To Search Not Surge

To Search Not Surge: Towards an Evolving Center of Peace Work

Last week the President shared his Urge to Surge with the world. Some of us have already rejected his advances as an obscene proposal to dominate and control; others simply see no self-interest in supporting this strategy. Even many Iraqis resent the continued, open-ended intrusion into their affairs, even for supposed humanitarian reasons. After his speech was over, there were few rose petals to be seen.

However, surging or increasing troop levels may promise political advantages to the administration. This strategy allows the neo-conservatives to leverage Iraq against Iran. The increased troops may also postpone a complete collapse of order until the Democrats are fully in power in Washington, or at least until they too are tangled in the response to the ongoing crisis and too compromise to find a way out.

But this may be a moment to turn the tide. So let us search instead of surge. Let us search for the light at the end of the tunnel. Let us search for a path to peace. What is the way?

As the writer James Carroll has observed, writing about Martin Luther King recently, humanity can have no Justice without Peace: “…Racial injustice and poverty are inextricably linked to violence. That is why non-violence formed the evolving center of King's vision. It was no mere tactic with him, a way of coping with racist sheriffs who had guns. Non-violence was a defining affirmation of the value of life, and it was the practical engine of a powerful political movement.

And James Carroll expands further on the link of local and international violence: “But King would name the link between gun supply in American cities and the flood of weapons pouring from a global arms industry across the most impoverished regions of the world. Indeed, poverty has become the ground of global violence, and terrorism is its poison flower. What King and Johnson knew as the war on poverty has become an all-but-declared war on the poor. Washington is its headquarters…..”

“The disgrace of US poverty, now necessarily seen in the context of a globalized economy, is a footnote to the smoldering catastrophe of world-wide disparities between rich and poor. Cities, especially in the southern hemisphere, teem with desperate people, and no system of authority or organization seems remotely able to respond.”

The issues Carroll refers to cannot easily be addressed within the particular capitalistic framework in which we live. But nevertheless, accepting for now that framework as given, a first important step should be to strongly urge our elected officials in Congress to support legislation to force the president to get authorization from Congress for a troop escalation. This Legislation has been proposed by Senator Edward Kennedy and is supported by Congressman Abercrombie, Chairman of the Air-Land Subcommittee, which oversees military ground forces and air power. But your congressional office needs to hear from you. Truly, numbers matter and at this moment we do have influence on this issue.

Beyond voting for a non-binding resolution of disapproval for the president's plan, other leaders are discussing cutting off funding and even repealing the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002. Congressman Sam Farr has justified such legislation, stating: “When the Republicans were in charge of the House and Senate, they insisted that President Clinton had to have permission to go into Kosovo." Let your Congressman know if you agree. You may call (202) 225-3121 for the switchboard operator for the House of Representatives.

If we Muslim Americans sit back and let everyone else take action, we too have blood on our hands. The world continues to study war, and to be intoxicated by war, to be enriched by it, and to be raped and ruined by it. Muslims can and should show a better way, publicly as well as privately.

Last week, a Muslim colleague joined the peace-making delegation that visited Khartoum to discuss implementing a ceasefire and ensuring access to humanitarian help and aid convoys. This is real work beyond the wall of hype that surrounds us. With Governor Richardson, staff members of the Save Darfur Coalition were able to negotiate trust-building steps both with rebel groups and with the government of President Bashir.

This delegation went far beyond the Bashir-bashing that some member agencies have been content with. The clear goal is to allow the political process to continue, to de-escalate hostilities and create structures that would provide an alternative to the anarchy and pillage that has created such a hell on earth for so many. However, a full Peace Conference is not scheduled until March.

Engaging with the 12 rebel groups and with the Dictator is a beginning of the process of de-escalation. It is significant that this is done by a (well-connected) private group, and not by the warmongering Bush Administration. Of course we do expect the government to welcome the results. But they are not perceived as balanced; peacemakers must be interested in actual situations, human needs, and the abuses committed on both sides.

Even the suffering Darfurians must be held accountable for some misdeeds. As a colleague writes, “When I used to tell Palestinians in the Diaspora what the “revolutionary heroes” in Palestine were actually doing, it never made anyone very happy. It will be hard to convince the Darfurian diaspora that Darfurian rebels are also part of the problem… As long as they receive Libyan money through Chad they are in a position to continue fighting.”

Peacemaking in Palestine-Israel will also require a clear-eyed absence of myth-making. There is enough blame and blood to go around. The focus must be on the future, and getting there with less injustice and violence.

We will continue to face violence and injustice of the war on terror; extremists on all sides, with the largest resources belonging to the State. This past week, to mark the fifth anniversary of the Guantanamo gulag, some of us held a vigil against the abuses together with the Metro New York Religious Council Against Torture (see http://www.witnesstorture.org/). With over a hundred such actions world-wide, we are bringing to public attention our private resistance to policies of fear and oppression. However, we have got to build up the Muslim community’s participation and the improve the reliability of our leaders in the dialogue and peace process.

To build our commitment and our capacity for peace, beyond words and good intentions, I would urge you my fellow Muslims to actually study peacemaking. Let's not just talk about peace. There are conflict resolution courses around the country. You still can learn something! We can be adapting these curricula to an Islamic framework; though they are already universally useful. From Darfur to Downtown, solving a dispute is a beautiful thing. It takes work. But as a Muslim, haven’t you a taste for Peace?