Published by Veterans For Peace (
http://bit.ly/1gN4hj7)
When I saw this day on the U.N. calendar, I said to myself, “No Justice, No Peace!” These words are probably the chant I have been saying the longest as an activist. It is my favorite protest chant and the one which holds the most meaning for me. I believe justice is essential to building peaceful communities and around the world.
Justice helps promote economic growth and prosperity. Individuals who are not being treated fairly will not have the skills or motivation to fully contribute to the welfare of their community. It is talent, opportunity and lives lost.
Eventually someone will say, “No more,” and resist. They may use violent or nonviolent means to end the wrongs they endure. It may be subtle, like a slowdown in work; or it may be audacious like a rebellion. But by whatever means, there will be resistance. The human spirit cries out for justice and cannot be long denied without forcing counter action, to push back on injustice.
United Nations Secretary - General Ban Ki-moon got it right in his
World Day of Social Justice message when he wrote, “Circumstances such as where a person is born, where they live or their gender and ethnicity should never determine their income or their opportunities for quality education, basic healthcare, decent work, adequate shelter, access to drinking water, political participation or living free from threatened, or actual, physical violence.”
As peacemakers, we must also be justice seekers. We cannot ask our communities to seek peace abroad when they face the chaos of poverty, street and domestic violence and few if any uplifting economic and social opportunities. Communities cannot be asked to address problems thousands of miles away when they face police brutality and deprivation of resources right here at home. And we must be clear in our own minds that we will not achieve our goals as peacemakers without these communities. The World Day of Social – and I add economic – Justice should remind us that peace activists must act as a bridge between foreign and domestic policy. We must help people see these policies intertwine to create devastation here at home and the dropping of bombs and killing of the “enemy” around the world.
“No Justice, No Peace!” is a short and simple phrase that holds a large and complex truth. We must remember this truth as we organize and join with others in the struggle. For the struggle is really for peace and justice, not one or the other. Let us engage with this in mind in all facets of the work we do.
Published by Veterans For Peace (http://bit.ly/1gN4hj7)
When I saw this day on the U.N. calendar, I said to myself, “No Justice, No Peace!” These words are probably the chant I have been saying the longest as an activist. It is my favorite protest chant and the one which holds the most meaning for me. I believe justice is essential to building peaceful communities and around the world.
Justice helps promote economic growth and prosperity. Individuals who are not being treated fairly will not have the skills or motivation to fully contribute to the welfare of their community. It is talent, opportunity and lives lost.
Eventually someone will say, “No more,” and resist. They may use violent or nonviolent means to end the wrongs they endure. It may be subtle, like a slowdown in work; or it may be audacious like a rebellion. But by whatever means, there will be resistance. The human spirit cries out for justice and cannot be long denied without forcing counter action, to push back on injustice.
United Nations Secretary - General Ban Ki-moon got it right in his World Day of Social Justice message when he wrote, “Circumstances such as where a person is born, where they live or their gender and ethnicity should never determine their income or their opportunities for quality education, basic healthcare, decent work, adequate shelter, access to drinking water, political participation or living free from threatened, or actual, physical violence.”
As peacemakers, we must also be justice seekers. We cannot ask our communities to seek peace abroad when they face the chaos of poverty, street and domestic violence and few if any uplifting economic and social opportunities. Communities cannot be asked to address problems thousands of miles away when they face police brutality and deprivation of resources right here at home. And we must be clear in our own minds that we will not achieve our goals as peacemakers without these communities. The World Day of Social – and I add economic – Justice should remind us that peace activists must act as a bridge between foreign and domestic policy. We must help people see these policies intertwine to create devastation here at home and the dropping of bombs and killing of the “enemy” around the world.
“No Justice, No Peace!” is a short and simple phrase that holds a large and complex truth. We must remember this truth as we organize and join with others in the struggle. For the struggle is really for peace and justice, not one or the other. Let us engage with this in mind in all facets of the work we do.
