[amc] Honor Our Prophets
- From: "Ray Gingerich" <rjgingerich@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Milwaukee Mennonite" <milwaukee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Austin Mennonite Church" <amc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "John & Louise Gingerich" <jandlg@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:18:32 -0500
Friends,
I'm guessing Moses might agree with me that he was including our prophets
when he commanded, "Honor your father and your mother." So, I pass along
another editorial from Gene inviting you to occupy your heart, soul and mind
with serious reflection for a bit.
I pass this along especially to Austin MC and Zion MC as they ponder with
John D. Roth what it means to be part of the Anabaptist-Mennonite "Story." I
took the liberty of bolding and italicizing the last paragraph where Gene
calls us to action.
Ray
*Retooled Myths from Viet Nam* *to* *Iraq*
Five years ago US troops invaded Iraq and toppled Saddam Hussein. The news
this week is daunting and violent - hints of more divisions in Iraq. There
are an estimated 2.5 million Iraqi citizens who have fled their county and
another 2.5 million internal refugees. Almost twenty percent of Iraq's
population have become refugees. Thirty-three years ago, April 30, 1975 the
war in Viet Nam ended. After the Viet Nam war approximately three million
people fled Southeast Asia, Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Laos.
Viet Nam, now largely conflict free, is a nation with one of the highest
economic growth rates in the world, three times as high as the United
States. Viet Nam also has a lower poverty rate than its neighbours including
India, China, and the Philippines. None of us can predict how conflicts will
have been resolved in Iraq by 2045.
While history never repeats itself there are myth like patterns that are
recycled. We rely upon myths to explain war, peace, politics and the
heavens. Myths are part of our collective story that become more visible in
times of war. The five myths about US involvement in Iraq I discuss below,
were alive during the Viet Nam war 40 years ago.
*
Myth I: Blame the Victim:
*Turn on your TV and you will hear Presidential candidates or one of their
Senate colleagues announce another ringing critique of the Iraqi government
for failing to bring all Iraqis together in unity to fight terror. The
Iraqis are regularly chastised for dithering over how the vast oil resources
will to be apportioned. And just like the Viet Nam war, opportunistic
politicians and trickster columnists charge Iraqis, often correctly with
reckless disregard for human rights. It is a message of blame. THE LACK OF
PROGRESS IS THE FAULT OF THE IRAQIS. IF THEY JUST DID WHAT WE THINK SHOULD
BE DONE EVERYTHING COULD BE FIXED.
For ten years during the Viet Nam war we heard a steady cacophony of voices
from liberals, conservatives and even critics of the war that the South
Vietnamese government which was propped up by the US was not democratic and
repressed its people. Blaming language was used by war proponents and
critics. A long term strategy that emphasized negotiations, and humanity
instead of war making may have moved the world community in positive ways
that we can only dream of.
*
Myth II: If We Believe we are Helping it must be OK:
*In the early years of the Iraq war I spent many days seeking out military
officials of the occupation. As I waited with Iraqi family victims to
solicit information about detainees, often with little result, I talked with
young officers and soldiers about the US mission. In those early days when
US hope for success had not yet yielded to disenchantment I was often told,
"We are just here to help the Iraqis help themselves and then we will go
home."
My mind flashed back to Viet Nam where I first encountered these innocent
statements of purpose, often combined with talk of "hearts and minds". In
Viet Nam I thought this was a newly minted rallying cry just for that war.
Forty years later I realize that these sincere lines about helping and
concern have been woven through war on aboriginal peoples, the Philippine
war and other imperialist adventures. So you will understand why I cringed
when I heard those words in Iraq. My Iraqi co-workers listened politely to
the soldiers, like Vietnamese did many years ago, but sometimes grasped the
patronizing implications of this deeply held myth.
While in Iraq I imagined a busy neat office nestled in the bowels of the
Pentagon equipped with the latest copy and fax machines with data base list
readied, their mission to coordinate the teaching and believing in this
myth. Later I decided that it is probably a fairly lean office lying in wait
to send out its words whenever, wherever they may be needed. Even without
the copy machines, myths like "We are just here to help the people." are
embedded deeply within us. That is why preachers, generals, politicians,
candidates and sincere soldiers use these words with such powerful effect. .
