April 2002 Call to Action News
Wisdom Exchange: How can we act as peacemakers as the war on terrorism expands?
CTA’s Next Generation (ages 18-42) is committed to fostering intergenerational dialogue between themselves and the Wisdom Generation — older CTA members who had personal experience of Vatican II. This time the e-mail dialogue was about working for peace in the midst of the U.S. war on terrorism. Portions of that conversation appear below.
Kevin Ahern is a student of anthropology and religious studies at Fordham University in New York City. In 1998 he was the youngest person ever to attend the CTA national conference on his own. He is a representative at the U.N. for Pax Romana, the international Catholic student movement. An emergency medical technician, Kevin spent Sept. 12 at Ground Zero, and later helped write the Pax Christi USA Young Adult Forum reflection about 9/11.
Pat McSweeney of Taunton, Mass., a retired schoolteacher, works with a group combatting militarism, has traveled several times to Ft. Benning, Ga., to protest the School of the Americas (SOA), and is an enthusiastic CTA member. Her letters to the editor appear often in the National Catholic Reporter, the Boston Globe, and here in CTA News.
Kevin: Having never lived through any of the major wars of this country, I find this war on terrorism frightening. This undeclared war may lead to a situation where I may be drafted. A number of years ago I made the commitment as a Catholic to treat all life as sacred. I have tried to guide my life with this principle — being a conscientious objector, protesting the SOA and the Iraq sanctions, and urging more development aid.
After 9/11 I was shocked that so many people were calling for immediate military action. This war has now cost more civilian lives than were lost on 9/11. The death of the civilians in Afghanistan touches me like the deaths in New York. I believe this war is unjust. We must put aside our nationalism and work in the U.N. for peaceful solutions, not only to terror from bombs and planes, but also to the economic terror of starvation.
Pat: Your perceptions of U.S. militarism are much more sophisticated than mine were at your age. Having barely finished celebrating the end of World War II, we were perplexed to find young men being sent to Korea. We had been led to believe that once Hitler and Tojo were defeated peace would be ours. But because of the mantra, “America is making the world safe for democracy,” we rarely questioned the judgment of our leaders in Washington.
Now, however, I feel betrayed by both my country and my Church. It was events in El Salvador that opened my eyes to the way the world really works. In recent years, through much reading, I have come to understand that all change springs from below, and I have discovered the dedicated people who work for justice.
Kevin: I am saddened when Bush mentions future battles against Iraq, Iran, North Korea, and others. I am bothered by the attitude of moral superiority. Calling people who stand in our way the “axis of evil” implies that the U.S. is the force of good, the “City on the Hill,” as John Winthrop and the Puritans saw New England. It is not right to demonize other countries or people as evil.
A Korean theologian staying with me told me how Bush, Sr. met with Bin Laden a few times. Possibly Bush, Jr. has as well. The Bush, Cheney and Bin Laden families have all owned stock in certain oil companies. A few weeks ago a Kenyan diplomat at the U.N. said that Cheney’s former oil company is looking to get into Somalia. So the U.S. may go in and get the terrorists there, opening the door for the company.
Pat: Long ago, I clipped this quotation: “Five giants are coming over the hill: the giants of war, poverty, racism, pollution, and irrelevant religion. The giant of irrelevant religion is the one that enables us to ignore the first four.” I am sad that the institutional Church fosters irrelevant religion. Only a third of the U.S. bishops have signed a letter to close the SOA, even though two of their brother bishops (Romero and Gerardi) have been killed by SOA graduates. Another manifestation that power corrupts. Our Cardinal Law also declared the Gulf War just. I wrote him on that. No response. A decade later, almost as soon as George W. Bush began to bang the drums of war, Law led a delegation of churchmen to D.C. in public support for Bush’s policies. But I am grateful that CTA Catholics practice relevant religion. The weekend after 9/11 at the Philadelphia conference, the overriding message was “No Retaliation: Stop the Cycle of Violence.”
Kevin: In Washington recently I heard Marie Dennis of Maryknoll and Pax Christi say that the Just War Theory should not be used as a green light but as a stop sign or a caution sign. Public leaders are using the wording of the Just War theory to justify their actions. This must stop.
Even before 9/11 and the recent budget increase, the U.S. had the largest military budget in the world. But it was still able to be attacked by organized terrorists — not members of an army. Even the best technology cannot fully protect our citizens. What if instead we put our money to work for a more just world? To fight poverty, disease, sexism and racism? What would the world be like if the U.S. closed its bases in other countries like Saudi Arabia and used that money to create peace in Palestine?
Pat: Militarism has robbed my country of its soul. In recent months I have been speaking at nearby colleges to help students learn the truths behind the mainstream propaganda. I will be in Washington Apr. 20 (story, above) to march in solidarity with all the citizens who want to bring our government under control.