Can you tell how excited we are??? It is our extreme pleasure to share time with Shantigarbha Warren, who will visit the PSU campus and community of Plymouth from November 15-24, 2013. Do join us for any or all of these activities! 

The Peace & Social Justice Studies Council is very proud to be co-sponsoring Shantigarbha's visit and activities this month, in partnership with the Center for Global Education at PSU, who annually produce an astounding array of activities as part of PSU's participation in International Education Week.  

Filiz Otucu, PhD

October, 2013

Interview with Plymouth Magazine

Excerpts

Plymouth Magazine (PM):  If you would want us to pay attention to one thing about our understanding of the Middle East, what would that be?

Filiz Otucu (FO):     We need to pay attention to our misperceptions, be open-minded and understand where the other person is coming from. A big part of understanding is becoming aware of our stereotypes—not to put them aside, which is very difficult—but to be aware of our biases and start questioning. A simple example: many of us think “jihad” means “holy war.” But for 99.9 percent of Muslims jihad is an inner struggle to be a good Muslim, to be a good person.

     We get most of what we know from the media, but for them it is about rating points. If they focus on what moderates are talking about and what Islam is about, how many people will listen?  But if the story is about a bombing, we watch. Media is a part of our culture, and we fall prey to that influence (this is what we demand from media though). 

PM: How can we deal with anti-American rhetoric?

FO: It is true, there is an anti-American rhetoric. However, we need to make this distinction: with the exception of a very small group of extremists, the big majority of Middle Easterners are not against Americans. They are only critical of American foreign policy decisions because they pay the price for them. When the West gets involved militarily, even if it is not intentional, civilians often die. Collateral damage happens, but the majority of these civilians are innocent people and somebody’s loved one. “Oops, I’m sorry” does not cut it.

            If you travel to these countries you will feel comfortable. You can talk to people and they will open their homes to you. I condemn any type of violence, I definitely condemn all forms of terrorism. But when your loved ones suffers or die because of sanctions or military attacks and your life becomes so desperate, you are more inclined to listen to the extremists and be manipulated. We have to be careful about what we are doing and how it affects people’s lives—the consequences of our actions. We should not give extremist leaders reason to get better at their propaganda and win people over.      

PM: How can the U.S. promote democracy in the Middle East?

FO: There is a debate about whether Islam is compatible with democracy. Increasingly, Muslims themselves are saying “yes” and Islamic political movements and parties are deciding to take part in elections whenever possible. Terminology matters. You cannot sell Western liberal democracy to many Muslims because Muslims associate it with Western colonialism. But some are embracing essentials like human rights, elections and the rule of law. Actually, these and citizens’ control over the executive are consistent with the Islamic concepts of ijma (consensus) and shura (consultation).

The Islamic democratic movement is a work in progress, slowly taking place. Indigenous calls for democratic reforms are being heard in almost every part of the Muslim world. Civil society leaders and human rights groups in these societies are challenging the autocratic status quo. Young Muslims, in particular, want to be in charge of their lives and see that democracy can shield the Islamic community from autocrats.

True, many of these countries have been ruled by dictators, and don’t have democratic histories. Unfortunately, pro-Western Arab and Muslim dictators, not necessarily Islamic activists, have been blocking any real democratic opening. Saying that, transition requires much more than just elections. There are no strong constitutions, no checks and balances, no freedom of speech, or assembly, so, how in these circumstances can the opposition get strong enough to challenge the leadership meaningfully? After the election, the government controls everything, and they don’t allow the opposition to flourish. We can help civil society to develop.  However, whatever type of democracy they are going to attain should come from the people.

