The other day I had an unnerving experience: I had to stop watching a movie after half an hour. The movie was The Grey Zone, a 2001 production about the Holocaust. Some of the scenes depicted the gas chambers and people being shot in the back of the head. One scene I found particularly hard to watch was of a group of prisoners who were in a string quartet, playing whilst the unknowing victims entered the underground bunkers.
I am not averse to violence on screen. No Country for Old Men depicts a serial killer. I winced at the violence yet still could watch and appreciate the message until the end. I actually found the violence in Starship Troopers funny.
I found the movie Shooting Dogs - which is about the Rwandan Genocide - poinient and hard to watch, but saw it through to the end. So what was it about a movie about the Holocaust I found so difficult? Am I subconciously racist and can rationalise genocide when it involves Africans but not when it involves White people? Was it about the efficient way that the Nazis embarked on exterminating the Jews and other non-desirables? I don’t know.
But I do now know that I still have tolerances and points beyond which I can’t cope. And maybe the questions should be less about why I was so affected by this violence and more about why I am not affected in this way more often.
Posted in Non Violence, War, War Crimes | 1 Comment »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.
Posted in Non Violence, What can we do? | 3 Comments »We watched Butterfly (Lengua de las Mariposas) over three days in my Spanish class this week. I was really moved. I want to invite you to watch this week and next Friday I will be posting a little review and hoping for provocative conversation =) You can rent it from netflix if your local rental store or library doesn’t have it.
Just as a heads up you might find it useful to check out Wiki’s article on the Second Spanish Republic and the Spanish Civil War, which are the setting of the movie, before watching it. Oh, it’s got subtitles. But well worth watching!
Posted in Movie Reviews, Non Violence | 2 Comments »My dad served 2 tours of duty in the Vietnam war. At age 18 he tore up his draft notice for the U.S. Army and went down to talk to the Air Force recruiter. He’s definitely a man with a high practical intelligence, and he was, I believe, considering attrition rate comparisons between the services. He went on to work for the U.S. air force for twenty years, retiring in 1987. After a big argument this past mother’s day, he called and left a message on my cell phone in which he said in a tone of great sorrow and sincere regret “Son, I’m sorry that you are ashamed of me because of my service in the U.S. military.”
That was wrenching to hear. The last thing I want to communicate to my dad is that I’m ashamed of him. He’s a great guy, and from my current 32 year old frame of reference, I can see that he did worse than some but better than most in his role as a father.
The memorial day holiday has really set me to thinking this year. In years past, I’ve pretty much ingnored the holiday. I asked a barista yesterday while she was preparing my (fair trade) coffee “What is Memorial Day about anyway?”. She replied “ummm, I dunno–something about the military?” The two older people behind me in line looked chagrined and charged “Aha–a product of Seattle Public Schools!”. My friend Julie, who preached yesterday about Pentecost, said that older members of her church wished she had mentioned or preached on memorial day. Is it a generational thing?
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