OntheWilderSide

KW writes:

First reflection: Cemeteries to honor the dead

On Memorial Day, we celebrate men and women who died while in military service. We have cemeteries which are places of honor for those people to be buried.

What about people who died while in the service of peace? Should they have a holiday? Should they have a special burial ground?

What about people who died while in the service of justice? Or, people who died as martyrs for justice, such as Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero, who was murdered in a hate crime in Patchogue? Should there be a place where people who have made that sacrifice go to be remembered and acknowledged as heroes, a place to reflect on the meaning of their deaths?

Another reflection: About the peace movement and infrastructure

I have been thinking about what the peace movement could do to make itself stronger.

Clearly, what the peace movement did in the last round of wars was not helpful. The peace movement did demonstrations, and ranted and raved against the Republican government, and organized in many of their traditional ways. Those ways included making alliances with various groups, including cordial relationship with progressive Democrats who movement folks believed would help fight the war. And, for many activists, their peace strategy included a quiet or not-so-quiet support of a presidential candidate who they believed would chose peace.

Well, that got us…nowhere. The two main wars drag on — Afghanistan and Iraq. And, as someone from the peace movement, I see that the movement is really, really slowed down here in Long Island. There are mostly the same people there were several years ago, doing mostly the same kind of vigils, only less and smaller. And, their ranks are often diverted to other demonstrations, such as ones against “BP”. (Of course, this is my personal opinion, and I confess it comes from someone who has been leery to be out in the field of demonstrations for several months…-KW)

I am not trying to be negative, just assess things. And, lately I have been thinking that since the way we worked before (and for some, the way we are working now) was such a bold failure, it should be time for new thinking.

One of my thoughts is this: At all times, but especially now, when the message of peace seems to fall on deaf (or is that disheartened?) ears, perhaps the peace movement should build infrastructure. Just look at what the war movement does, and try to copy it a little bit. Seriously observe your world for signs of pro-military support, be on the lookout for where the military is showing up to brag or to influence your children, and copy what they do, only do it for peace.

Here are some ideas I have of how to do the long work of creating a world of peace, of creating structure for peace inside our world, structures that might instruct children, and be there for adults just learning to strive for peace:

-Wherever the Army or Navy or Marines are, the peace movement should go. So, if you see one of those cardboard displays at your supermarket asking for Army recruits, go home, and make the same cardboard display, fill it with peace literature or counter-recruiting literature and demand to put it next to it.

-If there are pro-military recruiters tabling at your local school, demand to table next to them with brochures on peace colleges or peace careers. (My husband had this excellent idea, go to colleges whose mission is justice or peace, and ask to be trained and designated as a recruiter for them. That way, you will have a reason and some paperwork to bring to your local school and show them why they must let you in.)

-The military has special cemeteries to honor war heroes. Make special cemeteries where people go who dedicate themselves to peace. While you are gathering the resources to do that, simply create ways and a culture of people who love peace decorating their gravestones certain ways. Maybe just a peace sign on their graves? Also, peace people could make parades or ceremonies to honor past peace heros on Memorial Day. Or, peace people could pick their own day.

-The Boy Scouts have some noble purposes. But, unfortunately, some of their traditions end up feeding into hierarchy and war-like systems. Why can’t we have Boy Scouts for peaceniks? Show young people the ropes of creativity and peace. Keep the good traditions, keep out traditions which glorify war or the government. I am not sure what the Girl Scouts is like nowadays. Though, people who love peace could create a scouting program for girls which had an element of peace-making in it.

-There are people working on a Peace Department in the United States government. That idea has been brewing a bit, and not going anywhere. I believe it might be because the idea has been co-opted and steered for failure (by steering it towards idealism, and steering it towards entrenched politicians using it only as a banner.) But, it might make sense for peace movement people to really work on what a Peace Department would look like inside the government. Make maps and graphs. Create positions. Build the whole thing from the bottom up on line as a think tank, until it is real to people. Until it is a detailed road-map that someone in government could really copy. Let the people lead.

-Around most towns in America, there are memorial statues and public art about war. Make some public art about peace. Make people think about peace, nonviolence, and its possibilities. Some towns already have peace art. (New Paltz, NY has a Peace Park with two peace sculptures.)

If you got this far, thanks for listening to my scattered thoughts on this Memorial Day weekend. I will be sure to mull things over, and create a more organized piece on the topic soon.

__________

For Memorial Day, I would like to honor Susan June Blake, who worked for peace and justice, and who created the infrastructure of the PeaceSmiths Coffeehouse, an ongoing project to bring activists together, and to make space for talk about peace and justice.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb115WgRmNs]

Filed under: activism, afghanistan, Anti-War, Holidays, local, long island, Long Island Politics, News, politics, progressive politics, US Politics, war Tagged: | Long Island Memorial Day, Long Island peace movement, Long Island Politics, Marcelo Lucero, Memorial Day, peace and justice, peace workers, Susan Blake, susan june blake