Water, Water, Everywhere - NOT!!

I look out my window and it’s raining.  A gentle summer rain – actually unusual for Oregon in July, but not unheard of.  And then I read a solicitation, asking for contributions to something called “WASH” (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Program) through the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), and read that 668 million people throughout the world do not have “reliable access to clean drinking water.”

And, because the (illegal Israeli occupation of) Palestine is never far from my thoughts, my mind immediately flies to another “factoid” – that Gaza will run out of potable water by 2020.  Or sooner.  And that 95% of tap water in Gaza is already contaminated!

Yet the UMCOR appeal doesn’t mention Gaza.  It also doesn’t mention the West Bank – or the fact that the Israeli government is stealing the water from under the Palestinian land – even before it steals the land itself for its relentless, unceasing settlement building!  So I write to UMCOR to ask them if Gaza and/or Palestine are included in the WASH program.  And they tell me, “No; it is too difficult to get partners in Gaza.”

A few years ago, I was in Zimbabwe, in a small village near Victoria Falls.  The village was dry, brown and hot.  To get water, the women of the village would walk several miles to the nearest well, fill containers and carry them home on their heads.  Yet the grounds of the elegant Victoria Falls Hotel were green and lush, with sprinklers to keep the vegetation attractive to the rich tourists staying there. 

photo by Lisa Bender

But my correspondence with UMCOR doesn’t include a mention of Zimbabwe either – probably because it is “too difficult” to get partners in that politically and economically unstable place.

 (Later, someone else from UMCOR writes to tell me that there are some small projects that are doing limited work on water resources in the West Bank and Gaza, but they aren’t the sort of projects that are attracting the resources that WASH does.  I didn’t ask about Zimbabwe.)

At the United Methodist General Conference this May, the United Methodist Women sponsored a demonstration for water rights, highlighting the crisis in Flint, Michigan.  Local Palestinian rights activists immediately jumped on that bandwagon to add their voices, “From Flint to Gaza – Water is a Human Right!”  It wasn’t the first time this parallel had been made – and it won’t be the last!

For water is, indeed, a human right – and the basic necessity of life.  It shouldn’t be a political issue – we shouldn’t have to think about who will benefit from programs designed to provide this resource.  And just because it is difficult to find a “partner” on the ground to provide the services needed, that is no reason to turn to another location where the need may be as great, but may also be lesser, just because it is easier to get a “partner” there. 

There are no answers – only questions.  And if anyone reading this knows of anyone who is working to get clean water to the people of Gaza – and Zimbabwe and Palestine – please let me know!

Working Together - Bean Counters and Social Justice Advocates

The title of my last blog post (“Methodists Reject Divestment”) notwithstanding, today I am happy to report that a small group of Methodists on the “left coast” of the US, have not only embraced divestment – we are actually in the process of implementing it! 

Settlement encroaching on Wadi Fouqin gave impetus for divestment action

As long-time readers of this blog may remember, last June, the Oregon/Idaho Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church voted to divest from Caterpillar, Motorola and Hewlett Packard (see “More Church Politics – and a Victory,” June 14, 2015).  In the year since that vote, members of the various church financial bodies, and members of the Holy Land Task Force (or what has sometimes been described as “bean counters and social justice advocates”), formed a working group to develop an implementation plan that meets both the Church’s financial responsibilities and its social justice principles. 

This was not an easy task.  It involved letting go of preconceived notions about “the other” and opening our hearts and minds to how we could best work together to accomplish the task that we had been asked to do, namely to develop an implementation plan that meets both the Church’s financial responsibilities and its social justice principles.   

Thanks to a wonderful facilitator, who sometimes utilized exercises in group dynamics to keep us focused, and to the open minds and dedication of the members of the working group, the work group (on which I was privileged to serve) developed an implementation plan that satisfied both the members of the working group and the pertinent financial and social justice entities.

Caterpillar is a divestment target for a number of reasons.

This is not to say there were no bumps on the road.  Early on, a couple of the “bean counters” attempted to re-visit arguments against divestment that had already been discussed and voted on. And trying to read spread sheets was a challenge for this “social justice advocate,” who has always considered math as a foreign language! Nevertheless, we persevered and came up with a plan that was accepted by all concerned, and prepared a report for this year’s Annual Conference.

