Tal (of the Metta Board) describes some of the actions and attitudes underlying the movement emerging in Israel over the past six weeks. This video was taken at our latest retreat in mid-August.

You can view the video here.

News Article by Volunteer: Nicholas Sismil (contact: nicholas@mettacenter.org)

The revolutions within the Middle East that have sparked an awakened mass to move forward and use techniques of nonviolence have been an eye-opening moment in history. In spite of the violence of those seeking political power in Yemen, stories and scenarios of nonviolent action by Yemen’s persistent youth and pro-democratic protesters demonstrated a more promising form of power with the potential to not only get the right results but to make the world a better place. As we will see, their display of courage gives us much to learn for case study purposes.

Yemen is a region that occupies the southwestern and southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. Bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east, it is the poorest country in the Arab world, undergoing struggles of unemployment even with its oil and water reserves. Almost half of its 23 million people live on two dollars or less a day, while one-third suffer from chronic hunger. With a president who has ruled for 33 years, Ali Abdullah Saleh, there is an obvious desire amongst its citizens for justice in the region. Since the first protests of the Yemeni people, a competition for the control of Yemen has dominated the political sphere. Such competitors have been Ali Mohsen, who is regarded as the most powerful figure in the military as Saleh’s former chief military advisor; Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar, the head of the Hashid Federation which is the president’s own tribe; the pro-democratic protestors; and president Saleh himself amongst his security forces and pro-Saleh loyalists.

Ali Mohsen gained recognition when he pledged to protect the demonstrators in Change Square. His announcement also led other officers supporting the opposition as well. Al-Ahmar is one of ten brothers who inherited leadership of the Hashid tribe in 2007 after the death of their father, Sheikh Abdullah, who founded Yemen’s largest opposition party known as the religious conservative Islah. Sheikh Abdullah was Saudi Arabia’s main ally in Yemen and his sons (the Ahmar brothers) maintain strong ties with the country. Although Ali Mohsen and the Ahmar clan gained prospective influence to lead if president Saleh stepped down, both men and backgrounds are looked upon with much suspicion. Islah has been accused of controlling the youth movements, as the founder of the Union of Movement for Independent Youth stated, “They think they can buy this revolution. We don’t trust them.” President Saleh in hopes to maintain power, has raised army and civil servant salaries, ordered income taxes to be halted, told ministers to control prices, and denied plans of both running for president and installing his son to rule.

These conflicting powers, besides the pro-democratic protesters, destroyed the potential for a nonviolent revolution to succeed and instead created one of civil war. Before such desire to dominate Yemen’s land, the oppressed pro-democratic citizens of Yemen began the early phases of the revolution with great strategic methods. Hubs of such action and protest primarily existed within Sana’a, Yemen’s capital; Aden; and Taiz. Such techniques used were ones recently seen in Egypt’s and Tunsinia’ revolutions that drew inspiration from Gene Sharp. There were of course the technique of protests such as on February 18, where tens of thousands of protesters marched towards the presidential palace chanting slogans despite riot police attempting to stop them; and February 25, known as the “Day of Rage” whereas many as 180,000 people marched the streets across the country, especially in Sana’a with approximately 30,000 protesters in front of Sana’a University.

Symbolic methods were used when 15,000 students and activists wearing pink ties on their heads formed a human wall at Sana’a University. According to Rudhwan Masude, who is head of the student union at Sana’a University, the color pink was chosen to represent the Jasmine revolution and to show that they didn’t want violence. “We didn’t give [the security] a chance to find fault in our demonstration or attack us like they did last time.” Other symbolic messages made were on April 1 where tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters converged on Change Square in Sana’a and hung up posters of young men recently killed in demonstrations, and on May 6 known as the “Friday of Gratitude to the South,” where hundreds of thousands of protesters in the western part of Sana’a released balloons in pan-Arab colors with slogans calling for president Saleh to step down painted on them.

Human and material obstruction techniques were used such as on February 19 in southern Yemen where dozens of men used their cars in the town of Karish to block the main road between Taiz and Aden, shouting for the “fall of the regime;” April 6, when thousands of people again took the streets and in Kharmaskar, Aden where hundreds of students set up road blocks demanding the release of people detained earlier in the day and calling for officials to be tried for massacres against protesters in Sana’a and Taiz. Lastly, there was May 13 when thousands of protesters moved from their sit-in epicenter in Crates District to Seara in downtown Aden to surround the Provincial offices of civil service, social affairs and the local council. The crowds put heavy chains around the offices and replaced the original locks at the offices’ main gates. The police force kept aside as the protesters peacefully returned to their sit-ins after shutting down the governmental buildings.

