COLOMBIA REFLECTION: The children of God will not go to war (CPT)

[Sapphire Blue]

CPTnet
2 August 2006

COLOMBIA REFLECTION: The children of God will not go to war
by Erik Turnberg

I write from my bedside in Colombia, where two days ago I met my Christian
Peacemaker Team (CPT) delegation and we began our work here. Twelve hours a
day we learn about this country's conflicts, the history of violence, the
lives destroyed, and we pray. I listened to a brave man, a husband and
father, forced to tears by recounting his story and his feelings of
helplessness. Again and again, I hear people say that Colombia is
"complicada," and indeed this is a very complicated place.

Colombia is rich in resources--oil, natural gas, coal, and gold among them.
It is not all cocaine and the worst conflict doesn't seem to be about
narcotrafficking--that is just another layer of complication. It has a long
history of Spanish colonizers, the Colombian elite and multinational
corporations oppressing poor people and forcing them off their land.

Layers of complication have left the country in war for forty years between
guerrillas, the military, and, since the 1980s, paramilitaries. The hardest
hit are the poorest. Sixty percent live on less than $2 a day; three
million have been displaced, forced from their land by death threats. I
think I am not alone among our delegation members in wondering if our
presence is going to change anything, if there is any justice in sight, or
any hope for peace.

Today I witnessed a small vision of hope. It is Colombian Independence Day,
which is marked in Bogotá by a grand military parade. Our team was
invited to participate in a counter parade, organized by conscientious
objectors, that would follow the military, cleaning the streets of the death
left in their footsteps.

We followed in the wake of this parade bringing song and dance, street
theater, signs and brooms sweeping the streets clean of violence. The group
we were with chanted loudly "Los Jóvenes de Jehovah, no van a la Guerra!"
("The children of God will not go to war!") There are a growing number of
Colombians standing up against great odds, and great personal threat, to
struggle for a nonviolent and just peace.

Continued @ http://www.cpt.org/archives/2006/aug06/0003.html

[Sapphire Blue]

1. kick for CPT & the counter parade following the military, cleaning...

the streets of the death left in their footsteps.

:kick:

[Sapphire Blue]

16. ..

:kick:

[goclark]

2. Powerful, thank you for posting Sapphire Blue!

[faithnotgreed]

3. yes. thank you sb for posting this (and all your efforts

for peace and justice)

beautiful is right~

[RevCheesehead]

4. Good stuff - thanks! n/t

[InternalDialogue]

5. Don't your heart and will soar

when you realize there is still such a strong heartbeat of humanity left in the world? This is why we are hopeful and move forward.

[Sapphire Blue]

6. Oh, it does!

[goclark]

7. I just read it again and again ~ thanks nt

[Sapphire Blue]

8. It's one of the best things I've read in a while; truly a vision of hope!

[goclark]

9. And it is up to all of US to keep hope alive nt

[InternalDialogue]

10. Dammit, this is good enough to get on the greatest page!

Kicking once again for another rec!

[Sapphire Blue]

12. Thanks, InternalDialogue

:hi: Looks like you worked some kind of magic!

[Just Me]

11. Recommeded. Oh, HEY FUNDIES, "the meek shall inherit,...

,...the earth",...you divine assholes who support violence against the innocent!!!

GAWD!!!!!!!

[Sapphire Blue]

13. Thanks for the 5th (and voicing that message ; )

:hi:

[InternalDialogue]

14. I really don't want this post to go away.

Please, more people read this. More people feel this. Go to bed happy. Wake up energized. Be human and embrace it!

[Sapphire Blue]

15. ...

:hi: :hug: :loveya: