Palo Alto Faith Communities Join 'Campaign Nonviolence' Week

By Rev. Diana Gibson

Notice those “Campaign Nonviolence” banners around Palo Alto?

They will start popping up now in front of local congregations participating in a national “Week of Nonviolent Action” from September 20-28, with vigils, adult forums, speakers, films and even a peace picnic, all part of a effort to build a culture of peace.

Campaign Nonviolence is a national movement that connects the dots between war and violence, poverty and oppression, climate change and environmental destruction, and insists that another world is possible, a world of peace, justice and ecological healing.

The local activities begin with a candlelight vigil at Lytton Plaza in downtown Palo Alto on Saturday, Sept. 20, 6:30pm, the eve of the United Nation’s International Day of Peace.

On Sunday, Campaign Nonviolence is partnering with the People’s Climate March in New York and Oakland.

Throughout the week there are opportunities to learn about eco-justice, avoiding needless wars, local gun safety issues, nonviolence in Afghanistan, and “climate refugees.” Faith-based classes include titles such as “Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope,” “Nonviolence and Jewish Sacred Texts” and “Poverty and Structural Violence.”

(Tuesday, Sept. 23 - “Avoiding Needless Wars” -Lecture by Stanford Professor Emeritus Dr. Martin Hellman, 7pm, Los Altos Library. Click here for flyer.)

A screening of the documentary “John Brown’s Body at San Quentin Prison” features a discussion with the director and some of the former inmates who appear in the film.

A youth workshop focuses on conscientious objection, and a kid’s class shows how eco-justice “is all about fairness.”

The annual Harvest Festival (raising funds for a Quaker-based peace and justice lobbying organization) includes a “Veggie Beauty Contest.”

The peace picnic at the end of the week features activist Kathy Kelly, just back from the summer in Afghanistan, where she lived and worked with the Afghan Peace Volunteers.

Peninsula events are hosted by over a dozen local congregations and organizations, and coordinated through Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice. San Jose and San Francisco groups are also participating.

Each event is free and open to everyone.

For more information see www.multifaithpeace.org.