~ May A Dandelion

Transcription

1 ^I (& JQ-, N R PAX 1 ' ~ May 1988 Pax Christi Netherlands is the Dutch section of Pax Christi International, a Roman Catholic peace movement with branches in more than twenty countries. In the Netherlands, Pax Christi serves as an advisory body to the Dutch Bishops Conference and represents the Catholic Church in the Dutch ecumenical peace movement, the Interchurch Peace Council (IK V ). A Dandelion Recently I was in a book store in East Berlin with a East German friend. He showed me a children's story book with this drawing in it. And he said the following: "We are the animal. You in the West are the dandelion. We look longingly at your luxuries, your freedom and try to to get some too. But we are held back. However, if you really think about it, the dandelion may now be in bloom, but soon there will be nothing left but a naked stalk. Even luxury is limited. We should't try to pick your dandelion, but we should try work to make our own pasture bloom." Written by Leen de Wit for the Eastern Europe by Backpack newspaper. Pax News Pax Christi Netherlands Postbox CH The Hague The Netherlands (70) Pax News Editor: Sandra Ball

2 0 2 40th Anniversary Celebration This year marks Pax Christi Netherlands fortieth anniversary. A major celebration is being planned for May 8,1988 for our members and friends. The festivities begin with a eucharist led by Pax Christi chairperson Bishop H. Ernst and Bishop Haushiku of Namibia. In the afternoon there will be speakers from church, academic and political life, including the Dutch Prime Minister, R. Lubbers. Guests from foreign peace and church groups such as the Polish group Freedom and Peace and Pax Christi International board members will also speak. For this special occasion, a series of publications have been produced focussing on Pax Christi Netherlands' history and profiling its supporters. For the interest of Pax News readers, we present an overview o f Pax Christi's position in Dutch society. * 9 1 e * Pax Christi's structure has remained rather constant over the past forty years: a membership organisation with an elected board and a bishop as chairperson. Pax Christi is an official advice organ of the Catholic Church on peace and security issues, although there have been fewer official requests for advice since the beginning of the 1970s, and more attention given to political lobby work. Since 1948 three principles have been maintained: prayer, study and action. There is a strong affinity with the Catholic Church while at the same time a desire to cooperate on an ecumenical level. Until the 1960s, when the movement became more active in the political arena, activity was mainly limited to inner-church circles. However, from the beginning, Pax Christi has tried to appeal to a wide-range of people. A recent survey among our supporters showed surprisingly that Pax Christi's members are equally spread across three distinct political streams: the Christian Democratic party (C D A ), the Labour party (P vd A ) and a left-w ing party with roots in the Catholic community (P P R ). Pax Christi's Catholic image seems to be an extra barrier to some people who may generally support Pax Christi's political line. However, that Catholic image can also be an advantage. There is more interest than ever in Biblical and theological reflection within the movement. According to the survey, a large percentage of Pax Christi's 28,000 members are active within their parish or church organisation, and they count on Pax Christi to provide a political context for their work in their local church such as support for church contacts with Eastern Europe.

3 0 3 Pax Christi represents the Roman Catholic Church in the ecumencial peace movement, the Interchurch Peace Council (IK V ). Therefore, ten years ago when IKV began its campaign for the elimination of nuclear weapons in the Netherlands, Pax Christi gave up its local group structure in favour o f the (ecumenical) IKV local groups. The Conciliar Process is also an important element o f our ecumenical expression. Pax Christi has chosen to take an active role in national and international activities around the World Council of Churches initiative for Peace, Justice and the Integrity of Creation. Pax Christi can contribute on the issues of peace and justice; but not just within the churches. Pax Christi hopes to be able to ensure that new political position statements can be prepared for use outside the church. In the past twenty years, Pax Christi Netherlands has been active in the political scene on a number o f international issues: the Middle East, Central and Latin America, Southern Africa, Afghanistan, East-West relations and disarmament. Per region, the secretariat is supported by a commission of experts. In this way we hope to deliver work which is well-documented and politically relevant. Work which can be used for political lobbying and public education for the general public and more specifically for the Catholic community. " Detente as Peace Policy Since the signing of the INF agreement and the introduction of reforms in the Soviet Union, the European peace movement is faced with a new situation. Detente between the superpowers may have improved, but Western Europe is more intent than ever on forming its own military alliance. This is the background upon which Pax Christi presented its new position statement titled, Detente as Peace Policy. A fter evaluating current developments in Europe and between the superpowers and analysing the contribution of the peace movement, the paper sketches a path toward less tension between East and West and more interdependency. According to Pax Christi, Eastern European governments will achieve little in the way of disarmament and economic cooperation if they do not increase the level of democratisation in their countries. Likewise, Western governments will achieve little on the level of human rights if they do not also open themselves up to the Eastern economic market and refrain from their military confrontation policies. Democratisation, security and economic cooperation are intertwined, one can't proceed without the other. Therefore, all three must be taken into consideration in developing a peace policy. For this reason, Detente as Peace Policy presents proposals in the

