Articles and Features
- CPTers Arrested for "Getting in the Way"
- Acteal Remembered: "No Me Puedo Caller (I Cannot Remain Silent.)"
- CPT-Richmond Holds Vigil for Healing
- Crossing the Line
- Local Groups Challenge SOA
- War Memorial Revisited
- CPT-PA: Witness At War College
- CPT Training 1999
- Christmas in Iraq
- Walk Away From the Pentagon
- CPT-Colorado Mails Aspirin to Iraq
- ELF Wounds the World
Announcements
Letters
Book Review
CPT Calandar
Credits and Requests
CPTers Arrested for "Getting in the Way"
HEBRON, WEST BANK -- Two members of Christian
Peacemaker Teams (CPT) were arrested in Hebron on January 10 when
they stood in front of Israeli soldiers preparing to open fire on
a crowd of peaceful Palestinian protestors. Sara Reschly,
26, of Mt. Pleasant, IA, and Pierre Shantz, 24, of Elmira, ON,
were taken into custody by Israeli police after they jumped
between the soldiers and marchers crying, "Don't
shoot! This is a nonviolent demonstration!"
About 200 Palestinians marched to protest the closure of
the Abraham Mosque and a curfew placed on the 30,000 Palestinians
living in the 20 percent of Hebron still under Israeli military
control.
The marchers approached the border dividing the
Palestinian-controlled area of Hebron from the Israeli-controlled
sector, an area where violent clashes regularly occur.
Israeli soldiers rushed to take up positions behind large cement
barriers and readied their guns to prevent the procession from
reaching the Mosque.
Reschly and Shantz, along with teammates Mark Frey (Newton,
KS), Joanne Kaufman (Chicago, IL), Sydney Stigge-Kaufman
(Houston, TX), immediately positioned themselves in front of the
guns to prevent violence from breaking out. The soldiers,
not knowing how to respond, lowered their M-16s and tried to push
the CPTers aside.
During a tense 90 minute face-off, Palestinian leaders
circulated among the younger demonstrators, urging them not to
throw rocks. While some soldiers became angry with the
CPTers -- shouting at them, grabbing them, and slapping Shantz
twice in the face -- not a single shot was fired.
The demonstration ended when the older Palestinian men
lined up on their prayer rugs and knelt in prayer. As the
crowd dispersed, a Palestinian leader thanked CPTers for their
role in keeping peace. "You have done your work,"
he said.
Palestinian lawyer and CPT friend, Jonathan Kuttab,
agreed. "You have a lot of moral power that both sides
recognize. ... Running around without guns throws [both sides]
off and gives you leverage."
Reschly was detained for several hours, then released on
the condition that she appear in court in Jerusalem the following
morning. Shantz was kept in prison overnight and taken to
court the next day in hand cuffs and shackles. They were
charged with interfering with police doing their duty. Both
were accused of "pushing" soldiers or police to which
Shantz responded, "I intervened with the soldier trying to
shoot at the nonviolent demonstrators, but I never hit or pushed
anyone." Reschly stated, "I believe in
nonviolence. I would never do that."
Police pressured Reschly and Shantz to avoid a courtroom
hearing by agreeing to stay out of Hebron for 15 days, but the
CPTers refused to accept this restriction. The Israeli
judge released them on a 2000 shekel ($500 US) bond each and
confiscated their passports for the duration of a police
investigation.
Twenty supporters -- Christians, Jews, and Muslims
–attended the court proceedings and put up the bond
money. Both passports and bond money were returned by
February 9.
In a message from Hebron after the event, team members
expressed thanks for the outpouring of love and support they
received. "We feel most wonderfully blessed by you,
for it is with your backing that we speak and act boldly."
Acteal Remembered: "No Me Puedo Caller (I Cannot Remain Silent.)"
CHIAPAS, MEXICO -- On Sunday, November
22nd, fourteen CPT delegation and team members traveled to the
mountain village of Acteal to participate in a commemorative mass
for the 45 members of Las Abejas murdered there 11 months
previously, on December 22, 1997.
