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Veterans
for Peace, Heroes of Nonviolence We name below a few of the millions who have made peace,
justice and compassion part of their lives, who rejected violence as the solution
to anything, who showed by action the unrealism of war and violence. They
were opposed, criticized, harassed, vilified, threatened, beaten, jailed,
killed. But they changed the world for the better in enduring ways. Below is the
Roll of Heroes of Nonviolence in alphabetical
order. Go
to the name and Click. Or, browse the stories as they appear below. Not all the biographies are complete. We’re working on it, and
looking for more – Add your Hero to this Roll, as others have done – The qualification is a
personal dedication to nonviolence, in whatever the person, living or dead,
did or does. Send the person’s name and three sentences of biography
(and your name and contact information, please), Email to bill@vfp3o40.fatcow.com, or mail to
Veterans for Peace c/o Movement for Change, 1603 N. Davis Highway, Pensacola,
FL 32501. |
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• Aung San Suu Kyi Nobel Peace Laureate JAILED • Chávez, César Estrada FAMILY VICTIMIZED, HARASSED,
JAILED • Ghandi,
Mohandas JAILED, BEATEN,
HARASSED, MURDERED • Grimké, Angelina Emily and Grimké, Sarah Moore HARASSED,
THREATENED, VILIFIED • Hussein, King of Jordan HUMBLED HIMSELF IN
PENITENCE • Humbles, Julia, and the Heroes of the Campaign for Civil Rights she
walked with HARASSED,
THREATENED • Isaiah HARASSED, VILIFIED • Jesus of Nazareth BEATEN, HUMILIATED, EXECUTED |
•
King, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther, Jr Nobel Peace Laureate
JAILED, HARASSED, VILIFIED, MURDERED --
Read Dr. King’s 1967 sermon “Beyond
Vietnam.” • Menchú Tum, Rigoberta Nobel Peace Laureate BORN
INTO POVERTY, FAMILY MURDERED • Micah HARASSED, VILIFIED • Parks, Rosa Louise McCauley JAILED, HARASSED,
VILIFIED • Romero y Galdámez, Óscar Arnulfo, Bishop MURDERED • Thompson, Hugh HARASSED, VILIFIED -- Read the story of the soldier who
halted the • Tutu, Desmond Mpilo, Bishop • Wałesa,
Lech JAILED, HARASSED |
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___________________________________ César Estrada Chávez, led the first major
labor victory for US farm workers and inspired other successful labor actions.
Born near Yuma, Arizona on March 31,
1927, Chávez was well acquainted with prejudice and injustice. The small
adobe home where he was born was swindled from his family; schools were
segregated and racist; he was punished for speaking Spanish. Chávez became a
migrant farm worker after eighth grade to keep his mother from working in the
fields. After Navy service, Chávez began reading about St. Francis, Gandhi
and nonviolence, and began working in voter registration and workers’ rights
in California. Education became his passion. "The end of all education
should surely be service to others," he said, a belief that he practiced
until his death. About 1960, he co-founded the National Farm Workers
Association, later the United Farm Workers. In 1965 the NFWA led the historic
strike of California grape-pickers, the march from Delano to Sacramento, and
the campaign to boycott table grapes. The strike lasted five years, got
national attention, and resulted in the first major labor victory for US farm
workers. The success inspired successful labor rights actions in Texas and
the Midwest and continued action in California. Chávez continued his activism
until April 23, 1993, when he died in his sleep in San Luis, a small village
near Yuma, after fasting for several days – as he had often done to bring
attention to an issue. [Primary source: Wikipedia,
extracted and rewritten] _______________________________________ The Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetan
Buddhism and advocate for peace and compassion. The conference I attended, called Compassion in the Rockies,
was thrilling and in many ways life changing for me. Above all, I was
struck by the presence of this gentle, gracious, compassionate man, by his
grace, his humor and the joy with which he moved through the crowds.
One of the first people that he saw was a man in a wheelchair who was seated
by the side of the stage. The Dalai Lama stopped and gave this man his
full attention. It was as if no one else was there with him. He
poured the fullness of his grace on this man, then calmly put his palms
together, bent his head in a bow, and moved on. What did he do to achieve
this? — nothing. It was achieved by who he was — a person so attuned to
his inner core, to the depth of his being, to his center of peace, that he
had no need to DO anything. He just was. I really don’t remember a
single word of what he said, and that is remarkable because I had gone to
HEAR him — but I do remember his presence. Do actions speak louder than
words??? No, this stillness spoke much louder than the loudest oration.
