Dear readers,
For nearly four years I have been writing to you in each issue
of the newsletter and the former Quarterly with an introduction to its contents
and reflections on Church and Peace-related issues. Now unfortunately I must
write to say goodbye as I will be leaving Church and Peace at the end of August
and starting a new position as pastor for ecumenics and adult education in the
Koblenz church district of the Rhineland Protestant Church.
The past four years with Church and Peace has been a very busy
time, and I have tried to make it possible for you to participate as well in the
various Church and Peace activities and involvements. Highlights during this
time were Church and Peace’s participation in the Second European
Ecumenical Assembly in Graz, Austria, in 1997 and the Church and Peace 50th
anniversary symposium last May at the Bienenberg. At the same time we were
confronted with the Gulf War in 1998 and wars in Kosovo and Serbia and the
Caucasus last year and this year. We also reported about the World Council of
Churches’ Program to Overcome Violence which resulted in plans for the
upcoming Decade to Overcome Violence (2001-2010). This program drew our
attention to situations such as those in Northern Ireland and South
Africa.
I am very thankful for my time with Church and Peace. I have
been able to learn much, particularly from the witness of the Historic Peace
Churches and the closely related communities and peace service agencies who are
linked in the Church and Peace network. The aim of nonviolent peace witness and
the related concern for working for a changed form of living as church will
remain an important component of my work with my the Rhineland Protestant
Church.
I have continually been impressed by the numerous courageous
and hopeful initiatives and forms of community to be found in the Church and
Peace network and by the fact that many people are involved in work for peace,
reconciliation and nonviolent solutions to conflict, working sometimes nearly to
the point of exhaustion. Further I have been impressed by the spiritual and
ecumenical wealth Church and Peace has to offer.
The question of my successor is currently under discussion. A
key factor is the fact that Church and Peace continues to suffer from
insufficient financial resources and the subsequent need to maintain a reduced
staff, which in turn limits the scope of Church and Peace work. Thus we are
still very dependent on your support.
I want to express my thankfulness for all your support,
encouragement and prayers over the past four years. I hope to remain in touch
with the Church and Peace network and wish Church and Peace God’s blessing
and all the best for the future.
I would like to close with a thought from Bishop Jacques
Gaillot, soldier in Algeria at the end of the 1950s:
“This nearly daily encounter with violence was very
bewildering for me. The violence made the people afraid and widened the chasm
between the Algerian and French groups. It became clear to me that violence does
not sort out conflicts and that the sound of weapons does not bring the peace
that is wished for. I looked for alternatives. The need for nonviolence became
more and more apparent to me even before I was familiar with the term
“nonviolence”. After my return to France I discovered, with burning
interest, the writings of Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. I regret that I was
not led sooner to the power of nonviolence which, for me, should be a sign for
our times.” (Eine Kirche, die nicht dient, dient zu nichts, pp
27)
Yours,
Christian Hohmann
Strength in Poverty
As a small network of European Christians, Church and Peace
faces a continual struggle to make ends meet and to find the time for the work
it deems necessary. But the recent Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Ingolstadt,
Germany, on April 7-9 showed that the members see no reason to despair. They
have a commitment, a conviction they want to share. The AGM was an opportunity
for reflection about what the network wants to accomplish together, what the
members’ expectations are and how to achieve this with the resources
available.
Wide range of involvement
The wide range of Church and Peace involvement was evident
from the regional reports at the AGM, and conversations with AGM participants
confirmed this. One community is active in public action against nuclear
testing, another promotes environmental peace through an organic farming
business. One group is involved in campaigns against land mines and handguns,
another organizes mediation training sessions. Some communities consider their
life in community as their primary witness for peace. In France other churches
have adopted the Mennonite idea of a Sunday for Peace. Serbian army deserters
are given assistance in Eastern Europe. Dialogues are organized with
KFOR-soldiers. The BOCS Foundation translates materials into Hungarian, Serbian
and Russian about the Christian basis for peacemaking and uses the Internet to
distribute such resources. Mennonite Central Committee works in the Balkans
together with organizations such as Bread of Life.
