Listening to the World by Candace Walworth, Peace Studies Chair

I’ve been thinking about what it means for Naropa to participate in the Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project. Naropa’s mission states that we prepare graduates “…both to meet the world as it is and to change it for the better.”

The DMW School Theatre Project is an attempt to build a university and community-wide learning community that strikes both chords (“meet the world as it is” and “change it for the better.”)

First, meet the world as it is: Listen!  Listen to the mother and father who cry out for revenge, as well as to the parents who say “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” will not assuage our grief. Sister Helen dedicates her book The Death of Innocents to “Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights, who show us the way.”

Listen to the men and women sitting on death row. Find out who they are, how they got where they are, and who isn’t where they are. (Who isn’t on death row?)

Listen to the stories of defense attorneys, prosecutors, “peacemaking criminologists” and to human rights advocates who investigate the underlying dynamics of race and class that affect death-sentencing in the United States.

Listen to the voices within diverse religious communities, as they struggle with the ethical questions: “Is there another way? Are there nonviolent alternatives to capital punishment?”

Listen to the poets who raise the question, “How can death be a “penalty?”

Listen to the arguments of the Supreme Court justices and to Sister Helen Prejean’s dialogue with the justices and their constitutional arguments (Chapter 3, The Death of Innocents).

The last few days I’ve been re-reading Sister Helen’s book Dead Man Walking. She seems to be speaking directly to Naropa, as she tells the story of her personal journey as a nun whose religious community made a commitment to “stand on the side of the poor” in 1980.

Sister Helen describes her reluctant acceptance of this view, and how it challenged her childhood faith — “where what counted was a personal relationship with God, inner peace, kindness to others, and heaven when this life was done. I didn’t want to struggle with politics and economics. We were nuns, after all, not social workers, and some realties in life were, for better or worse, rather fixed — like the gap between the rich and poor” (p. 5).

It’s here, I think, that the DMW School Theatre Project challenges Naropa to the second chord of our mission (“…to change the world for the better.”) The project requires that we, too, struggle with politics and economics and with the voices (within and without) that say, “All we can do is to be kind be kind to ourselves and others.”

As I understand it, the DMW School Theatre Project says “yes” to inner peace and developing kindness, and it says “yes” to taking a next step — to investigating the roots of violence in ourselves and in the public policies that we support, ignore or work to change. Rather than asking us to side with inner or outer transformation, the project asks that we embrace the totality of our mission.

–Candace Walworth, Chair of the Peace Studies Department, Naropa University

Personal and Social Transformation

Last semester I took a class on the lives of Gandhi, Dorothy Day and Malcolm X. We analyzed their personal transformations as it related to the social transformations they helped to inform. Please take a look at the lives of each of these three great figures. While none of the three were perfect, they certainly were courageous. Each of them underwent tremendous personal transformation. They exemplify, each in their own way, the relationship between personal and social transformation. I’m not a Hindu, a Muslim, or a Catholic, yet I learned how to be a better person from each one of these figures. Take a look at the links below. A note on the Malcolm X video: Many videos one can find on youtube of Malcolm X are of his early years. Notice the change in him from early in his life to his later thinking (he wore a beard more later in his life, you should be able to hear the difference in his message, much more ecumenical, less vitriolic and polemical). It’s pretty easy to judge any of these figures by seeing a small clip of them orating, but for a more informed look I recommend reading each of their autobiographies.

Dorothy Day — http://www.youtube.com/user/4854derrida#p/u/1/zZXZmuRekyE
Gandhi — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCbWH0TC870&feature=fvw
Malcolm X — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgjoszGtucg

It’s A Wrap

Last weekend’s symposium, “Women’s Leadership and Activism in the Muslim World” was *outstanding!*

The Peace Studies department, in association with the Cordoba Initiative, was thrilled to be apart of the engaging discussions by students, community members, scholars and activist who attended and energized our hearts and minds. Dr. Ebadi spoke eloquently about her work and encouraged each of us to stand in our role as truth-tellers.

