Katrina, 10 Years Later -- part I

Hurricane Katrina satellite view, 28 August 2005*

The ten-year anniversaries of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma have been much on my mind lately.

In August, 2005, our family had just moved to the Midwest.  I'd grown up in hurricane country and had lived most of my life in majority-minority cities.  I spent the days before Katrina's landfalls tracking the storm on weather websites and anxiously listening to the news.

I spent the days after Katrina hit, like so many people, getting more and more angry, desperately wanting to Do Something.

Hurricane Rita, satellite view, 5 September 2005*

I spent Hurricane Rita in Montgomery, Alabama, stranded with hundreds of other disaster relief volunteers in a big box store converted to volunteer staff shelter.  We were incredibly frustrated at being stuck there instead of being out in the field, and given how impossible things already were for Katrina survivors, we were worried about how much worse they were getting.

When it was safe enough to travel -- still lots of wind and rain, but lower winds and fewer tornadoes -- I was assigned to go to a newly-opened service center in Jackson, Mississippi as a family services caseworker.  There, my volunteer colleagues and I worked with thousands of hurricane survivors every day -- for weeks.  Many of the people we saw had been displaced twice -- they'd lost everything and been forced to move to another part of the country, then they lost what replacements they'd been able to scramble and were forced to move again.

One of the things I remember most about that time is the incredible people I met and worked with, over and over and over.  The other volunteers.  The survivors.  The National Guard service members, local law enforcement, firefighters, and paramedics.  The people who offered their workplace for our volunteer staff shelter, and tried to make it as homey as possible.

The way people pulled together to pull together.

--------------------------

It is vitally important to lift up recognition of the structurally racist nature of emergency planning and response by local and federal officials in the Gulf Coast region before, during, and after hurricane season 2005.   Yes, natural disasters generally affect people who are poor, people with disabilities, and people of color harder than they affect non-disabled middle-class white people.  But with Katrina especially, that disproportionate impact was so. much. greater.  It was, and still is, very hard not to see that as almost deliberate -- as the logical consequence of a long, long series of racist decisions and choices.

Black lives matter, dammit.  

Other people, especially people of color, have written about this much better than I can, and I encourage you to seek out what they have to say. Especially about the roots and the long-term effects of that racist decision-making. 

--------------------------

I know I have more to write about that time, but none of it is quite here yet.  In the meantime, while that's brewing, here are two excerpts from other things I've written in the past: 

At the five-year anniversary: 

Five years ago, we had just moved to the Midwest, and I was listening to the news coverage after Hurricane Katrina and getting angrier and angrier.

Well, that had happened after September 11th, too; and then, the Red Cross had desperately needed help, too.  So I'd taken my three community service days from work and answered phones at the SE PA Red Cross.  It wasn't glamorous, but it freed up trained people to go out in the field and deal with local disasters like house fires.  And it gave me something constructive to do.  Which was better than listening to people bitch all day at work about how we should, in fact, bomb Afghanistan back into the Stone Age.

So when I was getting pissed off after Katrina, I called the local Red Cross in Michigan, thinking I'd answer phones again. 

They asked me to go to the Gulf Coast and do Family Services / Client Services.  Case management.

And I did.

And it was an amazing experience.

I didn't have time to write much about it, and when I got back home, I left almost immediately for a family funeral; but I did write some.  And I also wrote a little in my article for Friends Journal. 

Excerpt from my Friends Journal article, "The Peace Testimony and Armed Forces Emergency Services":

As a Friend, I first got involved with the Red Cross through Disaster Services just after September 11, 2001. Like so many of us, I had a deep need to do something – something to help, and something that expressed the Peace Testimony. What I did was answer phones, all day, every day. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was needed, and it freed up experienced, trained volunteers to go out in the field.

After Hurricane Katrina, I again found myself raging at the news, and again felt that need to do something. So I thought I’d go answer phones again. But because I have experience as a pastoral counselor and case manager and the need was so great, the local Chapter asked me to go to the Gulf Coast instead.

Five weeks after the disaster, at just one service center, in just one town, my fellow volunteers and I saw and spoke with thousands of people every day. None of us could “fix” anything for them. True, we could help them apply for financial assistance. True, we could try to connect them with services. But we couldn’t repair their lives.

Mostly, what we could do was just be there with them.

It turned out our simple presence meant much more than financial assistance to many people.

“You came from where? To be here with us?”

“But you’re not getting paid?!”

“What about your family?”

“Thank you for coming down here.”

“I haven’t told anybody what happened, and it’s been more than a month.”

“We thought nobody cared about us.”

