09.22.09
Posted in Spero Cras at 1:08 am by Kaihaku
There’s a line that’s been drawn through the ages,
On that line stands an old rugged cross;
On that cross a battle is raging,
For the gain of man’s soul or his loss.
The earth shakes with the force of the conflict,
And the sun refuses to shine;
For there hangs God’s Son in the balance,
And then through the darkness he cries:
“It is finished!” The battle is over,
It is finished! There will be no more war;
It is finished! The end of the conflict,
It is finished! And Jesus is Lord.
Still in my heart the battle was raging,
Not all prisoners of war have come home;
There were battlefields of my own making,
I did not know that the war has been won.
Then I heard that the King of the Ages,
Had fought all the battles for me;
And that victory was mine for the claiming,
And now praise His name I am free.
It is finished! The battle is over,
It is finished! There will be no more war;
It is finished! The battle is over,
It is finished! There will be no more war;
It is finished! The end of the conflict,
It is finished! And Jesus is Lord.
It is finished! And Jesus is Lord!
This is a hymn that my family use to sing when I was growing up. I haven’t heard it often since those days. Actually, I’m not sure if I’ve heard it at all since those days. But I was singing it to myself as I sometimes do and I felt like sharing.
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09.15.09
Posted in Current Events, Spero Cras at 3:54 pm by Kaihaku
Twice a year I have to write… Well, in the past I’ve had to write reports on the Global Family School for its supporters to read. These are not the technical reports that I write quarterly but rather more informal letters catching them up on progress at the school and letting them know what’s happening. I thought I would share this, my last one!
A Hard Year for Poor Farmers
The rains came early this year bringing cool relief from the dusty hot season but putting the efforts of enterprising farmers who had planted rice along the Sap River’s edge at risk of ruin. Families of farmers worked desperately to harvest their rice before the rising waters swallowed it. Despite their effort much of the grain that was gathered in time was premature or could not be dried out before mildew set in.
Then, in the heart of the rainy season, the daily deluges that farmers rely on to irrigate their crop abruptly stopped for two weeks. This short drought ruined over 25,000 acres of rice across Prey Veng province. Around Angkearhdei Village thick paddies of once lush rice drooped and wilted beneath the hot sun. Much of the rice that was lost only needed a few more days of water to finish maturing. Most of the families who live in Angkearhdei depend on their rice crop not only to support them financially but also to serve as the stable of their diet. Even in good years families are stretched trying to keep food on the table, in bad years families can be forced to take desperate measures to fight off starvation. Many go deep into debt that they can never hope to repay as rice farmers. Then they travel to Thailand to work illegally or send older teenagers to work at construction sites or garment factories in the Capitol.
Breakfast Program
Living from meal to meal for many months of the year families often see sending a child to school as a luxury that deprives the family of work. Even young children are often sent into the fields to gather fruit, herbs, fish, and other foodstuffs. While small this contribution to the family’s diet is seen as a valuable one. Good nutrition has proven value in child growth and education but in Angkearhdei by providing breakfast to students Global Family lessens the burden of struggling families by one meal a day. For some families that one meal makes the difference between sending children out to scrounge for food or sending them to study at school; for others it makes the heavy load of a poor rice farmer that much lighter. For the students it guarantees that they will never have to sit through school lessons hungry and ensures that at least once a day they can eat their fill.
Since Angkearhdei School began providing rice porridge for breakfast Teachers report that attendance is up fifteen percent, tardiness has dropped to almost nil, and that children are much more attentive in class. The parents of Angkearhdei don’t want their children to grow up uneducated but they want them to have something to eat more. Global Family is helping the parents of the young students of Angkearhdei not to have to make the difficult choice between the two.
Bathrooms
In 2003, construction workers took advantage of a government contract to add extra sand to the concrete mix for bathrooms of the Angkearhdei School so they could sell the concrete saved for personal profit. The result was that five years later the bathrooms were crumbling buildings with gaping holes in the floor left locked for fear of the children hurting themselves.
Basic sanitation is uncommon in Cambodia, according to the World bank only four out of twenty-five Cambodians have access to toilets. There are over 200 families living in Angkearhdei but there is only one bathroom other than those at the school.
