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Western
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Western
Quakers For
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Resolving Conflicts in the Middle and Far East and Responding to Terrorism, Prejudice and Racism—Reflections and Actions by Quakers in the Western USA
Whittier Area Peace and Humanitarian Activites in Response to 9/11 Events
Alternative Information About Middle East and Current Crisis
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Some Questions to Consider During This Time of Crisis
During this time of crisis, we can’t afford to let emotionalism, fear, or anger determine our foreign policy, or blindly leave all decisions to our leaders. In a democracy, citizens have the responsibility to ask questions, to be well-informed, and to let their leaders know what they think should be done. All of us need to find out more about what caused the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and how they can best be prevented in future. We also need to assess the risks of whatever policy we adopt to combat terrorism. Here are some key questions that need to be considered carefully and thoughtfully:
What caused the terrorist attacks in the first place? Did the US do anything to provoke them?
What kind of response on the part of our country is likely to reduce terrorism in the future?
What are the risks of an all-out military attack on terrorism in the Middle and Far East?
What effect will a major military attack on Afghanistan and other places in the Middle East have on the world economy?
What segment(s) of our population is likely to make the biggest sacrifice if the US undertakes a global war on terrorism?
What will happen to civil rights in our country if there is a prolonged war against terrorism? How will people of color be affected? How can our citizens be protected against xenophobic and racist attacks, as well as against the erosion of our rights to privacy and free speech?
How You and Your Meeting/Church Can Work for Peace
(adapted from Orange Grove Meeting’s mailing)
See also the letter of Judith McDaniel at http://www.afsc.org/nomore/whatcanido.htm
A Call for Justice, Not Revenge
by Durango, Colorado, Quakers
The events of the week of September 11, 2001 fill us with grief and sadness. We feel deep pain and outrage about all terrorist attacks throughout the world. We feel this pain acutely now since the enormity of the recent attack on our country. Our hearts and our prayers go out to the victims of these tragic events. We grieve for lives lost, the fear and trauma of those who watched and survived, and for those who lost loved ones. We also grieve for the families and the souls of those who chose death and destruction as a response to their own pain and outrage. We grieve even more deeply for our world, in which we as humans have not yet found a better way to live and disagree together.
We now share a profound moment in history that will be marked, chronicled, and documented for generations to come by what we do now. We acknowledge the anger these events have aroused in our nation, and the need to take decisive action in response to them. Those who helped to plan and carry out these atrocities must be brought to justice before an international court of law, which includes cultural and spiritual peers of those accused. However, we must not sacrifice our core values of freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in the process of defending them.
As children of God, as citizens of the United States, and as Quakers, we call for:
In the midst of our grief and with this call for action, we encourage people of conscience to join us in vocal opposition to violent revenge and retribution. We offer our support to our Muslin and Arab neighbors and others, as they may become victims of the backlash of these recent grievous acts of terrorism.
Rage is no guide to policy. As we respond, let us not become the evil that we abhor.
---Ross A. Worley and Kathryn Bowers, Co-ClerksDurango Friends Meeting (Quakers)
By Robert Griswold, Mt. View Meeting, Colorado
The result of terrorism is never what terrorists think it is going to be. Terrorists believe that their act is going to get people to change their ways or to “teach them a lesson they won’t soon forget.” The hope of terrorists is to instill a level of fear in people that will make them willing to give up their status as persons worthy of respect and care and thus, become submissive to the icon (religious, patriotic, tribal or whatever) of the terrorist. Terrorists can believe this works only because they have themselves given up their status as people worthy of respect and care and have become submissive to an icon. They have been afraid at the meaninglessness and hopelessness of their lives and have made a pact to exchange their fear for a rage that offers only their own (and others) extinction. As Nietzsche said, “Rather than believe in nothing, people will believe even in nothingness.”
But the faith of terrorists never succeeds. Most often the result is counter-terrorism which is merely terrorism itself in a new disguise. Those attacked become afraid and in their fear they become willing to give up their status as persons worthy of respect and care by becoming willing to cease treating others as persons worthy of respect and care. Instead of accepting the terrorist’s icon, they cling to their own icons and hide the reality of what they have surrendered under the flag or the cross or the hammer and sickle or the swastika or the six pointed star or the tartan or the family or “our way of life.” Those attacked become terrorists willing to inflict injury on any and all who have come to represent the source of their fear even it in the process many innocent bystanders are killed. The common consequence of terrorism is the spread of terrorism and the breeding of more terrorists. The common consequence of counter-terrorism is the spread of terrorism and the breeding of more terrorists.