4 F5AGI m 0 ii field of detente, security, and economic and technological cooperation. The cornerstone of Pax Christi's policy is detente which must satisfy three criteria: both parties must benefit; it must be an irreversible process; and the political steps taken by one party must challenge the other party to take countersteps. Both detente and security should evolve around the principle of common security. However, detente should not only take place on a government level. East-West contacts on a grassroots level detente from below can help ensure that government-level detente is not easily replaced by new periods o f tension in East-West relations. In the field of security, Pax Christi suggests beginning in Europe with conventional reductions, preferably the elimination of entire weapon systems zero options. Secondly, the Soviet Union and the United States, in consultation with the allies, should discuss the removal of NATO and Warsaw Pact short-range nuclear systems including dual-capable systems. There should be a chemical weapons ban and political pressure should be placed on the French to agree to negotiate on the Force de Frappe. Pax Christi supports a nuclear test ban (including the British and French). Finally, Pax Christi calls for the withdrawal o f foreign troops from European soil, and the development o f purely defensive military strategies. Pax Christi stimulates the Dutch government to seek out economic trade and technological cooperation with Eastern Europe as part of an Eastern European policy which Pax Christi believes the Dutch government is lacking. They also call on the government to stimulate contacts between Eastern Europe and the Netherlands by increasing the funding o f exchange programmes and doing away with the visa requirement for Eastern European visitors. The 30-page position statement will be available in English and German in the early summer. Ben Schennink Millennium 1988 marks the one thousand year anniversary of Christianity in the Soviet Union. Grand Duke Vladimir of Kiev was the first Russian to be christened in 988. The millennium is a chance for Russian, Ukrainian and White Russian Christians to celebrate one thousand years of Christian faith. Pax Christi, together with the Apostolate o f the Eastern Churches and, the Catholic Council for Church and Society, will pay tribute to Christians in the USSR on May 6, 1988 with a symposium, ecumenical vesper service and exhibition of Russians icons.

5 0 5 Despite severe limitations by the Soviet government, Christianity is a great inspiration to a large part of Soviet society. Forms of spirituality preserved in the Russian Orthodox Church the most important heir to Grand Duke Vladimir o f Kiev can be of great importance to Christians of other denominations. Finally, the Russian Orthodox Church is active in international peace work: all reasons for a Dutch contribution to the international millennium celebrations. Archbishop Kyrill o f Smolensk will officially represent the Moscow Patriarch during this celebration. He will speak at the symposium and lead the ecumenical vesper service together with Pax Christi chairperson, Bishop H. Ernst and the general secretary of the Dutch Council o f Churches. Utrecht has been chosen as the site o f the millennium celebration. It was in this city, in 1972 during a meeting o f the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, that the first contacts were made for the yearly meetings between Pax Christi International and the Russian Orthodox Church. Jan ter Laak Romania Demonstration On February 1, 1988, sixty people gathered in front of the Romanian embassy in the Hague for a demonstration organised by Pax Christi and the Interchurch Peace Council (IK V ) and supported by several political parties and trade union federations. The Czech human rights organisation Charta 77 had called on organisations to protest Romanian human rights violations. On the same day demonstrations were held in many cities including Munich, Paris, Prague and Budapest. In a meeting with the ambassador, a petition was presented. The petition called for an end to human rights violations and the Romanian policy of "conscious destruction of culture." In the past ten years at least 30 churches and historic monuments from the 17th and 18th Century have been moved or destroyed. (The Romanian ambassador refused to accept the petition, complaining of foreign meddling in internal Romanian a ffa irs.) The petition also mentioned demands on the Dutch government to investigate the human rights situation in Romania, to make interventions against human rights violations to the Romanian government either directly or via international channels and to make use o f economic measures to pressure for change in Romania. A separate letter with these demands was later presented to the Dutch foreign ministry.