Thanks to Global Family’s help the school’s bathrooms have been made safe again and two new bathrooms have been built that will last for many years. Teachers report that children no longer do their business in the schoolyard or along the side of the road, now they use the school toilets. Sot Mern had this to say the bathroom renovation and construction, “This has made the school a cleaner healthier environment. We can teach about good hygiene with confidence again, before we felt that it was frustrating to teach about it when the students couldn’t practice it. There is another benefit, the recess period is a much more peaceful now, it’s cut down on a lot of teasing.”
New Teacher Scholarship
Phon Ravy will be the first Angkearhdei Villager to graduate from High School since the Sot Mern, the School Director, became the village’s first High School graduate in 1993. For years the Phon family, poor rice farmers, have worked hard to ensure that their son gets a good education so he can have a better life.
Now Global Family is supporting with a scholarship to help Phon Ravy finish studying at a distant High School and then at the Provincial Primary Teacher Training Center. When he finishes the young man will return to Angkearhdei Village as the first of a new generation of teachers and hopes to inspire more students to continue school beyond Primary School.
Phon Kea, his father, feels strongly about the value of the education he himself never had and the future it will give his family, “We worked hard so that our son could get an education. It was difficult to send him to study rather than help us but I thought we are still young and strong. But when we are old how can he care for us if he is a rice farmer? He would be caught up in trying to care for his own family. He would be struggling from meal to meal like we do. But if he has an education he will be able to care for his parents in their old age.” Phon Kea is also supporting his younger sons through school.
Library
While the Angkearhdei School Staff work hard to instill a love of learning in their students there is not much in the rural farming village to engage them. To broaden and deepen their education Global Family is helping to establish a library for the School. So far the library includes picture books, storybooks, historical biographies, dictionaries, and simple farming books. Angkearhdei Students can now often been seen sitting out recess to read a book or borrowing books to read at home.
Thank you!
Many Angkearhdei children stop studying even before completing Primary School. Their families believe that the work they can do is more valuable than the lessons they can learn in school. Sot Mern, the School Director, has been trying to change that attitude for years and with your help through Global Family he’s coming closer.
You can find more information on the program at the Global Family website. Oh, the little boy on the page is a student at Angkearhdei. That’s exciting – this is the first I noticed.
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03.29.09
Posted in Life and the happenings there of, Spero Cras at 5:25 pm by Kaihaku
Last November, I received a surprise gift from my friends Andrew and Amy, a digital camera. Up until then I had felt the lack of a camera sorely during my time in Cambodia but beyond how enabling it was to have been given one how they gave me the camera really touched me. They utterly deceived me through an ultra-secret conspiracy network which included Carol and Crystal. I say it in that way jokingly, but the moment when Carol, out of the blue, handed me their gift really touched me. It was so unexpected and, at the same time, connected. They knew what I was lacking and they forged the connections to get it to me, without me even suspecting. Being the kind of person I am, I let myself cry about it later when no one else was around.
I already mentioned what happened to that camera… Last month I was either stupid and careless, the victim of someone quickfingered, or both.
Last week Carol gave me an envelope and told me that it had money for me to buy a new camera that she had held a collection for. My friends and coworkers here had donated their money to give to me to replace the camera I lost. I did not handle that moment well. Instead of responding with grace and thanksgiving, I clung to my feelings of shame and self-blame. I lost that gift and I certainly didn’t deserve a second gift. I was caught up in selfishness, defending myself from this outpouring of compassion and goodwill with declarations of how I didn’t deserve it and how others, like Ming Pheap, were in so much more need. Carol responded to this calmly, explaining why she and the others had felt lead to do this and telling me that the choice of what to do now was mine, but that their intention was that I get a new camera. Being the kind of person I am, I let myself cry about it later when no one else was around.
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12.02.08
Posted in Current Events, Spero Cras at 5:19 pm by Kaihaku
I found this to be both a disturbing and inspiring article. These women certainly are heroes who deserve more support and attention then they have been receiving. I was also encouraged to see another article by Kristof on acid attacks against women in Asia. During my time in Cambodia attacks against women, including vicious acid attacks, have been a common occurrence with little being done to prosecute those responsible.
