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News
and Notes from PIET
History and Purpose of the Organization. The
Peacebuilding Institute of East Tennessee (PIET) is a
project of the Peacebuilding Institute,
a non-profit voluntary association established in 1988. PIET
has a broad mandate to organize and educate for the practice
of peacebuilding from an ecumenical and interfaith
perspective. It began in 2000 as a local initiative to
bring peacebuilders from around the world together with
local peacebuilders for the purpose of establishing mutually
supportive relationships and a worldwide perspective on the
work of peace. Peacebuilding is one area of practice we
believe to be integral to the teachings of Christ, and one
that Christianity holds in common with a number of other
religious traditions, notably Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and
Baha’i. At least one of these religious traditions is
pervasive in each of the great world civilizations and,
therefore, offers a broad base on which to build both a
philosophical grounding for peacebuilding and peacebuilding
practices. Each of the religions named above has
representation on the ICS Board of Directors. We partner
with Protestant, Catholic, and Anabaptist churches, with the
religious centers and educational institutions of Islam and
Baha’i, and with other non-profit organizations worldwide
[such as Justipaz in Colombia and WIAM in Palestine] to
initiate, implement, and sustain peacebuilding programs. We
currently have connections with peacebuilders in
approximately 90 nations.
REPORTS
PIET
Fall Peacemaker’s Workshop, in October, was a
resounding success. It was facilitated by Michael and Lorri
Hardin of Preaching Peace (www.preachingpeace.org),
who addressed a variety of topics related to peacemaking
from a biblical perspective. Their careful exegesis of the
biblical text demonstrated that the God of both Jews and
Christians is a God of peace and love, not a God of violence
and vengeance. (The workshop scheduled for March 15, 2008,
(se calendar below) will follow up on this understanding as
it relates to the death of Jesus Christ.)
An additional session, facilitated by PIET, brought together
Mennonite, Unitarian-Universalist, United Church of Christ,
Hindu, Baha’i', and Muslim presenters to discuss the peace
teachings of their respective faiths.
Participating churches included St. Thomas the Apostle Roman
Catholic
and Central United Methodist in Lenoir City;
and in Knoxville Concord Mennonite, Peace Lutheran (ELCA),
St. James Episcopal, St. Thomas Episcopal, Church of the
Good Shepherd (Episcopal), and Church of the Savior (United
Church of Christ).
Peace
Group Coalition Launched
Peacebuilders representing nine peace groups met on October
10th to discuss ways to organize for more
effective peacebuilding. As one of the problems we face is
lack of communication between groups, it was decided to meet
quarterly to share information with each other. It is
understood that members of this ad hoc group need not be
officially appointed by their respective groups, but are
members of the coalition primarily to share information on
what is going on. Leadership of the coalition meetings will
rotate among the participants, with each meeting being the
occasion for continuing dialog on strategies for effective
peacebuilding, including possibilities for cooperative
actions. January 5, 2008 will be the first regular
quarterly meeting of the group. Reverend Kay Reynolds,
rector of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, will host the group
LETTERS
An open letter to the people of America, in particular to
Human Rights Organizations:
The latest invention of the Congress of America is a new
plan to slice the land of Iraq and to slaughter more Iraqis
in the name of democracy and freedom. This foggy thought
brought by one of the Senators of the Democrats. This
Congressional resolution created more resentments and anger
among Iraqis. It is fully rejected by Iraqi people North and
South, East and West, all politicians, parties, resistance,
opposites, and government. Fifty-three months after
occupation and many Americans are still ignorant about the
Iraqis and their passion for unified Iraq, and their
sacrifice for their land. People of America, you have the
plea to encourage your leaders to learn more and provide
more budget for think tanks to carry research and studies
about the nation of Iraq.
Naba S.
Hamid
Editor's
note: Naba Hamid is an affiliate of ICS who was working in
Iraq for women's rights until she was forced to leave
because of death threats. She continues her work from her
country of refuge.
MARK
YOUR CALENDAR!
December
15, 2007, 12 to 3:00 PM – Workshop at West Knoxville
Friends Meeting of persons interested in counter recruitment
program in our local schools. Lunch provided. Call 573-4089
for directions.
