by Reverend Kristin Gill Stoneking, FOR Executive Director Local groups as source and sustenance of FOR-USA’s activism stretches back to our origins, when 68 people met in Garden City, New York in November 1915 to “establish a world order based on love.” The focus in the early days was largely domestic: against conscription and militarism, for economic justice and legal protection of conscientious objectors. In the nearly 100 years since, we expanded our outreach to create a presence abroad that included the meaningful work of sponsoring civilian diplomacy delegations to the Middle East and the Soviet Union, and providing protective accompaniment in Latin America. Yet, as FOR embraces the needs and challenges of the twenty-first century, we find the call to return to the work of building and tending to our national network and infrastructure. Throughout 2012, the National Council worked with then-Executive Director Mark Johnson to frame a strategy that could respond to this call. A model that organized activism into regions of the country was constructed, repurposing staff from a predominately international focus to nonviolent change work that sees transformation in the United States as the highest priority for effectiveness. FOR announced this new organizational model in December 2012 with the hiring of Rev. Lucas Johnson as Southeast & Mid-Atlantic Regional Coordinator, the first position tuned to the new strategy. At the same time, Mark Johnson announced his forthcoming retirement. The search process that ensued for a successor prioritized capacity in grassroots organizing with diverse and younger populations while at the same time requiring expertise in organizational and financial leadership. I am pleased to be able to continue the work of Mark and the National Council as we transition fully into this new model, deeply committing our national pro- grammatic efforts to strengthen and increase communications with our chapters, local affiliates, religious peace fellowships, and other grassroots-based initiatives. FOR’s theory of social change understands our work as “a movement that begins at the individual level working locally through active efforts by dedicated, passionate people, many of whom act from spiritual leadings, whose clarity of purpose, vision and success actively moves through communities and structures representing wider and wider circles of peoples until systems are transformed in sustainable ways for the foreseeable future. Our field of intended effective social change is that of structural violence in the United States and propagated by the United States throughout the world.” Grounded in this regional strategy, we will be able to more fully live the tenets of this theory through our leanings and our learnings, through our actions and commitments, through our embrace of a nonviolent way of life that acknowledges first our responsibility to change ourselves as we ask the world to change. (continued on page 2) Returning to FOR's Roots: A U.S.-Based Strategy for Nonviolent Social Change
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by Reverend Kristin Gill Stoneking, FOR Executive Director
Local groups as source and
sustenance of FOR-USA’s activism
stretches back to our origins, when
68 people met in Garden City, New
York in November 1915 to
“establish a world order based on
love.” The focus in the early days
was largely domestic: against
conscription and militarism, for
economic justice and legal protection
of conscientious objectors.
In the nearly 100 years since, we
expanded our outreach to create a
presence abroad that included the
meaningful work of sponsoring
civilian diplomacy delegations to the
Middle East and the Soviet Union,
and providing protective
accompaniment in Latin America.
Yet, as FOR embraces the needs and
challenges of the twenty-first
century, we find the call to return to
the work of building and tending to
our national network and
infrastructure.
Throughout 2012, the National
Council worked with then-Executive
Director Mark Johnson to frame a
strategy that could respond to this
call. A model that organized activism
into regions of the country was
constructed, repurposing staff from a
predominately international focus to
nonviolent change work that sees
transformation in the United States
as the highest priority for
effectiveness. FOR announced this
new organizational model in
December 2012 with the hiring of
Rev. Lucas Johnson as Southeast &
Mid-Atlantic Regional Coordinator,
the first position tuned to the new
strategy. At the same time, Mark
Johnson announced his forthcoming
retirement.
The search process that ensued for a
successor prioritized capacity in
grassroots organizing with diverse
and younger populations while at the
same time requiring expertise in
organizational and financial
leadership. I am pleased to be able to
continue the work of Mark and the
National Council as we transition
fully into this new model, deeply
committing our national pro-
grammatic efforts to strengthen and
increase communications with our
chapters, local affiliates, religious
peace fellowships, and other
grassroots-based initiatives.
FOR’s theory of social change
understands our work as “a
movement that begins at the
individual level working locally
through active efforts by dedicated,
passionate people, many of whom
act from spiritual leadings, whose
clarity of purpose, vision and
success actively moves through
communities and structures
representing wider and wider
circles of peoples until systems are
transformed in sustainable ways for
the foreseeable future. Our field of
intended effective social change is
that of structural violence in the
United States and propagated by the
United States throughout
the world.” Grounded in this
regional strategy, we will be able to
more fully live the tenets of this
theory through our leanings and our
learnings, through our actions and
commitments, through our embrace
of a nonviolent way of life that
acknowledges first our
responsibility to change ourselves
as we ask the world to change.
