Story of Peace

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Creating a Peace Budget

You are invited to a special meeting on forming a peace budget hosted by the Southern Illinois Peace Coalition and Southern Illinois Quaker Meeting –

Shaping a More Peaceful and Just Federal Budget:
A Conversation with Friends Committee on National Legislation Staff Katherine Philipson

When:
Tuesday, February 19, 2013 at 6:30 pm

Where:
Carbondale Civic Center Room 111

Why:
Starting at the end of February 2013, current law called the Budget Control Act automatically cuts both human needs programs and planned Pentagon growth. Members of Congress are talking with each other now about whether or not to reverse those cuts and how to curb the deficit instead. Our solution is simple don’t balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable. Instead, reduce planned Pentagon spending by $1 trillion over ten years and restore lost tax revenue.

As a leader in the Democratic Party and the new Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, Senator Durbin is one of the most influential members of Congress on this issue. When budget deals are reached, Senator Durbin is sure to be in the room. Please join Katherine to plan how we can encourage Senator Durbin to reduce unnecessary Pentagon spending and reinvest in true human security.

Sponsored by the Peace Coalition of Southern Illinois.

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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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Finnish Conscientious Objector Joonas Norrena

War Resisters’ International‘s database of prisoners for peace and conscientious objectors is part of the Right to Refuse to Kill programme. It keeps track of known prisoners for peace and conscientious objectors, and allows supporters to access information on conscientious objectors. It is also linked to War Resisters’ International’s co-alert system.

Click here to review a list of activists currently in prison, followed by the latest additions to the database.

A current campaign now requesting your attention is the recent sentencing of Joonas Norrena, a 20 year-old conscientious objector from Imatra, Finland. Joonas Norrena was sentenced to 179 days of home detention for “refusal of conscription” (asevelvollisuudesta kieltÃytyminen) on 26 November 2012 by Kymenlaakso district court. He had refused to do military service in July 2012 in Vekaranjärvi garrison in Southeastern Finland.

Click here to read more about his case and use the WRI interface to send a letter of concern.

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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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Is Violence our Religion? by Minga

What religion is most dominant in the world? Is Islam on the rise accompanied by its US shadow Islamaphobia? Is Christianity flying high with curving right wing? Is it atheism? Buddhism? No. Truthfully, it’s the religion of violence: our belief that war (with Afghanistan… Japan… Iran… or___ _blank) will bring peace.

I first understood this idea from Walter Wink, who died last year. He explains how Redemptive Violence is the dominant religion in our society. Redemptive Violence is the belief that when someone offends us, violence towards them is appropriate and can heal the victim. How are we taught that violence saves us?

Most of us watched TV starting at a young age. Cartoons and sit-coms are quite violent. The average child who has had 40,000 hours of screen time by age 17, has viewed some 15,000 murders. What congregation can hold a candle to that inculcation into the Dominant religion. No wonder so many of our 17 year olds easily register for the military. Now we have MP3 and dramas that sell violence as pleasurable and entertaining. They want to fight villains like Darth Vadar and Popeye.

Everyone remembers Popeye the sailorman? Wink reveals the plot, “In a typical segment, Bluto abducts a screaming and kicking Olive Oyl, Popeye’s girlfriend. When Popeye attempts to rescue her, the massive Bluto beats his diminutive opponent to a pulp, while Olive Oyl helplessly wrings her hands. At the last moment, as our hero oozes to the floor, and Bluto is trying, in effect, to rape Olive Oyl, a can of spinach pops from Popeye’s pocket and spills into his mouth. Transformed by this gracious infusion of power, he easily demolishes the villain and rescues his beloved. The format never varies. Neither party ever gains any insight or learns from these encounters. They never sit down and discuss their differences. Repeated defeats do not teach Bluto to honor Olive Oyl’s humanity, and repeated pummellings do not teach Popeye to swallow his spinach before the fight.”

So the US drones on a similar trajectory as Popeye (or are we Bluto?). We conquer Germany, and then fascism rises its head again. We fight Al Queda in one country and then invade another country endlessly fighting around the world like Popeye from one episode to another. We appear to vanquish the enemy, but violence never brings us peace. It’s delusionary. Wink again, “Our origins are divine, since we are made from a god, but…We are the outcome of deicide.” Even our religion, the death penalty of Jesus, is infused with murder. This Domination Religion is found everywhere.

How is it that this Autumn seems so gorgeous in the midst of living Under Domination? By Domination system I don’t mean exactly apartheid regime. It’s a more subtle form of mind occupation, it’s the ocean of violence and the acceptance of violence all around. It’s bittersweet to see such beautyin the world of Domination. The wind tussles a yellow leaf back and forth over the river’s edge. A seagull soars from a bridgepost and cuts spirals in the sky. Wildlife seems so tame to me after absorbing the Pillars of Violence humans live and breathe. We are savage in our violence. The wind moans through the copse of trees, and despite the stiff breeze the yellow and red-tipped leaves hold onto the dancing branches for dear life.

“I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness.” [G Fox 1680s]

Originally posted on Minga’s blog, Pedals and Seeds.

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Farmers meeting farmers

A story of peace from the Huffington Post, published November 1, 2012:

Don Bustos of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) grows the same crops that his ancestors grew more than 300 years ago — on the same land and using the same methods, with a few modern adaptations.

Growing organic vegetables in New Mexico’s Sonoran Desert isn’t easy. Conditions there are different than in many other parts of the United States. Sixteen time zones away, in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) — known as North Korea — farmers can relate. They, too, face unforgiving climates and short growing seasons.

