new housing units in occupied Jerusalem cannot pass with a unsincere apology about “timing”.  The US can demand an end to settlement activity and even a removal of the settlements.  We saw that US power when President Eisenhower demanded Israel end its occupation of Gaza and the Sinai in 1956 and Israel was forced to comply.  The media editors can begin to cover reality of oppression here and how taxpayers contribute to it. People must declare where they stand for the tide is shifting and the day of reckoning is upon us just like in the civil rights movement or the anti-apartheid struggle.  History will not be kind to those who stand and watch from the sidelines. Silence in this case is clearly complicity.

Prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh

http://qumsiyeh.org

While enjoying the first day of spring weather on his bicycle this Wednesday, Christian Peacemaker Team’s founding director, Gene Stolzfus, died of a heart attack at the age of 70 near his home in Ontario.  I had the great pleasure to work side-by-side with Gene on the CPT violence-reduction project in Iraq during 2003 and 2004.  His charisma and courageous commitment to nonviolent alternatives to warfare left a lasting impression on everyone he encountered.  We will miss you, Gene.

Click here for more information on Gene’s life and work with CPT.

David Rovics has written a provocative blog criticizing Black Bloc property destruction tactics and attacks on the police.  The article strongly endorses nonviolent and formalized (meaning electoral and judicial) resistance.  Black Bloc tactics have had mixed success.  In many cases, property destruction has garnered enormous attention for grievances.  The property destruction has communicated an intensity of anger/grievance that is valuable.   However, it has also often alienated allies (including potential police allies) and pissed off locals who are most affected by the property destruction.  The biggest criticism for these approaches is a strategic one.  It is difficult to point to a strategic campaign that has benefited from these tactics in recent decades.  We can find no successful social movement sucessess. No political, economic, or legal victories. No significant cultural changes.

Anger actions (whether involving property destruction, attacks on police, or nonviolent (such as Act-Up) are best used to demonstrate the intensity of a problem and deeply held belief.   However, violent anger attacks have not shown success in building  social change movements capable of achieving political goals.

http://www.songwritersnotebook.blogspot.com/

After years of dedication to the cause of nonviolent activism, Howard Zinn passed away yesterday, January 27,2010.  Most famously know for his authorship of “A People’s History of the United States,” Zinn devoted his life to peaceful resistance.  Haunted by his experience as a bombardier during WWII, he began questioning the motivations of military action and winning wars through civilian deaths and collateral damage.  Since then he has taught at Spelman College and Boston University and been at the forefront of the civil rights movement as well as anti-war movements.  For more information: click here.

To quote from the outstanding fact finding report  published by the Asian Centre for Human Rights,  “The mob also sought to burn down the house of Surjamoni Reang. However, it could not be burnt as
Ms. Lokhoboti Reang refused to vacate the house.
Ms. Lokhoboti Reang told the ACHR FFT:
“They ordered me to get out of the house so that they can burn the
house. I told them I will die inside the house but not get out. Then
they took out a dagger to scare me. I told them you can kill me but I
will not leave the house. We will die here (Mizoram) but not leave”.
All these happened in presence of the security forces and the district
officials.”

Unfortunately, although there were successful acts of resistance, 5000 have been displaced with 2000 fleeing Mizoram for neighboring Tripura, where they live in squalid conditions.

An encouraging sign of compassion comes from the Mizo christian churches that have a mixed track record of support for those beyond their communities.  According to the report, substantial funds were raised by Presbyterian, Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists, Methodists and Baptists.  Let’s hope that the various denominations can also increase their support for Burmese refugees and provide more leadership in upholding the human rights for all the people of the region.

As an aside-

I look forward to the day when flat footed liberation front engages in a nonviolent struggle to eradicate high heel shoes that women all wear in Aizawl and many parts of Mizoram.  Mizo women associate high heels with being a good christian, a peculiar relic of American missionaries. Spending every day walking up and down stairs makes high heels in hilly Mizoram is as sensible as kilts in northern scotland and abayas and hijabs in tropical climates.

INSTITUTE FOR PEACE WORK

AND NONVIOLENT CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION

Wahlenau, Germany

In conjunction with Nonviolence Peaceforce

Announces a new Working Paper:

Civilian Peacekeeping. A Barely Tapped Ressource

Ed. By Christine Schweitzer

This Working Paper in English language includes five contributions on the subject of „Civilian Peacekeeping“. The articles have been written independently of each other and for different audiences. These audiences had in common that they were mainstream policymakers and scientists, not people from the peace and nonviolence movements. All the authors have for some time or still are involved with the NGO Nonviolent Peaceforce, and therefore chose the majority of their examples from the experiences of the work of NP.

Contributions by:

„Introduction – Civilian Peacekeeping. A Barely Tapped Ressource“ – Christine Schweitzer

„The World Needs ‚Another Peacekeeping’“ – Rolf Carrière

„Best Practices for Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeping – Tim Wallis

„Peacekeeping with Nonviolence: Protection Strategies for Sustainable Peace“ – Rachel Julians

„Humanitarian Protection as an Additional Function of Humanitarian, Development and Peace Projects – or Rather a Task Requiring Experts?“  – Christine Schweitzer

„The Responsibility to Protect: Towards an Expanded Role for Global Civil Society“ -  Christine Schweitzer

IFGK Working Paper No 23, Civilian Peacekeeping. A Barely Tapped Ressource, Ed. Christine Schweitzer, Vehrte: Sozio-Publishing, ISBN 978-3-935431-79-8, Recommended Price: 7,50 € (plus portage).

