Tag Archives: Libya

LIBYA: The news you may not have heard

Posted on October 2, 2012 | Comments Off

Nick Meleby Nick Mele
Pax Christi USA National Council member

About ten days after the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, there were a few interesting follow-up articles and occasional broadcast stories about the aftermath of the attack. These were not stories about calls for revenge or what the Libyan and U.S. governments are doing to track down the people responsible for the deaths, the news reported was much more hopeful. A New York Times story reported that crowds of unarmed Libyans marched on militia compounds and the Ansar al-Sharia headquarters in Benghazi and disarmed the militias. For most part unarmed, they persisted, in some cases burning guns and ammunition, in others removing them.

Needless to say, this news did not get the intensive coverage the original incident did, and did not receive the impassioned commentaries from pundits which characterized much of the reaction to the deaths of the American officials. There was also almost no mention anywhere of a Gallup poll released a few days after the attack which found that 95 percent of Libyans believed, before the attack on the consulate, that the militias should be required to surrender their weapons to the authorities.

Part of the reason must certainly be our continuing struggle to assimilate the flood of information with which we all struggle to cope. Another is the way coverage of nonviolent events vanishes from the news, but a bigger part of the problem is our focus on violence and violent solutions to problems, indoctrinated through the news media, films, television shows and video and computer games. Yet a third is a general expectation, fostered by the same sources, that all the news from the Muslim world is bad news. The reality is very different and perhaps the best way to learn that is to read and listen to Muslim voices of tolerance, the very voices that seldom pass through the filters our media organizations impose.

Click here to read more from Nick’s blog.

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Posted in Bread for the Journey, Libya, Libya, Mele, Peacemakers

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REFLECTION: Telling the other side of the story

Posted on October 1, 2012 | 2 Comments

Marie DennisBy Marie Dennis
Pax Christi International Co-President

(This is the fourth in a series about civil discourse, respectful dialogue across difference, and nonviolence. Read Marie’s first post here, second post here and third post here. And join in the conversation by posting comments on the website below this post and future ones, as well as participating in the dialogue on our Facebook page and Twitter.)

As heads of state and delegations to the United Nations gathered in New York for the opening of the U.N. General Assembly, significant attention, including in President Obama’s address, was given to critical questions raised by the insulting video produced in the United States and the violence it sparked in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Sudan and elsewhere in the Middle East. The violent fruit of extreme polarization, ignorance, demonization and manipulation was made highly visible by international media and electronic networking sites, but the other side of the story was neither well told nor adequately discussed.

At the end of the week, Religions for Peace and the Institute for Global Engagement invited representatives of faith-based civil society to a dialogue with several States, including the U.S. and Kenya, representatives of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Alliance of Civilizations, researchers and analysts.

The brief remarks of Libyan Islamic scholar Dr. Aref Ali Nayed were deeply moving and extremely important.  This was the first time he had spoken publicly since the killing of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three embassy aides.  He described Ambassador Stevens as a great friend of Libya.  He also spoke with tremendous sadness about the many others in Libya whose lives were lost in recent days, including ten youth who were trying to stop the violence – who were, as he said, “brave enough to say ‘no’ to the stealing of the Libyan revolution.”

Perhaps if the media and all of us had focused more attention on the sacrificial efforts of many in Libya and elsewhere to stop the violence, we would be able to turn the tide on the escalating hate.

Dr. Ali Nayed identified five principles to guide us as we try to move from a deeply polarized world to one of mutual care and understanding:

  • A transcendent vision that places compassion above national or individual ambition
  • Preservation of the sacredness of all that God holds sacred, including all persons and certainly what he called “paradigmatic” persons – Mohammed and Jesus. Free speech, he said, can never be used to attack this sacredness.
  • Dedication to service
  • Persistent determination – the revolution, including against our own selfishness, will be long
  • Appreciation of gifts, including the gifts of diversity and of other persons who can keep us honest

These are deep and rich principles that are alien to the current political discussion in the U.S. but would be well worth pondering in this last month before the elections.  They might help us probe more deeply the crucial decisions we will make on November 6th and examine our own narrow-mindedness that facilitates enemy-making of exactly the sort our world needs to overcome.

