Finding Our Voices

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty."
Edward R. Murrow

• Family and friends outside Dover Air Force Base … denied entry to meet the returning coffins of their sons and daughters, brothers or wives.
• Grandmothers, the parents of victims of September 11th 2001 … peacefully enduring arrest to stop a war they feel their lost children would never condone.
• Thousands of people 'armed' with peace signs, coffin replicas and flags … marching in protest in the streets of American cities, large and small.
• American diplomats … resigning their commissions in defense of an internationalist diplomacy no longer practiced by a country rapidly moving towards a new form of imperialism.
• A decorated soldier led away by military police to serve a year in prison … because he could no longer in conscience serve in a war he views as unjust.

These are images of dissent in the first years of the new century. But who are these people?  What motivates them, how do their public actions reflect their vision for their country and their world? While there are many issues at stake in an emerging progressive movement, none is more immediate or fraught with conflict than the U.S. at war. It divides the country, and many label those opposed to both the war in Iraq and some of the methods in the war on terror, as 'unpatriotic.' To challenge the dominant national view takes deep conviction and deeper courage. 

In FINDING OUR VOICES we celebrate the unsung heroes who dare to wage peace, people like:

Adele Welty, the mother of firefighter Timothy Welty who perished at the World Trade Center on September 11th 2001, is a member of September Eleventh Families For Peaceful Tomorrows. She has protested against the war in Iraq to prevent Timmy's legacy from being used to justify the killing of innocent civilians. Someone who was not an activist during his life, Adele now works for immigrant rights and lobbies Congress to end the war.

John Brady Kiesling is a U.S. diplomat who at the height of his successful 20-year career in the State Department publicly protested the invasion of Iraq and resigned in early 2003. He now speaks and writes about peaceful diplomatic solutions to international conflicts.

Gael Murphy, a progressive all her life, has lived, studied and worked around the world as a student, Peace Corps volunteer, and public health worker. Moved by meeting many Iraqis prior to the U.S. invasion, she became not only a dissenter against the conflict but an organizer for peace, co-founding the women-led activist group Code Pink, in November of 2002. She continues to co-lead that organization and serves on the steering committee of United For Peace and Justice.

Camilo Mejia, an immigrant from Nicaragua and Costa Rica, joined the Army for educational benefits and served 4 years active duty and 4 years as an Army Reservist. Decorated and promoted for previous service, during his duty in Iraq he was asked to abuse Iraqi prisoners, and refused. On leave he went AWOL rather than return to Iraq. Five months later he turned himself over to authorities to call attention to U.S. policies. At his court martial, he was not allowed to present the motivations for his actions in his defense. Camilo served 8 months of a year-long sentence in military prison in Oklahoma for desertion.

Reverend Graylan Hagler is Senior Minister at the Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, D.C. Since receiving a Master of Divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary, he has served in churches in Boston and Washington working for civil rights, peace and justice. He sees violence as more than just waging war, consequently as he has led protests against the conflict in Iraq, he has continued his efforts against the ongoing violence of poverty and for affordable housing. Rev. Hagler serves on many progressive boards including the steering committee of United For Peace and Justice and Witness for Peace.

FINDING OUR VOICES is a one-hour documentary that introduces the audience to these and other peaceful patriots who march, sacrifice their jobs, risk imprisonment, and face ridicule to act for a peaceful America. The film explores their causes and their lives, presenting their common convictions and their myriad diversity. We look at their dissent since the world-shattering events of September 11th 2001 and the U.S. invasion of Iraq, in the context of history, constitutional rights, and the changing face of law and policy; most importantly, we document their desire to create a better future for their children and grandchildren.

The film weaves together dramatic, hand-held, amateur street footage and personal stories and interviews, with news coverage of contemporary events. Our cameras capture intimate moments with a mother who lost her son in what she terms, "a worthless, senseless war that we are never going to win." We see activists demanding that members of Congress present truthful accounts of the situation in Iraq, and hear a passionate preacher reminding his congregation that the power of democracy lies in their hands. 

In a nation where almost half of the population questioned from the outset the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and wherein now more than half see it as wrong, it seems obvious that we should see, and hear the voices, of those who have publicly spoken and acted against that war.  FINDING OUR VOICES presents their story. From grandmothers to legislators, from soldiers to musicians, these activists for non-violence share a different way of being American. In a society that at best marginalizes dissent and at worst condemns it to ridicule and even active suppression, they pick up the banner of idealism. 

In FINDING OUR VOICES we raise their voices, to be heard by all of us living in times of conflict, and for the generations to come, reminding us that passion for justice and commitment to a cooperative and peaceful world is possible ... that any and all of us can wage peace.