Kathlyn Stone -- World News Trust
Nov. 30, 2006 -- Bob Fitch has been photographing peace activities and social justice movements since the mid-1960s. In 2005, Fitch traveled to Sri Lanka to document the effects of that country's long civil war and also the impact of Nonviolent Peaceforce field work to protect peacemakers and promote grassroots peacemaking there.
Fitch and Linda Sartor, a member of the first group of Nonviolent Peaceforce teams who entered Sri Lanka in 2003, are visiting 10 U.S. cities Nov. 28-Dec. 8. (Schedule) The two-week tour began Nov. 28 in Eugene, OR. Other stops include Boston; Bucks County, Gwynedd, Warthmore and Scranton, PA; Medford Leas, NJ; Seattle; Santa Rosa, CA; and Boulder, CO. Over a month in Sri Lanka, Fitch traveled to all parts of the country and will present a photo essay that captures the impact of war on Sri Lankans and also the impact of nonviolent intervention by the international teams of Nonviolent Peaceforce. Sartor continues her work in Sri Lanka and will discuss her experiences there.
Fitch and Sartor will speak at schools, universities and other public venues.
Fitch was the staff photographer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was president. Traveling throughout Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia, Bob documented day-to-day Civil Rights Movement events -- local community organizing, violence against Afro American citizens, numerous demonstrations, voter registration and Afro American political campaigns.
Many of his best images document the courageous contribution made to the Civil Rights movement by the men, women, and children who organized the cause for freedom in their local communities.
For seven years Bob documented the organizing efforts of Cesar Chavez and United Farm Workers Union. The Chavez stamp issued by the U.S. Post office in 2002 is a rendering of one of Bob’s photos. “The stamp is an honor, but also a disappointment,” says Fitch. “The stamp rendering replaces the original background, a vivid red and black United Farmworker Union huelga flag, with an agricultural field. I guess the U.S. Post Office is not yet ready to put a union label on a stamp.”
Linda Sartor, field team member of Nonviolent Peaceforce, is a U.S. American who has been a peace activist for as long as she can remember. Most recently, she joined the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine in June 2002 and then went to Iraq with Iraq Peace Teams in February 2003. Linda has a PhD in Integral Studies with a research emphasis in learning and change in human systems and a masters’ degree in environmental education. Linda also teaches graduate school, facilitates a process called cooperative inquiry, and leads wilderness trips with people who want to go through a “Rite of Passage” process, which includes spending three days and nights alone fasting in the desert wilderness. Linda is also a part of a research/writing group called the European-American Collaborative for Challenging Whiteness; and lives in an intentional community with twenty-three adult members and fourteen children.
Nonviolent Peaceforce, a federation of over 90 Member Organizations from around the world that is endorsed by eight Nobel Peace Laureates, was conceived in 1999 at the Hague Appeal for Peace and born at the convening event in India in 2002. Member organizations elect the 18-member International Governing Counsel who represent 15 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, and the Middle East. The staff of over 50 professionals hails from 24 countries.
Building upon the work of Mahatma Gandhi and other unarmed peaceworkers, the vision of NP is to create a large-scale nonviolent peacekeeping force through the development of the pilot project, public education, training, and advocacy. NP is currently training team members for deployment in a second project in the PhilippinesColombia. In addition, advance exploration work has been completed for a potential project in northern Uganda.
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{mosimage} Kathlyn Stone is a Twin Cities, Minnesota-based writer covering science, health policy, the economy and international relations for general and professional audiences. She writes for neurology publications and independent media including World News Trust, Twin Cities Daily Planet, OpEdNews, Electronic Iraq, and The Pulse.
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