Network
Working at effective communication and establishing and
strengthening contacts form a core goal in each of the regions. Gyula Simonyi
affirmed the possibilities the Internet offers for spreading the message of
service for peace and nonviolence. Members of the Committee for Britain and
Ireland utilize email to maintain the network of peace organizations in their
areas and distribute information to the media. Volunteers maintain the records
and coordinate communication. “We think we are well organized,” said
Gerald Drewett, a Quaker from Hertford. Sylvie Gudin Poupaert, parttime staff
worker at the Church & Peace office in Strasbourg, devotes much of her time
to establishing contacts - the success of which can be seen in the expansion of
the network in the Francophone region.
Disappointing was the absence of Dutch members at the meeting.
Marie-Noëlle von der Recke, Church & Peace chairperson, commented that
one reason for deciding to hold the next Church & Peace international
conference (in 2001) in the Netherlands was to draw Christian Dutch pacifists to
the international peace network.
Identity
Is Church and Peace really necessary for local peace work?
This “identity question” came up repeatedly during the AGM, first
with the report of the Administrative Committee, next during financial
discussions and primarily when the international office in Schoeffengrund,
Germany, presented its report. International office staff members Christian
Hohmann (General Secretary) and Terri Miller cannot satisfactorily deal with all
the work that comes their way.
Church & Peace’s work is supported by contributions
from the members and friends in the network and by a few reliable grant sources.
Unfortunately the network has had to deal with a fundamental problem of some
members not paying their membership fees. The comment that Church and Peace
could not have continued to exist without the legacy the network received in
1998 met with resistance from network co-founder Wilfried Warneck. “A good
cause would continue without money,” he stated.
Pacifists together
In an impassioned speech, Bruno Bauchet of the French
community Pain de Vie encouraged those present to avoid worrying too much about
the future of Church and Peace. “I know why I am here,” he said.
“This is the only place that brings together people who have a theological
basis for their pacifism. I know of no other organization like this...Enjoy
being together. Places that last are those where there is poverty...We
don’t have to jump on the bandwagon of the strong organizations...We are
dependent on each other, on God. Perhaps poverty is a grace. It gives us the
chance to see whether we can manage without.”
For me, this plea reflected the spirit of the meeting. The
participants enjoyed being together. An openness characterized the discussions.
The participants witnessed to their bond with God by singing and praying
together. The hospitality of the host Mennonite congregation was
excellent.
Lydia Penner, English version of an article in the Algemeen
Doopsgezind Weekblad, April 15, 2000
Adapted: TRM
Church and Peace Annual General Assembly welcomes new members
Terri Miller
The ratification of four membership applications and the
election of a new Administrative Committee were two high points of the Church
and Peace Annual General Meeting held at the Mennonite church in Ingolstadt,
Germany, on April 7 and 8.
The Annual General Meeting approved applications for
membership from the Hofgemeinschaft Bittelbronn, the Association Le Soc, Pastor
Janna Postma and Pastor Senyeebea Yawo Kakpo.
• The Hofgemeinschaft Bittelbronn, an intentional
community rooted in the Lutheran Church in Wuerttemberg, was founded two years
ago and runs an organic farming business. Its peace witness focuses on personal
relationships and justice, peace and integrity of creation concerns. Community
members Heidi and Martin Haussecker and Thomas and Susanne
Müller-Stöcker are interested in continuing their present involvement
in the C&P network and see one of their main tasks as familiarizing the
local church with C&P. The community is open for visitors.
• Mr. Senyeebea Yawo Kakpo is a Presbyterian pastor from
Togo, presently studying law in France. Pastor Kakpo is a member of the
Fellowship of Reconciliation in France and is active in the local chapter in
Lyons, where he resides. He has experience with conflict resolution and peace
work in his parishes in Togo. He greatly values C&P’s large network of
European ecumenical contacts and its emphasis on theological reflection,
specifically peace theology.
• The Association “Le Soc”
(Plowshare) is an ecumenical association founded in 1990 within the conciliar
process for justice, peace and the integrity of creation with the specific
vocation of promoting interreligious dialogue. Le Soc’s point of reference
is Gospel-based nonviolence, particularly as modeled and taught by Jean Goss. Le
Soc works within the Church by holding meetings and training sessions on the
philosophy and methods of active nonviolence and leading related activities. The
association also has a hospitality ministry for persons facing difficulties or
searching for direction in their lives. Le Soc’s guesthouse is available
for use by small groups. Le Soc directors Betty and Claude Braun are individual
members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation in France.
