Advent in Disguise: A voice cries out in Fort Benning

Contemplating the scriptures on the 2nd Sunday of Advent, I can’t help but imagine the smirks on the faces of the Pharisee spies as they swaggered up to John the Baptist doing his thing in the River Jordan. John was connecting with countless spiritual seekers living under the yoke of empire, immersing themselves in repentance, a revival of their individual and collective faith. Pharisees are not seekers, they are know-it-all doctrinaires, and they knew that John’s ministry was a threat to theirs… a threat worth investigating.

You attract more flies with honey than you do with vinegar, or so the saying goes. But the Baptist (incidentally, a connoisseur of both [wild] honey and flies—or locusts, at least) has no welcome for the well-dressed spectators at the back of the crowd. Instead, he offers them a prophetic rebuke with two startling images in the present tense:

· “the axe lies at the root of the trees” (Matt. 3:10)

This image is more familiar when echoed by Jesus later in Matthew’s gospel, “You will recognize them by their fruit.” (Matt. 7:20). John’s not talking about pruning the unproductive trees for the next season—he’s swinging for the root.

· “his winnowing fan is in his hand” (Matt. 3:12)

After the harvest, it’s necessary to separate out the edible wheat from the rest of the grain husk, the chaff. This can be accomplished by winnowing—tossing a mixture of wheat and chaff in the air so the lighter chaff will blow away, but the wheat will land back in its container. The son/daughter of man wields the fan that blows away the waste leaving only the fruit.

In other words, this Pharisaic reconnaissance is a waste of time. This audience is fed up with sanctimonious charades, with religious elites masquerading around under the guise of infallibility. They’re no longer fooled by wolves in sheep’s clothing. This crowd yearns for authenticity, wholeness, and peace—a time when “the wolf shall be the guest of the lamb” (Isaiah 11:6a).

The season of Advent is no time to hide undercover. It’s too late for false pretenses and superficial disguises. “Not by appearances shall (s)he judge, nor by hearsay shall (s)he decide, but (s)he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land’s afflicted” (Isaiah 11:3-4).

It is with this profound spirit of solidarity that thousands gather year after year at the gates of the School of the Americas (hiding under the wooly disguise of WHINSEC), and chanting “no más, no more” as a rallying cry. Singing together in one voice to end the institutionalized absurdity of teaching terrorism disguised as democracy, “through the barrel of a gun,” in the words of Fr. Roy Bourgeois.

Those gathered outside the gates are seeking a new way of expressing their faith in non-violence, a way of extravagant simplicity which includes drum circles, stilt-walkers, and all-you-can-share vegan buffets. Those huddled inside the gates are defending abstract boundaries and ideologies, brandishing their chain link, razor wire, and handcuffs while their proudest alumni march in uniformed costumes throughout the halls of power in Latin America.

Why should we be surprised by undercover cops in the midst of such a crowd? Nothing but Pharisees, attracted by the inspirational curiosity of a movement that threatens the security of their easy answers—their fragile right versus wrong, good guys and bad guys. Is it possible to envision that “the leopard shall lie down with the kid” (Isaiah 11:6b) in an empire that aims to perpetuate Guantánomo? Can we, as a society, begin to unmask those hiding behind the joysticks of drones as they prowl the Middle East, shrouded in desert clouds? Who invented the curriculum for this democracy?

And yet, as the days get shorter, in this Advent season of authenticity apart from appearances, we find ourselves looking for a bright star to follow in the dark night sky. The star doesn’t lead us out on a limb of consumer society, not to the far left or the far right, but back to the roots of the Jesse tree. Here, from the stump, “a shoot shall sprout… a bud shall blossom” (Isaiah 11:1) as a sign of revival, repentance, metamorphosis. Breathing into the core of the humus, what we have seen before in our human vulnerability, the Divine makes a home in our feeding trough, in the frailty of a movement worth infiltrating.

Maranatha—

Come Emmanuel, God with US,

Savior betrayed by an undercover disciple,

Heir to a Kingdom beyond the dreams of empire,

Lead us to repentance through authenticity,

Lead us to vulnerability through courage,

Lead us to freedom through peace.

