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As lawmakers define California?s role in the war on terrorism, FCL is urging them to pursue strategies that catch conflict before it escalates (see graphic). We have had mixed success so far. Although the Davis Administration sought legislation to change the state?s wiretapping laws to allow roving wiretaps and Republicans attempted to expand the death penalty to include terrorist acts, both proposals were defeated. But state policy is being shaped by the federal government that bears most of the responsibility for national defense and is predisposed to military solutions.
This trend towards militarization is rooted in the fear of Soviet domination that followed the end of World War II. Aided by McCarthyism, the Cold War transformed much of the nation?s industrial production into a permanent war-preparations economy that consumes too large a share of its resources and its intelligencia. Despite the end of the Cold War, militarization is escalating with the war on terrorism and the National Missile Defense program: the Bush Administration has asked Congress to increase military spending by 13 percent for the upcoming fiscal year.
Terrorism, however, cannot be fought with conventional means because it is like a virus that strikes from within. It is best prevented by cutting off its recruitment. The conditions of hopelessness and despair that breed political violence must be replaced with frameworks for resolving political differences that are inclusive and open. Instead, the Bush Administration now favors deposing Saddam Hussein, a unilateral move that could destroy any hope of creating an international coalition against terrorism and risks spreading war throughout the region. Securing a viable peace cannot be done with military force.
SJR 32, by Ray Haynes, R., Riverside, proposes to congratulate the Bush Administration for its strategies in fighting terrorism. FCL Opposes.
SB 1350, by Bruce McPherson, R., Santa Cruz, secures federal funds to establish the Emergency Response Training Committee to develop training programs for first responses to terrorism, but fails to address methods that can minimize homegrown political violence. FCL Opposes unless amended to include training on prevention.
Reversing the Trend Towards Militarization
California enjoys a rich multi ethnic heritage, and our public school system is our greatest common denominator. California?s public education system transforms children from diverse backgrounds into a common people with a shared destiny. Every educator knows that in order to educate students, they are often challenged with overcoming stereotypes conveyed in the home, community, and the mass media.
Public reaction to September 11 illustrates the centrality of the mass media in shaping public opinion. CNN relied almost exclusively on General Wesley Clark to analyze the U.S. Government?s ?proper response.? Despite opposition from a handful of political and religious leaders calling for a nonviolent response to the attacks, no major television network offered opposing commentaries. When the need for critical thinking and dissent was most needed?when government officials were under intense pressure to react and were considering policy options?there was no public debate in the mainstream media surrounding our nation?s entry into what the Bush Administration now describes as a perpetual state of war.
In addition to defining the political agenda by focusing the public?s attention, the mass media desensitizes us to violence by portraying extraordinary violence, whether real or fictitious, as the norm. History is presented as an endless progression of wars. Seldom are we instructed on the power of nonviolence as practiced by such visionaries as Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi. Nor do we learn of the selfless actions taken by members of Peace Brigades International, ordinary citizens who accompany people under death threats in order to stop the bloodshed, nor of the alternatives to violence projects that address prison violence.
Following several multiple-victim incidents on school campuses that shocked human sensibilities, the response to youth violence in schools and elsewhere parallels current antiterrorism practices: increasing penalties for ?adult crimes,? stationing probation officers, police and security guards on school grounds and installing metal detectors at school entrances. While detecting weapons and increasing surveillance may produce some measure of security, they are, at best, shortterm remedies. Effectively reducing violence requires a longterm approach that considers what many educators, mental health experts, religious leaders, and peace researchers have known for quite some time: that violence is learned behavior that can be unlearned and prevented.
Some school districts are already addressing violent behavioral problems in innovative ways. In San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, the Inland Agency, a communitybased nonprofit organization, introduced the PeaceBuilders program to local schools for K-5 children. Students, peers, parents, faculty, and school personnel learn how to reduce hostility and aggression by living a common language of peace at a young age. Instead of punishment and shame, the program uses positive reinforcement that stresses four basic concepts: praise for good behavior, respect for everyone (no putdowns), accepting responsibility for harms caused to others by making amends, and to seek wise people for advisers and friends.
Evaluations of the program are promising. A study by the Center for Disease Control shows significant reductions in the number of student visits to school nurses due to fights. Other evaluations show significant reductions in the number of playground fights, classroom disruptions and principal referrals. Academic performance also improves.
SB 1667, by John Vasconcellos, D., San Jose, provides that when schools develop safety and violence prevention programs as required by current law, they should take into account that assuring each child a safe physical environment, an emotionally nurturing environment, and providing children with violence prevention skills are essential to promoting safety. FCL Supports.
