Civil Disobedience

Bryan Farrell 8-08-2011

Environmental activist Tim DeChristopher was sentenced recently to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine for disrupting a federal oil and gas lease auction in 2008 that was later deemed illegal. But don't cry for him. Having met the man, I can confidently say the last thing he wants is pity.

At a speaking engagement earlier this year, someone asked Tim how we could keep him from going to prison. He quickly responded, "I'm not sure keeping me out of prison is a good thing. I'd rather think about having you join me." After all, he didn't do it for himself.

'The sun' photo (c) 2007, John - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/An account in The New York Times by Ethan Bronner reports that Israeli women and West Bank Palestinian women and girls have once again broken Israeli laws. They have gone swimming in the Mediterranean Sea.

More than two dozen Israeli women invited Palestinian women and girls from the southern part of the West Bank of the Jordan River -- who are not normally allowed into Israel and have no access to the sea -- to go swimming with them. Under Israeli military occupation since 1967, according to Bronner, "most had never seen the sea before."

Rose Marie Berger 7-25-2011

I'm getting arrested on Aug. 29 at the White House. It's time to put my body where my soul is -- defending God's creation.

A interreligious contingent has chosen Aug. 29 as our arrest day. Jews, Muslims, Christians, and others will train together on Aug. 28 and then worship and risk arrest together on Aug. 29.

This is part of a two-week campaign (Aug. 20-Sept. 3) in which leading environmentalists including Wendell Berry, Naomi Klein, and Bill McKibben will join a peaceful campaign of civil disobedience to block the approval of a dirty oil pipeline that will cross the United States. As one Canadian wrote, "This [pipeline] will make the Great Wall of China look like Tom Sawyer's picket fence." Bill McKibben explained further in an earlier blog on God's Politics:

Claire Lorentzen 5-06-2011

At Sojourners, we have always been advocates of principled nonviolence. But all too often, conventional wisdom has seen nonviolence as passivity, even in the face of injustice.

Jake Olzen 4-12-2011

The immigrant rights movement is getting extreme. In the past two years, in addition to some of the largest mass gatherings in the country, undocumented students and their allies have shifted their protest from street marches to civil disobedience.

Becky Garrison 10-18-2010

Nicholas Kristof dubbed the film Budrus, "this year's must-see documentary," noting that the fil

Johnathan Smith 9-03-2010

Last weekend, the nation had an opportunity to reflect, commemorate, and celebrate the March on Washington and Dr.

Randall Amster 8-16-2010
The clock nudged toward midnight on a cool Arizona summer evening.
Nathan Schneider 7-28-2010

It's out: An enormous trove of documents about the war in Afghanistan yesterday appeared on Wikileaks (whose servers currently seem to be overwhelmed by the traffic) together with comprehensive report

Will Travers 7-22-2010

Since the recent passage of Arizona Senate Bill 1070, scheduled to go into effect on July 29, those of us working for social justice in the United States have a rare opportunity to register a particularly effective form of protest.

Rev. Gary Wiley 7-20-2010
My name is Rev. Gary Wiley, pastor of justice and care at Trinity Grace Church in New York City. I am an evangelical Christian.
Becky Garrison 6-04-2010
In my research into how to build grassroots ministries that are sustainable and Christ-centered for my books, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0310292891?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwbeckygarri-20&a
Jamie Johnson 5-24-2010

On May 17, the anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision, four college students challenged the nation when they sat down in an act of civil disobedience outside Senator John McCain's office in Tuscon.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and 34 other immigration rights advocates were arrested during a demonstration at the White House on Saturday.
Rose Marie Berger 4-12-2010
In any in-depth conversation about the effectiveness of nonviolence as a strategy, this question always comes up: Would these nonviolent strategies have worked against the Nazis?
I got locked up once when I was in seminary.
Ben White 9-24-2009

Earlier this year, I was shown around Jayyous by Mohammad Othman, Youth Coordinator of the Stop the Wall campaign, a nonviolent grassroots movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Jarrod McKenna 8-07-2009
"You need to realize that war is money. And money makes the world go round.