An Australian peace activist named Sheik Haron (pictured to the right) was recently charged with writing hateful letters to families of fallen soldiers. Jarrod McKenna reflects on this incident as a reminder to activists to “love the enemy”:

The world is ready for an activism which loves its enemies. As A.J. Muste put it, “There is no way to peace — peace is the way.” The early Christians were called “people of the Way” because they lived the way of Jesus. If the sharing of our faith is to have any integrity, Christians who say “Jesus is the Way” must embody “the Way of Jesus.” The same is true of peace activists (Christian or otherwise). As Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. would often say, “Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.”

As a human being living in a time of tremendous challenge to the earth’s resources, I am quick to apply this message to the issue of sustainability. According to nonviolent principles, just as we love the soldiers and their families, we must also love those who pollute and degrade the earth. When we stand up for the earth, we might remember that most of us have polluted, and still pollute, in some ways, such as fossil fuel transport, using plastics, and heating our homes.

At this time, quickly and urgently, we are needed to build systems in which we can coexist with each other and with the earth. Sustainability is a form of peace–peace for our biosphere. Along the way to that lofty goal, when we refuse the pollution, still we may love the polluter. That love may be motivated by the vision of the reconciliation when we all will live together in peace on a healthy earth.

I was immediately excited about the idea of nonviolence for sustainability when I first heard about the November 30th “Day of Action”. I have come to believe that environmental sustainability will be the issue of justice that defines our generation. Nonviolence offers a path by which to dramatize the issue, and to demand major rapid changes in mainstream systems.

From the Beyond Talk website, I found my local New York City event for November 30. There will be a rally at the Bank of America followed by a march to the offices of the National Resources Defense Council.

And so I am faced with a decision: shall I risk arrest for this particular action of civil disobedience? It’s one day before the event, and my heart’s not in it.

Am I choosing a romantic relationship over a better world? My girlfriend and I are planning to move into a new apartment on Monday: if I risk arrest, we may not be able to continue living together. And I risk losing the closeness that supports my work, and the person who will support me now and in future actions. “You should go to the rally, and join if you are moved to join,” she tells me.

Am I choosing myself over a better world? I have never risked arrest before. Nonviolence sounds smart, feels right, but when it comes to an actual opportunity that risks arrest, am I too afraid? I have no doubt that I can overcome that fear.

Or do I hesitate now because of particular details of this particular upcoming action? The event’s website declares: “Join us in a carnival procession as we chase politicians, corporate environmentalists, and grim reapers, down Fifth Avenue and expose their true alliances!”

This event does not feel like I will be protesting the darkness within myself–my own self-doubt, inactions, ambivalence, inconsistencies, fears, and selfishness.

It is a protest against the corporation, and against the corporation-friendly charity, and not a protest against the damage I do myself as a user of fossil fuels. It is a protest against them, the corporate people–someone else–and not a protest against us, all the people–ourselves. I have tried before to change them, and have not gotten far, now I feel strongly that it is time to change us.

I seek the protest against unjust practices in everyday lives. Block my roads, my bridges, my gas stations, my ATMs, my shopping malls, my produce markets. Make me ask myself whether these institutions are just. When truth stares me in the eye, my own darkness exposed, shared, support offered to defeat it, I will join you.

As for this particular rally, I will watch, and if I am moved, I will join.

I became a pedicab driver to change myself, and the world. I wanted to become more comfortable talking with people on the street, and I wanted to transport people by an earth-friendly means.

As a pedicab driver, I rent a pedicab for $150 per week, and I can drive as much as I want. Evening rush hours and weekends are the busiest times. I pick up my pedicab from the lot on W 31 St. On the job, I coast around Midtown Manhattan looking for passengers. I watch the sidewalk for anyone calling for a cab or about to call, or anyone who seems unsure of what to do next. I ask the person’s destination and try to negotiate a price. Once passengers are on board, I chat with them at every red light and every opportunity. I have carried marathon runners, couples on dates, election voters, tourists, and costumed demons.

The hardest part of my job is the “no”s. For every passenger, there are 10 to 100 potential others who say no. Many have good reasons–there are too many people (more than 3), they are going to another borough or the airport (too far), or they have only a credit card. I once got turned down because cocaine would blow away in the back of a pedicab. From many others however who are calling for taxis, I get refused out of hand, or else totally ignored. “Absolutely not!” “No way I’m riding that thing.” “Get out of my way!” I try to wish everyone a good night no matter what they say. Read the rest of this article »