Pacifists

"In 1992, Sinéad performed Bob Marley’s “War” on Saturday Night Live, then proceeded to rip up a photo of Pope John Paul II on live TV, declaring, quote, “Fight the real enemy.” The move, a protest against systemic child abuse in the Catholic Church, of which she was a survivor, provoked widespread uproar. She addressed her SNL performance days later during an interview with Entertainment Tonight. (SINÉAD O’CONNOR: "Ireland has the highest incidence in Europe of child abuse. I experienced it myself. And I find his presence in Ireland, telling the young people of Ireland that he loved them, hilarious. At least when I studied the history, I found out that the people who were responsible for telling lies in the first place were at the Vatican, who, through permitting the invasion of countries and the destruction and murder of entire races of people in the name of God and for money, and then their subsequent overtaking of the educational systems of all the countries that they went into, led to distortion of historical fact.") AG: Sinéad O’Connor was an ally of the LGBTQ communities, marched for abortion rights decades before it was legalized in Ireland. She converted to Islam and started using the name Shuhada’ Sadaqat in 2018, alongside the name Sinéad O’Connor. She spoke out for Palestinian rights, respecting the Palestinian civil society call for BDS, Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel, once saying, quote, “on a human level, nobody with any sanity, including myself, would have anything but sympathy for the Palestinian plight. There’s not a sane person on earth who in any way sanctions what … the Israeli authorities are doing,” Sinéad said."

"No I wouldn't have pulled you to me No I wouldn't have kissed your face You wouldn't have begged me to hold you If we hadn't been there in the first place Ah but I know you wanted me to be there oh oh Every look that you threw told me so But you should've left the light on You should've left the light on And the flames burned away But you're still spitting fire Make no difference what you say You're still a liar You're still a liar."

"Maybe it sounds mean But I really don't think so You asked for the truth And I told you Through their own words They will be exposed"

"I'm walking through the desert And I am not frightened although it's hot I have all that I requested And I do not want what I haven't got"

"Oh, I love you God, I love you I'd kill a dragon for you I'll die But I will rise And I will return The Phoenix from the flame I have learned I will rise And you'll see me return Being what I am There is no other Troy For me to burn."

"I have an invitation for you. Is there a celebration? No, I'm not inviting you to a celebration. I'm inviting you to a war... I'll lead you, if you have sheep, give them away If you have a family, leave them"

"And as I see through the real you I'm falling straight into A thousand broken Mirrors I can't hide And outside the bright lights Can't hide the pain inside And I've broken a thousand mirrors"

"I'll remember it And Dublin in a rainstorm And sitting in the long grass in summer Keepin' warm I'll remember it Every restless night We were so young then We thought that everything We could possibly do was right."

"I'm dancing the seven veils Want you to pick up my scarf See how the black moon fades Soon I can give you my heart. I don't know no shame I feel no pain I can't see the flame But I do know Man-din-ka I do know Man-din-ka"

"You will rise You'll return The phoenix from the flame You will learn You will rise You'll return Being what you are There is no other Troy For you to burn."

"And I never meant to hurt you I swear I didn't mean Those things I said I never meant to do that to you Next time I'll keep my hands to myself instead."

"To replace Gusev, Chertkov sent Father a new secretary toward the end of January. This was a student by the name of V. F. Bulgakov, a jolly, buoyant youth, a bit in love with himself."

"The former Chertkov] aims at the moral destruction of Tolstoy's wife in order to get control of his manuscripts. The latter Alexandra] is either in conspiracy with him or, with typical female antagonism towards the mother, devotes herself to the struggle as to a kind of sport."

"I always loved Buffy Sainte-Marie. I loved how she would close her eyes when she sang. … She had great movement, and she never hit the mic with her nose! I never got quite as good at it as she was, but I loved that movement."

"one of our great musicians"

"Edvin is one of those persons who write to survive as writers and people; for them being a human and writer is the same thing."

"The founder of this NGO [UDIK] Edvin Kanka Ćudić and his colleagues, have succeeded to make a civil resistance niche in a very short time. It is not a repetition of existing non-violent practices of a civil society but more authentic, innovative and a long-term creative gesture that changes our violent and militaristic society in the direction of a genuine culture of remembrance."

"The first and so far the only substantive public action of civil society, directed against the lack of recognition of crimes committed in Kazani, is the UDIK street activity in front of the Sarajevo Cathedral held on October 25, 2014. Activity had a small number of participants, but for the first time it was organized symbolic action in the center of Sarajevo in order to commemorate victims of Kazani."

