Our Bonhoeffer Moment: Civil Disobedience or Endless War

The article in Common Dreams by Jeff Leys has the title, "Our Bonhoeffer Moment," and speaks to us Americans the words and actions of that brave Lutheran minister who worked against the Nazis in his own beloved Germany. He wrote:

“We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds; we have been drenched by many storms; we have learnt the arts of equivocation and pretence; experience has made us suspicious of others and kept us from being truthful and open; intolerable conflicts have worn us down and even made us cynical. Are we still of any use? What we shall need is not geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but plain, honest, straightforward men. Will our inward power of resistance be strong enough, and our honesty with ourselves remorseless enough, for us to find our way back to simplicity and straightforwardness?”

Some of us have not been 'silent witnesses' but the majority of Americans have. oh, sure, lots of people grumble about 'the war' but don't lift a finger to do anything about it. And I don't buy that sorry-ass slogan, 'What can I do about it?' Luckily Bonhoeffer never said that.

Get active! On October 27 there will be massive demonstrations in 11 large cities throughout America against the insipid Bush War. And we ought to call it the Bush War because clearly, it is HIS war, his choice, his responsibility. But it becomes our responsibility to stop him, to stop the madness. Our silence is his encouragement. Your inaction is 'yes' to war.