Intention, Darfur, Sudan

I've been listening to a CD of The Power of Intention, by Wayne Dyer. The essence of his message is that there is a kind of divine intention acting all the time in the world.  We experience this intention as an energy and as a sense of purpose. We can choose to harmonize with it and create new things.

The CD (and the book it is an abridged from) is based on his experiences, experiments, and study of living in this manner. 

One of Dyer's conclusions:  You cannot make change by condemning something.

When you condemn something you partake of its energy--of its sensibility--and you inadvertantly establish more of this negative sensibility in the world.

The way to make change is to seek to understand the positive possibilities trying to enter, establish themselves, and grow and develop in the situation. You make change by being open to ways to align your efforts with the intention expressing itself through transformative tendrils sprouting on the landscape.

I think this is what many of the religious people in our movement for Sudan and Darfur are saying, and seeking to help actualize.

As I mull this over, it occurs to me that several lines of intention are seeking to be realized:

Awareness and witness: visibility for all people

The victims of genocides often talk about their invisibility, and the crippling sense that the world was not watching, that the world did not care.  Interviews with survivors of the Nazi Holocaust often  dwell on this theme, and one the counterpart healing power of sharing one's story, and having it be heard.

This website began with the goal of witness.  Like Mary's loving witnessing of Jesus' suffering in the movie The Passion of the Christ, one of our founders felt deeply moved to witness the suffering in Sudan, and to make connections with others involved in the tragedy and the response and rescue.  The Green Ribbon Campaign, the plastic bracelets, the South African-made beaded bracelets (coming soon), the candle-lite vigils, and STAND and other high-school and college groups (spreading very very rapidly), provide a kind of deep ecology of witness. 

In Darfur and Sudan, witness also has proven to be fundamental.  When one talks to humanitarian workers, surprisingly, one often hears that the victims in Darfur greatly value simply being respected, being heard, being attended to, and knowing that people are working on their behalf, even if that work is so far unsuccessful in stopping the tragedy.  In some sense this kind of listening, listening to the stories, witnessing, seems like a weak response in the face of overwhelming evil.  Yet it also seems at the root of healing, at the root of putting oneself in position to take loving action.

Information and insight

The developmental link from witness to broader community understanding has been forged by both the blog community and the mainstream press.  Nick Kristoff's stories in the New York Times, the stories told by Jerry Fowler of the Holocaust Memorial Museum, the story remembered in Song for Sudan, these and many many other media-carried stories have enriched the spiritual soil in which our movement is growing.

Our work on this site is sometimes seen by me as countering the disinformation spread by the Sudanese government and its allies--and condemning that government and its allies. 

Perhaps better to see Passion of the Present as establishing clear, truthful information and insight into the situation and lives in Darfur and Sudan.  If we look long-term at what we would hope for Sudan, it is that information, dialogue, constructive relationships would thrive among its citizens and those of the rest of the world.  The hundreds of bloggers now focusing on Sudan, and the thousands and thousands of regular readers, as well as the dozens of major newspapers that have taken up the cause, and their millions of readers, are surely improving the information and insight that citizens of the world have about Darfur and Sudan (and insight about the UN, the African Union, and the role of China and other nations in the world economy and society, and about many other topics).  Central also is direct web-access to specialized data gathering and analysis provided by human rights organizations, economic and social policy think tanks, and individual commited citizens.

Intention seems to be manifesting a world of continually refreshed global information and insight, with as much wisdom as possible laid in.  And this global knowledge, this global dialogue, is increasingly free and open to all people of the world. Indeed, it is co-created by the people of the world. It is not produced mainly by media companies, but created principally by free people.

Personal relationships that will endure

More and more, our community seems to be manifesting a next level of intention, that of connecting face-to-face as people with people in Darfur and all of Sudan.  Jay McGinley brings our attention to the Catholic Workers who are now in Sudan.  Jonathan Spector and others that we know personally have now worked in Sudan as members of MSF.  In about two weeks Gloria White-Hammond and Liz Walker of My Sister's Keeper will be entering Darfur to establish connections with communities of women who will be central to reweaving and strengthening the post-conflict fabric of society in Darfur.  Other friends are also planning missions in January. Their names cannot be mentioned because of the challenges of getting visas to go into Darfur.  A human bridge to Sudan is starting to be built. The suspension cables of this bridge are personal relationships---reaching across and connecting solidly at each end--on our end, solidly reflecting a philosophy of learning from the Sudanese as well as offering help.

There are other layers of intention that seem to be manifesting in the relationship with the people of Darfur and Sudan.  Two of special note are electronic communication and international law. 

Open electronic communication in Sudan

Looking forward long-term, I believe that what is trying to manifest in Sudan is a telecommunications capability that is ubiquitous across the country, inexpensive and accessible to all, open and uncensored, and connects citizens of Sudan with those of the rest of the world.  On top of this platform will be blogs, websites, lots of email, VOIP--and on top of these applications will be lots of communication among people.  Lots is happening in this layer, and I hope to explore this topic in more depth in a future post. Satellite voice service is well-established throughout the country, and is being introduced to previously isolated communities by the humanitarian agencies.  In other crisis zones, such as the Balkans, communications platforms are first established by outside agencies, and then opened up to local communities and activists.  The private sector is starting to be more active. In the north, a second cell phone carrier, to compete with the government, is in the process of being licensed.  The provisional governnment in Southern Sudan, the NPLA/M, is accepting bids for cell-phone and other communications licenses.  It seems that there are companies and investors willing to take on this challenge.  Our own Digital Green Ribbon Campaign is just starting (and needs your help) but will hopefully contribute to the establishment of local digital services and digital entrepreneurs--both social entrepreneurs and for-profit/public service entrepreneurs.

Human Rights Law

Where the law is well-established and supports human rights, it is a powerful force for good. On the international human rights law front, some elements of the agenda for activist lawyers are becoming clearer through our experience with Darfur and Sudan.  It is blindingly obvious that the UN Security Council is good for keeping nations from invading each other, but is not good for keeping nations from killing their own citizens.  And the intention to remedy this lack is also clear, and becoming clearer.  To develop such capacity, advances in international law will incorporate innovations in laws, due process, and enforcement.

Laws: One terrific idea (first articulated for me by a member of the staff of Physicians for Human Rights) is to to create a voluntary codicile to the UN Genocide Treaty clarifying its meaning to include "attempted genocide," clarifying due process and enforcement, and perhaps extending the treaty to cover a broader range of human rights abuses--and get nations to sign it.

Due Process: There are going to be interesting discussions at the UN Security Council about the use of the International Criminal Court to bring charges against perpetrators in Sudan.  The Bush administration does not want to legitimize the court, yet needs it in this case.  An alternative, discussed by Christian activists two years ago as part of the six point plan to deal with Iraq, would be to establish a citizen-sponsored global court to try the criminals in Sudan.  This court would not have enforcement, but might have enough legitimacy to bring other sorts of help following.

Enforcement: Ideas range from creating a permanent UN peacekeeping force dedicated to protecting human rights, to a new "council of democracies" to replace the UN and to advocate for democracy and human and civil rights--making membership contingent on the establishment of these values within nations.

So here is my New Year's resolution.  I'm going to keep witnessing, keep working with all of you who want to help. I commit to try to use the web help develop good information and insight across our community, and try to bring attention, resources, and encouragement to those working on the various Darfur and Sudan and world advances. Thanks so very much for all of your help this year, for your love, your encouragement, your criticism where necessary, and most of all your incredible creativity in extending our community and our activities. Thanks, and warm best wishes this and every night.