Ecuador has told the Bush administration that it is refusing to renew the lease for the u.s. Air Force at Manta once it expires next year. Let’s pray this is the beginning of an anti-imperial trend and that we will soon see the closure of the rest of the 700 or more military bases that the united states maintains outside of its own borders.
Here is a poem called “Vietnam, U.S.A.” that I stumbled across in an issue of the Holy Cross Quarterly devoted entirely to the Berrigan Brothers. Can we not hear ourselves each whispering the final line of the poem any time prophets confront us with the reality of U.S.-sponsored violence?
VIETNAM, U.S.A.
The land is screaming
Dying or worse than deadEarth, bodies,
minds, souls
in twisted agonyWar-torn like the land
and desolateWhile the politicians politic
and Marchers march
and the man-on-the-street yawns.
War? What war?
Berrigan? Who the hell is he?Hey, cool it, Dan Berrigan!
Am I my brother’s keeper?My peace badge is my pacifier
as I sit in the sun
emoting over coffee and guitar -
(Somehow, their screams bear less pain,
set to music)No use crying over spilt life . . .
Hey, cool it, DAN BERRIGAN
Don’t drip your blood on my
Jesus sandals.- Sister Mary Rose Conley, RSM
[Holy Cross Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 1, January 1971]
From the WW4 Report:
For a candidate who talks the talk on human rights, Barack Obama has little to say about the infamous School of the Americas (SOA). Originally established in the Panama Canal Zone in 1946, the school later moved to Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1984. Since its inception, the institution has instructed more than 60,000 Latin American soldiers in military and law-enforcement tactics.
The Pentagon itself has acknowledged that in the past the School of the Americas utilized training manuals advocating coercive interrogation techniques and extrajudicial executions. After receiving their training at the institution, officers went on to commit countless human rights atrocities in countries like El Salvador, Guatemala, and Colombia.
[…]
Obama likes to employ soaring rhetoric when discussing human rights. But late last year, he failed to take a strong position opposing WHINSEC. When pressed, the candidate praised Congress’ revision of the school’s curriculum but said that he wanted to continue to evaluate the institution.
What more information could Obama possibly need to reach a final decision on the matter? An Obama spokesman said the senator “has not committed to closing down the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, but he will take a hard look at the program and the progress it has made once he is elected.” The spokesman reiterated Obama was pleased with the institution’s inclusion of human rights courses.
To put this in all in perspective then, on this issue Obama has staked out a position to the right of Ron Paul, many members of Congress, and mainstream labor and Church organizations.
Most of my readers are probably familiar with University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN) professor of theology William Cavanaugh. Check out a short interview with him on torture from U.S. Catholic magazine. Cavanaugh is author of Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics and the Body of Christ, Theopolitical Imagination: Discovering the Liturgy as a Political Act in an Age of Global Consumerism, and the recently published Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire.
The full text of the interview is here.
H/T to David.
This past week I attended a conference organized by the Ekklesia Project on the topic of race and racism in the Church. Before the conference I read James Cone’s 1970 book A Black Theology of Liberation and after reading it I felt ashamed that it had taken me so long to read one of his books in its entirety. I’m currently devouring one of his later books, God of the Oppressed, and I am increasingly sure that Cone is one of the most important contemporary American theologians, hands down.
God of Oppressed is impressive both in terms of content and in terms of method. Of all the liberationists I have read, he has the most methodological clarity, I think. It would be good to “do what he is doing” in my own work on Appalachia. And not only is he an important model for theological method, the content of his theology will be important to engage in the context of a region that struggles with race/racialism/racism.
Of course, Cone has been associated with the controversy surrounding Jeremiah Wright in recent months, and his Black Theology has been condemned by various pundits and bloggers. (Mostly white dudes, of course.) This is to be expected, if we take Jesus at his word: “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5: 11-12).
To get a taste of Cone himself, unfiltered by FOX News or Rush Limbaugh, check out the interview above. Also be sure to check out David Horstkoetter’s collection of posts on Obama/Wright/Cone. He suggests you check out Bill Moyers’ interview with Cone as well in which he elaborates on his recent work on the cross and the lynching tree.
The Telegraph reports:
The Vatican has created an anti-terrorist unit in order to guard the Holy See and the pope from a possible attack.
Vatican security forces now include an anti-bomb squad and a rapid response team, according to Domenico Giani, the head of the Holy See’s 130-man gendarmerie.
The Vatican will also work more closely with Interpol to gather information on any threats, he said.
[…]
The Swiss Guards have also been given anti-terrorism training, and now carry SIG P75 pistols and Heckler-Koch MP5 sub-machine guns, as well as their traditional halberds.
Jesus himself, of course, told his disciples to get rid of their swords when they tried to defend him from arrest. But his Vicar needs sub-machine guns?
Just sayin’.
Welp, I’m off to Chicago for the Ekklesia Project conference. Hope to see some of you there.
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