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Free Palestine Movement Defines Nonviolent Covenant for its 2011 Spring Flotilla Delegation On December 6, 2010, as our representatives were getting ready to attend a planning meeting in Rome for the second Gaza Freedom Flotilla, we received an inquiry from one of our delegation, a prominent civil rights leader. "What is the covenant that participants commit to? Is it non-violence, even in defensive situations? Will there be some who do not commit to this covenant?" This launched a discussion at the Rome meeting and within the Free Palestine Movement, and has culminated in the following revision of the eighth FPM Point of Unity: "We agree to adhere to the principles and practices of nonviolence and nonviolent resistance in word and deed at all times. This means that we will do no harm to others, regardless of provocation, but will confront violations of human rights with noncooperation and nonviolent direct action." We have also resolved that the boat on which our delegation travels to Gaza will make the same pledge, or we will decline to participate. There are many views as to what constitutes nonviolence, and we respect those who consider it to include some types of self-defense, as well as those who believe that it should never include confrontation, even if it is nonviolent. The purpose of this declaration, however, is to clarify our views and policy. We also believe that creative noncooperation and nonviolent direct action can be very effective, as proven by Gandhi's salt march of 1930, the Greensboro, North Carolina lunch counter sit-ins of 1960, and the boycott of South Africa in the 1980s. We are therefore working to promote such strategies and to make them as productive as possible. Your support is important to us, and we consider it our obligation to keep you abreast of developments, as well as to hear your opinions. Thank you for being a part of what we do. |
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