Towards repairing the ancient ruins -Jan 4, 2005

By Ron Kraybill

“U.S. Sends in the Marines” is the headline in my local newspaper. Destination: Tsunami stricken Indonesia.

As a long-standing opponent to violent U.S. intervention abroad, I relish an occasion to take pride at news of American helicopters aloft in foreign airspace. And I am pleased that President Bush sees fit to raise U.S. financial commitments to 0 million for tsunami relief.

Could we expand this generosity? Could the world’s wealthiest nation make generosity our focus rather than bellicosity in response to grave problems? "Be realistic!" conservative friends say.

Yes, let’s look at reality.

Reality number one: We spend staggering amounts in one limited strategy for security. You don’t even want to know how much, but you can find out. Go to this website and watch the counter spin as it tallies the mounting cost of the war in Iraq to US taxpayers. So far, 148 billion and 305 million and rocketing skyward with no end in sight. In other words, our investment in war in Iraq alone is 247 times as much as our investment in tsunami relief.

This reflects a disproportion of many years. The U.S. spends more on its military than the next several dozen nations of the world combined. In governmental aid, we are second to Japan; and we rank lowest among the 30 major donor countries in ratio of foreign aid to GDP.

When it comes to financial security, financial advisors have one big word; "Diversify". Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. So why are we trying to build national security with a one-stock strategy?

“When the only tool you have is a hammer, everything that you see is a nail.” It seems that because we invest ten-fold in military responses to global problems compared to non-military strategies, we can only imagine military solutions. This is a problem in the way we think; it does not reflect what is truly possible.

Reality number two: There are a large number of practical responses available for responding without violence to the problems that make our world so insecure. Here is a list of measures from one UK website that deals with “war prevention”, defined as “the systematic use of proven non-aggressive methods to prevent or stop killing”: peace-keeping, the introduction of trained inspectors to detect and report killing, ethnic cleansing, torture, rape and other forms of violence; civilian protection; control of arms entering the region; incentive schemes to collect weapons; law enforcement; bringing warlords and militias under control; Track II or 'back channels' diplomacy; muscular support for locally-based opposition to dictators; providing independent information daily; training of mediators and bridge-builders; active reconciliation measures. (Source: peacedirect.org)

None of those measures will work everywhere. But it would be easy to find many places throughout the world where many of them would make a big contribution to reduction of suffering and hostility. And those ideas are only the beginning of the possibilities. The problem is not lack of practical possibilities for building peace; it is lack of imagination and willingness to try new responses.

The Scriptures of Jews and Christians point to generosity as the path to security.

Isaiah 58 says, "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.

"The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings."

It is time to rebuild the ancient ruins. We will gain true security on the long-term only as we invest in a broad range of strategies that reduce hatred and suffering and deal with the problems of our world while they are small.

Can we imagine a day when “The US Marines are coming” would be a cause for celebration and hope because people would know the world’s best practitioners in achieving justice and peace through peaceful means had begun to strategize for their own release from poverty and oppression? A day when there would be no second-guessing the intentions of the U.S. because our track record in serving the needs of others is unassailable?

That day may be a long time in coming. But we move towards it by taking measures that help us to be known and honoured for generosity more than feared for our violence. Six hundred million is a great step in the right direction. Considering the miles that lie before us, I pray for a second, and a third, and a fourth….. By faith we know that even the halt and the lame shall come to walk.

Dr. Ron Kraybill is an associate professor of conflict studies in the Conflict Transformation Programme at Eastern Mennonite University in the USA

He has lived in South Africa and India, and served as advisor and trainer in peace processes throughout the world.

To get on a free listserve posting occasional essays by Ron Kraybill, send a note to: kraybilr@emu.edu