Ryan Rodrick Beiler

In most American "community watch" groups, residents report suspicious activity to the authorities.

Protesting campaign finance corruption and the "dumb or dumber" choices of many current elections, activist filmmaker Michael Moore is asking Americans to vote for potted plants...

'The solution will come from the community.'

After a year of encampments that successfully halted bombing exercises by the U.S.

Finding himself in agreement with the American Civil Liberties Union and at odds with Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson said "a moratorium [on executions] would indeed be very appropriate..."

A Baltimore County judge exceeded sentencing guidelines and gave Philip Berrigan, 30 months in prison for damaging an A-10 Warthog aircraft, such as those used to fire depleted uranium ammunition in Iraq and Kosovo. 

Ariel, the son-in-law of the Guatemalan couple that hosted me when I traveled to Central America in 1997, spoke nostalgically of his days in the student movement—even though it had gotten him roughed up and shot at by security forces. He left such dangers behind when commitments to wife, children, and church became his highest priorities.

Though most U.S. activists risk far less than Ariel, often the same kinds of commitments push justice work to the back burner—or off the stove entirely. These commitments don't excuse "grown-ups" from doing activism, but awareness of them points out the importance of encouraging the radical impulses of those who often are without such pressing responsibilities—such as, for example, students.

Compared to Ariel's risks, getting arrested for protesting the U.S. Army's School of the Americas (SOA) in Georgia—the school that trains the soldiers who've caused so much suffering in Latin America—was the very least I could do. Last November, students from more than 232 colleges and universities made the same choice and did civil disobedience to protest the School of the Americas. Interrupting my "busy" academic schedule for such events was not only possible but, in the big picture, an even higher priority than classes.

SOA Watch and other emerging student movements are impressive for their "love thy neighbor" attitude. Many of the most popular causes—sweatshop labor, a living wage, and freeing Tibet—defend the rights of others. And though passions may wane after graduation, youthful idealism can grow into life-long commitment to justice.

Two Guatemalan military officers have been arrested and charged with the April 1998 murder of Catholic bishop and human rights advocate Juan Jose Gerardi.

The U.S. prison population passed the two million mark in February, provoking vigils and protests in more than 40 U.S. cities.