Christians and Climate Change: Nonviolence in Action Practical Workshop

Justin Whelan

We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. (Martin Luther King Jr.)

Saturday 13th November, 1-4pm
Quaker Meeting House, Lower Hall
119 Devonshire St, Surry Hills
Gold coin entry

Learn about:

  • Why nonviolent direct action in the tradition of Martin Luther King, Gandhi and Desmond Tutu is a legitimate response to the climate crisis
  • The spirituality, theology and power of nonviolent direct action (NVDA)
  • NVDA principles, skills and tactics
  • How to get involved in potential actions, including the Climate Camp

With:

  • Justin Whelan, Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service
  • Simon Roz, World Vision
  • Catherine Cresswell, Bluegreen Media

Climate Camp:

Ordinary people around the world are participating in nonviolent direct action, including civil disobedience, at coal infrastructure, government offices, carbon exchanges and more. In early December, people from all walks of life will come together in the Hunter Valley for the ‘Camp for Climate Action 2010‘ – five days of learning, planning and sustainable living, culminating in a peaceful mass action at Bayswater power station. Among those participating are Christians, who are moved by the urgency of climate change and the failures of the political process to address it, and by a long Christian legacy of nonviolence.

Download the flyer here

And here is a short blurb for inserting into church notices and bulletins:

Christians and Climate Change: Nonviolence in Action Practical Workshop

Learn about nonviolent direct action (NVDA) in the tradition of Martin Luther King, Gandhi and Desmond Tutu, why NVDA is a legitimate response to the climate crisis, NVDA tactics, and how you can get involved in potential actions.  Saturday 13th November, 1-4pm.  Quaker Meeting House, 119 Devonshire St, Surry Hills.  For more information see http://paceebene.wordpress.com/

Nonviolent Orthopraxis and Just War Theory

Justin Whelan

Via Waging Nonviolence (an awesome blog) comes this interview with Sant’Egidio leader Andrea Bartoli on peacemaking, nonviolence and just war theory. It’s a great read:

NS: Since Augustine, Catholic tradition has upheld just war theory. Does Sant’Egidio see itself, like the Catholic Worker movement in the United States, as a challenge to that tradition? Or does its approach to peacebuilding fit within the just war framework?

AB: Augustine discusses peace about 2,500 times and war a couple of dozen. Everybody discusses what Augustine said about just war, but they usually fail to recognize that he speaks about just peace much more. Sant’Egidio focuses on the parts of Augustine that focus on peace. War is a possibility. War is a human choice. But from our perspective, the Christian position cannot be but a peaceful one, both in terms of being peaceful ourselves and in terms of being peacemakers. We don’t begin with theories. We work for peace because, to the poor, war is the worst of all conditions—Andrea Riccardi called it “the mother of all poverty.” Rather than holding a theoretical argument in favor of, or against, war, we need to be bound to practice. We’re more concerned with orthopraxis than orthodoxy. We want to be orthodox, but we have an even greater desire to actually practice the gospel.

I love that last line!

The Waihopai Ploughshares take issue of New Zealand spy base to court

Justin Whelan

The jury trial of three Ploughshares peace activists, Adrian (Adi) Leason, Peter Murnane and Sam Land is being held in Wellington, New Zealand this week. People are coming from around New Zealand and Australia to support them and to give voice to the issue behind their trial—the need to close the Waihopai Spy Base and end New Zealand’s links with the US war machine. Waihopai is New Zealand’s most important contribution to that war machine, far more so than any Special Air Service presence in Afghanistan, and has been operating as an outpost of US intelligence 24/7.

Hat-tip: The Waihopai Ploughshares take issue of New Zealand spy base to court (at WagingNonviolence.org)

Interview with Gene Sharp

Justin Whelan1 Comment

I am a huge fan of Gene Sharp, Director of the Albert Einstein Institution and the world’s leading scholar of the politics of nonviolent struggle. He literally wrote the book on the topic! How someone who’s books have been used as training manuals for democratic revolutions and other nonviolent campaigns of worldwide significance has been ignored by academic scholars remains one of life’s great mysteries to me.

Anyway, Dr Sharp recently gave a (rare) interview to Boston’s PBS radio on his take on nonviolent action, what’s going on in Iran, and far-left critics who think he’s a secret government agent (one of my favourite conspiracy theories). You can listen to the interview here.

Workshop: Nonviolence in the mainstream – the daily practice of peace

Justin Whelan

Perth
April 25-30 and Nov 28 – Dec 3

As individuals on a journey towards a sustainable practice of peace and nonviolence, we are seeking wholeness. We need to know who we are and how the dominant culture into which we were born shapes and conditions us. Sustainable spiritual growth requires the integration of the inner and outer journeys. Throughout the week, our conversation will move between the inner and outer concerns around developing a nonviolent foundation for living.

Download the brochure

Anzac Day Weekend 2010 Conference ‘Putting an End to War’

Justin Whelan

This conference will be held from 23-26 April, starting with Friday dinner and an evening session and ending probably soon after Monday lunch at the Australian Quaker Centre, “Silver Wattle” 1063 Lake Road Bungendore, NSW.

The conference is entitled “Putting an end to War” – a 3-day workshop on personal resistance to war and military action. We will consider the Beatitudes as a call to radical action, reflect on celebrations of ANZAC Day, and hear about individual witness such as being a human shield, intervening in armed conflict, entering prohibited military areas and refusing to pay war taxes. Recent actions in Pine Gap, Talisman Sabre, Iraq and Palestine will be some of our examples.

Speakers include: Gerry Guitton “Walking the Way of Peace”, Simon Moyle “Radical Action’, Helen Bayes “Getting in the Way – Christian Peacemakers”, Waratah Gillespie “Out of Love Courage Grows”, Helen Gould “War Tax Resistance”, Doug Hynd “Reflections on Anzac day”.

For full details of program, accommodation costs etc check the web site: http://www.aqc.quakers.org.au