Living Beyond War Examples (PSU)

[Debbie Kaufman]

Portland State University students will be using this space to post examples of people or organizations who are living beyond war. We hope that you will add your comments.

[Elaine Hallmark]

Thanks, Glen, for bringing Veterans for Peace to our attention. It has always inspired me that veterans are some of the strongest advocates for peace because they, more than anyone else, really know what war is like!

[Patricia Duffin]

Karel Kryl was born in 1944. He was raised under the Communist Regime in Czechoslovakia. He learned to play guitar and started writing the in Treat School of Ceramics at 15. He was forced to work in the army after finishing his schooling, and worked in the library at the barracks. There he was able to transmit Radio Free Europe to many of his fellow soldiers, and became politically aware. He was expelled from the army for “performing songs deemed to be anti-socialist.” Soon he moved to Prague and became well known for writing songs that “represent the national sufferings of a generation, and its desire for political freedom.” In 1968 the Russian forces moved into Czechoslovakia to bring politics back in line with Russian policy. They cracked down on Karel, canceling concerts and banning publication of his book of verses. In 1969, he was weirdly allowed to go to a folk festival in Western Germany and was not allowed to re-enter his homeland. For 20 years he lived in Munich in exile writing songs against totalitarianism and for world peace. He remained extremely popular in Czechoslovakia and gave the people hope to be able to break the chains of the Communist Occupiers. Kryl became a symbol of the struggle for political, civil and social rights for many people. Petr Doruzka, a Prague musical journalist wrote:

“So it was many decades before there was internet before there were MP3s and CDs, but people had their tape recorders, so you had a vinyl album and you taped it, so tens of others could do the dame. After Kryl’s exile, his albums were smuggled in, often in fake covers, with fake labels in the middle. So it was circulated, and it was a very demanded kind of music, because it was so important for everybody who was living in the country during those times, just to know that somebody can write so nicely and just go deep into the heart of the problem.”

Kryl returned back to his country the week of the “Prague Spring” in 1989 where activists were able to bring about the Velvet Revolution, the “blood-less” revolution that brought down the Iron Curtain. He became a living legend and played music until his death in 1994 of a sudden heart attack. He was only 50 years old.

[Elaine Hallmark]

What a great story! I did not know about Karel Kryl, even though he is close to my own age. I'm impressed with how music helps to carry the stories we all share. What a wonderful example! I will have to go look for some of his music.

[Daniel McKay]

War Resisters League is a great example of an organization living beyond war. They are the oldest secular pacifist organization in the United States, starting in 1923 their message has been to resist war at home and abroad. However their message does not stop at just resisting war on its face, the organization understands that "the absence of war is not the presence of peace." Because of this understanding, the organization focuses on collaboration and standing in solidarity- as one- with oppressed peoples around the world. They desire to change our society through nonviolent resistance, against militarism and oppression, towards equality and justice.

Today the War Resisters League is involved in things such as The "Not Your Soldier Project" a counter-recruitment campaign aimed at stopping recruitment in places such as schools and poor communities- as well as other activities. Their chapters are located in 24 states (we have two in Oregon.) This organization has a lot of history, and this short introduction on them is very, very underwhelming. I invite you all to check them out, read their website- they have a quarterly magazine they publish, events and news articles that you might find interesting. They are also famous for their yearly Federal Budget Pie chart, "Where your income tax money really goes," which I think many of you might find interesting.

Check it out: http://WarResisters.org

I am still learning about this organization myself, but if you have any questions please feel free and ask- I will try to answer as soon as possible.

[William L Hallmark]

Hello everyone. I have been traveling most of the term. I just now took the time to read your examples of Living Beyond War. It is exciting both to see new examples not previously known to me and to be reminded of known activities which are so congruent with our own. I was particularly struck by the UNESCO example. Did you know that the Eugene Beyond War team is actually working on a joint project with UNESCO and recently hosted a luncheon in Eugene for the international chairs of a UNESCO sub-committee.

The report on Karel Kryl started me thinking about how important it is to continue to share these examples. I had never heard of Karel Kryl. Yet, I can deeply connect with the significance of his work. We visited Prague in 1986, three years before the Velvet Revolution and several years after the Russians had crushed the Prague Spring that no doubt was a part of Kryl's experience. When we visited, the people's depression and fear of authority was palpable. We first noticed this when we crossed the border between Austria and what was then Czechoslovakia. We were on a train in a compartment with a Czech couple about our age. We couldn't speak Czech and they couldn't speak English, but we began communicating in sign language as soon as the train left Vienna. We shared pictures of our grandchildren and by the time we reached the Czech border we were enjoying a spirited and happy exchange. When we reached the border without warning everything changed. They ceased to communicate with us and continued to ignore us for the rest of the journey, departing the train without saying good bye. While we were in Prague we were seldom able to strike up a significant conversation even with people who spoke English. Then as we departed for Frankfurt by train, we had the reverse experience. Nobody in our train compartment spoke to us until we crossed the border. Then a party broke out.