• Ms. Janna Postma is a pastor in the Dutch
Mennonite Church. She is very involved in peace and justice issues and is active
in the Dutch Mennonite Peace Group (DVG). She spoke in the Peace House
co-organized by C&P at the European Ecumenical Assembly in Graz in 1997
about her experience growing up in a family with members in the Nazi party.
The Annual General Meeting also approved the slate of
candidates proposed by the Nominations Committee for Administrative Committee
membership. Former Committee members Marie-Noëlle von der Recke, Mennonite,
member of the Laurentiuskonvent in Laufdorf, Germany, and C&P chairperson;
Gerald Drewett, Quaker from Hertford, United Kingdom, and contact person for
C&P Britain & Ireland; and Gyula Simonyi, Hungarian Catholic, member of
the Bokor Movement and coordinator of the C&P Eastern European region, were
elected for a further three year term. New Committee members include:
• Sister Irmtraud, member of the Grandchamp community in
Switzerland and active in C&P since its formation;
• Bruno Bauchet, French Catholic and member of the
community Pain de Vie;
• Cor Keijzer, pastor in the Dutch Reformed
Church;
• Tony Kempster, secretary of the Anglican Pacifist
Fellowship Secretary;
• Gudrun Tappe-Freitag, German Baptist, graduate of
Oekumenischer Dienst’s shalom services training course and member of
Initiative Schalom;
• Klaus Tschentscher, member of the Laurentiuskonvent in
Wethen, Germany.
The AGM elected Marie-Noëlle von der Recke as
chairperson, Gerald Drewett as vice-chairperson and Klaus Tschentscher as
treasurer.
In other business the AGM approved the financial report for
1999 and the budget for 2000; ratified several amendments to the C&P
constitution, a membership criteria document and an official application for
membership; and voted to continue the theological work of the
Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Kirchliches Friedenszeugnis (Working Group for
Church Peace Witness ) in a Church and Peace theology working group. AGM
participants also began planning for the C&P international conference to be
held April 27 to 29, 2001, in Elspeet, Netherlands. The international conference
is to focus on an exchange of experiences and fellowship with network contacts
from the Balkan region. A seminar for the guests from the Balkans and the AGM
2001 will directly precede the conference.
****
Meditation on Hebrews 5:7-9 for the closing worship service on
9 April 2000 of the Church & Peace Annual General Meeting with host
congregation Ingolstadt Mennonite Church
Herbert Froehlich
The selected scripture is common to both the Catholic and
Protestant Churches for this Sunday “Judica”.
The Church and Peace network is here as a guest in Ingolstadt.
The church “Maria de Victoria”, a masterpiece of Baroque
architecture and painting, is located here. But this work is an artistic
contribution to a military victory, the navy battle at Lepanto which warded off
the invasion of the Christian continent by a Muslim power.
A settlement called “of the Lord” is located here,
a settlement which reminds one of the people who were nomads because of their
understanding of the Christian faith - they were not willing to use the sword to
witness about their beliefs - and were forced again and again to move to a
different place, to leave their homes, to settle in new, and usually
inhospitable, places, such as the marshy meadows here close to Ingolstadt. They
were called the “meadow inhabitants”.
Ingolstadt today: automobile city. For me, the city of some
trucks which were loaded with goods collected here to be brought to southeastern
Europe to a crisis region, to Croatia, to Bosnia.
For these helpers, the path to the place of assistance became
a path through traces of evil. The war of the 1990s becomes apparent along the
way in innumerable ruins, in damaged churches, cemeteries, hospitals; evidence
that war does only mean victory but also destruction, obliteration of the
“other”, in the present, in the past and also for the future. The
current war makes allusion to an earlier war: the war of the 1940s of which the
traces lead back to Germany, the helpers’ home country.
The truck drivers see and experience that a learning of evil
is taking place among the people. The willingness to destroy and the science of
destruction is increasing. More and more rulers are pulled into the evil’s
wake. A horrible learning process - without a foreseeable end.
There is another path of learning. And this path is traveled
in the face of evil. We hear about this path in the letter to the Hebrews. In
the center stands a man who is called not by his name, Jesus, but alone by his
title, Christ, the anointed one.
