I saw this video clip from the Brave New Foundation and thought you all might like to take a look. It puts into rather harsh perspective the facts about the Iraq war and the Afghanistan war. Now’s the time to move towards an end of these ‘anniversaries.’

Finally, if you haven’t done so already, please take a minute to look at FCNL’s Afghanistan petition and consider signing it (or if you’ve already signed, please send it on to 5 friends).

In peace & hope,

~Rachael

The White House responded to the op-ed with a statement from President Obama, saying, “I pledge to do everything in my power to forge a bipartisan consensus this year on this important issue so we can continue to move forward on comprehensive immigration reform.”  Senator Reid also issued a statement saying he is committed to bringing this bill to the floor when it is ready.

While draft language on the Senate bill has not yet been released, at FCNL we support the CIR ASAP bill, which was introduced in the House in December 2009.  This bill protects family unity, provides a workable legalization program, and protects immigrants’ civil and human rights.  To urge your representative to support this bill, send a letter today.

Meanwhile, many thousands of immigration advocates have started the trek to Washington, DC, to rally on Sunday afternoon.  Individuals whose loved ones have been deported, who have been denied fair wages, whose children cannot attend college because they lack papers, will all converge on the National Mall to say that the time for immigration reform is now.

Don’t miss it!  We hope you can join us and tens of thousands of supporters this weekend.  Si se puede!

Don’t miss out on the action!  Over 100,000 supporters of immigration reform will gather this Sunday, March 21st, on the National Mall to witness the urgent need for immigration reform.  Grab a friend, grab a sign, and join us!

Last week, President Obama met with Senator Chuck Schumer (NY) and Senator Lindsey Graham (SC), who are working together to draft a bipartisan immigration reform bill in the Senate.  However, talks are stalled and immigrant families cannot wait any longer.  The time for immigration reform is now.

As people of faith, we can’t sit by as the broken immigration system rips apart families and communities.  Join us in Washington DC to urge Congress to pass just, humane immigration reform.

Meeting with Sousan and Shida

Sousan made a very striking comment towards the end of our meeting (their English was outstanding and they also spoke German and Arabic in addition to their native Farsi.) Expressing the frustration that many of her fellow Iranians feel at being labeled ‘fundamentalists,’ Sousan quipped, “If ‘fundamentalists’ means we are insistent about our beliefs, we are all fundamentalists!”

The subject of the U.S.-Iran relationship is one that arouses deep emotions, and often unyielding perspectives. Despite the fact that most Iranians and Americans have never experienced the other country or culture first hand, most have developed a paradigm of distrust and even enmity towards the other.  Actually, in the few years I have been working in Middle Eastern issues, I have noticed a great deal of ‘fundamentalist’ thinking–by that I mean, people seem to have firm, fervently held opinions on the topic regardless of their leaning, and I have met with greater or lesser degrees of respect for my own beliefs.

Before meeting Sousan and Shida, I spent the entire morning at a session held by the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) a group representing the Iranian expatriate community that FCNL has worked with for some time.  There could not have been a more marked contrast of political perspectives between those who have left Iran for various reasons over the last thirty years, and the women still in Iran. The NIAC forum focused heavily on human rights abuses by the Iranian government and was strongly favorable towards the opposition movement–compared to the women from Iran who were critical of expatriates and of the opposition ‘Green’ protests.  Yet, both of these groups, whether in agreement with the policies of Iran or not, emphasized strongly the need for people to people dialogue and respect for differences of opinion and cultural understandings. FCNL believes this is a fundamental necessity, and in the foreign policy arena, we couldn’t have a stronger conviction–so perhaps we are fundamentalists, in a good way?

I could delve into what set the Iranian perspective apart from the Iranian American position, but what was so compelling was that in both settings, the calls for civility and for greater education and mobilization were identical! Time and again, from members of Congress, from the media, from scholars, and from ordinary Iranians, the refrain was clear: we must promote more contact, build up trust and teach people about Iran and the U.S., and then create pressure on the governments to work on diplomacy and meaningful political engagement instead of harmful rhetoric, sanctions, and posturing that gets nowhere.  Sousan and Shida, as well as the NIAC panelists, were bothered by the ‘Iranian exceptionalism’ that has become a corner of U.S. policy, wherein  Iran’s “pariah” status is elevated despite the fact that the U.S. has ambassadors in Syria, in China, and in many places they do not agree with political policies and other countries, like China, are not called out for their human rights abuses in the same manner.

Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (CA) urged those in the audience at the NIAC forum to help “educate” Congress “about the many failures of sanctions” and Congressman Keith Ellison (MN) insisted that we must talk to our representatives and show President Obama that many Americans still support a policy of engagement and a dialogue on a variety of subjects, not just the nuclear issue. This was a great encouragement for me at FCNL since we are doing this every day. Sousan and Shida say we are “sisters and brothers” and want to build bridges between their womens’ peace groups in Iran and peace organizations in the U.S.  Hopefully grass-roots mobilization will grow to support lobbyists like FCNL in this endeavor!

For me part of the appeal is that he is a pop artist who not only sings about broken hearts but he also sings about political and social messages in his music.  Even more evidence of the humanitarian side of this dashing Latin singer,  is his participation with the United States Campaign to Ban Landmines.  FCNL has played a strong role in this issue for many years.  An issue that directly affects Colombians as well as many other countries that have a history of US military presence.   It is this involvement that brought him to FCNL today.

Juanes with Joe Volk in front of FCNL's building

This afternoon, the group, United States Campaign to Ban Landmines (USCBL) met in FCNL’s downstairs conference room.  About five of the FCNL interns hovered near the front door for about 30 minutes prior to when we thought he might show up.  When he finally came, I was too embarrassed to introduce myself, so instead I hovered behind a wall, hoping to a catch a glimpse.

At the end of the meeting, Tommy Bobo, an FCNL staff member, took some photos of the Campaign to Ban Landmines group with Joe Volk,  Juanes, and a War Is Not the Answer sign.    You can get a free War Is Not the Answer sign, like Juanes did, here.

What you can’t see in the picture are the silver shoes Juanes was wearing!  Don’t worry, after the pictures were taken, I finally introduced myself to him and shook his hand.  It has been quite a day here on 2nd and Cst.  If only every day was this eventful.

FCNL has embarked on a campaign with the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) to end US-sponsored torture forever. Because we’re not just talking about national security, we’re talking about human lives and human dignity.

Torture dehumanizes both perpetrators and victims. We, as members of a society whose government has tortured, are also caught up in this web. We are called to take a stand.

Now, we’re asking you to take one step to join us.

Ask your meeting or church to endorse a Commission of Inquiry. A Commission of Inquiry would be independent. It would gather the facts and make recommendations about how to ensure that the United States never again engages in torture.

In order to educate your community about the importance of eradicating US-sponsored torture, you could show them the Campaign’s 20-minute video, “Ending US-Sponsored Torture Forever.” I’ve included the trailer here.

Torture is a moral issue, and it is always wrong. Help us to spread the word.

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The proposed legislation, S. 3058, would also increase funding from $150 million per year to $200 million per year for the SDPI. This would be an important step in the right direction of providing increased funding for Indian health care, which currently lags far behind the health care most people in this country experience.

Another thing that makes this bill exciting is that it was introduced with a very bipartisan set of consponsors, including 8 Democrats and 8 Republicans. According to the National Indian Health Board press release, “The SDPI supported programs have resulted in a decrease of 13% in the mean blood sugar level (AIC), which translates to a 40% reduction in diabetes-complications.

Please consider writing to your senators asking them to co-sponsor this bill. You can also write your representative regarding the corresponding House bill.

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People working to mitigate climate change and migration experts have long been skeptical of one another. Migration scholars resent that many environmental groups have used a dramatized threat of “climate migration” to drum up support for their cause, while inadvertently demonizing migrants. Conversely, environmental groups often feel that migration studies discount the effects of climate and environmental change and the degree to which one can attribute much of the migration in the past several decades (at least partially) to climate change. Thankfully, some of this animosity seems to be thawing as people realize that all these issues are interconnected and action is dependent on understanding how.

