“Quakers” – A New Relevance Via the Occupy Movement? Interview with Stephen Dotson, “Earth Quaker” and Activist

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As a byproduct of my travel to Philadelphia to celebrate July the 4^th and the Occupy encampment there, I made sure to meet today’s guest for “15 Minutes of Fact” – and I am glad I did.

I am speaking of Stephen Dotson, a person who brings a compelling, contemporary and unusual background and skill set to Occupy and the Occupy Movement.  A social networking and multimedia specialist, he is currently employed as Communications Director for the group WagingNonviolence.org and as Communications Specialist for Envision Peace Museum in Philadelphia, PA.

When we speak of “involvement,” we can use his life and work as a benchmark.

His background includes involvement in 99 Percent: The Occupy Wall St. Collaborative Film (http://www.99percentfilm.com/), the Earth Quaker Action Team (http://eqat.wordpress.com/), Quakers Uniting In Publications, and Midwives For Haiti. Additionally, he serves as an advisory board member for Swarthmore College’s Global Nonviolent Action Database (http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/), and as a trustee for Friends Publishing Corporation.

(It makes you wonder what he does in his spare time, wouldn’t you think?)

The Quakers are solidly in the corner of free speech and free assembly – and known for being contrarian.  Beginning from their roots in mid-17^th century England and largely transplanting themselves in the new world, they were distinguished for their “thee” and “thou’s,” refusal to participate in war, plain dress, refusal to swear oaths, and being teetotalers.

On the other hand, they also founded some of the banks with which Occupy – and Main Street – has many quarrels:  Barclays, Lloyds and Provident.  But then, they are famous for their anti-slavery and prison reform and social justice projects.

They also served as wonderful hosts of the July 4 Occupiers, providing much needed food, shelter and meeting space and even intervening when local authorities got too enthusiastic in “controlling” the Occupiers.

In this interview we discuss the relevance of religion to Occupy and protests in general, where he feels Occupy has succeeded…and failed, where he sees it going, what inspires his work, and his participation in “99 Percent: The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film.” (http://www.99percentfilm.com).  Oh, and his biggest concern?  Not the income gap – the “generational gap.”  Hmmmmm.

You can get in touch with or learn more about this extraordinary man, by email him at swillisdotson@gmail.com, at his website, (http://wagingnonviolence.org/), by way of the Envision Peace Museum (http://www.envisionpeacemuseum.org/), on LinkedIn as Stephen Dotson, n Twitter as  @wagingnv @envision_peace and @99_film, and, of course Facebook.