by WebPost | Jul 1, 2015 | Peace and Social Concerns
(The following minute, proposed by the Peace and Social Concerns Committee, was approved at Fifth Month Meeting for Business.)
Richmond Friends Meeting is a Quaker community of spirit dedicated to peace, justice, and right relations with all creatures and life upon the earth. Our place on the earth is rooted in respect, not domination. We submit this Minute in furtherance of that respect.
The effects of climate change have been documented by scientists who agree that human activity, specifically pouring millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, is reaching a tipping point. Living in harmony with the natural world has been replaced with unsustainable ways of living: reliance on fossil fuels, extreme methods of resource extraction, widespread destruction of old-growth and rain forests, and over-consumption of natural resources. These unsustainable practices are responsible for the Earth’s degraded state and climate disruption. As a faith community dedicated to peace and social justice, it alarms us that the effects of climate change disproportionately impact the world’s most impoverished peoples and that fossil fuel extraction and consumption has contributed to international conflict.
We recognize the urgency of this problem and support actions on all levels–individual to international — to work toward an ecologically healthy planet. Developed countries must reduce carbon emissions and actively support the development of alternative energy sources. It is imperative that developed countries transfer money, expertise, and technology to support sustainable development in less developed countries.
Our commitments to peace and justice, as well as our commitment to care for the earth, compel us to restorative action. Restorative actions include: education about both climate change and sustainable living; conservation; consideration of the impact our dietary choices has on the environment. We can also reduce consumption and our carbon footprints, invest in renewable energy, divest from fossil fuels and support sustainable energy development.
We are convinced that climate change is real, significant, worsening, and urgent. We are called to advocate for immediate attention to the climate at the local, state, national, and global levels through lobbying, community education, and peaceful protest as conscience dictates.
Although the challenge posed by climate change is complex and may seem daunting, our call to action is grounded in faith and supported by community. We are a connected part of this earth, not separate from it. We invite other communities, individuals, and groups to endorse this minute and to join us in restorative actions to heal ourselves and the planet.
by WebPost | Jul 1, 2015 | Peace and Social Concerns
– from Peace and Social Concerns Committee
Michael Klare, a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College, writes in a recent essay about the Obama administration’s use of energy as a weapon in US foreign policy. In this context, the unprecedented expansion of oil and gas production in the United States under the Obama administration is in part a national security strategy. American production reduces our consumption of global supplies, creating the opportunity to enlist allies otherwise dependent on others to join the US in sanctions on countries like Iran and Russia. The weaponization of energy may help explain in part why Senator Tim Kaine has signed onto legislation to expedite the export of liquefied natural gas and why both of our Senators and Governor McAuliffe are supporters of off-shore drilling in Virginia waters. It’s not just about the purported jobs and economic growth fossil fuels generate, it’s about wielding power in the world.
Virginia is on the frontline now in the vast expansion of infrastructure to enable the export of natural gas. The proposed Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines are massive 42 inch pipelines that will cross the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Mountains, two national forests, the Appalachian Trail, hundreds of streams and rivers, hundreds of farms, home places, businesses and communities. The Governor is an advocate and proponent of the projects and our senators are standing on the fence saying that the federal process for pipeline proposals should be followed. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has never turned down a pipeline proposal.
The political influence of Dominion, and the industry generally, as well as the “national security” imperative undergirding energy production and export makes this is an uphill fight. As we consider ways to act in the world to promote peace and stewardship of the earth, the pipeline proposals call out for our response. If you are so led, the advocates in the path of the pipelines have many resources available to take action, including sample letters and information. Please see Friends of Nelson, http://friendsofnelson.com/; Preserve the New River Valley, http://preservethenrv.com/, and Appalachian Voices, http://appvoices.org/tag/mountain-valley-pipeline/
by WebPost | Jul 1, 2015 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Peace and Social Concerns
… from Waking Up White — and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving, 2014
Author Debby Irving will spend two days at Friends School of Baltimore in September. Over the summer, Trustees and faculty of Friends School, and perhaps also parents and students, will read Waking Up White in anticipation of her visit. The book is divided into 9 parts and 46 short chapters. Titles of some of the parts give a sense of what she covers: “Childhood in white,” “Midlife wake-up calls,” Why didn’t I wake up sooner?” “Inner work,” “Outer work,” and “Reclaiming my humanity.” Each chapter ends with queries to answer or a statement to reflect upon, and she encourages readers to journal their responses and reflections. Here are the queries at the end of chapter 6, “From Confusion to Shock:”
“The late historian Ronald Takaki referred to the history taught in American schools as ‘The Master Narrative,’ the version of history told by Americans of Anglo descent. Think about what you did not study. Did you learn about Lincoln’s views on enslaved black people? Anti-immigration laws of the nineteenth century? America’s laws regarding who could and could not gain citizenship? The Native Americans who had once lived on your town’s or school’s land?”
