The Peace Report, Issue #3

By Louise Diamond, Ph.D.

Welcome to The Peace Report, an occasional set of reflections on world and national affairs in these times of change and challenge, as seen through a peace lens. 

Peace Lights

I’ve come to New Mexico for the winter, and am looking forward to my first experience of luminarias on Christmas Eve. That’s where candles set in sand within paper bags are laid out in various designs, to light our way as we celebrate the joy of the season. Hanukah too is a testament to the miracle of the light of faith. Solstice reminds us that the light always returns, and Christmas is a time when star-light showed the way to the birthplace of divine-love-made-manifest. 

At this holiday time, the world situation looks dismal, and shows signs of getting even worse. Where are the luminarias, the light paths, to guide us out of our ignorance? Dear friends of peace, we are those lights. Our relationships form the patterns we lay out for others to follow. Our actions create the road that beckons those who yearn for a change. Our thoughts and words are the medium, the sand within which the candles burn safely. 

Our government, apparently, remains addicted to the war path and shows no sign of choosing the peace path anytime soon. It remains for each of us to light ourselves up from inside and burn with the passion for peace that can lead others to a new and better way to share this world, in love, with all.

Dear ones, I wish for you a glorious season of light. A shower of blessings on you and your families, and may the New Year bring us all our dream fulfilled: May Peace Prevail on Earth!

For the love of peace,
Louise Diamond
 

Iraq, Through a Peace Lens Lightly

In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq I wrote a series of articles expressing my views to President Bush, imagining that I had 15 minutes to speak with him. The article below is a continuation of that series, after a four-year hiatus.

Mr. President,

As you reflect on the Iraq Study Group report and the election results, surely you realize by now that the U.S. invasion and ensuing occupation of Iraq have unleashed three major vortices that profoundly threaten the people of Iraq, the entire Middle East, the United States, and indeed the whole world.

• A wave of hatred for the U.S., in Iraq and around the world. We have turned Iraq into a magnet for Al Qaeda and terrorist recruitment, while globally we are isolated, discredited, distrusted, and reviled for our arrogance. 
   
• A vicious civil war in Iraq. Please, stop quibbling about semantics and acknowledge the flight of hundreds of thousands of Iraq’s from the country; the ethnic cleansing and internal displacement of that many more; the abduction, torture, and murder of average citizens merely for their religious affiliation; and the corruption of major institutions and the political process for sectarian ends
   
• A rumbling of instability throughout the Middle East. You see, Mr. President, everything is connected. You cannot mess with one part of a system and not expect that to affect other parts of the system. 

With the collusion of the Congress and the media these past four years, you have engendered a highly dangerous world situation, and the question now is, ‘What can be done to fix it?’ At last and at least we are engaged in a lively public discussion on this question, exposing all the contradictory pros and cons of various scenarios. I am not qualified to speak on many of those issues. However, I would like to raise some points for you to think about that you may not hear from other sources. Consider these points as lenses through which you might view the situation as you consider your plan of action.

1. Ideology got you into this mess in the first place – the neoconservative belief that American power is to be used forcefully to create a world to our liking. That belief has been discredited by the fruit of its actions. Please, step away from the view that we are entitled to dominate the world. It is a deadly, toxic view that can only cause great harm to the human family. 

Accept the reality that we are an interconnected whole, and that the only way for us all to survive and thrive is by cooperation and ‘power with,’ not domination and ‘power over.’  That means talking with everyone, even those whose actions we abhor. Building ideological walls and imposing impossible conditions for talks with so-called ‘enemies’ insures only that the ‘other’ remains in the ‘enemy’ column, that the problems are not addressed, and that no creative solutions can be found.

In addition, you now claim that this is a long-term war of ‘the ideology of liberty versus the ideology of hate.’ By framing this as an ideological war, you defeat yourself from the start if you seek a military victory (which you do), for ideology does not respond to military might. Real ideological wars are solved only by finding common ground and agreeing to disagree but to cooperate anyway. For this you need consummate diplomacy, not more troops. 

2. Compassion for human suffering should be at the heart of all your decisions from this point on, not the well-being of your corporate friends (including the oil industry), stubbornness, pride, ideological imperatives, political considerations, or presidential legacy. From here on it is not about victory but about assuaging the immense suffering of the Iraqi people and preventing that suffering from becoming more widespread. The needs and well-being of the people of Iraq and of our own soldiers should be the focus of what comes next.

3. The larger international system must now deal with Iraq and the Middle East. While it is true that you are constitutionally empowered as the Commander in Chief of the US armed forces, there is something deeply wrong with the picture of the world hanging on the decisions of one man. You have made a terrible mess in Iraq, and you, with all your advisors, are not able to chart a ‘new way forward’ that will fix it. It is beyond your means and should be out of your hands. Turn it over to the United Nations (which, through your proxy John Bolton, you have done much to undermine), and/or to other regional and global institutions. 

4. National security is about meeting human needs, not only about military and political might. You have impoverished the U.S. through profound indebtedness and have stolen money away from the needs of the people for education, health care, affordable housing and a living wage, to pursue the folly of your Iraq adventures. Thus we are weakened from within. Abroad, the genocide in Darfur, rampant poverty, the growing disparity of ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ in the global economy, the continuing tragedy of HIV/Aid and other diseases, unremitting environmental degradation and global warming, and the downward spiral of the Israeli-Palestinian situation deserve the same kind of dogged commitment that you have given only to Iraq and your so-called ‘axis of evil.’ Left untended, these long-simmering situations can boil over at any time and threaten the well-being of the entire human family. It is time to shift your priorities, Mr. President. Past time.

5. Greater military might is not the answer. Simply doing more of what already doesn’t work is foolish. Force does not solve problems, nor create lasting peace. Increasing the military and spending more to support its actions are a waste of our precious resources. War is a tool of fear and domination. Instead of increasing the military, increase the number of Arabic speakers in the State Department and in our universities; increase the number of skilled conflict resolution and peacebuilding specialists on your team; increase the commitment to helping Christians, Muslims, and Jews heal from past wounds and find ways to live respectfully together on this planet; and increase a humble diplomatic outreach to ask for help from those countries and peoples we have offended through our ‘go-it-alone’ arrogance.

6. Yes, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is central to Middle East politics. Please please please read President Jimmy Carter’s new book, Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid (see The Hummingbird Recommends…, below, for more on this book). Then if you want to exert true and courageous leadership, follow its conclusions with actions. Be the very first U.S. president to have the guts to speak truth to Israeli power (your father did briefly, by withholding monies for building settlements), either become a true honest broker and honor Palestinian rights equally to Israeli rights, or get out of the way and let others step in, and make the resolution of this situation a top priority. The outlines of a two-state solution are well-known. The political will is lacking. You can make a difference in that area, if you choose. It may not be politically popular at home, but since you’re a lame duck president anyway, you are well-placed to take the heat. You think being a war leader is a good thing, Mr. President, and takes courage, but believe me, being a peace leader requires even greater courage – and skill. Are you up to it?

As we close one year and prepare to enter the next, so let us close this horrid chapter in American misadventure, Mr. President, and prepare to launch a new approach to being in this world, one where compassion, partnership, and a focus on meeting basic human needs trump ideology, ‘us versus them’ thinking, and a focus on military and economic power and dominance. 

Frankly, Mr. President, I don’t know if you can make this shift in yourself, let alone provide the leadership this country and the world need for this basic transformation in human consciousness and political direction. The one positive thing I have to go on is that you stopped drinking and got sober. You are called to the same lesson now, I believe, at a higher level. It is time to stop drinking the intoxicating poisons of world power and start sobering up to the true needs of humanity in these days. I pray that you can accomplish this change of heart and mind, for much depends on it – for all of us. 

Indeed, we are all called to this same shift, for this is the moment of human evolution when we choose love over fear, peace over violence, and partnership over domination as how we are in the tapestry of life together. You, however, as the perceived leader of the [free] world, must make this change in full view of six billion people. Your choices direct vast resources, and create conditions that will affect all life on this planet for years to come. Look closely through these six lenses, Mr. President, and choose wisely, while there’s still time. I pray you can, so that the season of peace may be truly upon us.

The Hummingbird recommends…
The hummingbird is considered by some Native American peoples to be a messenger of The Peacemaker, the man who helped bring peace to the warring five (later six) nations of the Iroquois Confederacy (the principles of which became the basis of our own constitution). As one who can show us the deep recesses where the sweet nectar of peace resides, the hummingbird is a true peace leader in these times, and I have respectfully borrowed her name for this column.
 
My book choice of the month is President Jimmy Carter’s new work, Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid. I admit I haven’t read it yet myself, but am eager to. From the reviews I’ve read, I understand that Carter finally says what many of us who have worked in the Middle East have been saying for years, namely, that the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the Palestinians is inhumane, against international law, has burdened the Palestinian people with untold hardship without increasing the security of the Israelis, and can and must be stopped through a viable peace agreement. 