So imagine what it must have meant to smuggle Kryl's music into this suppressed and fearful nation. Imagine what courage it would take to speak out in this environment. Yet the Velvet Revolution occurred because people like Kryl had the requisite courage to speak the truth. And now I know a little bit of his story.

Thanks to all of you for sharing. And please keep sharing both your own examples and the others here with your friends and family. It helps everyone to know that Living Beyond War is a real possibility.

[William L Hallmark]

If you are interested in the UNESCO meeting in Eugene see:
http://beyondwar.ning.com/photo/albums/beyond-war-hosts-unesco-chairs
to view 30 photos taken at the May 9 luncheon we gave for visiting UNESCO Chairs from around the world.

[Dahlia El-Tobgy]

"PeaceXPeace" (Pronounced peace by peace) is an organization that was formed by a group of Christian, Jewish and Muslim women in January of 2002 in response to 9/11. The organization is based here in the states, but they have chapters all over the world, including South Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The members use the internet, film and person-to-person contact to empower women of different cultures. PeaceXPeace was originally designed to address democracy and governance by creating harmonious cultures and supporting women's rights. The main stream of communication is through their website, where they have different activities that people can partake in. One being "Act Now" which is a telephone/email hotline linked to a real person who gives information on events/activities promoting the message of peace. They also have an online workshop "PageXPage" that consists of the "Peace Papers" which outline problems women are facing around the world and gives concrete examples of their change-making efforts.

Here is a link to their website: http://www.peacexpeace.org/content/

[Winslow Myers]

This is a great catalog of examples of living beyond war.

When I was teaching at a rural high school in Maine in 1964, I was drafted and would probably have gone to Vietnam. I knew I was against the Vietnam war, but my beliefs about war were both unformed and uninformed. Fortunately the Maine educational bureaucracy convinced the draft board that losing me as a teacher would hurt my students, and the order drafting me into the military was rescinded. A couple of years later I was a graduate student, and again I was drafted. This time there was no easy out. I had to make a decision. I filled out the forms to try to become a conscientious objector. But my ideas were a muddle. I remembered that a teaching colleague of mine from a previous school worked for the American Friends Service Committee, the social activist arm of the Quakers. The Quaker religion is pacifist and meditative. In their services there are no hymns, and people just sit quietly together and try to get in touch with something larger than themselves. At the AFSC office in Cambridge, I found someone who often counseled draftees, and he was indispensable in getting my thinking straight: it was strategically important to be against ALL wars, not just the Vietnam war. I was also fortunate in that I was working with emotionally disturbed children at the time, which made it possible for my draft board, once it had received my request, to assign me alternative service work with the same school for disturbed kids at which I was already working. So I fulfilled my obligation to the state with two more years of work. Twenty years later I found Beyond War, my spiritual community.

Here the AFSC website: http://www.afsc.org/

[Elaine Hallmark]

Thank you, Dahlia, for discovering this group for us. It sounds like a group with whom we in Beyond War would have much in common. Hopefully some of our members, or perhaps you, will become interested in helping us connect and find ways in which we might support one another.

[Bryan Corn]

The Axis of Evil Comedy tour was formed in 2005. Primarily comprised of stand-up comedians featured at the New York Arab American Comedy Festival, the group decided a response was needed to George W. Bush’s infamous grouping of Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. The comedians have Palestinian, Persian, Egyptian, and Korean roots and base their material on things from growing up dealing with stereotypes to the hassles of flying in a post 9/11 world. By telling their story, they debunk notions of a culture of enemies and are bringing several societies closer together one laugh at a time. Ahmed Ahmed, one of the group’s founding members often quotes a rabbi friend of his: “You can’t hate anybody while you are laughing with them.” Their official website can be found at: http://www.axisofevilcomedy.com

[David Scholten]

Kathy Marchant and the work she does with Nonviolent Communication (NVC) are beautiful examples of living beyond war. NVC is a communication tool developed by Marshall Rosenberg to resolve conflict that directly addresses Beyond War's three core practices: resolving conflict without violence, maintaining an attitude of goodwill while dropping enemy images, and working together with others to build a world beyond war.

NVC asks us to look within to identify the source of conflict. By acknowledging our feelings, and identifying the needs that have caused those feelings to arise, we are able to make requests from each other from a grounded and peaceful heart. By supporting others to connect with their own innate values and needs, Kathy is effecting social change in a powerful way.

Kathy Marchant lives in Portland, OR. She has been facilitating adult practice groups for ten years and is currently leading several diverse groups weekly. In addition to these ongoing groups, Kathy has taken NVC into a women's prison and facilitates small group intensives for Multnomah County Employees.

Kathy not only teaches NVC, she embodies its message: "My teaching NVC inspires me to be the peace I want see in the world.” Her commitment to compassionate, honest communication is palpable. To get more information about Kathy and her groups, please feel free to contact her by phone at [phone] or via email at: [e-mail].

To learn more about Nonviolent Communication, or to find a group near you, please visit their website: www.cnvc.org

Attached is an article about NVC that appeared in the Oregonian.

[Elaine Hallmark]

Thanks, David. I did not know that Kathy lives in Portland. We will definitely make a connection!