The paper can be downloaded for free from the websites of  IFGK (http://www.ifgk.de/oben/publikationen_all8.htm )

and soon also of Nonviolent Peaceforce (www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org).

Paper versions can be ordered at: Sozio-Publishing, Farnbrink 32 a, D-49191 Belm-Vehrte, Tel.: ++ 49 / (0) 05 406 / 81 88 44 , Fax: ++ 49 / (0) 05 406 / 81 88 45; E-Mail: service@sozio-publishing.de, Internet: www.sozio-publishing.de

“I was raised with Dr. King as a role-model. We have many people who are primarily conflict avoiders in our somewhat spoiled society. Dr. King refused to sweep white supremacism and racial segregration under the carpet. He was a fighter, a nonviolent fighter who tried to show his opponents that change would actually be beneficial to all. If the US political leaders had followed the values and policies of Dr. King (and the Congressional Black Caucus) since 1968, we would live in a more just and peaceful world. His dream lives in me.”

- Michael Beer

“As a Palestinian with my people divided over many countries, I feel that Dr. King’s success in promoting equality and justice for African Americans is inspirational. I hope my Palestinian colleagues in Israel and elsewhere will struggle with nonviolent means to end the second-class treatment of Palestinians. Dr. King’s nonviolent philosophy was deeply grounded in his religious beliefs which focused on the inherit worth of all people and a refusal to make opponents enemies. I believe strongly in promoting a nonviolent philosophy of truth, dignity and courage. King’s Memphis allies carried around signs that read, “I am a man.” I Am A Palestinian.”

- Mubarak Awad

“On this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Iranian activists are following his example, engaging in mass protests, boycotts, strikes and civil resistance to fight for freedom and justice because they do not seek peace that comes at the price of quiet repression. Dr. King is often cited as an authority on peace and reconciliation. But what I find impressive about him is not his willingness to take the safe option of going with the flow, but his relentless challenging of the status quo. He understood that without justice, equality and freedom, the promise of peace rang hollow. He did not see peace narrowly and solely as the lack of violence and war as many activists do today, but peace of the mind, heart and conscious that will only come with justice and equality–peace in every sense of the word. That’s the peace that inspires me, and that is why I follow the example of Dr. King.”

- Sam Sedaei

“I am part of a generation that learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. beginning in elementary school. My teachers introduced him as one of many heroes in American history, but it wasn’t until much later that I was really introduced to Dr. King. I learned he was not only a civil rights leader, but also a strong advocate of the use of nonviolent methods to address conflict and injustice. As we reflect on his life and service this year, I am struck by just how unique he was in our historical tradition, which tends to celebrate people who achieve change through one form of violence or another. Dr. King continues to inspire me to seek an end to injustice wherever it occurs with passion and conviction, but without violence. ”

- Matt Chandler

“The words and actions of Dr. King have inspired major decisions in my life.  When my uncle was taken as a political prisoner in 1976 by the military dictatorship in Uruguay, I learned at a young age that those who pursue active nonviolence can be targeted as enemies by the powers that be.  This was reconfirmed when learning about the life and witness of Dr. King who said in his “Beyond Vietnam” speech delivered on April 4, 1967, a year before he was assassinated, that the United States is ‘the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.’  In early June 2009, President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras hosted leaders of the hemisphere under the theme ‘Culture of Nonviolence,’ where Dr. King’s spirit was very present.  Later that month, President Zelaya was ousted violently in a military coup, and he remains holed up in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, where I have learned about his commitment to the principles of nonviolence espoused by Dr. King.”

- Andres Thomas Conteris

We encourage you to add your answers as comments to this post.

With great sadness, I report that George Willoughby died at 2:20 AM on Tuesday, January 5 at home. He complained of chest pains and difficulty breathing, then died.  Family members were with him.

He was Co-founder of many organizations and efforts including:
Peace Brigades International,
World Brigades,
Movement for  New Society,
Central Committee on Conscientious Objection.

He sailed on the Golden Rule that was the first direct action against nuclear weapons testing. He participated in first invasions of Nevada Nuclear test site. An incredible activist and leader with world-wide impact.

As a friend wrote, all is well, and all will be well, but right now it feels like there is a hole in the universe.

You can connect with the family at his house where his daughter Sally, lives: 340 Pine St., Deptford, NJ 08096.  Phone 856-227-5723.  Sally’s e-mail is <willowbee@juno.com>

Plans for the memorial meeting are being made.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/03-7

Al Giordano  of  Narconews has an article explaining how the resistance movements in Honduras and Iran are here to stay. And that media coverage often focuses on the elite leadership fight but does not substantially explain the power shifts and breaks at the street level.

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3701/iran-civil-resistance-breaks-through-censorship-again

Here is a post that describes in some detail his belief and commitment to nonviolence.