In the days of his earthly life he offered up prayers and
petitions, with loud cries and tears, to God who was able to deliver him from
the grave. Because of his humble submission his prayer was heard: son though he
was, he learned obedience in the school of suffering, and, once perfected,
became the source of eternal salvation for all who obeyed him.
In the days of his earthly life the Christ traveled throughout
the land, praying, crying, shouting. He suffers in his time, and he suffers
because of the times. He sees the ruins of houses, he sees the ruins of souls.
Thus he comes before God.
He is reverent, in awe of God, and he learns obedience through
suffering. I have a picture in mind of what this means: he goes his way in
reverence, in submission.
At the center of this picture is a man who comes from God.
He allows God to support him. He hears the message: I am here,
I am he who is here for you.
He feels God’s supporting hands behind him. Supporting
his back. Resting on his shoulders.
He allows God alone to support him.
As such he is free. An attitude of submission comes into the
foreground: his eyes are open for others.
Who does he meet on his path? Strangers, others, faces.
God’s creation in all its diversity. People who, as the Quakers teach us,
carry in them, each person, a light of God.
His regard is open, searching, acknowledging.
With his gaze he lifts up the lowly: You are also God’s
creation, called by name.
With his gaze he confronts the indifferent: You too are called
to be. Wake up, be present, be aware of where you come from and where you are
going.
With his gaze he irritates the powerful: You are a human
being, not a god.
His suffering is powerlessness, which conceals the glory of
God in his creation; his suffering is a blockade of the powerful against
God’s blessing.
His attitude remains one of reverence and
submission.
He lets himself be touched, he touches others and
heals.
Those who do not let themselves be touched strike
back.
He stays his course. He learns and teaches - reverence and
respect for others.
Carried, strengthened alone by his reverence for
God.
He continues on his way and he falls. He falls through the
blows of those he annoys. He falls back into the hand of God. There is no other
path; perfection comes through defeat. He learned obedience and experienced
fulfillment.
The path of submission continues. Those who are called to
follow this path learn the secret of the Christ. They travel to the place of
assistance. They see customs officers, soldiers, refugees, hate-filled persons,
traumatized persons. They recognize others in these places of crisis who are
carried by an attitude of submission. Messengers of peace in the middle of war.
Persons who refuse to learn that the other is a demon.
Supported by God, regarding with an attitude of reverence
those with whom they come into contact. People come and they wish to live. Now,
in today’s world, they do not want to be abandoned by God. Happy are those
who, on their life’s journey, learn from God reverence for all
people.
News from the Network
-The Caulmont Community celebrates its 20th
anniversary
1970: The French Reformed Church approves an experimental
project focusing on offering Christian-based hospitality and leisure activities
run by a small community-minded team. The Communauté de Caulmont,
dedicated to being a place of hospitality and welcome, takes its first
steps.
1974: The Communion de Caulmont is created, uniting the first
Protestant and Catholic “team members”. The Communion is made up of
an ecumenical group of persons living in different locations who support and
give life to the Caulmont vision.
1976: A new phase begins with the purchase of property in
Normandy. Volunteers and paid workers labor over the next few years to transform
the property for its new function.
In the 1980s the composition of the group living in community
changes regularly. The group ranges from 4 to 7 adults and 5 to 11 children.
Catholic and Protestant, the group’s members choose to live for several
years at the community house, giving substance to the calling of hospitality and
prayer. Over time the group - comprised of singles, couples and families,
younger and older persons - adopts different styles of living. The community
lives a process of searching, building and leaving with hospitality and prayer
as central points of reference.
1984: Following discussion with the Catholic church and
regional bishop, Caulmont opens its doors to a small community of elderly
Benedictine nuns. The “Benedictine Sisters” era begins with up to 22
residents between the ages of 2 and 85. During this time hosting of other guests
is greatly reduced.
With the departure of several residents and the deaths of the
Sisters, the Community is forced to decrease its activities, though the
guesthouse’s capacity increases significantly. Through the impetus given
by the directors, the hospitality ministry develops and diversifies.
Year 2000 and beyond: The directors, the resident staff and
members of the Communion (presently comprised of about 100 families) are looking
with joy toward the future and count on the support of many to continue with the
ministry of hospitality.
