Dear DFP!

Thanks for bringing us Steve Raymond’s [4 March 2003] view on the uselessness of violence in protest. Violent resistance to evil becomes just another evil. It can make headlines, but erases any moral mandate the resistor may ever have. Let’s not go there.

As we saw around the world in the middle of February, protesting together for peace is not just necessary, it can be magnificent. I stood in a terrific crush of some 40,000 people in the Dam and felt redeemed, accompanied, restored. And despite the risk of having the life squished out of me, I felt weirdly safe. How was it for you?

But having said that, I must also recognize that protesting is just another form of begging.

Unscrupulous people will negotiate only if you have something they want. That’s why Bush could shrug and “respectfully disagree” with those millions of voices raised in his own country — then run to offer billions of dollars to Turkey. Turkey had something he wanted; war opponents do not.

Or don’t we?

For nonviolent protest to become effective nonviolent resistance, the key will be the same as it has ever been, in every place and time. This moment will be about withdrawing our cooperation from evil. In India they called it “satyagraha.” In American we can just call it “hell no.”

The US may have a bigger military budget than the next 25 countries put together. But they still rely, to a great extent, on the cooperation of people in their path. Sometimes that cooperation is extorted. But remember this: holocausts are made possible by collaborators. So to make a difference, we have to do more than protest. We have to figure out what we have that they want, and respectfully withdraw it. Whether en masse, or one at a time, we have to find ways of meaningful noncooperation.

And when you do this, try not to be mean-spirited. Remember that your ideological opponents — including military service people, government officials, etc — are not a bunch of evil monsters. On the contrary, many of them are conscientiously doing their best according to what they know, and often risking everything to offer public service. War resistors will denigrate themselves who forget to respect the motives of their counterparts among the people.

love S G Collins

Vätternkade 40, Osdorp/de Aker 1060PK Amsterdam Netherlands [tel 011 31 20 619 8265]