Monthly Archives: March 2015

Ramblings on Religion and Conflict IV: 1989

I’ve recently become very interested in trying to better understand the connection between war and empires and trade and religion, specifically religion as an economic system and set of trade alliances and principles. This is particularly relevant in Mindanao, where both Islam and Catholicism arrived as a consequence of trade. The specific details of how Islam arrived to Southeast Asia are still debated, but the general consensus is that it came with traders, not warriors, and in the case of Mindanao, mostly from other SE Asian islands and from India, often Sufis, creating trading networks largely replacing the collapsed Buddhist trading blocks that had existed there before. When the Spanish arrived in what is now the Philippines, they were seeking better access to and control of trade routes over sea to China and Japan.  Their encounter with the Muslims in Mindanao was seen in the context of the long years of Islamic trade domination in Spain, a context that had a large influence on the shaping of Spanish Catholicism as an empire building force. I thought of the old monopoly of the gold dinar when I heard that ISIS/DAESH announced plans to issue the gold dinar once more as part of its new self-proclaimed caliphate.

So it shouldn’t seem like an innovation to see religion assert itself as the answer to not only what we now consider to be spiritual questions, but to other core questions that religions as systems have historically addressed such what community order or regulation of relationships to each other and to the environment best ensures survival, security, and access to needed resources, where do “we” end and where do “they” begin, what are fair terms for exchange, how do we respond to external or internal threats, etc., issues we associate now with the realms of politics or economics. Answering these questions becomes complex in a place like Mindanao, in the context of hundreds of years of colonialism, and where there is a mix of tribal identities, unique languages, specific local customs, and key environmental and geographical features; for instance the Lumad (according to a 2000 census) represent only about 8.9% of Mindanao’s population, but there are approximately 30 ethno-linguistic groups within that minority. There is a significant variety among the Moro groups as well, who represent only around 18% of the population and include 13 Muslim ethno-linguistic groups.

Unsurprisingly, the two biggest modern candidates for unifying these identities to shape a coherent response to a number of stresses in Mindanao have been ethno-nationalism and religion, which continue to be inextricably entangled. When negotiated agreements between the government and the ethno-nationalist separatist/autonomy movement lead by the MNLF resulted in neither real self-determination nor an improvement in living conditions, religion has increasingly been relied on as a the most powerful medium for a unified response. The MILF has a much more explicitly Islamic agenda, although it’s primary goals are much the same as the ethno-nationalist goals of the MNLF.

Many in the west view any Muslim political group, armed or not, as Islamist, an incorrect assumption in Mindanao in most cases, although globalization brought not just transnational corporations but transnational “Arabized” Islam into Mindanao as well, itself something of a colonial force for the uniquely syncretic Islam that has traditionally been practiced there. In the 1990’s, there were some funding and training relationships with al-Qaeda, as well as some personal contacts with Osama bin Laden (in the case of the MILF these were quickly and explicitly disavowed following the 9/11 attacks in the US). But even the original demands of the notorious Abu Sayyaf were still local and echoed ethno-nationalist demands, despite a more markedly Islamist ideology.  Abu Sayyaf was founded by a man who had fought with the mujahedeen in Afghanistan.  This was in the 1980’s, somewhere around the time that the “valiant and courageous Afghan freedom fighters” were hosted in the Oval Office by President Ronald Reagan.

The late 1980’s were of course a major turning point.   Since the end of the Second World War, the great competing empires were the US and the Soviet Union or specifically, the religious war of the day being soviet communism vs western liberal capitalism; the famous American anti-communist Joseph McCarthy spoke passionately in the 1950’s about “the great difference between our western Christian world and the atheistic Communist world” and a “final, all-out battle between communistic atheism and Christianity.”  But in 1989 the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan and the Berlin Wall came down. But meanwhile, with much less fanfare, Osama bin Laden, who had been involved in raising funds for the Afghani mujahedeen for many years, founded al-Qaeda. It also happened to be the year that Ferdinand Marcos, infamous dictator of the Philippines and the author of the time of martial law during which so many in Mindanao saw their homes, lands and lives go up in flames, died in Honolulu.

I have read that the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the NPA (New People’s Army), launched in 1969, three years before Marcos’ martial law was declared, is today responsible for a much higher incidence of violence in Mindanao than Muslim groups, and the military personnel we met with in Mindanao also emphasized the NPA in particular as their most formidable threat, and yet for better or worse, it is still the Moro Muslim groups, not the armed Maoists, that attract the most international attention and concern.

A lot has certainly changed since the end of the Cold War era.

..But then again, a lot has stayed the same.

