nonviolent action

On Wednesday, the Fellowship of Reconciliation received word that women members of our Zimbabwean sister organization (FOR-Zimbabwe) had been arrested and jailed by their government for participating in a peaceful march this Monday, October 27th. The march brought together some 1,000 Zimbabwean women to call on the three major political parties in their nation to resolve their peace talks and move the country forward, but the women were tear-gassed by the police, 100 were reported to have been beaten, and four dozen were arrested. Yesterday, we received a positive update, indicating that this group of jailed women had been released by the police. However, the overall situation is still very bad.

This summer, I had the great opportunity to meet George Lakey, someone who is renowned in the peace and justice community for his lifetime of activism and his teachings. George and I were both speakers at the 2008 Seabeck conference in the Seattle, Washington, area. He had just been announced as the awardee for this year's Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Prize, so there was a special connection when we met, and just a few weeks later we reconnected via the phone to talk more about his work through the years.

This fairy tale begins with a giant silver purse. Visualize that purse being carried in a taxi through Beijing. Oh no, it did not glow. Despite all the brightness inside, the purse perfectly contained the light we were about to unfurl.

But wait, let me back track, just for a moment.

On Sunday, during the 2008 Olympic games’ closing ceremonies, the Chinese government deported 10 Tibet supporters. By 8pm Sunday night these ten citizen journalists and activists were on their way home. They had been sentenced to 10 days of prison; six of them were held for over five days. 

Is it a nursery rhyme going through my head? Or just a saying? When I was little and we had spent a long evening out and about and were just pulling up to the front of our house, my mom would always say, “home again, home again, jiggity jig.”

That’s where I am now: back at my house in Oakland, California. After pulling a banner full of blue lights out of a silver bag at 11:30pm in front of the Olympic bird’s nest stadium in Beijing, getting arrested, being detained through the night in a smoky room, put on a 12 hour flight to New York city, waiting at the JFK airport for another 4, sitting through a flight to Oakland for 5 hours, waiting at the airport to be picked up, I finally arrived home at about 10:30pm last night. After 50 hours of no beds, no showers, lots of waiting, a bit of fear, excitement, not knowing what was next, boredom and exhiliration: here I am. Not sure what to do with myself. Not sure what to say.