RAIN Resources for Building Community - Rethinking National Security Financing Your Ethics Sustainable Suburbs? Trickle-Down Media Teledemocracy Summer 1986 Volume XII, Number 3
Page 2 RAIN Summer 1986 RAIN Volume XII, Number 3 Summer 1986 Coordinating Editor F. Lansing Scott Contributing Editor Steve Johnson Circulation Manager Alan Locklear Interns Julia May Elizabeth Rifer Contributors Steven Ames Walter Truett Anderson Scott Androes Rob Baird Wendell Berry Cherry Britton Lester Brown Duane Elgin Mimi Maduro Ann Niehaus Parker Rossman Gene Sharp Johnny Stallings Jeff Strang Takeshi Utsumi Sim Van der Ryn Mary Vogel Printing: Argus Printing RAIN magazine publishes information that can help people make their communities and regions more self-reliant, and build a society that is more participatory, just, and ecologically sound. RAIN is published quarterly by the Center for Urban Education. RAIN subscription and editorial offices are at 1135 SE Salmon, Portland, OR 97214; 5031231-1285. Subscriptions are $18/year ($12 if you live on less than $7500 a year). See page 55 for additional subscription information. Writers' guidelines are available for a SASE. RAIN is indexed in the Alternative Press Index. Copyright © 1986 Center for Urban Education. No part may be reprinted without written permission. ISSN 0739-621x. Cover illustration: by Diane Schatz from the Peace Trek Family Coloring Book. RAINDROPS RAIN On the Move Again We're all settled into our new office now (be sure to note our change of address), and though the move was a bit of a disruption in our schedule, there are many benefits to our new location. The Center for Urban Education (CUE), RAIN's sponsoring organization, wanted to bring all of its dispersed programs under one roof for organizational efficiency. The new arrangement has helped our efficiency, as we no longer need to shuttle back and forth between our office and the computer lab at the Information Technology Institute during magazine production time. (Or rather, we still must shuttle back and forth, but now its just a matter of running up and down the · stairs, instead driving across town.) Also, we've streamlined some of our administrative work by sharing an office with CUE Administration (an important measure in our current time of cost-cutting). The arrangement also enable CUE staff to be more involved with the magazine on a day-to-day basis. Rainmaking We've been fortunate to have two interns working with us these last two months. Elizabeth Rifer, having just completed her first year at Mount Holyoke College in Massachussetts, returned to her home town of Portland to work with us during the summer. And Juila May, our intern during the spring quarter, volunteered to see the summer issue through to completion, working well beyond the time her internship was officially over. Good thing, too, because we needed every ounce of peoplepower we could ·muster to get this issue out. We've found that producing an entire 56-page magazine with computers and a laser-printer was a bit more than we bargained for. We hope that you, our readers, are patient with us as we try to smooth out our production schedule. This Issue One of the advantages of being a quarterly magazine is that we have more time for designing and compiling special sections that address a particular issue in some depth. As you will note, this issue contains two special feature sections. The first is an 11-page section that presents a wide range of current thought and work in the area of redefining national (and international) security. Proposals are coming from many quarters for means of enhancing security that are far less expensive and less dangerous than current military methods, and that enhance community conviviality and sustainability at the same time. (In RAIN's early days, we ran an article entitled "A Good Society is the Best Technology"; in this context we might say "A Good Society is the Best Security.") These ideas are just beginning to emerge; we can only hope that presenting them here in RAIN will help them "trickle down" into wider circulation (see page 31). Our second special section deals with socially responsible investing and banking. Although we have given socially responsible investing a fair bit of attention in the past, this is the most comprehensive treatment of the subject we've done to date. We're planning to use this material as part of a booklet we're preparing on SRI and related concerns. You'll find other good material in this issue, too. In fact, we had so much good material for this issue that we had to take out two of our regular featuresScattered Showers and Tools for Organizations-to make room. Enjoy! -FLS
Summer 1986 RAIN Page 3 RAIN Summer 1986 ,r I SPECIAL FEATURES Rethinking National Security 4 Introduction · 5 More Weapons o~ More Community? Toward a Stronger, Safer America-Wendell Berry 6 Rocky Mountain Institute Seeks Real Security ' 8 New Threats to Security Come From Within-Lester Brown 9 Defense Without Violence-Gene Sharp 10 ACCESS; Security Alternatives-To End War O Beyond the Bomb O Making Europe Unconquerable O National Security Through Civilian-Based Defense O Working for Peace O World Military and Social Expenditures 1985 d Peace Resource Book o "Constructing Earth as a Whole System" o "Force Without . Firepower" o "The Search for Solutions" o "Real Security" o "Arms Control, Disarmament-or 'Alternative Defense'?" o "Slow Scan to Moscow" o Association for Transartnament Studies o The Exploratory Project for the Conditions of Peace (Expro) o Business Executives for National Seccrity (BENS) o Center for Innovative Diplomacy o Search for Common Ground o Peace Trek Family Coloring Book I. Financing Your Ethics 15 . Introduction-Rob Baird 16 SRI: Issues and Trends 19 . Guide to Socially Responsible Investment Funds 21 Socially Responsive Banking: One Out of 14,500 Ain't Good_.:_Rob Baird ARTICLES . , 27 Revitalizing Democracy in the Communic;ations Era-Duane Elgin and Ann Niehaus 31 . A Trickle Pown Theory of Media-Walter Truett Anderson 32 Suburban Renewal: The Task Ahead-Sim Van der Ryn ACCESS 25 Economics-Promoting Colonialism at Home O .Emp()lyee Ownership in America 26 Society----Building the Gteen Movement o Pacific Shift , 37 Ecological Cities-The Urban Ecologist O Community Open Spaces O The Fruition Project . / . 38 North American Bioregionalism-The New Catalyst o Siskiyou Country o Ridge Review O The Drift O Kindred Spirits Journal O Katuah 39 Architecture-The Scope of Social Architecture 39 Education-Planet Earth O Toxic Chemicals In My Home?- You Bet! 40 International "Development"-The AT Reader O Africa in Crisis b Ill Fares the Land O Development is Dangerous O Towards a Politics of Hope 42 Women-Women in Development o. Women in the Global Factory 42 Energy-Decommissioning: Nuclear Power's Missing Link O "How Not to Find a Nuclear Waste Site" O Energy Unbounrj. 43 Good' Reading-A Guide to Walking MeditatiOns O The Man Who Planted Trees REGULAR FEATURES 44 Community Information Technology 48 Pacific Cascadia Bioregion Report
