Tom Fox Remembered Around the World as Dedicated Activist

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/13/1429234

<snip>
Tom Fox was 54 years old. He came to Iraq with the Christian Peacemaker Teams -- a non-missionary organization that has been documenting the abuse of Iraqi detainees, working with the families of prisoners and promoting peace. The CPT were the first to publicly denounce the torture of Iraqi people at the hands of U.S. forces, long before the media revealed what was happening at Abu Ghraib.

<snip>
ISABELLA BATES: Tom wrote this statement, along with another member of the Christian Peacemakers Team, Matthew Chandler. I can only hope that Tom knew in some measure in his heart that this statement that he made as a solitary human being ignited the prayers of literally millions of people around the world who have been praying with him and for him during these hundred days. Just even today, we have received messages of prayers from Australia, from Germany, from England. The amplification of his work goes forward, but here's where it began.

”October 7, 2004. Statement of conviction. We members of Christian Peacemakers Teams in Iraq are aware of the many risks both Iraqis and internationals currently face. However, we are convinced at this time that the risks, while significant, do not outweigh our purpose in remaining. Many Iraqi friends and human rights workers have welcomed us as nonviolent independent presence. During the previous year, they asked us to tell their stories, since they could not easily be heard, nor could most flee to a safer country. We continue to act as a resource to connect citizens of Iraq with human rights organizations, both local and international, as well as accompanying them as they interact with the multinational military personnel and Iraqi provisional government officials.

”As Peacemaking Team, we need to cross boundaries, help soldiers and other armed actors be humane, and invite them to refuse unjust orders. We need to help preserve what is human in all of us and so offer glimpses of hope in a dark time.

Light one candle for the maccabee children
With thanks that their light didn’t die
Light one candle for the pain they endured
When their right to exist was denied
Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice
Justice and freedom demand
But light one candle for the wisdom to know
When the peacemaker’s time is at hand

Chorus:
Don’t let the light go out!
It’s lasted for so many years!
Don’t let the light go out!
Let it shine through our love and our tears.

Light one candle for the strength that we need
To never become our own foe
And light one candle for those who are suffering
Pain we learned so long ago
Light one candle for all we believe in
That anger not tear us apart
And light one candle to find us together
With peace as the song in our hearts

(chorus)

What is the memory that’s valued so highly
That we keep it alive in that flame?
What’s the commitment to those who have died
That we cry out they’ve not died in vain?
We have come this far always believing
That justice would somehow prevail
This is the burden, this is the promise
This is why we will not fail!

(chorus)

Don’t let the light go out!
Don’t let the light go out!
Don’t let the light go out!

- Peter, Paul & Mary › Light One Candle

========================================

Even if their work is non-missionary related, it is COMPLETELY stupid to travel to a rabidly fundamental Islamic country in the throes of a civil war under ANY organizational name that implies a connection to the West and Xtianity.

Why is the Xtian moniker so necessary if it isn't serving some sort of prostletizing function?

J

The relief of suffering has always been the big one -- the early Christians made it a point not to proselytize to the poor unless they (the Christians) were also there doing something materially worthwhile. "Feed the Poor, Clothe the Naked, Heal the Sick, Raise the Dead" was the motto.

Of course, five hundred years later, that had just about all been discarded, though modern Christianity is slowly re-discovering charity as the reason for its existence. They're not all Falwells and Robertsons, thank God!

Then, too, working in relief is "stupid" in almost any context. It's difficult, dangerous, low-paid work, whether or not religious sentiment is involved, and rip-offs are common, as many of the Katrina relief workers (and survivors) are finding out. IIRC, there were some random attacks on Red Cross workers in Indonesia in the wake of the tsunami.

Islam is going through its bad period right now. The same superculture that gave us so much of the foundation of modern science has been badly infected with the Wahhabi bug. Those are our "friends" -- the House of Saud, flush with money paid by the West, investing it in homocidal Madrasas, too many of them schools for extremism.

It's almost enough to make you believe in another religious idea -- Karma.

--p!

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/13/1429234

<snip>
”We reject kidnapping and hostage-taking wholesale. If any of us are taken hostage, absolutely no ransom will be paid. In such an event, C.P.T. will attempt to communicate with the hostage takers or their sponsors and work against journalists' inclinations to vilify and demonize the offenders. We will try to understand the motives of these actions and to articulate them, while maintaining a firm stance that such actions are wrong. If appropriate, C.P.T. will work with diplomatic officials from our representative governments to avoid a violent outcome. We reject the use of violent force to save our lives, should we be kidnapped, held hostage or caught in the middle of violent conflict situation.

”We also reject violence to punish anyone who harms us. We ask for equal justice in the arrest and trial of anyone, soldier or civilian, who commits an act of violence, and we ask that there be no retaliation on their relatives or property. We forgive those who consider us their enemies. Therefore, any penalty should be in the spirit of restorative justice, rather than in the form of violent retribution. We hope that in loving both friends and enemies and by intervening nonviolently to aid those who are systematically oppressed, we can contribute in some small way to transforming this volatile situation.

”—Tom Fox and Matth

ew Chandler.”