Pax Christi Minnesota

Reflection on the peaceful protest at the 2008 Republican Convention
By Steve Clemens

Sunday August 31, 2008 saw the first arrests of peaceful protestors at the Republican National Convention held in St. Paul, MN. As plans began to be announced for scheduled protest marches and rallies against the on-going war on Iraq and “against the Republican agenda”, a few of us in the local peace community in the Twin Cities grew uncomfortable with the style and tenor of some of the protests.
 
Although we are as strongly apposed to the war as many other groups, some of us wished to have a more reflective and solemn protest against the loss of life and physical and psychological destruction of both soldiers and civilians this war has wrought. This war had been supported by both major political parties and is not just a “Republican” issue.

Read the rest of this entry »

Personal Statement on Why I Risk Arrest at the Republican National Convention
by Steve Clemens, August 31, 2008

This immoral and illegal war against the peoples of Iraq must stop now!

I am required by the Nuremberg Principles to not be complicit with this war of aggression that the UN Charter calls a grave war crime.

I have written and called my Members of Congress as well as the President. I have sat in my Senators’ offices. I have marched and demonstrated in countless nonviolent vigils and demonstrations against this war and the illegal weapons (cluster bombs and depleted uranium munitions) used against the people of Iraq. I have protested the sanctioned use of torture and other violations of human rights under the guise of prosecuting a “War on Terror” – while, ironically terrorizing others!  I have written Letters to the Editor. When I heard that President Bush planned to address the Republican National Convention in my home state, I felt I needed to nonviolently confront the President himself since this War and Occupation continues. (On an attachment you will find the letter I hope to deliver.)

If I am arrested for nonviolently attempting to deliver this letter and the International Law documents I carry to the President, I will choose to refuse to pay bail to seek my release. To charge someone for their right to nonviolently voice their opposition to criminal activity is a tax against my conscience. I will refuse to pay bail to a government that seeks to protect this War Criminal.

I march and protest today in solidarity with the civilians of Iraq and the millions of refugees who have had to endure this violent attack and occupation of their homeland. I ask my fellow U.S citizens to rise up nonviolently and refuse to allow this war to continue.

I try to faithfully follow the example and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth who calls me to “Love my enemies” and “Love my neighbor as myself”. I call all those who claim to follow the life and witness of Jesus to find creative ways to stop this war and work to heal its many wounds.

Steve Clemens is a member of the Community of St. Martin, an ecumenical faith community in Minneapolis committed to nonviolence, social justice, and inclusiveness. He also serves on the boards of Pax Christi Twin Cities and The Iraqi/American Reconciliation Project.

Hire Your Own Cop!
By Steve Clemens. June 2008

For the past twelve years, AlliantACTION has vigiled in front of Alliant Techsystems, Minnesota’s largest arms merchant. After being spun off from Honeywell who grew tired of the protests from the Honeywell Project, Alliant Techsystems, or ATK as it is known by their company logo and in the stock market, first located in an old Honeywell facility in Hopkins, MN. The weekly vigil by local activists started in 1996, focusing on ATK’s manufacture and sale of anti-personnel landmines. After a significant victory in court in 1997 when 79 people were acquitted of trespassing charges under a defense claiming International Law, the Wednesday morning vigil continued to grow in size.

Read the rest of this entry »

Reintroducing JFK: Seeing Our Slain President Through a New Lens
by Steve Clemens

Review of James W. Douglass, JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. 2008)

I had just turned 13 the month before the startling news was broadcast into my 8th grade classroom: President John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas and had been rushed to the hospital. It was followed by the bulletin that the President was dead. Lorenzo, my fellow classmate, an Italian Catholic, burst into tears. I sat quietly thinking: at least we got that Papist out of the White House! The anti-Catholic indoctrination I received from my church and parents never allowed me to see JFK as a person, only a symbol of a false religion to reject. Oh, and he was a Democrat as well!

Read the rest of this entry »

Thoughts from Tim Haskamp…

Thomas Merton, in his book Peace in the Post-Christian Era, speaks of the crisis of the spirit and the “moral upheaval of the human race that has lost its religious and cultural roots.” In our desire to destroy evil, we search for a simple solution and suddenly become that which we are trying to destroy. We lose sight of truth and our deep moral obligation for life. We alienate ourselves from truth and the “springs of spiritual life and God.” It is our fear that causes us to lose perspective.

It is our faith that must encourage us not to become what we are hoping to destroy.