CNV Action Reports from NYC; Eugene, OR; Olean, NY; Napa, CA; and Online

CNV NYC 2024

Today’s Campaign Nonviolence Action Days reports bring you another glimpse into the 5,239 actions that took place across the country and around the world. Several of the organizers featured today included recordings of their action so you can be involved, even after the events have concluded. Read more below and prepare to be inspired!

Rosemarie Pace with Pax Christi New York State in New York City shares that on September 26th, 2024 they held an Interfaith Gathering in Observance of the UN International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. She writes, “Eight people participated, but others observed. Unfortunately, it was raining and we were right next to a group protesting Netanyahu's presence at the UN. (We were across from the UN.) There were MANY actions happening across the City to oppose Netanyahu, not the usual situation for this annual event, but a major distraction from our focus. Nevertheless, participants were grateful for the opportunity to share prayers and reflections focused on peace and nuclear weapons abolition. We raise awareness and hope that prayer is a means to bring us at least one step closer to peace.”

Pax Christi New York State held another event on September 21st, 2024, about which she writes, “This was a three-part Zoom event which included a PowerPoint slide presentation of a March, 2024 pilgrimage to Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki focused on the nuclear issue and involving multiple meetings with atomic bomb survivors in each city; a presentation by Alice Slater, UN NGO Representative of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Board member of World BEYOND War, the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, the Global Council of Abolition 2000, and the Advisory Board of Nuclear Ban-US who provided historic and current information on the status of nuclear weapons treaties and the threat of nuclear war; and Ann Suellentrop, fellow pilgrim to Japan, Project Director for Physicians for Social Responsibility Kansas City, Physicians for Social Responsibility national board member, a member of PeaceWorks KC, and active with the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability who spoke about current U.S. work to upgrade the nuclear arsenal and offered action suggestions. The Zoom event was recorded and watched by several more viewers, and it was picked up by Brooklyn for Peace who broadcast it on their local channel. All feedback was extremely positive. The event was both educational and a catalyst for action as outlined by our third speaker, Ann Suellentrop. The pilgrimage in Japan got significant coverage on Japanese media and some locally, and Brooklyn for Peace, as previously noted, broadcast an excerpt of the slide presentation portion of the Zoom event.”

For more about the pilgrimage, see below:

Chrissy Kirchhoefer with the Pace e Bene Tax Resistance Affinity Group Online shares that 26 people attended Intoduction to War Tax Resistance (WTR 101). She writes, “Recently, on September 28th, Campaign Nonviolence hosted Days of Action to elevate nonviolence in practice. The  National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee(NWTRCC) and the Pace e Bene Tax Resistance Affinity Group hosted an introduction to war tax resistance(WTR.) During the introduction it became clear that many of the participants were practicing WTR or were at least aware of it. Many came to the session from NWTRCC’s Instagram post.  

While there were a few long-time war tax resisters who shared their experiences, quite a few attendees were already resisting taxes and redirecting those taxes to causes that they wanted to support. People were giving to humanitarian efforts in Gaza; we shared the resources that We The People shared of organizations to redirect tax monies to.

It was a beautiful coming together of people. One person was a tax preparer who wanted to be informed of how to educate their clients. Another person raised the issue of reparations as the motivation for their war tax resistance to ongoing war and exploitation to peoples. There is an ongoing Tax Resistance Affinity Group with Pace e Bene that people can find more info about here.

This event built a culture of nonviolence by informing and empowering people how to resist paying taxes to war, creating and supporting community of how to take action against military spending, one of many paths to resistance to violence and war.”

Ann Cole with Beyond War NW in Eugene, OR shared that on September 22, 2024 they held an event called Sacred Art as a Transformative Pathway to Peace with 75 people. She writes: “Three University of Oregon artists performed dance  (Dancing with Grief and The Divine Feminine) and song ( Meet Me Here—in consideration of Matthew Shepherd) in front of the painted image of the Madonna on the Red Fence in the alley behind the Newman Center. The words on the fence that often houses graffiti are ‘Pray for Us—mourning and weeping in this valley of tears’ from the Salve Regina. A 15-minute teach in on Nonviolence followed the performance and Artist's Q and A.

KEZI TV covered this event and reported on it in the Sunday evening news. Participants were deeply moved by the performances—much feedback given personally and over the weeks following it. Excellent feedback given for the 15-minute teach in as well that connected creating art with creating peace.

This event in an alley brought art, heartfelt connection through shared grief, healing, tears and beauty framed in the larger context of the power of nonviolence and that we all are one. Five clear steps from Michael Nagler's book, The Third Harmony, were outlined along with the two hands of nonviolence given as a universal gesture for continuing on the path of peace. The event created the new story together for an hour of time in an alley in the city of Eugene.”

Read one of the teach-in essays below:

We are going to transition now to our brief teach-in talk where I want to make some connections between the making of art, and the art of making peace. And Martin Jones will share some simple, but powerful ideas, from the book, The Third Harmony, by Michael Nagler. We’ve been leading book-study groups on this book and plan to lead another one soon. And for those of you that may not know of Beyond War Northwest, we are a local nonprofit, with 15 years of leading educational forums and study groups, to give people resources and tools be more effective citizens, working for peace in our world.

