Friends,
Forty years ago, returning to Beirut, Lebanon -- with the support of members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and other mentors -- I registered as a conscientious objector to war.
 At a time when my country was sending hundreds of thousands of my peers to fight in Vietnam, I formally joined the peace resistance.
This Sunday, Jan. 1, I will fly from the U.S. to Cairo, and join 15 other global FOR leaders -- representing fellow branches in Germany, Palestine, Italy, Chad, Switzerland, and Austria -- for a week of intense conversations with human rights activists in Egypt.
In the midst of momentous transition in that region, we will discuss the role of active nonviolence within the inspiring Arab Spring movement this year and the prospects for continuing nonviolent resistance in the coming weeks, despite growing state violence and inter-group conflict.
THANK YOU for your past support of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Please join with me in making a new tax-deductible donation to make this work possible.
Indeed, two years ago this very week, with the support of FOR members, FOR Middle East program director Leila Zand, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, and I traveled together to Cairo to join 1,200 peace activists from around the world as part of the Gaza Freedom March.
We stood with FOR members from different continents and helped facilitate ad-hoc nonviolence workshops in Tahrir Square, under the wary eyes of Egyptian security forces.
One year later, we witnessed Egyptians courageously facing down those same forces and nonviolently overthrowing an autocracy. And at FOR, we were amazed and inspired to learn that a 50-year-old FOR comic book about the Montgomery Bus Boycott had been used as a tool for discussing the possibility and power of nonviolent social and political change. So I am incredibly excited to return to Egypt this week, despite the recent news of violence there.
Please donate now to continue to help FOR promote the message and story of nonviolent social change -- in Egypt, the Middle East, the United States, and throughout the world. Your gift at this special time of year makes this work possible in every place FOR is present.
Thank you for spreading the message of peace, and happy new year!
Mark C. Johnson
Executive Director
Fellowship of Reconciliation
P.S. If you'd prefer to send your tax-deductible donation by check, be sure to send it to FOR, P.O. Box 271, Nyack, NY 10960 before Saturday to count it as part of your 2011 donations. As always, you may also make a secure donation online. |
