February 2004

Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC.

From the Editor’s Desk

"Over the expanse of five continents throughout the coming years an endless struggle is going to be pursued between violence and friendly persuasion, a struggle in which, granted, the former has a thousand times the chances of success than has the latter. But I have always held that, if he (sic) who bases his hopes on human nature is a fool, he who gives up in the face of circumstances is a coward. And henceforth, the only honorable course will be to stake everything on a formidable gamble: that words are more powerful than munitions."
- Neither Victims Nor Executioners by Albert Camus, 1946

Camus wrote these lines sitting on the ashes of a charred and shattered Europe, having himself endured tuberculosis and hardship as a member of the French resistance to the Nazis. We would indeed be fools to ignore the unspeakable crimes of the last 100 years. Yet, as Camus hoped, we have also helped create and are continuing to witness a surging global wave of nonviolent action. In addition to overthrowing over a score of governments through nonviolent insurrections in the last 25 years, nonviolent action is revolutionizing gender roles and our relationship with other species on the planet.
Just as surely as waging war turned Europe, North Africa, and much of the Asia/Pacific region to rubble during World War II, neglecting the scourge of AIDS around the world threatens entire generations. Global NGOs are mobilizing in unprecedented ways to confront this nightmare. In this issue, the Health Global Access Project describes the elements of a truly constructive global agenda against HIV and AIDS.
In the last few months, two remarkable nonviolent insurrections have succeeded in overthrowing entrenched governments despite threats and repression: one in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, one in Bolivia. Gene Sharp, the historian of nonviolence, has often remarked on how much nonviolent action has achieved even when people thought they were inventing it anew each time, and how much more could be achieved if populations trained and prepared for mass nonviolent struggle. As Jim Schulz describes, Bolivia’s mass movements developed their capacity for nonviolent mobilization through struggles against privatization. The Georgian opposition used the mass media to highlight the methods Serbians used to overthrow Milosevic nonviolently, coupled with large-scale nonviolent direct action training, to prepare for and carry out their insurrection. These examples prove Sharp right. Unfortunately, though these new regimes took power through nonviolent action, they are not necessarily committed to governing nonviolently.
The article on Bolivia introduces a section on nonviolent campaigns in the Americas, from Colombia’s brave activists defying all militaries in the midst of civil war, to Brazil’s indigenous movements and new foreign policies under President de Silva. As Andreas Hernandez describes, President de Silva is at the forefront of governmental efforts against corporate globalization. Meanwhile, Liana Foxglove describes challenges facing protesters, most recently in the streets of Miami, working to build a movement capable of stopping global corporate attacks.
In addition to Free Trade Area of the Americas protesters, those of us engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience against the war in Iraq are starting to win surprising legal victories at home, and John Dear provides us with a dramatic example of a peaceful "Army of One."
It is the individual conscience combined with collective action that provides us with our best hope of transforming our country and planet. US Labor Against War is beginning to turn the US labor movement away from 90 years of relative quiescence regarding US militarism and sponsorship of union-busting regimes overseas. Iraqi women are also speaking out against attempts to impose a repressive version of Shari’a law in Iraq.
Even as we work to end the war in Iraq, the devastating war between Eritrea and Ethiopia threatens to flare again. It is vital that we work to prevent wars before they begin, as Katherine Gun so bravely tried to do.
Good naturedly crediting J. Edgar Hoover as the (inadvertent) founder off the US anti-nuclear power movement, Harvey Wasserman reminds us of the power which can be unleashed to preserve our planet through small acts of nonviolent resistance.
As Camus recounted so vividly, observing violence scars us all — unless we can transform our scar tissue into sinew through bearing compassionate witness, and this is the subject of Common Shock, reviewed here by Fred Marchant. Finally, the nonviolent example of Bishop Robinson, through his open love of another man, implicitly threatens the cultural and theological roots of violent masculinity. Despite the contumely heaped upon him, he continues to reach out to his opponents with a healing hand. With such examples to guide us, I believe we can make Camus’ formidable gamble pay a thousand-fold.

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