Commitment to nonviolence

By Sr. Rosemary Williamson, O.L.M.
May/June 2011

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“Nonviolence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart and it must be an inseparable part of our very being.” Gandhi

My interest in nonviolent peacemaking had been stirred by the film “Gandhi”. I have watched it several times with the Justice, Development, and Peace group in Nigeria. Each viewing was more compelling and deepened my conviction in Gandhi’s path of nonviolent direct action. After turning over our works to Nigerian lay leaders, I returned to Canada and applied for membership in the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT).

CPT engages in biblically-based, spiritually-centred peacemaking, emphasizing creative public witness, nonviolent direct action, and protection of human rights.

CPT members in Chicago addressing the detention and torture of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
Photo by Tim Nafziger

In 2010 I participated in a CPT delegation to Grassy Narrows in northwestern Ontario. From a base in Kenora we visited First Nations traditional lands, meeting with Indigenous and non-Indigenous community leaders and residents. I was deeply touched by the warmth and welcome of the people in Grassy Narrows who have suffered so much from corporate clear-cut logging and mercury contamination in their lake. Two brief trainings in colonization and racism were personally revealing and highlighted my need for further education and awareness.

In January of 2011 I went to Chicago to participate in a month’s intensive training with CPT. Our group was a good mix of ages, experience, and ethnic origins. We were privileged to make our sleeping quarters at the First Church of the Brethren where Martin Luther King stayed for some months while doing community organization. His profile is featured in one of the stained glass windows. This was a further source of inspiration during a very demanding training.

We planned and carried out two public witnesses. One addressed the illegal and continued detention and torture of those being held in Guantanamo Bay in violation of the Geneva Convention. Ten of us, dressed in orange prison jumpsuits symbolic of the detainees, and black hoods, tried to enter the Federal Courts in downtown Chicago in a symbolic search for justice. Vigilers called out the names of each remaining Guantanamo detainee, followed by “... is looking for justice!”, as we “prisoners” walked in silent procession from door to door seeking access to the courts. Security officers blocked each doorway and we knelt down to wait. Vigilers gathered around us singing, “Courage Muslim brothers, you do not walk alone; we will walk with you and sing your spirits home.”

The second public witness was in support of the farmers of Las Pavas, Colombia, who were forcibly removed from their land to make way for corporate palm oil plantations.

Our training also included briefings from CPTers currently working in Iraq, Palestine, and Colombia, and with the Aboriginal Justice team. The entire experience was inspiring and challenging. I am delighted that I have been accepted as a member of CPT and I commit myself to the ongoing inner conversion to nonviolence lived so wholeheartedly by Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and modelled first by Christ.

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