From Nouvelles de Caulmont, Spring 2000
Trad: TRM
- Instilling confidence and training
mediators
MIR romand active in peace and nonviolence education for
youth
The year 2000, declared an “International Year for a
Culture of Peace” by the United Nations, will no doubt be a significant
year in the history of the pacifist movement for both laity and religious. This
year will be a springboard for promoting peace during the entire UN Decade for
Peace. Among other activities MIR romand (Francophone Swiss Fellowship of
Reconciliation) will devote its energies to work with children and adolescents,
first because the UN Decade has as a priority to reach youth, and secondly
because there is a great need for such work in schools and parishes.
Since February 1999 MIR romand has been involved in the area
of communication and conflict resolution training for adolescents and adults.
This work started with two introductory training sessions in the province of
Fribourg. Through these sessions 40 school classes were introduced to the
principles and practice of nonviolent communication methods and conflict
resolution. This program was started in these institutions in order to prevent
the escalation of violence. Teachers participated actively in the sessions along
with their students so that both groups could put the principles in practice
that they had learned together.
Parallel to this work MIR romand assisted the Parent
Association of Glane in getting a violence prevention program started. This
program brought together a dozen parents for a series of 4 meetings from
November 1999 to February 2000.
Moving towards a Culture of Peace and
Nonviolence
(...) Violence prevention work is complex and sometimes
unrewarding. Complex because each intervention must be adapted to a
particular context and must examine the request for assistance with both the
forces for and resistant to change in mind. Sometimes unrewarding because
time is needed to evaluate the effect of these interventions; immediate benefits
may be only partially evident. This increases the skepticism of those who wish
to accept violence as a given and for whom repression is still the best method
of responding. Still, feedback from parents, adolescents and teachers encourages
us to continue this work. Of course prevention programs must take into
consideration the degree of violence because there will be no peace without
justice!
Hope and realism concerning the International Year for a
Culture of Peace
In the year 2000 MIR romand will continue its violence
prevention work for both adults and adolescents in the provinces of Fribourg and
Neuchâtel. We also meet occasionally with catechumen who attend schools
where we are working. This seems to be an opportunity to make additional
contacts in the educational system which we feel we must have an effect upon at
all levels.
Bulletin romand de la réconciliation, March
2000
Trad: TRM
Six-week visit to Sierra Leone
Gudrun Tappe-Freitag
Sierra Leona is located on the west coast of Africa. It has
fought a merciless war since 1991 for control of the diamond mines. The war,
like every other war, has claimed many lives. But this war has been even worse.
Through the use of drugs, soldiers, including some 4000 children as young as ten
years old, have been made into violent criminals. They attacked their own
villages, destroyed them and chopped off the legs and arms of the villagers. For
me, all this was simply knowledge acquired from books and newspapers...
My colleague Ute Caspers and I visited the country at the
invitation of the Sierra Leone Council of Churches. Through this visit I have
come to know other facets of the situation. Our main question as we visited
churches and NGOs was: “What is being done in the area of peace education,
reconciliation and dealing with trauma?”. And we learned that not only is
there a state-run program to reintegrate the rebels but that there is also a
deeply-rooted feeling among the population that the rebels are a part of the
people; they are called “separated brothers”. I met men and women
who walked 20 miles in order to prepare themselves in a workshop for a meeting
with the separated brothers. We learned that the people feel there are totally
different causes for the war than those that are officially named as causes.
There is deep knowledge of and feeling for injustice. It is a dissatisfaction
with the hierarchy and the administration of justice. The chief does not settle
a conflict satisfactorily for all parties. Women are always handled unjustly but
have to keep silent and carry the burden. One woman recalled a public meeting
her grandfather had led where all persons had the right to speak. Back to the
roots! We often heard this wish, in the churches as well. It is very clear that
the religious tradition there is European, in both external and internal
matters. “We plowed and we sowed”, we sang in a worship service and
even sang the stanza about snow. Too bad, I was looking forward to African
culture.
It was exactly this European body of thought that made our
task so difficult. We, the Europeans, were to find out whether we could hold
peace education workshops using our methods and style of working. We realized
that people were ready to address questions of peace and reconciliation. They
also found our methods and working style helpful, but more importantly they
accepted us. They greatly valued the fact that we put ourselves in danger on
their behalf, so that they would not be alone in their time of need.
