New peace group launches at Club Newsmaker

Campaign Nonviolence, a newly formed movement aimed at promoting a culture of peace through the practice of nonviolence, officially launched at a Club Newsmaker Sept. 18.

“We are gathered here today, with a profound expression of hope for the president of the future, that we can transform a culture which is so fear-based today, riveted in violence at every level , through direct action and people becoming visible,” said former U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio.

The organization plans to offer a “different alternative” at a time when “Washington is enmeshed in violence as a singular solution to everything,” Kucinich said.

A peaceful perspective would give America the opportunity to set a new direction in the world, Kucinich said as he called Campaign Nonviolence an “exciting new venture” to help the country focus on “real national security issues.”

Kucinich said national security should also include the security of jobs, education, housing and a clean environment. Campaign Nonviolence hopes to lead the way towards the redefinition of what ought to be considered vital national security issues, he said.

“For decades, we as a nation have spent fortunes on war annually, on the preparations for war, neglecting the needs of impoverished people in our own country and around the world,” said another participant, Marie Dennis of Pax Christi International, an international Catholic peace movement.

Campaign Nonviolence is to serve as an umbrella body for peace and other organizations, and will promote a week of nonviolent action between Sept. 21 and 27 in all 50 states.