Gene Stoltzfus
Drawing upon his Mennonite roots in pacifism and conscientious objection, Stoltzfus played a critical role in the anti-war movement among American aid workers in Vietnam in the 1960s, and helped shape diverse efforts of the global peace and justice community over the next forty years.
As long-time director of CPT, he developed a practical vision of international justice-making through the use of grassroots faith-based peace teams, trained in the discipline of nonviolent direct action.
As the Vietnam War ground on, Stoltzfus's circle of colleagues became increasingly uncomfortable with the role of Western aid organizations and with the violent deaths of IVSers such as Peter Hunting.
[3] Stoltzfus and several colleagues dramatized their frustration by destroying their privileged "PX" cards used for purchasing goods from defense department-operated stores,[4] and voting down IVS acceptance of an offer for generous development funding from the Asia Foundation[5] (subsequently exposed in the US media in 1967 as a front organization for the CIA).
Employed for a time with the United Methodist Church, he worked to expose the existence of tiger cages at Côn Sơn Island prison, and later provided leadership for the Indochina Mobile Education Project, a photo exhibit which appeared in hundreds of public spaces across the country.
He served as a staffer on a U.S. congressional delegation to Vietnam in early 1975, helping to arrange for Bella Abzug, Pete McCloskey, and others to meet with Vietnamese civilians who had been directly affected by the war.
In 1988, for example, Stoltzfus was arrested, along with activist Kathy Kelly and 11 others, for singing Central America-theme Christmas carols in the shopping mall area of Chicago's Water Tower Place.
[13] Stoltzfus continued to travel internationally, serving on a delegation to Nicaragua that resulted in the formation in 1983 of Witness for Peace,[14] and returning to the Philippines to be present on the streets of Manila during the People Power Revolution of 1986.
