Thanks to Martha Ann
Andries
(Dries) Coetzee, a US Presbyterian pastor
originally from South Africa, helped get the Presbyterian Church USA to vote to
divest from companies profiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
He writes, “I have now traveled to
Israel/Palestine three times, only to observe very much the same apartheid
reality in Israel as was in my country of birth. In fact, many South
African anti-apartheid activists, including Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu,
have compared the conditions in Israel/Palestine with those they experienced in
apartheid South Africa. . . . As a
person who speaks to the emotional impact of divestment on my life within the
context of apartheid South Africa and the healing it offered me as part of the
white Afrikaans-speaking minority, I am honored to have my voice counted among
those who spoke in favor of divestment. Personally, I have experienced
that divestment can be a powerful, nonviolent tool to bring about peace and I
am convinced that the vote to divest was a vote to invest in all the peoples of
Israel/Palestine and invite them to walk the path of freedom and dignity for
all.
Read more
Learn
of the Kairos USA movement
http://kairosusa.org/?utm_source=August+2014+Newsletter&utm_campaign=August+2014+NL&utm_medium=email
: On page 13 of our Engage book we learn that nonviolence is not only a tactic but also a way of living and that is what this pastor is trying to do. He already lives a life of nonviolence but he wants to show the world that nonviolence can be the answer to everything. By divesting from these companies it would show that the US does not want any part of this conflict between Plaestine and Isreal and urges these companies to do the same. This was a very good example of an article about an attempt at nonviolence. Thank you!
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