     We also must look at the history. Middle Easterners are quite critical of us saying, “look, we didn’t transition to democracy partially because of you. You kept supporting our dictators so every time signs of the development of a civil society appeared, it was crushed.” The bottom line is, we protect our own national interests. When Islamists win an election, and we don’t like that, we end up supporting the existing regime. We can’t have it both ways. Let’s briefly look at the democratization experience in that region:

The first major steps towards democratization occurred in Iran in 1953 when Mosaddegh was elected. He started talking about the nationalization of oil, and the West got scared. The CIA got involved and Mosaddegh was kicked out and a brutal regime of Shah Reza Pahlavi came back and we supported his regime. Now, when we say, “we want democracy in the Middle East,” they respond, “We had it and you destroyed it. You took it away as soon as it got started because it didn’t work out for you.”

     The next happened in Algeria in the early 1990s.  They had a democratic election. There were supposed to be two rounds of elections. During the first round it became very clear that the Islamists were going to win, so they cancelled the second round and the military took control and the West was supportive of this. The result was civil war.

     In 2006 we wanted democracy in Palestine. They held fair democratic elections and Hamas won. We cut funding. The result was a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Now we see it in Egypt. Morsi was elected democratically (what he did afterward is another story). If we accept/support regimes that suppress democratic Islamist movements, block these movements’ nonviolent participation in the system, I am very worried that they will see violence as the only option to be heard.

      Supporting democratization is not about elections, but rather how we can help liberalization of these societies. The West can play a role by not supporting dictatorships, and by pressuring authoritarian regimes when they attack their own people. We can exert pressure for gradual reforms. The Middle Eastern countries need a strong civil society to produce leaders and mobilize the public around democratic movement. Democratization should come from both above and below. We can help civil society organizations to gain strength, making it bottom up, people demanding those liberties. We can pressure the leadership to allow civil liberties, to include them in the constitution and to guard them very dearly. Then, real democracy can flourish in the Middle East. 

* * * 

Kristine Levan, PhD

September 2013

On Monday, September 16, 2013, Aaron Alexis opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard, killing twelve people and injuring many others. It has become an all too familiar scene for us: mass gun shootings, including incidents in the past several years at Newtown, CT, Minneapolis, MN, Oak Creek, WI, Tulsa, OK, Fort Hood, TX, and many others. Although these incidents comprise only a fraction of our total murder rate, the American public has become so inundated with the stories and images of these horrific crimes that we can’t help but feel scared and outraged.
    This post is not about gun control. Though many mass killings do involve firearms , that is not the point of discussion here. Like many, as the events have unfolded in this, and the other, mass murders, I received the media messages as updates occurred. They “speculate” on this or report that “authorities currently believe”. But, just as with the other tragedies, before the details of who committed the terrible acts, or how, or how many, I knew one thing for certain:
    Whoever did this was a terribly troubled person.
    Please don’t misread this as an “excuse”, as there is no excuse for taking innocent lives. What Alexis and others like him have done is, in fact, inexcusable. But, it seems that every time an incident such as this occurs, the policymakers, media, and public have the immediate reaction to discuss gun control legislation and whether we need more or less gun control.
    History tells us that many of our mass murderers suffer from some form of mental illness. Although some are killed or commit suicide at the scene, others are captured alive and sanctioned by the justice system. We often hear accounts from family and friends that they “knew something was wrong” (although these sometimes may be retrospective and skewed accounts). Sometimes, the offenders had actually been diagnosed with a mental illness, or exhibited symptoms of a mental illness prior to their crime.
    In the case of Aaron Alexis, news accounts indicate that he was having difficulty sleeping, seemed troubled, was hearing voices, and had reported to police that he was being followed by three people. His family, and the families of his victims, are left with many unanswered questions, and a sense of lives being taken too soon.
    As a society, we have to be more vigilant in providing mental health care to those who need it. As individuals, we have to have to be more caring for one another and try to recognize when someone we know is suffering so they can get the help they need in order to heal and be whole. We have to be willing to acknowledge that there are some major issues missing from our current discussions, and address these issues accordingly.

Social Justice Advocacy: Issues of Rights, Responsibilities,

Collegiality and Civility In Higher Education

Scott Meyer, MSW, Ph.D.

