“To many of the people she helps and the people she works with, Elaine Bishop is a saint, but the woman who runs the North Point Douglas Women’s Centre and lives in the impoverished neighbourhood is just doing her part to make her little corner of the world a better place.”
Click here to read this wonderful story of peace, courtesy of Winnipeg Free Press print edition – June 9, 2012.
[vimeo 37108812 w=500 h=281]
When you hear the word VIOLENCE from Blaze Nowara on Vimeo.
Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) is a nonprofit organization that creates peaceful solutions to potentially violent conflict. Beginning in an upstate New York prison in 1975, AVP has now spread to over 50 countries around the world.
This video focuses on AVP within the United States prison system. Experience an AVP workshop behind bars and listen to those whose lives have been transformed by AVP. (Length: 15:28)
From Adrian’s final blog post from the recent FWCC World Conference:
It has been a tremendous week. Even looking back at what I’ve written, I’m not sure I can capture it fully. This was the question we were all asking ourselves: how are we going to bring this back? How are we changed? Do we go forth, as young Quaker Samuel Bownas was challenged, as we came, none the better for our coming? Or do we leave with a fire ignited, and ready to spread the light, burn as it may? Click here to read the full post.
Adrian Nelson attend the April gathering as a representative of ILYM and blogged every day about her experiences.
I find myself at once overwhelmed and overjoyed to be here. This is my first true glimpse at the wide international Quaker community, and indeed the face of the majority of the world’s Quakers – Kenyans. I delight in the variety of ways the message of the first Quakers has leaped across the oceans and continents, across time and tongues, so that the question of “What canst thou say?” is answered in every other language besides its own.
On her first day in Kenya, Adrian wrote:
Tomorrow, I will be among a thousand other Quakers from all corners of the world. We will not all speak the same language, we will not practice or worship the same way, and we are all coming from different backgrounds.
But we are of this planet and this universe, and we will unite under the name of Friends, and will meet as strangers and depart, I pray, as f/Friends. We must be mindful of our differences and compassionate with each other, and gentle with ourselves and with others. I believe that all of us will be coming with open hearts and minds, and no matter what tongues we know or don’t, we’ll all at least speak the language of love.
What are your thoughts upon reading of her experience? Please share your reflections, along with any questions for Adrian and other ILYM delegates about the experience.
On Tuesday, February 28, 2012 author Staughton Lynd published a letter to explore the role of consensus decision-making and nonviolence in building a community of trust. Upon reading it, Friend David Finke asked that Peace Resources Committee publish a link here, writing: “Staughton is prophetic, and we must help get this message out, I believe.”
Click here to read the letter in full, which addresses:
I – Every local Occupy movement of which I am aware has begun to explore the terrain beyond the downtown public square, asking, what is to be done next?
II – Here, in brief, is the history that I pray we will not repeat.
III – Although I am concerned that small groups in the Occupy Movement may contribute to unnecessary violence in Chicago, it is not violence as such that most worries me.
IV – So what do I recommend? I am eighty-two and no longer able to practice some of what I preach, but for what they may be worth, here are some responses to that question.
***
What are your thoughts about the Occupy Movement’s next steps? Are you an active supporter? What do you think this movement has to gain from consensus decision-making and nonviolence in building a community of trust?
Many lovers of Western Philosophy look down their Greco-Roman noses at Chinese Philosophy without realizing its impact on the West. Many of the English and German philosophers of the Age of Reason, as well as the French Philosophies, read Chinese Philosophy. Indeed, there is a story of Goethe, who witnessed the first battle of twenty-three years struggle known as the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. At the battle was Valmy (1792) that Goethe remarked, “From this place, and from this day forth begins a new era in the history of the world, and you can all say that you were present at its birth.” However, he was also at the Battle of Leipzig (1813) when the largest battle of conflict took place, but he did not witness it. He did not even step outside because he was too busy reading Chinese Philosophy.
Many of the Chinese Philosophers of the One Hundred Schools of Thought (770-221BC) are well known to the West: Confucius (K’ung-Tzu 551-479BC), Mencius (Meng-Tzu 372-289BC), and Lao-Tzu (Loazi 6th Century BC), as well as the war philosophers Sun-Tzu (Sun Wu ?-?BC ) and his distant relation Sun Pin (Sun Bin ?-316BC).
Lesser known were the pacifist philosophers Mo-Tzu and Sung Jung. Before turning to Mo and Sung, it should be noted that Confucius, Mencius, and Lao-Tzu were all against violence, but were not pacifists. Confucius was against war because it would bring social disorder and disharmony. Mencius discouraged war and promoted agriculture and encouraged humane rule. Lao-Tzu thought war was a “regrettable necessity” and one should “enter battle gravely, with sorrow and great compassion, as though attend a funeral.”
Even Sun-Tzu was against the wastefulness of war. Although the Spring and Autumn Period, in which Sun-Tzu was alleged to have lived was a extremely sanguine time, he would have been disagreed with the Clausewitzian idea that every effort must be made to bring the war to a conclusion by one decisive battle, and would have been appalled by the battles in World War One where “casualties measured in hundred of thousands and victory in yards gained.”