Page 4 RAIN Summer 1986 Introduction by F. Lansing Scott "The trouble with disarmament," writes Salvador de Madariaga, veteran of many early disarmament negotiations, · "was (and still is) that the problem of war is tackled upside down and at the wrong end. Nations don't distrust each other because they are armed; they are armed because they distrust each other. And therefore to want disarmament before a minimum of common agreement on fundamentals is as absurd as to want people to go undressed in the.winter. Let the weather be warm, and people will discard their clothes readily and without committees to tell them how td undress." Is there a way to promote a "warming of the weather'' in international relations through personal and local action? Can we enhance our own security without .thieatening the security of others and without undermining the very things we are seeking to protect by diverting resources to military production? From · Protest to Proposal In spite of many dire warnings about the unprecedented dangers of nuclear war, in spite of what once appeared to be a - promising Nuclear Freeze movement in America, in spite of all the insightful research and intensive activities on the part of many dedicated individuals and organizations in the American peace movement, the arms race continues unabated. How can this be? One reason may be the heavy ·emphasis of the peace movement on what it is against. It is against nuclear weapons, it is against foreign intervention, it is against the arms race. But in a country that equates nuclear weapons, a · strong military presence abroad, and "being ahead" in the arms race with national security, the peace movement runs the risk of appearing to be against national security. . However, some voices are emerging that take a different approach to the problem~ Instead of simply taking sides in the debate between more weapons and fewer weapons, they are seeking to change the basic terms of the debate. Instead of beginning in opposition to the status 'quo, they _are taking ,a strong stand infa vor of national security, while redefining what constitutes true security in today's world.· Sever~ of these perspectives are represented in the following pages. Although many of these approaches are just beginning to take shape, and by no means ·could be said to consitute a single coherent school of thought, it is possible to·see some general themes.emerging. Here are some of the important ones: •We must broaden .our definition of security, if we are to have anything worth protecting from foreign-threats. Many of today's most serious threats come from within. -Real security means enabling all people to meet their basic needs. That increased levels of military spending is diminishing our ability to meet social needs is well-known and well-documented. . .:.-Real security depends on ecological sustainability. 0Ur national preoccupation with military defense diverts attention and resources from coping with ecological dangers. The fact that military production is demanding ever-increasing amounts of limited resour~es presents an ecological problem in itself. · · . -Real security·means protecting democratic principles and free access to information. Increased militarization demands withholding access to important governmental information in order to "protect national security/' , ·• Instead of relying solely on our ability to win (or even "deter") a ·military conflict, we can minimize the conditions that lead to conflict. -Decrease dependence on far-flung resources. The need to protect oilr access to "strategic,, resources all over the globe is one of the central driving forces of current U.S. military policy. -Decrease America's sha.re ofworld resource consumption. Should we use.military might to protect a level of consumption unattainable by most of the rest of the world? -Shift military arsenals to a strictly defensive posture. Reducing threats to potential adversaries eliminates much of the fuel for the arms race. -Improve international relations through better comm.uni- ~ cations. "Citizen diplomacy,, efforts, international networking, and new communications technologies help break down political and cultural barriers and continue to bring us closer to a "global village." • Make America more defensible through nonmil~tary alternatives. -Minimize vulnerability by decentralizing life support systems. Our present highly centralized systems for the provision of vital needs, such as energy, water, food, data processing, and telecommunications, are very vulnerable to terrorist and other kinds of military attack. -Develop a policy ofnonviolent civilian-based defense. A strategy of widespread citizen noncooperation can deter and defeat invasions without resorting to viol~nce. O o
FROM:· Peace Trek Family Coloring Book-see page 14 (Illustration by Diane Schatz) ·by Wendell Berry The present situation with regard to "national defense," as I believe that we citizens are now bidden to understand it, is that we, our country; and our governing principles of religion and politics Cl{e so threatened by a foreign enemy that we must prepare for a sacrifice that makes child's play of the "supreme sacrifices" of previous conflicts. We are asked, that is, not simply to "die in defense of our country," but to accept and condone the deaths of virtually the whole population of our country, of our political and religious principles, and of our land itself, as a reasonable cost of national defense. The absurdity of the argument lies in a little-noted law of the nature of technology: that, past a certain power and scale, we do not dictate our terms to the tools we use; rather, the tools dictate their terms to us. Past a certain power and scale, we may choose the means',' but not' the ends. We may choose nuclear weaponry as a form of defense, but that is the' last of our "free choices" with regard to nuclear weaponry. By that choice we largely abandon .ourselves to terms and results.dictated by the nature of nuelear weapons. Our nuclear weaons articulate a.perfect hatred; such as none of.us has ever felt, or can feel, or can imagine feeling. In · order to make a nuclear attac~· against the Russians we must hate them all enough to kill them all: the innocent as well as the guilty, the·children as·well as the grownups. Thus, though it may be humanly impossible for us to propose it, we allow our technology to propose for us the defense of Summer 1986 RAIN page 5 More Weapons or More Community? Toward a Stronger, Safer America Christian love and justice (as we invariably put it) by an act of perfect hatred and perfect injustice. .Or, as a prominent · "conservative" columnist once put it, in order to save civilization we must become uncivilized. · But the absurdity does not stop with the death of all our enemies and all of our principles. It does not stop anywhere. Our nuclear weapons articulate for us a hatred of the Russian country itself: the land, water, air, light, plants, and animals of Russia. Those weapons will enact for us a perfect political hatred of birds and fish and trees. And they will enact for us too a perfect h~tred of ourselves, for a part of the inescapable meaning of those weapons is that we must hate -our enemies so perfectly that in order to destroy themwe are willing to destroy ourselves. · I understand hatred and enmity very well from my own experience. Defense, moreover, is congenial to me, and I am willingly,.and sometimes joyfully, a defender of some things-:--among them, the principles and practices of d~mocracy and Christianity that nuclear weapons are said to defend. f do not want to live under a government like that of Soviet Russia and I would go to considerable trouble to avoid doing so. I am not dissenting from the standing policy on national defense because I want the nation-that is, the country, its lives, and principles-to be undefended. I am dissenting because I no longer believe that the standing policy on national defense can defend the nation. And I am dissenting ·
Page 6 RAIN Summer 1986 because the means employed, the threatened results, and the economic and moral costs have all become so extreme as to be unimaginable.. It is, to begin with, impossible for me to imagine that our "nuclear preparedness" is well understood or sincerely meant by its advocates in the government, much less by the nation at large. What we are proposing to ourselves and to the A defensible country has a large measure ofpractical and material independence .. \, and is g~nerally loved and competently caredfor by its people. world is that we are prepared to die, to the last child, to the last green leaf, in defense of our dearest principles of liberty, charity, and justice. It would normally be expected, I think, that people led to the brink of total annihilation by so high and sober a purpose would be living lives of great austerity, sacrifice, and selfless discipline. That we are not doing so is a fact notorious even among ourselves. Our leaders are not doing so, nor are they calling upon us or preparing us to do so. As a people, we are selfish, greedy, dependent, negligent of our duties to our land and to each other. We are evidently willing to sacrifice our own lives, and the lives of millions of others, born and unborn-but not one minute of pleasure. We must ask if the present version of national defense is, in fact, national defense. To make sense of that question, and to hope to answer it, we must ask first what kind of country is defensible, militarily or in any other way. And we may answer that a defensible country has a large measure of practical and material independence: that it can live, if it has to, independent of foreign supplies and of long distance transport within its own boundaries; that it rests upon the broadest possible base of economic prosperity, not just in the sense of a money economy, but in the sense of properties, materials, and practical skills; and, most important of all, that it is generally loved and competently cared for by its people, who, individually, identify their own interest with the interest of their neighbors and of the country (the land) itself. And even today, against overpowering odds and prohibitive costs, one does not have to go far in any part of the country to hear voiced the old hopes that moved millions of immigrants, freed slaves, westward movers, young couples starting out:· a little farm, a little shop, a little store-some kind of place and enterprise of one's own, within and by which one's family could achieve a proper measure of independence, not only of its own economy, but of satisfaction, thought, and character. That our public institutions have not looked with favor upon these hopes is sufficiently evident from the results. In the twenty-five years after World War II, our farm people were driven off their farms by economic pressure at the rate of about one million a year. They are still going out of business at the rate of 1,400 farm families per week, or 72,800 families per year. That the rate of decline is now less than it was does not mean that the situation is improving; it means that the removal of farmers from farming is nearly complete. But this is not happening just on the farm. A similar decline is taking place in the cities. According to Jack
Havemann, in the Los Angeles Times, December 10, 1983: "The percentage of households that own their own homes fell from 65.6 percent in 1980 to 64.5 at the end of 1982." Those percentages are too low in a country devoted to the defense of private ownership, and the decline is ominous. Those of us who can remember as far back as World War II do not need statistics to tell us that in the last 40 years the once plentiful small, privately-owned neighborhood groceries, pharmacies, restaurants, and other small shops and busines.ses have become an endangered species, in many places extinct. When inflation and interest rates are high, young people starting out in small businesses or on small farms must pay a good livng every year for the privilege of earning a poor one. People who are working are paying an exorbitant tribute to people who are, as they say, "letting their money work for them." The abstract value of money is preying upon and destroying the particular values that inhere in the lives of the land and of its human communities. For many years now, our officials have been bragging about the immensity of our gross national product and of the growth of our national economy, apparently without recognizing the possibility that the i:iational economy as a whole can grow. (up to a point) by depleting or destroying the small local economies within it. The displacements of millions of people over the last 40 or 50 years have, of course, been costly.