We’ll post photos and reports from students soon. Be sure to take a look at some of the great articles that highlighted the weekend:

A Discussion with a Nobel Laureate: Shirin Ebadi and the Struggle for Democracy in Iran, Part I

Women and the Struggle for Democracy in Iran: A Discussion with a Nobel Laureate- Part II

Countdown to Dr. Ebadi’s arrival to Naropa!

The festivities have begun to welcome Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Iranian human rights activist, lawyer and the 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate to Naropa University October 9th and 10th for a symposium Women’s Leadership and Activism in the Muslim World hosted by the Peace Studies department.

On September 2nd, Pantea Beigi came to Naropa to speak about working with Dr. Ebadi and the PeaceJam Foundation. PeaceJam works to support the next generation of youth peacemakers through education and activism with the support and direct engagement of community leaders, educators, college mentors, and 11 Nobel peace laureates, among them Dr. Ebadi, Desmond Tutu and Jody Williams .

Take a look at this little video made by PeaceJam of a great event I attended as a youth mentor in 2006 with Dr. Ebadi, a few hundred PeaceJam mentors and Foster Elementary School students. The 3rd graders were so excited! Dr. Ebadi encouraged them to advocate for the respect of human rights across the world and honor their own rights as children. It was a lovely afternoon.

Dr. Ebadi is an engaging, powerful, and inspiring speaker to  audiences of 8 to 80 years old. Don’t miss your chance to see her  October 9th at 7pm at Naropa University. Grab your ticket while you can!

For more information and to register to experience the full event and symposium October 10th go to www.naropa.edu/ebadi

See you there!

U.S. to use Colombia Military Bases

Hello PAX friends!

Nathan and I have just recently returned from Colombia where we visited the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado. Almost every community member that we spoke with fervently asked us to multiply their stories of struggle and resistance with our friends in the United States–this collective memory, as I learned, is fundamental to the resistance and survival of the community.  We also heared first-hand how U.S. policy with Colombia has resulted in massacres, rapes, land displacement and human rights violations of Colombia’s most marginalized: campesinos, Afro-Colombians and indigenous peoples. While Nathan and I continue with processing and intergrating our experience we will proceed to update this blog so we all can learn about the Peace Community as an act of solidarity, and from the Peace Community as a means for personal and educational development–so please check-in again soon!

“No a las bases yanquis en Colombia” [No to the yankie bases in Colombia] — Universidad Nacional, Bogota

I am writing today because the United States and Colombia are currently discussing a plan to add U.S. military troops to 7 Colombian bases. As Across the Americas has stated, “That [the addition of U.S. troops] will gravely undermine Colombia’s national sovereignty and threaten the democratic and peaceful stability of the region.” Mainstream media–in both the United States and Colombia–will tell us that this is a good thing, that this will help the Colombian people. With fear, anger, sadness and exhaustion in their eyes, words and silences the Colombian people I spoke with clearly said “no” to U.S. troops inColombia–the idea crafts concerns of continued violence.

Will we let these voices be silenced?

Let’s think together how we can take action.

Please read the following statement released by the National Executive Committee of the Polo Democrático Alternativo in Colombia.

We Say No to U.S. Military Bases in Colombia

Polo Democrático Alternativo, PDA
National Executive Committee                                               
http://www.polodemocratico.net/

Bogotá, July 30, 2009

1. The government of Alvaro Uribe has announced a decision to grant the United States the use of military bases on national territory by way of an agreement that would place all of the Colombian land mass at U.S. disposal for all types of military operations inside and outside of our country. Within Colombia a foreign army would become involved in the internal armed conflict thereby exacerbating confrontation and making peace more elusive. Colombia would also become a military stationing platform for aggressive expansion of the North American world power in our region, impacting the stability of neighboring democratic and progressive governments and interfering with important plans toward the integration of Latin America and the Caribbean.

2. In addition to making a disgrace of our national sovereignty, Uribe’s decision turns Colombia into a foothold for the U.S. and its allies to carry out their plans of attacking Latin American nations that do not toe the U.S. line or that weaken its continental hegemony. It is part and parcel of an offensive by reactionary forces and the empire, which recently staged the coup d’etat in Honduras against the legitimate president of that country, José Manuel Zelaya.