(continued on page 2)
Returning to FOR's Roots: A U.S.-Based Strategy for
Nonviolent Social Change
What will be the priorities of staff in the regional organizing model? Regional staff will focus on reinvigorating or starting new chapters and affiliates; introducing new persons and groups to the FOR network; connecting constituencies through gatherings, social media, and other vehicles; offering trainings in person and through webinars; providing resources to support campaigns and initiatives. The heart of the new mission statement is “to organize, train and grow a diverse movement.” How does this new model further that? FOR staff will give particular attention to communities and persons who are under-represented in the FOR network: specifically younger persons, persons of color, and persons from non-Christian spiritual backgrounds. We hope to repeat the very successful “Fellowship School” hosted at Shadowcliff in the fall of 2013 in which four international students were trained by our diverse network in nonviolent transformation work. Also, we plan to include more interns and campus based work in the new model. How can I get involved? FOR has set the ambitious goal of 10 new or reactivated chapters and 500 new members by our 100th anniversary dinner in New York City in November 2015. If you are not part of a chapter, contact the regional coordinator in your region at http://forusa.org/contact to begin a conversation about connecting with activists and peacemakers in your area or around your interests. Invite others who would be interested in connecting with FOR. Inform us of the work you are doing either through the FOR organizer in your region, or our communications department at [email protected] . Let us know what resources you need to be more effective and productive. Give to FOR, financial gifts are always needed and greatly appreciated www.forusa.org/donate. Pray for FOR or offer hope for FOR’s vision in your meditation practice. Believe in the coming reality of a transformed society and the beloved community.
Our self-identity has always been as a web of
deeply committed, passionate individuals. It is a
true pleasure and privilege to be with you in our
common purpose and work. May our movement
grow and may we see signs of transformation.
Peace and grace to you,
Executive Director, FOR-USA
Frequently Asked Questions:
Kristin introduces the Regional Coordination strategy
to guests during a “Meet & Greet” gathering at FOR’s
Passover: A Celebration and Exploration of Liberation
The oldest Sephardic haggadah featuring the prayer: This is the poor bread our ancestors ate in Mitzrayim. Let all who are oppressed, come and feast with us. Let all who are in need, join the Passover Seder!
The ritual book used for Passover, the haggadah or the telling, starts off with a call:
"Let all who are hungry, come eat. Let all who are oppressed come join the Passover
celebration!" Since this is the night of telling there is a presumption that the
community will hear from 'all those who are oppressed.' Hearing voices of people on
the front lines of struggle against systems of violence is the narrative of Passover.
Assessing how each of us unconsciously or consciously participates in or resists
structures of oppression is key to observing Passover - the oldest and most beloved
Jewish holy day.
For Jewish people concerned with our collective relationship to the State of Israel,
history has transformed the context in which we tell the Jewish liberation story and
radically reshaped our questions. For example, the last line of the haggadah, "Next
year in Jerusalem!" has caused members of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) to consider
this phrase from the perspective of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem. From a
Palestinian point of view, "Next year in Jerusalem" is experienced as Israel's
occupation policies of forced displacement from Jerusalem as new Jewish settlers take
over former Palestinian villages and land. The State of Israel's dispossession policies
toward Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem encompass land appropriation,
discriminatory planning policies, the isolation of East Jerusalem from the rest of the
West Bank, the denial of citizenship to Palestinian East Jerusalem residents, home
demolition, settler vandalism and harassment, and the use of Jewish historical claims
to take land.
This year, as many Jews break the matzah in two, and hide one until the meal is
through, we will be contemplating next steps as solidarity partners in the Palestinian
freedom struggle. Those of us associated with JVP and the Shomer Shalom Network
for Jewish Nonviolence will continue to honor the 2005 call by Palestinian civil
society for boycott, divestment and sanctions. Working together, we can transform
despair into hope and oppression into liberation. Next year, a liberated
Jerusalem. Dayenu.
Syrian Charoset for Passover from Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb
Charoset is a symbolic food that has two meanings (like all the symbols). On the one hand, it represents the mortar Israelites were forced
to use in Pharaoh's building projects. On the other hand, it represents the fruits of the garden of Eden associated with liberation and
delight. This charoset recipe is from the Brooklyn Syrian Jewish household of Stephanie Cohen.