August, 2013

Colleges and Universities are essential components for the creation of a global effort to assure that the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights is translated in the most effective fashion possible. To best promote these principles, campus faculty members must strive to serve as the finest possible role models for their students. This means, faculty must take a lead role in demonstrating how assuring basic human rights is vigilantly balanced with the notions of personal responsibility to others, respectful and civil forms of disagreement and especially careful attention to never eroding a cohesive campus community of caring scholars while passionately pursuing any one particular social justice issue.

Here are some thoughts on the easiest ways to move in such a direction:

• Practice individual and group reflective practice to best assure that every action we take (i.e. names of social action efforts, statements made both publicly and privately, etc.)do not come across as offensive to others who may hold opposing views and those who have yet to take a position on the particular issue. A best way to do this is to be transparent. That is enlist assistance from a trusted colleague who may hold an opposing view and get their ideas on how to best move forward without offending others and eroding civility and collegiality.

• If it becomes evident that a colleague or groups of colleagues have felt insulted, oppressed, marginalized, treated in a fashion that was less than straight forward and honest, etc., than consider offering a sincere apology to the colleague(s) and take action steps to correct the things that created the feelings, outcomes, etc.

• Assure equality in any competitive actions to gain an outcome on the issue. Things like equal rights to organize around the issue, equal external supports (consultants, paid advocates, etc.), funding to assure no unfair resource and/or socio-economic advantages in pursuit of one’s position on the issue, etc. take place. Work collegially with representatives from both sides of the issue to best assure such inequalities do not take place.

• Finally (while I suspect there exist many more creative ways to move towards a goal of fair, ethical and collegial actions on opposing sides of crucial social justice and rights issues, the key to assuring no erosion of collegiality is to have all faculty agree that such erosion prevention remains a priority above all.

If we are unable to model civility and collegiality for our students, we need to seriously consider the types of citizens we are creating. We should not undermine what we believe in. Specifically, a free democratic society in which all members have their rights upheld and protected while allowing others the right to dissent and disagreement in a collegial, research and factually based environment. At a moment in history where higher education is an endangered species, the most crucial thing more important than winning or losing mentality regarding most (and perhaps all) social justice related disagreements, is never eroding caring, kindness and empathy among a group of caring scholars. If civility, collegiality and kindness prevail, a more just world will unfold regardless of who “wins or loses” on pressing social justice issues passionately disagreed upon.

"Marx in Soho" 

Howard Zinn's play

comes to Plymouth State University

Bob Weick (of Dorchester, NH) will present this one-man show to the University Community on Tuesday, 5 March, in Boyd Hall Room 144, at 6pm.  We think you should be there!

The play (see the synopsis and reviews, here: http://www.ironagetheatre.org/marx.html is a celebration and remembrance of Marx's positions on social justice -- from the perspectives of history, civil rights, political science, economics ... there's something for everyone!  Above all, it's written by Howard Zinn, a giant in the social justice movement, recently lost to us.

Karl Marx, 1818–1883... Howard Zinn, 1922-2010. 

This is quite a pairing, in that nearly 100 years separate the life spans of these two men (and then there's Bob Weick! ;-) ) . Marx has the reputation of being opaque, difficult to understand. Zinn's reputation of course is just the opposite; his appeal was that he made that opacity seem easily accessible to the masses.

We hope to see you there!

Fifth Annual Culture of Peace Conference 

to be held March 23, 2013 

at Rivier University!  

We are very glad to support the annual conference for a culture of peace, this year being hosted by our friends and colleagues at Rivier University in Nashua, NH.  They have published a webpage that is devoted to the conference where you can find information on the schedule, registration, workshops being held, directions to arrive at Rivier University, lodgings, and other information as it develops. 

New Hampshire Peace Action is a co-sponsor and co-host of the event, and is organizing a youth overnight conference in conjunction with the conference, and we are especially gratified to see this becoming a tradition of the conference.  The energy is electric!  Contact will@nhpeaceaction.org if you are interested in learning more about this angle. 

