FALL 2010
 
Friends for a Non-Violent World Quarterly Newsletter

In this issue of Non-Violent Times,we focus on opportunities and challenges for transformational non-violence: the rising tide of domestic hatred of Islam, the international arena of Afghanistan and Palestine/Israel, and the profound story of Combatants for Peace.

Two of the articles that follow present points of view somewhat different than FNVW's.  The first, by Akbar Ahmed, chair of Islamic Studies at American University, reflects on issues related to the proposed Park 51 Islamic Center in New York.  Friends for a Non-Violent World throughout its history has advocated and defended freedom of religion as well as freedom to practice no religion.  Our members come from many faiths which have experienced persecution, prejudice and discrimination.  Equal protection for all faiths includes the right to establish places of worship and learning.  We sadly are aware that there have been numerous attempts to block or deny the siting of mosques and increased vandalism and violence directed at existing mosques. Mindful of our governing values and principles, the FNVW Board is on record unequivocally supporting the building of Park 51, the proposed Islamic Cultural Center and place of worship in lower Manhattan.

FNVW is equally on record opposing the US troop surge against Afghanistan.  In our Dec. 10, 2009 letter to President Obama, we said in part "We write to express our opposition to the recently announced policy of military escalation.  We urge instead military disengagement and a strategy based on regional and international diplomacy.  The focus of this diplomatic initiative would be the establishment of an environment of security and the provision of development assistance." (For the complete statement)  Nonetheless, we are committed to hearing different voices.  Below we present the perspective of Santwana Dasgupta, long-time FNVW member, who has lived and worked for two years in Afghanistan.

FNVW explores and provides opportunities to spread the transformative power of non-violence in a society which starkly demonstrates the need for it.  Please jump on in with us...the water is hot!

In This Newsletter
FNVW Fall Fundraiser - Oct 8th
People Camp 2010
FNVW Has Office Space to Share
What Does FNVW Do?
What would the founders do about mosque?
Ways of Peace II
What do Afghans Really Want?
"Crying About the Pain of My Oppressors"
FNVW Calendar
FNVW Fall Fundraiser
House Party

Friday, Oct. 8, 2010, from 5:30pm - 8:30pm

1791 Dayton Ave, St Paul,MN (home of Gail Daneker and Ian Keith)

This year's event is devoted to our second Ways of Peace Conference, Ways of Peace II: Non-Violence in the Islamic Traditions and our peace education and advocacy work.



  DONATE TO FNVW!
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People Camp 2010

Every year, People Camp offers a variety of adult workshops during the week-long camp. Three participants in this year's
Dynamics of Diversity workshop reflected on their experience


In the Diversity Workshop at People Camp 2010, Erika Thorne, Interim Executive Director of FNVW, artfully built and held a firm and gentle container in which participants could take intellectual knowledge and ideas to a deeper level through  encouraging a dropping
of that knowledge into our hearts. Then, in recognizing us as allies for diverse groups, she skillfully called out  compassion and commitment for ourselves and others. The workshop ended with a celebratory exercise where we  highlighted the beauty, strength, and  contribution of each individual. Many thanks to our extraordinarily talented facilitator,
Erika Thorne. - Kim Lauder

The exercises that our facilitator led us through brought all of us to
a deep and vulnerable place. From this space we were able with our
full bodies to hear and better understand perspectives that we had not personally experienced. I'm  grateful for the opportunity to be a part
of a group that affirms difference and listens attentively.- Bob Nechal

(For complete article)
Do You Know an Organization
Looking for Thrifty Office Space?
How about Sharing Some with FNVW?

Friends for a Non-Violent World is looking to share our spacious offices with a compatible community organization or non-profit. � Space at 1050 Selby Ave, St Paul 55104 is available immediately
� $800/mo for 800 sq. feet
� Plus shared full kitchen & bathroom
� Street-level office space, wheel-chair accessible
� Access to a large conference room
� Sharing high-speed internet and printer/copier is negotiable
� Utilities not included; charged on prorated basis

Friends for a Non-Violent World is looking to share our office space with an organization or individual who honors our mission:
FNVW is a Quaker-inspired organization of people who affirm the dignity inherent in each human being.We share a commitment to advancing non-violence as an ethic for honoring human dignity and a strategy for achieving peace and justice.

This office space is available immediately.To arrange a viewing, please call Ava at the FNVW office, 651-917-0383 or email to [email protected].

What Does FNVW Do?

 Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) - AVP is a national and inter-national volunteer-run program that conducts workshops in resolution of conflict through non-violence. AVP is in demand in prisons and communities across the US and has been successful in countries plagued with violence. AVP is so successful that the Government of Rwanda has made it the cornerstone of its post-genocide reconciliation program. Currently, almost 2000 volunteers serve as AVP facilitators in the US, with 52 residing in Minnesota.

