Fourth Month Calendar

THE 2006 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE:

In a region torn by conflict, these grassroots activists have worked to liberate both the Palestinian and the Israeli people from the yoke of structural violence - symbolized most clearly by the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. They have worked to build equality between their people by recognizing and celebrating their common humanity.

While a college student in Iraq, Ghassan Andoni dropped out to work in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon during the civil war. Returning home from Lebanon, he was arrested by the Israeli authorities and jailed for two years for his membership in the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).

During the first intifada (1987-1993), Ghassan played an integral role in the famous tax revolt against the Israeli Occupation conducted by residents of Beit Sahour, a city near Bethlehem. He was subsequently jailed for his participation. After his release in 1988, he co-founded the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People, which sponsored dialogue and joint activities between Israelis and Palestinians.

As time wore on, Ghassan and Rapprochement moved from dialogue to direct nonviolent action intended to end the Occupation. He later co-founded the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), working with Palestinians and international volunteers to engage in grassroots nonviolent resistance to call attention to years of Palestinian oppression under Israeli Occupation.

A professor of Anthropology, Jeff Halper is a Vietnam War resister from the United States, who emigrated to Israel in 1973. He has always rejected the exclusivity of Jewish claims to the country that created the Occupied Palestinian Territories and has led to displacement of its people. Even during his military service he refused to bear arms, and as an Israeli citizen, refused to serve in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Two of his children have been imprisoned as conscientious objectors.

Jeff co-founded the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) in 1997, which was among the first Israeli peace groups to work inside the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Working in coalition and partnerships in acts of political resistance, ICAHD works to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes and helps rebuild those homes previously demolished. Here Jeff often displays immense courage, confronting Israeli soldiers and risking arrest by sitting in front of bulldozers targeting homes for destruction. ICAHD works in coalition with a wide range of Israeli organizations including: Bat Shalom, Rabbis for Human Rights, Gush Shalom and the Alternative Information Center, as well as Palestinian groups such as the Land Defense Committee, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee (PARC) and Rapprochement.

Ghassan and Jeff share a fundamental belief that Palestinians and Israelis who stand for human rights, peace and reconciliation are on the same "side," making their message relevant and universal. That is why their voices - the seldom heard voices of critical advocates of peace and nonviolence - are acknowledged in this nomination.

Tom Fox

The U.S. Embassy arranged for Beth Pyles, a member of the CPT Iraq team, to travel to Anaconda, and she was able to keep vigil with Tom for the next 36 hrs. until his departure. At that time, she read out from the Gospel of John, "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it" (1:5). In honour of the body of the Iraqi accompanying Tom’s, she spoke the words called out repeatedly from the mosques of Baghdad during the Shock and Awe bombing campaign in March 2003, "Allah Akhbar" (God is great). She concluded the sending with words from the Jewish scriptures, "The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD" (Job 1:21).

Doug Pritchard, CPTNet

On March 23rd it was announced that a patrol had found the other three CPTers, who were well, while their guards were elsewhere. CPT has issued a statement welcoming this and saying, amongst other things:

“Harmeet, Jim and Norman and Tom were in Iraq to learn of the struggles facing the people in that country. They went, motivated by a passion for justice and peace to live out a nonviolent alternative in a nation wracked by armed conflict. They knew that their only protection was in the power of the love of God and of their Iraqi and international co-workers. We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq. The occupation must end.”

Cal Thomas on Fox

Kathy Kern, of CPT, denied that CPT went to “trump fanatical Muslims.” She said that “Thomas' comment about peace movements rarely mobilizing to oppose dictators is historically inaccurate. Nonviolent movements in Tibet and Burma, the Philippines, Latin America and Soviet Bloc countries have courageously challenged dictatorships. CPTers and their supporters who are U.S. citizens . . . do take a special interest in what the U.S. government is doing in the rest of the world. .”

Ken Southwood sent two letters to the Express-News. It published the second, shorter, letter quoted below:

1. “Cal Thomas says that ‘Evil must be defeated if peace on Earth is to exist. That Fox and his colleagues could not, or would not, see this is most tragic of all.’

Jesus said, ‘You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.’ Matthew 5, 43-45.

And, if Tom Fox met his tortured death because he did not know what he was up against, must we conclude that Jesus met his death for the same reason? Or that Tom Fox was merely following his personal savior?”

2. “Cal Thomas makes the same mistake made by those others who believe that hitting terrorists is the principal objective in this "war." Whether fanatic terrorists change their mind or not is irrelevant. What is relevant is whether the people among whom they live and from whom they get their support, active or passive, are persuaded that the terrorists are wrong.”

Business Meeting

Bill Wilkinson, Treasurer, reported that the General Fund had increased considerably due to the deposit of the $83,000 bequest but that an unbudgeted payment had been made of $5,513 for architects’ costs in Phase II of construction. Annual payments for insurance and donations to Quaker organizations and local programs were made this month. He apologized again for the erratic misplacement of $300 or so by his computer spreadsheet (probably assuming that Friends would have noticed if he hadn’t mentioned it.)

For Outreach, Ken Southwood said that as the Bring and Share evening last month was not well attended it will not plan another one in the near future.

At the Stone Soup potluck evening on Friday April 7, at 6 pm, potluck dishes should be brought in the usual way, but the committee will provide a signup sheet for vegetables to be added to the soup. The children will tell the story of stone soup. Friends may wish to bring containers if there is any left which they can take home. On the same evening there will be an Easter egg hunt for the children, early as SCYM is held over the Easter weekend.

The committee is working with M&O on a form for application for use of the meetingroom by people other than Friends and a statement of conditions for use.

It recommended that a new roadside sign similar to the present one, but placed diagonally facing the intersection, be placed at the Vandiver/Eisenhauer corner, perhaps with, a rock garden at the base. It should be lit at night. It also recommended that another sign, perhaps low and with just the words “Quaker Meetinghouse” be placed at the driveway to indicate clearly where to enter. This was referred to Building and Grounds committees.

Julia Eyer is working with Colby Glass to improve the Meeting website, and is updating the links. The committee is considering sending the calendar early as the newsletter often goes in too late for the calendar to be useful.

For an ad hoc committee on assistive listening systems for HOH (hard of hearing) people, Ken recommended a “teleloop” system, possibly costing about $1400. We could probably install this ourselves. It would probably need six suspended microphones and is recommended for rooms of the size of the meetingroom. The committee will work with Norman Lederman, an old friend of Julia Eyer, who designs and makes these systems. Meeting approved.

Janet Southwood reported for M&O. Meeting approved the State of the Meeting Report with minor changes. Gary Whiting will continue to lead the discussion group on the second Sunday morning at 9, continuing with reading Without Apology by Chuck Fager. The committee encouraged Friends to help committees in their work. Vivian Rule agreed to prepare a list of committees, with brief descriptions of their responsibilities, names of clerks and members, and times of meetings, for placement on the noticeboard.

Ken Southwood suggested that Friends who have suggestions for changes to the Handbook should let him know; he will then bring them to business meeting later in the year. He also reported that an inspection of access to the meetingroom had been made and a change required to the threshold to the new storeroom.

Meeting closed in silence.

More Assistive Listening

“Really,” answered the neighbor. “What kind is it?”

The first man looked at his watch and replied, “Twelve thirty.”

Personal

Abe Lincoln!!! Do geriatric mothers have geriatric babies?

Seen, at a door to a store in Galveston, a parrot in a cage. On the cage was a notice, “Hi, I’m a Quaker Grey parrot. If you speak to me I will speak back to you. But don’t put your hand in the cage because I like to bite.”

Carol Hines moved to Sun City, last November. She joined the computer, visual arts, photography, and horticulture clubs, began teaching art again, signed up for two computer courses, agreed to be treasurer of something, found herself too busy and decided to cut back. She narrowed down to two commitments, the treasurer (30 to 40 checks each month, monthly deposits, board meetings, balancing the books, updating Quicken, and constant reports), Visual Arts with an 8 week series of art classes, and the Sun City Horticulture club for “us Master Gardeners,” heading up the landscaping.

“So those are my two big commitments for 2006. Needless to say, computer club and photography club are taking a bit of a back seat.“ We have not tried to reconcile her activities with that number.

She says that she is having some health problems but they are not slowing her down, and one of the wonderful things about Sun City is that it is filled with happy, vibrant people. We suspect nobody is vibrating more than Carol.

Janet and Ken Southwood’s two-year-old grandson, Jose, is having to have surgery on both feet to correct bone spurs. He has a full-leg cast on one leg and will have the other foot corrected at the end of March. He’s not enjoying it.

Chiune Sugihara

Sugihara, Japanese consul in Lithuania in 1940 after the Soviet Union had annexed Lithuania, helped a Jewish boy he met in a greengrocer’s. The boy was touched and invited him to the family Rosh Hashana celebration. To everyone’s surprise, Sugihara and his family turned up and were impressed by the warmth of the family gathering. Later, he was approached by fearful Jewish refugees to obtain transit visas for Japan to help them escape Europe “on the way to Curacao,” which they could enter without visas. Without permission, he signed over 2,000 transit visas. After the war he was fired by the Japanese Foreign Ministry and spent the rest of his life in more menial work.