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
This is a column to give thanks to you, the reader. You don’t know it, but some of you are keeping women like Sajida Bibi alive here in this remote Pakistani village. And that is a far grander reason to celebrate Thanksgiving than even the plumpest turkey.
Sajida is a 29-year-old college-educated woman from a Christian family here (and a reminder that oppressive values in Pakistan are not rooted just in Islam). She scandalized her family by marrying a man she chose herself — and then becoming pregnant.
The next step was brutal: Several women held Sajida down as a midwife conducted an abortion, while she struggled and wept.
Then her brothers weighed what to do next. Sajida’s eldest brother wanted to sell her to a trafficker who offered $1,200, presumably intending to imprison her inside a brothel. Two other brothers just wanted to kill her.
The brothers fought for days over this question. So Sajida ground up sleeping tablets and baked the powder into chapati bread that she fed her brothers for dinner — and then sneaked out as they slept.
Sajida made her way to Mukhtar Mai, one of my heroes, and that is why this is a Thanksgiving column. For years, I’ve written about Mukhtar, an illiterate woman who used compensation money after being gang-raped to build a small school in which she herself enrolled.
Readers responded to the columns by flooding Mukhtar, who then used a variant of her name, Mukhtaran Bibi, with more than $290,000 in donations, funneled through Mercy Corps, an international aid group based in the U.S.
With that financial support, Mukhtar now runs four schools with 900 students. She also operates an ambulance service, a school bus, a women’s shelter, a legal clinic, and a telephone hot line and women’s crisis center — all in this remote village in the southern Punjab. (For information about how to help, go to my blog.
Sajida is now safe in Mukhtar’s shelter, while hoping to rescue her 14-year-old sister, Shafaq. Her brothers have forced Shafaq to drop out of school and may now be trying to sell her to a trafficker. When Sajida and I managed to contact Shafaq, she balked at fleeing — fearing that if her brothers caught her, they would kill her.
These women in Mukhtar’s shelter are extraordinary, partly because in a culture where women are supposed to be weak, they are indomitable. These aren’t victims. These are superheroes.
Another of those whom Mukhtar is helping is Shahnaz Bibi (Bibi is a second name used by many young Pakistani women; none of these women are related). Shahnaz is short, frail and wears a traditional full veil on the street — and is as courageous a person as I’ve ever met.
Shahnaz was kidnapped when she was taking her 10th-grade examinations, then gang-raped for two months by her kidnappers (including a policeman and a cousin) and, eventually, sold for $2,500 to be the third wife of a 65-year-old businessman. After being locked up for two years in a windowless room, Shahnaz was finally rescued by her family.
Her father begged her to drop the matter, for otherwise word would spread that she was not a virgin — utterly dishonoring her entire family. Yet Shahnaz insisted on prosecuting her kidnappers.
The police refused to act, so Shahnaz sought out Mukhtar, who paid for a good lawyer. The case is now proceeding. As a result, the kidnapping ring is using its police connections to try to force Shahnaz to withdraw charges, according to Mukhtar and Shahnaz.
The mayor himself has threatened Shahnaz and ordered her to drop the case, she says. The police chief called in Shahnaz and her family, slapped her and threatened to throw the entire family in prison for life unless she signed a paper withdrawing the charges. Then the police tortured Shahnaz’s father and brother in front of her until they gushed blood, demanding that she sign the document, according to her account and her brother’s.
The brother pleaded with her to sign. She refused.
“After what I endured for two years, I refuse to give up,” she said. Shahnaz keeps getting death threats, but she keeps pushing ahead. “I strongly believe in God and the power of truth,” she said.
(Note to President Asif Ali Zardari: The mayor is from your political party, so expel him before he discredits you. And, to the mayor and police chief, a Thanksgiving pledge: If anything happens to Shahnaz, I’m coming after you, armed with my notebook.)
So how about a Thanksgiving toast: Let’s give thanks for the courage of these magnificent women, and to those readers who had the faith to send checks to an illiterate rape victim in a remote Pakistani village.