"UDIK is the most persistent in its demands to raise a monument in the center of Sarajevo dedicated to the victims of this crime."

"The story of crimes, war criminals, search for the missing people and justice, have become the meaning of Edvin's actions."

"If they wanted to kill me, they would not threaten me."

"Bakir Izetbegović would not visit Sarajevo's Kazani, that UDIK was not the main advocate of the commemoration of the victims of this crime."

"Our appetite for meat leads to widespread, horrific cruelty to animals—chickens pressed wing-to-wing into filthy sheds and debeaked, for example. And since I've always espoused creative nonviolence as the fundamental gospel value, my vegetarianism helps me not to participate in the vicious torture and destruction of billions of cows, chickens, and so many other creatures. These chickens never raise families, root in the soil, build nests, or do anything natural. … Animals have feelings, they suffer; they have needs and desires. They were created by God to breathe fresh air, raise their families, peck in the grass, or root in the soil. Today's farms don't let them do anything God designed them to do. Animal scientists attest that farm animals have personalities and interests, that chickens and pigs can be smarter than dogs and cats. I like that even Jesus identified himself as “a mother hen who longs to gather us under her wings.”"

"The only diet for a peacemaker, for an environmentalist, is a vegetarian diet. … I became a vegetarian thirty-five years ago, after reading Frances Moore Lappé's book Diet for a Small Planet, which makes an unassailable case that vegetarianism is the best way to eliminate world hunger as well as to sustain the environment."

"Appreciation of Mother Earth, her creatures, and the glories of the universe is the job of every human being. We were created to live nonviolently in peace with one another on Mother Earth and celebrate the beauty of creation morning, noon, and night."

"Many Christians who agree that harming a dog or cat is wrong think nothing of harming cows, pigs, chickens, fish and other creatures. We need to understand that if we’re eating meat, we are paying people to be cruel to animals. For the simple reasons that all animals are creatures beloved by God and that God created them with a capacity for pain and suffering, we should adopt a vegetarian diet."

"Vegetarianism proves that we’re serious about our belief in compassion and justice, that we’re mindful of our commitment, day in and day out, every time we eat. We are reminded of our belief in mercy, and we remind others. We begin to live the nonviolent vision, right here and now."

"I am convinced that society will look back on human arrogance and cruelty toward other animals with the same horror and disbelief that we presently reserve for atrocities committed against human beings."

"The key to changing the world and pursuing justice and disarmament is to allow the God of peace to disarm our hearts, make us instruments of peace, and lead us together on the road of peace."

"Nonviolence begins with the insights that all life is sacred, that all human beings are children of the God of peace, and that as God’s children, we are under certain obligations. Of course, we should never hurt or kill another human being, wage war, build nuclear weapons, or sit idly by while millions of human beings starve to death each year. Nonviolence invites us, also, to reevaluate the way we treat animals in our society. While we resist violence, injustice, and war, and while we practice nonviolence, seek peace, and struggle for justice for the poor, we are also invited to break down the species barrier, extending our belief in Christian compassion to the animal kingdom by, among other things, adopting a vegetarian diet."

"As the misfortune befell in November [1918], I threw myself into the woodcut.. .It is a technique that provokes one to confession, to the unmistakable statement of what one finally means. It, or far more she, enforces a certain general validity of expression.. .I have finished a number of large woodcuts that deal with all of the distress of the times."

"The generally accepted computation is that 2½ acres of land are required to provide a minimum adequate diet for each person, by Western standards anyhow. On a vegetarian diet it has been estimated that 1½ acres per head may provide enough. The reason for this difference is that animals grazed for meat-eating purposes require about 15 times more land than is necessary to raise an equivalent amount of nutrition in the form of grains, vegetables and fruit for human consumption. This means that India, on a vegetarian diet, is living far more wisely within its own land resources than are the meat-eating peoples."

"I am, constitutionally, an actress and I think to be an actor is not only a different kind of discipline, but it’s completely introspective. So the solitude which is absolutely mandatory to write well is, I think, is hard for me. It’s training muscles I haven’t used very much. I love to write. I can write. But I’ve done nothing like this before and it will be a challenge."