Las Abejas (The Bees) are a Mayan group committed to
responding to community needs from a nonviolent, Christian
perspective. Many of them fled their villages scattered
around the county of Chenalho to escape the threats from
government and paramilitary forces and are now concentrated in
the refugee camps of Acteal and X'oyep.
During worship, CPTers and other visitors carried burning
candles and blossoming flowers to the family members of those who
were killed as a reminder that the sacrifice of their loved ones
has not been forgotten. CPTers also offered a peace dove
pendant as a symbol of support for Las Abejas in their struggle
for "love and peace with justice."
Then CPTers and delegation members knelt in the wet, red
clay of the Chiapan mountainside to pray with their brothers and
sisters from Acteal, with the refugees from surrounding
communities in search of safe haven, and with visitors from other
parts of the world. Together they sang a song in response
to the violence which happened there: "No me puedo
callar..." -- I cannot remain silent. I cannot pass
by, indifferent to the suffering of so many people."
As the CPT delegation returned to San Cristobal de las
Casas with red clay splotches on their knees, the song rang in
their minds as a call to recommitment.
The CPT-Chiapas team had planned to join the December
commemoration in Acteal which marked one year since the
massacre. However, on December 21 they received word that
152 villagers had fled the community of Union Progreso (straight
west of Acteal over a mountain range) 6 days earlier under threat
from state security forces. The team responded on an hour's
notice to accompany the villagers who had decided to stop hiding
in the mountains and return home. They spent Christmas
sharing the life of a people traumatized by the growing
militarization of the region.
Members of the November 19 - December 1 delegation
included Robert Hanson (Boise, ID), Joel Klassen (Kitchener, ON),
Grant Martens (Fiske, SK), Frank Moore (Houston, TX),
Marcus Page (Fresno, CA), Patrick Preheim (Minneapolis, MN),
Drane Reynolds (Miami, FL), Kurt Ritchie (Constantine, MI),
Dick Williams (Boulder, CO) and Gretchen Williams (Boulder, CO.)
CPT-Richmond Holds Vigil for Healing
RICHMOND, VA -- On the cold, clear night of Saturday,
January 30, seventeen people gathered in Richmond's Highland Park
neighborhood for a candlelight service of healing. They
stood together in the small plaza where, three weeks earlier, a
young mother named Bridgette Dodson was murdered.
Drug sales and increased violence raise fears among
residents in this once quiet neighborhood. CPT-Richmond
sponsored the public vigil and liturgy in an attempt to reclaim
the area as "holy ground."
"All ground is holy, for the Spirit of God is present
in all places," read CPTer Wes Hare to shivering family
members, neighbors and clergy. "...We come today to
reclaim this place for the God of mercy and understanding.
... We come to pray that those who bring about violence
will someday experience a genuine sense of remorse and
compassion..."
During a time of prayer and sharing, one of Dodson's
friends reflected, "While we are here, they [the drug
dealers] are more afraid of us...but they will be back after we
leave."
CPT-Richmond hopes that vigils such as this one offer a
means of sharing grief and demonstrating opposition to violence
that may lead to a positive outpouring of community action.
Crossing the Line
by Joanne "Jake" Kaufman
[Joanne was one of 50 CPT-affiliated people who
participated in the November 22, 1998 witness in Columbus, GA, to
call for closing the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA)housed
on the base at Fort Benning.]
By the gates of Fort Benning, a woman sang out the names of
thousands of Latin American people killed by graduates of the
School of the Americas (SOA). Seven thousand people
chanted "Presente" (present), our voices solemnly
rising and falling in response to each name..
I joined the procession of more than 2,300 people carrying
coffins and crosses with the names of victims of SOA graduates
printed on them. We marched through the gate, risking
arrest to call for closing the notorious training center for
hundreds of Latin American soldiers and dictators.
Military and police officers stopped us a half-mile into
the base and began loading us onto buses. When my turn came to
board, I handed the officer my peace crane, made by a CPT friend
in Indiana. He thanked me.
Expecting to be taken somewhere for processing, we were
surprised to be dropped off at a park. As we filed off the
buses, officers handed us "ban and bar" letters
prohibiting us from re-entering the base until midnight.
Then we walked a mile and a quarter back to the fort entrance.
