This space has been silent for a long time.
For reasons beyond
our control.
Reasons sadly beyond our control.
But we will start trying again.
Many things - and what is happening in Gaza is one of the most horrifying of them- are
“beyond our control” and yet tens of thousands of people who think they have no
power or control have made a difference there. The many demonstrations and
protests and demands by what are wrongly
called “the ordinary people” have caused
changes there which powerful
people were either unwilling or unable to make.
There is a great
lesson here.
We can still argue
that “the ordinary people “ should not have to go out on the streets to protest , because after all we
pay our public representatives to
make our voices heard. They should be doing it about Gaza
and many other things.
But our system requires that what our elected representative
will do is governed by party policy in most
cases ; if our representative does not belong
to a political party he or she is an
isolated individual and we are back
where we started.
So perhaps we need some fresh way for people to say what they have to say even more
effectively. The social media are moving
us towards that.
We have seen that in a situation like that of Gaza and Israel
the United Nations is inadequate, various governments are unwilling to do what is
required because they have to see what is in their own interests. Peace groups
and human rights groups are working not necessarily as units in a whole movement
but as units who want to work separately even for similar aims. Through the social media, the “ordinary
people” have called each other together.And tens of thousands in many countries came.
What else we can do is not clear . But in any event we need never accept war as a first resort in any problem, we are bound to negotiate and
negotiate and negotiate again and again rather than go to war. We can be sure that
in Ireland
many lives could have been been saved
if those who had power and influence had talked with everybody, not just with those likely to agree
with them. The unwillingness of power
people to talk and negotiate in Ireland
was responsible for death.
There is no use saying that must not be allowed to happen again. It will of course happen again somewhere. The
idea that governments and churches and parties will not talk with opponents for
fear of “ giving them status” is arrogant and unworthy. As soon as a disagreement
or hurt occurs there should be negotiation.
You don’t say, Lay down arms and we will negotiate – negotiation should be
about laying down arms, or dismantling
tunnels, or stopping rocket fire and invasion and always about giving justice and recognising dignity.
We remember with shame that repeated appeals to church and
political leaders to bring contending parties round the table in Ireland
were refused. Churches had nothing to lose, everything to gain. So have governments
if they would be wise about it. It is in
their own interest that they agree to negotiate at once rather than fight
first.
People who have least power will do whatever they think
best, demonstrate, protest write, boycott.
So if governments do not negotiate at the earliest possible moment they are betraying the good people who feel so
strongly about other people’s lives that they are prepared to make a spectacle
of themselves demonstrating in the streets while their leaders stay at home , wondering.
