If “War is not the Answer” what is? Diane Randall of FCNL (Friends Committee on National Legislation) talks Quaker pacifism, pentagon spending, and the military industrial complex.
Resources:
- Subscribe to QuakerSpeak so you never miss a video
- Explore the Quaker way to see if it could be right for you
- Worship with Friends! Find Quakers near you on QuakerFinder and Friends Journal’s meeting listings
- Read Friends Journal to see how other Friends describe the substance of Quaker spirituality
- Quaker Voluntary Service has opportunities for young women and men interested in social and personal transformation through service work and living in Quaker community.
Discussion Questions:
- Diane says that, “conflict is inevitable, but violent conflict, we believe, is not inevitable.” What do you think she means by this? Do you agree?
- What does it mean to “live in the power and virtue that takes away the occasion for all war?”
Transcript:
We try to find policies to specifically call for solutions to war, solutions to deadly conflict. Conflict is inevitable, but violent conflict, we believe, is not inevitable.
War is Not the Answer
I’m Diane Randall. I’m the executive secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation, based in Washington, DC.
People know FCNL by our blue bumper sticker, “War is Not the Answer,” but FCNL is a lot more than being a bumper-sticker or a sign organization and being anti-war. We think it’s incredibly important to offer alternatives for the world we seek. We seek a world free of war and the threat of war. That’s part of our vision.
So if we’re going to have a world free of war and the threat of war, what are the options, if not military, when conflict arises? First of all, we’ve had a program for a long time to work on prevention of deadly conflict. There are a lot of ways that that can happen. None of them are quick, none of them are immediate. But we believe that when our US state department and our US agency for international development invests in countries in terms of both development and peace building and diplomacy, that the outcomes on behalf of the United States and the rest of the world will be much more beneficial.
Challenging the Military Industrial Complex
We’re spending well over 550 billion dollars a year in pentagon spending. The challenge on that is both that if you believe that we should be more fiscally prudent about federal spending, that’s well over 50 percent of the amount of discretionary spending that we spend in the United States every year, so there’s just a disproportionate amount of money going there, and disproportionate in terms of the amount of money we’re spending domestically.
When we put a disproportionate amount of our resources into the military, then we rely on the military for a disproportionate amount of our solutions and not every problem has a military solution.
Interestingly, it used to be that the debates over how much we spend on the military was about whether or not we would be secure and safe. Now, that debate is whether or not people have jobs. So a lot of people in our country rely on working for defense contractors or their subsidiaries. In every state, in every congressional districts, there are contracts that go out that are sent out through the pentagon. People need jobs, but where else might people get money from that allows them to work?
If we were starting with a clean slate and we had a hundred billion dollars to invest, investing that hundred billion dollars in jobs that would be for education or for health-care is a much more productive investment in terms of the number of jobs that are created. But if you’re sitting in a city or a state where your neighbors or you work for a defense contractor, it’s hard to say, “Cut all those contracts.”
So that’s what I mean when I say that it’s a system that’s been built up. It was Dwight Eisenhower over 50 years ago who warned us about the military industrial complex, and his warning has come to bear. We have continued to escalate our military spending, and the sad part is that the military spending that has been put in to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan isn’t even part of the military budget. It’s a side budget. And so right now, part of what we’re doing is trying to reduce that spending as well, and trying to make the case that these wars are winding down, that spending should wind down as well.
Living Quaker Faith into Action
Friends have always been highly engaged when they see broken systems. We’ve done that throughout our history, and Friends continue to do that in many ways. So doing advocacy with elected officials is another way to do that that addresses some of the systemic changes that need to happen and it’s a way that we can live our faith into action. We are, as a people, not shy about both speaking up and taking action that comes from the changes that we experience when we know how the divine lives in our own lives, and when we operate from that center that is a call to love, then it calls us to act into the world in different ways.
I think it’s the quote about living in the power and virtue that takes away the occasion for all wars that speaks to me most deeply, because that is about changed lives. Not just about a philosophy or a stance, but it’s about, “What in me has changed that makes me believe that I couldn’t harm another person and I don’t think that’s the way we should live?” Coming to live in that virtue is a lifelong process, and it is practicing love and that’s a lifelong process.
The work you are doing with Quaker Speak
is way over me. I love and cheer it.
I’m beginning to think this initiative needs
a tangible platform in our Meeting.
We could and should allow such video shorts
to also formally resonate our Word
OWEN
Diane’s message on “If war is not the answer, what is?” resonates deeply with me. What in my life needs to change so that I give no occasion for war? As we become united and speak with one voice to our society, our world, the message we offer is magnified many times over.
Hi Diane, a great video especially the last bit about the changes in our own lives from practising Quaker practice (I believe the faith comes out of the practice) – I’m Australian, I’ve introduced QuakerSpeak to Quakers in S Korea as well as Australia – it would help us non-US folks if you would explain things like, what Dwight Eisenhower said about the military-industrial complex; in other words, Jon & Diane, be aware that your videos are going to non-US people including some non-English speakers, and make things clear for us –
thanks, Jon I love this series – Helen
Hi Diane,
The people of earth will not continue to tolerate any longer being subjected to wars,
poverty, misinformation from governments all around the world. All the old systems survived during the Dispensation Period of Grace ended December 21, 2012 at the correct time of the Mayan calendar being completed for that era. A new Dispensation of Love is now in place replacing the first two Dispensations.
Old Testament was the Dispensation of the Law
New Testament was the Dispensation of Grace.
These two are being permanently replaced by the Dispensation of Love.
This year 2014 is the starting year for Divine Love. All mankind will come into the full conscious protection of Divine Love. The entire Galaxy of highly spiritualized advanced beings from different dimensions are presently shifting earth’s vibration frequency. We are no longer isolated from our Galactic Family. What you have been doing in prayer the world will do. It is what God intended. At last: Peace on Earth and Good Will to All Mankind. This is really happening and Jesus with His Legions of Galactic Family Workers are preparing their return faithfully as promised 2,000 years. Share the Good News. We are all on an exciting wave of Ascension.
Dear People,
I have watched every one of the lessons that you have videoed. Wonderful, wonderful. I hope you can keep it up. It makes a person who lives in the tiny country of New Zealand feel part of the Quaker whanau (family). Blessings.
Diane, what a fantastic video! Thank you for doing this. I’ll be speaking to a group of Year 11 students (in the UK that means around 15 to 16 years old) about Quakers and Peace and I’ll be quoting from this. So thank you for that.
And the work you and FCNL are doing is absolutely vital and thank you for that, too.
Helen,
if you are interested in Eisenhower’s warnings from his experience look up his 1961 farewell address or just some quotes at http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower
Very cogent and well spoken, but I do miss the Shared Security frame. Perhaps it was edited out.
Some of us working with QEW find Shared Security very helpful in explaining all 4 “seeks’.
Iam a NorwegianAmerican Quaker living now in Grimstad ,Norway. I do so enjoy. The Quakers speak. Iam very committed. To the Quaker way. ,like live simple so other simple can live. And no. Violence I have experience war first hand. And it live its mark. Therefore I would never give my vote to a party THAT is killing my fellow human beings WE are all connected. Former president for International helping hand. Solveig Dale Eskedahl
Vi
The work of the FCNL is a stellar example of faith in practice. Thank you for this well-framed, informative piece. First rate.