Dear RN list, Back on May 13 I wrote this kind of a cry of outrage and bewilderment vis à vis this Yugoslavia war. That cry has been answered in many different ways; obviously Richard's recent postings have been particularly useful. Richard's message, that this war is part of an imperialist "death-end" greed grab; I knew it before. But the recent postings from Richard and others are making that much clearer for me, for others too no doubt. So, we are left with the perennial question of what to do in the face of this evil and our complicity with it. Exactly how the answer to this question will take form (in my own life and in my community, of which I consider many of you to be a part) is still being worked out. In the meantime, I want to send you three messages to follow up on the WHY question. One is composed of two messages: a Znet commentary about the paradigm shift we are asking people to make in coming to see the war as many of us have come to see it and notice of a concerted prayer for peace effort for 4pm Greenwich Mean Time (that's 9am in Los Angeles, noon in New York, 6pm in Paris) for Monday, May 24. Part of my own paradigm shift has been to become convinced that prayer can really make a difference... Another is even more damning evidence of the dishonesty and violence of "our side" (following up on the Chinese embassy bombing). And last but now least, the third in a series of compilations of the ecological and health effects of the bombing put together by Janet Eaton. I spoke with Janet the other day, spoke to her of my frustration about the way bombings only seem to intensify, along with the incredible indifference and psychic numbing evidenced by people around me... How this frustration could so easily slip into giving up in a certain way; of my worry that putting so much effort into e-mail might just be a drain of energies that could be more usefully spent some other way. Just talking with Janet was encouraging, because I realize she is managing to get the information about the real consequences of this war to institutions (like the Gorbatchev institution, Green Cross I think it is) and media all over the world. In doing our work, there is always the danger that our efforts will look totally useless because we are really only able to see SOME of the picture of what all our efforts amount to. The thing is, our individual efforts are pretty useless, but now and then we get to see that they are part of something much bigger that is "our baby" too and that needs our care and nurturing, just as any baby does. Best wishes to us all, Jan