Lao-Tzu influenced much of Sun-Tzu’s thinking by his statement “With the orthodox govern the state; with the unorthodox employ the army” and by the Tao idea of yin and yang. Here are some samples of Sun-Tzu’s frequently used quotes:
“To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.”
“In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to capture an army entire than to destroy it.”
“There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare.”
Mo-Tzu (470-391BC) felt Confucius and Lao-Tzu had not gone far enough in condemning war. He argued:
“If a man kills an innocent man, steals his clothing and spear and sword, his offence is graver than breaking in a stable and stealing an ox or a horse. The injury is greater, the offence is greater, and the crime of a higher degree. Any man of sense knows that is wrong, knows that is unrighteous. But when murder is committed in attacking a country it is not considered wrong; it is applauded and called righteous. Can this be considered as knowing what is righteous and what is unrighteous? When one man kills another man it is considered unrighteous and he is punished by death. Then by the same sign when a man kills ten others, his crime will be ten times greater, and should be punished by death ten times. Similarly one who kills a hundred men should be punished hundred times more heavily…If a man calls black black on a small scale, but calls black white when see it is seen on a large scale, then he is one who cannot tell black from white…Similarly is a small crime is considered crime, but a big crime such attacking another country is applauded as a righteous act, can this be said knowing the difference between righteous and unrighteous?”
Mo-Tzu, while considered a pacifist, did not condemn self-defense or fighting a defensive war. Indeed, his followers, the Mohists, would rush to the defense of any country being invaded. The fought along side the defenders and even invented new war machines to help in the defense. They did not realize their “defensive weapons” could be turned round and used as offensive weapons.
Lest we smirk at their naiveté, consider how many twentieth-century, pacifist scientists worked on the atomic bomb to stop Hitler without considering their defensive weapon would be used on Japan and later bring the world to the brink of Nuclear Armageddon.
Sung Jung (Sung K’eng) and his colleague Yin Wen were of the Mohists school, but did not believe Mo-Tzu had gone far enough in renouncing war. Unfortunately, none of Sung Jung and Yin Wen writings have survived. We only know of them through their detractors.
Sung Jung, also called, Sung Yung, Sung, Hsing, Sung K’eng, and Sung Chein; had six principle rules. His rules are remarkably not unlike ideas set forth by early as well as early and modern Friends:
1) “In intercourse with all things, to begin with knowing the prejudices.”
2) “In talking about tolerance of the mind, to call it the action of the mind.”
3) “Men’s passions desire but little.”
4) “To endure insult without feeling it a disgrace, so as to save the people from fighting.”
5) “To check aggression and propose disarmament in order to save the generation from war.”
6) “To desire the peace of the world in order to preserve the life of the people, to seek no more than is sufficient for nourishing oneself and others.”
When the states of Ch’in and Ch’u went to war, Sung Jung was about to go to Ch’u, but Mencius stopped him and asked why he was going.
He replied, “I have heard that Ch’in and Ch’u are fighting each other, and I am going to see the King of Ch’u and persuade him to cease. If he be not pleased with this, I shall go to see the King of Ch’in, and persuade him in the same way. Of the two kings, I shall succeed to speak to one of them.”
Two thousand years before the Naturalists (the “Killer Apes” or Hobbesian “violence is part of us”) camp and the Materialists (“Noble Peaceful Savages” or Roussoeian “humans are peaceful by nature”) camp squared off on their views of war, Sung Jung was already calling for people to reduce their needs for natural resources in order to prevent war. Before Gandhi called on us to humble ourselves before our foe, Sung Jung was suggesting enduring insults. Long before Kissenger’s famous shuttle-diplomacy, Sung Jung was practicing the self-same thing. Long before there was a disarmament movement, a lone Chinese philosopher was crying out for laying down weapons.
He was truly a head of his times… way ahead.
January 24, 2012
Yesterday at 1:30 pm local time, the International Criminal Court (ICC) read their indictments for trial of six prominent Kenyans including two, William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta, who are planning to run for president this year. In essence the charges against them were that they organized the post-election violence after the disputed 2007 election. A withdrawal of charges against all six would have been a major blow to the ICC. With one of the three judges dissenting, the court upheld the charges against four of the defendants – including the two presidential aspirants. Charges against the two others, Francis Muthaura, the head of Kenya’s civil service, and Joshua Sang, a radio announcer were dropped. While Joshua Sang is not in the same category of prominence as others, I think he was indicted because of the effectiveness of the hate radio station in the Rwandan genocide and the fact that there are recordings of what he said.
In opposition to civil society cries that the defendants should withdraw from government until their cases are decided and contrary to the article on accountability in the new Kenyan constitution, the Kenyan Government has declared that the officials can remain in office until (and if) they are convicted and that they can run for president. Ruto and Kenyatta have carefully played the gullible Kenyan electorate so that they, rather than those killed and displaced, are seen as the “victims.” As such, at least in their ethnic strongholds, these two have major support in their presidentials bid. Until the election is held – and its date is still in dispute – I will be sending out updates as significant issues arise.