Much later, asked why he had done it, he could not understand the question. Pressed, he said, [quoting by memory,] “Do what’s right because it’s right. Do not expect rewards, do not make anything of it, do not expect praise. Just do it because it’s right.”

The German government, during the wartime alliance with Japan, sent an aide who pressed the Japanese government to kill the Jews, who were still in Japan. The Foreign Minister called Jewish leaders to ask them why the Germans hated them so.

“Because we are Asian and not Aryan,” said a leader, “ Like you.” The Minister said that Japan had signed an alliance with Germany, but not an agreement to be anti-semitic.

Exerpted, quoting from memory, from the PBS program, “Sugihara: Conspiracy of Kindness”

We hope we would have the same commitment, which may be found in people of any religion. How can we tell, if we have not been faced with the need?

Recruiting in High Schools

The group started by contacting career counselors, but then met with principals and the school board president and vice president and have made requests at school board meetings. They have normally succeeded. They have sometimes been invited to make a classroom presentation, but not often. They make the case that they are legally permitted to do this, and that many military posters depict weapons despite school prohibitions on weapons and even on pictures of weapons on tee shirts.

At school they set up three "voting booths" to vote (1) stay in Iraq, (2) bring troops home now, or (3) "your ideas". This gives everyone a chance to give an opinion and to think about what they believe - and why. One military recruiter challenged their statement that students with a delayed-enlistment contract cannot get out of it. They sent him references and actual language of the army code.

Susan estimates it takes her about 15 hours a week to keep up with this work with a budget of about $400 - $500 per year.

Carol Balliet

Events

The 2006 of the Gathering of Friends General Conference, at Puget Sound, Washington has been fully booked.

Jim & Ginger Kenney, are visiting us again and will lead a forum, "Beyond War" on April 23. The rapidly emerging global economy, facilitated in large part by instantaneous world-wide communication, is transforming the dynamics of international conflict, often making the very concept of "war" an anachronism. Using the insights in Friends for 350 Years by Howard H. Brinton, Blood Rites by Barbara Ehrenreich and Faces of the Enemy by Sam Keen they will seek to discover the most effective ways to confront the new challenges facing our world today.

We hope to have a speaker on Islam on April 30th, to speak to us and answer questions.

City burning

There . . . the covered market,
everything from fluffy chicks to woollen
sweaters under the glass roof,
dirty above me.

There . . . Sellick’s pasty shop,
savory smell of meat and pastry
in the brown-stained booths in the basement.

There . . . Woolworth’s,
where I would go in from Old Town Street
and out at the other end into the open-air market,
busy once a week.

In my mind,
I pass Charles Church,
ringing the changes on Sundays,
past Norley, our chapel, to the Palladium,
ramshackle cinema, not designed as such,
where rain crashes on tin roof
to drown out the dialogue.

In my mind,
I ride my bike through Drake Circus,
waved on by the bobby,
down Old Town Street to St. Andrews
and past the Guildhall,
scene of childhood performances.

But,
that day,
the Guildhall’s walls were empty,
the churches gutted,
the buildings gone,
no names above shop windows, all gone too.
Just low heaps, broken bricks, fallen smoke-stained walls,
the road, macadamized, scarred by fire,
gouged by falling steel.

Where was I?
There were no landmarks.
No familiar corner.
So much sky.
Unbelieving, I saw a treed headland,
miles away, through empty air
above the low rubble.

Sellick’s, no longer there.
Spooner’s, where the gnomes nodded
at work in the Christmas Caves,
Woolworth’s, the markets, the pet store
where I bought goldfish,
Norley, my family’s chapel.

They burned and fell that winter
while I, fifteen, reveled at the sight of the incendiaries,
listened, mesmerized, to the march of high explosives,
and followed the searchlights up into the dark sky.

Ken Southwood

(I was fifteen and an excited Civil Defense messenger when the Luftwaffe bombed Plymouth.)

8th Grade Final: Salina, KS -1895

Geography (Time, one hour)

1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3 Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

Assuming that Hecla is still what it was in 1895, it’s a small town on the James river at the border of North and South Dakota. A long way from Kansas. It had a population of 314 in 2000. But its own website. Salina had a population of around 2-3000 in 1895. Humiliating, isn’t it?

Art Buchwald on Death

The big question we still have to ask is not where we’re going, but what were we doing here in the first place?”

Express-News, 3.19.06

The Meetinghouse

At the other end of our lot one part of the willow tree over La Fiesta’s lot came down, along with the willow next door in Jack Osborn’s, Jen’s father’s, lot. A couple of the new plants had been uprooted and La Fiesta has replanted them.

Advice and Query for April 2006

Britain Faith and Practice