Priests chain themselves to NZ National Party Deputy’s office. God bless these troublesome priests.
The second I heard today that my friend Father Gerard Burns was part of a direct action protest outside the electorate office of the deputy leader of the governing National Party I rushed over there to say, ‘Well done.’ Some of the priests chained themselves to the door of Nicola Willis’ office in Wellington, others prayed, spoke to passersby or quietly made their presence felt with cardboard placards, “Sanctions Speak Louder Than Words”, “Sanction Israel Now”, “Love demands action”.
A couple of days earlier I had seen the amazing Medea Benjamin, a leader of the US antiwar group Code Pink, arrested (yet again) in the US congress buildings, this time for peacefully challenging congressman Darrell Issa about his silence over the Israeli attack on Qatar. In themselves, these are small stories but they are knitting together in a global struggle that will define our generation.
Citizen direct action is having an impact. In Spain this week La Vuelta, one of cycling's three prestigious Grand Tours (the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia being the other two) was abandoned in its final stage because people would not tolerate the shameful presence of an Israeli cycling team and brought it to a magnificent, shambolic close. Watch this space for Eurovision and other cultural and sporting organisations that have for too long cuddled genocidal Israel.
Last week Elbit Systems, the Israeli arms manufacturer repeatedly targeted by Palestine Action, shuttered its Bristol UK drone factory; a small victory in a long war against the Israeli war machine.
All over the world more and more people are taking direct action, stepping in because of the criminal failure of governments to fulfil their legal obligations under the Genocide Convention to “prevent and punish the crime of genocide”.
As Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories, said this week, in farewelling the humanitarian flotilla departing Tunisia for Gaza: “Today you are either for or against the genocide.” You can tell which side people were on by whether or not they had personally taken action “and we need many more, many more people to stand against the genocide,” Albanese said. The Global Sumud Flotilla has activists from over 40 countries on board, bringing aid to Gaza in an attempt to break the starvation siege.
Voices of faith in the time of genocide
It was a pleasure talking to the priests in Wellington who are acting as great examples of what we all need to do: apply greater pressure on our governments. They set an example for us all to follow. Tell your politicians: Sanctions Speak Louder Than Words! Save the people of Palestine. Here are a few comments I picked up today - the messages apply both locally and internationally.
Mel McKenzie, an Archdeacon in the Anglican Church
“There is a public desire to see New Zealand act and introduce sanctions against Israel. Last week the chief of the World Health Organisation said the time to act is now! Sanctions speak louder than words: international calls for ceasefire and for aid to enter aren’t working. Israel has its ears covered. Even last week, it attacked the negotiation process in Qatar. So they're not listening. Our view is we need to shift their behavior, shift their mindset by global sanctions from states.”Father Gerard Burns
“I’m here with my brothers and sisters of other churches to speak up and ask - to really demand - sanctions and other practical actions, including economic, military, social, cultural and sporting.”
Rev Paul Fletcher
“I’m based in Newtown, part of the Anglican Church there. We're committed to staying here to push with a moral voice as Christian leaders for sanctions against Israel. I would love for the government to engage with us on that. We'll stay here until either we see sanctions put in place or we're arrested and taken off.
“We want to use our moral positions as priests to up the ante on the government. I think it's really important for the government, for people, even for our churches, to realize Jesus cares about the poor and the oppressed. At this moment the poor and the oppressed are being massacred in Gaza. God's heart is biased toward those families, those children, those people that are suffering right now in that land.”
Rev. Andy Hickman
“The word ‘intercession’ means ‘intrusion into the courts of power on behalf of another.’ It also refers to prayerfully reciting the ancient texts of Scripture, such as the psalms of lament. Today, I join with my Christian colleagues to engage in both forms of intercession, in the call for justice and on behalf of Gaza. It is the reasonable thing for me to do.”
Rev Chris Kirby
“I'm here to support Gaza and to call for sanctions. This has been going on for two years, all this death and destruction. I'm from Whanganui, which has a population of 40,000 people. There are over 65,000 people who have died in Gaza – much more than Whanganui’s population. It's mental. It’s crazy. They're trapped in a prison. I want to use my freedom to call on the government to change their actions.”
Rev Martin Robinson
“I'm an Anglican Archdeacon based in the Hutt Valley. What brought us together was a shared commitment to exert pressure on the government, to bring about sanctions, and increase the urgency. We've been going to rallies, etc, and we asked ourselves: what's another step that we can take to put ourselves on the line. In the scheme of things, it's minimal – but we’re trying to be another bit of snow on that rolling snowball, or another couple of drops in that bucket that might tip over into a stream of justice and righteousness.”
Eugene Doyle.
