The Horrors of War, 2

Via Dolorosa, The Way of Sorrows: Military Occupation

This I drew to depict the events of al-Nakba, the Catastrophe of the Palestinians in 1948, a process that continues in shades through the present. The destruction of the villages, the rounding up and deportation of the men in large trucks, the concentration camps that have now become permanent 'refugee' camps throughout the middle east, as well as the prisons and dungeouns decried by Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups alike.



And still, this bears striking familiarity to our treatment of the Iraqis; there is nothing on this scrap of paper that we ourselves have not done. Three years after drawing this picture, I was taking photographs of the same images live.

The Horrors of War, 3

The Horrors of War: Safuriya-Sepphoris

Safuriya, or Sepphoris, is a small village to the northwest of Nazareth that was forcibly depopulated of Palestinians during the Catastrophe. The houses they left behind are now a chic suburb for Israelis, while the original homeowners often still wear their keys around their necks while they sit in refugee camps in Lebanon. It is also a popular spot with tourists for the archaeological ruins of Herod's recreational palace.

The Horrors of War, 4

The Horrors of War: Village Raids

The images repeat throughout the world. All too often, they are created through our tax dollars. The links to the right of this image are filled with information about how this happens, and what you can do to help.

The Horrors of War, 5

This is the last picture in this series, or the first, depending on how you are reading this blog. Look carefully at the small pebbles beneath the soldier's feet.






We forget too often what military occupation is; we blame the violence that ensues on the 'savagery' of the occupied, justifying our further repression of the people. We even declare God to be on our side; or declare ours to be the cause of freedom.


What have we freed Iraqis from?

What have we freed Iraqis for?

School of the Americas Protest, 2006

I returned yesterday from the School of the Americas protest at Ft. Benning, Columbus, GA. The School of the Americas is where we train soldiers from other countries in 'counter-insurgency' tactics, most notably torture. Graduates of this school have been responsible for tens of thousands of civilian deaths throughout Central and South America. These are a few of my initial impressions, as well as three pictures:




Perhaps the most moving moment for me was meeting the young 'Iraq Veterans Against the War.' I realized they were ten years younger than I am now, eighteen year-olds. I have family in the military, but they are older. I met plenty of soldiers in Iraq, but they seemed so aged and hardened in their roles there. I asked these guys how they got the bus organized and how they got down there, they admitted they had arrived 'on fumes' and weren't exactly sure how they'd get home afterwards. So I bought a t-shirt to support them, which said "Free the Troops." I thought it answered the unasked question in this support our troops/end the war debate. I thought afterwards, if ever there were a group of 'America's Finest,' it was these guys, who not only wanted to serve their country, but also were courageous enough to ask the hard questions about the consequences this service had--on themselves, on our country, on people around the world.





I participated in a 'die-in' with about thirty others, our faces painted white to symbolize death, and draped in black mourning shrouds. We carried coffins in the beginning of the funeral procession, then lay down in front of the entrance to the base and were covered in red paint to symbolize the massacres which have been committed:



...what I noticed most was the cold. The ground was cold, the 'blood' I was soaked in was cold, the air was cold, and I couldn't even feel the heat from the sun. It made my muscles and joints stiff and painful. I began to wonder how everyone else on the ground around me was doing. I lost track of time, and a few times, I think I drifted off into sleep and back. I couldn't speak or move really, since I was supposed to be 'dead.' I wasn't supposed to open my eyes. I could hear the voices of people walking around me, and I wondered if they saw me, or if my friends would recognize me. And then it struck me, that in a massacre, a person might have the very same thoughts...the cold, the fear of being un-seen, wondering how long you would be there, the pain, perhaps needing to 'play dead' in order to survive if the killers were still around. This has been the scene re-played throughout Central and South America, dozens of massacres by soldiers trained by the School of the Americas. And here we lay, the symbolic dead, at the gates of where it all begins.





I came away from the protest energized --knowing that mass demonstrations are not the work, but the rallies help us to continue with the daily work until our goals are acheived. It was good to meet others within the Presbyterian church and other seminaries and schools and organizations--all working together from all over the country--and to know we are not alone in our concerns. Also, I came away with a better perspective on my seminary studies. It seems like we as students always whine, "we're too busy, we have to study." As Rick Ufford-Chase told us during his visit to McCormick seminary recently, 'we do not have the luxury of being overwhelmed.' These are the times in which we study, and we need to view our studies not just as professional training, but as incorporating them into the struggle for justice. We need to get our professors on the same page with us, supporting us in responding to the world faithfully, even as students, and perhaps even coming up with alternative assignments to integrate the world and the classroom.