6 0 6 Pax Christi will sponsor a workshop on the political and human rights situation in Romania at this year's END (European Nuclear Disarmament) conference. This workshop plus the presence at the conference of Romanians living in Eastern and Western Europe will hopefully stimulate the peace movement to be more attentive to the situation in this country. Pieter Jongsma GDR Support Shortly after the arrest and deportation of several independent activists from the GDR, Pax Christi and the Interchurch Peace Council (IK V ) organised a protest demonstration at the East German embassy in the Hague on February 1, A petition was presented to the embassy and a wall of boxes was built against the fence of the embassy driveway to simulate the Berlin wall which, in the opinion of the demonstrators, must be at least symbolically removed. A name of a deported GDR activists was written on each box. Jacques van der Meer Christianity in CSSR During a visit to Czechoslovakia in the early spring, Jan ter Laak had contact with the Catholic community. Since the Communist takeover in 1948, the church in CSSR has been the most oppressed church in Eastern Europe, with the exception o f the Albanian church. This is especially true for the Catholic Church. A fter the Prague Spring, priests critical of the state were denied the right to fulfill their functions, and Bishops who stepped down were not replaced. One o f the few remaining bishops is the 87-year old Cardinal Frantisek Tomasek. In the last few years he has become more and more outspoken, recently calling on priests to give up their membership in Pacem in Terris, a state-aligned Catholic organisation. He is advised by progressive priest-theologians, one o f whom is involved with the human rights organisation Charta 77. Despite a forty-year limitation on religious freedom, Christianity is blossoming like never before in Czechoslovakia. Although religious orders and congregations have almost all been prohibited, many such groups exist in secret, and there are many clandestine priest (and probably also Bishop) ordinations. In December 1987 a 31-point petition was released including a request for separation of church and state and more freedom for

7 0 7 the church to appoint priests and bishops. This petition gained the recommendation of the Cardinal, who said, "collecting' signatures on this petition is in agreement with our constitution and other government regulations...1 wish to emphasise that cowardliness and fear are unworthy of real Christians." 420,000 signatures were collected in two months. Jan ter Laak visited the Cardinal who was very proud of the results. The position o f the church in negotations with the state has clearly been improved, Ter Laak was told. During a visit to two progressive theologians, Ter Laak was told that the revival in the church should not only be considered as a political gesture. "The Western media makes that mistake quite often. It is primarily a spiritual revival. Of course we have the responsibility and the right to approach the government when the rights of our people are attacked. And, of course we want to be of service to society through our charity and our morals, but we believe that the church should remain independent." The state is rather concerned with the revival in the Catholic Church. There is a rumour that security agents are being specially trained in how one should act during a Catholic mass. The Cardinal is now planning a yearly mass in honour of a Czech saint as a means of rooting the church once again in society. This year's celebration in March brought tens of thousands of people to Prague, despite attempts by the authorities to dissuade the public: reason enough for the government to be concerned about how to keep this new national revival under control. (Excerpt of report on a visit to the CSSR. The complete report is only available in Dutch.) Pax Christi Netherlands is now planning a workshop together with the CSSR peace council for the END Convention this summer in Sweden on the position o f the church's peace work in society. Other religious peace groups will most probably also be approached for this workshop. Jan ter Laak Eastern Europe by Backpack Eastern Europe by Backpack is the title o f an informative newspaper for young people (17-25 years old) produced by Pax Christi. Young people tell about their contact with a country in Eastern Europe; how it began and what impressions it left. There are travel tips, addresses, book and video guides, translations of poetry and profiles of independent and church-related groups in Eastern Europe. The 12-page newspaper is intended for use by schools,