Sit-ins similar to what is called “dharna” in the Indian Freedom Struggle occurred as well when 400 protesters staged a peaceful sit-in holding banners saying: “No to oppression. No to corruption,” on February 19. Remarkably as sit-ins increased a tent camp was formed that spread two miles long on May 13 without any reports of trouble or injuries. While protests remained students started sit-ins at Sana’a University. Tents were set up in front of the gates while thousands of people also staged sit-ins in cities of Ibb and Taiz on February 20. On the same day tribal representatives came from Arhab, Nahm, Anis, Shabwah, and Abyan to support the peace protests and sit-ins while engaging in traditional Yemeni dances with the students.

Such sit-ins led to the conversion of some people such as indigenous-tribal communities. Febrauary 20 wasn’t the only time tribal forces joined peaceful marches and sit-ins, the population of Al-Baida who are mostly armed tribesmen left their weapons behind to join pro-democracy protests. Al-Baida governorate, which is almost 300 km. south of Yemen’s capital, is a region where weapons are sold routinely in public markets. Ahmed Aramaan, a lawyer and activist at the National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedom (HOOD) stated, “ I saw tribesmen handing in their guns and kalashnikovs to security committees around the square and entering the protests without weapons.” According to Dr. Mohamed Al-Qadi, a political analyst, “This is a huge shift for a Yemeni tribesman to leave his arms and demands his rights peacefully, even if hurt.” Al-Qadi said that this has occurred not only in Al-Baida, but across a majority of tribesman nationwide as well. “Because they have suffered a lot from injustice, corruption and inflammatory wars among the tribes, they have resorted to peaceful means,” he said. Conversions like of the indigenous tribal men is not unheard of. This has been proven before with the Spartan raised Pathans led by Abdul Ghaffar Khan against the British , and a large portion of those in India who used nonviolent action against the British who didn’t actually believe in the moral rationale for it. Other conversions took place with soldiers such as on March 8 with army troops joining protestors on a day when one million people staged a protest in southern Yemen and across other cities like Sana’a; and on April 13 when approximately 10,000 soldiers from the republican guard defected and joined Ali Mohsen’s command.

Although strategies of nonviolent action played their role in a significant way, a peaceful transition of power turned into mayhem. On the day after president Saleh refused to sign the transition agreement, Sheikh Sadiq al-Almar declared support for the opposition with his armed soldiers who clashed with the loyalist security forces. Heavy street fighting occurred which included artillery and mortar shelling in which 120 people were killed. Along with the battle of Zinjibar, Yemen’s condition appeared to be one of civil war and by June 1 the death toll from street fighting in Sana’a alone had recorded 200. Attacks from either side went on from May 23 to June 7 with a final attack to the presidential palace injuring president Saleh, forcing him to leave to Saudi Arabia for treatment. Protesters in Sana’a celebrated the following news of the presidents departure. They chanted, “This is it, the regime has fallen.”

Third party influences have no doubt hijacked the revolution and although such military used by the Hashid Federation prevailed in forcing the departure of president Saleh. We have to ask ourselves what winning really means and what a true revolution would look like. The bullet of a gun does not differentiate between certain peoples, but the inner workings of the mind can. We must realize that when we hurt others, we hurt ourselves. A simple though powerful teaching can slowly disintegrate the cycle of violence from perpetuating itself. The youth of the Yemeni people adopting nonviolent strategies is the first step for revolution, but the real victory the Yemeni people and the rest of the world needs is to recognize a companionship amongst all to move forward for real change of human rights. Such a victory can be summed up in the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “One day we shall win our freedom, but not only for ourselves. We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.”

Footnotes:

^[1] Finn, Tom. “Yemenis Take to the Streets Calling for President Saleh to Step Down | World News | The Guardian.”Guardian.co.uk. 27 Jan. 2001. Web.

<Http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/jan/27/yemen-protests-president-saleh>.