We hope to see you there!!! 

Shared from the site of Voices for Creative Non Violence, at http://vcnv.org/left-speechless .

Left Speechless

Categories: gazapalestinewritings by Joshua Brollier

By Joshua Brollier

Doctors and Medics Operate Under Fire and Siege in Gaza
December 5, 2012

Gaza City- Dr. Majdi Na’eim worked for eight consecutive days at Al-Shifa Hospital throughout Israel’s “Pillar of Cloud” operation in the Gaza strip. With hundreds of wounded pouring into the emergency room, there was no time for him and many of his colleagues to even leave the hospital. On the final and one of the most brutal days of the assault, Israel targeted Ni’ma tower in Gaza City. Dr. Na’eim was in the emergency room aiding physicians when he learned that one of the arriving casualties was his two year old son, Abdel Rahman Na’eim. Imagine a father’s horror and instant grief. At his son’s wake, Dr. Na’eim told friends and family who were seeking to comfort him, “I’m terribly sorry. I’m unable to talk about anything.”

 

Walid al Nassasra Stands next to the Former Home of His Brother near Rafah: photo by Johnny Barber
 
Gazans in the medical field have been working in unimaginable circumstances for years. During Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, “17 health personnel were killed and 26 injured. In total, 29 ambulances were damaged or destroyed by bombs or crushed by armoured vehicles, while 48 per cent of Gaza’s 122 health facilities were either directly or indirectly hit by shelling.” On November 29th, 2012, Bashar Abu Murad, head of emergency and rescue services at the Palestine Red Crescent, sat down with our delegation and gave us a first-hand account of the January 15th, 2009, attack on Al-Quds hospital. He described the panic as the hospital sustained two white phosphorus blasts from Israeli forces. A massive fire broke out after the first munitions were launched. It took six hours to squelch the fire with only water and sand bags. Workers frantically scrambled to evacuate patients and others who were taking refuge. Meanwhile, a journalist hid under the table. Bashar personally carried three people from the intensive care unit to safety. Though the first fire was eventually stopped, the hospital was rendered useless after a second shelling of white phosphorus.

Our conversation moved to the experiences of this war. Though Al-Quds hospital was not directly attacked this time and the doctors there had not seen evidence of injuries from white phosphorus, they described third degree burns and amputations caused from Israel’s “non-lethal” warning bombs and the many casualties from larger missiles fired from F16s financed by the United States. Bashar spoke of the difficulties of functioning as a medical service in a society under siege. Emergency medical technicians must improvise without basic supplies like gauze for the injured and enough body bags for the intake of casualties. Field medics and emergency medical technicians have limited contact with the hospitals because the blockade restricts them to having only insufficient analogue radios instead of modern digital communications technology. Al-Quds was running off of a gas generator due to the unstable supply of electricity. The hospital had just attained a three month buffer supply of basic medicines, all of which were depleted in the conflict. Abu Murad continued, “It is hard to even think clearly in these conditions. All 1.5 million Gazans are suffering from PTSD from this war.” The doctors were not excluded from his statement.