This column is prepared by the BYM Working Group on Racism (WGR) and sent to the designated liaisons at each Monthly and Preparative Meeting for publication in their newsletter or other means of dissemination. The WGR meets most months on the third Saturday, except July & August, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, usually at Bethesda Friends Meeting or Friends Meeting of Washington. In June 2015, however, it will meet at Adelphi Friends Meeting. If you would like to attend, on a regular or a drop-in basis, contact clerk David Etheridge.
by WebPost | May 19, 2015 | Peace and Social Concerns
The following article by Wardah Khalid appeared in Salon. Wardah Khalid is a Scoville Fellow in Middle East policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation Education Fund.
It used to be that Israel was the only global player who refused to admit that its settlements in Palestine were illegal under international law. Now there is a danger that Congress could be added to the list. Members of both the House and Senate have recently introduced at least six different pieces of legislation attempting to legitimize these Palestinian land grabs by shielding them from increasing international trade pressure. In doing so, Congress is essentially requiring the U.S. to punish trade partners for adhering to international laws and for the first time in its history, endorse and defend the settlements by treating them as a part of Israel.
The train wreck began when Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Rob Portman (R-OH) introduced the AIPAC-backed United States-Israel Trade Enhancement Act in March. The following month, pro-settlement amendments were added to the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill and the House versions of each bill. In addition, the Trade Facilitation and Trade Reinforcement Act was also introduced with pro-settlement language in both chambers. Congress will be considering these bills in the coming weeks.
The Obama Administration has not commented on these bills and amendments so far, but Senator Portman’s and others’ claims that they will stand against “politically motivated boycotts of Israel” are misleading. It is already against U.S. law to boycott Israel, but settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights are not legally a part of Israel. The European Union’s exclusion clause, one of the main drivers behind these Congressional efforts, limits sanctions to Israeli entities with links to the settlements – not Israeli businesses as a whole. But members who introduced these amendments, such as Rep. Roskam (IL), essentially conflate the two, not even mentioning the word “settlements” in the language, and instead using the phrase “Israel or in Israeli-controlled territories.
It would behoove Congress to seriously consider the ramifications of their actions. These bills are not about countering the diverse Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement or supporting Israel. Rather, they are trying to make it U.S. policy to treat Israel and the territories they occupy as one and the same and penalize trade partners that don’t back that problematic stance. This sets up an extremely dangerous impediment to the peace process, which current and previous administrations have heavily invested in. In fact, it “actually encourages illegal settlement building”, according to Rabbi Joseph Berman, Federal Policy Organizer at Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). JVP and several other Jewish American organizations, including some who oppose BDS, have all issued statements urging Congress to reject these alarming pieces of pro-settlement legislation.
Now is the time for Americans who support peace to take a stand on this critical issue and make their voices heard on Capitol Hill. If it is not addressed now, not only do we put the peace process and lives of Palestinians under occupation in further jeopardy, but we also open the door to seeing similar legislation reappear, perhaps in more extreme forms, in the future. Our representatives’ offices should be flooded with calls, emails, and visits demanding statements of opposition before these bills reach the House or Senate floors. And when they are brought to the floor, we should have their guarantee that they will do everything in their power to prevent our country from obstructing the path to peace.
by WebPost | May 19, 2015 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Peace and Social Concerns
In March 2015 the Clerks of Baltimore Yearly Meeting and of BYM Interim Meeting announced that the Yearly Meeting had accepted a grant of $250,000 from the Shoemaker Fund to address, in part, “…how can our Meetings at all levels be more inclusive and welcoming to all and build multi-cultural community?” They explained, “What we are contemplating is no less than a profound culture change that will permeate all we do and change us forever.”
The BYM Group on Racism is looking forward to helping all of us in the Yearly Meeting discern how to live up to these commitments. One guide that can be helpful is a chart entitled “Continuum on Becoming an Anti-Racist Multicultural Organization” and developed by the Crossroads Ministry of Chicago, Illinois, https://www.churchpublishing.org/media/5205/ContinuumAnti-Racist.pdf.
That chart describes what an organization looks like at each of six points along that continuum. The chart does not tell us how to move along that continuum. We all must discern that together. It does, however, help us understand where we are now and the changes needed to move us to the next point on the continuum.
A beginning query: where would you place your Monthly Meeting now along this continuum?
This column is prepared by the BYM Working Group on Racism (WGR) and sent to the designated liaisons at each Monthly and Preparative Meeting for publication in their newsletter or other means of dissemination. The WGR meets most months on the third Saturday from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, usually at Bethesda Friends Meeting or Friends Meeting of Washington. In May and June 2015, however, it will meet at Adelphi Friends Meeting. If you would like to attend, on a regular or a drop-in basis, contact clerk David Etheridge, [email protected].