Feed Thine Enemies

By Raymond D. Cohen

"War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!" At least not according to the 1960s Edwin Starr anthem. One can’t help but consider that it does provide a boost to the ol’ military industrial complex - and may keep the oil industry well lubricated for another chunk of time (while that industry further erodes the planet). If only the the billions slated for war were redirected towards alternate energy sources! Ah, but this really isn’t about oil (some may claim). No, this is about truth and justice and taking a stand against tyranny. Whatever.

By the time you read this editorial, will the carnage have already started? Will the United States and its allies have gone to war with Iraq? What disabilities will emerge, and what disabilities are still to come from further destruction and starvation, and lack of shelter, clean water or health care (see the Thumbs Down! column on page 7)?

In the ’60s, as part of the peace-and-love generation, I knew folks who ran far away from the United States to avoid the Vietnam war. Some came to Canada. Many of those who did fight in Vietnam returned home with some form of disability. By the end of that war some had lost lives, some had lost limbs, some had lost their country and some were just lost. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t necessary. Since Vietnam, the Americans have fought in the Persian Gulf, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. A conflict in Iraq will be the U.S.’s fourth war in just over 10 years.

Iraq’s track record is not much better. The tyrant Saddam Hussein became president in 1979 and his country was at war with Iran from 1980 to 1988. In 1991, the Gulf War followed Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. The subsequent international sanctions had a devastating effect on Iraq’s economy and society. According to the UN, Iraq was reduced to a pre-industrial state. Later reports described living standards as being at subsistence level. And now the people of Iraq are facing another war! Surely, with all of the resources and strategic capabilities available, there is a way to address tyranny without killing and maiming countless innocents in the process.

The Iraqi people are already fighting for their lives. Compound the issues with war and you are left with an entire "disabled" society. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs suggests people must first and foremost look after the basic necessities of life. Food and shelter must be secured before we can go on to feel safe, and then feel love - love for ourselves, each other, our communities, countries and our world.

When people are desperate to find food and shelter, they do not feel safe. Threatened people lash out. If it is only when people feel safe that they can love, herein lie the seeds for terrorism. People who don’t have the basic necessities of life have less to lose - and sometimes this leads to a greater emphasis on the next life, instead of an often-unbearable here and now. Taking their own life for the "greater good" becomes an acceptable reality. And we all lose.

As a global society, we need to empower our weaker societal members. Dropping bombs isn’t the way. Just as anyone with a disability knows, we all seek fair treatment and respect from our peers - our community members. When our community experiences are positive, we grow as individuals. The same is true of a global society. Those "disabled" societies need our understanding and support to regain stability and health.

Here is an opportunity to take personal action against the pending war. Consider placing a half-cup of uncooked rice in a small plastic bag. Squeeze out excess air and seal the bag. Wrap it with paper on which you have written, "If your enemies are hungry, feed them. Please send this rice to the people of Iraq; do not attack them." Place the package in an envelope and address to: President George Bush, White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, DC, 20500, U.S.A. Attach $1.06 in postage and mail it. Let your all colleagues know about this plan.

There is a positive history of this form of protest! In the mid-1950s, the pacifist group Fellowship of Reconciliation, learning of famine in the Chinese mainland, launched a "Feed Thine Enemy" campaign. Members and friends mailed thousands of little bags of rice to the White House with a tag quoting the Bible: "If thine enemy hunger, feed him." As far as anyone knew for the next ten years, the campaign was an abject failure. The President did not publicly acknowledge receipt of the bags; certainly, no rice was ever sent to China.

What was learned only a decade later was that the campaign played a significant, perhaps even determining role in preventing nuclear war. Twice while the campaign was on, President Eisenhower met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to consider U.S. options in the conflict with China over two islands, Quemoy and Matsu. The generals twice recommended the use of nuclear weapons. Each time, President Eisenhower turned to his aide and asked how many little bags of rice had come in. When told they numbered in the tens of thousands, Eisenhower told the generals that as long as so many Americans were expressing active interest in feeding the Chinese, he certainly wasn’t going to consider using nuclear weapons against them.

I sent my little bag of rice this morning.