Bin Laden's Death: Why Vengeance is Not the Answer.

Here's an excellent reflection on Bin Laden's death, and the disturbing response it's illicited: Osama bin Laden's Death: The U.S. Patriot Reflex.

Some thought provoking passages:

Given the nature of the 9/11 attacks a popular desire for vengeance in the US is a perfectly understandable and legitimate emotional response. It is not, however, a foreign policy. And if vengeance is a comprehensible human emotion then empathy is no less so.

Americans have a right to grieve and remember those who died on 9/11. But they have no monopoly on memory, grief or anger. Hundreds and thousands of innocent Afghanis, Iraqis and Pakistanis have been murdered as a result of America's response to 9/11. If it's righteous vengeance they're after, Americans would not be first in line. Fortunately it is not a competition, and there is enough misery to go around.

The American military has done many things in this region. Killing Bin Laden is just one of them.

If "they" killed Bin Laden in Abbottabad then "they" also bombed a large number of wedding parties in Afghanistan, "they" murdered 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha and "they" gang-raped a 14-year-old before murdering her, her six-year-old sister and their parents near Mahmudiyah. If "they" don't want to be associated with the atrocities then "they" need to find more to celebrate than an assassination. Vengeance is, in no small part, what got us here. It won't get us out.

TERRORIST: The Dehumanizing Power of a Word

Being a student of literature (and therefore language), I'm fascinated (and horrified) by the way that war/conflict is perpetrated and encapsulated in the way that we speak and write. In the way that we use words. Perhaps the most powerful contemporary example of this practice is our use of the term "terrorist." I've commented on this fact (or at least hinted at the idea) in a few of my different postings (Belfast Murals, Domestic Violence, Iraqi Deaths).

What's so deeply disturbing about the label "terrorist" is that it robs a human being of all legitimacy (whether of action, cause, or ideal). Sometimes this is done innocently enough (someone commits a "terrorist" act and is labeled accordingly), but I think it is always a harmful practice. After all, what truly separates a terrorist group from a militia? You may say, "killing innocent civilians," but that's rhetoric, not truth. In this war on Gaza, where one side was so clearly labeled a legitimate force, and the other was a "terrorist" army, it was the Israelis who killed hundreds of civilians. Likewise, when Israel attacks Lebanon (which it seems to do periodically), they are waging a legitimate war, sanctioned by our government, even though the casualties are civilians and the Lebanese government is not even involved. However, when Hezbollah attacks Israel, regardless of the status of the casualties (whether soldier or civilian), Hezbollah is not waging a war, but engaging in terrorist action.

Anyway, what sparked this rant was the Christianity Today article about Philip Rizk's detainment. In that article, Rizk mentions that he was accused of working for Hamas, and that another university activist, currently being held without trial, has similarly been labeled a terrorist. Because, obviously, if they're terrorists they have no rights, no need for a trial, and no legitimacy on the world stage (America has effectively proved that point). They have been silenced, irrevocably, by a label.

Belfast Murals

I just got back to Oxford (where I'm currently residing) after spending the weekend with a friend in Belfast. She's in Northern Ireland for the year, working with a local church toward reconciliation and community building. While it was wonderful to see her, and beautiful to see Ireland, I was a bit shocked by the overt support of paramilitary groups still evident in murals throughout the city (particularly on Shankill Road, where I spent over an hour -- just wandering). Though "the Troubles" may be simmering down, it was eerie to see so much hatred and one-sided remembrance of pain. And I had to wonder, how can peace and true healing occur when one side still remembers themselves as heroes, and labels their enemies terrorists?

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Revelation 21:4"

"IN THE NAME OF LOVE. 1 John 3:16-18, Eph. 5:1-2, Mark 12:30-31"

"hope. love. forgiveness."

The friend I was visiting has an interesting, and succinct, description of the Troubles on her blogsite.

