Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

Four-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee John Dear said residents who enjoy a place as tranquil and beautiful as Haines have an increased obligation to create peace in the world. Dear, an author, activist and Jesuit priest, spoke here last week at an event sponsored by Haines People for Peace.

"You should be serious peacemakers here. If you're not, there's a real problem," Dear said in an interview after his talk. "It should be like a requirement for getting to live here. If you enjoy the peace of Haines, you have a responsibility to help create peace in the world."

Dear estimated he has been arrested 75 times and has served about a year in jail for organizing demonstrations against war and injustice during the past 35 years. He said he has traveled to war zones, including in Afghanistan and Iraq, and "saw with my own eyes" the United States intimidating and scaring people there.

Becoming a peacemaker requires three conditions, he said: 1) being nonviolent to one's self and cultivating inner peace, 2) being nonviolent to all people and creatures, including "people who push your buttons" and 3) joining global, grassroots efforts aimed at spreading nonviolence.

Dear most recently has been involved in protests against U.S. drone warfare that he said is killing innocent civilians in Afghanistan. He was one of five members of the clergy among the "Creech 14," a group of protesters convicted of trespassing at a military base in southern Nevada from which drones are operated. But much of his work has been on nuclear disarmament issues.

"We still have 20,000 nuclear weapons and we're going to use them unless we adopt non-violent conflict resolution (for differences between nations)," he said.

The roots of war are poverty, corporate greed and environmental destruction, he said. "Pick an issue and get involved, because they're all connected. We need people to join the movement."