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10.30.08
Posted in Current Events, Spero Cras at 6:25 pm by Kaihaku
A prominent politician calls for military spending to be reduced and now someone has finally had the guts to put Dr. James Dobson in his place. When I was a child, I respected Focus on the Family and Dr. Dobson. I was raised on them. When they said that Clinton would bring about the end of life as we knew it, I believed them. I cried when Clinton defeated Bush Senior. The world, however, did not end. It continued and I continued. I learned more about the world and I am now ashamed of the fearful and hateful rhetoric preached in the name of the Prince of Peace.
Recently, Focus on the Family released a letter predicting what the United States will look like in 2012 after four years of an Obama presidency. It reads like a chapter out of a Left Behind book. Jim Wallis, a founder of Sojourners and author of God’s Politics, presented a forceful but polite response to the letter. If this is way America is changing, fear and hate dispelled with measured uncompromising rationality, then sign me up.
On a related note that caused me to learn of all of this, here is an interesting blog post on the need for honest humanizing dialogue which reminds us that our faith is not on the ballot come next Tuesday.
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Posted in Life and the happenings there of, Spero Cras at 2:25 am by Kaihaku
Last July, I had the good fortune of being able to witness the presentations of the many of this year’s Applied Conflict Transformation Studies graduates. This presentation was the final step in a two year course for eleven participants from around the region. The presentation took place at the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies in Phnom Penh and just down from the Sam Rainsy Party’s headquarters. I felt more than a little out of place as a Computer Scientist working in Agriculture attending a presentation for professional intellectual peacemakers. Though I grew more comfortable as the presentations proceeded, they were using heady and complicated termiology for what struck me as fairly common-sensical approaches to conflict transformation.
“If you feel faint, please faint quietly so you don’t interrupt the speaker.”
Interfaith Peacebuilding
Thursday, July 17th 2008
Seang Samnang, Cambodia
The first presenter was Seang Samnang from Cambodia, the focus of his study was “understanding interfaith issues as a way to strengthen peaceful coexistence and cooperation in Cambodia.” He claimed that Cambodia is an ethnically and religiously diverse nation. It was a matter of perspective David Ketchum later mused to me, Cambodia is statistically the most homogeneous country in Asia but for a native learning of the diversity in the country for the first time it’s existence would be shocking. Mr. Seang continued to expand that conflict is often caused by ignorance and misunderstandings; both limited understanding of one’s own religion as well as lack of effort to understand the religions of others cause conflict. Mr. Seang found interfaith to be a very interesting and compelling area from which to promote peacework.
He went on to describe his action research methodology which I scribbled down with keen interest…which I later looked back on with annoyance as the majority of the participants outlined nearly identical methodology. As it was explained to me there are few broad sources of conflict transformation methodology, primarily the work of John Paul Lederach. New methodology has largely been constrained to context specific studies instead of focusing developing new peace building methods. One of the observers expressed some frustration that they had not been able to inspire the participants to delve into new areas because Lederach’s models were good but not perfect and did not apply to every situation.
- Bringing About Change
- Progression of Conflict by Adam Curle
- Approaches to Peacebuilding by Lederach
- Triangle Framework for Interfaith
- Initiative on Peace in Cambodia by Ngarm
- Action Research and Reflection
Mr. Seang approached interfaith peacebuilding on three levels; me, us (the other ACTS participants), and them (the community). He was asked how he personally changed and responded that now he has read many of the Buddhist scriptures giving him more understanding of his faith. He is now more aware and has more ideas leaving him better prepared for dialogue. He also came to understand other religions more such as when he served pork during a meal and learned that Muslims do not eat pork. He added that most religious beliefs promote peace and cooperation.
Unlike most other countries, Mr. Seang continued, Cambodia is not deeply religiously divided. The specific context in each community influences the severity but in every situation interfaith issues are sensitive. A problem was that the peacebuilding team Mr. Seang lead was Buddhist and young, because of this they had limited experience and perspective.
His key findings were that…
- Raising unvoiced latent issues prevents conflict.
- Interfaith understanding is developed dynamically.
- Third party involvement is important, key even.
- Discussing interfaith issues within one faith group is effective.
- However, different faith groups need to be brought together for ultimate success.
- It is very important to conduct pre-meeting trainings.
