Thursday 4 June 2009

Message from the President

June 4, 2009

Dear Unitarian and Unitarian Universalist Friends around the globe,

How many of us are willing to put our health and our lives on the line for what we believe?  This past month I have grown ever more admiring of our friend and colleague Olga Flores as her friends in Bolivia.  Their hunger strike has entered its fifth week and they face the daunting decision to continue until death or not.  (Details elsewhere in this blog) I can only stand back in wonder at their persistence, their faithfulness and their courage.

Whatever their choice, I offer my complete support for them and pray for a good outcome.  I hope they survive this ordeal.  My belief in their struggle and my respect for them as women and activists will not diminish in any way should they choose to live and continue to fight for human rights in some other manner.

On this 20th anniversary of the massacre in Tiananmen Square, I am reminded that the struggle for human worth and dignity is an ongoing global concern.  May Olga Flores, her colleagues and all rights activists in this world remind us to live our faith and our principles as best we can every day.  They are beacons for us all.

Rev. Brian Kiely
President
International Council of Unitarians and Universalists

No comments: