Profile

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Building bridges across political divides

Parker Palmer writes (on Facebook):

Joan Blades is co-founder and co-chair of the well-known political organization MoveOn, which promotes liberal and progressive causes. Some people (and I’m one of them) are grateful for MoveOn. Some are not. But this post is not about taking political sides. It’s about building bridges across political divides.

Joan has launched a new project I’m excited about. Called “Living Room Conversations”, its purpose is to foster civil discourse between folks who differ politically and help them make common cause.

Want to see something hopeful? Check out the conversation. You’ll see and hear a dialogue between Joan and Mark Meckler, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots: two people who are poles apart politically, but who found overlapping concerns and mutual respect through this project.

The site is full of resources for starting your own Living Room Conversations with family members, neighbors, colleagues and friends. This kind of conversation can help “We the People” overcome our divisions and become a political power again—the power on which American democracy depends.

Joan and her colleagues are “putting wheels” on some of the things I wrote about in “Healing the Heart of Democracy”. So I’m very grateful for Joan’s endorsement of the book, which you can learn more about at the site below:

“Can we keep our sights on the vision of what we aspire to be while working constructively to transform realities that do not yet fulfill that vision? How do we remain ‘open hearted’ so that we can engage creatively with citizens who hold different views of the challenges we face? ‘Healing the Heart of Democracy’ asks these necessary questions and inspires us to answer.” — Joan Blades

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Quaker Peacemakers Project: Joey Rodger

Joey RodgerJoey Rodger serves as the Acting Executive Director and Co-founder of PeaceAble Cities: Evanston, is a Chaplain with the Evanston Police Department, and actively represents Friends in local interfaith efforts. She moved to Evanston 25 years ago to work as an executive for public library organizations, and following her retirement from librarianship, her commitment to peace and justice – nurtured by 40 years as a Quaker – led her to help found PeaceAble Cities: Evanston. Joey deeply believes “we are all meant to live together with respect and a graciousness toward the possibility that we can work together to create a richly diverse city completely free of violence.”

Click the play button below to hear Joey’s reflections on peacemaking.

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The Peace Resources Committee interviewed Joey alongside Sara Gmitter and Elizabeth Mertic in front of a live participatory audience at Evanston Monthly Meeting in November 2012. Listen in to hear her explorations of peacemaking today, peacemaking as strategy as well as leading, collaboration, discomfort, exploration, joy and focus towards peacemaking as the priority. Joey truly lives for peace. Reflecting on the theory of change presented by James Gillian in his book Preventing Violence, she has strong words for Friends truly committed to peace: “you can actually make a difference.”

Click here to learn more about the Quaker Peacemakers Archive Project where you can nominate Friends in Illinois Yearly Meeting you think should be included in this effort. The project aims to compile and preserve an oral history of Friends whose contributions to peace building offer wonderful opportunities for reflection. As Friends tell their stories in their own words, these recordings will capture and preserve unique and inspired personal acts and thoughts which enrich our Yearly Meeting.

Music: “Sunset Drama King” by The Appleseed Cast (Low Level Owl: Volume 2, 2000)

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Quaker Peacemakers Project: Sara Gmitter

Sara GmitterSara Gmitter began attending at Evanston Monthly Meeting four years ago, and today considers herself a convinced Friend. As a playwright and an educator, she spent 12 years as a member of the Lookingglass Theatre company, is a founding member of New Suit Theatre Company, teaches stage management at Northwestern University, and has also taught beginning Circus Arts for the Lookingglass Young Ensemble. In 2008 Sara participated in a workcamp sponsored by the African Great Lakes Initiative at the Mutaho Widows Association in Burundi. In the spring of 2009 she worked with David Kersnar and the Lookingglass Young Ensemble to create Waging Peace an original play about conflict resolution. Sara attended the University for Peace in Costa Rica where she earned her Masters degree in Peace Education.

Click the play button below to hear Sara’s reflections on peacemaking.

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The Peace Resources Committee interviewed Sara alongside Elizabeth Mertic and Joey Rodger in front of a live participatory audience at Evanston Monthly Meeting in November 2012. Listen in to hear her reflections on peacemaking today, daily habits that inspire her as a peacemaker, her understanding of today’s culture of violence and how we can all work towards the creation of “a culture of peace.”

Click here to learn more about the Quaker Peacemakers Archive Project where you can nominate Friends in Illinois Yearly Meeting you think should be included in this effort. The project aims to compile and preserve an oral history of Friends whose contributions to peace building offer wonderful opportunities for reflection. As Friends tell their stories in their own words, these recordings will capture and preserve unique and inspired personal acts and thoughts which enrich our Yearly Meeting.

Music: “The Waking of Pertelotte” by The Appleseed Cast (Low Level Owl: Volume 1, 2000)

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Who inspires you?

Quaker Voluntary Service grew out of the leading of young adult Friends to reclaim Quaker Service for our time. Though the model is different from previous incarnations of Quaker service and witness, QVS has directly benefitted from earlier generations and honors these stories. And those Quakers of earlier generations, who gave of their gifts to make this world more peaceful and just, continue to inspire. They served through Civilian Public Service (CPS), through Quaker work camps, through American Friends Service Committee and other relief efforts after wars and disasters, through Alternative Service programs for Conscientious Objectors, and in numerous other ways. Many of them are the models we think of when we aspire to rekindle that spirit and commitment to transformative Quaker service as envisioned by Quaker Voluntary Service.

As Quaker Voluntary Service offers new generations of young adults the opportunity to contribute to the expansive work for change, QVS wants to highlight the stories of those who have come before us. This is just the beginning of these efforts, but there is hope you will read these incredible stories and share with QVS others that you may know.

If you would like to contribute a story of Quaker service to this collection, please email: stories@quakervoluntaryservice.org.

Click here to read this beautiful collection of Quaker Service Testimonies.

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Ex-Virginia executioner becomes opponent of death penalty

Jerry Givens’ improbable journey to the death chamber and back did not come easily or quickly for the 60-year-old from Richmond. A searing murder spurred his interest in the work, but it was the innocent life he nearly took that led him to question the system. And he was changed for good when he found himself behind bars.

His story helps explain how a state closely associated with the death penalty for decades has entered a new era.

“From the 62 lives I took, I learned a lot,” Givens said.

Click here to read the full article.

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Tales, Adventures, and Reflections of a Quaker Activist

Daughter Do Mi (Barbie) Stauber wrote to ILYM and shared –

I’d like to let you know about a new book by a Quaker author formerly of Illinois Yearly Meeting:

Feeling Light Within, I Walk: Tales, Adventures, and Reflections of a Quaker Activist

Peg Morton was a member of Illinois Yearly Meeting from 1965 to 1989. She has published articles in Friends Journal and is the author of a Pendle Hill pamphlet, Walk With Me: Nonviolent Accompaniment in Guatemala. She is an activist who has spent her life working in the civil rights, war tax resistance, Latin America solidarity, and peace movements. She went to prison at age 73 for civil disobedience at the School of the Americas. Peg has written of a life that spans eighty-two years, fueled by a deeply spiritual commitment to raise her voice in nonviolent protest against war and injustice everywhere, and give voice to those who have none.

Peg has many wonderful memories of IYM and sends her love and greetings to all!

Feeling Light Within is available from Quakerbooks.org, or directly from the author: send $15.00 plus $3.50 s/h to Cedar Row Press, 2809 Shirley St., Eugene, OR 97404. Peg’s website Feelinglightwithin.com will accomodate online ordering soon!

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Interview with Dr. Zahir Wahab

Windows and Mirrors: Reflections on the War in Afghanistan is a traveling mural exhibit that makes a powerful statement on a nearly invisible reality.

The exhibit consists of more than 45 large scale paintings by artists from all over the country that memorialize Afghan civilian casualties. The exhibit also includes images collected from Afghan high school students by Dr. Zahir Wahab, a professor at Lewis and Clark College, who asked young Afghans to draw images from their daily reality.

It was in June 2011, while teaching in Kabul, Professor Zaher Wahab asked Afghan High School students – boys and girls – to draw pictures of their experience with war. These powerful images have been incorporated into the traveling mural exhibit.

Click here to read an interview where Wahab discusses why Americans need a visual reminder of the war in Afghanistan, now the longest war in U.S. history.

Click here to see the exhibition tour schedule.

Click here to explore the exhibition artwork.

Click here to read more about this AFSC project.

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A CALL TO ACTION CONCERNING SHAKIR HAMOODI

Guest Author: David Finke

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Will you please take 5 minutes to help free a peacemaker from unjust imprisonment?

Shakir Hamoodi — a beloved businessman and father of five, well-known to Columbians as a committed bridge-builder between different faiths and cultures — has been locked up in federal prison since August 28th, on a 3-year sentence which we all had expected would be probation according to plea negotiations. He was convicted of violating sanctions during the 1990s by sending money to family members in Iraq when he heard of their dire suffering: we are calling it a “Crime of Compassion.”

Here in Columbia we have seen an outpouring of letters, favorable editorials, public meetings, celebratory dinners, all in tribute to Shakir’s leadership among us, in baffled outrage at the draconian sentence, and with compassion for his stellar family. I am part of a group working with a pro bono attorney who filed a 5-inch-thick set of documents officially petitioning President Obama for executive clemency to commute Dr. Hamoodi’s sentence. I have studied and summarized 60 letters attesting to Shakir’s character and contributions (and could copy you on request). There were even more letters from Iraqis whose family members’ lives were saved due to his selfless act, on which he kept meticulous records. Click here to read David’s August 2012 post on this blog regarding Dr. Hamoodi’s case.

Now, in the next two weeks, we have a window of opportunity to try to get the President’s attention to act on humanitarian grounds to mitigate this injustice which we feel has been done. I’ve been in personal communication with a staff member of now-reelected Missouri senator, Claire McCaskill, to set up a meeting with her to urge her to personally intercede with the President.

Here’s where you can help:

First, read a quick summary of the case and circumstances at the website established by Shakir’s eldest son: www.helphamoodi.org. There is a link there to add your name to the nearly 7,000 others asking the President for clemency.

But we know that this alone — and even the excellent set of documents which we’ve conveyed to “The Pardon Attorney” at the White House, plus two Senators’ staffers — will not suffice to get positive action. NOW: We need a flood of phone calls, faxes, messages on Senatorial websites, and office visits to show our senators that this is worthy of their attention, and invite (urge, demand, plead) that they bring this to Obama’s awareness. Senators listen to constituents: YOU.

If you have only 5 minutes or fewer, I urge you to pick up the phone and call McCaskill if you’re in Missouri, Durbin if you’re in Illinois, and Gillibrand if you’re in New York or anywhere else in the country*. Tell them that you’ve become aware of a situation crying out for Executive Clemency, and urge the Senator to intervene on behalf of justice and human decency. You can offer weblink resources if you wish (“helphamoodi” is an easy one to remember); you can ask for a report back as to what the staffer finds. Phone numbers are at the end of this memo.

Another means of contact is the official website for each Senator. I have found that constituents’ comments there get more response than e-mails, and are far more effective than just adding yet another name to a petition (though that’s important too, to keep building the numbers); I urge you to send letters by FAX as well. If you are able, I recommend a visit to your local Senatorial office, possibly with a delegation of 2 or 3 others with this concern.

I mentioned “the next two weeks” because the Christmas-New Year period is one in which pardons and commutations are traditionally given (though possible at any time). This may be our best opportunity until next year at this time, and we are determined to not let Shakir suffer more time locked away from family, if humanly possible.

I also welcome you sharing this information with a personal note on any of your social media, and announcing in your Friends Meeting or elsewhere. Thank you for reading and considering this. I commend it to your heart.

In peace and love,
-DHF

*We mention Senator Gillibrand because we learned that a staffer in her NYC office saw Glen Greenwald’s article about Shakir in The Guardian, and has possibly brought it to her attention. We now have a direct contact with Gillibrand’s office, and are urging her to work with Claire to present this concern to the President. You could show concern beyond her direct constituency by urging her favorable action.