· The costs aren't much talked about by apologists for our economy, and they have not been deducted from national or corporate incomes, but the costs exist nevertheless and they are not to be dismissed as intangible; to a considerable extent they have to do with the destruction and degradation of property. The decay of the "inner" parts of our cities is one of the c0sts; another is soil erosion, and other forms of land loss and land destruction; Summer 1986 RAIN Page 7 another is pollution. It may be, also, that people who do not care well for their land will not care enough about it to defend it well. It seems certain that any people who hope to be capable of national defense in the true sense--not by invading foreign lands, but by driving off invaders of its own land-must love their country with the particularizing passion with which deeply settled people have always loved, not their nation, but their homes, their daily lives and daily bread. Our great danger at present is that we have no defensive alternative to a sort of hollow patriotic passion and its The present version ofnational defense is destroying its own supports in the land and in human communities. ·inevitable expression in nuclear warheads; this is both because our people are too "mobile" to have developed strong local loyalties and strong local economies, and because the nation is thus made everywhere locally vulnerable-indefen- , sible except as a whole. Our life no longer rests broadly·. upon our land, but has become an inverted pyramid resting upon the pinpoint of a tiny, dwindling agricultural minority critically dependent upon manufactured supplies and upon credit. l · . Morever, the population as a whole is now dependent upon goods and services that are not and often cannot be produced -locally, but must be transported, often across the entire width of the continent, or from the other side of the world. Our
Page 8 RAIN Summer 1986 national livelihood is everywhere pinched into wires, pipelines, and roads. A fact that cannot have eluded our military experts is that this "strongest nation in the world" is almost pitifully vulnerable on its own ground. A relatively few well-directed rifle shots, a relatively few well-placed sticks of dynamite could bring us to darkness, confusion, and hunger. And this civil weakness serves and aggravates the military obsession with megatonnage. It is only iogical that a nation weak at home should threaten abroad with whatever destruction its technology can contrive. It is logical, but it is mad. I have been arguing from what seems to me a reasonable military assumption: that a sound policy of national defense would have its essential foundation and its indispensible motives in widespread, settled, thriving local communities, each having a proper degree of independence, living so far as possible from local sources, and using its local sources with a stewardly care that would sustain its life indefinitely, even through times of adversity. But now I would like to go further, and say that such communities are not merely the prerequisites or supports of a sound national defense; they are a sound national defense. And it is not as though the two kinds of national defense are compatible; it is not as though settled, stewardly communities can thrive and at the same time support a nuclear arsenal. In fact, the present version of national defense is destroying its own supports in the land and in human The foreign threat inevitably seems diminished when our.water is unsafe to drink, when our rivers carry tonnages oftopsoil that make light of the freight they carry in boats, when our forests are dying from air pollution and acid rain, when we are sickfrom poisons in the air. commumties. It is doing this in the apathy, cynicism, and despair that it fosters, especially in the young, but it is directly destructive of land and people by the inflation and usury that it encourages. The present version of national defense, like the present version of agriculture, rests upon debt-a debt that is driving up the cost of i~terest and driving down the worth of money, putting the national government actively in competition against good young people who are striving to own their own small farms and small businesses. In spite of all our propagandists can do, the foreign threat inevitably seems diminished when our drinking water is unsafe to drink, when our rivers carry tonnages of topsoil that make light 0f the freight they carry in boats, when our forests are dying from air pollution and acid rain, when we are sick from poisons in the air. Who are the ·enemies of this country? That is a question dangerous to instituted government when people begin to ask it for themselves. Many who have seen forests clear-cut on steep slopes, who have observed the work of the strip miners, who have watched as corporations advance their claims on private property "in the public interest," are asking that question alfeady. Many more are going to ask. But we must ask, at last, if international fighting as we have known it has not become obsolete in the presence of
such omnivorous weapons as we now possess. There will undoubtedly always be a need to resist ae;gression, but now, surely, we must think of changing the means of such resistance . .Jn the face of all-annihilating weapons, the natural next step may be the use of no weapons. It may be that the only There will undoubtedly always-be a need to resist agression, but now, - surely, we must think ofchanging the means ofsuch resistance. possibly effective defense against the ultimate weapon is no weapon at all. It may be that the presence of nuclear weapons in the world serves notice that the command to love one another is an absolute practical necessity, such as we never dreamed it to be before, and that our choice is not to win or lose, but to love our enemies or die. o o Adapted with permission from "Property, Patriotism, and National Defense," by Wendell Berry-poet, novelist, essayist, andfarmer-to be published in a collection of his essays by North Point Press in 1987. © 1986 by Wendell Berry Summer 1986 RAIN Page 9 FROM: Peace Trek Family Coloring Book-see page 14 (Illustration by Diane Schatz)