Anger is not a primary emotion and “anger management” is a fantasy. Anger is a secondary emotion that comes out of fear; it is a way (a poor way) of translating fear by becoming a fearful creature yourself. Hot anger is dangerous. People kill each other in hot anger all the time. But it is not the worst because hot anger burns out quickly and usually only a few people are left killed or injured. Worse is cold anger. Cold anger arises from fears and angers that have burned out our capacity for compassion, our capacity to care, even our capacity to recognize other human beings as human. Once we have turned our fear to anger we are lost.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” Notice that it doesn’t say there will be no evil. That is not something that I should be hoping for. That hope is an indulgence in fantasy. What I need to be concerned about is my fear. We are so little aware of the consequences to us of fearing evil. Everything we fear is strengthened and empowered by our fear. Fear makes us act in ways that increase the force of whatever we fear. Fear changes us and makes us become defensive. When we become defensive, we create a gap between us and that which we fear and then we are fully equipped to do evil ourselves. Furthermore, the gap we have built also cuts us off from those who might love and support us. The price of fear is not sometimes too high. It is always too high.
Fear comes from the ego’s need to defend itself. Hence, the only way to let go of fear is to find a guide other than self. And the other guide is indicated in another section of the psalm. “He leadeth me beside the still waters; He restoreth my soul.” It is when we are quiet and have come to a still place inside, underneath the ego, that we become enabled to let go of our fears. In that place we come to know a connection to reality where we can never be anything but safe. The separation between ourselves and what we saw as a threat to us fades away. Saying this is easy; doing it is a hard discipline. Most people would rather die angry than subject themselves to this discipline - killing is an easier discipline to learn. They fantasize that they can nurture their anger and destroy their enemy and thereby “keep the peace” or return to it later. They ignore that their “peace” was never real but was merely the studied lack of awareness of the surrounding violence.
If we hold fast to our Inner Guide, we will be able to let go of our fear. We will be able to retain our love, compassion and recognition that even terrorists are human beings, however lost they have become. Both love and hate have power to change people. But love alone can heal the world. The only hope is to let go of fear and equip ourselves with love. All the rest is a snare and an illusion.
Responding to Terrorism As A Friend
by Gene Knudsen Hoffman, Santa Barbara
by Gene Knudsen Hoffman, Santa Barbara (CA) Friends Meeting
This interview was conducted by Bob Banner, editor of HOPEDANCE: PATHWAYS TO SUSTAINABLE LIVING AND POSITIVE SOLUTIONS, a free publication from San Luis Opisbo (CA) that can also be accessed via its website www.hopedance.org.
What do you think of this media craze focusing on vengeance and military action against an unknown enemy?
I feel this is a reaction, not a response. It might be an attitude which is being encouraged by our government, I’m afraid.
Anger is a healthy response to an act of violence against something or someone we love—but it need not be the determining factor in how we behave. Anger is also a reaction to danger, to fear, but it’s not the response which is needed. That we must determine or ourselves. I hope we have evolved far enough to realize there are other paths to take, that we need to explore them, and to talk publicly, freely about them.
I don’t know whether we are having a ‘media craze,’ whether the media is now being controlled by some corporate or governmental powers. What I do feel is that not presenting a variety of opinions to the public is a disservice. We need “open mikes” which encourage diversity because there are other ways to go.
Do you think your work with Compassionate Listening is impossible to implement at this critical juncture, or do you at least contemplate it as a possibility.
Wherever we find someone who will encourage us to listen, we should listen, and we should listen to both sides. We should make “radically new responses to the radically new situation of a world where violence is mindless, hopeless, and meaningless. I feel we must move beyond initiatives we formerly used, into realms we have not yet considered, and not yet discovered.” We Americans have a gift for listening to the oppressed and disenfranchised.
That’s very important, but can we begin to listen to our “enemies”?
One of the new steps we can take is Compassionate Listening—a new international program I conceived in the eighties which is now doing remarkable things in the Middle East, Alaska, Washington, and other States, as well as in Canada. Compassionate Listening means we listen to people who widely differ from us with the same openness, non-judgmentalism, and compassion we bring to those with whom our sympathies lie. Everyone has a partial truth, and we must listen, discern, and acknowledge this partial truth in everyone—partially those with whom we disagree.
