Dave Andrews

We are called to protect the vulnerable against violence. St Paul says ‘love always protects and always preserves’ (1 Cor. 13:4)

Direct nonviolent intervention is the most loving way to do that, as it is least likely to incite further cycles of violence and counter-violence.

However, nonviolence should never be used as an excuse for nonintervention, and if the only intervention we can envisage to protect the vulnerable in a particular set of circumstances is violent, it is better to use violence to intervene, than to use nonviolence as an excuse not to.

Typically nonviolent direct action is the most loving proactive response.

Love Makes A Way (LMAW), as a movement of Christians seeking an end to Australia’s inhumane asylum seeker policies through prayer and nonviolent love in action, is committed to nonviolent direct action.

The archetype of NonViolent Direct Action (NVDA) is Jesus Christ.

When I asked my friend, Jewish Rabbi, Zalman Kastel, what he found most confronting in the teaching of Jesus he quickly replied, without any hesitation, that it was his commitment to unflinching nonviolence in the face of violence, based on his commitment to love friend and foe alike.

Jesus (in)famously once said, ‘But to you who are listening I say, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who ill-use you. To those who strike you on one cheek offer the other cheek also. As you would like those to act towards you, so do you act towards them. Be merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful. (Luke 6:27-38)

Mahatma Gandhi said that Christ was the supreme example of NVDA for all people, not just for Christians. ‘The gentle figure of Christ – so patient, so kind, so loving, so full of forgiveness that he taught his followers not to retaliate when struck, but to turn the other cheek – was a beautiful example of the perfect person.’ Christ, the ‘martyr, was an embodiment of sacrifice’, and the cross ‘a great example of suffering’. ‘Jesus lost his life on the cross’. But Jesus didn’t lose the battle. ‘Jesus won. As the world’s history has abundantly shown’. And, consequently, ‘the example of Christ’ is a crucial ‘factor in the composition of my underlying faith in nonviolence.’

Jesus was a prophetic activist who embodied nonviolent revolution.

• He criticized the authorities for their corruption and oppression. (Luke 13:32)
• He wanted to transform the status quo creating a new society in the midst of the old. (Luke 6:19-22)
• He sought to establish an upside-down system which would put the ‘first last’ and the ‘last first’. (Mark 9:35)
• He drove the rip-off merchants out of the temple, using a whip on their animals, not on the people. (John 2:15)
• He said that he came not to bring quiescence but change which would cut through other obligations like a ‘sword’. (Matt. 10:34)
• But he begged his disciples to put aside their weapons, ‘for all who live by the sword will die by the sword’. (Luke 22:36-38)
• He urged his friends not to take life, but to give their life for others: ‘For there is no greater love than this – than to lay down your life for your friends’. (John 15:13).

Jesus called us to be part of his Blessed Beatitude Revolution.

• The first beatitude (Matt. 5:3) calls us to be poor –or poor in spirit – and identify with the poor ‘in spirit’
• The second beatitude (Matt. 5:4) calls us to be those who mourn – who grieve over the injustice in the world
• The third beatitude (Matt. 5:5) calls us to be meek – who may get angry, but who never ever get aggressive
• The fourth beatitude (Matt. 5:6) calls us to be those who hunger and thirst for righteousness – justice, not ‘just us’
• The fifth beatitude (Matt. 5:7) calls us to be merciful – compassionate towards friend and foe alike
• The sixth beatitude (Matt. 5:8) calls us to be pure in heart – wholehearted in our desire to do right
• The seventh beatitude (Matt. 5:9) calls us to be peacemakers – working nonviolently in the midst of violence
• The eighth beatitude (Matt. 5:10) calls us to be persecuted for righteousness – suffering violence ourselves, not inflicting it on others.

Martin Luther King Jr. says: “Nonviolent Direct Action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks to dramatize the issue so that it can no longer be ignored. We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human   conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.”

Declaring Sanctuary, at St John’s Cathedral in the heart of Brisbane, is classic Nonviolent Direct Action. It seeks to dramatize an issue so that it can no longer be ignored: – that vulnerable people, seeking refuge in our country, are in danger from the very authorities tasked by our society to protect them from danger, to such an extent, that people of faith must take a sacred place like the cathedral and, by making it a safe space for asylum seekers to be protected, make it a symbol of resistance against the inhuman treatment of vulnerable people in our country.

André and Magda Trocmé are a great example of the importance of providing Sanctuary. André Trocmé was a Protestant minister and Magda Trocmé, was a Social Worker. In 1934 they moved to Le Chambon, a little village in France where they started a college for refugees fleeing from Central Europe.

When France was overrun by Germany in 1940 and the Vichy government agreed to handover Jewish refugees to the Nazis, André preached a sermon encouraging all Christians to resist any government demands to hand over refugees: ‘Tremendous pressure will be put on us to submit passively to a totalitarian ideology. We appeal to all our brothers in Christ to refuse to cooperate with this violence. We shall resist whenever our adversaries demand of us obedience contrary to the orders of the gospel. We shall do so without fear, but also without hate’.

From that point on Le Chambon became ‘the safest place in Europe for Jews’. Everyone who was asked to hide Jews, did so. The Jews were housed in homes, on farms, and in public institutions. They were provided this safe haven for as long as they wanted. If asked by the Vichy government about these people living in their homes, they would simply reply that they were cousins. People made false identification cards, and helped set up an underground railroad that led 5000 Jews to safety in Switzerland.

Even though Le Chambon was raided by the Gestapo and André’s cousin Daniel was arrested, sent to a concentration camp, and killed, not a single villager ever turned a Jew over to the police.

According to our LMAW NVDA code of conduct:

We will…

NOT bring weapons

NOT use drugs or alcohol

NOT hide our identity behind hoods or masks

NOT resort to physical violence or verbal abuse

NOT misuse facilities or damage any property

NOT react if attacked, but respond pro-actively

NOT embarrass police, resist arrest or go limp

We will…

Dress neatly and tidily

Act in an exemplary manner

Be strong but gentle, calm and constructive

Use good manners and good humour at all times

Adopt a dignified, friendly approach towards all

Work cooperatively with the coordinating group

Render assistance to asylum seekers any way we can

Support nonviolent resistance of attempts by authorities to remove asylum seekers.

If arrested, always treat the authorities politely and respectfully.

‘We shall resist whenever our adversaries demand of us obedience contrary to the orders of the gospel. We shall do so without fear, but also without hate’.