Click here to read part 5.

Marie Dennis is a Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace and the Co-President of Pax Christi International. 

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Posted in Ambassadors of Peace, Bread for the Journey, Dennis, Election 2012, Libya, Nonviolence, Politics, Sharing Wisdom

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REFLECTION: There is never any justification for violence

Posted on September 18, 2012 | 2 Comments

Rosemarie Paceby Rosemarie Pace
Pax Christi Metro New York Director

“There is never any justification for violence.”
President Barack Obama, September 15th, 2012

In response to the violent attacks against U.S. embassies around the world, especially in the Middle East, by Muslims enraged over a YouTube video that insults the revered prophet Muhammad, President Barack Obama, in his weekly address said:  “We stand for religious freedom. And we reject the denigration of any religion – including Islam, but there is never any justification for violence. There is no religion that condones the targeting of innocent men and women. There is no excuse for attacks on our Embassies and Consulates.” (Sept. 15, 2012)

I couldn’t agree more.  But then I must ask, how does the U.S.A. explain maintaining the largest, best financed, best armed military in the world at the expense of its own people’s lives and livelihoods?  How does it justify having more military bases in more countries than any other country in the world when it would never condone any foreign base inside its borders?  How does it defend not only having the largest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world, but upgrading what it has while opposing a Nuclear Weapons Convention for which most nations of the world have voted?  Furthermore, how does it claim to support nuclear nonproliferation and ultimate abolition while making nuclear deals with allies like India?  What could be of greater danger to innocent men and women than a nuclear attack?  And what about those drones that have become the weapon of choice, supposedly targeting combatants but wiping out noncombatants in untold numbers?  Why has the U.S.A. opposed United Nations treaties against landmines, child soldiers, and arms trade?  In fact, the U.S.A. is the largest arms trader on the globe.  We travel half way around the world to engage in wars that are known to kill far more civilians than warriors, and then dismiss the civilian casualties as “collateral damage” with limp apologies.  Even here at home, far too many fight for gun rights with the same vigor with which they fight against health care.  Is that not violence against innocents?

In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses gives the Israelites a choice:  “I put before you life and death; choose life.”  Do we choose life in the U.S.A.?  Our foreign (and domestic) policies certainly don’t indicate that we do.  Rather, they suggest that, as a nation, we prefer death.

Where is our outcry?  Where is the outcry of our Church?  The world knows where the Catholic Church stands on abortion, same-sex marriage, and contraception.  Why isn’t it made equally aware of the Church’s stand against war, nuclear weapons, and torture?  When people distort Just War Theory to justify a war, why isn’t that used as a “teachable moment”?  In fact, each of the last several popes has increasingly indicated that a “just war” is likely no longer possible.  On October 2nd, 2003, prior to being named Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger said:  “…given the new weapons that make possible destructions that go beyond the combatant groups, today we should be asking ourselves if it is still licit to admit the very existence of a ‘just war’.”

Furthermore, this pro-life Church has spoken clearly against landmines and child soldiers.  It has endorsed a strong Arms Trade Treaty and has called the U.S. to review its use of unmanned drones, noting their indiscriminate assault on human life.  It supports both gun control and the basic right to health care for all.  It teaches an option for the poor, not a budget for the military.

How, then, can we as a nation of supposedly God-fearing people tell others “there is never any justification for violence” when we practice it with such abandon and condone it with our compliance?  Why should we expect other nations to bow to our admonishments when they not only see but are often the victims of our hypocrisy?  Let us apply to ourselves the moral standards we rightfully expect of others.  We might discover far more cooperation when we do.

Rosemarie Pace is Director of Pax Christi Metro New York. She holds a Doctorate in Education from St. John’s University in New York City and an Advanced Professional Diploma in Religious Education from Fordham University’s Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education. 

