Alternative Insight
A Life to Remember - Memory of Concepcion Picciotto
President Barack Obama has lost his closest neighbor and must know it -he can see the tent where Concepcion Picciotto staged her 30+ year vigil and protested the MAD policies of mutually assured destruction, counterproductive foreign intervention, and misdirected support for Israel. For decades the "little giant" camped at the foot of Lafayette Park, across the street from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and suffered cold, hunger, wind, rain, snow and indignities while challenging the powers to stop the destruction and bring peace and security. Here is a legacy that must not be lost and an encampment that must remain to continually serve the causes of peace and justice.
The Spanish born woman joined pacifist William Thomas in the early 1980s and, after Thomas' death in 2009, succeeded in accomplishing the longest continuous act of political protest in the United States, by far. Her principal message, "Live by the bomb, die by the bomb," said enough. Concepcion Picciotto may not have been nearly as famous as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela, but to those who knew her she deserves a place in the hallway of heroes, together with others who fought indomitably for peace and justice.
By her efforts, Concepcion elevated the moral imperative to its highest level, redefined the meaning of courage and left a legacy of nobility and self-sacrifice that is not easily surpassed. In doing that, she exposed the difficulties in changing an oppressive system and acquiring sufficient support for those who sacrifice all to protect and liberate others. Despite her fervent protests directly in front of the White House, where most Americans pass once in a lifetime, Concepcion's activities have not deterred the United States from its destiny with a nuclear holocaust. Never, since World War II has the world looked more dangerous.
From observations, in her later years, smaller percentages of White House visitors directly engaged those manning the protest tent. Conversations with Concepcion revealed a slight bitterness in the realization that her years of dedication and sacrifice had not suceeded in sufficiently alerting the American people to press their government into making the extensive foreign policy changes she anticipated. Nor had she received the support she deserved. A small coterie of allies fed her, clothed her, provided legal and moral support, but the vast numbers of progressive organizations and activists did little to assist her efforts. Money, publicity, more relief for her to sleep, eat, and rest, and ways for an extensive public to hear her pleas would have been helpful. Why that never happened could be due to her own intransigence, her difficulties in compromising, and to her emphasis on Israel's oppression of the Palestinians, which extended to attacks on Zionism and led to interpretations of severe resentment of Jewish people. The latter positions distracted from concentration on the original message -- stopping the trajectory toward a nuclear nightmare -- and led to her becoming alienated from those who felt her charges against Israel and the Jewish people had gone beyond reasonable acceptance. In Concepcion's defense, her inclusion of the Middle East crisis into the protest has a relation -- eventual use of nuclear weapons in the conflict has a high probability -- either Israel's ardent antagonists might see it as the only means to defeat their enemy or conversely, if push comes to shove and Israel has no way out, the IDF may perceive nuclear weapons as a legitimate defense.
Although speculative, another reason for the disarmament movement's detachment from Concepcion could be due to her lack of an identifiable organization, no influence, and no power. Helping her meant sacrificing ones own time and funds without receiving anything in return - the depressing behavior of many "progressive" organizations and persons. This was emphasized at the memorial service for Concepcion Picciotto at a Washington, D.C. Lutheran Church on February 28, 2016. Relatively few major peace organizations and well known peace activists persons came to offer their condolences. A few hundred followers, most of whom had the appearance of having suffered from the constant wars against war, attended and offered their salutations and remembrances.
The protest continues with Concepcion's followers manning the tent and remaining as President Obama's neighbors. Considering the strategic location of this protest, in front of the White House and before multitudes of individuals -- Americans and foreigners -- who pass by daily, the nuclear disarmament movement would greatly benefit if those who now occupy the location and the many peace groups who agree with the message cooperated and allied to upgrade the site, making it more interesting, more stimulating, more inviting, and more informative. Concepcion Picciotto's personal sacrifice and personal victory is best recognized by having her legacy stimulate a worldwide sacrifice and enable an international victory that reduces nuclear arms to zero size and raises peace and security to the ultimate level. .
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march 2016HOME PAGE MAIN PAGE 
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