FCL knows that education is more than a means to economic survival; it is also a means to good citizenship. To become adults who are capable of participating in representative government, students also need to develop critical thinking skills to counter the largerthanlife sensationalism and deference to the federal government of the mass media As students learn the power of nonviolence in their schools, they can apply these lessons to their communities and the larger world as adults.
? Jim Lindburg
WHAT YOU CAN DO
FCL is built on a 300 year-old foundation of creative nonviolent action by Quakers that has overcome injustice and adversity in dealing with issues large and small. The following are just a few examples: William Penn established a Quaker-governed settlement in the New World that dealt so respectfully with the Delaware and Iroquois Indians that the Pennsylvania frontier remained peaceful for decades. Penn understood the value of institutions designed to reinforce peaceful conduct, and even proposed a council of European nations to prevent armed conflict. His vision of a European Parliament is just now being implemented after numerous European wars and millions of unnecessary deaths.
John Woolman, a New Jersey Friend, began in about 1745 to convince slave owners and the Society of Friends generally to abandon the practice of slavery. This work led to creation of abolition societies throughout the South, and more than two-thirds of southern white families decided not to keep slaves. In the North, Friends helped maintain an ?underground railroad? assisting runaway slaves to find freedom in Canada. The Civil War was a heart-breaking setback to this human rights initiative that began so peacefully. Friends participated actively in relief and reconstruction work for victims of the war, and have ever since sought justice for former slaves and their descendants.
Rufus Jones helped form the American Friends Service Committee to relieve the suffering of refugees in World War I. The Service Committee?s work started by replacing the houses lost by French peasants who were in the path of the Marne offensive. To help salvage surplus military shovels, picks, and other tools for the benefit of refugees, they convinced French authorities to lend them 200 German prisoners of war. While these men were working, the AFSC photo-graphed each of them. These pictures were delivered to each prisoner?s family in Germany even before the war had ended, accompanied by a description of the work, and the money that would have been paid to the prisoner had he been a free laborer. After the war, millions of German children survived on food delivered by the AFSC. Twenty-five years later, during World War II, German soldiers who remembered these acts of kindness to a defeated people were willing to look the other way as the AFSC again performed relief work for refugees in Occupied France and Casablanca.
Elizabeth Gray Vining, a Philadelphia Friend, was selected in 1946 to tutor the Crown Prince in Japan. She helped instill such confidence and independence in the young man that he was able to change the established court traditions by selecting his own bride, and choosing to raise his children in his own household. The flowering of a civil Japanese society that had previously been dominated by militarism was reinforced by the enlightened changes taking place in the Imperial household.
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Peter Ackerman, A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict (St. Martin?s Press, 2000) tells the stories of six successful non-violent movements, including Danish resistance to Nazi rule and Solidarity?s overthrow of communism in Poland, based on a series of public television documentaries.
Elise Boulding, Cultures of Peace: The Hidden Side of History (Syracuse Univ. Press, 2000) explores the cultures of peace that have tended to compensate for damage done by organized violence and war.
Adam Curle, To Tame the Hydra; Undermining the culture of violence (J.W. Arrowsmith, Ltd., Bristol, 1999) describes the changes that
can transform societies, based on his mediation work in over a dozen war zones.
Duane Ruth-Heffelbower, Conflict and Peacemaking Across Cultures (Fresno Pacific University, 1999) provides tools for incorporating conflict management work into the multicultural environments where stress and misunderstanding are most likely to cause difficulty.
Michael Nagler, Is There No Other Way? The Search for a Nonviolent Future (Berkeley Hills, 2001) traces the achievements of Mahatma Ghandi and his legacy of non-violence.
William Ury, The Third Side; Why we fight and how we can stop (Penguin Putnam, 2000) describes ten practical roles that people can play to halt destructive conflict.
Some California Friends described their current peacework at the July, 2002 gathering of Pacific Yearly
Meeting of Friends:
Rachel Fretz travels from Santa Monica to Burundi to heal the traumas that remain after recurrent civil wars. Her work to break the cycle of conflict is supported by Friends Peace Teams.
Sandy Farley journeys from Redwood City to Albania and uses structured games to restore damaged thinking processes among refugee children. This work to build conflict resolution skills is assisted by the Balkan Sunflowers.
Janet Riley goes into the state prison at San Luis Obispo each month to facilitate conflict resolution workshops. She uses techniques and strategies developed by the Alternatives to Violence Project.