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Posted in Bread for the Journey, Human Rights, Islam, Libya, Libya, Nonviolence, Pace, Peacemakers

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LIBYA: Let us mourn

Posted on September 17, 2012 | Comments Off

Nick Meleby Nick Mele
Pax Christi USA National Council member

As a retired U.S. diplomat, I  grieved when I heard the news from Libya about the deaths at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. I lost friends in the 1998 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, and before that, worked with colleagues who had been held hostage in Tehran in 1979-80. I did not know any of the dead personally, but can imagine the shock and sorrow of their families and friends. Ironically, terrorists often attack diplomats because they are easy to reach and because of the symbolism of attacking representatives of a government, especially ambassadors.

Whenever a diplomat dies as a result of violence, we should remember that the role of the diplomat is to make peace and forestall conflict—they should be remembered as children of God. Cries for vengeance dishonor the mission of diplomacy and the work of the deceased. The unvoiced truth about diplomats is that we are all expendable sometimes, all vulnerable to violence. Most diplomats, especially U.S. diplomats, know this, and are reminded of it  before they embark on every overseas assignment, since they are required to take a  security awareness training seminar that focuses on threats and how to avoid and reduce them. Some diplomats receive even more thorough training depending upon their assignment.

Over the course of my career, I occasionally worked in embassy buildings that were attacked by groups armed with Molotov cocktails, paving stones and rocks. My reaction was always to seek to dialogue with the attackers. Sometimes, dialogue is not possible in the immediate aftermath of an event like the attack on the Benghazi consulate but our leaders and Ambassador Stevens’ successor should focus on dialogue with all Libyans to improve their understanding of the U.S. and tolerance for our differences, as we should improve our understanding of Libya and the ways Libyans differ from us.

In the meantime, let us mourn for the dead and offer consolation to their families and friends.

Click here to read more of Nick’s blog, The Disconnect.

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Posted in Africa, Bread for the Journey, Islam, Libya, Libya, Mele, Peacemakers, Reflection

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MEMORIAL DAY: Reflections of faith and reason on Memorial Day

Posted on May 29, 2011 | 1 Comment

By Tony Magliano

Memorial Day gravestones

A couple of weeks ago, while waiting to change planes at Midway International Airport in Chicago, I saw a man walking along the concourse waving the American flag, and shouting “these are troops returning from Afghanistan!” The smiling young men and women walking behind him were obviously glad to be home. And we fellow travelers were glad of their safe return from harm’s way. But as soon as the troops paraded by and the brief clapping stopped, most everyone went back to eating, drinking, reading and checking flight monitors.

It powerfully struck me as a microcosm of American society’s attitude toward the three wars the nation’s military is fighting – young men and women spilling blood, theirs and others, while for most everyone else, life going on as normal. A real disconnect from the hell of war, I’d say.

War has always been hell. That’s because it originates in hell. It is an invention of the Evil One. But today, the hell of war is distant and does not affect American society at large. And since nearly all of war’s hell is being experienced somewhere else, going to war, and staying in war, is all the easier for the vast majority of Americans.

The time surrounding Memorial Day is the most appropriate time to seriously question why is the United States waging the hell of war in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya? And why are so many young men and women being sent by our government to kill and be killed? Is there even one honest, morally sound, overriding reason why the U.S. insists on adding more people to be sadly remembered each Memorial Day?

Beware of misleading sound bite responses such as we’re fighting to “protect our national interests” or to “protect innocent civilians.” Our real national interests like ending poverty, cleaning up the environment, healthy job creation and universal health care are not addressed by the death, destruction and astronomical monetary costs of war. And innocent civilians are not protected by waging war. Quite the contrary, modern warfare kills far more innocent civilians than combatants.

In his Farewell Address to the Nation, Jan. 17, 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

Unfortunately, the U.S. never heeded the warning of this five-star army general. Instead, the military-industrial complex of weapon producing corporations shrewdly guarantees its “unwarranted influence” and “disastrous rise of misplaced power” by contributing funds to many incumbent members of Congress, and by operating arms factories in many states, which in turn, employ countless Americans. Additionally, with the presence of military installations throughout the U.S., communities have grown economically dependent on war and war preparation.