Vicarious Trauma

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I can recall thinking that the day would be mediocre. I was lagging that morning; two cups of coffee simply did not cut it. I was in a bad mood despite being able to see the beautiful countryside during our van ride to our destination. The road, like many others we had traveled, was mostly dirt; every dip in in the road made me hold on to the seat in front of me so that I would not crush the person sitting next to me. My back was starting to ache from all the bouncing, which brought back memories of a terrible head on-collision I was in when I was 20 years old. I thought about my body before the accident and how I could endure the most uncomfortable arrangements for long periods of time, but now I had become a complainer. I imagined all the accidents that happen to locals while they rode in packed Jeepneys, vans, and motorbikes and even when they walk on the sides of the road day or night. This napped me out of feeling sorry for myself. Eventually we arrived at our destination.

We were able to meet with an organization that promotes peace in a particular Tri community; Moros, Christians and Indigenous people. The person that provided an overview of their organization’s history and the approaches they use to create peace was amazing and truly inspiring. This was an awesome example of rural community’s ability to organize at the grassroots level and empower community members.  We were fortunate enough to spend several hours in this community understanding what makes this peace zone special. Towards the end of the day I asked about trauma healing in regards to the discussion we were having specifically on the topic of Rido. For those who are unfamiliar of this phenomenon, they are essentially clan conflicts, which tend to be cyclical and result in various forms of retaliation including murder. The person’s response was shocking and emotional. Clearly this person had suffered vicarious trauma from working with families trying to resolve clan conflicts. I became teary eyed when I saw this person’s sadness, and the sense of futility when they shared personal accounts of progress made with families, only to have the process of healing crushed by the need for retribution. How does one break this cycle of violence? It looks so complicated and hopeless from an outsider’s perspective. Such challenging work. It is amazing to see community members continuing to try and resolve these incredibly complex issues.

Ramblings on Religion and Conflict III: Deus sive Natura

I wasn’t raised with any religious practice and it was almost never referenced and religious language or symbolism often has an alienating effect on me. But I started writing this from Paris where I went to play guitar in the premier of Glenn Branca’s new orchestral piece for 100 guitars at the Philharmonie de Paris on February 20th. Glenn’s music, for me, has something of the sacred in it and I often use language tinged with mystical (or oddly mathematical) flavor to describe what it feels like to play it. So maybe there is an analogue to religious “spirituality” in my relationship to aesthetic experiences, natural, poetic, or musical; Lorca’s duende, or what my immeasurably dear friend Sandy Pearlman might refer to as “frisson” in the second movement or Dies Iras section of the Berlioz Requiem.

I think that the foundation of the spiritual experiences probably lies in what Damasio has called “the genomic unconscious” more than in any single class of stimuli.  Certainly I am extracting “transcendent” experiences that are of considerable significance to me through art (although maybe these are best described as experiences of Spinoza-ish immanence, “Deus sive Natura”). One might argue here that these experiences aren’t linked to an organized belief system or identity group for which I am willing to kill or die which is true… but I’m not sure that it always was.  The experience of transcendence/spirituality and the vehicles that reproduce and legitimate that experience can become tightly interwoven; my years in a rock band can only be described as a mission with high existential stakes, and my commitment to it was of a genuine life or death nature. In fact as I have learned more about the dynamics, community value, induction, unique group morality structures, the reinforcement of extreme tendencies and symbolic behaviors that one finds in insurgent and even terror groups, the more I recognize my own experience in the “outlaw poet” and rock and roll communities.

But others will recognize these systems easily in their sports teams, or even their fan associations related to sports teams, in high finance, or political cause associations… or whatever. You may protest, “but we don’t commit violence” (although “militant” footballer clubs exist and finance can be linked to all kinds of violence) but the same is true of most religious associations as well.  Mary Clarke wrote that “What Hobbes failed to realize – and many still do today – is that humans evolved with a desire to belong, not to compete.  Biologically, we are obligatory social animals, wholly dependent on a supportive social structure; and it is in the absence of such a support system that destructive, ‘inhuman’ behaviors occur.”  But as Vivienne Jabri has noted, that sense of belonging is also a highly effective medium for the mobilization of violence.

Nationalism has probably surpassed religion in terms of organizing, deploying, and institutionalizing violence but religion remains the older, more familiar, and perhaps more agile political organization and continues to be highly successful in adapting to diverse cultures and creating some degree of unification and co-feeling across entrenched geographical and economic boundaries as well as the old tribal, clan, and caste systems that monotheisms might have emerged as a response to.  But while the monotheistic religions are probably most often associated with religiously based violence, they aren’t unique, recent Hindu and Buddhist militancy in India and Myanmar, respectively, can attest to this. In fact the most common predictors in acts of violence seem to me to first and foremost be gender and age, but who knows, we might be seeing a change even there as women in some regions slowly begin to see themselves not just as the inevitable victims of but as legitimate wielders of force.