Le Anne's Manifesto:

I am catching up between hosting family and taking off early Friday morning for the School of the Americas protest (about a dozen of us going from the seminaries in Hyde Park; mostly McCormick, but a couple from the other schools also). I'm excited to get back down there, but I promise not to get arrested this year...but, I'm a bit fired up at the moment and want to write; while each of the pieces below has been with me some time, they've been coming together and becoming a much clearer vision much more recently--apologies, for brief manifesto to follow:



1. What is your interest? 2. What is your experience? 4. How do you see yourself serving Christ and the CHurch in the years to come?



My interest is in ecumenical and interfaith cooperation for social justice, particularly human rights and antimilitarism. I'm also in some human rights ministry classes at Catholic Theological Union (CTU) right now; for my final, I'm finishing my nonprofit plan for an 'Interfaith Peacemaker Teams.' For next semester's advanced human rights class, which requires hands-on work, I'm asking the professor to let me build the relationships with other human rights and interfaith groups in Chicago necessary to getting this group going. If all goes well by the end of the year, I'll drop down to half-time enrollment and begin recruiting and training to send interfaith human rights teams to active conflict zones. I have been blessed with much encouragement from those who have gone before me in this work, particularly Kathy Kelly and Voices in the Wilderness. I have been shying for some time now from the doors which have been opening--finally getting the courage to step through to those unknowns...



I was a human rights worker in the Middle East (mostly Israel, Palestine, Iraq) for four years, mostly with the Christian Peacemaker Teams, and we knew then but didn't have the ability to expand the model to include interfaith. Between the time I 'retired' from CPT and when I came to CTS, I got an MA in Christian-Muslim relations. But, whenever I do finish seminary (in one more year or two), I'm in the ordination process in the Presbyterian church.



Meanwhile, closer to home, I'm helping build a coalition of student organizers from all of the seminaries in Hyde Park, called the Seminary Student Action Network (www.seminaryaction.org). We launched an inter-campus paper which is gaining ground rapidly, we have monthly colloquy groups of student leaders (newspaper editors, student government, and organization leaders, etc) for mutual support and troubleshooting; and we're looking at ways to form intentionally ecumenical/
intercampus student housing to meet the shortage of affordable student housing near Hyde Park --probably also including a servant-learning component as part of the rental contract.



What I want to see coming from this, though, is a wider 'culture change' in the approach to theological education, at least for the Hyde Park seminaries. I have a funny ecumenical history here, where I've been a student and/or deeply involved with the communities at most of the seminaries here. None really touch the level of contextual, cross-cultural, servant-based education that is common to many denominational college campuses today. And it's not really about money; most of the college campus efforts are student-initiated before incorporated into the program, and students raise the funds to make them happen. I think it's mostly about commitment and creativity.



At CTS, we are blessed to have the CCT program for field site, and that the outside world is discussed within our classrooms, but I believe this is not enough to form truly globally- connected and societal- transforming ministers. I believe that physically being in the public community from start to finish of seminary education _is_ doing public theology; we can't just restrict this to the second-year field site and a section of CPE. But I do understand how it is difficult to transform these cultures from within institutional structures, which is why we are organizing as a coalition of students, to show how alternative spring break opportunities, increased cross-cultural travel seminars, and leadership/ organizing practicum opportunites can happen here for everyone.



There's one other thing I will mention, and that is my real excitement for pastoral counseling/ chaplaincy/ spiritual direction. I did CPE in a psychiatric ward this summer and loved it enough to get into Dr. Moore's classes here; I also used to lead the trauma training for new human rights workers entering Palestine, as well as the post-trauma debriefings when colleagues were killed. I know that from the accumulation of war traumas in four years, I personally can't do the direct work much anymore. The wounds are deep. But I find incredible energy for pastoring and shepherding the activists and aid workers. So...it all sort of fits together and makes it possible for me to carry on in a world of violence and despair. And I know I won't have to do it alone, through the friends that I have and continue to find in this wide body of faith. We and the Spirit can cheer each other on the way.