Memo to Obama, McCain: No one wins in a war

Here's an interesting article about the futile nature of war -- and the destruction it causes: Jewish Peace News: Howard Zinn: Memo to Obama, McCain: No one wins in a war.

A Letter to Terrorists

Ooh . . . so, I found Naomi Shihab Nye's letter "To Any Would-Be Terrorists." READ IT.

Here's a portion of her powerful conclusion:

We will all die soon enough. Why not take the short time we have on this delicate planet and figure out some really interesting things we might do together? I promise you, God would be happier.

I beg you, as your distant Arab cousin, as your American neighbor, listen to me. Our hearts are broken, as yours may also feel broken in some ways we can't understand, unless you tell us in words. Killing people won't tell us. We can't read that message. Find another way to live. Don't expect others to be like you. Read Rumi. Read Arabic poetry. Poetry humanizes us in a way that news, or even religion, has a harder time doing. A great Arab scholar, Dr. Salma Jayyusi, said, "If we read one another, we won't kill one another." Read American poetry. Plant mint. Find a friend who is so different from you, you can't believe how much you have in common. Love them. Let them love you. Surprise people in gentle ways, as friends do. The rest of us will try harder too. Make our family proud.

And here are some more of her comments on creativity vs. violence. They may not all make sense out of context, so like I said before, read the original!

We believe in the power of the word and we keep using it, even when it seems no one large enough is listening.

And it will be peace, not violence, that fixes things.

When people asked [my 106-year-old Palestinian grandmother] how she felt about the peace talks that were happening right before she died, she puffed up like a proud little bird and said, in Arabic, "I never lost my peace inside."

A Jewish professor tracked me down a few years ago in Jerusalem to tell me [that my grandmother] changed his life after he went to her village to do an oral history project on Arabs. "Don't think she only mattered to you!" he said. "She gave me a whole different reality to imagine."

We would like to stop the terrifying wheel of violence, just stop it, right on the road, and find something more creative to do to fix these huge problems we have. Violence is not creative, it is stupid and scary and many of us hate all those terrible movies and TV shows made in our own country that try to pretend otherwise.

Fiction and Fact

This is a short piece of fiction based on a suicide bombing that took place in Israel on the 3rd of February.

Here's a short blurb on the event from the Telegraph.co.uk:

The Middle East peace process suffered a setback today when a Palestinian suicide bomber killed an Israeli woman in the first such attack in more than a year in Israel.

The attacker blew himself up in Dimona, the site of Israel’s nuclear research reactor in the Negev desert, killing a woman and injuring 10 others.

An accomplice was shot by a police officer before he was able to detonate his explosives.

The Other One
by Megan Buff

I walked the market with my mother. Every morning we took to the streets, her chatter shrill above vendors’ calls and the bustle of friends. Vegetables, fruit, bread for the day while she gabbed on about my father, my latest boyfriend, the government’s incompetence. Can you believe the row they had at the checkpoint last week? What a pack of fools!

The explosion knocked us down. We tumbled over a fruit-stand and onto the startled vendor. Figs and shrapnel rained down on us. My mother screamed and covered her head.

I untangled myself from the wreckage first. An injured man lay nearby, blood pouring from his leg and side. A shopkeeper reached him a moment before I did and ripped open the man’s shirt to stop his bleeding. He exposed an explosives belt around the man’s waist.

The man looked up at us defiantly, frightened. He held my gaze a moment. I saw him. A tear ran down his cheek. A tear of what? Pain? Failure? Fear? Abandonment?

The shopkeeper backed away, calling for police. I saw the man’s eyes lose focus. His hand twitched and for a moment I feared we would be blown apart. Together. His lips moved in a prayer I could not hear, a language I did not understand.

The man’s eyes met mine again. Even that bit of focus seemed to hurt him. He smiled a cynic’s smile, a smirk of desperation – how crazy is this world.

