 April 2002
American Friends Service Committee Peacework Magazine Patrica Watson, Editor Sara Burke, Assistant Editor Pat Farren, Founding Editor 2161 Massachusetts Ave. Telephone number: Fax number:
pwork@igc.org Peacework has been published monthly since 1972, intended to serve as a source of dependable information to those who strive for peace and justice and are committed to furthering the nonviolent social change necessary to achieve them. Rooted in Quaker values and informed by AFSC experience and initiatives, Peacework offers a forum for organizers, fostering coalition-building and teaching the methods and strategies that work in the global and local community. Peacework seeks to serve as an incubator for social transformation, introducing a younger generation to a deeper analysis of problems and issues, reminding and re-inspiring long-term activists, encouraging the generations to listen to each other, and creating space for the voices of the disenfranchised. Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC. |
From the editor's desk Well, it's that month again. Sweet April--the longed-for, almost spring; promising, fickle, deadly. We're writing this in March of course, and this year's March has been deadly enough. Amidst a welter of news, we paused over these items: In Afghanistan a massive earthquake killed hundreds on the already-devastated region where AFSC took food suppies last fall. In Central and Latin America George Bush toured to push unfettered trade and his newly coined anti-terrorism, bristling with expensive weaponry, on the anniversary of the murder of the beloved Monseñor Oscar Romero by assassins trained at the US School of the Americas. Here at home "An American Health Care Dilemma," a sweeping summary by two physicians at the Harvard School of Public Health, has documented the inferior medical care that blacks have received in the US, beginning in the time of slavery and extending right up to today. Minor footnotes to the March evening news. So on to this April Peacework. Our colleague Joseph Gerson, in Europe and Japan in recent weeks, got a chance to see Americans as others see us. He outlines the European and Asian view of the Bush Administration's military overreach and possible disastrous consequences. We had to abridge Joe's report quite drastically; ask us for the full version. We follow with a talk Rep. Dennis Kucinich gave in Los Angeles in February. It has circulated widely on internet lists, but we felt it would be useful to print it out. Kucinich is one of small band of lawmakers willing to question the headlong rush to totalitarian rule. May their numbers grow. These two essays act as prelude to a guided tour of some of the world's currently most dangerous places: Palestine, Iraq, East Africa, and Colombia. Colin and Kathy South are Directors of the respected and long-established Friends Schools in Ramallah, Palestine which have educated some of the Palestinians now engaged in seaarching for solutions for their anguished land. The Souths spoke in careful, measured tones when they visited Quaker gatherings in the US last summer. We were surprised by the vehemence of their message to us now. George Bush is itching for war in Iraq and scrambling for international support. This is appalling news for those who have seen the toll exacted by a decade of cruel sanctions. The news is exacerbated by the fact that this war likely would see the use of ever-more-powerful depleted uranium weapons. British researcher Dai Williams has documented the march of DU use in Iraq in 1991, the Balkans in '99, Afghanistan in 2001, and now possibly in Iraq again. He wrote us that he is trying to get this message to peace groups around the world. So listen up. And thus on to East Africa. Dan Connell has worked in and studied the Horn of Africa for years. A book on the region that he recommends bears the catchy title The Road to Hell. Once again, we have had to abridge. Please ask us for the full text; it's definitely worth reading with care.
Ready for some better news? AFSC intern Lincoln Ellis traveled to Brazil for the second World Social Forum. His report lets us dare to believe the Forum's theme; "Another world is possible." Which had better be true because, as Roberta Spivek reports, the US Welfare system, up for reevaluation this spring, is in disarray. Truly making it work will require a massive amount of hard organizing and lobbying on our part. Some will begin by redirecting their tax money away from buying weaponry. There are two new voices in this month's Peacework. Nate Vogel was in 8th grade at the Aggassiz when he started a campaign to rename his school; Charlotte Aldebron (see next page) is a 6th grader. Both worth checking out. As is the back page--a beautiful tribute to Belynda Dunn and a letter we hope the Governor of Vermont gets around to reading. This is Holy Week for Christians and the Jewish Passover. Of all the days and lessons, we cherish Maundy Thursday best. We looked it up; the odd Middle English word comes from the Latin mandare, to command--"A new commandment I give you, that you love one another." Jesus said that, according to the The Gospel of John, as he shared the Passover meal with his disciples in Jerusalem. "Work is love made visible," goes the AFSC mantra. Work is certainly what each author asks for as we head toward a perilous April. 
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