Page 10 RAIN Summer 1986 ACCESS~· Security Alternatives l_ I /J ~ ~ ~ ~ /; L \, ~ ( ( - FROM: Beyond the Bomb (Illustration by Ed Koren) To End War: A New Approach to International Conflict, by Robert Woito, 1982, 755 pp., $12.95 from: The Pilgrim Press 132 West 31 Street New York, NY 10001 Ending war is a task of such great magnitude that a person naturally feels powerless in the face of it.· On the other hand, it has become clear that we must end war (and soon!) or war will end us.· The question-what can I do?-which is asked rhetorically and emphasizes the futility of any undertaking, can be changed to: what can I do? If this latter question appeals ,more to you, this book is a good pla~e to begin. If you've already begun, it's a good place to learn some things you didn't know. This is the sixth e~ition of a work first publish·ed in 1967 as an annotated bibliography. It's much more now. Robert Woito, Director of the World Without War Council-Midwest, in Chicago, contends that "although conflict between people and groups is in the nature of things, organized mass violence is ·not." The six conditions essential to a world without war are enumerated as: law, community, development, disarmament, human rights, nonviolence. An extensive annotated bibliography cover~ these subjects as well as prevalent concerns in world politics-power, military strategy, the , national interest, and nationalism. Each section has an introduction which gives an· analysis of the topic. The problems raised are always accompanied by specific, practical solutions. The book includes a list of world affairs organizations, with a short descripti9n of each, and listings of international peace institutes and American peace studies programs in universities. Most of the obstacles· to creating a world without war have been theoreti- . cally ad,dressed fo great detail, and the practical steps that need to be taken are also known. Now it remains for us to take those steps. -Johnny Stallings Johnny Stallings is active in the Portland Greens. Beyond the Bomb: Living Without Nuclear Weapons, by Mark Sommer, 1985, 180 pp., $7.95 from: Expro Press The Talman Company 150 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10011 Relatively brief and very readable, ·this book begins to bring together many pieces of the peace puzzle that are not commonly known. In a sense, the title is misleading, seeming to. suggest a n·arrow preoccupation with eliminating nuclear arsenals, as if nuclear weapons could be removed in the same way we cut out the bad part of ap apple, leaving · the rest int~ct. However, Sommer's "field ·guide to alternative strategies for building a stable peace" takes us far beyond the relatively familiar territory ·of nuclear disarmament. Sommer surveys 10 different approaches that seek to. lead us "beyond the Bomb," devoting a chapter to each: 1. alternative defense ("protec.tion without threat"), 2. alternative security ("not by arms alone"), 3. world order ("as if people mattered"), 4. disarmament ("the road not taken"), 5. nonviolence ("strengths of the weak"), 6. peace research ("beyond 'permanent pre-hostilities"'), 7. economic conversion ("swords into services"), 8. negotiation ("tying is winning"),' 9~ game theory ("ni~e guys last longest"), and 10. alternative futurism ("toward more practical utopias"). He concludes by responding to Robert Fuller's provocative question, "Is there a better game than war?" (i.e., can we find something in peace to provide the exilaration, social unification, and glory that war seems to bring?), and discussing the psychological fallout of living with the Bomb. Somm~r discusses several prominent thinkers, think tanks, and organizations in each chapter, liberally sprin,kling the text with quotations. Although the book attempts no tidy synthesis or Unified Peace Plan; a fair am~unt of convergence emerges among various approaches that may have had little or no previous contact with each other. · The puzzle pieces may not all fit neatly together, but putting them side by side like .this suggests the outlines of a new peace gestalt. If you're looking for new approaches toward a more peaceful world, start here. -FLS \
Making Europe Unconquerable: i,· The Potential of Civilian-based .Deterrence and Defense, by Gene Sharp, 250 pp., $14.95 from: Ballinger Publishing Company 54 Church Street Harvard Square Cambridge, MA 02138 · National Security Through Civilian-Based Defense, by Gene Sharp, 94 pp., $4.95 from: Association for Transarmament Studies 3636 Lafayette Avenue Omaha, NE 68131 Civilian-based defense is briefly described in the box on page 9. Gene Sharp is the leading proponent and theonst of this strategy of nonviolent resistance. Interestingly, Sharp ap-, proaches civilian-based defense less from a moral standpoint than from a strategic and pragmatic one. He holds that converting an entire population to pacifism is not necessary for civilianbased defense to work; people only must be united in their desire to ·d~f~~d their country in an effective manner: Sharp claims that civilian-based defense is "a policy, not a creed," and is very wary of tying the strategy to any particular type of philosophy. . These two books are Sharp's most recent writings on civilian-based defense. Each provides a good introduction to the strategy. National Security Through Civilian-Based Defense is a · concise general overview, providing basic definitions and descriptions, and identifying 59 areas where further policy research is needed. (Although several historic precendents exist, Sharp readily admits that civilian-b~sed defense, in theory .and in practice, is still in its early stages.) Making Europe Unconquerable is a ·more thorough discussion of the various elements of a civilian-based defens~ strategy, along with proposals for how the shift from a military sti:3tegy to ~ .,, nonviolent one might be effected, set in the context of defending Western Europe. It is not so specific to Western Europe, however, that the general principles 9ould not. easily be applied elsewhere. These two documents are an important contribution to widening the security . debate, and represent a growing interest in non-military alternatives for defense. -FLS Working for Peace: A Handbook of Practical Psychology and Other Tools, edited by Neil Wollman, 1985, 270 pp., $9.95 from: Impact Publishers PO Box 1094 San Luis Obispo, CA 93406 Working for peace is no easy task. Unless you take good care of yourself, develop communication and organiza-. tional skills, and find ways to have fun while doing an otherwise th.ankless and not-so-lucrative job, you're likely to subject yourself to some psychologic;:ll violence along the way. Working for Peace is designed to help you make peace with yourself while being an effective agent for peace in the world. Thirty-five essays by almost as many writers offer suggestions for preventing burnout, improving your personal appeal, overcoming feelings of helplessness and depression, building coalitions, making group decisions, resolving conflicts, communicating to the public, and bringing art, music, theater, and humor into the work for peace. You don't have to be a peace activist to find this book useful. For anyone doing demanding, sometimes frustrating, work tl!it requires effective coinmunicatfon, decision-making, and organization, Working for Peace offers a wealth of guidelines an~ practices to bring you peace of mind. -FLS FROM: Beyond The Bomb (Illustration by Ed Koren) Summer 1986 RAIN Page 11 World Military and Social Expenditures 1985, by Ruth Leger Sivard, 1985, 52 pp., $5 from: World Priorities Box 25140 Washington, DC 20007 This annual° report is packed full of data, organized in. maps, charts, and graphs, that serve to quantify and compare the ·usages of the.world's resources for social and military purposes. It has statistics of social and military indicators in 142 developed and developing countries. Not surprisingly, worldwide priorities favor military might over social welfare. Here are a few telling comparisons: Worldwide spending amounts to $152 per person for military forces, 6¢ per person for international peacekeeping; the U.S. and U.S.S.R., first in military power, rank 14 and 51 among all nations in their infant mortality · rates; 'there is one soldier per 43 people in the world, one physician per 1,030 people. • · For everything you ever wanted to ask about military spenc.iing but were afraid to know, this book tells all. -FLS Peace Resource Book: A Comprehensive Guide to Issues, Groups, and Literature, by Randall Forsberg et al, 1986, 416 pp., $14.95 from: Ballinger Publishing Company 54 Church Street Harvard Square Cambridge, MA 02138 Looking for information on national peace organizations? Trying to compile a list of local peace groups in your area? Looking for peace-oriented educational programs? Compiling a bibliography of peace-related literature? Look here first. Peace Resource Book from the Institute of Defense and Disarmament Studies is indeed "a comprehensive guide." It contains a brief overview of peace issues and strategies, surveying ,the full spectrum of activities froµi traditional disarmament and anti-war efforts to more alternative approaches such as those we discuss in this issue of RAIN. It lists 384 national peace groups, complete with full contact information, brief descriptions, and key words. '1n addition, it offers a telephone directory, alphabetical index, and zipcode-ordered list of 5700 national and local groups from across the country. Over one hundred college programs in peace educa- ~ ,. tion are listed and described, and an
Page 12 RAIN Summer 1986 FROM: Peace Resource Book (Illustration by William Harsh) extensive annotated bibliography is included. Multiple indexes are included for easy cross-referetlcing. · Peace Resource Book 1986 is the second in a series of such books prepared· by the insitute, following the American Peace Directory 1984. The institute is headed by Randall Forsberg, author of the "Call to Halt the Nuclear Arms Race," which launched the Nuclear Freeze Movement. -FLS "Constructing Peace as a Whole System," by Mark Sommer, in Whole Earth Review, Summer 1986, $4.50 per back issue from:' Whole Earth Access 2990 Seventh Street Berkeley, CA 94710 Mark Sommer, author of Beyond the Bomb (see page 10), goes beyond the material in his book in this article to outline a comprehensive plan for peace. The primary insight is. contained in the .title-seeing peace as a whole system, a tangible set of institutions and practices that we can construct, rather than the mere absence of war. The military-industrial complex is a whole system. It is composed of elements such as the Pentagon, defense· contractors, government policy-makers, and university researchers. These elements complement and reinforce each other in ·a synergistic system. While most peace and disarmament activity concerns itself with the destruction of this war system, Sommer contends that we need to be equally concerned with the construction of a peace system. War and militarism must be replaced with something else. Peace needs a positive identity. Sommer identifies four ptjmary elements of a global peace system: 1. Military transarmament-ln contrast with disarmament, "transarmament" is concerned not so much with a quantitative reduction of weapons systems as a qualitative "transformation of the arsenals of all nations from weapons of attack to technologies and strategies (both military and non-military) that protect all sides from harm." This includes both the elimination of all offensive weapons while retaining only those purely for protection, and the development of mutually protective · defense systems, such as crisis control 'networks and international monitoring agencies for treaty compliance. It also includes increased nonviolent civilianbased defense (see Gene Sharp's books, page 11) and detente practices such as cultural exchange and scientific cooperation. 2. Political integration-To avoid both "the final shootout" and "ultimate tyrant" (world government gone awry), Sommer recommends establishing "only that minimal degree of global organization required to handle problems that are irreducibly global in character · and scale," "a global legal system that becomes essentially a headless leader, enforcing the law without also making it." He identifies several elements of this legal system, many of which already exist in some germinal form. 3. Economic conversion-The restr!ction to minimal defensive weapons systems demands a major restructuring of those e.conomies now highly dependent on military manufacturing. ,To prevent massive unemployment and other dislocations, a carefully planned process ~f conversion to other industries is necessary. 4. Cultural adaptation-"ln addition to its various institutional components, a global peace system will necessarily include a nonmaterial dimension, a set of subtle but fundamental shifts in ·attitude and behavior to niake it possible for irreconcilably different societies to ' coexist." Universal love isn't necessary, just an agreement to tolerate and live with differences. Sommer doesn't seek to eliminate conflict (an obviously unrealistic goal), but rather to "make the world safe for conflict." -FLS "Force Without Firepower," by Gene Keyes, in CoEvolution Quarterly, Summer 1982, $3.50 per issue from: Whole Earth Access 2990 Seventh Street Berkeley, CA 94710 In this article, Canadian theorist Gene Keyes (rhymes with "guys") proposes 10 ways to use military forces forwhat?