Infiltrate us with your mercy, so that we may climb and topple

The barriers of intimidation that shield our borders,

And unite one family, one people, one Church, one voice:

“Ya basta! Somos América!”

Kairos Chicago to Gather in Columbus, GA

Kairos Chicago @ The SOA

Kairos Chicago will be gathering for an afternoon of study and reflection on Saturday, November 21, in Columbus, Georgia. We will gather @ 4:00 pm and begin our meeting @ 4:30 pm to spend some time in conversation and community before the Ignatian Family Mass. All are welcome to join us. Feel free to spread the word and contact us for more information or if you are having trouble finding us. We will meet @ the park across the street from the Coca-Cola Space Science Center (at Front Ave & 7th Street, just South of the Convention Center). Contact Jake Olzen: 847.372.4289 or Jerica Arents: 262.366.3785 for further questions.


Also, on Sunday Morning, we will gather for a celebration of the Word and Eucharist. This inclusive, community-centered liturgy will take place just inside the gates to Fort Benning @ 7:30am to read scripture, break bread, pray together, and share the sign of peace.

Segregationist Torture

Kairos Chicago stood in solidarity as the remnant victims of hate crime took back their voice today at the Thompson Center. We joined with several other activist groups in Chicago as the cases of 20 men, who remain in prison on confessions elicited through torture, continue to sit on
Atty Gen. Lisa Madigan's desk after a judge ordered her to open them up six years ago.

Evidentiary hearings, that's all we ask for those remaining detainees of Chicago's spree of segregationist torture officiated by John Burge. In orange jumpsuit and hood, the testimony reverberated with the echo of Guantanamo Bay. Just as the Supreme Court ruled that potential terrorists deserve their day in court, so we demand the basic human right of due process applied here at home.

Madigan remains gripped by the paralysis of analysis. It seems she thinks torture too controversial. "Opinions about the use of torture against suspected terrorists also differ widely by party, as has been the case over the past four years. While 43% of Democrats say torture is never justified, 15% of Republicans and 30% of independents hold that view.”(1) In solidarity with the tortured, for both victim and persecutor, Kairos mourns.

Torture nullifies the confession it extracts, so it has no efficiency value. We decry such a thing as "state of the art" coercion; torture is cruel and inhumane. We advocate police forces that care for the Common Good, accept review, do thorough investigation, and communicate with transparency to the public. A mistake has been made, in the name of God, most merciful and compassionate, rectify it! Allow the courts to begin proceedings--ATTN: Executor of the Office of Attorney General "Do your job."


1) PEW Center http://people-press.org/report/493/obama-anti-terror-policies


6 years is too long to wait!
Rally, Press Conference, & Peoples Delegation:
Tell Lisa Madigan that Burge torture victims deserve new trials!

April 6, noon
Thompson Center, 100 W. Randolph (at Clark)

For nearly six years, the prisoners and their families, activists, and attorneys having been asking the Attorney General to initiate evidentiary hearings for men who faced electro-shock, suffocation, beatings and mock executions in Area 2 and Area 3 police interrogation rooms.

While President Obama has ordered the closing of Guantanamo Prison due to international outcry over torture, Lisa Madigan has allowed dozens of Chicago police torture victims, all of whom are African-American, to languish in prison in Obama's backyard.

In 2007, the Cook County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution calling on Madigan to initiate new hearings for all police torture victims. It is now March of 2009 and she has still refused to take substantial action. Even more disturbing, on April 7 2009, rather than grant relief to torture victims, she is hoping that a judge will allow her to pass five of the torture cases to new States Attorney Anita Alvarez.

With Lisa Madigan gearing up for a run for Governor, it's time for her to take responsibility for the Burge torture cases. No public official who condones torture is fit to be in the State's highest office. Join exonerated torture victims, activists, attorneys, and family members for a rally, press conference, and a people’s delegation to Lisa Madigan’s office to tell her:

Friday's Vigil

We held vigil from 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. today near the Shuttle stop and Damen Hall. We handed out 700 fliers to students, faculty, and staff who walked by. Some students expressed an interest in joining us in the future. Many seemed to receive the fliers with a genuine interest in our presence. The experience was quite different from our daily vigils in front of the White House. The students seemed much friendlier and more interested in what we were doing. See the attached photo.