The ultimate goal of Compassionate Listening is to bring both sides together to listen to one another and, hopefully, they will make compromises—as they have after a year and a half of being listened to in Alaska, as they are beginning to in small pockets in the Middle East. This is called reconciliation.
If we want to do this today, we will need training for it. This training is provided in new pamphlet I’ve written called Compassionate Listening: An Evolutionary Sourcebook which will take you step by step through the process and prepare you to go out and do it. It’s free to anyone who wishes to take it off the web (see www.coopcomm.org). The beginning of listening compassionately will be to go from door to door with a brief questionnaire on whether people want war now or do not want it and why.
You frequently say that “an enemy is one whose story we have not heard.” What do you mean by that? Do you contend that terrorists have resorted to violence because their stories have not been heard.
Yes, I do. I think a terrorist is someone who thinks his/her grievances will never be heard, and never addressed, and that causes deep pain and severe anger which is an invitation to violence.
I believe violence is caused by our unhealed wounds. Not being heard and not being listened to is a grave wound that can easily escalate to violence.
There is a quotation by the poet Longfellow which I refer to in times of stress and which confirms my opinion about our need to listen to everyone and anyone: “If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each person’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.” We should certainly listen to both sides before going to war!
You’ve been talking lately about creating a solid group of citizens who would present genuinely alternative policies to anything they disagree with in our Administration and our President’s policies. Can you tell us more about this new project?
I think so, but it will be abbreviated. I’ve long been considering what formerly was called the Shadow Government in England. That’s a group of people who seriously consider the initiatives of the British Government and, if they do not approve them, they devise new initiatives and publicize them in various ways, sometimes taking them directly to Parliament.
We should create such groups in our cities and villages, of people who will come together to work on new laws, new initiatives they feel are in harmony with what people need, with truth, or with our Bill of Rights and Constitution. Each time they read a proposal with which they do not agree, they call together their group and brainstorm until they create a proposal they prefer. Then they seek to get it into the media: newspapers, radio, TV—and if they can’t—they make fliers and go door-to-door to hand them out.
If alternatives are available to people, they might reconsider. I have a long name for this proposal, but it says exactly what I think we might do. It’s called Concerned Citizens Alternative Solutions.
During the hot crisis our government had with Qadaffi and Libya, you actually went to Libya to speak to his administration and to listen to their grievances. Can you tell us why you went there and what happened when you returned?
After the 1986 bombing of the Libyan city Tripoli in an effort to kill Colonel Muaminar Qadaffi, I wrote a personal letter to him, expressing my grief at the violence, the loss of lives, and specifically the loss of his little daughter. Remarkably, Qadaffi wrote me back thanking me, and added an angry condemnation of our military action.
Then, in January 1989 when the United States shot down two Libyan planes, the editor of the Fellowship of Reconciliation magazine, Virginia Baron, called me because I had written my first article about Compassionate Listening and she published it. She asked me if we should send a Compassionate Listening team to listen to the Libyans. I was enthusiastic, and so was she. She began to visit Ambassador Treikki at the United Nations and told him of our plans.
He was enthusiastic and on June 27, 1989, fifteen of us began an act of civil disobedience and with the aid of a Libyan plane that picked us up in Rome, we were flown to Tripoli, ensconced in the Kabir Hotel, and stayed there ten days.
Next morning we met with a Libyan delegation of fifteen men—all outstanding in Libya—in a lovely, spacious room and began our exploration. We all told them why we had come and when I said I wanted to know about Libyans, who they were, what their government was like, how they lived, and what they ate for breakfast. They shouted in one voice: “Cornflakes!” and our meeting opened in gales of laughter.
When Virginia saw they were all men, she asked where the women were. We were quickly joined by Salma Abdul Jabbar, a teacher of philosophy at Tripoli University, and Rawhia Kara, Libya’s leading feminist and associate Professor of English at Tripoli University. (We met more women later.) We described ourselves as the Libyan Listening project and they dubbed us as “The Committee of Good Intentions.”
We learned that Libya was nothing like we had been told in the American media. It was an active, progressive nation. They had developed universities and the students were 60% women and 40% men;
They wanted to come to the United States for more education; they had released all their political prisoners; they were well-read and aware.
