By Ann Suellentrop
During the Green Party’s national webinar Nov. 18, Ann Suellentrop of the PeaceWorks-KC Board made this invitation. The webinar was “Nonviolence in a Violent World: Making a Difference Through Direct Action and Civil Disobedience,” sponsored by the Green Party, with cosponsors including PeaceWorks-KC.
Speaking for PeaceWorks KC, I would like to invite all those interested to join us in protesting and committing civil disobedience next Memorial Day at the Kansas City, Mo., nuclear bomb parts plant. There have been over 160 arrests in ongoing demonstrations at the plant.
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons became international law this year. There is overwhelming support for the abolition of nuclear weapons worldwide and for making restitution to those who have been harmed by nuclear production, testing and use in war at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We are in the midst of the second nuclear arms race, with trillions of dollars being wasted on these cruel and catastrophic weapons. These dollars are needed to stop the rapidly changing climate which is killing hundreds of species. Our military is the single biggest user of fossil fuels and emitter of carbon dioxide in the world. Our local nuclear bomb parts plant in Kansas City, managed by Honeywell, has recently increased production space by 50 percent, has more than doubled employees to 6,000 since the new plant opened in 2014, and has mushroomed its budget to $1.28 billion dollars for 2022. We are 90 seconds to midnight according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, that is, full-on world destruction. Now is the time to convert ourselves to the nonviolent love of friends and enemies.
I would recommend a great resource (one of many) to learn how we can each use nonviolence in everyday practical ways. Go online to: mettacenter.org. The introduction says nonviolence is also known as “love in action.” It is a constructive power. It is unleashed when potentially destructive drives like fear or anger are converted into creative equivalents like love and compassion. Gandhi said, “Nonviolence is the greatest power at the disposal of humankind.” We each have this nonviolent super-power within us, and we can use it daily in our interactions with others to bring about real peace, social unity, security and justice.
Copyright 2021, Ann Suellentrop, Kristin Scheer, Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International License.