80 Days of News, 80 Collages & One Truth I've Learned about People & Cultures in Collision

Another Mother's Grief (8.11.14)

Reconciliation Can Happen Between Equals (8.12.14)

From May 25, 2014 to August 12, 2014 I read The New York Times each morning and then created a collage based on some aspect of the news.  (You can see all 80 here and in the slideshow below). It has been a difficult time in the world with wars and coups happening in Iraq, Gaza, Israel, Thailand, and the Ukraine. At home (USA) issues related to economy, immigration, governance, women's rights, rape, and racial and gender injustices have been raised, argued, ignored, pitied and repeated.

Across these somewhat disparate situations, matters of power can be discerned regardless of the topic. Economic injustice rests beneath all of these concerns. There can be no peace without economic justice. Until we not only see other as worthy, but also know other as economic equal--we will continue to be mired in local and global contention. We must become (other)wise.

It was Edward Said who in writing about Palestine and Israel told us:

"I sincerely believe in reconciliation between peoples and cultures in collision, and have made it my life’s work to try to further that end. But true reconciliation cannot be imposed; neither can it occur between cultures and societies that are enormously uneven in power. The kind of reconciliation that can bring real peace can only occur between equals, between partners whose independence, strength of purpose, and inner cohesion allows them fully to understand and share with the other."

To make peace in the world, economic justice is
critical.  We must ensure that all become equal partners, not people colonized who are juxtaposed to one another across vast distances where servitude is insisted upon.

We can do better.

We must.






Cited:

Said, Edward W. (2012-10-24). Peace And Its Discontents: Essays on Palestine in the Middle East Peace Process . New York: Vintage.