The Peaceful Warrior

Nobel Peace Prize nominee Kathy Kelly will speak at UT on Sept. 10

Nobel Peace Prize nominee speaks about the folly of war

by David Fine

published September 6th 2006

Kathy Kelly is a nonviolent peace activist, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, founder of the nationwide group Voices for Creative Nonviolence and author of the book "Other Lands Have Dreams: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison." She spent time in Iraq after Operation: Desert Storm in 1991 and returned on a few occasions to protest the economic sanctions against that country. She went again to Iraq in 2002 to protest the second Iraq war. Kelly spent three months in Federal Prison for protesting at the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga. Most recently, she was in Lebanon during the Israeli bombardments against Hezbollah.

Kelly will be speaking at the University of Toledo's sixth annual Maryse Mikhail Memorial Lecture on Sunday, Sept. 10 at 3 p.m. at the UT Law Center Auditorium.

TCP: When did you first go to Iraq, and how long were you there?

Kathy Kelly: I was in Iraq from January to August 1991, as part of a peace team on the Iraq side of the Iraq-Saudi border. There were people who didn't have any electricity – it wasn't as though the war ended, it had just changed into an economic war. The sanctions to coerce Saddam were having very little effect on him. Meanwhile, children under age 5 were suffering lethal punishment.

TCP: How did you start "Voices for Creative Nonviolence"?

KK: We got together in December 1995 at a conference on nonviolent conflict resolution – people who wanted to confront the sanctions [on Iraq] and were planning to go to Iraq carrying medical relief supplies. The first delegation went over in March of 1996. We sent 70 delegations. We took medicines and medical relief supplies – Tylenol, cough medicine, it wasn't sophisticated.

We never wanted to say we were a humanitarian relief group; our main goal was to combat the sanctions with nonviolent direct action.

The Iraqi people need enough money to purify water and to get something to eat. If you take a child who is starving and give them dirty water, its a death sentence. It's why 500 children under the age of 5 died. They were pummeling them all of those years with economic sanctions.

TCP: You served three months in prison for your protests at Fort Benning. What happened at the protest to cause that?

KK: Every year, people gather for a completely nonviolent demonstration. Twelve thousand to 16,000 people gathered at Fort Benning, and I fasted for 28 days outside the gates. Once you cross the line into the base, you're immediately arrested. It seems to me the fear of going to prison is a bit exaggerated. I think it's a good thing to do, and it's good to know what it's like in prison.

TCP: How would you describe your time in federal prison?

KK: You meet very interesting people.

I don't think there is a very dangerous element in prison. There are peoples lives who have taken very wrong turns. I was in Pekin Prison (located in Illinois near Peoria) – 85 percent of the inmates were there for nonviolent crimes. There's a lot of courage. People put on the best face they can. The median sentence for the men's prison was 27 years.

TCP: What are your influences?

KK: I was married for 13 years to Karl Mayer (famed Chicago-based peace activist and author) and caught on to nonviolent direct action through him. We learned not to be overcome by fears. There's so much in our society that persuades us not to be rational. One of the things that I learned from Karl was never to walk away from your values and ideals for convenience. We're looting the resources for the next generation. If we don't start cutting back [on our use of fossil fuels, etc.] there's just not going to be enough for future generations. It's a matter of rational thought.

TCP: What is your current thinking about the U.S. occupation of Iraq?

KK: I think the U.S. should give up the military option for Iraq. An option at this point could be something similar to what was attempted in the former Yugoslavia. Get a blue-ribbon panel of respected world leaders to bring together the Shia, the Sunni, the Kurds, and say, if you will sign on to this agreement the nations of the world will agree to rebuild your schools and electricity.

TCP: You were recently in Lebanon. What are your thoughts about that war?

KK: I couldn't see military targets (in southern Lebanon) I saw schools, blocks and blocks of homes, playgrounds, grocery stores – I'm talking about civilian targets completely destroyed – [Israel's bombardment] constituted a war crime of such a vast scale.

Visit Voices for Creative Nonviolence online at vcnv.org.