Our message was: "17 Chinese Uighurs. Sold to the United States. They are NOT 'enemy combatants.' 2,511 days...still in Guantanamo. President Obama, release the Uighurs! 202-456-1111." We also had signs that said, "The fast the Lord desires: release those bound unjustly." -Isaiah 58:6, and "Bagram Air Base = the new Guantanamo." THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED!

Tomorrow morning, a couple of us will be interviewed on WLUW 88.7 FM at 9:00 a.m. They have a show that's hosted at the Heartland Cafe. Tune in if you have the opportunity.

Also, the Loyola Phoenix ran an op-ed piece by Chris Spicer and Anna Springer. You can read it here online or grab a copy of the 3/18/09 issue, which also includes the Senate hearing photo.

Reflection: Ash Wednesday Action to End Torture

Letter Sent to the Phoenix
by Chris Spicer

(from Wednesday February 25)

As large numbers of students attended Ash Wednesday services, 10 members of the Loyola community expressed their faith in an alternative way- a creative street theater presentation condemning the horrors of Guantánamo Bay force-feeding.

Demonstrators enacted torture outside of CFSU Wednesday, one month after President Obama issued an order to close the Guantánamo detention center. The action highlighted a current hunger strike by Guantánamo detainees that has been interrupted by what the students call inhumane and illegal forced-feeding. They protested the violations of habeas corpus—the right to challenge the legality of detention—and called for resettlement of the prisoners, as refugees.

Wearing orange jump suits, they acted as Guantánamo detainees. The street theater simulated how guards violently insert a tube through a man’s nose into his stomach to pump in protein shakes twice a day. Force-feeding is done without anesthetic and often without sanitation.

Numbers of hunger strikers have grown in the last month. Last month Pentagon spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said that 25 hunger strikers were being force-fed. According to Navy Cmdr. Pauline Storum, as of Feb. 11, 41 of the 245 prisoners were on strike and 35 were being fed forcibly.

In a report released this week, the Pentagon says that the Guantánamo prison meets the Geneva Conventions for humane treatment. Similarly, On February 11, a federal judge sided with the Pentagon’s argument that their action is humane. “Respondents are acting out of a need to preserve the life of the petitioners rather than letting them die from their hunger strikes,” wrote Judge Gladys Kessler. The student activists, however, argue that force feeding, along with many of the other tactics still being used at Guantánamo, are cruel and coercive and amount to torture. The ACLU Program Director, Jamil Dakwar, wrote President Obama last month saying the force-feeding violates international agreements, including The Convention Against Torture ratified by the United States in 1994.

The new administration has sent mixed signals related to intelligence gathering practices. President Obama has issued an executive order to stop “harsh interrogation techniques.” He elected not to prohibit the use of extraordinary rendition, a practice of transferring captives from one country to another for intelligence purposes.

The student activists contrasted the simulated force-feeding with a communal banquet. They intended a message of universal welcome that was symbolic of a Jewish Seder meal.
“When we gather and build community with each other at the banquet table, we experience a call to find ourselves in others—to realize that we are the detainees and the interrogators,” said Jerica Arents, a graduate student at Loyola University. “We are one humanity, one body. We cannot sit complacently as men continue to be tortured.”

Narrators told the story of Hozaifa Parhat, one of seventeen Chinese Muslims who remains imprisoned. In September 2008, U.S. judge Ricardo Urbina ruled the detention of these Chinese men unconstitutional. He ordered their release into the care of communities in the D.C area and Tallahassee, Florida, which had prepared for their resettlement. Then an appeal of the decision put the kibosh on plans. Because the prisoners belong to a group persecuted in China, the Uighurs (WEE-gurs), the administration reasoned that if the group were returned then they would be killed.

According to U.N. Conventions, the Guantánamo prisoners now meet the definition of refugee status.