3. This unwarranted concession is contrary to the Colombian Constitution. Both the articles relevant to these matters as well as the appropriate decision-making processes were disrespected. This is one of the most flagrant violations against a Government of Laws committed by the Uribe administration.

4. War is a lucrative business for a small group of multinational corporations that live off their security and defense contracts with the State Department and the Pentagon. Behind the façade of a war against narco-trafficking and terrorism we find the highly profitable operations of the military industrial complex ranging from arms and munitions production to contracts with mercenary outfits around the globe.

5. The increasing submission of the Colombian military to the U.S. continues the failed anti-drug policy outlined by Plan Colombia. It will mean the worsening of the economic, social and environmental problems that Colombia has endured for more than a decade and the further deterioration of the humanitarian and human rights crisis.

6. Even less acceptable is the application of judicial immunity to the North American military and mercenaries who will be given diplomatic protection for any and all crimes committed in Colombia. The precedent established by criminal acts perpetrated by United States’ military personnel here and in other countries by logic transforms the so-called immunity into a grant of impunity.

Given the above considerations, the Polo Democratico Alternativo-PDA- issues:

a) an  invitation to political and social organizations, intellectuals, advocates of democracy and human rights activists in Colombia and the continent, to meet soon to reach agreement on a common agenda and a statement against this decision, which undermines Colombia’s national sovereignty and affects the democratic and peaceful stability of the region.

b) a call for a National Day of Mobilization and Protest against war and the military bases in Colombia, in defense of national sovereignty, and for peace in the region.

c) a call for a national and continental campaign against U.S. militarization and intervention in Latin America which we hope will be joined by progressive and democratic forces throughout the world.

d) the expression of sentiments of friendship, solidarity and support for all nations of Latin America, their peoples and the governments which legitimately represent them.

– translated by Mingas, http://mingas.info/

And recently released…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 13, 2009 5:49 PM

Religious and Grassroots Leaders Urge Clinton to Suspend Military Base Talks With Colombia

Bases deal “presents enormous dangers for entire hemisphere”

NATIONWIDE – August 13 – Over one hundred religious, national, community organizations and leaders and academics today called on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to “suspend negotiations for expanded U.S. military access or operations in Colombia,” a plan that has generated a swell of protest among Latin American countries, including Colombia, the largest recipient of U.S. military aid in the hemisphere.

“It is rational for regional leaders to see the installation of several U.S. military sites in Colombia as a potential threat to their security,” the groups said, because of U.S. support for trans-border attacks from Colombia, reported violations of the expiring base agreement with Ecuador, a Pentagon statement that it seeks access for “contingency operations” in the region, and the painful history of U.S. military intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“To broaden relationships with South America and value respect for human rights, the United States should not create a fortress in Colombia in concert with the region’s worst rights violators, the Colombian military,” the letter said.

Signatories included 20 national religious organizations and leaders and 32 U.S. peace and human rights groups, as well as community organizations, academics, and international NGOs.

The leaders wrote to Clinton as many South American presidents have expressed opposition to the increased U.S. military presence in Colombia. Brazilian President Lula da Silva urged President Obama to joined presidents from the South American Union to discuss the issue later this month in Buenos Aires, and Venezuela President Hugo Chavez said that “the winds of war are blowing” because of the plan for U.S. troops to operate in seven Colombian bases.

For background documents on the military base negotiations between the United States and Colombia, see www.forcolombia.org/bases

CONTACT: Broad Coalition

John Lindsay-Poland, Fellowship of Reconciliation,               510-282-8983       . johnlp@igc.org
Nnenna Ozobia, Transafrica Forum,               202-553-7186       . nozobia@transafricaforum.org
Cristina Espinel, Colombia Human Rights Committee,               202-997-1358       . colhrc@igc.org
Robert Naiman, Just Foreign Policy, cell:               217-979-2857       . naiman@justforeignpolicy.org
Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK, cell:               415-235-6517       . medea@globalexchange.org