^[1] Ahmed, Amel. “Yemeni Youth are Guarding the Revolution” Nonviolent Conflict. 11 June 2001. Web. <Http://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/index.php/news-and-media/featured-news-stories/1653-yemeni-youth-are-guarding-the-revolution >.

^[1] See footnote 2.

^[1] “BBC News – Yemen Protests: Five Killed at Anti-government Rallies.” BBC – Homepage. 18 Feb. 2011. Web. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12507889>.

^[1] Sweetland, Haley“Yemen Protests: Yemen Protests Swell as 180,000 March Across Nation.” The Balitmore Sun. 25 Feb. 2011.

^[1] “Yemen Rivals Exchange Gunfire – Middle East – Al Jazeera English.” AJE – Al Jazeera English. 19 Feb 2001. Web. <http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/20112191142955892386.html>.

^[1] “Gulf States to Usher in Yemen Transition – Middle East – Al Jazeera English.” AJE – Al Jazeera English. 7 Apr. 2011. Web. <http://www.english/aljazeera.net/video/middleeast/2011/04/201146173025215266.html>.

^[1] “Protesters Close Government Offices by Force in South Yemen: Official.” Xinhuanet.english. 15 May 2011. Web. <http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/15/c_13875097.htm>.

^[1] see footnote 6

^[1] “Tribes Adopt Values of Non-violent Resistence. From Kalashnikov to Ghandi.” Yemen Rights Watch Monitor. 18 Apr. 2011. Web.

^[1] Easwaran, Eknath. Nonviolent Soldier of Islam: Badshah Khan, A Man to Match His Mountains. Tomales, Ca: Nilgiri, 2002. Print.

^[1] Sharp, Gene. “ The Power and Potential of Nonviolent Struggle.” National Conference on Nonviolent Sanctions in  Conflict and Defense. Royal Sonesta Hotel, Cambridge, MA. 8-11 Feb 1990. Lecture.

^[1] “10,000 Yemeni Forces Defect from Government, Join Protesters: Official.” Ministry of National Defense of the People’s Republic of China. 14 Apr. 2001. Web. <http://eng.mod.gov.cn/IntlMilitary/2011-04/14/content_4237113.htm>.

^[1] “PressTV – Yemen Clashes Death Toll Rises to 40.” Press TV. 26 May 2011. Web. <http://www.presstv.ir/detail/181796.html>.

^[1] Black, Ian. “Yemen Crisis Deepend as Dozens Are Killed in Street Battles | World News | The Guardian.” Guardian.co.uk. 1 June 2011. Web. <

^[1] “Wounded Yemeni President in Saudi Arabia – Middle East – Al Jazeera.” AJE – Al Jazeera English. 5 June 2011. Web. <http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/06/201164164346765100.html>.

by Metta volunteer Soveig Pedersen
July 12, 2011

Honduras is a relatively small country located in Central America, sharing borders with Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. Honduras is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, and it has one of the highest murder rates in the world, according to BBC News.

The current situation in Honduras is most impacted by the June 2009 coup d’etat, which ousted former President Manuel Zelaya. Zelaya was forced into political exile and has been living in the Dominican Republic with his family. Immediately following the coup, an interim president, Roberto Micheletti was appointed. Honduras was removed at that time from the Organization of American States (OAS). In November 2009, elections were held in Honduras and Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo was elected president. Many view the elections as fraudulent, and accuse the regime of human rights abuses. In fact, the Comite de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras, in 2010, documented 34 targeted assassinations of Frente activists (and three more so far in 2011), 34 killings of peasant activists, 10 murders of journalists, and 31 murders of LGBT community. These numbers are thought by many to be conservative figures. Comparatively, in 2010 Human Rights Watch documented 18 killings of journalists, opponents of the coup, and human rights activists. Human Rights Watch posits that many of the murders were associated with the political views of the victims.

In May 2011, the Cartagena Accord was signed by the Colombian, Venezuelan and Honduran governments. Zelaya signed the accord, as well, and was allowed to return to Honduras. Honduran courts dropped the charges and arrest warrant against Zelaya. Along with his return, the accord committed the Honduran regime to ensure protection of human rights, and grant plebiscites around matters (political, economic, and constitutional), to recognize the moves made by the Frente Nacional de la Resistencia Popular, or National Front of Popular Resistance, (FNRP or Resistance) to transform into a political party. On June 1, 2011, the OAS re-admitted Honduras, and Canada and the U.S. perceive re-entry into the OAS as a legitimization of the administration and elections in Honduras.

