"The lonely look down upon the hungry; the hungry look down upon the starving. The guilty blame the damaged. Those of doubtful righteousness speak of cannibals, the unquestionably vile, the sinners and the damned. It makes everyone feel much better." - The Poisonwood Bible
I am reading this book by Barbara Kingslover (which I highly recommend). It is about a family of missionaries in the Congo before and during independence from Belgium colonial rule in 1960. The book is historical fiction, but some of the story is so sad that I had to discover what was history, exactly, and what was fiction. I guess I'm not surprised, but the horrors committed during and transitioning from colonialism are all fact. Specifically, multiple western supported coups and American intervention in the form of an assassination order on the first Congolese Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, are all part of the country's and MY country's tragic past. I read up on Congo's history from two other sources:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/forever-in-chains-the-tragic-history-of-congo-409586.html
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2823.htm
not surprisingly, the state department does not mention America's role in Lumumba's death, stating that he died "under mysterious circumstances"
I know this story, I was a government major. I've read about corruption and coups and take overs and wars and genocides and all the horrible things people do to people and government actors do from behind a desk to people they have never met. It's not conspiracy theory, it's reality. Wikipedia will give you a completely unreliable but probably true idea of just how many countries' business the U.S. has stuck its nose into: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_United_States_foreign_regime_change_actions
Whether or not you believe every story and whether or not any country "benefited" from our intervention.. it still blows my mind a bit to think of just how often these sci-fi scenes have actually occurred.
I was listening to an episode of This American Life where an older girl went on a field trip with a group of fifth graders to the Ronald Reagan museum in California. At the museum, the children play roles in a simulation of Reagan's decision to invade Granada in 1983. Each child has a role either in the White House staff, or in the press, and the conflict follows history and the kids are given the chance to call the shots. There is no winning or losing, except, if they call the "wrong" shots. One kid playing the president decided an invasion of Granada would be risky and he didn't think it was a good idea. At the sound of a buzzer, he is informed by the computer simulation that America had a good chance to overcome the communist threat and that Reagan made the right choice to successfully carry out the operation. The students also learn the dangers of free press and the harm of socialism, where if you make money you don't even get to keep it for yourself!
I listened to another episode the other day, about the horrible working conditions in the Chinese factories that make Apple products. Thinking about all of the stuff we have that is "hand made" by tiny little hands in India and China. Thinking about how, as Kingslover's book so aptly reminds us, in our "representative ddemocracy" if 51 percent of people vote for one person, 49 percent of people are left unhappy. Thinking about the country I'm in, the struggles I see, and thinking, it really isn't my place to change any of it.
At the same time, it IS my place to change all of it. All of it I come into contact with anyway. It's my place to find the urban refugees and to tell them I love them, it's my place to learn and listen to Jordanians and show that not all Americans dislike the Middle East, not all Christians hate Muslims. It's my job to be an independent woman, to tell cab drivers who get fresh to bug off, to go home and tell the stories about the other wonderful, intelligent, independent women I met here who choose to wear a veil.
International development, diplomacy, foreign aid, peacekeeping, peacemaking, NGO's and the like. Technical terms, big words are thrown around by both men and women in suits. But at the end of the day, I really don't think you get to change anyone you don't know. You don't get to change anyone who hasn't changed you, and if you don't recognize what they do for you then you really haven't done much of anything for them. I do believe in wide scale change, because changing yourself is pretty wide scale. I had a meeting the other week trying to get space reserved to have night classes three times a week with the Sudanese and Somali refugees at the Jesuit Center in Amman. The meeting reminded me that Jesus lived a life of ultimate humility. His mission was not to change people, but to change the world with the way that he loved the poor and the outcast- social rejects so to speak. and I am called to do the same. Until we commit ourselves to true equality we will all be oppressed. To view one another as equals means we don't get to change each other. Slowly, we change ourselves and we love, and then we pray that it spreads.
I am reading this book by Barbara Kingslover (which I highly recommend). It is about a family of missionaries in the Congo before and during independence from Belgium colonial rule in 1960. The book is historical fiction, but some of the story is so sad that I had to discover what was history, exactly, and what was fiction. I guess I'm not surprised, but the horrors committed during and transitioning from colonialism are all fact. Specifically, multiple western supported coups and American intervention in the form of an assassination order on the first Congolese Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, are all part of the country's and MY country's tragic past. I read up on Congo's history from two other sources:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/forever-in-chains-the-tragic-history-of-congo-409586.html
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2823.htm
not surprisingly, the state department does not mention America's role in Lumumba's death, stating that he died "under mysterious circumstances"
I know this story, I was a government major. I've read about corruption and coups and take overs and wars and genocides and all the horrible things people do to people and government actors do from behind a desk to people they have never met. It's not conspiracy theory, it's reality. Wikipedia will give you a completely unreliable but probably true idea of just how many countries' business the U.S. has stuck its nose into: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_United_States_foreign_regime_change_actions
Whether or not you believe every story and whether or not any country "benefited" from our intervention.. it still blows my mind a bit to think of just how often these sci-fi scenes have actually occurred.
I was listening to an episode of This American Life where an older girl went on a field trip with a group of fifth graders to the Ronald Reagan museum in California. At the museum, the children play roles in a simulation of Reagan's decision to invade Granada in 1983. Each child has a role either in the White House staff, or in the press, and the conflict follows history and the kids are given the chance to call the shots. There is no winning or losing, except, if they call the "wrong" shots. One kid playing the president decided an invasion of Granada would be risky and he didn't think it was a good idea. At the sound of a buzzer, he is informed by the computer simulation that America had a good chance to overcome the communist threat and that Reagan made the right choice to successfully carry out the operation. The students also learn the dangers of free press and the harm of socialism, where if you make money you don't even get to keep it for yourself!
I listened to another episode the other day, about the horrible working conditions in the Chinese factories that make Apple products. Thinking about all of the stuff we have that is "hand made" by tiny little hands in India and China. Thinking about how, as Kingslover's book so aptly reminds us, in our "representative ddemocracy" if 51 percent of people vote for one person, 49 percent of people are left unhappy. Thinking about the country I'm in, the struggles I see, and thinking, it really isn't my place to change any of it.
At the same time, it IS my place to change all of it. All of it I come into contact with anyway. It's my place to find the urban refugees and to tell them I love them, it's my place to learn and listen to Jordanians and show that not all Americans dislike the Middle East, not all Christians hate Muslims. It's my job to be an independent woman, to tell cab drivers who get fresh to bug off, to go home and tell the stories about the other wonderful, intelligent, independent women I met here who choose to wear a veil.
International development, diplomacy, foreign aid, peacekeeping, peacemaking, NGO's and the like. Technical terms, big words are thrown around by both men and women in suits. But at the end of the day, I really don't think you get to change anyone you don't know. You don't get to change anyone who hasn't changed you, and if you don't recognize what they do for you then you really haven't done much of anything for them. I do believe in wide scale change, because changing yourself is pretty wide scale. I had a meeting the other week trying to get space reserved to have night classes three times a week with the Sudanese and Somali refugees at the Jesuit Center in Amman. The meeting reminded me that Jesus lived a life of ultimate humility. His mission was not to change people, but to change the world with the way that he loved the poor and the outcast- social rejects so to speak. and I am called to do the same. Until we commit ourselves to true equality we will all be oppressed. To view one another as equals means we don't get to change each other. Slowly, we change ourselves and we love, and then we pray that it spreads.