One of Qadaffi’s lesser loved laws was that no movies or television were allowed in Libya—everyone had to participate in pleasures like dancing, playing music, or listening to the radio and reading. We soon learned that young people had an underground way of getting videos and video players and they saw the latest movies of the US. They also liked the participation practiced in their country.
Finally it was time to go home. We did, after being feted in every city in Libya where our planes landed. When we arrived home we went to our government, eager to tell what we had learned. We discovered we were not permitted to speak to any member of our government in Washington for we had gone to Libya illegally and it was against the law for anyone to listen to us. So we wrote our articles and spoke on radio and TV, but could not follow up on our Libyan visit because there was a ban on Libyans coming to the United States and we were considered—and were—law breakers.
Do you think the people in the United States are ready to listen to our enemies or to our own diverse citizens for that matter?
Some people in the United States are ready to listen to their “enemies” and those are people who realize that unless we do, we will never be able to make a real peace with them. I don’t know if Americans are ready to listen to their own citizens on the planning for war—or peace question. I know I would have a hard time with it and I would have to refuel myself on compassionate listening to do it compassionately!
On Friday, September 14 we had a meeting at the Sola House [Gene’s home and peace center in Santa Barbara, CA] to brainstorm about what to do about the war our President has proposed, and our Congress and Senate have supported through its funding. We listened to people of varying opinions—some expressed their anger, some their grief, some their hope for a new era. No one wanted war and each sought new ideas for how they could perform actions which would bring them face-to-face in deliberations with one another.
In the end we felt we could listen to everyone’s story, from our president to the most ardent peace person, and try to perceive the truths in each one of them.
The next test will be trying to do it.
Gene Hoffman: Mystic and Prophet of ‘Compassionate Listening’
by Anthony Manousos
"An enemy is one whose story we have not heard." (GKH)
As the United States launches an ill-conceived war on terrorism, the insights of Gene Knudsen Hoffman, 82-year-old Quaker peacemaker from Santa Barbara, California, ring truer than ever:
Some time ago, I recognized that terrorists were people who had grievances, who thought their grievances would never be heard and certainly never addressed. Later, I saw that all parties to every conflict were wounded, and that at the heart of every act of violence was an unhealed wound. I began to search for ways we peace people might help to heal these violence-causing wounds. (Pieces of the Mideast Puzzle, p. 9).
For the past twenty years, Gene Hoffman has been engaged in efforts to seek out the deep, psychological causes of violence and to help bring about healing and reconciliation through a process she calls "Compassionate Listening."
An active Quaker and member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) for over fifty years, she traveled numerous times to the former Soviet Union during the 1980s to do reconciliation work. In 1989, soon after American planes downed two Libyan planes and several years after Americans bombed Libyan civilians and Muammar Qadaffi’s home and family in Tripoli, she went to Libya with an FOR delegation to meet with Libyan leaders. She has met with and listened to Palestinians and Israelis, and published articles and pamphlets about her experiences, including Pieces of the Mideast Puzzle and No Royal Road to Reconciliation. Most recently she helped to arrange Compassionate Listening sessions between Alaskan hunters and fishers and native people through the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). She has published over a hundred articles, books, and pamphlets and given innumerable workshops and talks about peacemaking. Her work has inspired numerous others, including Cynthia Monroe, AFSC staff person in Alaska, and Leah Green, founder of Mideast Diplomacy’s Compassionate Listening project. Gene has been rightly called a "pioneer" in the Compassionate Listening movement that includes such other notables as Adam Curle and Herb Walters.
"Gene is a real prophet," said Judith Kolokoff, former AFSC regional director in the Pacific Northwest. "And she’s a remarkable facilitator. She has the capacity to bring out the very best of the truth in each individual."
Hoffman’s approach to compassionate listening is rooted in both psychological and mystical perspectives. A founder of the Santa Barbara Night Counseling Center in the 1970s, she earned her Masters in pastoral counseling from Goddard College and worked with Ben Weininger, a "Zen-Hassidic" Rogerian psychiatrist. With her background in counseling, Gene came to see all parties in a conflict as "wounded," as having suffered psychological traumas that need healing.
But Gene’s work also has a spiritual dimension, as Dennis Miller, a communication skills instructor from Santa Barbara, noted: "Gene is a Quaker mystic. Her calling was to carry pastoral counseling out of the pastor’s study into public life. What has energized her work over the years is the Quaker teaching that ‘there is that of God in every person.’"
