Across the country people came together to celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. School children participated in essay contests, communities gathered to tell stories and to read his speeches. People marched in Washington D.C, and held rallies to invoke his legacy of the longing for a world that fosters justice and peace.  

This year the celebration of the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King has a sharp edge. People are seizing this day to recommit to our capacities to create loving communities and forging a world capable of finding peace. This commitment to is emerging in the face of war. It is emerging as we drift closer to global nuclear catastrophe than at any time since the middle of the last Century.

The contours of political struggle are emerging. In a century in which open warfare has been a defining aspect of our lives, we are reaping the terrors visited upon those who choose weapons over words, violence over peace, protection of some over the possibilities of life for the many. It should be obvious to everyone that the use of force to protect some endangers everyone.

This new year will require us to think and act very differently if we are to have a future.

This holiday season is surrounded by sorrow and rage. Many people are asking how it is possible to feel joy in the face of such suffering.  Yet the magnitude of the destruction we are witnessing in Gaza is provoking a growing commitment to finding ways to peace. In Bethlehem, a town holy in much of the Christian world, a local Lutheran Church is displaying a nativity scene with a baby Jesus resting on rubble, wrapped in a keffiyeh, to protest Israeli actions. 

Each day brings new images of horror. Enduring the most intense bombing since the Vietnam war, the people of Gaza are facing a public health catastrophe as basic infrastructure collapses, food and water are becoming impossible to secure, and hospitals are destroyed. 

For the generation of the 1960’s, WWII was an active presence in our political imaginations. We knew of it from the lived experiences of our parents, grandparents, and community. It was present in public celebrations and popular culture. Its lessons were many. We learned that propaganda could sway masses of people to do awful, inhuman things; that all it took for evil to triumph was for good people to remain silent; that we are responsible for the actions of our governments; and that democracy was worth defending. We learned that the extension of the battlefield into cities, towns, and hamlets was a crime against humanity; and that our weapons were greater than our wisdom or compassion. And we learned governments lie. These lessons were crystalized into powerful slogans: Not in Our Names. We will not be silent. If not us, who? Democracy now. Never again.

We are in the midst of a tremendous shift in our collective understanding of the role of the US and its military. For the first time since the declaration of the “War on Terror,” people are rapidly expanding their critique of the use of force as a means of responding to differences. The level of brutality and the magnitude of destruction that we are witnessing have opened deep questions about where we are all headed. Many people are asking if death is the only way. Surely, we can find another way forward.

This Thanksgiving I am grateful that the Detroit City Council passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The resolution asks for an “immediate, durable, and sustained ceasefire” to “protect and save human lives. It condemns “all acts of violence aimed at Israeli and Palestinian civilians and mourns the loss of all civilian lives.” It also recognizes that a ceasefire is an essential first step for peace, saying that “a lasting resolution can only be achieved by peaceful means and diplomacy.”

This week the Israeli government invaded the Al Shifa hospital. This marks a new level of brutality and has shaken the world. It is being described even in mainstream media as “a watershed moment.” Images of Israeli soldiers walking past babies in incubators, in a hospital room in shambles, have been seen by people around the globe.

These images are galvanizing people, forcing even reluctant governments to condemn the cruelty of Israel and to call for prosecution for war crimes.

This week the US congress took the unusual step of censuring one of its members. At the initiation of Marjorie Taylor Greene, a republican from Georgia, the motion against Rashida Tlaib gained momentum after Tlaib spoke at a demonstration for peace. This initial effort to intimidate Tlaib was problematic, as Greene was removed from committee posts when the Democrats had control of congress, primarily because of her violent social media posts. Among them was a Facebook post showing Greene holding an assault rifle on Tlaib and two of her progressive colleagues, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) Greene is among the most extreme right-wing members of congress and is known for suggesting that California wildfires were caused by Jewish space lasers. Her efforts to censure were difficult to take seriously.

Since the Israeli response to the attacks by Hamas on October 7, 2023, we have seen thousands of people organizing for a cease fire and for the provision of humanitarian aid. Many are calling for an end to the Occupation of Palestine. The taking of life, first by Hamas as they broke through the walls that confined them, and the subsequent bombings and siege of Gaza by Israel, have shaken a world grown callous toward death and destruction.

In the face of this carnage, people of conscience are choosing to act. Marches, teach ins and walk outs, direct actions, and demonstrations are happening daily. Across the globe people recognize the Israeli government is engaged in war crimes.

As the National Council of Elders, we aspire to a culture of peace, having learned through many years of struggle to resist the culture of violence which pervades and propels society in the United States. We are coming to understand our work as building a culture of peace rooted in justice. We speak from our hearts in calling for an end to the violence in Israel/Palestine.

This week as Israeli bombs fell on Gaza, thousands of people gathered in the US Capitol calling for an immediate ceasefire. This rally, organized by IfNotNow and Jewish Voices for Peace, is part of a growing movement of people of conscience calling for an end to violence, an end to occupation and for the full self-determination and dignity of the Palestinian people.

We are a world at war. These are wars that promise to destroy ordinary people, trying to live as best they can.

The attacks last week on civilians by Hamas stunned us. More than 1,000 Israelis were killed. At least 150 people have been taken hostage, their fates unknown.

We condemn this violence. We do this with the understanding that we also condemn the violence of Israeli State occupation. We understand that violence only begets more violence. Today, as world powers vow to increase military aid to Israel, the path to mutual destruction dominates any effort to move toward solutions that affirm life.

Last week I got a text from a friend in New Mexico saying she was unable to make a zoom meeting. “There’s been a shooting at our demonstration. Creating healing circles.” Soon it became clear that the shooting had been done by twenty-three-year-old Ryan Martinez. He was part of a small group of men wearing MAGA hats who confronted a peaceful demonstration called by Native Americans to resist the restoration of a stature of Juan de Onate. Onate, the first colonial governor of New Mexico, was a Spanish conquistador whose history of brutality is well documented. In 1599 he destroyed the Acoma Pueblo and killed 1000 people. In 2020 the statue to him in Alcalde, New Mexico was removed because of community pressure. The plans by officials to return it has met with strong resistance.