- The participants in the process need to be willing to commit.
- The process requires long term support.
- The process needs to connect across several social groups such as farmers, monks, laymen, officials, etc.
- Reflection for all involved is very important.
- Understanding comes from engagement, not just research.
- It is a complicated process.
- It is important to provide safety for all involved.
- Religious tension in Cambodia is often subtle but it exists.
Mr. Seang concluded that important next steps would include intrafaith and interfaith family conflict.
Question: What about deeper interfaith conflicts? An example would be ‘honor killings’?
Answer: This is not related to so deeply divided and open conflicts but is directed more towards latent tensions that are already there. It is not as challenging in Cambodia as in areas with more diverse and deeper conflicts.
Faith Based Principles
Thursday, July 17th 2008
Som Chanmony, Cambodia
Som Chanmony works with Peacebridges, a partner of MCC which I’ve mentioned before. He began by explaining that the local context is important to understanding the situation. Cambodia suffered from fifty years of war and unrest, it is now developing but violence persists. There may have been no major faith conflicts but the tension is there. The goal of his research was to show that faith based principles help resolve conflict. Being a Christian in Cambodia, Mony focused entirely on Christian examples of faith based principles such as the Sermon on the Mount.
Mony also built his project around a me (Mony and others who follow faith based principles), us (co-workers), them (how to solve external conflict) model. He paraphrased Lederach, “conflict is a matter of change. Don’t just get rid of the conflict but get change from it, conflict is a window to hidden elements/the big picture.”
- Conflict Resolution: Mediation and Facilitation Training by Mennonite Central Committee
- Conflict Resolution in Cambodia: Between a Tiger and a Crocodile
- Building Peace by Lederach
- Integrated Framework for Peacebuilding
- Cambodian Approaches to Conflict Resolution by Kao and Samnang
From his experience, Mony shared that it is important in resolving conflicts to have a neutral mediator who must be voluntary take on that role. Then there are two styles of mediation that Mony witnessed in the villages; authoritarian (judge) and paternalistic (guide by proposals). He said that different levels of conflicts had to be approached in different ways. In family conflict an older sibling, aunt, or grandparent should intervene. In conflicts with a neighbor it should be the village leader or another community authority. In legal conflicts it should left to the court.
In these processes faith based principles are important, Mony explained. Discipline and violence are often confused but they are not the same. Peacebuilders need to do the following…
- Have the right attitude (non-violent and non-judgmental)
- To address conflict directly
- Listen with the goal of reaching understanding not placing blame
- Seek transformation and repentance (change situation, reach root causes)
- Promote forgiveness (this is key to reconciliation)
Mony concluded that the focus on living promoted in faith based principles can improve one’s personal life. Following such principles do not only help to resolve conflicts but they serve as a personal model. They promote trust and confidence, integrity is key. All of this contributes to conflict prevention and resolution. He acknowledged some limitations in that faith based principles are subjective and there is a lack of a way to clarify their meaning. Faith based principles also need to be explored and contextualized.
He identified several areas of future research. The development of clear faith based principles, written out clear point by point explanations of those principles. Peacebridges, a christian organization, needs to develop faith based principle training methods for other faiths.
I think his presentation could have been summed up as “practicing what you preach makes you more effective at peace building.”
Question: Does a faith based principle approach really work in interfaith situations? What happens in tense diverse situations?
Answer: There are similar values found in most faiths. Serving as a model, showing integrity, starting with one’s self is the most important step and should be the first. Self first, own beliefs first, that comes before anything else.
Community Stakeholders
Thursday, July 17th 2008
Charmaine Dagapioso-Baconga, Philippines
Mindanao is the second largest island in the Philippines and has been engulfed in conflict for thirty years, for the last twelve years Charmaine has worked as a community organizer hoping to promote a grassroots peace process. Mindanao is comprised primarily of three groups; approximately four million are Moro (Muslims), two million are indigenous people, and two million are settlers. The ethnicity of the Moro was, originally, the same as the indigenous people. The conflict however is not based in religion but land tenor and land reform. Landlords, corporations, and other groups occupy large tracks of land. There is a lack of security and rule of law. There are many armed groups occupying the island.