I already knew what a difference it made for me to have someone simply be with me when I was going through hard times. In Mississippi, I learned yet again that bearing witness is sacred work.

--------------------------

Hurricane Wilma, satellite view, 19 October 2005*

*

Hurricane Katrina, 28 August 2005.  By Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC (http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=7938) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Hurricane Rita, 5 September 2005.  By Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC (http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=7957) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Hurricane Wilma, 19 October 2005.  By NOAA Satellite and Information Service [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

If pictures of drowned refugee children make you want to cry or scream...

...then here is something concrete you can do.

I admit this is reminding me so very much of both of the aftermath of September 11th, 2001 and of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: looking at maps, reading and listening to the news, getting more and more pissed off, and feeling the need to Do Something.

If pictures of dead children washing up on Europe's beaches make you want to cry or scream, here is one practical thing you can do: give money to Médecins San Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

MSF are running Search and Rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea -- getting people off boats, giving them emergency medical care (including helivac'ing critically ill patients), and getting them to shore in Europe. They are also providing medical care in refugee camps in the countries people are fleeing from to Europe.

MSF people are saving lives every day, and any amount you can give would help. MSF is also a very solid organization.

• Get more information and donate here:
https://www.facebook.com/msf.english

• Click here to donate in your country:
http://www.msf.org/donate

• Click here for more information about MSF's Mediterranean operations:
http://www.msf.org.uk/country-region/migrant-search-and-rescue-in-the-mediterranean-sea

• Click here for first-person stories from MSF volunteers:
http://blogs.msf.org/en/staff/blogs/moving-stories

• Click here for a wonderful video first-person account from MSF nurse Carol Nagy:
http://www.smh.com.au/world/meet-carol-nagy-the-australian-nurse-on-board-a-refugee-rescue-ship-off-libya-20150829-gjajld.html

I wish I could embed the video so you could watch it here. 

Edited to add:

• This is another fun and fabulous fund-raiser for MSF:

http://www.p-hop.co.uk/

Donations for humanitarian relief in Israel and Gaza

According to the NY Times, the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation for Israel and the Occupied Territories is the only humanitarian agency currently on the ground in Beit Hanoun, Gaza.

Here is more information.

If you'd like to support humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza, please consider a donation to the ICRC specifically for this relief work.

The ICRC started work in Israel and the occupied territories in 1948, following the first Israeli-Arab conflict. Its presence became permanent in the aftermath of the 1967 war. The ICRC repeatedly reminds Israel of its obligations under IHL towards the population living under occupation, through bilateral and confidential dialogue. The organization focuses on the protection of civilians and the welfare of detainees held in Israeli and Palestinian places of detention, and helps the most needy. The ICRC supports the Palestine Red Crescent Society and the Magen David Adom (the Israeli National Society). (http://www.icrc.org/eng/where-we-work/middle-east/israel-occupied-territories/overview-israel.htm)

To donate, see http://www.icrc.org/eng/donations/index.jsp

Israel-Palestine: the Gaza emergency, reliable information sources, and peace workers

Here are some sources of reliable information about the on-going situation in Israel-Palestine, and in particular about the current emergency in Gaza.  Here's also some information about people and groups doing active peacemaking.  There are a lot of them.  Spreading the word about their work is one way to remind the world about the truth on the ground, which is very different from what most of us hear from the news reports. 

First: information

A good place to get reliable information about the daily situation in Gaza is the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Occupied Palestinian Territories, or UN OCHA OPT.  They publish a situation report every day with highlights, quick facts and figures, and brief analysis. 


United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Occupied Palestinian Territories

• http://www.ochaopt.org/

Daily Situation Reports

• http://www.ochaopt.org/reports.aspx?id=1010272&page=1

The groups listed under the next section are also excellent sources of information. 


Second: Peacemakers

There are a LOT of individuals and groups within Israel-Palestine doing peace work, especially non-violent peace work. Here are some, just off the top of my head.  If I spent some time looking things up, I could list more. 

Please see what they have to say about the current situation, but also about their work and the overall longer-term situation.  I can pretty much promise you will learn something you didn't already know. 

The International Solidarity Movement

• On Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/ismpalestine
• On the web:  http://palsolidarity.org/

Christian Peacemaker Teams - Palestine

• On Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/cptpalestine
• On the web:  http://cpt.org/work/palestine

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)

• On Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Israeli-Committee-Against-House-Demolitions-ICAHD/115169235224525
• On the web: http://www.icahd.org/

Rabbis for Human Rights

• On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RabbisForHumanRights
• On the web: http://rhr.org.il/eng/

EAPPI / Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel

• On the web:  http://www.eappi.org/

B'Tselem בצלם

• On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/btselem
• On the web: http://www.btselem.org/

Oasis of Peace / Neve Shalom / Wahat al-Salam

• On Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/oasisofpeace
• On the web: http://wasns.org/

Breaking the Silence

• On Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/BreakingTheSilenceIsrael
• On the web: http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/

You can click on any of those for more information, both about their work, and also about the current situation.