Officially the war is over but the difficulties are immense in
this country. Despite the willingness of some to work for peace and
reconciliation, reality will demand much from the people. They need
support.
1 May 2000
Trans: TRM
Draft Proposal for a Global Nonviolent Peace Force
Mel Duncan and David Hartsough
Mission
Our mission is to mobilize and train a multicultural,
nonviolent, standing peace force. The Peace Force will deploy to conflict areas
to help create the space for local groups to struggle, dialogue and seek
peaceful resolution while protecting human rights and preventing death and
destruction.
Goal
During the next two years a multinational planning team will
develop, organize, recruit and train a global peace force. By 2002 we will have
organized:
• At least 200 skilled peacemakers willing to commit to
participate in training and deployment for at least 2 years.
• At least 400 people with training and specific peace
making skills who would be available on a reserve basis for at least one month
per year.
• At least 500 supporting members around the globe
willing to contact their media, government officials and religious leaders
about the Peaceforce’s work.
• At least 6 leaders with international esteem who are
willing to lead the Global Peace Force into conflict areas and remain for at
least short periods of time.
• An international, efficient and accountable decision
making body.
The Global Peace Force will grow to a level of 2,000 active
members by the end of the decade.
Background
The application of third party nonviolent intervention in
conflict areas has increased dramatically during the last twenty years. Groups
including Peace Brigades International, Witness for Peace, SIPAZ and Christian
Peacemaker Teams have provided small international peace teams to provide
unarmed body guards and carry out nonviolent peacemaking in a variety of
conflict areas in the world. These actions have saved a significant number of
lives especially of human rights workers and helped to create spaces for the
reestablishment of peace and civil society.
The call for effective peacemaking is gaining popular momentum
as people throughout the world have witnessed the recent brutality and futility
of armed conflicts in places like Kosovo, East Timor and Rwanda. The world
needs dynamic institutions that encourage people to engage in effective and
strategic nonviolent activities designed to bring about peaceful resolutions to
conflicts. The United Nations recognized this need by designating the next
decade to a culture of peace and nonviolence for the worlds children.
Last May at the Hague Appeal for Peace activists from around
the world gathered to explore how to bring third party nonviolent intervention
to a dramatic new level based upon lessons learned from the experiences of the
past quarter century. The proposal flows from this historical legacy and those
meetings at the Hague.
Strategies
A clear mandate with a specific strategy and precise
objectives will be tailored to each conflict area. Services could include:
supporting local peacemaking efforts, accompaniment, training, unarmed border
patrolling, interpositioning between conflicting parties, instantaneous video
witnessing and creating safe zones. While in the conflict area the Global Peace
Force will serve as international eyes, ears and voice, alerting the world to
conditions of the conflict.
Funding
Three hundred thousand dollars US are required for each of the
two years of planning and development. Eight million dollars will be necessary
for the first year of operation. When the Global Peace Force is at full
strength of 2,000 active participants and a full complement of supporters by the
end of the decade, an annual operating budget of $80 million will be required
(the same amount the world spends on the military every hour). Funding sources
will include individuals, foundations and governmental organizations.
Progress
Since meeting in the Hague in May of 1999, 150 face to face
consultations have taken place with over 1,000 peacemakers, government
officials, scholars, religious leaders and military personnel in 9 countries. An
additional 1,000 other consultations have taken place throughout the world via
the Internet. The proposal has been endorsed by key individuals and
organizations including the Dalai Lama and the United Nations Volunteers
Humanitarian Relief Unit and 140 advisors from around the world have been
enlisted.
Conclusion
We have the capacity to make the Global Peace Force happen in
our lifetimes. The ingredients abound: there are many veterans of nonviolent
movements; strategic lessons have been learned; our organizational abilities
have increased; highly qualified trainers are available; the World Wide Web,
already used to advance the campaigns for banning land mines and establishing an
international Criminal Court, is available as an organizing tool; funders are
expressing an interest; and, most importantly, people are demanding an
alternative to highly militarized interventions. There will be no better way to
commemorate the United Nations Decade of Peace and nonviolence than to do
so.
from the Executive Summary, April 12, 2000
This proposal is an evolving work that will improve with your
thoughts, reflections and experience. We invite you to join us in co-creating
the Global Peace Force.