In 1992, the government initiated a peace process to end the conflict and bring about peace. There are two major powers involved in the dialogue.
Government of the Republic Philippines (GRP): Through Proclamation No. 10-A signed on July 28, 1992 the government established the Principles of Engaging in the Peace Process based on National Unification Commission.
Revolutionary Workers Party in Mindanao (RPM): Believes that empowered sustainable communities are the foundation of lasting peace and believe that protracted war destroys the “revolutionary” spirit.
In 2003, the peace process was redesigned with a dual framework in mind; formal talks among the principal powers working for political settlements and peace consultation on the grassroots level with the aim of producing empowered, sustainable, and peaceful communities. The ruling government has changed several times and this has threatened to derail the peace process. The commitment of the RPM and the local community to the peace process has been key to keeping it alive. Charmaine admitted that every election is a challenge. The RPM has remained committed to holding the current government to the past government’s promises. Eighty-nine villages have had “peace consultation” focusing on solving land conflicts, promoting dialogue, and talking out issues before documents are signed. Charmaine works with an NGO that works with “peace consultation” and focuses on ethical development and peace.
The purpose of Charmaine’s research was to show that local participation in the peace process through “peace consultations” drastically improves the entire process. Another goal was to evaluate how to include the results of local community involvement in the upper level negotiations.
Her methodology was quite a bit more focused than most of the other presenters and she seemed to have done a lot more of her own “mental footwork”.
- Third party is essential (Putnam)
- Social capital theory (Trust, relationships, reciprocity)
- Expanded Framework for Peacebuilding
Her activities…
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10.29.08
Posted in Current Events, Rants, Spero Cras at 2:38 am by Kaihaku
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children . . . Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.
-Dwight D Eisenhower
The United States of America accounts for forty-eight percent of the documented annual military spending in the world. This year that amounts to $711,000,000,000 dollars officially and an untold amount unofficially. It’s nearest competitor is the European Union whose combined nations spent $289,000,000,000 dollars. Unless the United States is considering war with the whole of Europe the nearest ‘threat’ is China in third with a budget of $121,000,000,000 dollars. Russia devoted $50,000,000,000 dollars to its military this year. The new Iraq has a military budget of $17,900,000,000 dollars. Iran and North Korea have military budgets hovering below $10,000,000,000.
Just for comparison, Kofi Annan claimed that the best estimates indicated that an additional $40,000,000,000 dollars a year could achieve and maintain universal access to basic education for all, basic health care for all, reproductive health care for all women, adequate food for all and clean water and safe sewers for all. That’s less than five percent of the United States’ annual military budget.
Don’t forget what I discovered; that over ninety percent of all national deficits from 1921 to 1939 were caused by payments for past, present, and future wars.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Earlier today I learned something I found remarkable from the Quakers; a prominent politician in Washington has openly broached the topic of reducing the military budget by twenty-five percent. I know next to nothing about Congressman Barney Frank and from what I have learned of him I’m not necessarily a fan but I am encouraged to hear that this “radical” thought is gaining some momentum. Decreasing the United States Military Budget is a rational and responsible action. Unless the United States is planning on taking on the entire world and/or is committed to continually promoting the interests of the military industrial complex there is no reason for our nation to account for nearly half of the world’s annual expenditures on warfare. This goes far beyond defense. This goes beyond offense. I believe there is an illness afflicting the world today, one of over-consumption and consumerism where economic benefit has usurped religious, ethic, or even humane motivations. But like a virus this disease continues to pretend, at least on the surface, to still be what it usurped. That is the only rationale that I can convince of for the bloated mass of expenditures that is the United States annual military budget which has left our nation deep in debt to foreign powers. It has fallen to consumerism; the point of its existence has become to continue to consume. To continue fighting. Why? Who are we fighting against? What is the purpose? There are some ideological rationalizations about freedom and liberty but where are the results and where is the evidence? If all of the major shortages facing the world can be filled with $40,000,000,000 dollars annually why hasn’t $711,000,000,000 dollars had a positive result? I believe because it is intended to promote business interests not the values that it’s proponents espout and not it’s original purpose.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the
acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought,
by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous
rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
I don’t believe that conservative and liberal ideologies are the principle point of conflict that they are made out to be. Neither ideology is absolute, neither is “evil” and both are needed to balance out a healthy society. Corruption, Extremism, and Reactionarism are not and have never been healthy in any society. Normally rational people have fallen into semi-religious zeal over this issue and I wonder what would happen if they paused to think about it and gain some perspective. We need to control our fear not let it control us. Fear is being used to manipulate and control, democracy depends on rational minds thinking for themselves.