Those who had not entered the base formed a line on either
side of the road to welcome us, cheering, saying "Thank
you" and slapping our hands with high fives. I felt a
little funny -- after all, I'd only crossed an arbitrary line,
gotten on a bus and taken a short walk.
But I recall the shivers that went up and down my spine
when thousands joined in song; when the Mayan and Lakota
representatives burned sage invoke the four directions; when I
recalled the stories Haitians told of suffering under a dictator
trained at the SOA; when prayers for healing were offered in
memory of the thousands of dead. Those shivers were a small
physical manifestation of the great social and spiritual
challenge that 7,000 people made to the powers of death and
destruction that day.
Efforts to close the School of the Americas continue.
Several days of activities, including vigils, lobbying, and a
concert are scheduled for May 1-4, 1999 in Washington, DC.
The annual witness at Fort Benning is planned for November 19-21,
1999. For more information, contact SOA Watch; PO Box 4566;
Washington, DC 20017; Tel: 202-234-3440; Website: www.soaw.org.
Local Groups Challenge SOA
RICHMOND, VA – CPTer Wes Hare was one of six people
arrested by US marshals in Richmond, VA on December 2, 1998 for
attempting to deliver a cardboard coffin to a federal judge at
the courthouse. The coffin identified seventeen Latin
American countries whose military ranks include soldiers trained
at the US Army School of the Americas (SOA).
Twenty-five people gathered at the courthouse to
commemorate the four North American church women (three nuns and
one lay worker) who were raped and murdered in El Salvador by
graduates of the SOA in 1980. The noontime vigil, which
included songs, prayers and readings from the words of El
Salvador's martyred Archbishop Oscar Romero, was sponsored by
CPT-Richmond and other local peace and justice groups.
At their December 10 trial, the six were convicted of
trespassing and fined $50 plus $25 in court costs. The
judge warned them that a repeat action would result in jail time.
In support of activities at the national level, Hare urges
local groups to "launch active and aggressive efforts"
to pressure congress to close this "School of the
Assassins."
War Memorial Revisited
by Doug Pritchard
TORONTO, ON – Twenty persons gathered December 2,
1998 at the "sword and the cross" war memorial at St.
Paul's Anglican Church to commemorate the death of Jean Donovan
at the hands of the Salvadoran military on that day in 1980.
Jean said before her death, "It's so much harder to
fight for your liberty in a nonviolent way than it is with a
gun. At the moment the only nonviolent voice in the whole
country [El Salvador] is the Church."
"Imagine if this could be said about the church in
Canada," read the vigilers' leaflets, "that we had
renounced all violence and all war!"
These monthly vigils at the war memorial grew out of the
hope that church leaders would remove the sword attached to this
stone cross and transform it into a ploughshare as a public
symbol of their renunciation of all war and a witness to Christ's
life-giving call to love our enemies. So far, the churches'
response has been disappointing.
The Anglican bishop urged priest Don Heap, who was arrested
at a previous vigil, to "desist from his threats" to
damage the sword and to "engage in dialogue"
instead. However, St. Paul's officials have not met with
the vigilers since they first expressed their concerns last
May. Also, while the General Synod of the Anglican Church
of Canada called on parishes to study the "Just War"
theory, these studies have yet to commence.
The Catholic vigilers have heard nothing from their church
leaders. An official of the Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto
wrote to "The Toronto Star" in November saying,
"killing is deeply, fundamentally, morally wrong and, as a
tactic, massively stupid." When probed by
Ontario CPTer Doug Pritchard, the official hastened to add that
this applied only to abortion and not to killing in war.
CPT-PA: Witness At War College
CARLISLE, PA – Seven people witnessed outside the U.S. Army War College on Dec. 5, protesting the Israeli military's demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank. The War College trains international military leaders including Israeli soldiers. CPT Reservist Elayne McClanen reports that many passing drivers slowed to read their signs, which formed the jingle: "Hey, Israeli fellow, tell me true, don't Palestinian children need security too? Stop the bulldozers!" Monthly vigils at the War College continue as people in central Pennsylvania discuss plans for a regional CPT group.