And there are more. (Feel free to post links in comments.)

Thanks.

On Violence and Language (the Day After the Explosions at the Boston Marathon)

I wrote this for my friends on Facebook.  And then people kept asking me if they could share it.  I am honored.  

Also, I am grateful to my professors in Third World Politics at UMBC for helping me to learn to think critically about these issues, and to Professor Clark R. McCauley at BMC for the opportunity I had to do research under his guidance into the development and prevention of violence in political movements. 

- sm

Beloved friends,

When you find yourself wanting to use the word "terrorist" right now in the wake of the explosions at the Boston Marathon, I invite you to think first.

"Terrorism" is political violence, whether it's violence from below (guerrilla groups) or violence from above (governments). "Terrorism" is not actually a catch-all term for senseless, deliberate violence inflicted by people on other people, though that's how we've come to use it.

What happens if, instead of using the word "terrorism," you use the phrase "political violence"? What does that do to the ways you think about and understand the situation, whether it's what happened in Boston, or another situation?

Contrary to popular belief, we cannot read the minds of those who perpetrate violence, though it's very tempting, because it allows us to make them "other" -- Not Like Us -- and easier for us to think we would never do such a thing.

But that is dangerous, for several reasons. One is that incorrect assumptions make it harder, not easier, to prevent future violence, and when we pretend we can read minds and therefore know motivations, we are making incorrect assumptions.

But one of the most important ways this is dangerous is that the primary thing which makes such violence possible is Other-ing. Specifically, seeing people as Other to the point where they are no longer considered fully human. Where we might not commit violence against other human beings, it's easier to commit violence against pigs.

Language choice is an essential step in this process towards violence.

I am not making this up. Decades of research into political violence, some of which I have been part of, bear this out.

So in the midst of this hurt and shock, I invite you to think. And I invite you to refuse to perpetuate the cycle of violence in the language you use.

Love and blessings,
Staṡa Morgan-Appel

-----------------

(c) 2013 Stasa Morgan-Appel.  Permission to reprint with attribution.  
And please do leave a comment here with the link!

International Humanitarian Law and the Rules of War

With the Israeli bombardment of Gaza right now, I have been seeing a lot of misinformation in social networking media and the news, and hearing a lot of misinformation in conversation, about humanitarian law and ethics in such situations.

Here are some resources.  It can be very helpful to familiarize yourself with some of these, especially the first two, rather than simply repeating what "everyone knows" about the ethics or legality of the current situation. 

War & Law: Conduct of Hostilities
http://www.icrc.org/eng/war-and-law/conduct-hostilities/index.jsp

International Humanitarian Law and Terrorism: Questions and Answers
http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/faq/terrorism-faq-050504.htm

The Rules of War: What Do We Really Know?
http://live.washingtonpost.com/rules-of-war-american-red-cross.html

Red Cross Survey on the Rules of War
80% of Young Americans Believe More Education Is Needed on Rules of War
http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.94aae335470e233f6cf911df43181aa0/?vgnextoid=801dbe9f0e64f210VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD

Exploring Humanitarian Law: A Guide for Teachers
http://ehl.redcross.org/

War and International Humanitarian Law, International Committee of the Red Cross/Red Crescent
http://www.icrc.org/eng/war-and-law/index.jsp


Some additional resources, if you'd like to do something positive:

afghans for Afghans
a humanitarian project in partnership with the American Friends Service Committee (http://www.afsc.org/), and in the Red Cross Knitting Tradition (http://www.afghansforafghans.org/red_cross.html)
http://www.afghansforafghans.org/

Christian Peacemaker Teams
"Getting in the way of violence"
http://cpt.org/

Ways to Help in the Aftermath of the US Storm

How can you help in the wake of Sandy?  Give time, blood, and money.

Seriously.

Money:

The Red Cross will still have a LOT of work to do, mostly feeding people, including emergency workers and people cleaning up their houses, in the coming weeks.  Not to mention still providing shelter and food over the next few days. 

To donate either to where the need is greatest or to your local Chapter, click here: 
http://www.redcross.org/charitable-donations

To donate by text message: text REDCROSS to 90999. 

