Tuesday, April 26, 2011

POLITICAL PROTESTS IN WISCONSIN (Part 1 of 3)-Loving Our Enemies


Several weeks ago Jean and I participated in a rally at the Wisconsin State Capitol to protest Governor Scott Walker's budget. This budget would eviscerate unions, damage public schools, and further burden the poor and elderly. Police estimated the crowd at more than 100,000.

Jean and I walked nearly a mile from the first available parking space to the Capitol. Cars were parked everywhere. It reminded me of the atmosphere at a Wisconsin Badger football game. People thronged downtown Madison. They packed the grassy slopes of the Capitol grounds. They filled the streets of the Capitol Square. They walked up and down State Street.

High school and college age youth mixed with senior citizens. Parents with children in tow marched beside union member - police in blue uniforms, fire fighters in raincoats and helmets, union locals sporting colored tee-shirts. Farmers drove their tractors around the square, one pulling a manure spreader sporting a sign that indicated displeasure with the bill.

People in costume added color to the throng. A large panda bear wore a shirt proclaiming “Pandas for Badgers.” A man carried a toaster with a figure of Governor Walker protruding from the bread slot. His sign read, “Walker, you're toast.” A group of older women, The Raging Grannies, wore crazy hats and dresses while singing protest songs. Uncle Sam, his mouth sealed with duck tape, paraded with a skull on his hat. A woman carried a picture of Gov. Walker as a string puppet with the label “Koch Industries Inc.”

Protest signs were everywhere:

“Care about education.”
“Arrest Scott Walker; he's peddling Koch.”
“We are Management, and we vote Labor.”
“Kill the Bill.” “When Injustice becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.”
“I'm a public employee, and I haven't felt this unwanted since I returned from Viet Nam.”
Guvner Scott Woker sayved Whisconsun Tacks paerrs munee, but I mis meye teechr.”
“A tyrant will always find a pretense for his tyranny.”
“Gov. Walker the whole world is watching.”
“This is what democracy looks like.”
“Love is the change. Be the change.”
“Recall Walker.” “
This rally, like the daily protests before and since, was serious and well organized. Yet it was not mean-spirited. Venders sold popcorn, cotton candy, hot dogs and other goodies. There was an air of celebration and politeness. Demonstrators, when prohibited from entering the Capitol, shouted, “Let us in. Please. Let us in. Please.” When police assisted demonstrators they yelled, “Thank you. Thank you.”

Yet all was not sweetness and light. Many view politics as warfare. Commentators on the left and on the right exchange acrimonious charges and countercharges. Wealthy men, motivated by greed, manipulate the political process for their own gain. I confess, I'm tempted to demonize those whom I oppose – Scott Walker, David Koch, Dick Cheney and others.

How is one to live with soul in these difficult and complex times? Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you because your heavenly parent gives sunlight to the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and unjust too. Be perfect (inclusive) as your heavenly parent is perfect (inclusive).” (Matt. 5:44,48 RSV)

Is this teaching just a spiritualized platitude, or does it have relevance today? Is it possible to live lives so focussed on God's inclusiveness that it affects our attitude toward the whole creation including our enemies?

Put in more contemporary terms, is it possible to be so enamored with the beauty and complexity of the Cosmos that we are able to affirm the statement by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:

Forces that threaten to negate life must be challenged by courage, which is the power of life to affirm itself in spite of life’s ambiguities. This requires the exercise of a creative will that enables us to hew out a stone of hope from a mountain of despair? (from On Living Life)

Will the state of Wisconsin and our nation fare better if we who resist injustice love our enemies? It is difficult to believe that love will overcome fear and hatred when the powerful, whom we oppose, wish to destroy us. When I was the director of MUM (Madison-area Urban Ministry), our strategy was to block the efforts of those who would dominate us while searching for win-win options that benefited all parties. This is difficult when one is dealing with powerful opponents. Many times the best we could do was to expose their attempts to manipulate us.

Yet nonviolent resistance is a powerful tool in challenging injustice. Theologian, Walter Wink, argues that Jesus preached nonviolent resistance when he said, “If someone takes your coat, offer them your cloak as well.”(Matthew 5:40) This teaching referred to a first century legal practice relating to the poor. If a poor person with no belongings was sued, the person bringing the suit could take their outer garment during the day. It was to be returned at night so the poor person would have a cover. Jesus counseled the poor, when humiliated in this way, to give over their undergarment as well and to leave the court room nude. Since looking on someone's nakedness was a cultural taboo, the oppressed person put the oppressor in the awkward position of violating this taboo.

Wink then gave a specific example of this kind of resistance that occurred during the South African fight against apartheid. When Africaaner forces approached a squatter camp with bull dozers ready to destroy the camp, the women of the camp stood in front of the bull dozers and stripped naked. This so unnerved the men driving the heavy equipment that they fled without destroying the camp. Vulnerability was turned into an advantage.

In Wisconsin, a statewide interfaith coalition of religious groups took Jesus' teaching literally. They held nightly vigils at the capitol, praying for a just resolution to the crisis. Clergy from different faith traditions led these vigils. The prayers put themselves on the line while opening themselves to third way alternatives, alternatives that are less obvious when people are locked in combat using dominating images of power.

Jim Wallis of Sojourners Community called for fasting and prayer to address the injustices being proposed in our national budget. At this writing more than 38,000 people have committed to fast and pray each Monday at noon for a just national budget.

Wouldn't it be amazing if we and our enemies experienced transformation in this process?

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