Peace activist urges
 action

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CRYSTAL LAKE – Renowned activist Kathy Kelly shared her personal experiences in conflict zones throughout the Middle East and asked people to join her in advocating for peace.

Kelly, coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, spoke at the McHenry County College Conference Center Wednesday as part of an ongoing current issues seminar series sponsored by the Student Peace Action Network.

She touched on a variety of subjects, including U.S. financial support of Israel, poverty in the Middle East, and what people can do to stop violence.

Kelly spoke briefly about her life as a peace activist. To avoid paying taxes that support military action, she lives an ascetic life. She doesn’t own anything and rents an apartment that doubles as the office for Voices for Creative Nonviolence.

The 56-year-old Chicago resident talked about her experiences in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, life on the border between Egypt and Gaza, and a fact-finding mission she led to Pakistan where 2 million civilians were displaced.

“I think it is very, very important for us to try to understand the perspective of those who’ve borne the most fierce brunt of warfare in that part of the world,” she said before telling a story about a surgeon from Illinois she met in Gaza and the message he wanted to share with Americans.

The surgeon had been pulling shrapnel from wounds and trying to find prosthetics for those who had lost limbs during the 22-day conflict in the winter of 2008-09.

“He said, ‘Go back to the United States and tell them it was American money that paid for these weapons,’ ” Kelly said.

Frequently, she emphasized the need for residents to speak out and talk to their elected representatives about conflict overseas.

“Break out of the entrapping fatalism,” she said. “We can stop. We can say time is up on the blood letting.

“But we can’t just say it to each other; we have to exercise that freedom of speech and make those voices known.”

Throughout the hourlong talk and question and answer session that followed, Kelly returned again and again to her belief that force and violence would not lead to peace.

“If you want to counter terror, build justice, build fair relationships,” she said.

SPAN action coordinator Molly McQueen said she was glad to see the conference center “packed with students and community members.”

Kelly’s message stuck with many of the more than 200 people who attended the event.

“She told stories about her experiences and really knew how to make us connect to what is happening there,” said Jessie Grude, an 18-year-old MCC student from Marengo.

Algonquin resident Anne Ward said she came to learn more about the events in the Middle East.

“I always want to be educated,” she said. “It gives me a deeper understanding for when I talk to other people.”

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