 Peace in the Precincts (PNP) - PNP is a grassroots organization with a statewide network, a unifying policy platform, an empowered constituency, and a growing reputation among state policymakers and political movers, positioned to frame issues of war and peace in the public and the media, to mobilize citizens to encourage public officials to champion the Peace Platform, and to make the peace vote the vote that matters most.

 People Camp - People Camp is a weeklong experience of cooperation, community living, peacemaking, and the exploration of ideas and issues. This is a summer camp experience for the whole family and for anyone who enjoys warm, supportive community, challenging workshops and lots of recreation in a camp setting.

Peace Education Program - Peace Education Program seeks to transform the dialog between opposing parties by seeking the common thread. For example, our Ways of Peace conference series illuminates the thread of non-violence through major religions. Watch for Ways of Peace II: Non-Violence in the Tradition of Islam next Spring.

Guest Column - See Above for FNVW's Position

What would our founders do about the New York mosque?
By Akbar Ahmed

Florida Times Union, reprinted with permission from the author; 8-18-2010

The supporters of the mosque near Ground Zero, called the Park51 project, have argued that First Amendment gives American Muslims the right to build a house of worship wherever they wish so long as the project complies with local ordinances.

Some proponents also assert that building of a mosque near Ground Zero is a statement that America is not turning its back on the fundamental value of freedom of religion despite
religious fanatics abusing a religion to perpetrate a crime against humanity.

The detractors of the Park51 project principally base their opposition on erroneous links between the terrorism being committed in the name of Islam by a handful of fanatics and the faith of Islam as peacefully practiced by the vast majority of Muslims.

Opponents have drawn encouragement from various polls that show nearly 7 in 10 Americans oppose the project. Opposition of some, but not all, victim families of Sept. 11, 2001, have also
been cited as a reason.

When President Barack Obama weighed in on the controversy by affirming the right of the Park51 planners to build their mosque on a site of their choice, the decibel level from the partisan opposition went up a notch.

However, in this debate, the opponents have obfuscated several pertinent facts:
� How many Americans know that Muslims were among the victims of Sept. 11, 2001?
� Or that a mosque already exists near Ground Zero?
� Or that American Muslims have unequivocally condemned Sept. 11, 2001?
� Or that al-Qaida has killed and targeted more Muslims than people of any other faith?
Either Muslims have the right to practice their religion or they do not. (For the complete article)

(For another article by Akbar Ahmed)

(For a contrasting view by Joe Volk of Friends Committee on National Legislation)
Ways Of Peace II: Non-Violence in the Islamic TraditionsWay of Peace II

April 9, 2011
University of St Thomas, St Paul, MN

Cosponsored by FNVW, the University of St. Thomas Muslim Christian Dialogue Center,
and its Justice and Peace Studies Department.


The protests, heated rhetoric and violent incidents in opposition
to the planned Islamic Center and Mosque in Manhattan are
compelling evidence that Islam is misunderstood and scapegoated by a vocal - and powerful - minority of Americans.

Ways of Peace II, planned prior to this incident, reflects our concern about this. The stereotypical, one-dimensional view of Islam as a religion of violence and intolerance, which condones or advocates terrorism, directly blocks our capacity to build global society toward the common good.

The advocacy and practice of peace, tolerance, non-violence, arbitration, negotiations and mediation by Islamic scholars, leaders, activists and adherents in the various communities
of Islam gets short shrift in the media, and is not well-known or
understood in Minnesota or nationwide.

We are in a period of enormous conflict and change between and within the traditions and communities of Islam and non-Islamic traditions and communities. A growing core of peace advocates recognizes that a deeper understanding of Islam's use of and contribution to non-violent theory and practice is crucial to peacemaking at all levels.

(For the complete article)
What do Afghans really want?
The Case for the Surge

By Sharon Sudman

SantwanaWithAfghanStudents
Please see above for FNVW's position on the US troop surge.


A shrinking violet would never be a description I would use to
describe Santwana Dasgupta, Peace in the Precincts Steering
Committee member on leave in Afghanistan. Yes, you read that right, she has been spending the last two years in Afghanistan, using her hard-won organizing skills doing work to facilitate the building of schools and the development of university faculty.

But her boldness reached new heights when she spoke
to a gathering of committed peacemakers at FNVWon July 27,
2010, in support of the current military surge there.
What she had to say was too detailed and too important to
summarize in just a short article, and so I hope that you can
read attentively, and that with efforts on both our parts,we
can convey some of the nuance to you the reader.
Attendance at the meeting at the FNVW offices was at
capacity, and all who attended were deeply moved by her
descriptions and stories of life in the land so many of us know
so little about.

First, Santwana's background: having been inspired by working
with Peace in the Precincts on the PeaceFirst! effort in 2006,
she started looking for a way to turn her corporate background
in project management into a career in the non-profit world.