Full proposal available at
http://www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org/
Mel Duncan, Peaceworkers, 801 Front Ave., St. Paul, MN.55103,
USA, Tel: +1 651 917 8717, Email: MnDuncan@AOL.com or David Hartsough,
Peaceworkers, 721 Shrader St., San Francisco, CA. 94117, USA, Tel: +1 415 751
0302, Email: PEACEWORKERS@igc.org
Krakow International Youth Forum
Anne Wuerges
As part of a project for her school, Anne Wuerges worked at
the International Office from May 2-12, 2000. While her classmates completed
this obligatory period of practical training at a lawyer’s office, in a
hospital or in a garage, Anne deliberately choose to learn more about the work
of Church & Peace. She has a particular interest in voluntary service and
meetings between young people in western and eastern Europe. During her time in
the office we spoke often about how the motivation for such involvements comes
from our faith and inspires people to reach out to and learn from others. The
following article describes Anne’s experiences at a recent European youth
forum.
An international youth forum, the sixth of its kind, took
place this year in Krakow, Poland. My school decided to take part this year as
well and sent a ninth grade class to the meeting. The main goal of the forum was
to bring European youth closer together and break down prejudices and
“we/them” attitudes and to thus move a step closer to a
community-minded, unified Europe in which individual people count, not status or
origin.
The program was full of variety: workshops, excursions,
discussion sessions as well as evening programs and a good amount of free time.
With approximately 150 youth from nine different countries - Belgium, Austria,
Norway, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Ukraine, Germany and Poland - the forum was
well attended.
Workshops
Already before leaving for Poland each participant had to
choose one workshop from the five offered. The goal of the workshops was to put
together a contribution in the space of one week for the final presentation on
the last day of the forum. Unfortunately some of the workshop groups ended up
being comprised of youth from the same country and because of this the very
element that was to have made the workshops something special - to create
something with “foreign” people and in this way to initiate
discussion - was not present.
Discussion sessions
In the discussion sessions participants got together to
examine various current issues. Main topics were “Our earth”
(ecology questions, energy conservation); “People” (death penalty,
parenting methods); “Wars” (preventing wars, causes of war) and
“Love” (same sex relationships, rights of same sex couples).
Statements from Polish students concerning the various topics were first read
and then discussed with all the participants. It was great that each person
could give his or her opinion without being mocked or yelled at - even with the
difficult topic the death penalty which drew an extremely diverse audience - and
then to search for solutions together.
Excursions
In addition to the usual city tours, a visit to the Ausschwitz
concentration camp was planned. Although we were largely familiar with the
historical facts, we were shocked by the size of the camp which we had only seen
previously on television or heard about. It was not possible to suppress the
knowledge of what had taken place there when one was standing in the middle of
the former camp. For me, though, the behavior of other visitors was almost worse
than seeing the actual camp. We couldn’t comprehend that some people could
break into laughter while standing by the “Death Wall” or could deny
what the camp had been used for.
Our relationship as German youth to Ausschwitz is very
difficult since we are not directly responsible for what happened there. However
we can not make the mistake of denying or covering up our country’s past.
We have to know that we will be asked about this past whenever we go to another
country and must be able to formulate a personal opinion about what has
happened. We agreed that what happened in Ausschwitz can not be allowed to
happen again and we see it as our task to prevent such human rights violations
from taking place again.
International meetings
Europe has become smaller. We have contact with youth from
many different European countries through exchange programs and youth fora. We
hope that Europe continues to grow closer together and that prejudices about
people from other countries continue to disappear. I think many meetings such as
this one will take place in the future and am happy that I had the chance to
take part in such a gathering. I have also learned about international
cooperation during my two-week time of practical training for my school at the
Church and Peace international office. I think this is an important step along
the way to building a world in which people are concerned about more than just
themselves or their own country.
Trans: TRM
*****
Beyond Impunity: an Ecumenical Approach to Truth, Justice
and Reconciliation, by Geneviève Jacques (WCC Publications, 61 pp,
CHF 9.90). Jacques, a WCC staff member, reflects on the experience of people in
many parts of the world in relation to violations of human rights and human
dignity. This book challenges the churches to reach across traditional
boundaries and join others in the search for new paths towards genuine justice,
repentance and reconciliation and thus to provide hope.