Steve Clemens

Steve Clemens's picture

Biography

About me

I'm a resident of Minneapolis and a peace and social justice activist. I'm a member of the Community of St. Martin and serve on the Boards of Pax Christi Twin Cities Area and the Iraqi/American Reconciliation Project (IARP). I also served as a member of the MN Peace Team during the RNC in 2008. I was part of the Iraq Peace Team in December 2002 and traveled to Afghanistan in March 2011 to plant trees for peace with the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers.

Personal Web site: 
Mennonista blog
Column: 
Mennonista

Diplomacy by Facebook: Day 3 in Iraq

By Steve Clemens, Mennonista

Sunday in Iraq is the beginning of the workweek so when we drove to the University of Kufa in the morning there was a myriad of students present. We met with Dr. Azar, a dermatologist I had met in Minneapolis when he was part of the inaugural Sister City delegation in 2009. He showed us his laser and UV equipment he uses in his practice and told us a lot about medical schools and research happening at the University which promises to be in on the cutting edge of graduate education in Iraq and ultimately in the Middle East. Later in the morning several of us were asked to do PowerPoint presentations about some of our work and passion in the Twin Cities. But what really grabbed me was the enthusiasm of the young students who are eager to meet us and share their dreams and goals.

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An Iraq the Tea Party would love: Day two back in Iraq

By Steve Clemens, Mennonista

I have to admit, the very sweet (hot) tea served in the tiny glass cups are a real treat even though I may regret the caffeine later tonight. So many families and individuals served me tea on my last sojourn to the Cradle of Civilization in 2002 that those precious memories are invoked every time I sip that hot, sweet beverage this week –although at the same time my heart breaks in not knowing how most of them survived during the war. One friend, a former teacher and an artist re-connected with me when she was able to be accepted as a refugee several years after the war exploded in her home town of Baghdad.

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Day One: Back in Iraq, 10 years later

By Steve Clemens, Mennonista

I had left Iraq just 3 months before the US war-of-choice began in March 2003. My experience with the Iraq Peace Team was powerful and life-changing because I was able to act on my faith rather than my fears. So this land between the Tigris and Euphrates has a special place in my heart.

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Receiving the Lifetime Peacemaking and Justice Award: "An encouragement to keep on"

By Steve Clemens, Mennonista

When Eric Hucke called me in July to inform me about this award, I went to the website to view the listing of past honorees.

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Why I march against the war in Afghanistan

By Steve Clemens, Mennonista

I stand before you today more in sadness than anger – although I have some of that as well.

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THREE ISSUES | Militarization, climate change, and marginalization

By Steve Clemens, TC Daily Planet

Minneapolis peace and justice activist Steve Clemens answers the question, "What are your top three issues for the present electoral season?"

Mine would be:

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The fraud of Voter ID: Suffraging in vain? Can we the governed give our consent?

By Steve Clemens, Mennonista

When one reflects on the suffering and endurance of Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King, and a myriad of others to secure the vote for women, blacks, and others marginalized at the ballot box, was it all for only a fleeting period of time?

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Reading Martin Luther King, Jr in jail: Inmate 00712398, Hennepin County ACF

By Steve Clemens, Mennonista

Because of my previous 10-day jail sentence for civil disobedience 10 years ago for protesting illegal indiscriminate weapons used in the early days of our (continuing) war on Afghanistan, I had some familiarity with the Hennepin County Adult Corrections Facility (AKA “The Workhouse”) in Plymouth, MN.

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Mennonista

The Sandusky verdict: A bittersweet sense of vindication

By Steve Clemens, Mennonista

When the guilty verdict came in on the sexual abuse trial of Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky I breathed a sigh of relief for the victims. As a survivor of sexual abuse over numerous months by my sixth grade teacher, Mr. John Stark, at the E.B.

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Choosing jail: Experimenting with redemptive suffering

By Steve Clemens, Mennonista

It was in reading Mohandas Gandhi that I first learned about his “experiments with truth” – a term he used in perfecting the tactics of nonviolent resistance to the apartheid regime in South Africa and the British colonial occupation of his homeland of India. Martin Luther King Jr.

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