The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the government.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
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10.08.08
Posted in Spero Cras at 8:04 pm by Kaihaku
I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impel. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.
In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.
More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.
Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind’s goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.
True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.
The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.
Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.
Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.
Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation asks for action, and action now.
Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our natural resources.
Hand in hand with this we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land. The task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities. It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our farms. It can be helped by insistence that the Federal, State, and local governments act forthwith on the demand that their cost be drastically reduced. It can be helped by the unifying of relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical, and unequal. It can be helped by national planning for and supervision of all forms of transportation and of communications and other utilities which have a definitely public character. There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped merely by talking about it. We must act and act quickly.
Finally, in our progress toward a resumption of work we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order; there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments; there must be an end to speculation with other people’s money, and there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.
There are the lines of attack. I shall presently urge upon a new Congress in special session detailed measures for their fulfillment, and I shall seek the immediate assistance of the several States.
Through this program of action we address ourselves to putting our own national house in order and making income balance outgo. Our international trade relations, though vastly important, are in point of time and necessity secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy. I favor as a practical policy the putting of first things first. I shall spare no effort to restore world trade by international economic readjustment, but the emergency at home cannot wait on that accomplishment.
The basic thought that guides these specific means of national recovery is not narrowly nationalistic. It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in all parts of the United States—a recognition of the old and permanently important manifestation of the American spirit of the pioneer. It is the way to recovery. It is the immediate way. It is the strongest assurance that the recovery will endure.
In the field of world policy I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the good neighbor—the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others—the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors.
If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize as we have never realized before our interdependence on each other; that we can not merely take but we must give as well; that if we are to go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress is made, no leadership becomes effective. We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and property to such discipline, because it makes possible a leadership which aims at a larger good. This I propose to offer, pledging that the larger purposes will bind upon us all as a sacred obligation with a unity of duty hitherto evoked only in time of armed strife.
With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems.
Action in this image and to this end is feasible under the form of government which we have inherited from our ancestors. Our Constitution is so simple and practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form. That is why our constitutional system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political mechanism the modern world has produced. It has met every stress of vast expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world relations.
It is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislative authority may be wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented task before us. But it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure.
I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. These measures, or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption.
But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, and in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis—broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.
For the trust reposed in me I will return the courage and the devotion that befit the time. I can do no less.
We face the arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of the national unity; with the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moral values; with the clean satisfaction that comes from the stern performance of duty by old and young alike. We aim at the assurance of a rounded and permanent national life.
We do not distrust the future of essential democracy. The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit of the gift I take it.
In this dedication of a Nation we humbly ask the blessing of God. May He protect each and every one of us. May He guide me in the days to come.
~Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933
I am discovering that, despite certain shady dealings and personal flaws, in Franklin D. Roosevelt I have found a hero. I hope that in this looming crisis that a leader of comparable quality will appear and that that leader will take action that is not swiftly forgotten once the crisis at hand is resolved. I doubt, however, that a nation should be so forunate as to twice be blessed with the right person at the right time to resolve such colossal wrongdoing. My homeland needs a leader who is more than just a political leader but also a moral one. I am not certain that such is possible in this day and age.
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10.06.08
Posted in Current Events, Spero Cras at 8:04 pm by Kaihaku
September 26, 2008
NEW YORK — About 300 international religious and political figures, including Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, attended a dialogue at a Manhattan hotel on the evening of Sept. 25 to discuss the role of religion in responding to global challenges and building peace and understanding between societies.
Speakers included President Ahmadinejad, the Rev. Kjell Bondevik, former prime minister of Norway, and the Rev. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, president of the United Nations General Assembly.
