Advocacy and Protest

A little over a week ago I went to Toronto with a small Christian group (Micah Challenge) to be witness to the people at the G20. We walked with other nonviolent protesters in the People's March. However, the news was dominated by anarchists burning police cars and smashing windows. How can we, as nonviolent people, get the medias attention over such chaos?

Two movements I have studied extensively include the Civil Rights movement in America, and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. Both movements had been plagued with violence, but nonviolence made the difference. Also, when people marched, they marched for the same reason. In Toronto, everyone wanted something different done. Some people wanted the oil spill cleaned up. Some people wanted fulfilment of promises concerning the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals). Some wanted socialism. Still others wanted all of the above. It's easy to ignore a crowd of people shouting different things. Effective advocacy and protest must have a unified voice.

We talked in our group about what it means to have Christian advocacy. But I'd like to rephrase this as, what does it mean, today, to have interfaith advocacy? How do we overcome all the hate and violence? Maybe even, is it our duty?