As Gene herself puts it: "The call, as I see it, is for us to see that within all life is the mystery: God. It is within the contra, the Nazi, the Africaaner, the Israeli. By compassionate listening we may awaken it and thus learn the partial truth the other is carrying, for another aspect of being human is that we each carry some portion of the truth. To reconcile, we must listen for, discern, and acknowledge this partial truth in everyone" (Pieces, p. 10).
by Stanford J. Searl, Jr.,Santa Monica (CA) Friends Meeting
When I drive down Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, I’m struck now by the
whipping of American flags. These flags fly from store fronts, flutter on
cars and are hawked at major intersections, all of them a pervasive reminder
of the deep importance of being a patriotic American, a lover of one’s
county and the flag, and the Republic and so forth. With all of my heart
and soul, I love my country, this deeply wonderful, deeply flawed America.
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However, no matter how much I do love my country, I love justice, peace and the way of non-violence with equal fervor. At this time, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, feeling terrorized and traumatized myself, I pray that I can enter into my patriotic identity as a Quaker, an American who feels an urgency to promote active, dramatic non-violence, even in the face of this mass murder.
Here’s my version of displaying and flying our flag, my flag, too: Above everything, I will place a fully unfurled version of the American Flag on my Honda; but, just below that flag, I would place another flag that outlined the peace symbol, a flag that signifies the potential for spiritual, inward healing. Hence, as a Quaker, American patriot, grieving for those thousands killed and millions of others around the globe in various stages of trauma, I offer a patriotic, flag-waving prayer for peace and justice: Please, members of my Congress and Mr. President, try to define this terror as a heinous crime against humanity and not a war. And please become open to the inner, spiritual reality of the Divine and allow for the potential for healing and peace to enter our lives. As a patriotic American, I wave the flag for peace, justice and love.
LETTER FROM THE CLERK OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA QUARTERLY MEETING
As I write, US warships and warplanes are massing in the Gulf of Arabia, and American troops are swarming the streets of Islamabad. This morning while reading the paper, I wept with foreboding about what is unfolding: a prolonged war of retribution conducted by the United States and its allies in some of the poorest, most deprived regions of the earth, in retaliation for the terrible acts of terrorism of 11 September 2001. As you read these words, that foreboding may have already turned into harsh reality.
In the days since 11 September, many Friends have been doing work of support and healing. I hear of special meetings of Friends in Santa Barbara, Orange Grove, and elsewhere in the Quarter. Last Sunday my wife and I attended a wonderful impromptu outpouring of support at the Islamic Center of Claremont, where more than a thousand people gathered to hear speakers from many faiths pledge their unity with Muslims in our community who have been unfairly targeted. Charleen Krueger, Clerk of Claremont Monthly Meeting, helped to organize that gathering and spoke to the audience eloquently about the costs of hatred and the need for economic justice.
At times of crisis, it seems especially important for us as a spiritual community to draw together: to worship and pray, to deepen our unity with each other, to open our hearts to God and draw strength to act. It is natural to withdraw, to tighten up and close off to the pain, to erect defenses against distress; but I believe that Psalm 51 gives better advice: “The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
As gentle Tibetan Buddhist Pema Chodron writes,
We think that by protecting ourselves from suffering we are being kind to ourselves. The truth is, we only become more fearful, more hardened, and more alienated. We experience ourselves as being separate from the whole. This separateness becomes like a prison for us, a prison that restricts us to our personal hopes and fears and to caring only for the people nearest to us. Curiously enough, if we primarily try to shield ourselves from discomfort, we suffer. Yet when we don’t close off and we let our hearts break, we discover our kinship with all beings. [Wise people] know that the best thing they can do for themselves is to be there for others. As a result, they experience joy. [When Things Fall Apart, p. 88]
Quakerism itself arose in a time of war—a civil war that swirled around the young, charismatic movement—and Friends paradoxically flourished in the midst of this conflict and violence. Historically, Friends have been at their best in times of crisis and threat: reaching out to those in need, calling for restraint and forgiveness, working for justice, seeking to “live in virtue of that life and power that takes away the occasion for all war.” At such times, we need to draw strength from each other, to gather in community and renew our commitment to what is truly important.
In this difficult time, I am glad to be a part of our small and far-flung community. I wish for you healing and renewal.
