French
Spanish
GLOBAL MOVEMENT FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE

On the left below please find an article from CPNN, and on the right its discussion.
Please note that links to the discussion no longer work directly.
Instead, Use the following address http://cpnn-world.org/discussion/xxx.htm
where xxx is the topic number in the failed address obtained when you click on the discussion.
If this doesn't work, click here.

Learn Write Read Home About Us Discuss Search Subscribe Contact
by program area
by region
by category
by recency
United Nations and Culture of Peace
Global Movement for a Culture of Peace
Values, Attitudes, Actions
Rules of the Game
Submit an Article
Become a CPNN Reporter


Book Review of Moon Shadow of War; How a Young American became an Anti-War Activist
an article by David Adams

video: TV show

CPNN readers will enjoy reading this book about the awakening of activism in a "typical" young American faced with the Vietnam War in the 60's. It is available as an e-book at Amazon.



click on photo to enlarge

As the author, Lennie Yannielli, says, "There is no dearth of books on the Vietnam period on the home front. . . . What was going on outside of the student organizing epicenters of Ann Harbor, Michigan and Berkley, California? Who was impacted and in what ways?   . . . How did it impact his or her family, friends or work relationships?   What was it like for a young teacher up an industrial river valley in Connecticut?   It was my interest in delineating and clarifying answers to those questions that compelled me to write this memoir.

"Purveyors of the U.S. War in Vietnam constantly talked of a “light at the end of the tunnel.” . . . Young people, myself included, learned quickly that the light at the end of the tunnel was a freight train heading right at us."

The "freight train" was the draft, as Lennie was continually threatened by the demand that he enter the military and go to Vietnam to fight in a war that he did not believe in, and from which is friends came back wounded or dead.

"The U.S. War in Vietnam represented a bend in the river we call life. That bend was a life-altering turning point. It was like being in a kayak, maneuvering rushing waters over class five rapids. . . The U.S. War in Vietnam, and its opposite, the anti-Vietnam War movement, colored everything. Taken as one interpenetrating whole, it ran the gamut from the choice of garments and music, from how to wear one’s hair to overtly political decisions like working on an underground newspaper, from which demonstration to attend, to what to do on Monday. Decisions from that period still ripple through me. Why is that so? That is what this book explores."

Eventually, Lennie became an activist against the war, and as a consequence, like many in his generation, he was fired from his job as a teacher because his views and his activism threatened the status quo in the small town where he was teaching.

Lennie concludes with a call to each of us to become anti-war activists. "We have to look among ourselves to bring about the change. No knights in shiny armor are coming. The common people are the agency. It has to come from our ranks, both the leaders and the followers. We can call upon Henry David Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi, Fredrick Douglas, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, and Angela Davis. They can give intellectual and spiritual guidance. But it will take our physical presence and full mental faculties. The baton of humanity has been handed over to us. We have to find our collective voice. We can do it. We have to do it."

DISCUSSION

Question(s) related to this article:


Anger against injustice, Is it necessary for the consciousness development of peace activists?

* * * * *

LATEST READER COMMENT:

As I say in my book review of Lennie Yannielli's memoirs about his :against the Vietnam War, this is an enjoyable book for all CPNN readers.  Each reader will find something different in the book, as it is told very honestly with a "down to earth" style.

Personally, I was interested in a particular aspect of the book: to what extent was Lennie's anger against the injustice of the war an important factor in his psychological development as a peace activist?

This interests me especially because I wrote a psychology book some years ago about the stages of consciousness development in peace activists, using autobiographies of great peace activists like Martin Luther King, Eugene Victor Debs, Nelson Mandela, etc.   I found that most of them described how their anger mounted against injustice to the point that they had to take their first anti-war action.

In Lennie's book, there are abundant references to the theme of anger as a motivational force for action.  Here are some of them.

When he was called to appear before his draft board: "What they got from me was not only my indignation. It was the wrath of my generation."

When he learned that the US had just killed thousands of Vietnamese civilians by "carpet-bombing": " I could feel an extra dose of acid trickling in my stomach."

When looking at a photo of a mother fleeing the flames of war with her babies: "Every time I gaze upon that picture, it gets my juices flowing. It speaks to me. Do something. Write. . ...more.


This report was posted on May 11, 2013.