CPT Training 1999
Fourteen people from the U.S. and Canada braved Chicago's
worst blizzard in decades to participate in CPT's sixth annual
Peacemaker training from December 28, 1998, through January 20,
1999. For 3 » weeks, participants focused on action,
reflection, and practice of peacemaking skills in the areas of 1)
nonviolent direct action and public witness, 2)undoing racism and
cross-cultural work, 3) spiritual disciplines and Biblical
examples of nonviolence, 4) personal styles and working in teams,
5) listening, negotiation and conflict transformation, and 6)
documentation and human rights reporting. A kaleidoscope of
role plays, small group exercises, simulations and presentations
characterized the 13-hour days. Two public witness events
capped the beginning and the end of the training
experience. All 14 participants completed the training and
joined CPT's Reserve Corps.
Participants (left to right) - 1st Row: Paul Pierce (North
Manchester, IN), Doug Wingeier (Waynesville, NC), Mary Alice
Shemo (Pittsburgh, PA). 2nd Row: Jeffrey "Rusty"
Dinkins-Curling (Arcanum OH), Jane Adas (Highland Park, NJ),
Shady Hakim (Arcadia, CA). 3rd Row: Lisa Martens (Brandon,
Manitoba), William Payne (Toronto, Ontario), Frank Moore
(Houston, TX). 4th Row: Rick Polhamus (Fletcher, OH),
Michael Goode (Chicago, IL), Matt Guynn (Richmond, IN), Gary
Brooks (Lexington, KY). Top Row: Carl Meyer (Millersburg,
IN).
Christmas in Iraq
by Anne Montgomery
Hebron CPTer Anne Montgomery has traveled to Iraq with Voices in the Wilderness several times. According to UN reports, the sanctions against Iraq have caused the death of over 1.5 million Iraqis in the past eight years, most of them children. Current estimates are that 5,000-6,000 people die every month due to hunger and inadequate medical care.
Two journeys to Iraq to face the bombing crises –
one in November, one three weeks later – became for me
a collage of images superimposed on one another:
The stars of the early morning desert as we crossed the
ancient path of Abraham whose faith journey ended in Hebron, the
conflicted city I had just left; the "shooting stars"
of futile tracer bullets over our rooms while hotel workers
prayed in the dingy basement that Ramadan evening; the next
morning, fragmented hospital windows and legs fractured by
shrapnel.
Christmas Eve under those same windows: children sang
Arabic verses of "We Shall Overcome" by a modern
"manger" tent while white-coated doctors represented
Iraq's wise men.
Christmas day in the cancer ward of a children's hospital:
one young mother personified the courage and resilience of the
Iraqi people even in the midst of so much anger and
despair. Sitting cross-legged on her infant's bed, her back
straight, her face calm, holding a crying child, its eye hidden
by a protruding tumor, this Moslem Madonna smiled at us.
What is the meaning of children dying before our eyes,
others born deformed or diseased in areas poisoned by depleted
uranium and raw sewage? Or of a whole generation growing up
physically and intellectually deprived by poor nutrition and an
education system stunted by lack of supplies and teachers cut off
from outside communication? A generation begs in the
street, shines shoes and perceives the U.S. as enemy.
More subtly, what is the meaning of "Oil for
food"? – an excuse to maintain a criminal embargo
rather than a solution to anything. It provides neither a
balanced diet nor needed medicines nor the rebuilding of the
infrastructure necessary to maintain and distribute both.
And as one Iraqi sister said, "We are not just animals to be
fed," but rather, human beings with dreams and spiritual
hunger.
This spirit is evident in the strong mothers, in the
shoe-shine boys learning a new song in minutes, in the heroic
doctors, in the openness of ordinary people to welcome us as
caring individuals, not stereotypes. It shines out in the
full mosques and churches where all ages sing and flock to
theology classes.
It is our part to cultivate an informed awareness of the
tailoring of "facts" to fit our "national
interest," to speak truth to power, and to resist actively
the deliberate destruction of a people rooted in a past that is
our own. Then the Madonna of the hospital will reach across
boundaries of faith and culture to touch us with her smile.
