The Gunfighters is the cover story in this week's TIME Magazine Special Report.
In a way, these three U.S. politicians joined the Doukhobor movement. Their stance reflects the recent Gallup Polls showing that more than half of Americans support more strict gun laws for the first time in more than a decade.
Gunfighters usually means fighting with guns, but these are fighters against guns. This twist of meaning reminds me of how the Doukhobors changed their image by taking their given label of 'spirit-fighters / -wrestlers', intended to describe those who fight against the spirit, and redefined it to mean those who fight for the spirit in every human being.
In 1895 Doukhobors also became "gun fighters" for burning guns in three large bonfires near three clusters of their settlements scattered in the Southern Caucasus. At that time, as Koozma Tarasoff points out, Doukhobors transformed from sectarian religious groups into a social movement. Harsh punishment for their mass protest against weapons and war resulted in 8,400 (about 1/3 of the most persecuted) being resettled in Western Canada .
In blog Q53: Video about 1895 Burning of Arms?, Al Lebedoff proposed that a video be created and posted on the Internet to remind the world that Doukhobors burned guns as their 'special report' in their 'time'. He wants to remind the world that Doukhobors still sing songs and perform holiday memorials about that most significant period of their legacy for peace.
Using this media, Doukhobors can continue to recruit "gunfighters" via songs and gun burning performances to promote a non-killing culture around the world, one soul at a time.
More:
- Historic 1895 Burning of Guns Descriptions: Selections and translations, by Koozma J. Tarasoff, Spirit-Wrestlers.com, 2009, updated 2012.
- By Testing the Gun Lobby, Obama and Biden are Launching a Broader War on the Other Party, by Michael Scherer, TIME Magazine, Jan. 16, 2013.
- A History of Violence: Gun Control in the Pages of TIME — 18 cover stories since 1968.
That was MOST impressive writing!!!
ReplyDeleteSong attributing to a global peace culture was such a significant contibution to the world from our Doukhobor ancestors. Praises to Doukhobors.