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- New Experiment in Reconciliation and Nonviolent Communication
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by
Anne Symens-Bucher
from Desert Voices Vol 19, Number 1
January 2006
Download Newsletter PDF
(384kb)
We came to the desert in 1982 to experiment with nonviolence.
It was the 800th anniversary of the birth of St. Francis
and a time a great activity and anti-nuclear protest across
the country. On June 12 of that year, one-million people
marched in New York City, creating the largest peace and
disarmament protest in US history. One-hundred-thousand
gathered in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on the same day. In
Livermore, CA, thousands protested on June 21 in the largest
civil disobedience action to date at Livermore Labs.
At the Nevada Test Site, our numbers were much smaller—perhaps
350 over the course of the 40-day vigil. But we were excited
to be at the test site, a place where there had been very
little anti-nuclear protest since the late fifties. I came
to the desert in the spring of 1982, captivated by the notion
of the “Lenten Desert Experience,” feeling my
own call to come away into the desert and see what I would
discover about my faith, my activism and the direction of
my attempts to live nonviolently. It was to be an experience
that would change my life.
The Lenten Desert Experience in 1982 was never intended
as the “first” of many. But after this vigil,
we were so excited, so moved, so changed by being in relationship
that we wanted to keep coming back. As we approach the 25th
Lenten Desert Experience and I reflect upon the story of
my desert journey over these many years, I am struck by
several things. We were Catholic Workers and Franciscans;
these were the spiritualities that informed our choices.
We were Christians who placed ourselves firmly in the traditions
of Francis and Clare of Assisi, Mahatma Gandhi, Dorothy
Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Cesar Chavez. We were nonviolence
novices, hungry for experiential learning. We had much to
learn. We had certain ideas back at the beginning about
the roles everyone would play. We saw ourselves as opponents
of those who were testing the bombs; we were on one side
of the line and they were on the other. We thought we were
right and they were wrong and that we could change them
through our nonviolence. We saw ourselves as conducting
our own Gandhian “experiments with truth.” Gandhi
wanted the British to leave India as his friends; we wanted
this kind of relationship with those who operated and worked
at the test site. In our inexperience and idealism, I guess
we thought that if we were nonviolent enough, those in charge
would leave their jobs, thanking us for loving them in spite
of the error of their ways.
After that first 40-day vigil, the line we had drawn began
to blur, especially in relationship to the security forces
who were out in the desert with us each day. We had wanted
to know our opponent; being in relationship with the folks
guarding the test site was our closest contact. These people
were becoming our friends. Getting to know them was confounding
and confusing. Loving them was even more so. Over the years
of this deepening relationship, I began to question the
rightness of my position. What did it even mean to be “right?”
I knew from my experience that when I began to love someone
it was because I was connected to that person’s humanity.
There was no longer a place for “right-wrong thinking”
because I wanted my heart to be open. Holding on to my right
position seemed to be hindering my deepest longings to embody
nonviolence and to experience transformation.
Transformation has happened in my life over the years by
being in relationship: with the security forces at the test
site, the people in the nuclear industry with whom I’ve
had contact and with people who have participated in our
many events since 1982. I invite you to join us for Speaking
from the Heart, Lenten Desert Experience XXV. We
have created community over these many years. LDE XXV will
be a time to celebrate that community and to wrestle with
what we mean when we say we are engaged in a “nonviolent
campaign.” It is my personal hope that this event
will inform the future direction of our nonviolent campaign
at the test site and elsewhere.
Practically speaking, over the years we never got very close
to our opponents, with one or two exceptions. Our relationships
were forged with some members of the security forces, with
a few people who did leave their jobs at the test site and
with some Nevada Test Site officials. These people changed
me, even as I thought my job was to change them. The change
was not switching from thinking that they were wrong to
thinking they were right. It was in my love. My judgments
fell away. It seems fitting that as we mark LDE XXV, we
also go back to the roots of our campaign and attempt anew
to be in specific, personal relationships with those whose
strategies for security and peace differ from ours.
Speaking From the Heart, Lenten Desert Experience
XXV, will bring together a diverse group of individuals
that have been actively affected by nuclear technology;
those from within the nuclear industry and those adversely
impacted by the nuclear age. We will then implement a Reconciliation
Forum as a way to promote connection and reconciliation
between participants by enabling each to understand the
human needs behind his or her choices. By using the skills
and consciousness of Nonviolent Communication combined with
a restorative justice form known as Council, we hope to
create compassionate connection and understanding among
those attending. I have become convinced that this is the
path to peace.
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