Under ordinary circumstances, traditional farmers from these two countries might never meet. But AFSC, which works to promote peace through programs in 35 U.S. cities and 14 countries, has a way of creating unusual opportunities for partnership and exchange.

Click here to read more about this remarkable collaboration between farmers, authored by AFSC’s Kerry Kennedy and Richard Erstad, watch a video & see photos from the tour.

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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)

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Building Community: Making Applesauce

Author: Breeze Richardson, with assistance from participants

The day met all my expectations. “Seeking Peace: Preserving Apples” was a day filled with stories, observations of life, teaching, learning, sharing, creating, and accomplishment. We were 13 Friends gathered from a diversity of Meetings, staring down 3.5 bushels of apples, with boxes of jars heaped on the counter. Three of us were visiting McNabb for the first time (all three said they’d see us again soon, recipes were exchanged, and we have Mariellen Gilpin to thank for inviting them to join us for this extraordinary event). Some of us had plans to use this new knowledge towards canning projects in the future. Others remembered walking through these steps when they were small children and enjoyed reminiscing about those days. The tools needed to get the job done have changed very little in the time span between those decades.

The day was documented in photographs & wonderful reflections of the day. You can click through images (including descriptions) at our Flickr page, and here are a few favorites:

Sharing stories while chopping apples

Urbana foodies team upWe made remarkable applesauce

Thank you to Tanners Orchard for donating the beautiful apples, to Kay Drake for the loan of equipment and the donation of jars, special thanks to Grayce Mesner for all her wonderful support making this workshop happen, and of course my deepest thanks to Beth Schobernd for facilitating the day. All the steps to making amazing applesauce can be found in our photos.

Lastly, the words of those who participated in the day really moved me. I’ve asked all of them to comment here with their reflections, but also wanted to share just a bit of what I am so grateful to have received from them in the days that have followed since our time together.

From PRC member Mark McGinnis of Upper Fox Valley:
I had a great time. I intend to make two applesauce cakes with the bounty, one for the Lake Forest/Upper Fox Thanksgiving Dinner and one for the Blue Island/Upper Fox Thanksgiving Dinner.

From Mariellen Gilpin of Urbana-Champaign Friends Meeting:
I usually go to worship via taxi, and as it happened, one of my favorite drivers took me to the meetinghouse this morning. His name is Glenn. He is an enormously kind-hearted soul, and I presented him with a pint of Quaker Applesauce and told him the story of how it came to be. We were twelve ladies [and our dear Friend Mark], and almost-four bushels of apples, and we’d cut ’em up and taken out the bad spots in an hour and a quarter, and had a good time doing it. Three Friends, foodies all of them, came from Urbana and brought me along, and we had a wonderful 5 hours total in the car, plus the seven hours of apple-ing, and we heartily agreed we’d had a wonderful day. We are eagerly looking forward to Food Preservation 102 — just say the word!! The other 3 Friends had never been to a yearly meeting event before, and are very enthusiastic about how much fun we had.

From Yelena Forrester of Pittsburgh Friends Meeting, but a recent transplant to Urbana-Champaign Friends Meeting:
I had a wonderful time at the event; thank you so much for making it possible. It was the first time I’d ever taken part in (or even seen) the canning process.

From Pam Timme of Oak Park Friends Meeting:
One of the quarts is destined to go to Oak Park Meeting next week for our potluck/Direction of the Meeting gathering. It was a wonderful and very educational day. Christina and I both enjoyed it very much, and also enjoyed getting back to peace of the countryside. It was a fun and hardworking, yet relaxed group.

From Elizabeth Mertic of Evanston Friends Meeting:
glad that I came the nite before and was able to relax in the quiet of the farm and share the easygoing company of Debie Smith; excited to be able to stand on my feet in front of the hot stove while stirring and monitoring when the water in the canners reached the boil; very pleased that three new Friends participated; grateful to have the chance to be with Beth, Grayce, Mariellen since we all are old timers at ILYM activities.

And from Debie Smith of Evanston Friends Meeting:
I sampled the applesauce three different ways; adding cinnamon and heating up; adding cinnamon and eating cold; and eating the unsweetened applesauce right out of the refrigerator. All three ways were delicious. AND each time I ate my applesauce I remembered our time together making it, as well as where the apples came from. I am really looking forward to more canning in my future with other friends/Friends.

Elizabeth and I made the most of the experience. We drove to McNabb together Friday afternoon, enjoying both conversation and the gorgeous trees and country scenes along the way. We arrived in time to take a long walk together, before settling into the Clear Creek Meetinghouse for the evening. What a welcoming and beautiful home.

I enjoyed every part of our applesauce and canning experience: meeting, cooking with and eating with new Friends; eating Beth’s delicious cookies; learning my way around the kitchen and the canning process; preparing the jars for canning; scrubbing pans; stirring apples on the stove (and slowly becoming more adept at doing so without burning myself so often); milling the apples; filling jars with applesauce; heating lids; putting the lids on the jars; putting the jars in the canner and timing the process; removing the jars to cool and listening for the “pop” to know they sealed. AND eating our collectively made treasured applesauce the next day. All of this – and we had the joy of learning and cooking and eating and cleaning together.

Being in the kitchen with friends and family is one of my greatest joys. Our time together in McNabb added to my collection of joyful kitchen experiences.

Oh, yes, as Elizabeth and I walked out the front door of the meetinghouse to head back to Chicago, we both paused as we were struck by the silence. You could feel and “hear” the silence.

Coming next: Some wonderful apple recipes were shared during the planning of this Peace House on the Prairie workshop – we’ll get them posted here soon.