-unarmed, nonviolent actions. He defines his "Unarmed Services" or "disarmies" as "men and women ... forming an entire military command without weapons; well-equipped for mobility an.d logistics; trained to accept casualties, never inflict them." Keyes identifies three "military missions" for his "disarmies" in times of peace (rescue action, civic action, and colossal action), four missions in times of conflict (friendly p~rsuasion, guerrilla action, police ac;tion, and buffer action), and three mission in times of war (defense, expeditionary action, and invasion). For each mission, he gives a definitiot), set of precedents, and further ideas of a more speculative nature regarding possibilities. All proposals are well-researched and well-documented. Keyes' proposals extend nonviolent actions beyond non-cooperation and defense into a realm of constructive social action. They also extend the notion of "economic conversion" to , include military personnel as well as industries, preserving some of the challenge and noble sense of mission of military forces while eliminating the FROM: Beyond the Bomb (Illustration by Ed Koren)
aggressive and violent aspects. Preposterous speculation? Perhaps. . But the prospect of transforming the function of military services is more conceivable with a thoughtfully articulated vision such as this one. -FLS "The Search for Soiutions," special feature in Nuclear Times, March/April 1986; · "Real Security," special, feature in Nuclear Times, May/June 1986; $4 per back issue from: Nuclear Times Room 500 1755 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20036 Alternative approaches· for seeking peace and security are in the air. Just look at recent issues of this leading voice in the nuclear disarmament movement. The March/April issue heralded a change of format and expansion of cir- ,culation, as the magazine began working with eight major national organizations: Architects, Designers, and Planners for Social Responsibility; Citizens Against Nuclear War; Coalition fpr a New Foreign and Military Policy; Educators for Social Responsibility; the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign; Peace Links; Physicians for Social Responsibility; and SANE. The first two issues of the new, expanded Nuclear Times demonstrate an expanded analysis and vision in the · special feature sections of each issue. March/April's "Search for Solutions" offers an article on how peace organizations are developing long-term visions alongside short-term plans, an activisU academic dialogue on "getting there from here," and an article by Mark Sommer on non-nuclear defense. May/June's special feature on "Real Security" describes how mariy organizations (including many of the eight listed above) are seeking to define what they are for ("real security") as well as what they are against (more weapons). It also includes an article by Lester Brown (see box on page 8) on redefining national security. -FLS "Arms · Control, Disarmament'""""".:' or 'Alternative Defense'?," by Mark Satin, in New Options, March 31, 1986, $2 per back issue, from: New Options PO Box_19324 Washington, DC 20036 New Options newsletter, edited by Mark Satin, has done much to publicize alternative apporaches to defense and security, with several pieces on what he calls "post-liberal'' perspectives and organizations in recent issues. Many of the resources in this section of RAIN were first discovered in the pages of New Options. This lead article in issue number 26 offers Satin's most cogent overview of these "post-liberal" alternative defense approaches. -FLS FROM: Peace Resource Book (Illustration by William Harsh) "Slow Scan to Moscow," by Adam Hochschild, in Mother Jones, June 1986, inquire for price from: ' Mother Jones 1886 Haymarket Square Marion, OH 43306 The work Joel Schatz has done to promote visualizations of a peaceful world (he and his wife Diane created the Peace Trek poster) and the use of new technologies for U.S.-Soviet communications is well-known to longtime RAIN readers. This recent cover story in Mother Jones has brought news of his innovative work in high-tech citizen diplomacy to a much wider audience. The article describes the same trip to Moscow that Schatz described in the . September/October 1985 issue of RAIN, from a journalist's point of view with more narrative detail. We learn of how Schatz and his Soviet counterpart, Joseph Goldin, are working ·to· enhance citizen-based U.S'.--Soviet communica- . tions through technologies such as computer teleconferencing, slow-scan television (sending a still picture over a telephone line), and big-screen televisions linked by satellite. The article gives a good feeling for the sense of .Summer 1986 RAIN Page 13 adventure that comes from pioneering the use of cutting edge communication technologies to break through barriers of cultural misunderstanding and political animosity. In .a time when official relations between the U.S. and Soviet Union. leave much to ·be desired, visionary non-governmental efforts like this give us cause for hope. -FLS Association for Transarmament Studies 3636 Lafayette Omaha, NE 68131 ATS promotes the concept of civilianbased defense through its quarterly newsletter, Civilian-Based Defense: News and Opinion, and the sale of books by Gene Sharp. An introductory packet on civilian-based defense is available for .$2. Annual membership dues are $5 (includes subscription to the newsletter). -FLS The Exploratory Project for the Conditions of Peace (Expr'ot"-n Room 519 McGuinn Hall Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA 02167 Expro is a new organization made up of 25 distinguished academics, theorists, · and activists who seek to envision the minimum political and cultural conditions required.for a world without war. These conditions together constitute a "peace syste~" which must gradually replace the war 'system that currently prevails. Expro seeks· to identify and promote the elements of such' a system. Expro was the sponsoring organization for Mark Sommer's book, Beyond the Bomb (see page 10). Sommer co-founded the group, along with philanthropist W. H. Perry. Other members include Gar Alperovitz, Elise Boulding, Dietrich Fischer, Johan Galtung, Patricia Mische, and Kirkpatrick Sale. -FLS Business Executives for National 'Security (BENS) Euram Building 21 Dupont Circle, NW Suite 401 Washington, DC 20036 Several professional associations have emerged in recent years to promote 'peace and disarmament. We have Physicians for Social Responsibility (1601 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20009), Educators for Social Responsibility (23.
