Beyond War Class and Community Connections

[Beyond War]

Beyond War Class and Community Connections

By Dave Kean, Portland State University student participant in the "Beyond War: Challenge to Change Our Thinking About War" course at PSU, Summer 2009

Having my world view challenged and gaining a more tangible sense of community (on all identity levels) are not the only activities/experiences which I have found fulfilling during the past two months. Linking our in-class activities and lessons with the Beyond War organization's on-line community has been educational, rewarding, and informative. I must admit that I was slightly skeptical of Beyond War's guiding principles and core practices when I first encountered them. As many wars are currently being waged across the globe, it is difficult for me to view a world completely beyond war. My initial thoughts on those principles and practices were that they seemed to be a bit "pie in the sky."

What I can say now is this: my interaction with those in the Beyond War community has caused me to rethink the possibilities and paradigm shift they espouse. Through our dialogue and other exercises, I've come to realize that "the means are the ends in the making" is not just talk. "Be the change you wish to see in the world" is the most insightful and inspiring quote I've encountered and it gives the second guiding principle of Beyond War some real teeth. Beyond War has discovered and exhibited their commitment to this very principle by not placing the responsibility of paradigm shift and the change of personal actions in the hands of world leaders. Rather they strive to empower the thoughts and actions of individuals, which strikes me as the only way to make a measurable move towards stamping out violent conflict as a means to securing nations and addressing their interests.

Our community action projects were a real and tangible contribution, not only to the Beyond War community, but also to the entire student body of PSU. My team members and I were engaged in the discussion forums on-line. Our fellow classmates spread our contributions further to the PSU community by arranging for the BW Library Project http://beyondwar.ning.com/group/portlandoregon to be displayed at our university library. I feel personally rewarded knowing that whether just a few, or many, students read any of the selections on display, they may well choose to pass on what they've discovered and/or learned from our efforts.

Keeping that contribution in mind, some PSU students who view our library display may also be inspired to visit the website, http://beyondwar.ning.com where our on-line contributions give a window into the insight which all of us developed over the past eight weeks. I would be proud to know that someone who may not have even known about Beyond War could read and learn more about issues in the Middle East, Afghanistan, etc. Not only could they learn more about the individual circumstances, they would be invited to join the dialogue and might even be inspired to explore alternatives to violence as a means to the resolution of conflict. In addition to the discussion forums http://beyondwar.ning.com/forum we created as a class, the Beyond War community and any PSU students who visit the website have access to all of our book reviews http://beyondwar.ning.com/forum/categories/book-reviews/listForCate.... Therefore, the potential for checking out one of these books from our library seems high.

After our last in-class forum, I was not only proud of the culmination of our project, but I was equally enthused by everyone in our class and the efforts they put forth towards this project. Regardless of whether our actions result in a shift of paradigm for those who view our community project, it seems impossible for them to walk away without some sort of additional wisdom on the topic of war and moving past the current world view.

[Janet Williams]

Thank you, Dave, for your helpful article. I agree the idea we must be the change we want to see is at the heart of Beyond War's ideas. That way other individuals can observe peaceful interactions. It isn't easy, of course!

Janet Williams, San Diego