Non Violent Direct Action

Posted by Benjamin on: 08.08.2007 /

  I have been increasingly moved over the past months by the idea of non violent direct action.  I was intrigued by a link to a story which Joe included in a comment here about Father Kelly, who has served time in federal prison for “the non violent disarmament of nuclear weapons delivery systems”.  More recently, Father Kelly and Father Vitale were arrested outside Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista, Arizona, while they were taking part in a peaceful protest agaist the U.S. army’s use of toture in interrogation. Father Kelly is associated with Pace e Bene Non Violence service–the spirituality and practice of creative non violence, which runs seminars on creative non violence, among other things.

  I have also been intrigued recently by the trident ploughshares campaign.  This group of activists believes that the use or threat of the use of nuclear weapons is illegal under international and humanitarian law, and they “have pledged to disarm the UK Trident nuclear weapons system in a non-violent, open, peaceful, safe and fully accountable manner”. By fully accountable they mean they are willing to be held legally accountable for their actions. On their front page they boast of 2240 arrests, 520 trials, and 2197 days spent in prison.

   As I grow in knowledge of these types of movements, I find myself drawn to them.  It feels like they are accomplishing a lot more than … mere blogging can accomplish.  I find myself asking myself questions like “Self, what would it look like to get arrested for a cause you believe in?”.  And myself answers with more questions like “Well, would that be the immature boy in there thinking it would be kind of kewl to get arrested?”  I have these conversations with myself, but as time goes by, I continue to be more drawn to the ideas and actions of organizations like these.