Page 14 RAIN Summer 1986 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138), and Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility (225 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012). Whereas most -of these organizations were created to highlight the dangers of nuclear war, BENS critiques current military spending practices from a standpoint of sound business principles. It argues that the current level of military spending hinders capital formation, increases the pressure for higher taxes, increas_es the upward pressure on interest rates, crowds out private investment, -creates production delays and bottlenecks, and encourages inflation. Using the pragmatic approach of the businessman, BENS brings a unique and inter-· esting perspective to the national security debate. -FLS Center for Innovative Diplomacy 644 Emerson · Suite 30 · Palo AltO, CA 94301 "Think globally, act locally" is a good 1 slogan for many types of activity, but when it comes to determining foreign: policy, it seems that-we need to leave it to federal officials. Or do we? Not according to Michael Shuman, founder and president of Center for Innovative Diplomacy. Shuman believes that one of the basic problems with foreign and military policy ,is that it is essentially undemocratic. He founded CID to promote the participation of citizens and local governments in foreign affairs. CID encourages such participation on several levels. At the individual level, CID encourages "citizen diplomacy.~· Citizen diplomats promote peace and understanding between nations through travel, scientific and cultural exchanges, and improved communication channels (Samantha Smith, Jesse Jackson, and Joel Schatz are some examples). CID offers an educational package on citizen diplomacy to its members. At the ~ocal level, CID encourages the development of municipal foreign policies through the equivalent of municipal "state departments." Recent precedents for municipal foreign policy include local government endorsements of ·nuclear freeze resolutions, nuclear free zones, and divestment of city funds from South Africa. CID is currently lobbying for a "global affairs council" in its home town of Palo Alto to expand on these types of activities. Tlte council would be fun9ed ·with one percent_of ~he city budget to address such issues as studying the impacts of 'military spending on Palo Alto, developing cultural relations with the Soviet Union and China, and offering legal assistance to political refugees. Shuman's vision doesn't stop with Palo Alto, however. He believes that if CID can establish one good model of a muni~ipal . state department in Palo Alto, this could catalyze the creat~on of such agencies throughout the country. This leads to the next level of CID activity, fostering national and international networks and ·coalitions of local officials. At the national level, the groundwork for this is being laid through CID work with Local Elected Officials of America (LEO), a national organization of local officials dedicated to reversing the arms race and rechanneling military money back to America's cities. LEO and CID have hosted workshops for local officials and are working on a handbook entitled Building Municipal Foreign Policies. CID entered into the arena of international coalition-building through 'Shuman's partieipation in the First World Conference of Mayors for Peace through Inter-City Solidarity, held in August 1985 in ·Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ·where 200 officials from 100 cities in 30 countries gathered to plan for peace. CID publishes a newsletter, The CID Report, available for a $2Q membership contribution. -FLS Search for Common Ground Suite 403 1701 K _Street, NW Washington, DC 20006 The Pentagon sees the world as "us against the Russians"; peace activists· see the world as "us against the Pentagon"; Search for Common Ground seeks to go beyond both of these views to find common ground. Executive Director John Marks notes that what makes conservatives feel more secure (more and bigger weapons) tends to make liberals feel less secure, and vice versa. Similariy, what makes the U.S. feel in.ore secure tends to make the Soviet Union feel less secure, and vice versa.. · In both areas, no_resolution to the problem is possible on its own terms; reframing the issue is necessary. Working toward such reframing is the mission of the "Security Without Insecurity Project," a program of Search for Common Ground co-directed by Andrew Bard Schmookler, author of Parable of the Tribes, and Scott Thompson, a Reagan appointee to the newly formed U.S. Institute of Peace. Other projects include television productions, consultation, and the promotion of U.S.-Soviet cooperation such as a joint immunization program for children·around the world. Search for Common Ground has Citizen Action Project groups in several cities across the country. In all of its work, the organization promotes a shift from adversarial, win-lose ways of interacting toward non-adversarial, win-win approaches. -FLS Peace Trek Family Coloring Book, by Joel and Diane Schatz, 1986, 44 pp., $5.95 from: · Ark Communications Institute 250 Lafayette Circle, Suite 202 Lafayette, CA 94549 Peace Trek is a poster created last year by Diane and Joel Schatz to depict visions of a peacefUl world seemingly emerging from a world dominated by violence, greed, and fear. Although the poster itself is richly .colored, scenes - from the poster are now available in coloring book form to allow yo.u and your family to add the colors and participate in creating the vision yourselves. Scenes froni the book are shown on the cover and elsewhere in this issue of RAIN. A facing page of text accompanies each scene to get children (and adults) .to ponder issues raised in the pictures. Each page provides space to write in answers to such questions as, "What toys would ·be most popular in a peaceful world?" and "What could students from different countries learn from each other?" If you think that children need more . positive images than what they get on TV, here's a healthy alternative. -FLS FROM: Peace Trek Coloring Book (Illustration by Diane Schatz) ./
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