8 N R P A X church and peace groups and individuals interested in becoming more acquainted with Eastern Europe. This is part of Pax Christi's youth programme. On April 16, 1988, 110 young people from across the country attended Pax Christi's Eastern Europe day. They were introduced to new facets of the different countries in Eastern Europe such as the position of women in Czechoslovakia, the difference between the Dutch and Hungarian economic systems, and art in the GDR and Poland. A Russian diplomat was present to talk to the youth, and the day ended with a performance by a Polish band. In the summer, Pax Christi is organising and/or co-sponsoring several trips to and workcamps in Eastern Europe. The focus of all these activities is to bring Dutch young people in contact with their contemporaries in Eastern Europe. Leen de Wit Conscript News Pax Christi's Commission for Support to Conscripts and Conscientious Objectors will present a new brochure titled "Wie maakt de dienst uit" (Whose Service Is It? ). The brochure is intended to describe the different possibilities for military and alternative service. Through interviews with young men, the different choices are considered: conscription, conscientious objection and total objection to all forms of service. Practical information about alternative service is also included. Pax Christi supports all three of the choices for men to fulfill their military responsibility as long as it is a consciously motivated decision. The newspaper will be distributed to schools and among youth groups. In the Netherlands, young men above the age of 18 are required to serve in the army for fourteen months. They may also request alternative service as a conscientious objector (C O ): an eighteen month service in social service and peace-related projects (Pax Christi has three COs currently working in their offices). A small percentage o f all eligible men make use o f the CO-option. Frank Rukkems Afghanistan An end really seems to be coming to what Gorbachov euphemistically referred to in Perestroika as the "stationing of a few small contingents in that land (Afghanistan, e d. )."

9 LUO P A X F u > () «? What did he promise Najibullah to finally win him over? Did Gorbachov promise the Kabul regime a safe sanctuary in case the same thing happens as did with the American allies in Saigon? Or will the withdrawal o f Soviet troops over the next nine months take place in such a way that the Kabul regime has the chance to retain power for the time being? What will happen to the three million refugees living in Pakistan? The most desirable development would be that after the Soviet troop withdrawal they could return to a country ruled bv a non-communist government composed o f the three most important streams in the resistance: traditional, moderate and religious fundamentalist. More probable, however, is that a military impass will develop between the ruling government in Kabul and the resistance which could last for years. Moscow has announced that it retains the right to supply arms to Kabul. That prompted the United States to state that it would continue to arm the resistance. With the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan Gorbachov has won a political victory. For the Afghans, however, it means that the bloodshed may go on for years to come. (Commentary by Jan ter Laak written for the weekly newsmagazine, Groene Amsterdammer) ~Contras in Europe In March 1988 Pax Christi presented its new publication, "De contra's en Europa. De Europese bijdrage aan Reagans anti-sandinistische campagne" (The Contras and Europe, the European Contribution to Reagan's Anti-Sandinista campaign). book investigates the contra's political work in Europe and 'the U.S.-sponsored European publicity campaign against the Sandinistas. This Edgar Chammarro, former political spokesperson for the contras, visited the Netherlands at the invitation o f Pax Christi, for the presentation of this book. Chammarro has worked for the U.S. government after being trained by the CIA. Upon leaving the* contras he wrote about his experiences in a book titled Packaging the Contras: a Case o f CIA Disinformation. Not only was Chammaro present at the press conference for Pax Christi's publication on the contras, but he also gave many interviews and spoke at several public meetings. During one of the meetings, several journalists also discussed the question o f how they can best be protected against disinformation from international press offices such as those set up for the contras in Europe.

10 1 0 The Contras and Europe is now being translated into English. It can be ordered from the Pax Christi office. A Spanish version is also being1considered. Liduine Zumpolle Uprising in Occupied Territories Five days after the uprising in the Occupied Territories began, Pax Christi wrote a letter to Prime Minister Shamir and Foreign Minister Peres expressing their concern over the brutal manner in which the Israeli authorities were oppressing the Palestinian demonstrations. The position taken in the letter was based upon the findings of the peace movement delegation to the Middle East which Pax Christi sponsored in September 1987 (see Pax News 2/1987). Two Pax Christi representatives also met with the Israeli ambassador in January, 1988 to discuss their views in more detail. Pax Christi wrote "We saw the effects of overcrowding in the Gaza, the severe military Iron Fist' policy and the usurpation of land and resources for Israeli use in a type of de-facto annexation of the territories. For the delegation these were all indications for the situation as it has evolved in the West Bank and Gaza in the past month. A people suppressed by another people by hard military means are bound to explode. It is these Israeli policies, and not the so-called Palestinian criminal elements, which we hold responsible for the recent unprecedented violence in the territories." In February, just prior to Dutch parliamentary debates on the situation in the West Bank and Gaza, Pax Christi called on the Dutch government to give a more political translation to their support o f the "recognition o f the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people" by including the right of Palestinians to choose their own leadership. Therefore, Pax Christi asked that the government increase its diplomatic contacts with the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO ) and actively support the EEC resolution to import products directly from the West Bank and Gaza Strip as European support for a Palestinian individual identity. Shocked by the murder of PLO leader Abu Jihad in April, Pax Christi wrote in a condolence letter to that organisation, "We are quite sorry that the way to peace must be littered with so much violence and death. We long for the day that the PLO will be an intrinsic part o f the negotiations which will lead to self-determination for all peoples in the Middle East." Pax Christi made an intervention at the United Nations Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva on the responsibility o f third

11 N R P A X party signatories to the fourth Geneva Convention to ensure the implementation of the convention. This convention applies to the territories which Israel has occupied since The intervention was prepared in cooperation with the West Bank human rights organisation, A lh a q. This highly regarded organisation's work has been impeded by the Israeli military administration during the past four months. At the request of A1 Haq, Pax Christi brought this, and other Israeli violations, to the attention of Dutch foreign minister Van den Broek. In the last full week of April 1988, Pax Christi invited a representative of the Israeli organisation Yesh Gvul (There is a Limit) to the Netherlands. Yesh Gvul is an organisation of Israeli reservists who have announced their refusal to serve in the territories occupied by Israel. Since the uprising began in December 400 reservists have signed a declaration supporting this position, and several have been imprisoned rather than serve in Gaza or the West Bank. Sandra Ball Conciliar Process- The Conciliar Process is an initiative of the World Council of Churches (WCC) to reflect on issues of peace, justice and the integrity of creation. The Dutch Council of Churches (R v K ), which includes the Roman Catholic Church, is organising the Process in the Netherlands. This year the RvK has been making contact with a wide-range of churches and church-related organisations, and they have received quite an enthusiastic response both at a grassroots and an institutional level. May May 1988 was a year of preparation for the RvK, but in May of this year, the Process will be officially launched at the local level. Many organisations view the Conciliar Process as a new chance to present issues to thousands of people in the Dutch churches. For the environmental movement which is organised on a secular basis unlike peace and justice groups the theme "the integrity of creation" offers a first opportunity for them to raise environmental issues within the church. In the Netherlands Pax Christi is closely involved with the Conciliar Process. Members of Pax Christi participate in the national steering committee. For peace movements the Conciliar Process provides the first opportunity since the cruise missile deployment to initiate a new round of public awareness activity. Going into the churches with this theme can also hopefully help to bridge some of the polarisation which developed in the church around the issue of deployment.

12 N R P A X 1 ' This year Pax Christi is focussing its Peace Week (last full week in September) on the Conciliar Process. Contacts with new allies is the central theme. The primary focus for Pax Christi will be on making new contacts between local peace and human rights groups in Central America and in the Netherlands. Grassroots East-West contacts, however, will also have p riority. In June, Pax Christi Netherlands will be organising a workshop on the Conciliar Process at the END (European Nuclear Disarmament) Convention which is to be held in Lund, Sweden. In Europe the most important event will be the European Ecumenical Assembly, titled Peace with Justice which will be held from May 15-21, 1989 in Basel, Switzerland. This assembly is being organised primarily for official Church bodies, but parallel activities will be organised in Basel by church-related movements such as Pax Christi Netherlands. Jan Gruiters Southern Africa Bishop Bonifatius Haushiku of Namibia has accepted Pax Christi's invitation to the Netherlands in the first week of May In addition to meeting with various Catholic organisations, he will be taking part in Pax Christi's 40th anniversary celebration on May 8, The Bishop's visit to the Netherlands coincides with a Namibia publicity campaign in April-May. Religious anti-apartheid organisations believe that the situation in Namibia does not receive enough media attention. Therefore, they have produced public education materials on that country. Pax Christi's contribution to this campaign is the invitation to Haushiku. In January 1988 the Technical University of Delft refused to award Ir. Van Wachem, President-Director of Shell with an honourary doctorate because o f that company's connections with South Africa. In a support letter to the university, Pax Christi wrote that South Africans have made it clear to them that western economic pressure is the only means to achieve drastic changes in South African policies. Since 1975, Pax Christi has been calling on Shell to leave South Africa. Many church delegates have called for the same during meetings with Shell directors, but their answer remains negative. Ir. van Wachem has defendend his company's choice on many occasions. Pax Christi applauded the university's decision not to cooperate in strengthening Shell's image. Pieter Jonersma The following people worked on this issue: Sandra Ball, Frank Bukkems, Renate Durnbaugh, Jan Gruiters, Pieter Jongsma, Jan ter Laak, Jacques van der Meer, Conne van Rossen, and Peter van Vliet (design ).

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