In September 2022, World BEYOND War will be holding a
weekly discussion each of four weeks of I Refuse to
Kill: My Path to Nonviolent Action in the ’60s with
the author Francesco Da Vinci as part of a small group
WBW book club limited to a group of 18 participants.
Francesco will send each participant a signed hardback.
We'll let you know which parts of the book will be
discussed each week along with the Zoom details to
access the discussions.
SIGN
UP HERE.
When: For one hour on four
Thursdays, September 1, 8, 15, 22, 2022. The time is
28:00 UTC (similar to GMT), 8 am in Honolulu, 11 am in
Los Angeles, 1 pm in Mexico City, 2 pm in New York, 7 pm
in London, 9 pm in Moscow, etc.
Where: Zoom
(details to be shared upon registration)
This is a small group series with limited space of up
to 18 people. Sign up to reserve your spot and allow for
enough time to receive the book. We look forward to
reading and discussing this important book with you!
REGISTER
HERE.
Francesco with Cesar
Chavez.
About the Book:
Threatened with a 5-year prison term, Francesco Da
Vinci struggles with his Virginia draft board to be
recognized as a sincere conscientious objector to the
Vietnam War. Because of his controversial stand as a CO
and activist, Da Vinci experiences intense intolerance,
which spills over to his family and fiancée.
While his CO case is on appeal, Da Vinci forms a
peace group in San Diego called Nonviolent Action. The
peace group becomes a national movement, and its
campaign to help end the war reaches the halls of
Congress with the help of Sen. George McGovern.
You might ask, why now for a ‘60s memoir? The issues
raised in I Refuse to Kill are today’s top
issues - social justice, police brutality, government
surveillance, persecution of nonviolent activists, and
war versus the nonviolent resolution of conflict.
The contributions of COs and sixties activists have
been largely omitted from our history or flagrantly
distorted for political reasons. I Refuse
to Kill sets the record
straight.
SAVE
YOUR SPOT NOW.
Reviews:
"Francesco Da Vinci's I Refuse to Kill will
inspire and move you deeply. This amazing true story
confirms that one person, acting with courage and
conviction, can successfully oppose war and help change
a part of history." - Peter
Yarrow, Peter, Paul &
Mary
"If there is a saving grace in the sordid record of
atrocities in Indochina, it is in the conscientious
refusal of young men to serve in a criminal war.
Francesco Da Vinci's pioneering role in this courageous
course is an inspiration for all of us." - Noam
Chomsky, Historian
"Francesco Da Vinci's story is the testament of a
brave activist risking his own freedom to ensure the
humanity and dignity of others. May this book embolden
people to oppose war and violence, and muster the
courage to test new alternatives. -
Joyce Ajlouny,
General Secretary, American Friends Service Committee
"It is time that the people of this country are more
offended by war and more encouraging of peace and
conscientious objection. Da Vinci's eye-opening book is
an important step toward that end." -
Ed Asner,
Actor
"Mr. Da Vinci's story of resistance, in which he
risked everything for his moral convictions, could not
be more timely as the US continues to be mired in
numerous, seemingly endless, and equally senseless wars
of choice." - Daniel
Kovalik, author of No More
War
"As a veteran of the Iraq War, I wish I had summoned
up the same courage Francesco Da Vinci showed in
opposing the Vietnam war. I Refuse To Kill is
more than a memoir; it is a guide book on how to stand
by our convictions for peace no matter what the odds."-
Garett Reppenhagen Executive
Director - Veterans For Peace
"Francesco Da Vinci has written a book which should
be read by all people who populate the Department of
'Defense' and all in the military-industrial complex." -
Helen Caldicott,
Physician
GET
IN ON THIS BOOK CLUB: CLICK HERE.
From a Review by David Swanson:
The book is based on journals the author kept from
1960 to 1971, with a big focus on his attempt to gain
recognition as a conscientious objector. The book is a
personal memoir overlapping the big events of the ’60s,
the peace rallies, the elections, the assassinations. In
that regard it’s like an enormous pile of other books.
But this one rises above in informing and entertaining,
and it grows more and more engaging as you read through
it.
That its lessons are badly needed today is
highlighted, I think, by the opening scene in which the
author and a friend yell down from a hotel window at
President Kennedy’s inauguration parade and Kennedy
smiles up and waves to them. It occurred to me that
nowadays — and only in small part because of what later
happened to Kennedy — those young men might have gotten
themselves shot or at least “detained.” I was also
struck by how much the later murder of Bobby Kennedy
mattered, by the fact that who won an election to the
White House could actually determine U.S. foreign policy
in a major way — which perhaps explains why people back
then risked their lives to vote (as well as why many now
yawn thrrough each successive “most important election
of our lifetime”).
On the other hand, John Kennedy had tanks and a
missile in his parade — things nowadays deemed too crass
for anyone but Donald Trump. There’s been progress as
well as regression since the 1960s, but the powerful
message of the book is the value of taking a principled
stand and doing everything one can, and being satisfied
with what comes as a result of that.
Da Vinci faced pushback against his stand as a
conscientious objector from his family, girlfriend,
friends, teachers, lawyers, the draft board, a college
that expelled him, and the FBI, among others. But he
took the stand he thought would do the most good, and he
did what else he could to try to end the war on
Southeast Asia. As in almost every such story of
rebellion against norms, Da Vinci had been exposed to
more than one country. In particular, he had seen the
opposition to the war in Europe. And, as in almost every
such story, he’d had models and influencers, and for
some reason chose to follow those models while most
people around him did not.
Eventually, Da Vinci was organizing peace actions
like asking an aircraft carrier not to go to Vietnam
(and organizing a city-wide vote on the question in San
Diego):
Da Vinci worked with many veterans of the war he was
trying to conscientiously object to. One of them told
him, as he records the conversation: “When I signed up,
I bought the bunk that we were in ‘Nam to fight the
Commies. But after I was in, I figured we weren’t really
protecting Saigon, we were settin’ it up so we could
control it and grab stuff like oil and tin along the
way. The brass and the government were using us big
time. It made me super bitter. Any little thing could
make me wanna freak out. I felt like I was heading for a
nervous breakdown. Yet, I was one of two guys
on my ship in charge of a nuclear key, which shows you
how bad the Navy’s judgment was! . . . They pick two
guys to wear keys that can activate the nukes. I wore it
around my neck day and night. Out of spite, I tried to
talk the other guy carrying a key to help me launch. I
didn’t want to hurt anyone. I just wanted to sabotage
the Navy. Pretty sick, I know. That’s when I told ’em
they’d better find someone else.”
If you’re keeping a list of known near misses with
nuclear weapons, add one. And consider that the suicide
rate in the U.S. military is probably higher now than it
was then.
REGISTER.
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