injustice – Page 4 – Engaging Peace

Giving voice to the silenced (Stories of engagement)

Posted on August 22, 2011August 21, 2011 by kathiemm

[Note from Kathie MM: Today, in honor of Ramadan, which is being celebrated this month by Muslims around the world, we are proud to present another case study in moral engagement—in this instance by our young poet/activist contributor, San’aa Sultan. Ramadan Mubarak.]

Child holding poster and flag in West Bank protest — West Bank protest. Photo by Hamde Abu Rahmah; used with permission.

I’m San’aa Sultan, a peace activist, a writer, a poet and an artist but most importantly a human being. Being human means that I feel the pain of those around me suffering and that I cannot close my eyes to the pain nor can I silently submit to a system and a world where injustice is normal.

I’m a poet and my words are inspired by the struggles of those whose names, faces and voices we do not know or value. I write because I feel it is my duty to give a voice to those who have been silenced.

I tie myself closely to the struggles of Palestine and Kashmir because I don’t understand how over 60 years later we still speak of the same struggles and still watch the same people live under such harsh conditions and do not speak against any of it.

I run a blog called “Today In Kashmir” to highlight the suffering of those in Indian Occupied Kashmir and I’m also involved in prisoner support work with the Ministry of Detainees in Gaza. Through this, a sister from Gaza and I have set up a Facebook page called “Support Palestinian Detainees and Their Families” with the intention to globalise the stories of those detained by Israel.

I was suffering from many personal losses when my activism begun and in May 2010 when the Mavi Marmara was attacked by the Israel Defense Forces in international waters, I could no longer remain silent. Our struggle became one.

San’aa Sultan

South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission: What did it achieve?

Posted on June 9, 2011June 8, 2011 by kathiemm

[Note from Kathie Malley-Morrison: Today’s post is written by Ross Berriman, a rising senior at Middlebury College in Vermont, majoring in psychology and sociology. He lives near Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, and is currently a student in Psychology of War and Peace at Boston University and a regular commenter on this blog.]

Apartheid sign: For use by white persons — Image in public domain

When I was asked to comment on my views about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), I was immediately struck by how little I knew about the process. As a South African, I feel that I should know more about my country and its involvement in one of the most revolutionary reconciliation processes in modern history.

What shocked me even further was that I do not even remember learning or even talking about the TRC during school. In fact, the TRC seemed like something that people wanted to forget.

From the perspective of a white South African, I can understand this notion of wanting to put the past behind us, as it is shameful to think of what we and our forefathers did to generations of people of color. And yet, if I were a black person in South Africa, I might feel angry and frustrated that some of the enforcers and leaders of the regime have literally gotten away with murder.

I find it very difficult to understand the courage that it must take to be a person of color in South Africa and to forgive white people for centuries of injustice suffered at their hands.

Today South Africa is a beacon of light for countries experiencing conflict. It provides the world with a reason to believe that nations can overcome their pasts and move forward into peaceful democracies without discrimination, where everyone is respected by the constitution.

Personally, I think that the TRC was the best thing for South Africa, and I doubt that we would have had such a successful and peaceful transition of power and 17 years of freedom without it.

Ross Berriman

Individuals make a difference

Posted on August 12, 2010July 6, 2011 by kathiemm

Rosa Parks in 1979 — Rosa Parks, with NAACP's highest award, in 1979. (Photo from Wikimedia Commons, where permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this photo under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License).

We live in frightening times, and it is easy to think that as individuals there is nothing much we can do about the violence and horror taking place in so many parts of the world.

But individuals can and do make a difference and always have done so.

Historically, it is easy to think of moral monsters who made a difference in the most reprehensible of ways—e.g., Hitler, Stalin, Ghengis Khan. But it’s also easy to think of many individuals who have made a difference by fighting for peace and justice–and I don’t mean just Christ, Mohammed, Gandhi, and Mother Theresa.

I mean Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Father Daniel Berrigan, Father Robert Drinan, Eleanor Roosevelt, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Noam Chomsky, Cindy Sheehan, Amos Oz, Najeeb Mahfooz, Muhammed Yunnus, Howard Zinn, the signatories to the Camp David Peace talks that led to peace between Israel and Egypt, Aung San, and the young man who stood up to the tank at Tiananman Square.

There may be disagreements about who should be on the list of individuals who have sought to live a life of moral engagement by contributing to the cause of peace. What matters is that we recognize that any individual, regardless of his or her religion, ethnicity, social class, education, gender, or nationality can make a difference, and can help in the very human struggle against violence and injustice.

Who are the people you admire for taking a courageous stance for peace?

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Note: This post was adapted from my previously published article in Peace Psychology (a publication of the American Psychological Association), Spring, 2009.