Susan Martin, the climate specialist, mentioned four ways that climate change and migration interact:

1. Desertification and increasingly long drought seasons push people out of their homelands (a relatively slow migratory pattern).
2. Rising seal levels will force people to relocate (slow).
3. More frequent and intense natural disasters induce displacement and people often never return to their original homes (this results in quick, mass migration– we are seeing more of it already).
4. Competition over resources leads to conflicts and displacement (this could be large scale, and is the scariest option in many ways).

She also provided a lot of hope, though. She mentioned that remittances from migrants back to their home countries far outweigh any government or foreign commitments and that if that resource stream could be tied to adaptation projects it would be a tremendous advantage. The entire panel also reiterated that often the very necessity of sharing resources means that there is increased cooperation about things like water rights. Cooperating on environmental issues can then begin to break down other barriers, such as ethnic, religious or political differences. Perhaps the very direness of the situation will force humanity to become more peaceful and cooperative.

I was also heartened to hear that both Oxfam and USAID are building a consciousness of environmental change into their projects and that everyone is taking this issue seriously. The common wisdom on the connection between climate change and conflict is that a changing climate multiplies other factors that lead to fragile and failing states, such as poverty, weak governance, and economic instability. Therefore it is essential that climate change be part of any conversation happening in the State Department, USAID, and even the military. It also means that FCNL’s climate and peaceful prevention of deadly conflict programs are more closely linked that we often think.

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Something less well known but equally as impressive is the process in which FCNL decides what legislative priorities to work on. This biannual process involves asking Quaker meetings and churches all over the country to engage in worshipful discernment to determine what they feel are the most important legislative priorities for FCNL to focus on in the coming session of Congress. These priorities are within the wider context of FCNL’s policy statement and the four “we seeks“.

All of the responses are worshipfully considered by FCNL’s policy committee, a smaller body of twelve members appointed from FCNL’s General Committee. Out of the responses, the policy committee, takes the “sense of the responses” and put them into a document that is presented to FCNL’s governing body, the General Committee. This body meets in November where they also examine and worshipfully consider the statement created by the policy committee. The approved document becomes FCNL’s legislative priorities for the coming congress. See FCNL’s legislative priorities for the current congress.

Yes, this is somewhat of a slow and complicated process for an organization to decide what legislation priorities to focus on, as the process goes from one body of Quakers, to another body of Quakers to another body, and happens over the course of almost a year….however, partly due to this long, and laborious process, I believe it is an incredibly powerful and unique experience.

It can be a powerful process for the individual, for the Friends community, and for FCNL. The process presents a unique opportunity for Friends to ask themselves deep questions within the context of the wider world of Friends. What do I believe are the most pressing national legislative issues? What issues do I feel called to work on? As a community, what local or national issues do we feel called to work on? What is our group’s role within the wider world of Friends?

The opportunity lies in engaging in serious discernment as a meeting, which helps individual and collective witness to grow. Often Friends feel a call to further work as a community, whether at a local or national level. Overall, Friends have the opportunity to feel more connected to each other, to become more connected with FCNL’s work and feel more connected with the wider world of Friends.

Not only is it beneficial on the local level, but FCNL’s work finds increased grounding and spiritual depth through this process. The more diverse responses FCNL’s receives the richer FCNL’s work becomes. There is no other process like this among Friends. It is corporate discernment on a large scale, connecting Friends of all branches and theological backgrounds for a common purpose. How is the Religious Society of Friends called to witness in Washington? How is the Religious Society of Friends called to change federal policy for the common good?

If you belong to a Quaker meeting or church, and your community has not engaged in the priority process this year, I strongly encourage you to do so.

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Yesterday I took a look at their site and was happy to see that they have a new article posted by the “Interfaith Amigos” Rabbi Ted Falcon, Pastor Don Mackenzie, and Sheikh Jamal Rahman who have been working, writing, and learning together since 2001. This new article, “Head, Heart, and Hands: Breaking the Cycle of Religious Fear” by Sheikh Jamal Rahman addresses many issues and can certainly be related to FCNL’s work as well as the Epistle Encouraging Quaker Engagement with American Muslims that the General Committee approved during the 2009 Annual Meeting.

If you’re looking for ways to encourage interfaith dialouge, the “Interfaith Amigos” seems like a good place to start!

Happy reading.

In peace,

~Rachael

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