RESOURCES:
There was also excellent coverage in Newsweek’s online journal.
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I. Senatorial office telephones

Sen. Claire McCaskill:
Washington, DC Telephone 202-224-6154
Columbia, MO 573-442-7130
St. Louis, MO 314-367-1364

Sen. Dick Durbin:
Washington, DC Telephone 202-224-2152
Chicago, IL 312-353-4952
Carbondale, IL 618-351-1122

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand:
Washington, DC Telephone 202-224-4451

II. Senatorial fax numbers

McCaskill: Washington, DC 202-228-6326
Columbia, MO 573-442-7140
St. Louis, MO 314-361-8649

Durbin: Washington, DC 202-228-0400
Chicago, IL 312-353-0150
Carbondale, IL 618-351-1124

Gillibrand: Washington, DC 202-228-0282

III. Senatorial websites for comments:

McCaskill: www.mccaskill.senate.gov/contact/
Durbin: www.durbin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact
Gillibrand: www.gillibrand.senate.gov/contact/

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Doing Time for Peace: Resistance, Family, and Community

The North Shore Coalition for Peace, Justice, and the Environment Cordially invites all to celebrate a book launch and signing of Rosalie Riegle’s new oral history…

Doing Time for Peace: Resistance, Family, and Community

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WHEN:
Saturday, December 1, 2012 from 3:00 to 5:00
Refreshments served.

WHERE:
Curt’s Café, 2922 Central Street in Evanston. (Near Lincolnwood.) Take Bus 201 from the Purple Line Davis Street stop. Curt’s Café provides training to Evanston’s at-risk youth in both food service and life.

WHAT:
In this compelling collection of oral histories, more than seventy-five peacemakers describe how they say no to war-making in the strongest way possible—by engaging in civil disobedience and paying the consequences in jail or prison or by “doing their time” at home while their loved ones are incarcerated.

Included in the book are interviews by Kathy Kelly, Mike and Nettie Cullen of the Milwaukee 14, John Dear, SJ, the Berrigan children, Brad Lyttle, Mike Giocondo of the Camden 28, and many more. A short program will introduce the book.

MORE ABOUT ROSIE:
Born to a political family from Flint, Michigan, Rosalie Riegle has been drifting to the left ever since she met Catholic Worker co-founder Dorothy Day in 1968. Prior to that, she was a typical Catholic woman, graduating from St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, marrying after a short career in retail, and birthing four daughters. She says Dorothy Day changed her life. “I became active in nonviolent resistance to the Vietnam War and helped to found the Saginaw Valley Peace Watch in Saginaw, Michigan, where I lived for forty years. Oh, those were the days! We were certain our vigils and rallies and visits to the draft board would make a difference, and eventually they did, as the mighty chorus of the antiwar movement helped to end a needless and devastating war. I wish I could regain the hope of those heady years.” Click here to read more…

TO PURCHASE THE BOOK:
You can order “Doing Time for Peace: Resistance, Family, and Community” on Amazon.

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Quaker Peacemakers Project: Dick Ashdown

Richard “Dick” Ashdown is a member of the Clear Creek Monthly Meeting and currently resides in the same house where he was born, just down the road from the ILYM Meetinghouse in McNabb, Illinois. Dick has been a trustee of the yearly meeting since 1966. He spent six years overseas teaching as a civilian employee of the US government of a total 16 years teaching, then went on to sell insurance for almost 30 years. Today he is retired, working with timber and machinery most mornings. He has recently returned to flying his plane, often taking aerial photographs to assess crop damage for area farmers.

Click here to hear Dick’s reflections on peacemaking.

The Peace Resources Committee interviewed Dick in front of a live participatory audience at the 2012 Annual Sessions of Illinois Yearly Meeting. Listen in to hear his reflections on going to war, protecting freedom, being raised during WWII, the role of the military, teaching overseas in service, being raised in McNabb, farm life, the definition of community, how Quaker process is present throughout his life, and his love of nature. In 2011 Dick presented the annual Jonathan W. Plummer Lecture, which can be read here.

Click here to learn more about the Quaker Peacemakers Archive Project where you can nominate Friends in Illinois Yearly Meeting you think should be included in this effort. The project aims to compile and preserve an oral history of Friends whose contributions to peace building offer wonderful opportunities for reflection. As Friends tell their stories in their own words, these recordings will capture and preserve unique and inspired personal acts and thoughts which enrich our Yearly Meeting.

Music: “The Sun is Rising” by Longital (Gloria, 2008)