3 pounds dates
Water
1/2 cup pomegranate extract (my addition) or sweet wine
teaspoon of ground cinnamon (mixed with a pinch of cardamom and all spice)
1 c. finely chopped walnuts (optional)
Put dates in large saucepan with enough water to cover them. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer, stirring frequently, until dates are
very soft (30-45 minutes). Date skins will separate from the flesh of the fruit, and the boiling liquid becomes thick and syrupy. Mash
everything up. Add other ingredients. Chill until ready to serve. Eat with matzah and bitter herb.
Hag Sameakh, a joyous Passover season to you!
page 4 FOR Witness ~ Spring 2014
Photo courtesy of Ground Zero
On May 11, 2013, in an action organized by Ground Zero Center for
Nonviolent Action, Bernie Meyer of Olympia, Washington entered Sub
Base Bangor, home of the Trident submarines on the West Coast of the
United States, by crossing the line. Carrying a peace flag and reading
Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation, Meyer was taken to the
ground, arrested, and charged with “trespassing.”
A longtime peace activist dubbed the “American Gandhi” for his
portrayal of the legendary Mahatma Gandhi in the United States and
India, Bernie Meyer has been working since 1974 to abolish nuclear
weapons. He cites Gandhi’s last words as inspiration for his work.
Margaret Bourke-White, journalist for Life magazine, asked Gandhi on the day before he was assassinated on January 30,
1948, “How would you answer the atom bomb with nonviolence?” He replied, “Nonviolence is the only thing the atom
bomb cannot destroy. I did not move a muscle when I heard that the atom bomb destroyed Hiroshima. I said, ‘Unless
humanity adopts nonviolence and ends the atom bomb, it will be suicide for mankind.’” For Gandhi nonviolence is
ahimsa in Hindi which means “unwillingness to do harm.”
Meyer purposely risked arrest to draw attention to his cause as he believes that “nuclear weapons and the total nuclear
system are directly related to catastrophic climate change” and that “deaths are being caused by nuclear radiation even
before a nuclear bomb is detonated.” He chose to honor his deceased mother with this action, saying, “We must do all we
can to live as true human beings as a loving part of Mother Earth.”
(Bernie Meyer is former vice chair of FOR’s national council. Meyer’s court case was dismissed on December 6, 2013.
You can learn more about the American Gandhi at www.oly-wa.us/berniemeyer/ )
Mother's Day Proclamation by Julia Ward Howe
Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or tears!
Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking
with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have taught them of
charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another to allow our sons to be
trained to injure theirs."
From the bosom of the devastated earth, a voice goes up with our own. It says, "Disarm, Disarm!"
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of
home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail & commemorate the dead. Let
them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each
bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesars but of God.
In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of
nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with
its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the
Nonviolence is not passive. It is an active force within us that we can cultivate to counter the culture of violence in an
increasingly militarized and fear-based society. Peace Researcher Kenneth Boulding refers to nonviolence as an
“integrative power” that draws on our courage to be authentic which in turn draws people closer together. Gandhi coined
the term sarvodaya to mean “the uplift” or “fulfillment of all” which is at the heart of the shift in paradigms that is the
basis of a nonviolent culture.
Peace Paradigm Radio explores the power of active nonviolence in a highly
educational and enjoyable way. A project of the Metta Center for
Nonviolence with the support of KWMR, each show offers a segment with
Professor Michael Nagler, cofounder of University of California, Berkeley’s
Peace and Conflict Studies Program, sharing stories and analysis on
nonviolence in the news. Also on each show, Stephanie Van Hook, Metta
Center Director, interviews guests who practice the principles of
nonviolence in their effort to create a better world. Other special guest hosts
include Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers of PopularResistance.org with a
monthly Resistance Report, and former KWMR host of Transition to Peace,
Russ Faurbrauc, to talk on the transition to a nonviolent world.
On Peace Paradigm Radio, we believe that nonviolence is the key to a livable and prosperous future for generations to
come, and through learning more about it, you can transform your life and the world around you.
Airs every other Friday at 1:00 pm PST on KWMR Community Radio. You can listen live at www.kwmr.org or access
the show’s archives at www.mettacenter.org.