The dialogue, which followed a meal, was sponsored by American Friends Service Committee, Mennonite Central Committee, Quaker United Nations Office, Religions for Peace and World Council of Churches in consultation with the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations.
Arli Klassen, executive director of Mennonite Central Committee, gave welcoming remarks on behalf of the sponsoring organizations. She lit an oil lamp as a symbol of faith and invited participants to reflect on peacemaking from their own faith perspectives.
“As a Christian, I believe that we are following Jesus Christ’s example and his teaching as we eat together and hold this dialogue despite our many differences,” Klassen said.
Klassen noted several areas of high tension in relations between Iran, the United States and other nations. Addressing President Ahmadinejad, Klassen raised concerns about his statements on the Holocaust and Israel, Iran’s nuclear program and religious freedom in Iran.
“We ask you to find a way within your own country to allow for religious diversity, and to allow people to make their own choices as to which religion they will follow,” Klassen said.
The theme of the dialogue was “Has not one God created us? The significance of religious contributions to peace.” A series of panelists shared Jewish, Muslim and Christian perspectives on addressing poverty, injustice, environmental degradation and war.
Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, a leader in the Jewish Renewal movement, spoke about Jewish traditions of peacemaking and nonviolence and drew upon her work for reconciliation between Muslims and Jews and Palestinians and Israelis. She also spoke about the significance of mourning the deaths of all victims of war, including the millions of people killed in the Holocaust, World War II and wars in Iran and Iraq.
“Because of the Holocaust, I learned from the rabbis who ordained and guide me, to be active in preventing further suffering of all human beings as a primary religious call to action,” Gottlieb said.
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, spoke about Islamic principles for alleviating poverty, caring for the environment and working for peace and justice. He encouraged his interreligious audience to cooperate more closely toward these goals.
“Has not God created us?” Awad said. “Yes — and he wants us to work together.”
Dr. John Brademas, a former U.S. congressman and president emeritus of New York University, served as the event moderator. Along with several of the evening’s speakers, Brademas called for direct negotiations between Iran and the United States.
“We believe that war is not the solution to the differences that divide peoples,” Brademas said. “Dialogue can make a real difference.”
Although Klassen, the Rev. Bondevik and others raised concerns about religious freedoms and human rights in Iran, President Ahmadinejad did not address these issues directly.
President Ahmadinejad spoke at length about theological issues, such as monotheism, justice and commonalities among religions.
“All divine prophets have spoken of one truth,” the president said. “The religion of Islam is the same as that offered by Moses.”
President Ahmadinejad spoke in broad terms about “challenges facing the human community,” including poverty, declining morality and a lack of religion in public life. He decried the humanitarian costs of wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon and spoke extensively about the hardships suffered by Palestinians. He criticized nations such as the United States for maintaining nuclear weapons and did not deviate from his previous statements that Iran’s nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
The evening’s program ran later than scheduled, and President Ahmadinejad departed shortly after concluding his remarks without taking questions from the audience as had been planned.
Robert J. Suderman, general secretary of Mennonite Church Canada, was among several Canadians who attended the dialogue.
“I think it was a valuable thing in terms of the objectives, which was to nurture peace by fostering understanding and human relationships,” he said.
Suderman added that the event’s participants should also reach out to people who objected to the dialogue with President Ahmadinejad, such as protesters outside the hotel who represented various Jewish and Evangelical Christian groups, among others.
“What’s left is to build relationships with people on the other side of the street,” Suderman said.
I am continually awed and inspired by the stand taken by the peaceful. This week there was a delegation visiting from Akron and they told me that a furious man called the MCC office. He screamed out profanities at the receptionist for this peacemaking dialogue to the point where she was shaking. She is in my prayers and I hope that she remembers…
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
It will be painful, difficult, hurtful…but this is a stand that has to be made. Though such has gone unnoticed by most of the world this is far from the first time that the Peace churches have taken such a stand and I am inspired to know that it will not be the last.
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08.06.08
Posted in Current Events, Spero Cras at 4:42 am by Kaihaku
The hegemony is beginning to crumble! IBM is shipping computers with Linux. This is the best news I’ve heard in a long time. Happy days.
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