January
5, 2008, 9:00 AM to Noon -- Meeting at St. Thomas
Episcopal Church of the East Tennessee Peace Group Coalition
of for sharing of information and discussion of cooperative
activities.
January
12, 2008, 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM – PIET Planning Committee
meets at Panera Bread on N. Peters Road to prepare for
upcoming events. New people with fresh ideas and a
willingness to work are always welcome.
January 19,
2008, 9:30 to 3:00 PM – Quarterly meeting of ICS Board of
Directors. Place to be announced.
February
1-2, 2008 -- PIET Winter Workshop: "Teaching
Nonviolence: A Workshop for Teachers and Parents.” Friday,
6:00 to 10:00 PM; Saturday 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM. (Potluck
dinner on Friday, Saturday lunch provided)
February
9, 2008, 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM -- PIET Planning Committee
meets at Panera Bread on N. Peters Road to prepare for
upcoming events.
CALENDAR, Continued from page 2
February
23, 2008 – Counter-Recruitment Counselor Training at
West Knoxville Friends Meeting. Times to be announced.
March 15,
2008, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM -- Non-Violent Atonement
Workshop, for Christian Clergy and Lay leadership.
Facilitated by Michael and Lorri Hardin of Preaching Peace;
Tony Bartlett, Beckley Hall Episcopal Seminary; and Sharon
Baker, Messiah College. Lunch provided.
March 16,
2008 -- 7:30 to 9:30 PM --Seminar on the "Mimetic Theory
of Peacebuilding" -- This is a "must do" for preachers and
teachers of theology!
June 5 to
8 2008 -- Summer Peacebuilding Institute. Come join the
dialogue with peacebuilders from around the world. Times
and places to be announced.
Watch
this space for announcements of noon-time International
Forums on a variety of countries and international crises.
These will each be led by persons with first-hand knowledge
of the areas and situations addressed.
THE SPARROW
SINGS
A monthly collection of
comments, quotes, facts and Tamarac Notes written and
collated by Roberta Thurstin and Don Timmerman, published in
collaboration with PEACEBUILDING INSTITUTE OF EAST
TENNESSEE.
COMMENTS
We hear from President Bush and
his conservative supporters that the US military must stay
in Iraq until we see success. The question is then as to
what exactly is success. In the dictionary success is
defined as "the accomplishment of an aim," or” a favorable
outcome," or "the attainment of wealth, fame or position."
If we apply these definitions to the US occupation of Iraq
there is little hope of success. The aim of the invasion
and occupation, as pointed out by Alan Greenspan by his
recent book, is getting access to the oil in Iraq. This aim
is not attainable because the Iraqis are never going to
allow this to happen. There can never be a favorable
outcome to the invasion and occupation since 2.4 million
Iraqis have left the country with very little, millions more
in Iraq live in poverty and destitution fearing every day
for their lives, and the killings still occur every day in
the country with little hope for the Iraqis getting back
their country.
To me success is following
one's conscience. My conscience tells me that the secret of
success is to love all, including my enemies, and doing good
to all. However, others do not have that conscience. Their
conscience supposedly tells them that it is moral to do
whatever is necessary to get what they want. This would
include bombing, invading and occupying a country. It would
include intimidating, maiming and killing whoever stands in
their way. It would include disrespecting others who do not
agree with them. People still do not realize that the way
to success is not with ridicule, cruelty and force. This is
unfortunate, and because of the unwillingness of many to
love all people, there will continue to be wars and rumors
of wars. We will fail to succeed. - Don Timmerman
QUOTES
"I am saddened that it is
politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows:
the Iraq war is largely about oil." -Alan Greenspan,
former Federal Reserve Chairperson
"If Americans are upset with
the war in Iraq today, it's mainly because it failed. If we
could have 'ended evil' with this war, it would have been a
good thing….If we have to destroy the world in order to
purify it of evil, that's all right….The destruction of Iraq
was an act of purification." Most Americans naively still do
not believe the invasion was for oil.