"I think I’m more committed now. Some things are just serendipitous. My mother had the disease and I got involved with the organization, and then I met this splinter group out of the University of Minnesota Hospital, Dr. Karen Ashe and the team at the Grossman Center (for Memory Research and Care). I became sort of their spokesperson and then I got published. I published a first essay and a second essay and I’m up to my sixth essay. I speak all over the country and sometimes all over the world. It’s grown and blossomed into something that feels right. I’ve had a really good life and a wonderful career. I’ve been comfortable and I’ve been healthy. And I adored my mother. So this is my way to give back."

"The church says to the lion and the lamb, "Here, let me negotiate a truce," to which the lion replies, "Fine, after I finish my lunch.""

"Most Christians desire nonviolence, yes; but they are not talking about a nonviolent struggle for justice. They mean simply the absence of conflict."

"Violence is so successful as a myth precisely because it does not seem to be mythic in the least. Violence simply appears to be the nature of things. It is what works. It is inevitable. ... The roots of this devotion to violence are deep, and we will be well rewarded if we trace them to their source. When we do, we will discover that the religion of Babylon—one of the world's oldest, continuously surviving religions—is thriving as never before in every sector of contemporary American life, even in our synagogues and churches. It, and not Christianity, is the real religion of America."

"Besides an unmasking of the oppressors, there must also be a healing of the servile will in their victims."

"The victory of faith over the Powers lies, not in immunity to their wrath, but in emancipation from their delusions."

"We can see quite plainly that our present civilisation is built on the exploitation of animals, just as past civilisations were built on the exploitation of slaves, and we believe the spiritual destiny of man is such that in time he will view with abhorrence the idea that men once fed on the products of animals' bodies."

"One of my earliest recollections in life was being taken for holidays to the little farm where my father had been born. … The cows "gave" milk, the hens "gave" eggs … but I couldn't for the life of me see what the pigs "gave", and they seemed … such friendly creatures, always glad to see me, and grateful for almost anything that was thrown to them in the sty. … I still have vivid recollections of the whole process from start to finish, including all the screams of course, which were only feet away from where this pig's companion still lived. And then, when the pig had finally expired, the women came out, one after another, with buckets of this scalding water, and the body of the pig was scraped – all the hairs were taken away. The thing that shocked me, along with the chief impact of the whole setup, was that my Uncle George, of whom I thought very highly, was part of the crew, and I suppose at that point I decided that farms, and uncles, had to be re-assessed. They weren't all they seemed to be, on the face of it, to a little, hitherto uninformed boy. And it followed that this idyllic scene was nothing more than Death Row. A Death Row where every creature's days were numbered by the point at which it was no longer of service to human beings."

"We will one day think it as horrible to eat animals as we now think it horrible to eat each other."

"So far from vegetarianism springing from the anthropomorphism of predominantly urban dwellers, as has been suggested by its more superficial critics, it and its inevitable successor veganism are increasingly being recognised as a logical, even inescapable, process, essentially relevant, essentially practical, essentially compassionate to all species."

"This anthology proves that there is nothing new about the realization of the connection between our treatment of non-humans and of each other. Clear minds down the centuries have seen that the violence man shows to man is inextricably linked to the violence we have inflicted upon other species and our shared environment."

"Until we establish a felt sense of kinship between our own species and those fellow mortals who share with us the sun and shadow of life on this agonized planet, there is no hope for other species, there is no hope for the environment, and there is no hope for ourselves."

"It is always a much easier task to educate uneducated people than to re-educate the mis-educated."

"It is not yet definitely proven that germs are essential elements in the production of any disease. It seems probable that they are only incidental and perhaps beneficial factors. However, this much is certain, whatever part they perform in the production of disease, germs alone can no more produce disease than a seed alone can produce a tree. Just as a seed must have fertile soil, moisture, warmth, air and sunlight, if it is to grow into a tree, so the germ, if it is to produce disease, must find certain essential conditions existing in the bodies of those it enters before it can do the slightest harm."

"The cannibal goes out and hunts, pursues and kills another man and proceeds to cook and eat him precisely as he would any other game. There is not a single argument nor a single fact that can be offered in favor of flesh eating that cannot be offered, with equal strength, in favor of cannibalism."

"True believing Christians are sheep among wolves. ... They employ neither worldly sword nor war, since with them killing is absolutely renounced."

"I do not believe that just because you're opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don't? Because you don't want any tax money to go there. That's not pro-life. That's pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is."