Furthermore, Carter apparently explains that the U.S. is not an honest broker, being squarely on the side of the Israelis and unwilling to pressure them in any meaningful way to actualize a fair two-state solution (the outlines of which have been known for years). The American media has done a poor job of informing the public about the true conditions under which the Palestinian people live, and of showing how each side’s actions exacerbate and escalate negative response from the other, creating a downward spiral and ongoing cycle of hatred, fear, and violence. As one reviewer put it, remember that Carter is the only American president to successfully broker a peace accord in the Middle East (between Israel and Egypt) that has lasted more than 30 years. I applaud Carter for speaking truth to power. He deserves to be listened to.
 

Interesting and Unusual Peace Websites
www.doctorswithoutborders.org
This year I’m particularly interested in channeling my dismay at the war in Iraq into doing something positive for the people who are grievously wounded there – both Iraqi and American. I googled for wounded Iraqis and found that the Iraqi medical infrastructure is another casualty of this war – doctors have fled the country or been killed, hospitals and supplies have been looted, aid agencies are unable to work there due to the violence. I found that Doctors Without Borders had to leave off working in Iraq, but established a project in Jordan to treat wounded civilians who are able to get there. Contributions toward this project were my primary gift to loved ones this holiday season. If we can’t stop the war, at least we can exercise our compassion for those it has injured.

www.soldiersangels.org
On a similar note, I wanted to express my caring for the U.S. soldiers severely wounded in this fight. They are the fodder for this government’s folly, and my heart goes out to them. Again I googled, and found Soldiers’ Angels, an organization that provides, among other things, a backpack full of necessary items to soldiers wounded in battle in Iraq and Afghanistan. Apparently, when injured, they are flown to hospitals in Germany or elsewhere, arriving with nothing but their clothes, and even these are quickly cut off. I like the mix of personal items (toothbrush, underwear, etc.) and comfort items (a phone card so they can call their families). I may not share the political views of everything on this site, but I absolutely share the sentiment behind the commitment expressed in their tag line, “May no soldier go unloved.”

www.kiva.org
You have undoubtedly heard of the success of the micro-finance movement, started in large degree by this year’s Nobel Peace Laureate, Muhammad Yunus. Kiva lets the general public provide loans, through well-established micro-finance agencies in the global south, to people struggling to rise from poverty and make a better life for their families. This website presents the stories, in brief, of people living in poverty around the world who need a few hundred dollars to grow their small business and improve their lives. You can loan any amount, and supposedly will get it back within a year or so. Meanwhile you can receive emails explaining the progress of your ‘sponsoree.’ 

Because so many people in my life have been kind enough to loan (or give) me money when I needed it to grow my work for peace, I wanted to ‘pass on the gift’ (to borrow a phrase from Heifer International). So I made a loan to a woman in Kenya who wants to expand her used clothing business (used clothing is a major way many in Africa can clothe their families). What I particularly liked about her prospectus is that she said she wanted to adopt an HIV/AIDS orphan to pay forward the kindness shown to her.

www.propeace.net
Finally, a blog for those who want to pro-actively create a culture of peace. This is a fairly new blog site, and deserves a lot more traffic and interaction than it currently gets. I strongly encourage folks to have their say and engage in real dialogue here – we need to be filling the airwaves and cyberspace with words, images, thoughts, and conversations about peace. This site has great potential for being a forum in which we can inform, inspire, and connect with each other to strengthen our individual and collective work for a world of peace.
 

Building a Culture of Peace Conference
May 16-17, 2007, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Information on the program for this unusual conference will be announced in January. It will be a deep inquiry on the question, “What will it take to change the current culture of violence in this country to a culture of peace?” Though some Nobel Peace Laureates are signed on as keynoters, we, the participants, are the heart and soul of this event, bringing our wisdom and our leading-edge questions into a discovery mode with one another for creative action. Save the date and plan to attend.

• Peace Lights – a short reflection on the holiday season as a time of opportunity for lighting up a world of peace. (More...)
   
• Iraq, Through a Peace Lens Lightly – the main article this month, written as a letter to President Bush outlining five views he might consider in crafting his new approach to the war in Iraq. (More...) 
   
• The Hummingbird Recommends… - praise for President Carter’s new book Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid. (More...)
   
• Interesting and Unusual Peace Websites – four websites you may not know about that provide ways for you to participate in creating a more peaceful world. (More...)
   
• Building a Culture of Peace Conference – an update on this groundbreaking event. (More...)

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