With this event today, Beyond War engages an experience of how the arts help to disrupt cycles of violence. As you already know, in this time of devastating wars and violence to the planet, many of us are continuously heartbroken. Yet still, we must find peaceful ways to go on and heal ourselves and the world. Healing work is a brave effort to disrupt old cycles of violence. Of course we are not saying that art replaces good diplomacy, economics, and the protection of people and planet. But we are taking a moment to breathe and imagine together. Because art is an ancient form of human expression that allows us to understand our world in a different way. That is why it is a path to envision new possibilities and to create a more peaceful world. There is new neuroscience research that confirms the plasticity of the brain, and shows that art has the power to actually rewire the synapses in our minds towards more creative and communal approaches to problem solving. The arts can make visible what we may have been feeling, but were unable to name before. This helps us to see that we are not alone, and the sharing of experience in itself is healing.

But there is another layer in the artist’s path as well. Art often harmonizes contrasting experiences, opening and softening hearts, enabling them to see larger perspectives. Art forges a path to new visions because at the core of the work is a hero’s journey in search of authentic, particular meaning and beauty. This search for meaning and beauty calls to the human soul to find ways to recover hope amidst the ugliness of violence and betrayals. Art and beauty therefore, are not trivial matters in times of war and corruption. Beauty is a strong container that can hold our fear. The philosopher, Elaine Scarry, explains why in her book, On Beauty and Being Just. She says that the aesthetic surfaces of the world are uneven, and they can sometimes suddenly surprise us, and touch us deeply. “When we come upon beautiful things, they act like small tears in the surface of the world that pull us through into some vaster kind of space.” They invoke wonder. This is the inner emotional space where our longings for other good things like truth, equality, and justice also well up in us to feed our souls. The great Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, also said “Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws which otherwise would have been hidden from us forever.” Natural laws that support our spirits and we seek access to them in our desire to create a better world. 

This idea that there are invisible natural laws that hold our world together is not new. We’ve all heard of the law of gravity of course, and others. But are there invisible natural laws that can hold our hearts together? In these times? Are there other natural laws that can provide guidance to us to build a more peaceful world? That is the question Michael Nagler addresses in this book, the Third Harmony, Nonviolence and the New Story of Human Nature. And now Martin will share a little wisdom from that book with us.

Darlene Goetzman with Love in Action Cattaraugus County in Olean, NY shares that they held events on Sept. 24 & Oct. 2, 2024 including a presentation called Making Peace in a Society at War, and a film followed by discussion: Decided We Fall, Unity Without Tragedy. She writes, “Love in Action Cattaraugus County is a newly formed group (May 2024). Each of our two events were attended by existing members and new people, and of the new folks, 15 wanted to become involved with the group. Post presentation discussions were lively and interesting. Most folks completed a post-event survey that included asking their biggest takeaway, what they might do differently because of what they learned, and how it changed their view of nonviolence. The list of these responses is too long for this summary, but besides feeling more hopeful (a frequent response) here is a biggest takeaway from the film that reflects many others' insights: ‘Seeing how a group can start out with opposite viewpoints and come together when they realize that they actually share common values, e.g. respect-tolerance-wanting wants best for their family, etc.’

As a new group, we were excited by the wide range of ways people learned of the events. It reinforced the outreach and marketing efforts many took on. The Olean Public Library was an active partner in all our efforts, they too were very happy with attendance. One Library staff member shared, ‘We often get two people at film.’ We had 23, a possible reflection of the timeliness and desire of many people to create a more peaceful world.

Our group has three key charges: to learn and practice principled nonviolence; to host community-wide events in order to learn and recruit new members; and, to identify and implement local projects that right an injustice. This year's actions expanded our group, increased awareness of some dimensions of principled (and active) nonviolence, introduced folks to other peace organizations involved globally or nationally, and increased awareness locally of our Love in Action group. In addition, by inviting people to reflect on their learning before leaving events, we hoped to add to the support and commitment needed to change the way we interact with and see others. Lastly, to the best of our ability, we connected with other groups locally who also might see themselves as peacemakers so that we might support each others' work.”

See local coverage here.

We also heard from the group in Napa, CA, who wrote: “Teresa Cahill and others have been standing for peace on a busy street corner in Napa, California on a regular basis for some 20 years. Teresa also organizes a vigil to coordinate with the national annual Pace e Bene observance and writes letters to the editor to encourage awareness and action in support of nonviolence.”

Teresa wrote of their vigil, “One way we can all be okay is to practice the Golden Rule such as some of the following from various major religions:

  • "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", Matthew 7:12 - Christianity

  • "What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. The Talmud - Judaism

  • "Hurt not others in ways you yourself would find hurtful" Udana Varga 5:18 - Buddhism

  • "No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself". Hadith-Bukhari)- Islam

Some of us in Napa try to practice the Golden Rule by participating in Campaign Nonviolence Action Days!”

Campaign NonviolenceErin BechtolCNV Action Days 2024