Walk Away From the Pentagon
Calling for an end to bombings and lethal
sanctions against Iraq, Voices in the Wilderness (VitW) sponsored
a 250-mile "Walk Away From the Pentagon" from January
15 - February 1. A core of 10 walkers made the trek through
cities and towns from Washington, DC to United Nations
headquarters in New York City. A total of 50 individuals
participated in portions of the walk. They urged U.S.
policymakers to "walk away" from the warfare of bombs
and economic sanctions and to support the UN's original goal of
eliminating war.
CPT Reservists Lisa Martens and William Payne joined the
walk on January 24 at a gathering hosted by CPT-PA in Lancaster.
At the UN, Martens and Payne met with Canadian
representative Arif Lalani who said that bringing an immediate
end to the bombing and the sanctions would be
"unrealistic." Payne responded, "With 250
children dying each day, we need prophets, not realists."
Despite threats of stiff fines, VitW continues to
challenge the economic sanctions by sponsoring delegations which
carry medical supplies into Iraq. Contact Voices in the
Wilderness; 1460 W. Carmen; Chicago, IL 60640; Tel:
773-784-8065; e-mail: kkelly@igc.apc.org.
CPT-Colorado Mails Aspirin to Iraq
BOULDER, CO – CPTers in Colorado violated U.S./UN
sanctions against Iraq by mailing small packets containing gauze
pads, aspirin, band-aids, bottled water, vitamins and pencils to
the Iraqi Red Crescent Society on December 30. Ron Friesen,
Brian Ladd, and Marilyn Miller passed out leaflets and held signs
outside the Boulder Post Office before going inside to send their
packages.
When clerks cited postal restrictions which prohibit
sending packages weighing over twelve ounces dirrectly to Iraq,
Friesen re-addressed his larger parcel to President
Clinton. He included a letter asking the president to
forward the package to Iraq and to look into his heart about what
was happening to the Iraqi people. Others sent similar
messages to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and First Lady
Hilary Clinton.
The Colorado CPTers join the ranks of some two dozen people
from the Boulder Peace Center who have challenged the sanctions
in this way, risking the confiscation of their letter-packages
and legal consequences.
ELF Wounds the World
CLAM LAKE, WI – Eighty people from around North
America including 17 members of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT)
gathered in northern Wisconsin to honor Martin Luther King Jr.'s
birthday and to "expose the wounds" caused by Project
ELF (Extremely Low Frequency). The 30-year-old ELF
transmitter is the Navy's first-strike trigger for nuclear-armed
Trident submarines stationed deep in oceans around the
world. Evidence indicates that the ELF system was used to
transmit signals in the December 1998 attacks against Iraq.
After individuals named the wounds that ELF and nuclear
terror have caused to humanity, the environment, and our culture,
they sprinkled cups full of blood-red liquid on the snow near the
compound's entrance, creating a large gash.
Sixteen individuals then crossed the line onto federal
property to continue naming the ways in which ELF wounds our
world. Among the line-crossers, who all received citations
for trespassing, were eight CPTers in training and one full-time
Christian Peacemaker Corps member. All are subject to a
fine of $181.00 or loss of Wisconsin driving privileges if they
fail to pay.
CPTers arrested at ELF include: Rusty Dinkins-Curling
(Arcanum, OH), Claire Evans and Michael Goode (Chicago, IL), Matt
Guynn (Richmond, IN), Lisa Martens (Brandon, MB), Carl Meyer
(Millersburg, IN), Frank Moore (Houston, TX), William Payne
(Toronto, ON), and Mary Alice Shemo (Pittsburgh, PA).
DIALOGUE
In Dialogue, we lift exchanges from CPT.D, an open e-mail discussion on CPT's vision and work. The following discussion emerged in response to an article posted on CPTnet, "On Judging Others."
Joanne "Jake" Kaufman, Hebron CPTer (excerpts from
original article): My heart often burns with outrage as I stand
by the collapsed roof of a Palestinian home, see the buildings of
an Israeli settlement built on land seized from a Palestinian
family whose vineyards once flourished there, watch Israeli
soldiers detain and question young Palestinian men. ...
A delegation last fall of indigenous people from North
America made me reconsider my outrage. "Why are you
here, half-way across the world, when your own country has done
the same thing to our people?" they questioned. My
mind flashed to my 95-year-old grandmother's stories of Native
American neighbors in pioneer south Dakota on land surely seized
from the Lakota people a generation before her.
