We Must Be the Change We Wish to See." Mahatma Gandhi.
Becky Burgwin
Attorney with MS fasts outside of the Pittsburgh Federal Building to share responsibility for atrocities committed at Abu Ghraib prison in the name of all Americans.
According to Jesus fasting was good for the soul. Gandhi said that fasting is discipline of mind and body. Jews fast on Yom Kippur. Muslims fast during Ramadan and Catholics fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. In an incredible testament to the human spirit, doctors and nurses in the Warsaw Ghetto, who ultimately starved to death themselves, documented much of what is known about the effect of starvation on the human body. It's not pretty.
The Irish began to use the hunger strike as a political tool in 1916 after the Easter Rising. In 1981 when IRA member Bobby Sands died of starvation in Maze/Long Kesh Prison in Northern Ireland, it prompted a worldwide call for an end to British occupation of Ireland.
Mahatma Gandhi, however, had an entirely different view of fasting. Gandhi firmly believed that fasting not be a tool for showing disobedience and displeasure but a prayer and a self-sacrifice to aid in wisdom, penance and purification and justified only in the case of gross inhumanity
It is within the tradition of fasting as practiced by Gandhi that Jon Robison, Pittsburgh attorney, begins his 24 hour fast and vigil at the William S. Moorhead Federal Building in Pittsburgh on July 26 at 8:00 PM. Jon, who suffers from MS, will be fasting not to protest the current administration's war on the planet Earth, as relevant as that may be, but in acknowledgement of the complicity of our entire country in the atrocities perpetrated at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and he will conduct his vigil from his motorized scooter.
I have copied Mr. Robison's flyer and am urging people from all over the country to join Jon in this peaceful effort to atone for the wounds that have been caused by those who claim to be acting on our behalf. I will be fasting that night and I urge anyone who decides to do this to tell your local newspapers, TV stations and all your friends. We in this country, who vehemently disagree with our leaders, have been sorely lacking in overt methods of conveying these feelings. We are very creative at our computers but have not been so good at taking it to the streets. Maybe we could garner the kind of support that the Irish were able to obtain if we do this and let the whole world know how we really feel. Here is Jon's flyer.
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Tisha B'Av Fast & Vigil July 26-27
For Abu Ghraib and our Spiritual Responsibility
On Tisha B'Av, starting sundown, July 26, I will fast and vigil for 24 hours at the Federal Building on Liberty Ave., to acknowledge my share of the responsibility for Abu Ghraib.
Evil deeds have been exposed at Abu Ghraib - photographed!. Ugly truths are coming out about the treatment of our prisoners there, elsewhere in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and our detention camp at Guantanamo Bay. The legal responsibility for these acts is being adjudicated, and we can only hope that the inquiry extends beyond a handful of low-ranking reservists. The administrative responsibility for what happened is under review, but the events were inevitable after our government publicly announced that our captives were unprotected by the Geneva Convention, the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, or the U.S. Constitution. The political responsibility is being decided between now and November.
But the moral and the spiritual responsibility is, as we lawyers say, joint and several. We are all responsible.
The deeds were done under our American flag. The deeds were done by American soldiers, paid for by the American taxpayers - that's us. It was done in our name. The treatment of our prisoners is a shonda - a shame upon the family.
So, on Tisha B'Av , starting at sundown on Monday July 26th, about 8 p.m., I will fast for 24 hours and keep vigil at our Federal Building.
Tisha B'Av is the fast day that commemorates the destruction of the Temple and the Second Temple. I am descended from the victims of those atrocities - Avadim hayanu: we were slaves. But after a hundred generations of breeding and interbreeding, doubtless I am also descended from the perpetrators. Mere legal guilt fades into history as time passes. Finding fault does not lessen my responsibility.
The issue is not guilt; this is not a matter of wrong choices I made in the past. (I opposed this war before it began.) The issue is responsibility, which each one of us shares. This means we must work, as best we can, to remedy the wrongs. Furthermore, we have been saying "Never Again" - since 1945. But did we mean it? What changes, structural changes, did we make to go beyond rhetoric and promises? Atonement requires action, righteous action.
This vigil is not to promote the specific changes that are needed. The main purpose is not to make statements about politics and government, although the implications are unavoidable.
But, for me, the next step is clear. I acknowledge my share of the responsibility, part of the truth that will set us free. That is why I will be at the Federal Building at 8 p.m. on July 26.
Why a public fast, along with a vigil? Isaiah told us that, for spiritual benefit, a fast must be accompanied by righteous action. "Free those to whom you were unfair-- Isaiah 58:6
Please call me at 412-683-0237 for further information. All who wish to join in acknowledging our shared responsibility, who wish to join in any part of this fast and vigil, are invited.
Jonathan and Mary Robison
154 N. Bellefield Ave. #66 Pittsburgh, PA 15213412-683-0237
jonmary1@juno.com jonathanbrobison@yahoo.com
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A king once proudly displayed to a Buddhist sage a battlefield, the scene of a recent victory. The sage looked at the carnage, and said, "Who is victim here, and who the executioners? Speak!"