More recently of course we’ve seen 20th century political Islam, or “Islamism,” effectively invoked not just as a vehicle of identity consolidation but as a redefining of the enemy (near and far), and it is maybe the most potent threat to the dominant economics of transnational capital and corporatism and western liberal values since the “demise” of communism, and promotes itself as a challenge to the legitimacy of the nation state itself (or at least the borders as drawn by colonial powers). But then the world’s great religions are “great” precisely because they challenged and then established their own monopolies of power, meaning monopoly of force and/or wealth: Empires.  Like waves, they rise, they fall, they are universally hated by those they drown, and exalted by those they carry.

Brain Road Blocks

Blog #8

3/5/15

We’ve begun March and in many ways Mindanao seems to be worlds away. It’s easy to fall into the stress of school, work, family, friends and succumb to the drama that can dull our once vivid memories and recollection of our time in Mindanao. MIIS students find a certain prestige in traveling, whether it be for leisure, work, or in our case, academia. Yet, after such an incredibly powerful trip – after months of brain freeze when it comes to my ability to think back on Mindanao – I’m stuck wondering what makes travel meaningful at all …

Since out return, Professor Iyer has made it a priority to give us the space and time to self-reflect, meet in a group and meet with her to process. We’ve got important deliverables to carry out in the next couple of weeks and we’ve also got a responsibility to those we met on an island far South of Manila.

I know our long meetings, smaller discussions and private reflection are crucial to making this trip meaningful as I’ve learned in my coursework. This is true for intercultural competence and personal growth and for real learning to occur. I know this as an international education management and TESOL student – I know this in theory – but being back for two months now (which sometimes feels like 8) I’m surprised how difficult it is to put my money where my mouth is (as it were).

Since returning at the end of the semester I have been asked by friends, teachers and classmates, “How was your trip” – and I’ve hesitated. Are they asking because they want to know? Are they asking in a perfunctory way? How do I answer honestly in a mere sound bite? Do I say, “great” and move on? Do I offer up a particularly juicy anecdote that highlights a more dramatic and deemed “interesting” moment in the trip? And if so, to what end? To shock? To make an impression?

Do I sit them down and explain the details, challenges, amazing moments, heartbreak, policy in theory and practice on the ground, the surprises, the self-reflection process, and so on and so forth? That could take hours, and bottom line: maybe I don’t fully understand, and maybe that’s why no one cares.

I’ve found it challenging to reflect. And not because I haven’t had allotted time to do so. I keep coming back to snapshots in my head, sketched portraits of the people we met. Thoughts on what they are doing. Feelings of guilt that I haven’t done enough to justify my long flight over to Mindanao. Feelings of frustration that I am unable to quell – what shall I do with all of my notes from out countless meetings? What can I do with these etched faces in my head?

I think the first step is to accept that I feel lost and at time impotent. I am thankful for the meetings I have with the other members of the Mindanao team. We’ve got some powerful and talented individuals, led by a powerful and talented professor who guides us along the way. So, without further ado, I’ll prep for the meeting that we’ve got – collaborate with my peers on awesome and inspiring ideas concerning Peace Education… and start actively combatting this brain freeze with this cathartic (albeat disjointed) blog post.

Speaking to the local pre-school teacher. (Photo Credit: Maritza Munzon)

Speaking to the local pre-school teacher. (Photo Credit: Maritza Munzon)

The Uncomfortable Laugh

As a person who likes to think of themselves as somewhat culturally competent and sensitive to the diverse needs of communities, I realized I carried with me to the Philippines many western centric views of mental health recovery. I became “that person” thinking trauma heeling needed to be offered to everyone right then and there. I realized that a person cannot successfully work through their trauma if they continue to experience distressing incidents on a regular basis. This appeared to be the case with many folks in Mindanao. With the frequent occurrences of violence, displacement, or inability to feed ones family; how can one possibly cope with their trauma when they remain in survival mode and are likely to be retraumatized in the near future? I also assumed there was an appropriate response to dealing with sadness and discomfort. A phenomenon we talked a lot about on the trip was the “uncomfortable laugh”. Initially many of us were perplexed as to why someone would start to laugh when a heavy topic was discussed. This laugh did not come from the belly, but resonated in the form of a low snicker. It seemed to have a chain reaction as well. Someone would start laughing and look at another person, triggering the other person’s laughter. I know from personal experience as a youth, I sometimes would express my tension and discomfort in the form of a quiet laugh or smile. Sometimes this made situations worse, especially if my disciplinary figure believed I was trivializing the seriousness of the situation. I thought I had outgrown this response, but now that I think about it, I laughed the other day in a class when I was presented with uncomfortable information. My projections of appropriate vs. inappropriate behavioral responses disappeared after I observed someone telling me their experience of responding to a natural disaster. They shared horrific details about the things they saw and the work they were asked to do. I was finally able to see past this smile and hear their trauma.