 February 2004
American Friends Service Committee Peacework Magazine Sara Burke, Managing Editor Sam Diener, Editor Pat Farren, Founding Editor 2161 Massachusetts Ave. Telephone number: Fax number:
pwork@igc.org Peacework has been published monthly since 1972, intended to serve as a source of dependable information to those who strive for peace and justice and are committed to furthering the nonviolent social change necessary to achieve them. Rooted in Quaker values and informed by AFSC experience and initiatives, Peacework offers a forum for organizers, fostering coalition-building and teaching the methods and strategies that work in the global and local community. Peacework seeks to serve as an incubator for social transformation, introducing a younger generation to a deeper analysis of problems and issues, reminding and re-inspiring long-term activists, encouraging the generations to listen to each other, and creating space for the voices of the disenfranchised. Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC. |
The Soldiers At My Front Door Rev. John Dear SJ is a Jesuit priest, peace activist, and author of Living Peace -(Doubleday) and other books on peace and nonviolence (www.johndear.org).
I live in a tiny, remote, impoverished, three-block-long town in the desert of northeastern New Mexico. Everyone in town knows that I am against the occupation of Iraq, that I have called for the closing of Los Alamos Nuclear Weapons Laboratory, and that as a priest, I have (following the example of the Pope) been preaching against the bombing of Baghdad. Last week, it was announced that the local National Guard unit for northeastern New Mexico, based in the nearby armory, was being deployed to Iraq early in 2004. The desert is normally a place of perfect peace and silence. But I was surprised
the following morning to hear 75 A 7 am, the shouting got dramatically louder. I looked out the front window of the house where I live, next door to the church, and there they were — all 75 of them, in the street right in front of my house and our church, shouting and screaming at the top of their lungs, "Kill! Kill! Kill!" Their commanders had planted them there and were egging them on. I suddenly realized that I do not need to go to Iraq to confront the war; the war had come to my front door. Later, I heard that they had deliberately decided to conduct their exercises in front of my house and our church because of my outspoken opposition to the war. I decided I had to do something. I put on my winter coat and walked out the front door right into the middle of the street. They stopped shouting and looked at me, so I said loudly, publicly for all to hear, "In the name of God, I order all of you to stop this nonsense, and not to go to Iraq. I want all of you to quit the military, disobey your orders to kill, and not to kill anyone. I do not want you to get killed. I want you to practice the love and nonviolence of Jesus. God does not bless war. God does not want you to kill so Bush and Cheney can get more oil. God does not support war. Stop all this and go home. God bless you." They stood in shock and silence, looking steadily at me. Then they burst out laughing. Finally, the commander dismissed them and they left. Later, military officials spread lies around town that I had disrupted
their military exercises at the armory, so they decided to come to
my house and to the church in retaliation. The archbishop was asked
to kick me out of New Mexico. In the end, the episode for me was an experience of hope. We must be making a difference if soldiers are ordered to march to our front doors. No matter what happens, they have heard loud and clear the good news that God does not want them to kill anyone. Members of the military who want to refuse to kill, or need other information about their rights, can find free help and information through the GI Rights Hotline (800/394-9544), www.girights.org. 
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