I long ago figured out I’m not one of the UU cool kids. Here’s one example of what I mean:
My local UU congregation is participating in a week-long nationwide peacemaking campaign from September 21-18, sponsored by Campaign Nonviolence, a “new movement to mainstream active nonviolence and to foster a world free from war, poverty and the climate crisis.” Beginning on Sunday, Campaign Nonviolence will have events in all fifty U.S. states; they are one of the sponsoring organizations of the People’s Climate March, a nonviolent action taking place in New York City.
In Silicon Valley alone, our local organization Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice is organizing a forum on poverty and structural violence, a youth workshop exploring conscientious objection, a film on climate refugees, a class on ecojustice and peacemaking (which I’m leading), participation in the Northern California People’s Climate Rally, a forum on gun safety with representatives from police and religion, a talk by the mayor of Sunnyvale on the city’s new gun control law, a nonviolent action against Lockheed Martin, and more.
But if you search the Web sites of the UUA or UU World, you will find no reference to Campaign Nonviolence. Because, you see, all the cool kids in the UU world are going to the People’s Climate March. I’m all about reversing global climate change, and environmental justice work more generally. I just wish Unitarian Universalism had a broader vision of social justice work.
Well said. This is one time that mainstream media — The Weather Channel — has stunned me with its involvement, and lots of talk about Climate Justice. That’s a key theme for our marchers, based on what I’ve heard around church and seen on the congregational Facebook page. But thank you for drawing my attention to the nonviolence aspect. It is important enough that I will link to this on my FB page and blog. Thank you.
UU has an extremely broad vision of social work- but wastes all it’s efforts reinventing the lightbulb. The “cool kids” you mention? they aren’t cool, they’re practical… Campaign Nonviolence is a waste of time, for the very reason you mention; you can’t even find it in a search, much less see any impact on the public. Social justice is like any other endeavor… a hundred people with a dollar each are a hundred poor people; one person with a hundred dollars can make a change; a hundred different marches of one person each are merely pedestrians; a single march of a hundred people is the evening news lead. The “cool kids” know this, and are making a difference; insisting on a separate UU; those organizing Campaign Nonviolence are weakening the chances of change just so it can be UU led.
No, Campaign Nonviolence isn’t UU led. It’s an interfaith and multi-issue campaign. We (UU Church of Palo Alto) got involved in it because of our longtime involvement with Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice; a dozen congregations of varying faiths and denominations are part of it locally. Nationwide, it’s the brainchild of Pace e Bene, which is Roman Catholic in origin and nondenominational in practice.
I have no complaints about the People’s Climate March getting some attention, though. It’s about damn time.
Whatevs. I work for reducing climate change via the renewable energy field and a few policies. But the Climate March leaves me unstirred. Not a bad thing to do but the way people talk about it, you’d think it was a direct action.
Get over yourselves, bumpersticker activists. Enjoy your NYC vacation. Go join your town’s energy committee.