Text donation FAQs here:
https://american.redcross.org/site/SPageNavigator/ntld_Redcross_text2help_faqs?JServSessionIdr004=hziibru202.app293b

Blood:

Many, many blood drives were canceled due to weather, and the blood supply could get critically low very quickly.  Please consider giving blood as soon as you can:
http://www.redcrossblood.org/

Time:

So many ways.  But most of all, become a Red Cross volunteer.  The American Red Cross workforce is more than 90% volunteer. 

http://www.redcross.org/support

Holding the East Coast and Midwest in the Light / in the Goddess during storm recovery.

Pagan values, feminism, and transgender women

This is my contribution to the 2012 Pagan Values Project.  For more information about the Pagan Values Project, please see http://paganvalues.wordpress.com/.   

Non-violence and eco-feminism

I'm a Witch and a Quaker.

Non-violence and eco-feminism are essential parts of my life.

(I've written about this in detail before, including in my contribution to the Pagan Values Project in 2009: http://aquakerwitch.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/my-pagan-values-my-quaker-values.html.)

Because non-violence and eco-feminism are central to me, I don't support -- and I do challenge -- violence and behaviors that lead to violence.  I support, encourage, and participate in non-violent conflict resolution.  I participate in community that promotes non-violence, teaches it, and tries to live it, amongst ourselves and in the wider world.  I have training in both verbal and physical non-violent conflict resolution, and have trained and co-trained others in these methods.   I have put my own life at risk in peace witness, and as part of and in support of non-violent activism, both at home and in other parts of the world.

So, no, this is not just an airy theory to me.

This is real life. 

And one of the things I challenge because it leads to violence is hate speech.

What do I mean by "hate speech"?

There are two main categories of hate speech -- the kind that's covered by the law, and the kind that isn't. 

According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech):

The kind of hate speech that is covered by the law is

...any speech, gesture or conduct, writing, or display which is forbidden because it may incite violence or prejudicial action against or by a protected individual or group, or because it disparages or intimidates a protected individual or group. The law may identify a protected individual or a protected group by race, gender, ethnicity, disability, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other characteristic.

The kind of hate speech that is not covered by the law is

...any communication that vilifies a person or a group on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, or other characteristic.


This is over-simplified, but provides enough of a background for purposes of this piece. 

How does hate speech lead to violence?  

Hate speech dehumanizes other people, and thereby leads to violence -- by allowing us to come to see them as less than human, as deserving of violence.  Dehumanization allows us to come to believe eventually that what happens to them doesn't "count" as violence towards other people. 

The research on violence and violence prevention, and experience within the eco-feminist and other political and spiritual and religious movements, demonstrates this, over and over.

• When we make the effort to remind ourselves of the humanity of other people -- other people we don't like, other people who make us uncomfortable, other people who challenge us, other people who scare us, other people who make us squirm -- we reaffirm a commitment to non-violence.  Even more importantly, we are doing something concrete to ensure that we are less likely to commit violence against other human beings -- other expressions of That-Which-Is-Sacred. 

• When we use words that trash other people, words that support some people as deserving of violence, words that support other people's violent behavior against certain people, words that dehumanize other human beings, words that refer to other people as animals or objects or trash...  We are engaging in behavior that promotes violence. 

If you'd like to read more about how how reinforcing humanity works to prevent violence, and dehumanization works to increase violence, see http://aquakerwitch.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/growth-of-political-violence-in-united.html.

Talking about transgender women

Recently, in particular, I have come across a wide range of language used in reference to transgender women.

Because of this, I'm going to speak about transgender women specifically right now; but almost everything I say is also true of transgender men, genderqueer people/people who don't fit the gender binary, as well.

I know that many people who are uncomfortable with transgender women, and make disparaging jokes about transgender women out of that discomfort, think nothing of it.

I know that many people who insist on using their own words for the experience and bodies of transgender women, instead of the words that transgender women themselves choose, think nothing of it -- or even believe that they are doing something positive.

I know that many people who use derogatory language for or towards transgender women think it's no big deal, or it's harmless, or that they are somehow defending themselves.

I know that many people don't think these things are hate speech. 

They're wrong.

• These things are hate speech.  They disparage an entire group of people based on their gender identity. 
• These things are not harmless; they are dangerous.  This behavior dehumanizes transgender women.  Dehumanizing transgender women promotes and encourages violence against transgender women. 
• Dehumanizing transgender women promotes and encourages violence against all women.
• Dehumanizing transgender women promotes and encourages violence against everyone who does not conform to a particular set of gender stereotypes. 