Mennonites, like Jews, hold tightly to memories of oppression, but we conveniently discount our legacy of settling land from which armies had forcibly removed other peoples, both in Russia on Cossack land and in the Americas. ... In remembering the less-savory elements of my Mennonite heritage, I am humbled, but I am not deterred from my desire to seek justice for the people of Palestine and for the First Nations peoples of the Americas. ... Perhaps being in Palestine can help us come to terms with this black mark on our own history and take action to "do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God."
David Hiebert, editor, Builder magazine, Scottdale, PA: You've got something in here to offend everyone. My first response is, get real. We cannot undo the past. The political reality is that I cannot even know if my ancestors in Russia did anything that hurt anyone else and neither can you. What we do need now however is just decisions. We do not need to perpetuate bad and hurtful decisions by excluding or taking property without due process. And that is happening in Hebron and other occupied territories at this point. As for your "black mark," what do African-Americans think about that? I'd say you just burned your zwiebach!
Anne Blackwood, MD, CPT Steering Committee, Philadelphia, PA: I cannot speak for others of African descent, but as one Afro-Caribbean who chose the Mennonite Church because of its sincere (if sometimes incomplete) commitment to peace with justice, I am neither offended by Jake's reflection nor, even by her choice of words. ... I read an honest acknowledgment of the fact that within each of us are some elements of the oppressed, and some of the oppressor, some bits of the emerging peacemaker and some of the recalcitrant culture. I know of no other way to view my own journey, or to read the history of the Christian Church.
Earl Martin, Harrisonburg, VA: "On Judging Others" was, for me, the most powerful word I have read on this on-going saga of various peoples "justa lookin' for a home," as the song goes. ... The capacity for hurt and even evil lies as much within me as within the person whose actions I deplore. Therein, strangely, I find hope. For the mirror of that is that, given the right conditions to grow, the capacity for good lies as much within that "enemy" as within my beloved and clay-footed forbears...or within myself.
Elaine Sommers Rich, Bluffton, OH: ... One aspect of American history is too seldom noted. For almost a hundred years in early Pennsylvania, native peoples, Quakers, Mennonites, Moravians, and others lived together in peace, sharing friendship and living space. ... Not until later settlers brought their guns, whisky and hostility to Pennsylvania was the peace broken.
Hebcom@geocities.com: One point you don't mention is that the Jews are also indigenous people in the Middle East, being moved from their tribal lands by force nearly two thousand years ago, sold into slavery, and only now coming back to face a struggle with others who, like them, have been swept up in a historical injustice which, in the beginning, Europeans (Rome) were responsible for.
Gary L. Cooper, Dallas, TX: To the extent that this is true [about the Jews being indigenous people]... I believe it's all but irrelevant. For all I know, my ancestors may have had land and positions two hundred (not two thousand) years ago in Germany, Scotland, and England, before they fled to America ... But even if I could document this claim, what response do you think I would get if I presented myself back in Europe and demanded the return of my property? I'd be lucky if my auditors confined themselves to laughing loudly in my face.
Faith Eidse, Tallahassee, FL: Aren't CPTers in Hebron because the injustice is current, going on every day, and there is hope that our presence will deter even one home bull-dozing or land seizure? ... The issue of giving back Indian land is still a live issue being debated in the U.S. by many concerned people. But while that debate goes on here, Palestinian homes are being bull-dozed as we speak, and U.S. policy is implicated once again.
PEACE BRIEFS
CPT Reservist Ministers to Seafarers - CPT Reservist Rey Lopez addressed the National Federation of Asian American United Methodists in Los Angeles, January 18, regarding his work as Port Chaplain with the Philippine Seafarers Organizing Ministry. Of 1.2 million commercial sailors worldwide, 70% are Asian and 300,000 are Filipino. Lopez characterizes their life as a modern form of slavery. The men work long hours at low pay in unsafe conditions with inadequate food. Often they are subjected to harassment and abuse by the ship's officers. When they try to organize for better conditions, their jobs and sometimes their very lives are endangered. Economic globalization contributes to this adversity as businesses worldwide seek to lower their shipping costs through whatever means possible. For more information, contact Lopez at 4336 Montojo St.; Makati City, Philippines; e-mail psom1@aol.com.
