Articles by Dave Dellinger

Shortly after entering Columbia University in 1965, David Gilbert became the founding chair of the school’s Vietnam Committee. He also joined Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), which began five years earlier. By the fall of 1966, he was inspired by the impact of the Black Panther Party on the national scene, and had witnessed the upsurge of militance among Native Americans, Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, and Asians. These movements have exerted a major influence on his actions ever since. read more

Many years ago, I was tempted once to pick up a gun and fight for what I believed in. It was 1936, and I was on my way to Oxford University on a fellowship to get my doctorate. During the sea voyage – there were no trans-Atlantic fights then – the ship’s radio announced that Francisco Franco had launched a military attack on the Popular Front, which had come to power the previous February.

Before enrolling in Oxford, I went to Spain, and discovered that the Front had established, here and there, non-hierarchical communal settlements. In Madrid, I stayed at the People’s University and was much impressed by the people I met. But soon, Franco’s soldiers advanced toward the city. I considered joining the resistance. If my friends were going to die, I was ready, too. Who knew what the outcome would be. Maybe, with the help of the Communists, who had mostly come from other countries to support this people’s republic, we would win! read more

On June 5, between 12,000 and 15,000 protesters marched from the Washington, DC, Veterans Memorial Wall to the Pentagon, calling for an end to the bombing of Yugoslavia and nearby areas. But neither the Washington Post nor the New York Times carried a word about it. On the other hand, C-SPAN broadcast everything.

Reaching DC on the evening of June 3, I learned that 25 people had committed civil disobedience (CD) at the White House that day, including Bishop Thomas Gumbleton and Rev. John Dear, executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. I couldn’t be there because I’d been meeting Vermont high school students who, among other things, had eagerly asked my wife Elizabeth and me about the gains that could be made with increased CD. On Friday, June 4, however, I discovered that no CD was planned for the weekend. read more

To the Readers:

When I was in Japan last December at the invitation of the recent publisher of my book, From Yale to Jail, in Japanese, I met a number of nonviolent activists who are opposed to the extremes of wealth and poverty in both Japan and the US. Many of them want to do away with the US military installations in Okinawa. They want a Peace and Friendship Pact instead of the current military treaty. As a step in this direction, they proposed that a White Ship would come to the US filled with Japanese who want to get to know their counterparts and explore ways of working together for an improved world in which human rights, economic justice, and environmental sanity will be primary. read more