Milan Morning

The snow covers not only the heap of trash in the side yard, but seems to dust the inside of my room—I wake up chilled and drowsy and stumble downstairs for a cappuccino and a chocolate croissant. I spend the morning emailing and doing work, attempting to debug our local coordinators listserve and writing letters.

At noon we lunch on bouillon and salad and Costanzo and I have a long conversation about genetically modified food, Jewish chicken soup, and healthy eating. Then Grandmother Sarah, Liz, and I talk about indigenous rights, and how white people from the USA should refer to themselves, and the problems with the misuse of land and the void of spirituality (not religion) from politics, and the multiple definitions of politics. I talk about what I see as the real meaning of “politics”: the communication and negotiation between individuals who comprise a community to meet the needs of each and the needs of the whole, with the recognition that these needs are not separate from the perceived “environment,” that as we are the earth, we are living symbiotically with each part of it.

By three we have reached the Milan Peace House, where we will give a 3-hour presentation. The Peace House was built by the city government to house offices, meeting space, and an art gallery for peace endeavors. It is a beautiful building that makes me think about our own Department of Peace movement in the US. Because of the snowy weather conditions, people are slow to arrive, and the group is smaller than expected. I am reminded of our March 8th Activist Training Camp in NYC, especially when Liz speaks about the importance of quality, not quantity. For some reason, after sitting in the overcrowded room in Udine for two days, the small group seems perfect. On each chair there is a postcard talking about Stan Tookie William’s case and on the back is a letter to Schwarzenegger asking for Stan to be pardoned. I am so impressed that Milan has taken on this campaign—I learn that Milan has been a center for the anti-death penalty movement in Italy, so it is natural for them to take interest in this case. I meet Luca, a spiritual progressive from the north. Grandmother Sarah opens the gathering with sage smudging and large eagle feathers. It is a very beautiful and touching experience.