The Friends Church Peace Teams (FPCT) set up a Call-in Center to monitor the situation during the announcement because many people feared that there could be violence if, in the case near where we live, William Ruto was held for trial. I set up a system with a program called FrontlineSMS which allows people, whom we are calling “citizen reporters,” to send in text messages about the situation in their community.
The FCPT Call-in Center worked nicely. Forty-five people signed up. Many were from the Turbo/Eldoret/Lugari area near us but others were from various places in western Kenya, giving us a broad representation. The Call-in Center received 29 messages before and after the announcement. There were no reports of violence. Unlike after the 2007 election, security personnel were frequently noted as being active in the communities. People were cautious, though. For example, Jua Kali market, about 15 miles towards Eldoret from our house, would normally be open on Monday, but few merchants showed up so there was no market day. Two citizen reporters in pro-Ruto areas reported that people were unhappy with the ruling, but were not violent.
I thought that the Call-in Center was effective in receiving good information from a large variety of sources in numerous places. There was no training in citizen reporting, but except for one or two, which were personal opinions, the rest were reports on the situation in the community. Perhaps most impressive was the fact that these reports frequently came from places where the mainstream media, both Kenyan and foreign, would never cover.
While I had no problem keeping up with this load of material, it might have been another case if there had been reports of violence. During the up-coming election cycle this year, I am hoping to have one thousand trained citizen reporters. To keep up with this amount of information will require considerable planning and personnel at the Call-in Center. We will also have to work out how the Call-in Center will react to negative information.
The system I used, FrontlineSMS, worked satisfactorily, but there were some quirks that I will ask them about. One problem I see is that when I sent out an email to everyone who had signed up the system only sent out about 2 SMSs per minute. With 45 names this was not much of a problem, but, if the system had 1000 names on it, it would take more than eight hours to send out the message!
Peace,
Dave
David Zarembka, Coordinator
African Great Lakes Initiative of the Friends Peace Teams
Val Liveoak is the coordinator and co-founder of Peacebuilding en Las Américas (PLA) with the Friends Peace Teams (FPT). The program promotes peace and healing in countries where the violent legacy of civil war has added to the continued poverty and injustice that sparked the conflicts. FPT’s programs build on the Quaker experience, combining practical and spiritual aspects of conflict resolution. PLA currently works in El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Colombia. Val has also done volunteer work with the Alternatives to Violence Project in Bolivia, Cuba, Mexico, Burundi, Rwanda, Canada, and Kenya.
Click here to hear the full interview.
Val Liveoak, who became a nonviolent activist in Austin in the early ’70s, has been named a “Woman of Peace” by Womens’ Peacepower Foundation (2009) and Peacemaker of the Year by the Austin Peace and Justice Center (1986). She has chosen to live below the poverty line and work as a volunteer since the early ’90s and currently lives in an “intentional neighborhood” in San Antonio, when she’s in the United States.
I was recently contacted by Friend Greg Woods, wanting to know if I could help him to “tell some stories about young Quakers doing awesome things” as he prepares for an upcoming workshop with the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Middle School program.
Over the past decade I have attempted to help tell the stories of my generation, Quaker youth living their faith in inspiring contemporary ways. For a number of years, Friends Journal supported this leading by publishing a series of pieces that I’ll share again here in hopes that Greg can use them and that you, dear reader, might enjoy them too.
Walking the Walk: Greg Woods
Walking the Walk: Ian Fritz
Walking the Walk: Rainbow Pfaff
In my life now as a radio producer, I’ve attempted to bring those skills to benefit the telling of these stories as well. In 2005, ILYM hosted the annual “Quake that Rocked the Midwest” and invited me to come record the youth gathered there. Friends Journal published that effort as well. Presented as audio stories, you can learn more about contemporary young Friends and their ideas of Quakerism here.
But Greg’s request made me want to see what else might be available online today showcasing young Quakers doing awesome things. What have you found? Did reading the stories of Greg, Ian or Rainbow resonate with you or remind you of Quaker youth you know? What does “walking the walk” mean to you? And is that harder to do when you’re young?
Author: Dawn Rubbert
From the New York Times “”Humanitarian Design Project Aims to Build a Sense of Community” by Alice Rawsthorn, October 23, 2011. Seems a good story of peace…
On her first day as a teacher at the Bertie Early College High School in Windsor, North Carolina, Emily Pilloton asked the students to name the last thing they had made themselves.
“It could have been something as simple as cookies for their moms, but some of the students couldn’t remember ever making anything,” she recalled. “They’d never held a hammer or taken an art class. Half of them didn’t even know how to read a ruler.”
There were 13 students in the class, all 11th graders. Some came from middle-class families, and others lived in poverty, including a 17-year-old who was struggling to raise a 4-year-old child. They had all signed up to spend three hours a day on Studio H, an experimental design course run from a converted car body shop near the school.
The course started in August last year and ended this month with the opening of the Windsor Super Market, a farmers’ market housed in a wooden pavilion that the students had designed and built themselves.