'From Dissent to Resistance'

The waning media coverage of public dissent since the outbreak of the Gulf war in January (due partly to the public backlash against such dissent) makes it hard to get an accurate picture of the breadth of opposition around the country. But it seems that aside from a few impressive national demonstrations in major cities, the opposition to the Gulf war is organized mostly at the regional and local levels -- where there have been countless nonviolent demonstrations, candlelight vigils, teach-ins, processions, ecumenical prayer services, and civil disobedience actions.

Some observers believe that the lack of a visible national movement has its benefits. "It's forcing people to be imaginative at the local level," says Gene Stoltzfus, of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) in Chicago. CPT is calling on members of Church of the Brethren and Mennonite churches and others to come to Washington, DC, sometime between March 17 and April 17 for vigiling and lobbying against the war.

The Fellowship of Reconciliation has called on all local chapters and other grassroots peace and justice groups to participate in protests the 15th and 16th of every month -- the anniversary of the start of the war -- until the war ends. The focus March 15 will be on media and censorship of war-related news, and April 15 (Tax Day) will focus on the domestic costs of the war.

In one of the most active parts of the country -- the San Francisco Bay area -- nearly 2,000 people have been arrested in nonviolent protests since the war began. According to John Dear, S.J., in Oakland, there was actually talk at one point among Bay area authorities of declaring martial law due to the number of streets, bridges, and federal buildings that have been shut down by protesters. And organizers are hoping thousands will join a March 17 procession from San Francisco's Grace Cathedral to the Presidio Army base.

But it is in rural and small-town America -- where the failure to display the American flag or a yellow ribbon on your house can be tantamount to treason -- that the tensions created by differing views about the war are perhaps most intensely felt. In rural Massachusetts, members of Noonday Farm -- an organic farming community located about an hour and a half northwest of Boston -- were caught off guard by the depth of anger expressed after they began a small antiwar vigil in downtown Winchendon Springs (pop. 8,000).

A largely blue-collar town that has been hit hard economically and is also home to many Vietnam veterans, Winchendon Springs is emblematic of the tensions in many small communities for whom military service is often the best means of security. On January 17 (the day after U.S. bombs began to drop on Baghdad), in front of the town's "Tree of Support" (adorned with yellow ribbons in support of Operation Desert Storm), police had to restrain several men in town after they violently disrupted the silent antiwar vigil.

Stunned by the incident, the Noonday vigilers ultimately moved their weekly witness to a different part of Winchendon Spring's Main Street, away from the Tree of Support, out of respect for the families and friend's of the 20 or so Winchendon Springs residents serving in the Persian Gulf. And they decided to leave their children at home -- at least until things cool down more.

Two Noonday members were invited to speak to the eighth grade at the local middle school about their opposition to the war, but things remain pretty heated. Angry letters about the vigil (and the visit to the school) continue to stream into the local newspaper, and members of the volunteer fire department have indicated that they would not service anyone associated with the vigil.

"It [the vigil] raised so many painful feelings to the surface. There is so much fear of losing children or parents or friends in the war -- that I wondered whether standing outside with a sign is the right thing," Noonday's Claire Pearson told Sojourners. "But I feel that someone needs to speak the truth -- that war is wrong and that we need better solutions. There's got to be a sign of hope for those who may be confused or may feel they have to go along with this blind patriotism."

Kate Goodspeed, a single mother from Denver with two children now in college, has been a sign of hope to friends, coworkers, and complete strangers. On January 15, she traveled to Washington, DC, with her protest sign -- "I'd give up my car before I'd give up my son" -- and began a 28-day water-only fast in front of the White House.

"My whole life was turned into a prayer," says Goodspeed, who found an extended community with others from around the country who felt the same despair and anger over U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf. "I felt close to God throughout the experience."

Goodspeed told Sojourners in a phone interview that she hopes the country will somehow be redeemed by what is happening in the Gulf. "If peace comes, what will people have learned?" asks Goodspeed. "At the same time I'm praying for peace, I'm also praying that the American people will stop denying the truth of how unjust our government's policies are."

Many people of faith around the country have turned to fasting during Lent in response to what they see as a deep "moral crisis," of which the war in the Gulf is only a symptom. "The current crisis shows us we in the churches haven't developed a moral foundation," says Louis Vitale, a longtime anti-nuclear activist who is fasting throughout Lent along with his Franciscan community in Las Vegas.

Ken Sehested, the Baptist Peace Fellowship director who began a Lenten bread-and-water fast on Ash Wednesday (February 13), believes fasting is an expression of our grief over "the wounded, deadly fate of tens of thousands of soldiers and innocent civilians.

"The temptation is to go blindly into rage or into despair. I think grief helps us deal with both of those emotions redemptively," Sehested told Sojourners. "Grieving is the first step to any kind of healing."

In his Ash Wednesday sermon at Prescott Memorial Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, Sehested said that Americans had become "prisoners of a vengeful spirit" by choosing retaliation over the teachings of Jesus. "We cannot simultaneously love and destroy our enemies."

Sehested's fast, which will continue until Easter Sunday (March 31), is an extension of the Baptist Peace Fellowship's "Call to Prayer and Fasting" campaign, which began December 13 (see "Seeds," page 40).

The Monday after Easter (April 1), Vince Eirene of the Pittsburgh Catholic Worker will begin a 30-day fast in front of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. The school designs many of the command-and-control systems on the battleships now stationed in the Persian Gulf, according to Eirene.

"We need time to pray and reflect," Eirene told Sojourners. "The fast and vigil is an attempt to try and find the moral equivalent of war. We have to match our country's capacity for inflicting suffering with our willingness to sacrifice for what we believe -- that killing is wrong.

"We have been misled by leaders who claim that somehow we're going to have a new world order without sacrifice. But there is no resurrection without the cross."

For some, taking on the cross means literally enacting the biblical prophecy of Isaiah by "beating swords into plowshares." A number of antiwar activists around the country face lengthy prison sentences for plowshares-type actions at weapons facilities, the White House, and federal buildings since January.

"We act because our consciences leave us no other choice," stated nine Christian activists before pouring human blood and oil on the steps of the downtown federal building in Los Angeles January 17. "We offer these symbols of blood and oil willingly and gratefully in what we hope is a sacrificial and constructive act. And we invite all people of faith to continue moving with us from dissent to resistance."

Judy Coode assisted with research.