*
Myth III: War Helps Human Rights:
*As I made my rounds to military offices in Baghdad I never found a military
officer or soldier who spoke disparagingly about human rights. In fact for
some the elimination of Saddam and the Baathist rule, was one of the
greatest contributions to humanity in this age. Some at mid and lower levels
were genuinely frustrated that more could not be done for those Iraqis who
had disappeared in the detention system. One sergeant hugged me as I left
his squad. He told me that I was doing important work and hinted that he
would like to join the group that I was with. Soldiers with so much good
will were still unable to protect prisoners at Abu Ghraib
Nor did the good will of the soldiers protect us from ethnic cleansing,
suicide bombers, independent armies, and the other multiple forms of terror
that swallowed up the tidy conversations about human rights in the years
that followed. . In Iraq the humanitarian rules of warfare have taken a step
backwards. The use of terror on both sides with bombs and assassination
programs characterized the conflict in Viet Nam too, where both sides
appealed to the temporary use of violence in the interest of a greater good.
*
Myth IV Our Exit Brings Greater Violence:
*When I finish my speeches one of the first three predictable questions is,
don't we have to stay now because if we leave things will get worse? Won't
our departure lead to balkanization, greater instability and a larger blood
bath? The language of the question is almost identical to what I heard 40
years ago during the Viet Nam war. The myth says that US forces, aid and
advice must continue in order to make things come out less violent, more
orderly, and democratic.
The presence of foreign military players misshapes people and institutions
who would not under local mores seek redress with guns, assassinations,
suicide killings for religious or nationalist reasons. And that presence, in
effect, puts off the day when the diverse components of society can evolve
in their own way by negotiations and confrontation towards greater
participation and democracy. No military power or outside mediator can make
things come out right. In their own time local processes will allow a new
balance. The unified Viet Nam 33 years after the war ended, though imperfect
in its respect for diversity, may in fact help everyone see long term hope
for Iraq if foreign troops and US policies get out of the way.
*
Myth V: These People Have Always been at War:
*History is often written to emphasize the epic wars. But the myth that the
history of other societies, be they aboriginal peoples or nations unlike our
own, are a continuous unfolding of war and violence is false. The sub text
of this myth is that unlike us, "those" people are wired for killing and war
at a deep level. I invite you to travel the world with me to visit the
families of victims wherever they survive and you will be disabused of any
temptation to this false prophecy. As we travel we will find deeply rooted
threads of peacemaking in every tradition if we train ourselves to listen.
As children of this enlightened age we have become conscious of the power of
these myths. The stories about our enemies are the way that we humans create
justification for killing the enemy. Over time these narratives root
themselves deep in our psychic habits. When we live off the power of these
beliefs we weaken ourselves and make the world more dangerous. Myths are
part of us and it takes energy, work, and conscious effort not to become
victims of the damage that they unleash in our minds and through us to our
culture.
*Those of us who live by the convictions of love for friend and foe, the
life of nonviolence, also are invited to remind ourselves that our myth that
love can and will overcome, is only convincing when it is grounded in real
life and actions. Ours is a living story. It is not yet complete. Words
strike the opening chord, but the symphony is completed with action. Our
vision of the peaceable world can become truncated and used as a club for
manipulation by preachers, generals, and politicians and sometimes even by
ourselves. I wish I could tell you that the world could be neatly separated
between those who only embrace the good myths and those who only embrace the
bad myths. But it is not that way. The myths of epic battles, violence and
separation have life in all of us. It takes generations to infuse ourselves
and our institutions with the habits of love.*
--
Gene Stoltzfus,
RR #1 RMB 293, Fort Frances. ON P9A3M2
Box 1482, International Falls, MN 56649
tel. 807-274-0138
blog: gstoltzfus.blogspot.com
email: gstoltzfus.blogspot.com
skype: Gene Stoltzfus
blog: gstoltzfus.blogspot.com
website for twig furniture gstoltzfus.googlepages.com (no www)
--
Center for Strength-based Strategies
Ray Gingerich, Associate
5631 Bentwood Lane
Greendale (Milwaukee), WI 53129
phone (512) 569-7111
email rjgingerich@xxxxxxxxx
fax (815) 371-2292
website: www.buildmotivation.com
"Change is possible when I stop trying to become that which I am not and
become that which I am." Frederick Perls
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