Some see the accord as a positive step towards democracy, and some see it as an attempt to confuse and slow the Resistance. There are concerns that although many of the agreements are already in place, the regime will not uphold them. The Resistance recently gathered and decided to form a political party for election in 2013.

In July 2011, the Honduran Truth and Reconciliation Commission, led by former Guatemalan Vice-President Eduardo Stein, concluded the removal of Zelaya was a coup, and illegal in nature. The coup was prompted by Zelaya’s decision to continue with a referendum on constitutional change, which would have potentially extended presidential term limits, and was not supported by the Supreme Court. The Commission determined the Honduran Congress did not have a clear procedure for addressing the power conflicts occurring within the country.
The Resistance seems to be operating in using nonviolent strategies. Also, the fact that Zelaya agreed to sign the accord and return to the country seems to indicate his desire to move forward in positive, nonviolent directions within the country. His choice not to de-humanize the current president and to return to work with the Resistance seems to be a positive, nonviolent step. If the Commission is viewed as an impartial third party analyzing the political situation within Honduras, it is also nonviolent in nature, seeking the truth of the situation.

Of major concern is whether the Cartagena Accord will indeed provide the human rights protections it claims. It seems that the Honduran government has tried to quell dissent by targeting Resistance activists. Some reports note repression continuing, with laws being expanded to allow police to hold people without charge from 24-48 hours, and to allow police to forcefully enter people’s houses without cause.

Links:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-14072148

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13559359

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/3109-from-cartagena-to-tegucigalpa-imperialism-and-the-future-of-the-honduran-resistance

http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/protest-at-palmerola-air-base.html

http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/wikileaks-cables-honduras-coup.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/23/ousted-manuel-zelaya-return-honduras

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/honduras/index.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-14072148

June 11th, 2011

CALLING ON CONGRESS TO ADOPT NEW PRIORITIES TO CREATE JOBS, MEET DOMESTIC NEEDS,
AND PUT THE NATION ON COURSE TO A MORE JUST, EQUITABLE AND SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

WHEREAS, the economic crisis we are experiencing is the worst in eighty years and has had a disproportionate impact on working and poor people; and

WHEREAS more than fifty million Americans lack health care; home values have plummeted forcing millions into foreclosure and bankruptcy; 43.6 million Americans now live in poverty – the most poor Americans in the 51 years that records have been kept; thousands of teachers, fire fighters, police and other dedicated public workers have lost their jobs; real unemployment and underemployment together are in excess of 15% and in some communities of color, over 50%; class size increases as educational resources are slashed; social services and public programs are being cut or eliminated; parks and libraries are being closed; public infrastructure continues to deteriorate yet goes unrepaired; and

WHEREAS, the burden of these conditions is borne overwhelmingly by working and middle class Americans whose standard of living has declined as a small wealthy elite has enriched itself at the expense of the majority, producing a nation that is growing far more unequal, with the top 0.1% (those earning $2 million per year or more) enjoying a 94% increase in income between 2002 and 2007 and the wealthiest 1% claiming one-quarter of all income and 40% of all wealth, with six times the financial assets of the bottom 80% of all households, and the 400 richest Americans holding combined net worth of $1.37 trillion, or an average of $3.425 billion each; and

WHEREAS, the crisis in the U.S. can be directly traced to (1) $3.8 trillion in tax cuts given over ten years by the Bush administration and Congress to investors, large corporations and the wealthiest households; tax loopholes that allow the rich and many corporations to avoid paying taxes, with some like GE and Bank of America paying none at all; (2) deregulation of the financial system that allowed greedy reckless banks, hedge funds, stockbrokers and investors to take irresponsible risks that produced an economic catastrophe; (3) bailouts to Wall St. and giant corporations paid for by taxpayers to the tune of trillions of dollars; (4) run-away military spending that supports a bloated Pentagon bureaucracy and profiteering military contractors, developing and stockpiling what Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz described as “weapons that don’t work against enemies that don’t exist”; and (5) the cost of illegal wars that Professor Stiglitz calculates have cost us $3 to $5 trillion when costs of replacing equipment, paying interest on war debts, medical care for returning veterans and other residual costs are included; and