Then, just a couple of weeks ago, we learned that a “late” resolution from a church in eastern Idaho (the “very conservative” part of this otherwise pretty liberal area), asking to overturn last year’s divestment resolution, had been submitted. The rules of our Annual Conference are such that “late” resolutions are heard in a special meeting of the Legislative Assembly and, if they did not pass in that body they would not go to the plenary floor.  While we were counseled to “not worry,” because it’s one of those things I do really well, I did worry!  Then I gathered up the “ammunition” that I’d used for last year’s positive vote, and turned it over to God.

Breaking down barriers is a focus of divestment

I am happy to report that the resolution was, in fact, defeated by a vote of about 3-15-1; the implementation plan was presented to the Conference at its annual meeting this week (by one “bean counter” and one “ social justice advocate”) and the work is continuing on the path on which it was set  last June.  The Global Methodist Church may not be divesting at this time, but Oregon/Idaho has joined the group of Annual Conferences that are divesting.  And we continue to look for new ways to educate our congregations about the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine!!

"Methodists Reject Divestment" :-(

Watching from the Plenary Floor

The United Methodist General Conference of 2016 is history.  For a week or so it was “news,” as delegates debated issues ranging from the financial to the spiritual, coming to conclusions that many watchers found alarming!  For, to those of us of a liberal – or even a “moderate” mindset - those who believe that justice, peace and social principles are the heart of the Church- this Conference took the United Methodist Church on a sharp turn to the right and recovery, if it happens at all, will be a long and painful process.

And, while it is beyond the scope of this blog to go into a diatribe about church politics, I mention this to give background to what happened – and didn’t happen – with regard to resolutions regarding Israel/Palestine that came before this august body.

Local activists helped with protests against injustice

Divestment was expected to be widely discussed (argued!).  Individuals, Annual Conferences (including my own) and church agencies had all submitted resolutions asking the church to divest from Caterpillar, and from “the big 3” (Caterpillar, Motorola and Hewlett Packard).  Other resolutions asked for a “screen” to eliminate “bad actors” from the Church’s portfolio and resolutions asking that the Church express its displeasure with the Occupation to the US Government.  On the “other side,” there were resolutions to take the Methodist Church out of the US Campaign to End the Occupation (a coalition that the church helped to start), resolutions to forbid calling Israel to task for perpetrating the Occupation and even resolutions on “Anti-Semitism,” that were little but thinly veiled attempts to cease even the slight progress that the church has already made towards Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).

while Caterpillar continues to aid the destruction of Palestinian land

The divestment resolutions never got out of committee.  Fatally wounded by strong lobbying (which included telephone calls to delegates from Israeli consulates and ambassadors and a video prepared by the Board of Pensions and sent to delegates in Africa and the Philippines), and dealt death blows by representatives of the Board of Pensions, who were so desperate to keep any discussion of divestment off the plenary floor that they offered a “compromise” on which they subsequently reneged, setting the stage for the headlines, “Methodists Reject Divestment.”  And, while literally true, the headlines don’t tell the entire story. 

It’s true that, given the political climate of the Conference, the resolutions may well have been defeated by the larger body.  Certainly, a motion to divest from fossil fuels was defeated on the plenary floor.  The Board of Pensions does not like be told what to do!  Occasionally they do the right thing (such as a few months ago when they divested from two Israeli banks and put three more on their “do not buy list - http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/13/world/middleeast/us-church-puts-5-banks-from-israel-on-a-blacklist.html?_r=0)  But they often do the wrong thing – such as continue to invest in Caterpillar despite more than 10 years of “engagement” that has produced no results.  Or as investing in Israeli settlements after the 2012 General Conference declared settlements illegal (in accordance with International law) and voted to boycott settlement products.  

Voices of peace - Alex Awad and Mark Braverman

But observing in one of the legislative committees during the first week of the Conference, I was struck by a few delegates who seemed to “get it.”  Delegates who were knowledgeable about the Occupation and concerned about how the church’s social justice principles often appeared to be in conflict with the actions the church was taking.  And, I believe, the hope for the future lies in people like these – the man from[DP1]  Cote d’Iviore who addressed the group in French to express support for oppressed people, or the young pastor from North Carolina who compared Israel and Palestine to the big brother who breaks his little brother’s legs, only to have the little brother scolded because the he wasn’t “playing nice.” 

And there were a few resolutions passed that will help the church to work for justice in the Middle East.  http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=f0d1f19f13bfd258c25e5585d&id=5cf0521128&e=d038661cc8. 

  To quote Martin Luther King, Jr., “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

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