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White to move and mate in two #714 - Building a Movement to End The New Jim Crow [1]
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Date: 2025-09-04
… Rather than seeing power as flowing from violence or exploitation, groups come to see that power flows through relationships and that we surrender our power whenever we remain complicit in unjust relationships.
A campaign from the 1970s illustrates this. The US government was sending weapons to Pakistani dictator Yahya Khan that were used to murder the people of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). In an attempted genocide, nearly 3 million East Pakistanis were killed. A group of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Quakers wanted to make a difference. When they found out that some of the arms shipments were loaded from local Philadelphia ports, they picked a dramatic action to stop the flow of weapons: a naval blockade! For a month, they publicly practiced “naval maneuvers” in canoes and kayaks in front of TV cameras. Some days had themes—religious leaders, kids, elders—all leading up to the arrival of the gigantic multistory freighter ships bound for Pakistan.
When the first ship arrived, the group jumped into the water with their canoes and paddle boats. The coast guard immediately pulled them out, as camera operators angled for the best picture. Over the next weeks, they played a cat-and-mouse game, as the freighters tried to avoid the public spotlight by changing their arrival times or rerouting to Baltimore, Maryland or New York City. But an important group of people was watching the unfolding storyline on TV: the longshoremen employed to load the ships.
The Quakers went to bars and met with them. The longshoremen were struck by their sincerity and the sense that this was a historic moment. The Philadelphia union agreed to refuse to load armaments headed to Pakistan. It was the beginning of the end.
Philly longshoremen convinced the national union to cease loading any military shipments to Pakistan. With that crucial pillar of support removed, the government couldn’t use any port on the East Coast to send arms. … Soon after, the federal government announced it would no longer support the dictator (and, unsurprisingly, did not mention the activists’ role).14
14. Richard K. Taylor, Blockade! A Guide to Non-Violent Intervention (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1977).
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