In the spirit of Gandhi, we need national, non-violent opposition to our country's dangerous threats
The image is still fresh in my mind, although the event happened years ago. I was standing in a mansion in India. It was probably the most expensive piece of real estate I’ll ever enter. But the residents were not rich in spirit.
The one owner I saw was huddled in a secluded corner of a spacious ballroom, unable to interact with other people, wrapped in a blanket of mental illness. All around were the visible signs of death and decay. No one was dancing here! It was a whole mind-and-body experience of the false promise of wealth and prominence.
This experience of wealth contrasted with the experience of voluntary poverty that was normal among the Gandhian veterans that were my travel companions and mentors. Material goods did not stand in their way when decisions needed to be made about fighting for the right. They were part of a larger community that looked out for their members and met their needs. The promise of independence from a foreign government set their nonviolent agenda!
I’m hopeful we are developing something similar in this country. We have what seems to me to be a foreign government, resident in the White House and halls of Congress, controlling our national agenda and continuing to ignore our Constitution and the needs of the majority, all in the interests of the wealthy.
Increasingly, military might is used to support its policies. We need a consciously national, nonviolent response!
There is a national “No Kings” protest happening on Saturday, Oct. 18. Organizers are warning of “increasing political tensions and military presence” as we approach this new activity. In response, there are new efforts to recruit more participants in safety and security training, and in practicing de-escalation strategies.
Those who prefer violence are not welcome and should they appear, will be secluded and excluded. Violent plants like that are often a strategy of the subjects of the protest, to discredit their opponents.
It was a treat to see the recent reaction of some Portland residents to the threat of American troops coming their way. What better way to protest an invasion of the military than in a blown-up dinosaur or frog suit! Or look for the person in the white animal suit blowing bubbles at the ICE detention center protest; the one where people are singing “Stand My Ground!”
Honest, they even have a choir director!
Since Department of Homeland Security and former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has declared Chicago a “war zone,” residents there have organized such things as a “walking school bus,” where volunteers will surround several children, to accompany them walking to their homes after school. Schools have implemented alternative learning options and excused absences, recognizing the risks children and their parents face. More than 100 Chicago children, who are citizens, have been left without parents this year through ICE activities.
The recent raid on an apartment house in Chicago, agents even dropping from a BlackHawk helicopter overhead, are indicative of the gestapo-like tactics ICE increasingly uses. Some reports indicated small children were zip-tied together and taken outside. Thirty-seven occupants were arrested, some of them Venezuelan gang members. The rest were terrorized!
Why doesn’t the federal government aid the Chicago police in identifying and detaining gang members, instead of trashing an apartment complex and terrorizing a neighborhood? Why is it necessary for the feds to make “war” on our cities, especially when the responsible mayors and governors reject it? I always thought the idea was for states and the federal government to be in a mutually supportive relationship?
There are alternatives to federal violence! Attorney General Pam Bondi asked mayors in several cities across the country to respond to the concerns of this administration! Michelle Wu, the mayor of Boston did so on Sept. 21. You can watch her response on the internet. Wu made the Boston agenda clear, at odds with that of the present administration.
Her speech was a statement of committed nonviolent action. She didn’t threaten the national guard surrounding the Attorney General’s Office. She spoke about their actions and commitment. And more significant, the background of her speech was filled with an incredible, diverse group of Americans. It wasn’t a group of the wealthy arranged in luxury in a ballroom, but a snapshot of the diversity that is our country.
Stand your ground Michelle! Stand your ground! And may more and more Americans do the same on Oct. 18.
Carl Kline of Brookings is a United Church of Christ clergyman and adjunct faculty member at the Mt. Marty College campus in Watertown. He is a founder and on the planning committee of the Brookings Interfaith Council, co-founder of Nonviolent Alternatives, a small not-for-profit that, for 15 years, provided intercultural experiences with Lakota/Dakota people in the Northern Plains and brought conflict resolution and peer mediation programs to schools around the region. He was one of the early participants in the development of Peace Brigades International. Kline can be reached at carl@satyagrahainstitute.org. This column originally appeared in the Brookings Register.
Photo: Gandhi, late 1940s, public domain, wikimedia commons
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