Joe Franko traveled from Pasadena to Pakistan to establish the Akora Khatak Afghan Refugee Girls Primary School.
Chris Moore Backman, under the care of San Francisco Friends Meeting, lives in a Colombian Peace Community that chooses to be neutral in the civil war. This effort to contain violence by peaceful accompaniment is under the auspices of the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
What You Can Do:
Peacemaking requires the focused efforts of volunteers and insightful workers in practically every field. If you want state policies to encourage this kind of activity, consider inviting your legislators to tour a project like one of the following:
A. Prevention programs enable people under unusual stress to meet their needs, immunize youth to violent media influences, and build relationships between opposing groups. Examples are sweat-equity housing projects like Habitat for Humanity, media literacy centers, trauma healing services, and other community-building activities.
B. Mediation programs and other conflict resolution activities can democratize power relationships and repair injured relationships. Examples are the Alternatives to Violence Projects, victim-offender mediation, and neighborhood mediation centers.
C. Containment of violence is effective when disputants know they are being observed, and they accept safe boundaries for power struggles. Truces between gangs, community-based policing activities, and neighborhood watch programs may meet these needs.
?In light of the increased military conflict throughout our world, the dangerous proliferation of nuclear arms and our radically-expanding federal military budget, peacemaking has become a matter of life or death ? for all of us, for every human.?
Upon their return from the July recess, five legislators joined Assemblymember John Vasconcellos in a press conference on a ?peace package? of six resolutions addressing the nuclear freeze, the bloated military budget, the establishment of a National Peace Academy and other peace efforts.
ACR 149 (Vasconcellos) would put the California Legislature on record in support of the concept of a bilateral nuclear freeze. ?
AJR 124 cites the impact of a few of the federal reductions in human services on Californians. ? In fiscal year 1982, funds for social programs were cut by $30 billion while defense expenditures were increased by nearly the same amount. ?
ACR 147 (Vasconcellos) urges the Regents of the University of California to establish a research institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. ?
AJR 65 (Vasconcellos) would urge Congress to establish a National Academy of Peace and Conflict Resolution. ?
AJR 125 (Vasconcellos) would ask Congress to endorse Children?s Peace Day. This program is aimed at encouraging children to relate their thoughts about peace to elected officials. ?
Has the University of California been chiefly responsible for a continuously escalating nuclear arms race? The extent of the University?s nuclear weapons laboratories? involvement in forestalling a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty came to light during a hearing sponsored by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. ?
University Explains, Defends Role
Dr. William Frazer, the University?s Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs [said] ?We?re not in this for the money.? Rather, the UC Regents believe the labs perform a valuable public service by ?assisting in our national security effort.? ?
Lab?s Efforts to Influence Test Ban Policy Revealed
In the afternoon, the second panel began testimony on the question of the labs? conformity with national policy objectives. It has been official U.S. policy since the Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTB) was signed in 1963 to work toward a CTB, yet the labs have advised against it. ?
Dr. Hugh DeWitt, a Livermore Lab physicist with expertise in bomb design, testified that the labs have acted in direct opposition to national policy and the national interest. At one point he said that they ?have emerged as powerful ongoing permanent institutions that lobby very effectively in Congress and the Pentagon for ever more weapons development. ? [I]t is clear that the laboratories are centers of strong opposition to any form of nuclear test ban agreement.?
Jim Lindburg, who joined the FCL staff in April, is pictured (above left) with Jim Healton, Pastor of Sacramento Friends Community Church, as they lead a vigil at the State Capitol urging a State Budget that is fair to poor families. Jim has come to FCL from California State University, Sacramento, where he served as a teaching assistant in the government department and organized symposia on political issues, in addition to managing the travel office. He has served as a volunteer at Folsom Prison.
Steve Birdlebough retires on Sept. 30th. His work and presence as our Legislative Advocate for the past five years have been inspiring in many ways. We will miss him in this role, but hope he will continue to be a contributor to FCL for years to come. Jim Lindburg is assuming the lead role as our legislative advocate.
Summer volunteer Lizzy Bell is pleased to help support FCL?s causes, especially abolition of the death penalty. She is doing office work and running errands to the Capitol. Lizzy has attended Sacramento Friends Meeting for most of her life, and supported FCL since she was very young. The
FCL office displays a framed letter that accompanied a contribution Lizzy gave to FCL when she was five years old. She is now going into the 11th grade.
At Pacific Yearly Meeting in San Diego, FCL staff and supporters renewed connections and made new connections furthering our advocacy efforts. Our activities at PYM included facilitating three interest groups, sharing a 50th anniversary cake, showing the new FCL video ?Speaking Truth to Power,? circulating written materials including reprints of the recent Friends Bulletin issue featuring FCL, and talking with Friends and others about outreach opportunities to increase support for FCL.