"The chaplains I knew didn't
see themselves as having a commission to preach the Gospel
at all. You bent over backward NOT to do that when you were
dealing with soldiers outside the chapel." - James
Carroll
"We have to remember that God
loves all men (and women), that God wills all men (and
women) to be saved, that all men (and women) are brothers
(and sisters). We must love the jailor as well as the one
in prison. We must do that seemingly utterly impossible
thing: love our enemy….As you come to know the seriousness
of our situation - the war, the racism, the poverty in the
world - you come to realize it is not going to be changed
just by words or demonstrations. It's a question of risking
your life. It's a question of living your life in
drastically different ways."
- Dorothy Day
"A common and natural result
of an undue respect for law is that you may see a file of
soldiers, colonel, captain, corporal, privates,
powder-monkeys, and all, marching in admirable order over
hill and dale to the wars, against their wills, ay, against
their common sense and consciences, which makes it very
steep marching indeed, and produces a palpitation of heart.
They have no doubt that it is a damnable business in which
they are concerned; they are all peaceably inclined…" -
H.D. Thoreau
INCONVENIENT
FACTS
* As many as 45% of all suicide
bombers in Iraq are Saudi nationals. Saudi Arabia gives
lots of money to the Sunnis in Iraq to help their cause. -
Los Angeles Times
* A faucet leaking 1 drop per
second wastes about 2,700 gallons of water a year. This is 5
times what an average car uses in gas. – EPA
* More than 14 million trees
are used each year for making grocery bags. - Greenpeace
* A recent study involving
interviews with over 2,000 Iraqis found that they were more
pessimistic than 6 months earlier. Today 70% of Iraqis think
security has deteriorated, and conditions for political
dialogue have worsened. Some 65-67% of them think the troop
increase has interfered with government functioning,
reconstruction and economic development, and 47% now want
foreign troops to leave immediately. - BBC, ABC News and
NHK of Japan
* The money spent on one day in
Iraq would buy homes for almost 8,500 families or health
care for 423,529 children or could outfit 1.27 million homes
with renewable electricity. - American Friends Service
Committee
* The occupation of Iraq, if
you include ongoing factors such as long-term health care
for veterans, interest on debt and replacement of military
hardware; is costing Americans $270 million a day or
$500,000 a minute -Washington Post, 9-22-07
* Since the US invasion of Iraq
an estimated 1.2 million Iraqis died violent deaths. -
ORB, a British polling organization
* As many as 8 million Iraqis
are in need of emergency assistance. An estimated 4 million
lack food security. Nearly half the population is unemployed
and living in absolute poverty. Some 50-70% lack adequate
water supplies, and child malnutrition has risen to 28%. -
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
* When costs of CIA operations
and embassy expenses are added, the occupation of Iraq
currently costs taxpayers about $12 billion a month. The
new spending request of $200 billion is likely to push the
cumulative cost of Iraq alone through 2008 past the $600
billion mark, more than the Korean War and nearly as much as
the Vietnam war. - LA Times, 9-24-07
* Hundreds of Shiite and Sunni
residents staged a protest on Sept. 12th against a wall
being constructed by US troops between their adjoining
neighborhoods in NW Baghdad. It is part of a US effort to
divide Iraq's population among religious lines. - World
Socialist Web Site, 9-18-07
* Neither the Defense Dept. nor
the Dept. of Homeland Security have met even basic
accounting requirements, leaving them vulnerable to waste,
fraud and abuse. Officials admit that there is no way of
holding these departments accountable for tax money they
received in the past. "There is no way of knowing, if it
(Defense Dept.) can't even be audited." (Ronald W. Johnson
of RTI International)- A.P., 9-14-07; “The Pentagon still
cannot account for $1.1 trillion it received in the past.”
