Benny has just returned to the UK after his latest trip to the US visiting Boston, New York and Washington D.C.
In Boston he was invited to study at the world renowned Fletcher Summer Institute for the Advanced Study of Nonviolent Conflict (FSI). This the only executive education program in the advanced, interdisciplinary study of nonviolent conflict, taught by leading scholars and practitioners of strategic nonviolent action and authorities from related fields.
He met figures including Rev James Lawson, former leader of the US civil right movement and Mkhuseli ‘Khusta’ Jack, former leader of Anti Apartheid Movement in South Africa. “People all round the world have to turn their lens to the abuses committed by the Indonesian authorities in West Papua” said Khusta. “They have to hear the cries of the West Papuan people for self-determination.”
Rev. Lawson also had some advice for the West Papuans. The key to any successful civil resistance struggle is fierce discipline, rigorous planning and strategy. Exhibiting the qualities of the respected pastor he is, Rev. Lawson took Wenda by the hands and told him that “the power of life in you that makes you strong is the power of God, the power of truth. Be strong. Be courageous. Organise the struggle. You are on the side of history and truth.”