WHEREAS, the people of the United States this year alone will pay approximately $172 billion dollars to wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan and hundreds of millions more for military actions in Libya – all three without a declaration of war from the Congress; and will devote over one trillion dollars to its national security budget (a 60% increase to the Pentagon since 2001), including a $180 billion ten-year commitment to “modernize” our nuclear arsenal which are useless against terrorists; and

WHEREAS, more than 6,000 members of the US armed forces have died in these wars, hundreds of thousands more have been wounded, suffer from PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury, mental health problems or addiction; and hundreds of thousands of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan have been killed, maimed, and wounded, while millions more have been turned into refugees; and

WHEREAS, both countries are rife with corruption, and in Afghanistan in particular, the Karzai regime is packed with war lords, drug lords, and other criminal elements who profit handsomely from continuation of hostilities; and

WHEREAS, Osama bin Laden is dead and according to the CIA there are fewer than one hundred al Qaeda remaining in Afghanistan, and it is now quite clear that we don’t need to commit 100,000 troops to chase down, apprehend or eliminate terrorists, and that established criminal investigative methods, diplomacy, multi-lateral intelligence collaboration, economic development to address poverty, and other non-military means can more effectively and efficiently achieve these ends; and

WHEREAS, the severity of the economic crisis has created budget shortfalls at all levels of government that call for a re-examination of the allocation of resources and national spending priorities;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the NJ State Industrial Union Council supports efforts to bring these wars to a speedy end, starting with the withdrawal of all U.S. military and private security personnel and closing of U.S. bases in Iraq by year’s end, as called for in the Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi government, and a significant drawdown of military personnel from Afghanistan this year, setting a firm end date for total withdrawal immediately; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NJ State Industrial Union Council calls on the U.S. Congress to bring these war dollars home and to make a substantial reduction in overall military spending, instead using those resources to meet vital human needs, promote job creation, rebuild our infrastructure, aid municipal, county and state governments, and develop a new economy based upon renewable, sustainable energy and technologies; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NJ Industrial Union Council calls on the U.S. Congress to radically reform the tax code so that the burden of taxation is fully progressive, removing loopholes and preventing schemes by which the rich and multinational corporations avoid and evade taxes, so that the tax rate on millionaires and billionaires is raised at least to the level in effect when Ronald Reagan took office or double the present top rate of 35%, and so that corporations no longer are able to avoid paying taxes by shifting revenues to foreign subsidiaries or to tax havens like the Cayman Islands or Switzerland where they are able to evade U.S. taxes; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the NJ State Industrial Union Council shall communicate this resolution to its members and actively seek to inform and educate them about these issues to more effectively mobilize them to hold elected officials accountable to fulfill the intent of this resolution – to create a more just, equitable and sustainable economy in a world in which moral leadership is more important than military might and security is defined by the welfare of our people, not just the size of our military budget; and shall communicate this resolution to its parent organization and intermediate bodies and request that they take similar action.

NJ Labor Against War, June 10, 2011

Mainstream commentators have regularly listed negative reasons for the uprisings sweeping the Arab world now and even coined the term “refolution” to indicate its origin in popular refusal to continue putting up with oppression and poverty.  This is similar to many analyses of the Civil Rights movement that focused on “negro” discontent reaching a climax and the bad odor of racism during World War II. What these mainstream analyses leave out are the equally positive factors: the spectacular demonstration by Gandhi of what people can achieve when they cast aside fear and get a sense of their own power, and the worldwide increase in nonviolence consciousness, admittedly a difficult thing to document or even perceive.  Yet beginning with Jonathan Schell’s The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People (Jul 7, 2004) and coming down to the volume edited by Maria Stephan, Civilian Jihad: Nonviolent Struggle, Democratization, and Governance in the Middle East, part of the new Palgrave Macmillian Series on Civil Resistance there is the beginning of recognition that “something is happening, but we don’t exactly know what it is” (to paraphrase Bob Dylan). This may be the first time a series has been dedicated to what we believe is an evolutionary emergence of “people power,” the emphasis on ‘civilian,’ who’s doing it, is not as accurate as what the people are doing, namely nonviolence, at least where it’s most successful.