Israeli C.O. Jailed - Pacifist Yehuda Agus, a 28-year-old student from Jerusalem, was recognized by Amnesty International as a Prisoner of Conscience. Since February 2, 1999, Agus has been incarcerated at Military Prison 4 in Israel for his refusal to perform obligatory reserve duty in the Israeli Defense Force. While Israel exempts some people from military duty, pacifists like Agus are imprisoned for their refusal to serve. Agus was part of a special Jewish Peace Team (JPT) that collaborated with CPT to paint over anti-Arab graffiti in Hebron last July -- an action for which all members of the JPT were arrested.
Haitian Workers Challenge Disney - Workers at Megatex, a Port-au-Prince factory which produces Disney clothing, have written to Disney CEO Michael Eisner requesting that the company send a representative to Haiti to investigate labor practices. The workers raise five concerns: 1) respect for freedom of association without retaliation, 2) the need to earn a living wage that provides for existence with dignity, 3) production quotas based on realistic expectations, 4) maintenance of Disney production in Haiti at levels sufficient to sustain current employment and, 5) the need for a safe, healthy working environment. Supporting letters may be sent to Michael Eisner - CEO; Walt Disney Company; 500 S. Buena Vista St.; Burbank, CA 91521.
Announcements:
PEACEMAKER CONGRESS 2000 - Plan now to attend
Peacemaker Congress 2000 in Washington DC, December 27-30,
1999. Keynote speaker Walter Wink will address "The
Myth of Redemptive Violence."
Participants are invited to stay for a special post-Congress
action/event on December 31 to bring in the New Millennium.
Contact CPT for further information.
MENNONITE CHURCHES PEACE GATHERING - July 20-22, 1999 prior to the church-wide St. Louis convention. Pastors, peace committee members, school teachers, parents, peace center workers, activists, and Christian educators are especially invited to attend. The event will take place at the Revive Us Again! Retreat Center in St. Louis. Cost is $150 US for registration, food and lodging. For more information contact: Jeremy Bergen, 204-888-6781; Doug Krehbiel, 316-283-5100; or Susan Mark Landis, 330-683-6844.
FRIENDS PEACE TEAMS PROJECT (FPTP) - established the Elise Boulding Fund to support people participating in peace teams. The fund honors the extensive work of Elise Boulding, a convinced Friend with a long history of involvement in peacemaking concerns. FPTP has endorsed CPT. Tax deductible gifts to the fund or inquiries may be directed to: Friends Peace Team Project; c/o Baltimore Yearly Meeting; 17100 Quaker Lane; Sandy Spring, MD 20860; Tel: 301-774-6855; e-mail: fptp@igc.apc.org.
CPT SUNDAY - CPT invites congregations and meetings to celebrate CPT Sunday on June 13 or another Sunday as appropriate. CPT is producing a packet of materials including worship resources, sermon ideas and peacemaking stories that integrate a vision for faith-based, nonviolent peacemaking with the lectionary readings for the third Sunday after Pentecost. The packet will be available in early spring. Contact CPT for more information.
EASTERN MENNONITE UNIVERSITY (EMU) - located in Harrisonburg, VA, EMU offers a 48-hour Master of Arts degree and an 18-hour Graduate Certificate in Conflict Transformation. In addition, a 15-course Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) is held each year that attracts a diverse community of peacebuilding practitioners from around the world. SPI 1999 will be held May 10-July 2. For more information call 540-432-4490; e-mail: ctprogram@emu.edu; website: www.emu/edu/ctp/stp.htm.
Letters
The article "Love is the Important Thing" [Signs of
the Times, Fall ‘98] is a message shared by suffering people
all around the world. During a training programs with
exiles from Burma, one participant reflected that many opposition
leaders think of justice as a legal issue. Once the war is
over, military leaders will be brought to trial and prosecuted
according to the law. But for those who have suffered most,
this does not represent justice. Grassroots people are not
concerned about punishment, but rather a guarantee that they can
live in peace and security with all of their neighbors, no matter
what their ethnicity. Love is, indeed, the most important
thing.