Gender stereotypes and feminism

One of the aims of feminism has been to help women -- and not just women -- resist gender stereotypes, and make choices based on what we like and what's good for us, rather than have our choices limited based on what society says is appropriate for arbitrary categories of gender.  Things like "girls," "boys," "women," and "men."

What should determine whether I wear a skirt or trousers -- what I like, the weather, and what I'll be doing while wearing my clothing, right?  What should determine the length of my hair?

My gender should just not be relevant to these choices.  Neither should anyone else's.

However, my gender is still relevant, and I am sanctioned for making choices too far outside my culture's stereotypes for my gender.

Society holds transgender women to even stricter adherence to gender stereotypes than it does cisgender (non-transgender)* women.  (So do many feminists, something I find ironic.)

(*Cisgender as non-transgender: Again, this is over-simplified, but should be enough for this post, for now.  I will give a more in-depth treatment of this in another post soon.)

Hate speech towards transgender women in feminism

Many transgender women are feminists.

Many cisgender feminists are supportive of transgender women and transgender feminist women.

Many cisgender feminists are uncomfortable with transgender women and transgender feminist women.  Some are challenging their discomfort; some are not.

But there are some cisgender feminists who take their discomfort to extremes.

One of the places I've come across some of the most derogatory language towards transgender women again recently -- outright hate speech -- is within feminist communities. 

Speaking  up

As a feminist, as a Quaker, as a Witch, it is my job to speak up when people in my communities use language, especially hate speech, that promotes violence against women, period.

And it is my job to speak up when people in my communities use language, especially hate speech, that promotes violence against transgender women.

So I am speaking up:

Hate speech against transgender women -- NOT consistent with my Quaker, lesbian, radical eco-feminist, Pagan values.  

It's time to for all of us who are allies to speak up.   

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thinking about forgiveness and reconciliation

For a handful of reasons, I have been thinking again about forgiveness, reconciliation, and healthy limits.  And about responsibility and justice, as well.

My dear f/Friend Peterson Toscano wrote this insightful piece recently:

"Some Thoughts on Forgiveness" 
http://petersontoscano.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/some-thoughts-on-forgiveness/

What Peterson wrote resonated with me, and intertwined with some other things that have been simmering quietly in the cauldron, or are newly on the front burner for me: work I read a a few years ago by Laura Davis on reconciliation;  an abusive person in my extended family who's expressed interest in reconciliation through the family grapevine; Bruce Birchard's plenary speech at FGC Gathering this summer; a formerly close friend who has apologized multiple times for how messed up things are between us; someone in another part of my family who wishes for reconciliation between people who are in conflict; an abusive former family member who is stalking me.

Peterson wrote:

It is most effective if the offender communicates regret over their actions, can articulate what they have done, and actually requests forgiveness. My forgiveness does not mean I can (or should) trust the person again immediately or ever. Forgiveness does not give me permission to overlook reality.

Peterson also mentions the concept of restorative justice.

A real apology is not a "get out of hot water free/make someone be no longer angry at me" card.  It's an interactive process.  It has costs.

This is where forgiveness, reconciliation, and restorative justice can come together.

Forgiveness and reconciliation are related, but are not the same thing.  And they do not always take place together -- one may happen without the other.  

Immediate forgiveness and absolution distracts from the necessary cathartic process for both the offender and those harmed... While many of us rejoice in happy endings and prefer to skip over the conflict to the resolution, usually its the complicated, messy process that results in a satisfying ending.

I am reminded of the original Twelve Steps of Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous, the original being the ones with which I am most familiar.  

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol (our addiction)—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics (addicts), and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

A "searching and fearless moral inventory" comes pretty early on in working the steps (step 4), with the support of a Higher (or Deeper) Power and, preferably, also of one's sponsor in step 5.  Then there are several steps after the moral inventory before the word "amends" even appears.  In addition, there's a full inward step concerning amends (step 8), before outward, direct amends can be considered (step 9).  What's more, in step 9, our main concerns are not only "direct amends," but avoiding harm -- to the people we had previously harmed, or to anyone else.  If making amends to them would harm them or others, we find different ways to make amends; we still make them.

There's no guarantee of forgiveness from the wronged person.  However, in working the steps honestly and with an open heart, there is a real possibility of self-forgiveness, and, if one is a theist, of forgiveness from a Higher/Deeper Power.  (It's a little more complicated than that if one is a non-theist, but something analogous is still possible.)

We don't work the steps so that other people will think better of us: we work them to save our lives. 

As Peterson says, "...peace does not come about by overlooking wrongs. It requires action" -- and that action may liberate the wrongdoer as well as the wronged.  The person a perpetrator may help might be themselves.