A very lively and promising initial outreach workshop with 16 FCL leaders and supporters was held on July 13th in Palo Alto. We will be convening a similar workshop on August 24th at Orange Grove Friends Meeting in Pasadena.
We are scheduling outreach presentations (featuring the video) with Meetings and other groups in southern and northern California, and developing a Speakers? Bureau with supporters who will represent FCL in these forums. If you would like to assist in arranging a presentation, please contact the office and speak with Ira.
Southern California Job Opportunity
FCL is seeking a person to serve as southern California Outreach Assistant on a part-time basis. This staff member will carry out activities including informational programs, mailings, phoning, and fundraising events. The position pays approximately $7 an hour to start for 60 hours per month on average. A full job announcement and appli-cation are available through the FCL office. The appli-cation deadline has been extended to September 6th or until filled.
It is with great sadness that we report the death of Jan Marinissen on July 4, after a long illness. Jan served for many years on the FCL Education Fund Board of Directors, co-authored the AFSC publication The Struggle for Justice in 1972, and was a long-time supporter of criminal justice reform.
A passionate advocate, Jan was born March 31, 1928, in Holland, and grew up under the shadow of Nazi militarism and German wartime expansion. During the German occupation he was detained and interrogated; these experiences helped fuel his long fight for prisoner?s rights and social justice. He came to the United States in 1955 at age 27 and made his way to California, where he began a lifelong association with the American Friends Service Committee.
Jan served as chair of the State Legislature?s Citizen Advisory Commission on Alternatives to Incarceration, and also served on the Berkeley Mental Health Commission. He was instrumental in many coalition efforts to stop prison expansion, including the Jail Overuse Coalition, the Committee Against More Prisons, Committee for Prisoner Humanity and Justice, the National Prison Moratorium campaign and the Criminal Justice Consortium. He attended every meeting of the International Conference on Penal Abolition up until 1997. Friends will miss him greatly.
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[Action Alerts][Bill Status][Prior Newsletters][FCL Homepage] You can have each issue of the FCL Newsletter mailed to your home or place of business, simply by mailing a request to our office, together with a check for $35 ($12 low-income). Bundle subscriptions to a meeting, congregation, or other group may also be arranged at a cost of $75.
Friends Committee on Legislation
This page was last updated December 20, 2001; it is supported by Peacetree. Recent access
Resources for Peacemaking:
Quaker Peacemakers of Today
In FCL Newsletter History
FCL 20 Years Ago
August-September 1982, Vol. 31, No. 8
PEACE RESOLUTIONS
Assemblymember John Vasconcellos (D., San Jose)
FCL 15 Years Ago
April 1987, Vol. 36, No. 4
U.C. and THE TEST BANFCL Staff Activity
Reaching Out
Jan Marinissen (1928-2002)
FCL Calendar of Events
Sept. 14 ? Birthday Celebrations for Bick (90) and FCL (50)
Berkeley Friends Church, 2-5 p.m.
When longtime FCL supporter Ernest (Bick) Bicknell turned 80, he had a birthday fundraiser for FCL that filled his house. He promised to do it again in 10 years and he?s keeping his word. Join us for good food and company, watch the FCL video, and bring a contribution of a multiple of $9 ? $45, $90, or more!
Sept. 28 ? Southern California 50th Anniversary Dinner
Whittier First Friends Church, 5-8 p.m.
FCL Legislative Advocate Steve Birdlebough will be the keynote speaker. The program includes a large-screen showing of the FCL video and a discussion of the November state ballot propositions. The deadline to register without paying a late fee is September 13.
Sept. 28 ? Fall Bazaar, Palo Alto
A chance to stock up on fall essentials ? plants, preserves, crafts, etc., and enjoy
a flea market atmosphere while you support FCL. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Palo
Alto Friends Meeting House, 957 Colorado Ave. Call Carol Chatfield at
(650) 493-9032 for more information.
Oct. 5 ? Yard Sale to benefit FCL, Davis
The Davis Friends Meeting will hold its annual FCL yard sale from 8 a.m. to noon at the Meeting House, 345 L St.. Donations of goods and services are encouraged. Please contact Sharon Moghaddam at (530) 756-3557 or Michael Conn at
(530) 753-4174.
For reservations or more information for these events, please contact the FCL office by phone at (916) 443-3734 or e-mail at fcldevt@cwo.com.
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