Max Ediger, Thailand/Burma
Although there is often a feeling of impotence in the face of
great evil on both sides of the Atlantic, at least in Hebron,
standing with the people who are threatened, we somehow felt a
little less guilty. I remember a lesson my friends in
Viet Nam tried to teach me during that war. "We have
appreciated your work and your presence in Tam Ky. You have
been like a man at the bottom of a waterfall with a small bucket
trying to throw water back up. . . Your real work will
begin when you go home to the United States next
week. Please go back and build a dam across the
top." Any ideas about what we can do over here to stop
the flood?
Doug Hostetter, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Nyack, NY
Sara has everyone stumped when they ask her what was the best
thing about her year in the Holy Land. She replies, "Meeting
the CPTers and the Al-Atrash family and working with
them." She is also telling everyone that she plans to
become a volunteer with CPT as soon as she can. She and
David have been a real witness for peace and continue to speak
out against injustice, no matter how small, such as when they see
kids being picked on at the playground. I guess that is
where peace begins and you certainly helped give our kids that
understanding.
Gordon & Rhonda Brubacher, Crete, Nebraska
[Gordon and Rhonda Brubacher and their two children Sara, 9, and David, 7, lived in Jerusalem for a year. They are matched through the CSD program with a Palestinian family in the Hebron area. They helped work at the Al-Atrash home numerous times].
In his State of the Union address, President Clinton proposed
the investment of Social Security funds in the stock
market. This raises serious concern for me as a
conscientious objector. Up to now I have kept my income
below a taxable level to minimize my support of
government-sponsored violence. Following the law, I have
contributed directly to Social Security from my self-employment
earnings. The potential that Social Security funds could be
invested in arms manufacturers and other death-dealing companies
would make me no longer able in good conscience to contribute to
that fund.
Duane Ediger, CPT Reservist, Dallas TX
BOOK REVIEW by
Claire Evans, Transforming Violence: Linking Local and Global
Peacemaking, edited by Judy Zimmerman Herr and Robert Herr,
Herald Press, 1998.
This book grew out of an awareness that countering violence on
the local and international levels transcends denominational
lines and is more crucial than ever in the changing dynamics of a
post-Cold War world. Essays range from theological to
academic to practical, and include such authors as theologians
Walter Wink and Dorothee Sollee, international conflict
resolution expert John Paul Lederach, and CPT's own Kathleen
Kern. From a theory of "just peacemaking," to a
perspective on the politics of forgiveness that acknowledges
Christian, Gandhian, and Islamic contributions, to a detailed and
poignant description of the Fellowship of Reconciliation's
Bosnian Student Project, the book presents a holistic picture of
peacemaking. Kern's chapter, "Applying Civilian Peace
Teams," highlights CPT's experiences in Haiti, Hebron, and
Washington, DC.
CPT CALENDAR
CPT Steering Committee meetings - Washington, DC: April 8-10,
1999
CPT Sunday - June 13
Delegations to the Middle East - April 13-25; May 26-June7;
August 1-14, 1999
Delegation to Chiapas, Mexico - May 21-June 3; August1-13, 1999.
Delegation to Haiti (dates to be announced)
Peacemaker Congress V, welcoming New Year's 2000.
CREDITS AND REQUESTS
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The work of CPT is guided by a thirteen-person steering
committee: Dale Aukerman, Robert Bartel, Anne
Blackwood, Pat Hostetter Martin, Retha McCutchen, Cliff Kindy,
Marilyn Miller, Trayce Petersen, Doug Pritchard, Orlando
Redekopp, Hedy Sawadsky, Muriel Stackley and John Stoner.
CPT staff: Gene Stoltzfus - Director, Claire Evans -
Administrative Coordinator, Kryss Chupp - Traning Coordinator --
Chicago, IL; Jan Long, Christian Peacemaker Corps Coordinator -
Blacksburg, VA; Rich Meyer, Campaign for Secure Dwellings
Coordinator - Millersburg, IN; Doug Pritchard, CPT Ontario -
Toronto, ON.
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