—In Friendship, Steve Smith, Clerk of SCQM
Multnomah Monthly Meeting Religious Society of Friends
Portland, Oregon —We of Multnomah Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) share in the sorrow of people around the world at the loss of life in Pennsylvania, at the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon. We abhor the violence that has occurred to so many innocent people. The evidence of compassion, courage, and love evoked by the disaster heartens us deeply.
We join the many who caution against reacting to this tragedy with hatred or vengeance. The Religious Society of Friends, since its inception in the 1650's, has been led to eschew war and all forms of violence for any end whatsoever. We believe that the challenge before us all is to break the cycle of violence and retribution. As we seek justice in the aftermath of this tragedy, let us do so under the system of international law. Let us do in a way that strengthens international institutions like the United Nations, whose purpose is to achieve security and stability for all peoples.
In response to this tragedy let us commit ourselves to eliminate terrorism by correcting the causes of hatred upon which it feeds. Over half of this year's US discretionary budget already is going to support the US military, and close to 1% for non-military aid for developing countries. A disproportionately rich and heavily armed society can never be secure in a world of the suffering poor. We will have far more security in a world we approach as helpful friends than in one we arm ourselves against as potential enemies.
Let us also remember that there is a force more powerful than bombs or knives or weapons of war. That force is love - as Gandhi told us: "Love is the strongest force the world possesses, yet it is the humblest imaginable." Let us dare to move forward in love.
Minute approved at Meeting for Worship for Business, September 16,2001--Tina McMahon, Clerk,Multnomah Monthly Meeting
A Letter to the Islamic Community
composed by Jeanne Nash on behalf of Ft. Collins (CO) Meeting
The following are my thoughts on a letter to the Islamic community. I use the term "9-11" because news reports have indicated that this date was chosen because it is an anniversary of the Camp David Peace Accord signing.
Dear Friends in the Islamic Community,
The horrifying slaughter that we witnessed on Tuesday 9-11 has left the world grieving and numb. The hate and vengeance that generated such an act is frightening to comprehend.
Although there are many times when the 'Western' and Islamic world don't appear to understand each other fully, and injustices are done, we are sure that the majority of us all are devastated by these actions, whomever may have done them.
Remembering the accusations and active persecution of Muslims during the early aftermath of the Oklahoma bombing, we can only imagine the concern and fear you must be experiencing now.
Our religious faith is based strongly in the belief that there is a bit of the spirit of God-Allah in all persons and therefore ALL humankind is to be treated with respect, each individual walking the earth with the concern for 'that Inner Light' in others and rejecting violence as a solution to problems. This is an active faith, seeking ways to bring justice and caring to those with whom we differ and those we do not know.
We wish to offer our support and concern in what unfairly may be a difficult time for you. May your faith in Allah-God bring you courage and patience as you work for peace and understanding,
--The Fort Collins Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Opening Our Hearts and Minds To the Power of Compassion
By Anthony Manousos
Ever since the fateful events of Sept. 11, I have felt mixed emotions. I have felt deep sadness—sadness for the victims of this terrible national tragedy, sadness for their families, but mostly sadness for those whose minds and hearts are twisted with anger and fear. I have also felt an energizing sense of urgency, since it is clear that those of us who are concerned about peace are going to face challenging times in the next few years.
That’s why I have put together this website consisting of reflections and suggestions for action. It’s partly therapy, partly a way to share with others what I have learned and what has inspired me.
When I first heard the news about the tragedy of Sept. 11, I was working on an article about Gene Knudsen Hoffman, the Santa Barbara peace activist whose work is featured prominently on this website.
Her insights into the causes of terrorism (as well as how to “cure” it) seem incredibly relevant. Ten years ago she wrote:
"Some time ago, I recognized that terrorists were people who had grievances, who thought their grievances would never be heard and certainly never addressed. Later, I saw that all parties to every conflict were wounded, and that at the heart of every act of violence was an unhealed wound. I began to search for ways we peace people might help to heal these violence-causing wounds."
Gene is fond of quoting what the Trappist monk Thomas Merton had to say about the need for listening compassionately:
"We have to have a deep, patient compassion for the fears of people, for the fears and irrational mania of those who hate or condemn."
It is clear that we need to feel compassion for those who commit terrorist acts, and also for our leaders in Washington, DC, where a blind, unreasoning war fever seems to have taken hold. We need to remember that behind all the macho rhetoric, our leaders are afraid—for themselves, their families, and their world.