Ten of the Loyola students involved in Wednesday’s demonstration traveled to Washington, D.C. February 28 (to March 7) to participate in the 100 Days Campaign to Shut Down Guantánamo and End Torture. [For more information: http://www.100dayscampaign.org/.]

Day 43 @ 100 Days Campaign

We've been busy here in D.C. between the daily vigil outside the White House from 11a-1p, meeting with our representatives to encourage closing Guantanamo a fact in reality, and attending and participating in films and discussions.

Today we had particularly good press at the Senate Judiciary hearing on what a truth commission might look like for an inquiry into what has happened over the past eight years that made torture American foreign policy. Check out today's events over at the 100 Days website.

In fact, we've been so busy it has been difficult to find time to reflect on our actions and experiences. The folks here in D.C. this week include locals from the D.C. area, WAT organizers (mostly East Coast Catholic Workers), students from John Carroll University in Cleveland and ourselves. We did get a chance to spend some time tonight over at Dorothy Day Catholic Worker reflecting on torture, recommitting ourselves to working to end torture and shut down Guantanamo - particularly in our own communities at home.

Kairos Community in D.C.

We made it into D.C. Saturday night after driving all day. We spent Sunday morning at Jonah House celebrating liturgy, reflecting on our baptismal vows as we begin this Lenten journey and what that means for our call to be peacemakers and practice nonviolence, and enjoying a wonderful brunch prepared for us by the community in Baltimore. Later that afternoon we went to the Holocaust Museum. It was a very powerful day with emotional and spiritual ups and downs. We are still wrestling with what to make of it all. Then the snows began to fall.

The plan for this morning was to join the D.C. Catholic Workers at their weekly vigil for peace at the Pentagon, but because D.C. was dumped on with snow overnight we decided against it. We head off to the White House for the Witness Against Torture vigil at the White House in a few hours as part of the 100 Days Campaign.

Ash Wednesday Nonviolent Action

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TO PROTEST GUANTANAMO AND TORTURE; ENVISION NONVIOLENT SOCIETY BASED ON TRUTH AND LOVE

We'll mark Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent on WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25TH, by protesting the indefinite detention and inhumane treatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp and other U.S.-sponsored detention facilities. We are members of Kairos Chicago, an Edgewater-based nonviolent community of faith and resistance. We'll be holding vigil, distributing fliers, and engaging in creative, nonviolent street theater in between classes.

YOU ARE WELCOME TO JOIN US AT ANY TIME!
TIME: Wednesday, February 25: 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Outside CFSU near the Ash Tray

“The season of Lent is an opportunity for Christians to repent of their participation in sin—both personal and social,” said Luke Hansen, S.J., a Jesuit scholastic and graduate student at Loyola University. “What we have done at Guantánamo is illegal, immoral, and unjust.”

Even though President Obama has issued Executive Orders to close Guantánamo and to end “harsh interrogation techniques,” the indefinite detention of over 200 men at Guantánamo, 600 men at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, and thousands more in Iraq continues to this day. So does the practice of force-feeding prisoners, a cruel and coercive treatment that amounts to torture. The students’ street theater will involve both denunciation and annunciation. On one side, students will demonstrate force-feeding—inside a “Guantánamo cage,” as a narrator reads prisoners’ testimonies. On the other side, students will share a great banquet—signifying the Kingdom of God and “the beloved community”—while a narrator reads from Hebrew Scriptures, Christian Scriptures, and other religious texts.

“When we gather and build community with each other at the banquet table, we experience a call to find ourselves in others—to realize that we are the detainees and the interrogators,” said Jerica Arents, a graduate student at Loyola University. “We are one humanity, one body. We cannot sit complacently as men continue to be tortured.”

Kairos Chicago, a nonviolent community of faith, resistance, and Gandhian “experiments with truth,” meets twice each month in the Edgewater/Rogers Park neighborhood. An intergenerational community, Kairos Chicago brings women and men together to celebrate Good News, identify signs of hope in our communities, and to pray, study and act in resistance to the violence and injustice in our world. Its members are committed to faith and conscience, learning and scripture study, and nonviolent direct action.

