Nonviolent Youth Collective

Dear colleagues,
I have heard some of us make statements along the lines of racism being different, easier, or that we are beyond racism.  Often we do not have recent and tangible ways of showing just how real racism is.  Let me share with you a piece of my reality.

Saturday my neighborhood became a place for Nazi demonstrators to forward their cause.  Yesterday morning, people -our fellow humans- took to the streets of my neighborhood to protest an anti-white supremacy and white privilege workshop being held at the local YWCA.
The calls to action on their websites identified that they felt that the leaders of the workshop and participants were race traitors.  I am not going to share with you all of the racist rhetoric of the group but I encourage you to think about what this really means for the US and

A year ago I was a young person looking for opportunities to gain job skills, find adventure, and serve my community. Theoretical discussions and the occasional protest wasn't enough - I wanted to be doing something that would make a difference in a concrete way. I was ready for physical and mental challenges, and to be tested in ways that I never had been. That's when I signed up. Six months, a physical, screening and few tests later, I was in. My life would never be the same - I had joined my local emergency response fire and rescue department.

Amongst peace and justice- oriented folks, it's fairly safe to say that your first choice for a resolution to any conflict is calm, rational dialogue, right?. Many people reading this might even say that an open dialogue is the ONLY solution to conflict - why should we need war, aggression or threats to work out our differences? But what about in regards to conflicts with your parents, siblings, children if you have them, signifiant others, or the occasional annoying stranger? Are we able to hold ourselves to the high standards (and really hold ourselves accountable) to the grand ideals that we have in place for others?

After 21 days on the road, 2557 miles driven and countless cafeteria meals – things are both different and the same. For example, before the tour our van was just another rental car with nothing unique about it. We returned it well used, more fragrant (!) and with a new name: the planet of Tranquilandia. Maybe more importantly, when the tour started the entire country was waiting with baited breath for the results of the election. Now we know that Obama will be our next US president. According to most people I’ve talked to, this means that some positive changes are likely to come about, but that we are not going to see an overhaul of the entire world order. Before the tour, political hip hop from Detroit had nothing to do with youth resistance in Colombia. Now Invincible’s rhymes and Paula’s stories of creative resistance are flowing together… in people’s imaginations, thoughts and maybe even dreams. And yet, there is still war in Colombia, displacement in Detroit and a poverty draft of young people of color and the poor.

Adrienne is the Executive Director of the Ruckus Society, a partner in the Not Your Soldier project along with the War Resisters League & the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Welcome to the Age of Yes!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at 10:34am

I’m writing a long and in-depth piece analyzing the election and the outcomes, and the president-elect’s particular approach and potential legacies. I started to write it here but it got too big and unwieldy. There’s a portion of it, though, that I am excited about and want to share.

“It must be said that the majority of humans ever to have lived, have existed in conditions of immiseration and servitude to a small minority of wealthy and powerful people…until the number of whole lives is greater than the number of shattered lives, we remain stuck in some kind of prehistory, unworthy of humanity’s great spirit. History as a story worth telling will only begin when the whole lives outnumber the wasted ones.” - The Years of Rice and Salt, Kim Stanley Robinson

Here's a slideshow of photos from the tour so far. Click the arrow in the center to start the show.