FOR Witness ~ Spring 2014 page 7
Weekend Retreat sponsored by the Metta Center Buddha and the World Crisis: Discovering Compassion in Action When: August 1-3, 2014 Where: the beautiful, serene, and healing Mt. Madonna Center, Watsonville, CA. As the Dalai Lama says, “Compassion is the religion of this age.” We will explore the practical teachings of the Compassionate Buddha, as contained in the Dhammapada (the “Way of the Law”). Instruction in passage meditation and practice will be tailored to participants’ needs and experiences. Opportunities for yoga and hiking will be integrated into our time together. One need not be a practitioner of Buddhism - open to all. For more information: visit www.mettacenter.org or call 707-774-6299.
“We are constantly being astonished at the amazing discoveries in the field of violence. But I maintain that far more undreamt-of and seemingly impossible discoveries will be made in the field of nonviolence.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
The Nonviolence
Handbook by Michael N.
Nagler will be available
for purchase in April,
2014. Copies can be
obtained directly from
the publisher
(www.bkconnection.com),
at Amazon.com, ordered
from your local
bookstore, or ordered
from the Metta Center for
Nonviolence
(www.mettacenter.org).
Peace Paradigm Radio: A Project of the Metta Center for Nonviolence
Western Washington and Oregon FOR have partnered for fifty-six years to conduct one of the
largest peace conferences in the Pacific Northwest. This year, activists from a variety of faith
traditions from all over the country are invited to the Seabeck Conference Center west of
Seattle on July 3 – 6, to explore the theme, Take Back the 4th: Speak Truth to Power, to focus
on preserving our Constitutional 4th Amendment right against unreasonable search and
seizure in the information age.
Keynote speakers Peter Phillips (Project Censored), Michael Nagler (Metta Center for
Nonviolence), and Rev. Kristin Stoneking (Fellowship of Reconciliation USA) will discuss
the theme and other social movements that seek to bring peace and justice to our world.
Numerous workshops on issues relevant to our time will be offered, as well as an uplifting
music program led by folksinger Tom Rawson that will culminate in a joyful community
talent show. Child and teen educational programs will also be provided to ensure learning
experiences for all family members.
Conference & Registration Information: Contact John Roy Wilson at 541-687-6728/[email protected], or Janet Hawkins at 503-244-7703/[email protected]. Or visit: www.ofor.org, www.forseabeck.org, or
www.facebook.com/OregonFOR
by John Lindsay-Poland, FOR Western Regional Coordinator/Organizer
To effect social change using nonviolence is difficult. Like anything challenging, it requires skill and knowledge. FOR-
USA staff can help local groups to think through strategy, research, effect outreach, make connections in and beyond their
communities, and create internal resources needed for the long haul.
In California, FOR is co-sponsoring a Kingian Nonviolence workshop in Oakland on April 5-6. Together with East Point
Academy, we’ll explore in a packed 16 hours: conflict and how it works, the principles of nonviolence, and how to apply
these principles to organizing for social change. This intensive workshop is an opportunity to understand conflict and
nonviolence through Rev. Dr. King’s approach and to generate community. To register, go to
www.eastpointpeace.org/workshop.html.
FOR is also working with local California peace centers, FOR affiliates and chapters to share skills and opportunities and
break the isolation that local activists sometimes experience. Nine local peace centers from San Diego to Chico work on
diverse issues that include economic and racial justice, climate change, gentrification, police accountability, mass
incarceration, training, etc. FOR is facilitating a statewide gathering in Santa Cruz, June 13-14, of peace centers and other
FOR groups.
Through participation in national initiatives, FOR-USA can make broader connections available to local groups. One of
these is the Global Day of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) on April 14 (day before tax day), to educate about and
protest the moral and political scandal that our world spends $1.7 trillion a year on the war system. See demilitarize.org.
For more information, contact John Lindsay-Poland, 510-282-8983, [email protected].
page 8 FOR Witness ~ Spring 2014
Take Back the 4th: Speak Truth to Power ~ 2014 Seabeck Conference
Constructing the Beloved Community in Western States
From left to right: Rev. Sam Smith (Chicago FOR Chapter Chair), Sarah Kramer (DePaul University Service Learner), Meghan Mae McLaughlin Trimm
(Chicago FOR Chapter Intern), Rauthany Iy and Yeon Noo Bae (DePaul University Service Learners). Two other DePaul University Service Learners, Fatima A
Jacome and Blake Truitt, were not present for this photo.