3. What do you see as the impact faith in the public square has made in this recent mid-term election?



I think people voted against what they saw in the religious right through the scandals and voted also against the way this war has been handled. I think now is the best time to speak an alternative view of faith in public life, before all things religious and church are seen as detestable. So we gotta get out there, not just get comfortable because we like who made it into office.



Y'all have had enough of me by now for sure. I'll close out this message with thanks to you all, and an invitation for further discussion/feedback, etc.

peace, friends,

Le Anne

Should Saddam Receive the Death Penalty?

(submitted as an op-ed)



I woke up this morning to grim news on the radio, that Saddam Hussein and two of his cohorts had been sentenced to death by hanging for his crimes against humanity. Iraqi officials were bracing themselves for anticipated riots following this pronouncement.



As a human rights worker, I was in Baghdad the day Saddam was captured. I remember sitting in our neighbor’s den watching the news with them. The family, who was Christian, seemed to have a flat affect. Their housekeeper, a Sunni woman, cried and touched his face on the screen. “They will hurt him,” she wept. “They will not let him live.”



As the news continued, I had to wonder at the wisdom of sentencing this man to die. It’s true, Shi’a and Kurdish Iraqis are rejoicing in the streets. However, Amnesty International said the tribunal had missed an opportunity to establish the rule of law in Iraq, and to ensure "truth and accountability for the massive human rights violations perpetrated by Saddam Hussein's rule."



Shall we kill this man? Let’s look at some of the reasons for opposing the death penalty, particularly in this case: As with Osama bin Laden, we have heard for years now that killing him will only make him a martyr. Riots are likely to lead to a far greater loss of life, in a country that has had far too many deaths already. The ‘deterrence factor,’ often cited in get-tough legislation, is unlikely to prove effective in a country where thousands of citizens pay the death penalty for walking out their front doors--if they even get that far.



Is this execution simply deserved? Probably. Saddam tortured and killed thousands of people, his own people and others. He used terrible weapons. These were indisputably crimes against humanity. But then, who else deserves to share this fate?



After all, our hands are bloody also. We supported Saddam’s rise to power; we gave him intelligence and the weaponry in order to carry out his crimes in Halabja and elsewhere. We promised to support the Shi’a if they revolted against him, then we looked the other way as he slaughtered them following the first Gulf War.



Meanwhile, I know another man who had over 3,000 of his own people killed; and gave the orders to kill tens of thousands more. A man who became an apologist for torture; who lied to his country and instilled a climate of repressed freedoms and constant terror. Who came to power through dubious elections processes. He has several henchmen behind him who helped to engineer this treason and tyranny. Who used massively destructive weapons against civilians time and time again. All while serving as a head of state—our own United States.



Should he be sentenced to death also? Shall he be tried for crimes against humanity?



I believe George W. Bush has plenty to answer for, along with Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rove, and the rest of his cohorts who took us into this dirty war. Still, as a human rights worker and a Christian, I simply cannot support the death penalty against anyone, no matter who it is.



When this man and his followers die, so too die the answers that thousands of Iraqi families seek about the fate of their loved ones. And, as often happens in state-sponsored terror, by the time you punish everyone who took part in these crimes, you will have effectively created yet another genocide. Where would we stop?



Instead, I believe the just sentence is multiple life sentences. Why not contain these men, prevent them from attaining power again, and over time seek the truth and accountability so desperately sought? Let Saddam be a living testament that these acts should never happen again, and that we should never support them again, instead of dead history too quickly forgotten.

In the Aftermath of Abu Ghraib

(recently found in my old notebook of poems)



In the Aftermath of Abu Ghraib

And the Fallujah Massacre



Here in this war zone

We could die any time

I never felt fear of death

As I do now.



We sit by our window

And check which car is

Parked outside



They’re going after everyone now

Good deeds done in months past

Cannot measure up

To this great transgression

No longer targeting only

Soldier or spy

War profiteer

But aid worker

And human rights activist



They have the right to be angry

But in their rage

Will they still remember

This faithful friendship?



I never felt so acutely the

Fear of gang rape

Or drive-by shootings

Measuring every word spoken

So as not to bring death

Sooner upon us.



And seeing our tanks and checkpoints

On their soil

Seeing the blood-soaked deeds

Of my country

On their TV screens

I wonder, really

Who will kill us first?



Do all souls here die in a

blaze of glory



Or just the blaze of oil?



