Between the lines

Sojourners, May/Jun 2000

Iraq Sanctions: 'The slaughter of innocents'

While the U.S.-backed sanctions against Iraq continue to deva.state that country-- UNICEF estimates the sanctions to have resulted in the deaths of more than 500,000 Iraqi children-a growing clamor of voices is rising up in opposition:

"Our support, my support, my commitment is for the Iraqi people as a group of deprived people whose tragedy should end."

-Hans Von Sponeck, former U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq. Von Sponeck and Jutta Burghardt, head of the U.N. World Food Program for Iraq, resigned effective March 31 in protest of continuing sanctions against Iraq.

"Millions of children are suffering and we refuse to close our eyes to the slaughter of innocents."

-Democratic Whip David E. Bonior

"We believe that each child deserves the basic rights to food, medicine, and clean drinking water. We also believe that it is possible to do this for the children of Iraq."

-From an appeal signed by 35 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, including Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, and Shimon Perez

"Morally, it is wrong to hold the Iraqi people responsible for the actions of a brutal and reckless government."

From a letter to President Clinton initiated by Reps. Tom Campbell (RCA) and John Conyers (D-MI) and signed by 70 members of Congress

"The comprehensive application of an economic embargo in a manner that ignores the fundamental humanitarian needs and rights of 22 million people to basic health care, food, and shelter is unacceptable."

-From a letter to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan from the World Council of Churches

"What America's doing with Iraq today is criminal...a violation of international law."

-Scott Bitter, former head of the U.N. disarmament team in Iraq

A Punishing Decade

The U.S. prison population passed the two million mark in February, provoking vigils and protests in more than 40 U.S. cities. According to the Washington, D.C.-based Justice Policy institute (JPI), the United States now has the world's largest incarcerated population and the highest incarceration rate. With just 5 percent of the world's population, the United States has a quarter of its prisoners.

According to a recent JPI report, the majority of U.S. inmates are nonviolent offenders and disproportionately African-American, smith one in three black men between the ages of 20 and 29 under some form of criminal justice control (in prison, jail, parole, or probation) in 1995. For the full report, visit www.cjcj.orgfpunishingdecade.

Prosperity Doesn't Equal Generosity

A new report shows that the current economic boom is not finding its way to the collection plate. Data from 11 Protestant denominations revealed that their percentage of income giving was lower in recent years than during the depth of the Great Depression.

Co-authors John and Sylvia Ronsvalle of empty tomb inc. (a Christian service and research organization, www.emptytomb.org) blame the decline in part on churches' tendency to give priority to "the preservation and upkeep of their institutions:' To revitalize church giving, they suggest that "Church leaders could offer a fresh and compelling vision for impacting world need in Jesus' name" through "immediate investment in global need."

Moreover, they propose a moratorium on gifts to endowments, offering statistical evidence that immediate investments in human beings have more long-term benefits than traditional endowment models.

Jamming the Giants

For around $2,500 you too can be a DJ in the micro-radio revolution. That's the hope following the Federal Communications Commission's decision to license low-power FM (LPFM) radio stations, prompting cheers from community media advocates who for years have operated illegally as a diverse band of "pirate" stations.

Despite complaints from the corporate-backed National Association of Broadcasters

about compromising "the integrity of the FM band," FCC chairman William Kennard declared that "this will bring many new voices to the airwaves."

The new rules mandate that all LPFM stations must be noncommercial, and current broadcasters or owners of other media interests will not be eligible for LPFM licenses.

`"The corporate fat cats got used to thinking of the airwaves as their own private fiefdom, but the commissioners today reaffirmed that the airwaves belong to everyone," said Joan Dark, of the Prometheus Radio Proiect, a Philadelphia-based media activist group that helps create LPFM stations (www. prometheus.tao.ca).

As corporate media continue to consolidate, and Internet technologies remain out of reach for many, LPFM remains accessible, low-tech, and-with a maximum broadcast range of about seven miles-intrinsically rooted in community.

Kosovar Religious Leaders Appeal for Peace

Defying the assumption that Serbs and ethnic Albanians are incapable of peaceful coexistence, leaders of the religious communities of Kosovo issued a common statement for reconciliation.

Signed by Rexhep Boja, Mufti of the Islamic Community of Kosovo, Marko Sopi, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Prizren and Artemije Radosavljevic, the Serbian Orthodox Bishop of Raska and Prizren, the statement calls on believers of all faiths to "establish a durable peace based on truth, justice, and common living."