FROM FEBRUARY 28TH TO MARCH 7TH, TEN MEMBERS OF KAIROS CHICAGO WILL TRAVEL TO WASHINGTON, D.C. to participate in the 100 Days Campaign to Shut Down Guantánamo and End Torture. More information on this campaign can be found at http://www.100dayscampaign.org/.

Kairos Chicago Participates in Camp Hope

As millions of Americans waited with hope and anticipation for President Barack Obama's historical inauguration as the 44th President of the United States of America, hundreds of Obama supporters and peace and justice advocates from around the country braved sub-zero temperatures and snowy January days hoping President Obama will follow through with his promises of hope and change. Camp Hope: Countdown to Change was a 19-day presence near Barack Obama's home in Hyde Park, Chicago. All day and every day from New Year's Day to Dr. Martin Luther King Day, we set up Camp Hope to congratulate President Obama and recommit ourselves to the progressive actions he promoted on his campaign trail. In the evenings forum, films, workshops, theater, and speakers helped us to stregthen the local movement for peace and build the relationships to let social justice flow like a river. People like Kathy Kelly from Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Dr. Quentin Young from Physicians for a National Health Program, Ali Abunimah from Electronic Intifada, and groups like Chicago Metropolitan Sactuary Alliance and Witness Against Torture attracted over a thousand people to participate in Camp Hope in someway - from attending a workshop to spending all 19 days out at the vigil. While recognizing the need for profound policy change, Camp Hope asked, President Obama to take eight actions upon being sworn into office The eight asks, representing over 40 social justice organizations, of Camp Hope were:

• Regarding Iraq, withdraw troops by 6,000 a month and cease combat operations; commit to the primacy of diplomacy, announce a new diplomatic initiative to end violent actions against Afghanistan and Pakistan
• Take all nuclear weapons off hair trigger alert and work to eliminate nuclear weapons all together
• Close Guantánamo, eliminate military tribunals an allow detainees access to the U.S. court system
• Suspend deportation of immigrants, stop breaking up families and end raids at workplaces
• Submt the Kyoto Protocol for ratification...
• Establish a commission to develop policies for full employment
• Issue a 90-day moratorium on housing foreclosures
• Start a commission to develop policies on Universal Health Care

These are merely starting points for the new administration to begin working toward the fundamental change needed in this country. Our eight asks are not exhaustive and were never intended to be. We fail to address the occupation of Gaza, alternative energy, unfair trade policies such as NAFTA and CAFTA and much else. We realize all of these are interconnected and that, as Dr. King said, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Camp Hope was just one action among many, but it was one with an air of positivity and hope that change has indeed come to America.

Barack Obama may have been inaugurated today by Chief Justice John Roberts, but yesterday almost 200 Chicagoans celebrated the birthday of Dr. King and Obama's presidency with "A People's Inauguration: Reclaiming Our Democracy" in Federal Plaza. Artists, activists, students, musicians, poets and many others gathered to close Camp Hope, challenge ourselves to live the radical vision of Dr. King, and usher in an era where communities acting on progressive values to better the lives of the marginalized and the poor will be welcomed in Washington.

And now that President Obama's time has come and his administration looks forward to define the Obama presidency in the first 100 days of his tenure, the time for waiting for change is over. Now is the time for action. Those of us from Camp Hope will leave our handwarmers and campfires from 51st and Drexel Avenue and continue our working for peace and justice in places like the Middle East, Columbia, the Borderlands and organize at home in Chicago and in Washington for more jobs, less poverty, no more torture. Yes, we can; Yes, we did; Yes, we must! So, Mr. President, now it's your turn to do right. We haven't quit yet and are inviting you to be part of the widespread change that is happening at grassroots levels. And just in case you forget what you've promised, we are not afraid to come to D.C. to make sure the voice of the people is not lost among the lobbyists and lawmakers. Camp Hope congratulates you President Obama and, like much of America, is ready for some action - don't leave us out in the cold.

Members from Kairos Chicago at Camp Hope site in Hyde Park on January 3rd!

Jake Olzen is a graduate student at Loyola University Chicago and a co-coordinator of Camp Hope: Countdown to Change on behalf of Kairos Chicago