|
|
| American Friends Service Committee Continues Mission for Peace By Charles Salvatore One of the first groups of people to come over to the New World was the Quakers. The Quakers were started in the middle of the seventeenth century. Today the values and teachings are alive and well through their service
within communities around the world. After hundreds of years, Quaker organizations still actively participate
in today’s politics. The Quakers formed the American Friends Service
Committee (AFSC) in 1917. Originally started to help soldiers and refuges
in World War I, they sent committee members to England and France to help
them rebuild their lives. The American Friends Service Committee is made
up of people from many different denominations who have come together
to talk about social, economical, justice and war issues that face not
only Americans but people from around the globe. The Chicago Chapter has been active in the city for 55 years helping various faiths who are committed to helping others. “The 57th meeting of the American Friends made a request to put
an office in Chicago,” said Michael McConnell. McConnell works for
the AFSC in Chicago’s downtown area. According to their Web site, “The Chicago Office of the American Friends Service Committee is committed to developing leaders from within the diverse communities of Chicago, and to building a sustainable peace with justice movement that reaches beyond this city's borders.”
The Chicago chapter focuses primarily on three areas, according to McConnell.
The first is the Middle East Peace Program. “It educates about events in the
Middle East, out news is bias towards Israel, It doesn’t show how
the war is effecting people in Palestine,” he explained. McConnell
notes the Israeli objectors who refuse to fight, which is not covered
in the media or explored in most public discussion. “There are people
in Palestine and Israel working towards peace." The second of the three areas is Counter Recruitment, which offer an
alternative to military recruitment. “The military recruiters give you half or false information about enlisting. We offer full picture alternative to military, such as job planning,” said McConnell. A former Israel Parliament member said that “there is more accurate information in his newspapers than in ours here in America.” The last area that the group works on is
Iraq Peace Building, which is a faith group that organizes large events
that can have anywhere between eight to 2,500 people. Two of their biggest
promotions are the Wall of Names and Eyes Wide Open. The Wall of Names
is a display of the names of all soldiers killed in Iraq; this exhibit
just finished touring the country. “Eyes Wide Open has boots with eyes drawn on them, along with the name rank of the soldiers that were killed in the area,” said McConnell. These initiatives for peace fall firmly within the AFSC's mission: “We believe that ultimately goodness can prevail over evil, and oppression in all its many forms can give way.”
|