[Reported by Ann Johnson, Priest, St. John’s Episcopal-Lutheran Congregation,
Williams, AZ, in a sermon to the Canterbury student fellowship, Northern
Arizona University] _____________________________________ Anne Dodson, member of Catholic
Workers and Pax Christi, active in the civil rights movement in Texas and in
the peace movement worldwide beginning in the early 1960's. [Name added by her nephew Scott Satterwhite of VFP NW
Florida] _____________________________________ Dorothy Day, cofounder of Catholic
Workers _____________________________________ Mohandas Ghandi, whose campaign of
nonviolence led to India’s independence _____________________________________ Sarah Moore Grimké, and
her sister Angelina Emily, opponents of slavery and advocates of women’s
rights Whether you are a
feminist, an advocate of African-American rights, or a student of American
religious and ethical thought, do not fail to read about these remarkable
women, especially the Sunshine for
Women history. Sarah (1792 - 1873) was born in South Carolina, the
daughter of a wealthy plantation owner, father of at least 14 children, slave
owner and chief judge of the South Carolina supreme court. Wishing to become
an attorney, she studied constantly – until her parents found out that she
intended to go to college with her brother, and forbid her to study her
brother's books. Although it was against the law, Sarah taught her personal
slave to read. At age 13, she convinced her parents to let her take the vows
of Godmother to her younger sister, Angelina Emily (1805–1879). In 1821,
Sarah became a Quaker and moved to Philadelphia. In 1829, Angelina did the
same. Denouncing slavery was an acceptable practice in radical circles;
however, the sisters denounced race prejudice and argued further that (white)
women had a natural bond with female black slaves. These last two ideas were
extreme even for radical abolitionists. Their public speaking continued to
draw criticism, each attack making the Grimke sisters more ardently feminist.
Rebuked even by the Quakers, they chose the company of abolitionists and
feminists, what few there were. Angelina’s anti-slavery "Appeal to the
Christian Women of the South," 1836, encouraged southern women to join
the abolitionist movement for the sake of white womanhood as well as black
slaves. Because male owners fathered children by slave women, she wrote,
slavery harmed white womanhood by destroying the institution of marriage. The
book was publicly burned in South Carolina, and Angelina and her sister were
threatened with arrest if they returned to their native state. In 1838,
thousands of people flocked to hear their Boston lecture series. And, in
1838, they persuaded their mother to give them the family slaves as their
part of their inheritance – and promptly freed them. [Sources: The African-American Registry, at www.aaregistry.com,
Sunshine for Women, at www.pinn.net/~sunshine/whm2000/grimke4.html, _____________________________________ Julia Humbles, and the
hundreds of thousands of nonviolent Marchers
for civil rights who she walked with in the late 1950’s, and 60’s – in
spite of police, dogs, fire hoses, jail and murder. [Name added by her son
Jeffrey Humbles] The
assembly of November 11, 2006 remembered aloud the names of Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and
James Chaney, shot dead in the dark of night on a back road in Neshoba
County, Mississippi. ___________________________________ King Hussein of Jordan, who on his knees begged
forgiveness of Israeli families A
Jordanian soldier patrolling the Jordan-Israel border shot and killed five
young Israeli girls. When the King heard of this, he immediately went to
Israel, to the families of these five children. On entering each house
he knelt before these families and asked their forgiveness, expressing his
compassion and his sincere care for each of them. He did this with
tears in his eyes, humility in his soul and love in his heart. And
because he came to them with such lack of ego, with such humility, each of
the families knew that their pain was not theirs alone. [Story told by Queen
Noor, widow of the King, born an American, on the stage with the Dalai Llama
at the Compassion in the Rockies
Conference, 2006. Reported by Ann John, Deacon, St. John’s
Episcopal-Lutheran Congregation, Williams, AZ, in a sermon to the Canterbury
student fellowship, Northern Arizona University] |
Isaiah, who wrote: The word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Thus He will judge among the nations And arbitrate for the many peoples, And they shall beat their swords into plowshares And their spears into pruning hooks: Nation shall not take up sword against nation; They shall never again know war. [The Bible, Isaiah 2:3a-4] ___________________________________ Jesus of Nazareth, who disappointed many of his followers by not leading armed
resistance to the Roman occupation. Even as a non-violent radical, however,
the Romans thought him a threat and executed him. [The Bible, and Jesus:
A New Vision, Marcus Borg.] Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, whose campaign of nonviolence led to
fundamental, but unfinished, changes in [Photo: Birmingham Jail, 1967, NPR] In April, 1967, Dr.
King made this prophesy: “The war in “Love --
so readily dismissed as a weak and cowardly force, has now become an absolute
necessity for the survival of man. When I speak of love I am not speaking of
some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that force which all of
the great religions – Hindu, Moslem, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist – have seen
as the supreme unifying principle of life. “Now let
us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter -- but
beautiful -- struggle for a new world. Shall we say the odds are too great?
Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? The choice is ours, and though
we might prefer it otherwise we must choose in this crucial moment of human
history.” To read further
selections from Dr. King’s sermon at Riverside Church, New York, Click Here ___________________________________ Rigoberta
Menchú Tum, Mayan Indian of Guatemala. Born in
poverty, Menchú was awarded the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize "in recognition
of her work for social justice and ethnocultural reconciliation based on
respect for the rights of indigenous peoples." Despite every provocation
to take up arms – government soldiers murdered her mother and brother and
burned her father to death in a building where he and others were making a
peaceful protest – she chose nonviolence. [Source: Irwin Adams, ___________________________________ Micah, who wrote: With what shall I do homage to God on high? He has told you, O man, what is good, And what the Lord requires of you: Only to do justice and to love goodness, And to walk modestly with your God; Then will your name achieve wisdom. [The Bible, Micah 6:8-9] ___________________________________ Rosa Louise McCauley
Parks, the ordinary woman who sparked the Montgomery bus boycott and the
civil rights movement Rosa Parks
(1913-2005) an African-American seamstress and office worker, on December 1,
1955, refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. She was convicted of
disorderly conduct. The Montgomery Improvement Association, led by an unknown
minister, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, was formed to lead a boycott of
Montgomery buses. It began on Monday, December 5. Segregationists retaliated.
Black churches were burned and dynamited. King's home was bombed. But public
buses stood idle for 382 days, until the segregation law was lifted. [Primary
source: Wikipedia,
rewritten] ___________________________________ Oscar Romero, the Roman Catholic archbishop
whose new vision made him a martyr and a cause In 1977, Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez was named the Roman
Catholic archbishop of San Salvador. A supporter of the government when
appointed, he was moved by the murder of one of his priests, and other
events, to speak out against the Salvadoran government, the military, and US
aid to the military. Romero was murdered while celebrating Mass in
March 1980 by gunmen trained at the US Army School of the Americas. In the
months that followed, four priests, four North American churchwomen, and
hundreds of other civilians were killed. Romero’s death galvanized reform of
El Salvador in the midst of a dangerous civil war. [Primary source: Wikipedia, rewritten] ___________________________________ Hugh Thompson, an Army
Warrant Officer, who halted a massacre and rescued civilian wounded Thompson landed his helicopter between American troops and
the South Vietnam village called My Lai, stopping the shooting in the face
of officers who outranked him – then called for help for the survivors
of the shooting. Later, he was shunned by his Army colleagues. [Source, Wikipedia, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HughThompson%2C_Jr
To read the NY Times’ obituary and biography of Mr. Thompson, Click Here ___________________________________ Desmond Mpilo Tutu, opponent of
apartheid and advocate of reconciliation (b.1931), then a bishop in
the Anglican Church of South Africa, became publicly active in the 1976
Soweto protests against the use of the Afrikaans language in black schools.
He became famous in the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid. He was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. The first black Archbishop of Cape Town, Tutu
consistently advocated reconciliation between all parties involved in
apartheid, and coined the term Rainbow Nation to describe post-apartheid
South Africa’s racial diversity. Tutu believes the treatment of Palestinians
by the state of Israel is a form of apartheid. He has repeatedly called upon
the Israeli government to respect the human dignity of the Palestinian
people. [Primary source: Wikipedia,
rewritten, and many news stories] ___________________________________ Lech Wałesa, who
showed how courage and non-violent tenacity can change a country, a
continent, and the World Born in
Poland on September 29, 1943, Walesa began work in the Lenin Shipyard in
Gdansk in 1967. In 1970, he was a member of the illegal strike committee; in
the strike, over 80 workers were killed by police. Wałęsa spent a
year in prison. In 1976 Wałęsa lost his job and was supported by
friends. At the beginning of a 1980 strike in the Lenin Shipyard,
Wałęsa scaled the wall and led the action, then organized the
Strike Coordination Committee to lead a general strike in Poland. The
government agreed to allow some organization, but not free trade unions. The
Committee organized the Solidarity Free Trade Union. Walesa and a thousand
other Solidarity members were arrested. Walesa was interned for 11 months. In
1983, he was back at the shipyard as an ordinary electrician. The same year,
he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1988 Wałęsa organized a
strike in the Gdańsk Shipyard, demanding only the legalization of
Solidarity. The government agreed to talks, then to reestablish Solidarity,
then to allow "half-free" elections to Polish parliament. The
Citizenship Committee of Solidarity became a political party and won the 1989
parliament elections. Wałesa persuaded political leaders to form a
non-communist coalition, the first in the Soviet Bloc. In 1990
Wałęsa won the presidency. Poland changed from strict Soviet
control to an independent and democratic country. Accomplished without
weapons or violence, like the American civil rights movement, the changes in
Poland sparked similar changes throughout eastern Europe and eventually the
collapse of the Soviet Union. [Source: Wikipedia,
extracted and rewritten, many news reports, and The Cold War: a History, Martin Walker] |
Hymn sung at the close of the VFP assembly of November 11, 2006
1919, by
Clifford Bax, whose stepson was killed in the Great War. Tune: Old Hundred Twenty Fourth