Later that afternoon, we interviewed two young ambulance drivers, Shadi al Tayef and Aadl el Azbot. We asked them how they summoned the courage to carry on in this work during the recent war after ambulances were targeted in Operation Cast Lead. Shadi replied, “This war was not unfamiliar from the last. In the final days, the streets were empty. Everyone was waiting in their houses. We do it only because we care about saving the people. It is all for the people.” Aadl continues to drive ambulances and is not deterred even though he was previously injured by shrapnel when the Israelis fired upon a site for the second time after the emergency vehicles arrived. According to the drivers, the Israeli military had to be aware of the emergency medics’ presence, not only from the elaborate surveillance systems comprised of drones and hot-air balloons equipped with cameras, but also because they must first coordinate every rescue mission with the Red Cross which is in direct contact with the Israeli military. Ambulance workers have often been denied access to sites until it is too late to save the wounded, only to be fired upon after receiving clearance. “We are still suffering from trauma even up to this moment,” Aadl declared anxiously. The Red Crescent society does offer psychological services to its employees, but it hard to conceive that it can keep up with the level of need. Six ambulances were destroyed and seven workers were injured during the “Pillar of Cloud” conflict. “We must cope with the situation at work, but we are given space to be human and take time at home,” Shadi asserted.
Countries and organizations sympathetic to Gazans working under fire have extended medical and financial solidarity to provide services to the population and rebuild facilities. Around the corner from Al-Quds, we toured a Moroccan military field hospital which was set up just days after the major hostilities ended. Initially, we were somewhat intimidated by the long lines, tight Moroccan security surrounding the compound and the foreboding looking communications director. Wearing opaque sun glasses, full army fatigues and towering over six feet tall, this public relations representative looked more like a commander than a humanitarian worker. We were put at ease when he welcomed us proudly, “Ahlan wa Sahlan,”and readily introduced us to the primary physician.

Dr. Hassan Ismael explained that the Moroccan King ordered the hospital to be equipped with 26 doctors and 15 specialists. As of the 4th of December, the doctors had been working for nine days, seeing over 4000 people and providing over 6000 services for no cost to the patients. Services include treatment for severe burns and broken bones, emergency surgical operations and the dispensing of medicines, many of which were not regularly available in Gaza. The doctors were also happy to provide care for illnesses not related to the war. We met with a refugee, originally from Jaffa, who received injections for severe arthritis. She stood up immediately, waving her arms emphatically. “These doctors are from God… A gift from the God!” she repeats. Nearby, a father from Khan Younis finally found appropriate treatment for his epileptic son.

It was impressive to see the quality and efficiency of what was taking place in the field hospital when the military infrastructure, which is so often used by the majority of countries for nothing more than a tool of domination and destruction, was converted to serve human needs. When much of the world stood by silently and watched, Moroccans also set up a similar medical camp and provided financial aid to rebuild Al-Quds hospital after Operation Cast Lead.

Members from the international emergency delegation to Gaza reached out to their circles to raise around 25,000 dollars for medication to give to Gazan hospitals. Though the doctors and administrators we encountered were grateful for the donations and gestures, they emphasized that the problem that Gaza is facing is primarily political. They desire an end to the siege, occupation, military incursions and the right to self- determination, among other concrete demands. They welcomed support, but they do not want to be reliant upon international aid. They have the training, knowledge and dedication to do their jobs well and to be self-sufficient. Dr. Khalil Abu-Foul, a spokesperson for the Red Crescent, gave us a reality check, “You are our eyes in your country. These rockets are from your country. Just send the facts, it’s enough.”

Sitting with families over the past week, most of whom have “facts on the ground” and stories every degree as distressing as that of Dr. Majdi Na’eim’s tragic loss of his son, I have often felt a complete lack of words. What can one say when visiting the home and farm of Walid and Tawqfiq al Nassasra, Bedouin farmers and brothers living near Rafah? On November 19th at 10 PM, an Israeli war plane targeted Tawqfiq’s tin-roof home. The house was completely destroyed leaving a massive crater in the ground. Tawqfiq’s two teenage sons, Ahmed and Mohamed, were both killed. They did not suffer any bone fractures. The pressure from the bomb caused their internal organs to explode. It is amazing there were any survivors. Tawqfiq is still hospitalized, while his wife was blinded and his young daughter was severely burned. What apologies will matter to the wife or daughter, who are now permanently disfigured and disabled, whose tearful gazes pierced our lifeless cameras and shredded our notebooks full of numbers and statistics? What prospects for recovery or receiving advanced treatment do they have while Gaza is still under siege? I grasped for some condolence. The words are insufficient. We all have a responsibility to take stronger actions so that these tragedies will never happen again.

Joshua Brollier is a co-coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence. He can be reached at joshua@vcnv.org.