6-17-05,9:30am

Brook Shelby Biggs, Brave Hearts – Rebel Spirits A Spiritual Activists Handbook, Anita Roddick Publications, Ltd, 2003.

This book is a collection of 33 short biographies about the lives and actions of people who are deeply committed in changing the world. As the cover of the book states ”You know the names of Martin Luther King, Jr., Mohandas Gandhi, Nelson Mandela.” Yet it questions the reader “but have you ever heard of Roy Bourgeois, Neta Golan, or Sulak Sivaraksa?” There are many brave men and women who are activists and continue in the tradition of faith-based activism.

This book profiles members of the Communist Party – USA. It includes spiritual activists who fight hard on issues from gay rights, environment, peace workers, child advocacy and land reformers. All of these people live in the tradition of faith-based activism. They are Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Wiccans, Baha’is and Hindus. They are ordinary people like you and I, ordinary people who are able to do extraordinary things. Some of the lives profiled in this collection will be more familiar than others. All of the lives of these “brave-hearts” are moving. This book features Mother Jones the famous labor agitator, Cesar Chavez, who founded the United Farm Workers, Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic Worker Movement, and Roy Bourgeois who founded the School of the Americas Watch.

Many activists featured work for the rights of aboriginal peoples, from the United States and Australia. It features Trident Ploughshares, which is a British interfaith Peace Activist group. I learnt about the heroic sacrifices of Janusz Korczak who during the Nazi invasion of Poland refused to abandon the children left in his care at his orphanage.

It featured others that are not as well knows such as A.J. Muste, called the “American Gandhi” who not only was a labor leader but was a Quaker and a member of the Communist Party – USA. Bayard Rustin was another Party member, Quaker and openly gay. He was a civil rights activist who worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. It features Neta Golan, an Israeli citizen, who stands between Palestinians and bullets, and shouts down, in Hebrew, armed Israeli military. When asked if she was suicidal or had a death wish, she replied “no” but continued that someone has to do something to end the violence. She and other Israeli activists, work hard to end discrimination and segregation in Israel.

This book calls these brave hearts “modern-day prophets of change” and indeed they are. This book is a great inspiration to all of us to live up to our ideals and to strive to make a positive change in our world.