Peterson's article, and the Twelve Steps, show potential forgiveness, potential reconciliation, and restorative justice as messy, complicated, genuine processes.  Not superficial ones.  And both Peterson's article and the Twelve Steps show responsibility-taking and amends-making as necessary -- even if forgiveness and reconciliation are not forthcoming.

Peterson writes:

If a family member has abused others and then repents, it is complex and difficult work to bring that person back into family life and gatherings. Not impossible, but I believe we must not overlook history or the gravity of offenses committed.

In general in society now, there is less pressure for women and girls to reconcile with abusive former romantic partners -- former husbands, spouses, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, partners, significant others -- and that's a good thing.  But that pressure does still exist.  When that pressure occurs, it's also now more likely to be seen as dangerous, and that's a good thing.

However, there is still tremendous pressure for adults, teens, and children to reconcile with other (non-romantic partner) family members who have been violent and abusive towards them.

And when someone is pressured to reconcile with an abusive other family member, it is less likely to be perceived as dangerous.  This is a problem.

Other abusive family members, current or former, are just as dangerous as abusive romantic partners and abusive former romantic partners.  When other people fail to see the danger, the danger increases. 

We seem to be able to see an abusive, violent former husband/significant other as dangerous.  We seem to have a harder time seeing other family members as dangerous.  But someone is no less dangerous for having been any other kind of relative -- someone's parent, uncle/aunt, sibling, cousin, in-law, grandparent, etc.  We need to be able to see that, too.  Our failure to recognize this increases the danger level. 

We need to support survivors in keeping themselves safe.  We need to honor their boundaries.  We also need to help keep other people in our families and families-of-choice safe from known abusers. 

Peterson Toscano, Laura Davis, Bruce Birchard, John Calvi, and Friends Peace Teams (in Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities) all talk about circumstances under which reconciliation is possible, even when the most unthinkable violence has been perpetrated.

It does not happen through forced forgiveness.  It does not happen through forced reconciliation.  It does not happen through pressuring the people involved because it makes the rest of us so uncomfortable to see division among us -- whether within a family, or within a spiritual or religious group, or a political group, a minority group, etc.  Quakers, families, LBGTQ rights groups, anti-racist groups, Pagans, it does not matter.    

Most of all, reconciliation does not happen by blaming the people who are honest about violence perpetrated on them, or by pressuring them to accept further violence to their boundaries by forced "forgiving and forgetting." 

Survivors are in no way required to forgive or reconcile. 

Reconciliation may happen when people who perpetrate violence and abuse are able to take responsibility for their actions.

But whether or not forgiveness or reconciliation are possible, it is still incumbent on those who perpetrate violence and abuse to take responsibility for what they have done. 

And that's really what so much of this comes down to.

Can you acknowledge what you've done?  Can you see what it's done to someone else?  Can you, if appropriate, make amends?

What can you do to bring about justice?  

from CPT: ABORIGINAL JUSTICE: USA and Canada sign UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples | Christian Peacemaker Teams

from Christian Peacemaker Teams

ABORIGINAL JUSTICE: USA and Canada sign UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples | Christian Peacemaker Teams

CPTnet

5 January 2011

ABORIGINAL JUSTICE: USA and Canada sign UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples

by Peter Haresnape

“We owe a very great debt of gratitude to those who remember the old ways to live and honor the earth. And yet, we have ignored them, oppressed them, and even stripped them of the land that is their life. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is an important step toward protecting these vulnerable members of our human family, of giving them the dignity and the respect that they so richly deserve.”
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

On 12 November 2010, Canada endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The U.S. followed suit on 16 December. Both countries, along with Australia and New Zealand, initially voted against the Declaration when the UN General Assembly adopted it on 13 September 2007, but with these recent endorsements, the Declaration is now unanimously recognized by the international community.

The Declaration is the result of more than twenty years of discussions and negotiations, making it one of the most carefully designed instruments to support human rights on an international level. According to Amnesty International, “The Declaration does not create new or special rights. Instead, the Declaration provides urgently needed guidance in applying existing international human rights standards to the specific circumstances and needs of Indigenous Peoples.”

It remains to be seen how the Declaration will affect the attitudes and actions of the U.S. and Canada towards Indigenous Peoples. Prior to his announcement of support for the Declaration at the White House Tribal Nations Conference, President Obama gave many examples of recent endeavours to amend past wrongs and improve current conditions for Indigenous communities in the United States. He did not refer to specific articles of the Declaration that would connect to such endeavours, but he did say, “What matters far more than words […] are actions to match those words. And that’s what this conference is about.”

