Dear Friends,
Those of you following our Voices FOR Peace series on the Fellowship of Reconciliation Facebook page may recognize this quote from Margaret Mead: "Peace no longer is an unobtainable ideal but a necessary condition of continued human existence."
With the violence in Norway directed squarely at interconnectedness and a diversity of cultures, and the upcoming observance of ten years following the September 11, 2001 attacks -- and the United States' responses -- we are feeling this principle more than ever. We hope you will join us in this moment inexploring ways we can peacefully coexist -- and work nonviolently on behalf of the peaceful coexistence of others.
Film in production: "Martin Luther King Jr. in Palestine"
Renowned documentary filmmaker Connie Field (Freedom on My Mind, Salud!, Have You Heard from Johannesburg?) traveled this spring to Palestine with Clayborne Carson, who runs the Martin Luther King, Jr. Institute at Stanford University, to film his play about Dr. King performed by the Palestinian National Theater and an African-American gospel choir.
It was presented to audiences all over the West Bank -- an intense cultural exchange between two peoples encompassing the joy of new friendships, creative collaborations, and eye-opening experiences.
They traveled through a Holy Land that the Christian choir was so passionately excited to see, as they were introduced to the other side of the land where Jesus once walked -- a man whose front yard has been bisected by the Security Wall and whose children have to play in the dust of its continued construction; the ease with which they as foreigners were able to pass through checkpoints while their Palestinian counterparts took hours to navigate the same distance; a home which had no water because a settlement had taken over their well, where Palestinian women teach them songs in Arabic and join them in singing American gospel songs.
FOR encourages you to donate to support this important documentary film.
This film project is more relevant and critical today than ever. Just last week, the Jenin Freedom Theater, where the play about Dr. King was performed, was raided by Israeli Special Forces. Two employees of the Freedom Theater were arrested, for reasons unknown.
We hope you will join FOR in pledging support for this film of nonviolent struggle for justice.
P.S.: Also check out this week's statement by the African Heritage Delegation to Israel/Palestine, a group of 14 U.S. civil rights activists that traveled with FOR partner Interfaith Peace-Builders.
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"Here is a great card for days such as these: the various houses of worship, side by side, reminding us of our oneness amidst our diversity and our common calling to live together in peace." --Richard Deats, former FOR executive director.
I am in love with every church
and mosque
and temple
and any kind of shrine
because I know it is there
that people say
the different names
of the one God.
This image by Irving Amen of Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist houses of worship has been a longtime favorite of FOR. The written words inside, newly chosen, are from a translation of Hafiz of Shiraz, the beloved 14th century Persian poet whose words have inspired peoples of many lands and faiths through the centuries.
Would you like to share the vision presented by this card?
Ten cards with envelopes are just $10 in our online bookstore.
FOR on Norway: The promise of nonviolence
The Fellowships of Reconciliation -- in the United States, Norway and around the world -- are collectively mourning for the lives lost recently in Norway.
Trond Gunnar Rasmussen, chair of FOR-Norway, had this to say:
"More than symbolic events, our societies need to seek a common understanding of the importance of nonviolence and a culture of peace. This must be our enlightenment in this time of darkness."
FOR-USA Executive Director Mark Johnson wrote:
"Our words must become calls to reason and redemption and reconciliation, such as we are already hearing from young people who were spared by some miracle, and such as those which we inherit as our legacy from a long standing belief in the power of truth and love to resolve conflicts and answer fears."
 While the International FOR president Hansuli Gerber said:
"IFOR once again reiterates the importance and priority of a commitment to nonviolence. It is not disagreements and controversy that are putting society at risk, but lack of respect and of active nonviolence. That’s why we must recommit ourselves to these values and promote them in our social environment."
Read more about the response of FOR and friends to the events in Norway.
Upcoming webinars on human rights intervention
Together with the New Tactics in Human Rights Project, the Tavaana E-Learning Institute for Iranian Civil Society presents a series of live, English-language webinars on the pillars of the New Tactics curriculum for Iranian practitioners.
All three webinars are free, but limited to 100 participants. Each will run from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM Eastern time.
"It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it," Eleanor Roosevelt said. "And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it."
Join with us, as we work at it, a little more, day by day.
In peace,
Ethan Vesely-Flad
Communications Director
Fellowship of Reconciliation
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