* CEOs of top military
corporations have reaped annual pay gains of 200% or 688% in
the years since 9-11. They made an average of $12.4 million
a year, easily more than the average CEO. The CEO of
General Dynamics, Nicholas Chabraja, tops the list at
earnings of $97 million or $19 million a year followed by
Halliburton CEO, David Lesar, who earned $79 million or
nearly $16 million a year. –Center for Defense
Information
* About 35,000 people die of
hunger every day – Source unknown
* At least 835 books were
already written and published about the Iraq war in the US,
and 32 of these are children's books. Source
unknown
* Poor roads cost Americans
$67,000,000,000 each year for repairs and other extra
operating costs. – Source unknown
* It is estimated that over the
next 20 years it will cost $390,000,000,000 to maintain US
sewer systems. Source unknown
* Solid waste generated by an
American has increased by 24% since 1980. Americans throw
out 48 million tons of edible food each year. As many as
288 US colleges have closed since 1990. – all from
Harper's Index, Sept. '07
* Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK)
called global warming 'the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on
the American people." He is the ranking Republican on the
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee who accepted
more than $1 million in gifts from the oil and gas
industries. - League of Conservation Voters
* Some 76% of Palestinians live
on less than $2 a day. The Israeli government siphons off
84% of their water. Some 10,000 Palestinians remain in
Israeli jails. There are more than 450 checkpoints which
they have to deal with on a daily basis. A wall built by the
Israelis with US help encircles the West Bank, and Bethlehem
is now a "ghetto." Israel has violated 77 UN resolutions
since 1955. Palestine is the most densely populated place
in the world with over 4 million Palestinians in refugee
camps. -- U.N.
* The US has developed a 14-ton
super bomb more destructive than the vacuum bomb just tested
by Russia. It has the penetrating power of 30,000 pounds.
The bomb would be launched by 65-70 stealth bombers and 400
bombers of other types. - Lt. General McInerney, chairman
of the Iran Policy Committee
* Blackwater, USA, the
mercenary group hired by the US government to provide
security, is being investigated for killing innocent Iraqis.
It has an estimated 1,000 employees, who make about $1,000 a
day in Iraq, and has at least $800 million in government
contracts. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,
Blackwater worked under a no-bid contract with the Dept. of
Homeland Security at a cost of $240,000 a day. Blackwater
founder Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL, trains 40,000
people a year at its 7,000-acre base in North Carolina.
Right now in Iraq there are about 180,000 US contractors
operating alongside 165,000 to 175,000 US troops. -
Jeremy Scahill author of Blackwater.
* Jubilee USA is asking that we
support HR 2634, a bill that would cancel the debt of nearly
67 impoverished countries allowing USA funds to be used for
meeting basic needs of people in keeping with the UN
Millennium Goals instead of using the funds to pay crippling
debt. Call your Congress person. - Jubilee USA Network
* As many as 1,448-plus barrels
of toxic and probably radioactive chemicals were dumped into
Lake Superior by the US Army Corps of Engineers between 1957
and 1962. The Save Lake Superior Association is trying to
get all the barrels removed and safely shipped to a
hazardous waste containment site. - NukeWatch Quarterly,
Fall 2007
NOTES
FROM TAMARCK COTTAGE
This morning I paddled a canoe along the edge of Butternut
Lake and into Butternut Creek. The trees were vibrant
shades of yellow, orange and red. The colors were mirrored
Monet-like in the water. As I slowly paddled soaking in the
season of fall I saw Belted Kingfishers, 3 River Otters
cavorting in the water, an elegant Great Blue Heron taking
flight, a Green Heron flitting along the shore, ducks, geese
and a Long-Tailed Weasel. I returned home reminded that we
are but a single strand in the web of life. The sparkling
beauty of this web shone clearly this autumn morning. May
we all realize how glorious and fragile this web is. If we
misuse or destroy part of it, the whole suffers. May we
have the wisdom to revere and protect this beautiful complex
web of life. Peace, Roberta --
September 2007
THE SPARROW SINGS
Don and Roberta
N15878 Tamarack Rd.
Park
Falls WI 54552
Don2roberta@yahoo.com
715-762-8239
ICS Peace Notes is issued monthly by Institutes for
Christian Spirituality 204 Busbee Road, Knoxville, Tennessee
37920. Submissions for future issues may be emailed to the
editor, Victoria Medaglia,
papermaven@gmail.com .
