“I think there is so much love built right into the ordinary things, the things we rarely stop to consider. It doesn’t have to be a grandfather, or a parent, or a friend, or a partner. So many of the things I enjoy and find value in exist because someone out there, more often than not a complete stranger, cared. Someone thought it was a fight worth fighting, a dream worth pursuing, to bring something into this world that someone else would benefit from in some way.” - John Paul Brammer, ¡Hola Papi!
Dear friends,
Wherever you are in the world, whatever season of life you are currently traversing, it is my sincere hope that love and light are within reach (See JP Brammer above). It’s been an uneven road in pulling this edition together. I keep wishing I could be more upbeat and less frightened but given the state of the world, that’s not where I am.
We’re nearing the end of yet another calendar year and I regret to inform you that the world we live in, the societies we inhabit, appear no closer to peace, healing or justice than the years before. That’s not news, just reality. As much as I have wanted to return to this project with renewed energy and hope, it feels as difficult and as fraught as ever, if not more so. The genocidal campaign raging in Gaza continues unabated. Although media attention focused on armed conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo varies, the extent of human suffering and displacement we are witnessing across multiple regions remains devastating.
For those of us farthest removed from these settings, acknowledging the scale of dehumanization that persists in particular contexts becomes a choice. We can follow the news and we may look away. We can engage in meaningful protest and we can avoid broaching these topics with friends and loved ones. The use of “and” is important here. When our own lives are not directly impacted, we have the luxury of a range of choices - time, place, manner, and degree of response and engagement. We tend to think of choice as either/or conditions but choice can and should be understood as far more multifaceted than we typically imagine.
Given that, it feels important to weigh, individually, institutionally and collectively, which choices we are making in which contexts. Not just consider, but clarify, examine, determine when and how we are making sense of the world as it is. (Who are we listening to? Whose voices are being centered?) The idea here is not to pick a side and stick with it; rather to gain clarity about how we are choosing to use our resources - time, attention and energy, to bring about the kinds of change we say we want to see in the world and ourselves.
At the same time, what are we modelling for our learners? In the face of multiple crises, global and also closer to home (ongoing inflation, scarcity of affordable housing, overextended health care systems), to what degree are we encouraging inquiry and critical thinking? Particularly in the face of increased backlash to DEI efforts, we need to prepare ourselves and our communities to maintain (and bolster) commitments to equity, inclusion and justice.
What can I offer that speaks to these demands? I’m not sure. I’m feeling my way through these difficult times as much as everyone else.
I never expect folks to read (watch, or listen to) everything I share. If you can find one thing, that’s a win!
War and Peace
Rethinking Schools recently offered an important editorial about the never ending military entanglements of the United States drawing on War Made Invisible by Norman Solomon. We can hardly take in the news of armed conflict anywhere on the globe without asking the role and reach of the US military in it.
As Norman Solomon argues convincingly in War Made Invisible, the United States is engaged in a perpetual state of war — often hidden or lied about in the corporate media. Schools have been partners in that deception. Instead, we need schools to nurture a disgust for war and to expose students to the human consequences of the U.S. war machine. We need young people to come to see themselves as activists for peace and justice — to recognize our common humanity and do something about it.
In schools we often assume that we are conveying the value of and belief in peace. When military conflicts arise that trouble our students’ and community members understanding of what constitutes peace and for whom, it’s important that we listen to those whose direct experiences can help inform us.
Consider this blog post by educator, Dzenana Cemen, a survivor of the Bosnian genocide who shares her own reactions to Israel-Palestine as a child of war:
The images of children in Palestine evoke the fear that I don’t remember having since Sarajevo and the brutal ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. It is that fear where you don’t know whether you are going to see your mom again once she leaves the house to fetch some food. You tug on to your mother’s legs until she cannot physically leave the house. Because you’d rather be hungry than be an orphan. Those are the options you get as a child of war. But majority of the time you do not have an option because of the constant shelling and destruction…
… I was a child of this world but never in it. And today, so many children are alive but not living. Teach their stories. Amplify their voices.”
Critical thinking requires being able to hold more than one truth at a time. It calls on us to discern signal from the noise and wrestle with the possibility of multiple meanings. Yes, it’s hard which explains why so many try to avoid it. I want to share a text from an international school administrator offering guidance on how he believes schools should respond in the case of armed conflict and then offer a blog post by Sulwyn Garcia that contests some of the points made. I encourage you to read both texts in their entirety. Here, I will share the concluding paragraph of each piece.
From Conrad Hughes, “How Might International Schools Position Themselves in Times of Armed Conflict?” Oct. 27, 2023
“The bottom line is that international schools, and perhaps all schools for that matter, should never allow the armed conflict of the outside world to enter the classroom.
Four principles, therefore, in these terrible and difficult times:
Stand on the side of peace
Think independently and critically
Love and care
Be wary of prejudice”
From Sulwyn Garcia, “An Open Response to Conrad Hughes” Nov. 15, 2023 (scroll down)
“Silence and moving forward with the status quo is a missed opportunity. It’s false and irresponsible to assume that our school spaces are bubbles, somehow immune and sheltered from what’s happening in the “outside world”. When, in fact, what’s going on outside of our walls has very real consequences in our community. I believe that we can be on the path of healing and liberation through ongoing dialogue and meaningful action. Let’s reflect on the wisdom of civil rights advocate and scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw; “When there’s no name for a problem, you can’t see a problem. When you can’t see a problem, you can’t solve it.”
I think the four principles you proposed are helpful. I would like to add some ideas to them:
Four principles, therefore, in these terrible and difficult times:
Stand on the side of peace and openly denounce violence
Think independently and critically, and name bias
Demonstrate love and care to everyone within our community
Name and address prejudice”
I can hardly think of a better illustration of how we can apply and model critical thinking and purposeful response for those around us. Especially striking in Garcia’s introduction is their specific positionality in the context of their response. They explain exactly which lenses they are using in how they regard, consider and add on to Hughes’s ideas.
Finally, please tune in for this far-reaching conversation between activist Kelly Hayes and author, Sarah Kendzior. If you’re not familiar with Kendzior’s work, she’s an expert on autocratic regimes and predicted already in 2015 the dangers of a Trump win in 2016.
SK: “And that is why it's so important that folks stick together and recognize each other's struggles as a unified struggle. It's the struggle. It's the argument that nobody is expendable, that we all deserve basic rights and freedoms, and that we have the right to fight for those basic rights and freedoms until we receive them.”
Moving Forward
Let’s stick together. No one is expendable. We all deserve basic rights and freedoms. We have to fight to make that happen for everyone, not just our own. I don’t consider myself much of a fighter but of course, there are many ways to fight, many ways to support and engage. So I want to leave you with this wonderful graphic from slowfactory.earth which reminds us that there are roles for all of us in the struggle.
Wishing you all the best for the close of 2023 (which has been a doozy) and holding out hope for a 2024 that will bring us more justice, more peace, more solidarity, more joy.
Be wonderful and take care,
Sherri