When I hear our leaders beating the drums of war, I find myself growing angry and am tempted to write satire (my outlet for anger). But during this time of crisis, it is necessary to move beyond anger and to seek understanding.
Because of the violence-obsessed culture we live in, many people’s response to fear is "flight or fight." Those who have chosen to fight a war against an enemy as shadowy as terrorism haven’t a clue about how to proceed, but are afraid even to admit it.
It will take time for emotions to settle down and for the voice of Reason and Wisdom to be heard, and heeded. During this time of uncertainty and fear we need to be especially sensitive and discerning listeners. I have found that people are basically at three different stages:
Some are still so traumatized that they need to vent their fear and anger. We need to allow them time to heal. Gene Hoffman’s “compassionate listening” approach can be extremely helpful for those at this stage.
Others have processed many of their feelings and need information so that they can take appropriate action. We need to be well-informed so that we can help them to come to a clearer understanding of the current situation (and that means educating ourselves!). Organizations like the AFSC and AFSC can provide the background information we need. See http://www.afsc.org and http://www.fcnl.org
Finally, some of us already some a sense of purpose and direction, instilled through years of involvement with the peace movement. We need to be cognizant of meaningful actions that can make a difference. See How You and Your Meeting/Church Can Work for Peace.
Perhaps because I have been a teacher much of my life, I resonate with the words of Alan Solomonow, AFSC’s Middle East Program coordinator in San Francisco:
“What happened in New York City and Washington, DC, this week will reverberate through our lives for generations to come. Let it be a learning experience to build a better future ... NOT one that will tempt us to fall back on old slogans and simple-sounding answers. None of us in safe—ANYWHERE—–in a world that has failed to expunge militarism, injustice, inequality, poverty and more.”
One lesson we need to learn is that people—even terrorists—can change. Perhaps that’s why I was deeply moved when, right after the tragic events of Sept. 11, Arafat gave blood and said repeatedly, "God bless the American people." What an act of compassion and statesmanship! Arafat has certainly has come a long way from his "terrorist" days. Maybe there is hope for the rest of us. Maybe we Americans can become more compassionate and understanding towards those in the Islamic world who are suffering from poverty, injustice, and yes, terrorism. Maybe we can learn that there is more power and security in providing economic justice and humanitarian assistance than in selling arms and supporting corrupt governments.
Once of the most hopeful and educational events of the past month was the opening day of "Quiet Helpers," an historical exhibit at First Friends (Quaker) Church in Whittier dedicated to the relief work that Quakers did in Germany after World War II. This exhibit was put together by the German people in gratitude for the relief work that the Quakers did after WWII (for which the American Friends Service Committee was given the Nobel Prize for Peace). The affection and gratitude that the German people feel for Quakers and for Americans in general were clearly evident in the words spoken by Dr. Han Jurgen Wendler, the consul general of the Federal Republic of Germany, and others who attended. It is wonderful to see hundreds of people gathered for this event—including the mayor of Whittier, the President of Whittier College, and AFSC staff and volunteers, among them Mary Ellen McNish, the Executive Secretary of the Service Committee. The energy of so many people gathered to celebrate peace was just the kind of community-building experience that we need. As Steve Smith, clerk of our Quarter, points out so well,
“Quakerism itself arose in a time of war--a civil war that swirled around the young, charismatic movement--and Friends paradoxically flourished in the midst of this conflict and violence. Historically, Friends have been at their best in times of crisis and threat: reaching out to those in need, calling for restraint and forgiveness, working for justice, seeking to ‘live in virtue of that life and power that takes away the occasion for all war.’ At such times, we need to draw strength from each other, to gather in community and renew our commitment to what is truly important.”
The “Quiet Helpers” exhibit also clearly demonstrates an important lesson that we as a nation need to re-learn—–the power of compassion and kindness in transforming an enemy into a friend and ally. After WW II, Germany and Japan were regarded by many as pariah states, much like Iraq and Afghanistan today. After the horrors of WW II, many saw Germans and Japanese as evil and beyond redemption and felt that they should be punished with reparations, as happened after WWI. But wiser heads prevailed. The Quakers and others did relief work which showed that Americans truly cared. Eventually the Marshall Plan was instituted, massive relief and development aid was given to our “enemies,” and the societies of Japan and Germany were re-built. This was the wisest investment that the United States ever made. Today we count Jap
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