Carta Aberta ao Público - Equipes Cristãs de Ação Pela Paz em Chiapas, México

Esse é um trecho do livro "In Harm's Way: A History of Christian Peacemaker Teams" por Kathleen Kern. O livro transcreve a carta aberta abaixo.

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14 de Novembro de 2000

Carta Aberta ao Público

As Equipes Cristãs de Ação Pela Paz em Chiapas, que têm tido uma presença contínua no departamento de Chenalhó desde Junho de 1998, estão preocupadas com as novas e elevadas tensões nesta área nos últimos vários dias. Afirmamos que o objetivo público do governo Mexicano de desarmar paramilitares nesta região é muito correto e digno, e reconhecemos que o processo de desarmamento exigirá um trabalho longo e cuidadoso.
  Ao mesmo tempo, sabemos, por estarmos presentes na situação, que tensões, ameaças e rumores estão crescendo e que grupos paramilitares nesta região estão em alerta. A atividade de rádio de paramilitares tem sido alta nos últimos dias, além de reuniões frequentes acontecendo em comunidades nesta área que são conhecidas por serem bastiões paramilitares.
  Especialmente, novas ameaças surgiram contra La Sociedad Civil de Las Abejas, com referência particular aos seus acampamentos de desalojados em X'oyep e no acampamento recém estabelecido na área de Yibeljoj.
   Frente a essa situação, membros do nosso grupo, Equipes Cristãs de Ação Pela Paz, estarão presentes nesses dois acampamentos começando em 13 de Novembro e durante os dias seguintes. Como pacifistas, nós recusamos o uso de armas para a resolução de conflitos. Como Cristãos, depositamos nossa fé no Espírito de Deus, que está presente em todos e todas nesta situação, o qual pode trazer coisas novas e inesperadas.
  Continuamos a esperar e a orar pelo bem-estar de todos e todas envolvidos/as nessa situação complicada: soldados, civis paramilitares, e os milhares de pessoas deslocadas internamente.
  Com esperança de paz com dignidade e justiça para todos e todas,

Equipes Cristãs de Ação Pela Paz em Chiapas

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"Somos Pessoas da Paz de Deus"

Existe um hino bonito chamado "Somos Pessoas da Paz de Deus". É o número 407 do hinário ¨Hymnal: A Worship Resource", o hinário Menonita no Canadá. Aqui vai a letra traduzida por mim (sem encaixar na métrica da música) É uma letra que resume bem a motivação Anabatista para a paz.




Somos pessoas da paz de Deus, como nova criação,
O amor nos une e nos fortalece nesta celebração.
Filhos e filhas do Senhor, servindo uns aos outros,
Um novo pacto de paz une a nós todos.

Somos crianças da paz de Deus nessa nova criação,
Espalhando alegria, através da grande salvação de Deus.
Trazemos esperança em um espírito humilde, em nosso viver diário,
Buscamos a paz com todos, fazendo o bem em troca do mal.

Somos servos da paz de Deus, da nova criação,
Escolhendo a paz, servimos fielmente com devoção sincera.
Jesus Cristo, o Príncipe da paz, nos dará confiança.
Cristo, o Senhor, é nossa defesa; Cristo nunca nos deixará.







Texto: Menno Simons, 1552; tr. Esther Bergen, Mennonite World Conference Songbook, 1990   Copyright c da tradução 1990 Mennonite World Conference
 Música: Johann Horn, Ein Gesangbuch der Bruder im Behemen und Merherrn, 1544; revisada em Catholicum Hymnologium Germanicum, 1584

Link para a partitura: http://www.hymnary.org/media/fetch/106650
Link para vídeo curto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOe3BBM_dM8

"We are People of God's Peace"

There is a beautiful hymn called "We are People of God's Peace". It's number 407 in the "Hymnal: A Worship Resource" , the Mennonite hymnal.

We are people of God’s peace as a new creation,
Love unites and strengthens us at this celebration.
Sons and daughters of the Lord, serving one another,
A new covenant of peace binds us all together.

We are children of God’s peace in this new creation,
Spreading joy and happiness, through God’s great salvation.
Hope we bring in spirit meek, in our daily living,
Peace with everyone we seek, good for evil giving.

We are servants of God’s peace, of the new creation,
Choosing peace, we faithfully serve with heart’s devotion.
Jesus Christ, the Prince of peace, confidence will give us.
Christ the Lord is our defence; Christ will never leave us.