Spring 2004

Seminary Students on Civil Disobedience

The following is a conversation among several seminary students on whether seminarians should be involved in acts of civil disobedience today:



Le Anne: I would like to start a conversation on seminary students engaging in acts of civil disobedience. This is just a brief message which I'll elaborate on later, but, several of my human rights colleagues asked me if I would be willing to participate in a nonviolent public witness that may involve a risk of arrest, if we make further gestures towards war in Iran. The School of the Americas protests annually at Ft. Benning, Columbus, GA, are also something many seminarians join and sometimes risk arrest. I am not asking about my own personal decisions/advice (although first in my deliberations was asking Susan's opinion and blessing); but to debate the ethics and implications of a seminary students risking arrest for social justice causes. Of course it happened plenty in the Civil Rights era, but do we see it as acceptable today?



Let's see what ye all think; peace, Le Anne



5 REPLIES [Hide Replies]



* FROM: AnnMarie (11/01/06)

SUBJECT: RE: seminary students, clergy, arrest?

I think these actions are not only acceptable, but necessary.



Jesus' life, as we know it, is framed by his arrest and prosecution. However, our written accounts of him show that he made choices about where he did what and when. I'm not saying that non-violent resistance and protest should be mandatory whenever and where-ever. We need to be prudent and, I think, lead by the Spirit in the choices that we make.



* FROM: Nathan (11/02/06)

SUBJECT: RE: seminary students, clergy, arrest?

Le Anne - This is something I'm keenly interested in - I've gone annually to the SOA protest since '01. The only risk of arrest at Ft. Benning involves crossing the boundary line onto the base, and this is not a 'risk' situation - you will be arrested and detained. We can talk about this at length later. I have been arrested three times at protests - twice during the lead up to the war and once during a farmer's strike in Los Angeles. I can tell you that having a ban and bar letter sucks because it shows up as a 'felony flag' on your record and if you ever have to stand before a judge for anything it will definitely come up in the conversation.



That said, I am entirely for civil disobedience - I think it is one of the most Christ-like activities we can engage in. However, it can screw up the amount of time it takes for you to earn your M.Div.



In short, I believe that seminary students should finish their studies, and then get arrested.



I really recommend reading Father John Dear's stuff - his prison book especially, as well as his articles. (He's my personal hero.)



This is from his bio:


"A native of North Carolina, John Dear was arrested on December 7, 1993 at the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, North Carolina for hammering on an F15 nuclear fighter bomber in an effort to "beat swords in plowshares," according to the biblical vision of the prophet Isaiah. Along with activist Philip Berrigan, he spent eight months in North Carolina county jails. Dear has been arrested over seventy-five times in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience for peace, and has organized hundreds of demonstrations against war and nuclear weapons at military bases across the country, as well as worked with Mother Theresa and others to stop the death penalty."



* FROM: Ken(11/02/06)

SUBJECT: RE: seminary students, clergy, arrest?

I agree with AnnMarie. I believe we have an obligation as Christians to take a stance. All that is necessary for evil to exist is that good men do nothing. However, Christ did choose his time and place to complete his mission. Remember there were times that he just vanished from the crowd.



* FROM: Christal(11/02/06)

SUBJECT: RE: seminary students, clergy, arrest?

I agree with the replies that have been posted. As a young African American women, I am where I am because of protest...If Rosa Parks gave up her seat...could I freely sit anywhere on the CTA...If there were no sit-its..could I eat where I wanted to?... I think that civil disobedience is acceptable.

Just my thoughts..

Christal



* FROM: Becky (11/02/06)

SUBJECT: RE: seminary students, clergy, arrest?

I always have to wonder, what will happen to my children if I end up in jail, as a result of my call to action as a person of faith. And when I raised this question with my pastor, she reminded me that I am part of a faith family, we take care of one another. That said, I need to be mindful of the impact on my family. I have no hesitation in stepping forward and engaging in acts of civil disobedience, on behalf of all God's children. I just need lead time to prepare my own children and family for the implications!



Do I see this acceptable today? I see it as necessary. Had I been able, I would have joined the folks who were arrested last year as the protested the immoral Federal Budget of our country.



Let's please keep in mind that the best way to move folks from apathy to interest is to give them an authentic connection to people willing to take action, raise voices, and take risks. And remember that we are a few generations removed from the impact of the Civil Rights movement. When I showed the video of the Children's March , provided to our church through "Teaching Tolerance," a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, in a Sunday School class, most of the students had not been exposed to this part of our country's history.