Jesus is calling believers to convert our permanent war machine into an economy dedicated to peaceful development.  Popes have been preaching this for the past 50 years! For example, Blessed John Paul II wrote since ‘“development is the new name for peace,’ war and military preparations are the major enemy of the integral development of peoples.” Is anyone listening?

In the words of the prophet Isaiah, God’s plan is for us to beat our swords into plowshares, and to train for war no more. If we, the disciples of the Prince of Peace, refuse this holy call, then who on earth will ever heed it?

Tony Magliano is a columnist whose work appears in diocesan papers throughout the United States. If your diocesan paper does not carry his column, we encourage you to call them and request that they do.

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Posted in Afghanistan, Economic Justice, Federal Budget, Iraq, Libya, War

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STATEMENT: Pax Christi USA official statement on change and conflict in North Africa and the Middle East

Posted on April 5, 2011 | 4 Comments

Just before Lent began, we heard Jesus bless peacemakers and urge us to make nonviolence and reconciliation our own.  As Lent began, protesters demanded change in Libya but the country slid into civil war very quickly; now the opposition forces are relying on a no fly zone and multilateral military assistance which escalates the violence there even further.   Pax Christi USA is saddened by the fighting in Libya, and regrets that the U.S. and other Western governments intervened militarily, adding to the violence.  We take hope from the successful nonviolent movements in Libya’s neighbors, Egypt and Tunisia.  Whatever the eventual outcomes of the movements for change across these three North African states, Pax Christi notes the growing desire for representative government and guaranteed human rights across North Africa and the Middle East and urges all national governments and multinational actors to support nonviolent action in preference to military options.

Egyptians and Tunisians studied nonviolent action and engaged in years-long efforts to train themselves and others with international support.   This did not happen in Libya, where initially peaceful protests quickly devolved into armed conflict.  Long-term preparation for nonviolent action has powered nonviolent change  in many circumstances, but leaders conditioned to view military intervention as the best way to defend human rights and spread democracy do not understand nonviolence easily, nor does nonviolent action lend itself to sensationalist news coverage.  Outcomes in Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan and Syria remain unclear, although the steadfast nonviolence of demonstrators in Bahrain and Yemen witnesses to the viability of nonviolent training and action as a means to redress injustice.

From a policy perspective,  the U.S. intervention in Libya is risky and inconsistent, despite the justifications offered by our political leaders.  While intervening in Libya, the U.S. and its NATO allies sit on the sidelines watching the King of Bahrain, assisted by the King of Saudi Arabia, violently suppress nonviolent demonstrations; similar situations in Syria continue to play out without significant U.S. involvement.  Now, CIA officers are operating in the shadows in Libya, but no one seems to know what the Libyan rebels actually want for the future of their nation.

The demonstrators in nations across North Africa and the Middle East prove there is a hunger for change in favor of human rights and more responsive governments, but how well do Western leaders understand these movements?  And how prepared are they to risk instability in nations which possess most of the world’s oil reserves?  No one yet knows what sort of government or society will result from a revolution born in violence and assisted by foreign powers.  Reality is more complex than the simple narratives constructed to promote wars, and real problems require complex solutions and grass roots initiatives.   As people of faith, hope and charity, Pax Christi USA supports the movements for human rights and democracy spreading across the Arab world and stands ready to demonstrate our solidarity with the people of Libya and other countries in the region.  Pax Christi USA urges all people of faith to advocate for, practice and promote nonviolent action in these and similar circumstances, and to abjure the superficially easy solution of military intervention.

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Posted in Africa, Libya, Middle East, Statements

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LIBYA: Zunes critiques war on Libya, offers nonviolent alternatives

Posted on April 2, 2011 | 1 Comment

by Eric Stoner, Waging Nonviolence

(The following article was sent to us from William Privett, regional coordinator for Pax Christi Western New York.)

As always, Stephen Zunes’ writings on U.S. policy toward the Middle East and nonviolent action are some of the most thorough and informative out there, and his articles on the situation in Libya are no exception. At the end of February, he wrote this in-depth piece on the history of U.S.-Libyan relations, which I found very helpful, and more recently he had a great critique of the concepts of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and humanitarian intervention.

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Posted in Africa, Libya, Middle East

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