The Declaration sets out minimum standards expected of governments towards Indigenous Peoples. Canada has yet to move toward meeting these standards, but the Declaration provides a tool for Indigenous communities seeking justice in Canada. On Monday 13 December 2010, Barriere Lake First Nation delivered a copy to Prime Minister Stephen Harper as part of their campaign against Canadian interference in their traditional governance.

Implementation, not endorsement, will be the true test of the Declaration’s value. Canada and the U.S. must demonstrate respect for Indigenous knowledge and law, and understanding of their nations’ colonial history and present. “Only through continued use will its provisions become our reality,” writes aboriginal and human rights law expert Robert T. Coulter. We must start citing the Declaration at every opportunity as we call our governments to account for their actions across the world, and as we—both as individuals and as nations—build relationships with Indigenous peoples.

Text of the Declaration

Robert T. Coulter’s analysis of the new U.S. position

Announcing the CPT Boutique on EBay!

Too totally awesome.  If you're looking to simplify your life, get rid of old stuff, etc, and aren't satisfied with your current local options... why not CPT?  
 

U.S.-Canada: CPT Boutique accepting valuables from donors; all profits support work of CPT
You know that valuable old necklace handed down from your Aunt Agatha that you never wear and your children don’t want?  Or that antique china you think is kind of hideous? Or your sister's stamp/coin collection? Or that designer outfit that doesn’t fit you?

Put it to work for peace!  CPT now has a boutique in the Ebay store, Kathy’s Hideous Little Ego.  CPT will accept any legal, valuable item that can mail easily...

Not only will you be simplifying your life, you will be supporting the peace and human rights work of CPT in Colombia, Iraq, Palestine and in North American aboriginal communities.

Click here for more information...

(Click here for the boutique!)

Recent deaths

I feel particularly held by the circle of death and life right now. 

Two recent deaths, Daniel Schorr and Mabel Lang, leave me feeling like two pillars of the universe have upped and left for some other universe.  Their deaths are not remotely out of season -- both were 93 -- and yet, somehow, it's the very length of their presences in my life that makes their absence seem so strange. 

Death in due time, I can deal with; I grieve, but that's okay.  Early death is harder for me.  When it comes at the end of a terminal illness, I feel relief for that end, and still feel a kind of helpless rage.  

My F/friend Christine Oliger's death is no surprise, yet it is hitting me hard. 

The unexpected death of Art Gish, a beloved activist often involved with CPT Hebron / al-Khalil, is also hitting me surprisingly hard.

Death is part of the cycle of life.  For Witches, we honor it, but we also honor our grief; and right now, I am grieving. 

I am grieving in the Light, and in the comforting Darkness.  I have the support of beloved F/friends and family; I am blessed and lucky. 

I've also just received word of the unexpected but welcome pregnancy of someone very dear to me. 

The circle of death and life continues, inexorably. 

--------------------

• Daniel Schorr's obituary (at National Public Radio)

• Mabel Lang's Obituary (at Bryn Mawr College)

• Christine Oliger's Obituary (at Friends of Christine)

• Art Gish's Obituary (at the Church of the Brethren)

The death of Christian Peacemaker Team’s founding director Gene Stoltzfus

FORT FRANCES, ONTARIO: Gene Stoltzfus 1940-2010 – PRESENTE! | Christian Peacemaker Teams

Wednesday, 10 March, Christian Peacemaker Team’s founding director Gene Stoltzfus died of a heart attack in Fort Frances, Ontario while bicycling near his home on the first spring-like day of the year. He is survived by his wife Dorothy Friesen and many peacemakers who stand on the broad shoulders of his 70 years of creative action.

Gene was at the heart of those who planted and nurtured the vision for teams of peacemakers partnering with local communities in conflict zones to build justice and lasting peace which has grown into CPT. Gene played a key roles in CPT's founding gathering of Christian activists, theologians and other Church leaders at Techny Towers outside Chicago, IL in 1986....

Read article...

Survey: Pagans and the Commonweal

Via Aline O'Brien (Macha NightMare):

This is an informal survey for an upcoming panel I'm moderating at PantheaCon featuring Holli Emore, Ivo Dominguez, Jr. and Sam Webster. The topic is how Pagans involve themselves in efforts to create a better world, or for those who don't, why.

Responses will be collected until February 11, 2010. Thanks to all who help by responding.

Please click here (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FGXB29Z) to fill out the survey. It's short and sweet. Thanks!