After a year serving as Development Director of FNVW, she
became the Executive Director of PECA, Partnership for
Education of Children in Afghanistan.This is a volunteer
position for Santwana, her other, paid position is with a
USAID-funded University of Massachusetts project for
promoting university faculty development across Afghanistan.

The surge was actually a small part of the wide-ranging
discussion on July 27th. Santwana insightfully described in
detail the innovative, practical approach PECA takes to
development, the role of the military and the surge in
redevelopment, and the influence of money on the process.

(For complete article)
"Crying About the Pain of My Oppressors"
by Annemarie Barrett

"I tried to hide my tears from the other prisoners: theyCombatants for Peace
wouldn't have understood why I was crying about the pain of my oppressors. It was the first time I felt empathy."

Bassam Aramin's words illustrate his story of reconciliation, of transformation, and of non-violent action. As a boy growing up in Hebron, the largest city in the West Bank,
Bassam lived under occupation. He witnessed the murder
of a twelve-year old boy at a demonstration. He ran away
from soldiers to avoid being beaten. He experienced home
invasions. He fostered his desire for revenge.

"We called ourselves freedom fighters, but the outside world called us terrorists." For Bassam, it began with "stones and empty bottles," which they aimed at the Israeli soldiers.

Then it became a hand grenade.Then he went to prison to serve a seven-year sentence, starting at the age of seventeen,
for targeting Israeli jeeps. In prison he was beaten brutally by Israeli guards. Stripped naked and broken by pain, he recalled the oppression of the Jewish people during the Holocaust. He remembered their pain and his tears shed for the plight of those Jews.

His pain became their pain and their tears became his own. He was transformed. "Our dialogue enabled us both to see each other's purity of heart and good intent."

Following the experience of being beaten, Bassam began a dialogue with an Israeli prison guard. As a Palestinian freedom fighter in conversation with an Israeli, the two confronted their differences and their mutual prejudices; each understood the other to be a terrorist.

Yet through dialogue, it was conversation that was shared, not
violent conflict. A bond was formed and stories exchanged. For Bassam, the bond proved that only "through dialogue and not force" could they create peace.

Note: Annemarie Barrett was FNVW's summer intern in 2010.
FNVW Calendar

(check www.fnvw.org for details)

AVP = Alternatives to Violence Project
PNP = Peace in the Precincts Program

Date       Event
09/27/10 Monthly FNVW Board Meeting
09/29/10 AVP Support Group
10/01/10 Hennepin Men Basic
10/06/10 AVP Support Group and Pot Luck
10/07/10 PNP Steering Committee - Meditation
10/08/10 FNVW Fundraiser for Ways of Peace II
10/08/10 Moose Lake Basic
10/09/10 Faribault One-day
10/13/10 AVP Support Group
10/14/10 PNP Steering Committee - Meditation
10/14/10 Transformative Conflict--AVP mini-session
10/15/10 Stillwater Advanced
10/15/10 Carleton Basic
10/20/10 AVP Support Group
10/22/10 Faribault Basic
10/25/10 Monthly FNVW Board Meeting
10/27/10 AVP Support Group
11/03/10 AVP Support Group and Pot Luck
11/04/10 PNP Steering Committee - Meditation
11/05/10 Hennepin Men's Basic
11/13/10 Faribault One-day
11/13/10 Community Basic, tentative
11/10/10 AVP Support Group
11/17/10 AVP Support Group
11/18/10 PNP Steering Committee - Meditation
11/19/10 Stillwater T4F
11/19/10 Faribault Advanced
11/22/10 Monthly FNVW Board Meeting
11/24/10 AVP Support Group
12/01/10 AVP Support Group and Pot Luck
12/02/10 PNP Steering Committee - Meditation
12/03/10 Hennepin Men's Basic
12/04/10 Faribault Re-connect
12/08/10 AVP Support Group
12/10/10 Moose Lake Advanced
12/11/10 Faribault One-day
12/15/10 AVP Support Group
12/16/10 PNP Steering Committee - Meditation
12/17/10 Stillwater Basic
12/17/10 Faribault T4F
12/22/10 AVP Support Group
12/27/10 Monthly FNVW Board Meeting
12/29/10 AVP Support Group}

For information on upcoming AVP workshops and weekly support groups, please call the AVP line at 651-644-5851. Unless otherwise posted, the AVP weekly support group meets every Wednesday from 7pm to 9pm in the FNVW office.

PNP meets twice a month on Thursday evenings at 7pm.To confirm that the PNP steering committee will meet at the regularly scheduled time in a given week, please call Sharon Sudman at 651-699-7132.

The South Asia Working Group meets each month at variable times. Please call the office for specifics.

Erika Thorne
Interim Executive Director

Friends for a Non-Violent World
1050 Selby Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55104
651-917-0383
www.fnvw.org