Text: Menno Simons, 1552; tr. Esther Bergen, Mennonite World Conference Songbook, 1990   Translation copyright c 1990 Mennonite World Conference
 Music: Johann Horn, Ein Gesangbuch der Bruder im Behemen und Merherrn, 1544; revised in Catholicum Hymnologium Germanicum, 1584

Link to score: http://www.hymnary.org/media/fetch/106650
Link to short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOe3BBM_dM8

Peoples' Social Forum 2014 in Ottawa - invitations to-date III

 
   The Canadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers) told me that they won't participate, as their annual sessions are in August. But they will advertise the Forum in their social media and electronic newsletter.
   Citizens For Public Justice (CPJ) replied with interest in participating and asked for more information. 
  I contacted the Ottawa office of the Mennonite Central Committee (I'm a Mennonite) and proposed to meet them in June to talk about the Forum.
  I'm very happy with the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) Canada's involvement with the Forum. They met with organizers. There were very good things discussed in the meeting!
  I contacted the Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice (CUSJ). As I posted before, I received no reply to my emails to the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa. However, CUSJ is interested in participating at the Forum and is checking if I can go there to talk more about it.
  At the "Nonviolence: A Weapon of the Strong" Conference last week at Saint-Paul University (see here), I made a quick question after Mr. Rajagopal's keynote presentation mentioning the Forum to all.
  I emailed Ecclesiax in the beginning of April, but I haven't heard back.

"Things Fall Apart" - The Al-Aqsa Intifada - CPT - IV

This is another passage from the book "In Harm's Way: A History of Christian Peacemaker Teams".

"In later years of the Intifada, the U.S. boycott of the democratically elected Hamas government, which included desperately needed aid to pay salaries of teachers and medical personnel, aroused much bitterness among Palestinians. The boycott confirmed what they had suspected - that 'democracy' to the U.S. means that Palestinians should vote for the candidates the U.S. supported."

(Page 208)

"Things Fall Apart" - The Al-Aqsa Intifada - CPT - III

This is another passage from the book "In Harm's Way: A History of Christian Peacemaker Teams".

Issues Arising from West Bank Work
Culpability of the United States in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

   The predominant grievance the Arab/Muslim world holds against the United States is its default and overt support of Israel. Although the U.S. State Department has given lip service to the principle that settlement expansion is detrimental to peace, the government has continued to send massive amounts of aid to Israel that have enabled it to continue building settlements and confiscating land.
   Jeff Halper, the director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, has said that the U.S. Congress is the institution most responsible for keeping the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in place. U.S. presidents and the U.S. State Department have understood that Israeli settlements are the primary obstacle to peace in the region. More than half of the Israeli electorate thinks that Israel should get out of the West Bank and Gaza. However, the political power of the right-wing partisans of Israel is enormous. Congressional representatives who have dared to criticize Israel for its abuses of human rights or ask that it abide by United Nations resolutions and pull out of the Occupied Territories have lost their seats due to the power of the Israeli lobby.
  Hebron team members have watched the American participation in the 1995 Oslo II accords, the 1997 Hebron Protocol, the 1998 Wye River Memorandum, the 1999 Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum, the 2000 Camp David II negotiations, the 2001 Taba talks and Mitchell Report, and the 2003 "Roadmap to Peace" proposed by the "Quartet" of the European Union, Russia, U.S., and United Nations. None of these negotiations really addressed Israel's determination to hold on to settlements in the West Bank.
  Likewise, when Arabs see U.S.-built Apache and Blackhawk helicopters killing Palestinian civilians and U.S.-built Caterpillar bulldozers demolishing Palestinian homes, U.S. advocacy for "peace" negotiations rings hollow.

(Pages 206 and 207)

"Things Fall Apart" - The Al-Aqsa Intifada - CPT - II

This is another passage from the book "In Harm's Way: A History of Christian Peacemaker Teams".

"After Israel fenced in Wadi ghroos to confiscate the land in that valley, soldiers assaulted two sons of the Zalloum family, whose home CPTers tried unsuccessfully to save in 1996. Soldiers picked up the eight-year-old by his head, lifted him high up in the air, and slammed him to the ground. Then they knocked the six-year-old boy down and kicked him. Their father, Waheed Zalloum, complained to the police. When the police asked the soldier why he had done it, he said, according to Zalloum, 'They will grow up to be terrorists, so it's better if we kill them now, while they're small.'"
(Page 167).

keywords: Palestine, Israel, CPT

Peoples' Social Forum 2014 in Ottawa - invitations to-date II

   In the past week I invited by email the Christian Peacemaker Teams from Toronto to get engaged with the Peoples' Social Forum. I also sent an email to OpenMedia.ca inviting them to propose a workshop. The First United Church should have had their council meeting on the 29th of April to discuss their support for the forum, but I haven't heard back from Reverend Brian Cornelius yet. I also contacted Muslims for Progressive Values MPV Ummah Canada suggesting that they host a workshop and support the forum.
  On March 14th I wrote a generic email to Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ), inviting them to know more about the Forum. I got no reply to-date.