Miep Gies, the Last of Those Who Hid Anne Frank, Dies at 100 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com

For Jewish families everywhere, the question, "If the killing started again, would I know a Gentile family to shelter us / our children?" is never an unreasonable one. I celebrate and honor the life of Miep Gies. - sm

Miep Gies, the Last of Those Who Hid Anne Frank, Dies at 100 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com

“I am not a hero,” Mrs. Gies wrote in her memoir, “Anne Frank Remembered,” published in 1987. “I stand at the end of the long, long line of good Dutch people who did what I did and more — much more — during those dark and terrible times years ago, but always like yesterday in the heart of those of us who bear witness.”

Mrs. Gies sought no accolades for joining with her husband and three others in hiding Anne Frank, her father, mother and older sister and four other Dutch Jews for 25 months in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. But she came to be viewed as a courageous figure when her role in sheltering Anne Frank was revealed with the publication of her memoir. She then traveled the world while in her 80s, speaking against intolerance.

IRAQ: Former CPT hostage Harmeet Singh Sooden returns to Iraq | Christian Peacemaker Teams

Wow. Blessed be.

Much love to my Friends, friends, and CPT colleagues who have been affected by the kidnapping of the team and the death of one of their members.

IRAQ: Former CPT hostage Harmeet Singh Sooden returns to Iraq | Christian Peacemaker Teams:

CPTnet
19 November 2009
IRAQ: Former CPT hostage Harmeet Singh Sooden returns to Iraq

Harmeet Singh Sooden has joined the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) delegation traveling through Iraqi Kurdistan 7-23 November 2009. This delegation marks the first time he has returned to Iraq since he was freed from captivity four years ago.

While participating in a 2005 CPT delegation he, along with fellow delegate Norman Kember and CPTers Jim Loney and Tom Fox were kidnapped in Baghdad by the Swords of Righteousness Brigade. Tom Fox was murdered on 9 March 2006. British forces freed Sooden, Kember and Loney two weeks later on 23 March 2006.

Veterans Day, Armistice Day

Thinking about my own attitudes towards and beliefs about war, the Peace Testimony, and how people have reacted to the support I've expressed today for Armed Forces service members... I thought I might re-post this piece about how I found an expression of the Peace Testimony through service to military families.

The Peace Testimony and Armed Forces Emergency Services

It’s 3:45 am when my pager wakes me. I speak to a man who is quite upset: his sister has just died – at the end of a long illness, but unexpectedly soon – and his sister’s son is on active duty in the military, stationed overseas. The caller needs to get a message to... (more)

PRAYERS FOR PEACEMAKERS, Weds. Oct. 28, 2009 | Christian Peacemaker Teams

I get CPT's Prayers for Peacemakers every Wednesday. Because of some conversations I'm having, I felt like sharing this one.

PRAYERS FOR PEACEMAKERS, Weds. Oct. 28, 2009 | Christian Peacemaker Teams:

Pray for the Palestinian children who walk to school from Tuba to At-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills. Earlier this week they were threatened by Israeli settlers when the Israeli government-mandated military escort failed to appear to accompany them.

A call to moral accounting -- chicagotribune.com

Great article with an unusual perspective. h/t Lisa G!

A call to moral accounting -- chicagotribune.com:

But though the rituals are ancient, they're never far removed from modern life. Between our prayers, American Jews are sure also to discuss the current events that touch our community most deeply: the prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace, President Barack Obama's recent meetings with the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and the United Nations' recent Goldstone Report, in which both Israel and the Hamas government are accused of war crimes. To my great sorrow, however, many in the Jewish community have already rejected the latter out of hand.

Sacred duty or littering?

Imagine trying to prevent death by giving water to someone who's been trekking across the desert. Imagine facing up to a year in prison and a $10,000 fine for it.

CPTnet
15 June 2009
BORDERLANDS: CPT reservist and other volunteers leaving water for migrants face littering charges.

by John Heid

"I was thirsty and you gave me drink.” (Mt 25:35)

Tucson, Arizona On 1 June 2009, CPT Reservist John Heid and two other companions placed three-dozen gallons of water on an active migrant trail in Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge (BANWR), southwest of Tucson, Arizona. The three were confronted by a Fish and Wildlife officer, escorted out of the area, and face possible prosecution for littering...

Also on 1 June, a volunteer from No More Deaths faced criminal misdemeanor charges of "knowingly littering" in U.S. District Court in Tucson. He had placed containers of water on an active migrant trail in BANWR last December. (See www.nomoredeaths.org.) On 3 June, a jury found the No More Deaths volunteer guilty of the misdemeanor "knowingly littering.” He faces one year in prison and a $10,000 fine. Sentencing will occur on 11 August 2009.

Click here for more information.