Two soldiers rushed up, guns bared, pushing me away. I heard the crack of bone as one stomped on the man’s wrist. The barrels of their guns brandished inches from his face. His expression turned from failure to fear. How could he have seen anything but impending death? Even I, standing back, did not see the soldiers’ faces. He shouted but was drowned out halfway through his first word.

Four clean shots rang through the marketplace. Four shots fired into his face. His blood spattered my clothing. His face distorted with the explosions of bullets.

I could no longer see his eyes.

The Economics of Life

Here's another post from Daily Rantings of an increasingly cynical Fish. I really don't know anything about economics, but this is a good prod to keep thinking and wrestling with the issues of the violent world we live in:

Dec. 8, 2007

Donkeys in Gaza, suicide bomber in Iraq, studying in America and Economic theories...

The past semester I have been taking a class on International Political Economics. Now, everywhere I look instead of seeing bad political policies I see bad economic policies coupled and enhanced with bad political policies. Instead of questioning why Bush contradicts his rhetoric about democracy, I question why he contradicts his rhetoric about economic liberal policies. I am awed by the strength and perseverance of Palestinians making their own work, downsizing from a car to a donkey, and I wonder is the Middle East a backwards underdeveloped society, or are we making it a backwards underdeveloped society?

I then see the article about the tragic suicide bombing in Iraq, and of course the sex of the bomber is emphasized before her act. Again, she did not commit a political act, she committed a vengeful act. Technically her act was not terrorism, for how can a woman commit a politically charged violent act, her act was to get revenge for the killing of her sons.

Then I question what does it matter...she still blew herself up. What type of a world do we live in where the only way people feel that they can have a voice is to blow themselves up?

I think of what my friends would say...of what my society would say being at a Christian school...we are not of this world...only Jesus can solve our problems. I sit quietly as I have been trained to do as a woman (or at least how people have tried to train me to act), and inside I am kicking, shouting and cursing. How can we so easily brush aside these problems as if we are unable to affect them?

Then I recognize if I want the world to change I have to change it. I have to choose a career that will allow me to change it. I've been slowly recognizing this for sometime now...which is why I'm an international studies major...why I study abroad...why I work for the IRC...it's why I'm planning to go to grad school. Still, what will I do? how will I use my skills to change the world...I have no idea. I think I know what I want to do in grad school but I'm not sure. Whatever it is...will it actually help these people? Will I choose a career that will feed my wallet, or keep a person from blowing themselves up? Will I choose a career that will benefit me, or give a man in Palestine an opportunity to start his own buisness?

I guess it all goes back to economics. How do I see the world? Is it really zero-sum, or is positive-sum? Or is it negative -sum? I honestly don't know.

Feminism, Terrorism, and the Equality of Violence

I thought this was an interesting question (excerpt from Daily Rantings of an increasingly cynical Fish):

Female terrorists are seen as wild, emotional, uncontrollable forces who commit these [terrorist] acts as acts of revenge. The academics then fail to look at the political reason for the violence (without such it cannot be considered terrorism). In our society, we expect men to be strong, to fight, to be somewhat violent, but women are supposed to be the calm, subdued sex. We must not have a violent bone in our body . . .

Well, what is the difference between a man committing a violent act and a women committing a violent act? Are we not all fallen humans with violent tendencies? Why is a man's violence more legit than a woman's? . . .

I have a prof. who is currently working on a book about female terrorists. She often speaks of how they are overlooked in the study of terrorism, because they are seen as committing emotional acts instead of political acts of violence. This, however, is not the case. In fact another interesting tidbit, is that the female terrorists who commit an act of terrorism in Iraq do not get media coverage. In fact, usually afterwards, we cannot even find any information out about them! Interesting eh? Why are terrorist acts by men more important than acts by women?

Israeli Terrorism

Here's a link to something I wrote a while ago. It's perhaps a little overly passionate, but I think it still brings up some important, overlooked issues.
Terrorism: It's not just the Palestinians