An invitation to greater engagement of the UU community in the international struggle for peace, the rule of law, and respect for the human rights of all people.

Curtis Bell 

As I write this in late May of 2022, the news continues to be all about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The costs of the invasion are already high – thousands of Ukrainian and Russian casualties, more than seven million refugees, and rapidly rising prices for energy and food across the world.  The costs are sure to grow higher.  Thus, many countries have already announced an increase in military spending, meaning that less money will be available for social goods. The war has also taken away the equally critical resource of the world’s attention from the crises of climate change, pandemics, and poverty.  The war could have even worse consequences - a war throughout Europe, world-wide deprivation of food and energy, destabilization of the world economic system, and even nuclear war. 

All of us are and will be much affected by the war in Ukraine, especially if it continues.  Simple self-interest calls us to do what we can to stop it. Compassion for those affected by the war and our values as Unitarian Universalists also call us to act. 

The Russian invasion must be condemned without equivocation for its human rights violations and its violation of the supreme international law against invading a sovereign state. But the US and Europe also bear responsibility for bringing us to this fear-filled juncture, and we as US citizens share in that responsibility.  Russia has consistently told us of their alarm about the advancement of NATO, a military alliance aimed first at the Soviet Union and now at Russia, to their borders. They have also made very clear for 15 years that they viewed Ukraine membership in NATO as an existential threat.  

Perhaps the current war in the Ukraine might have been avoided if the Ukraine and NATO had clearly declared that Ukraine would never join NATO and if the US and Europe had not poured military weapons into Ukraine in a kind of proxie NATOization, but no such statements were made and masses of weapons continue to pour into Ukraine. In fact, in the fall of 2021 the United States publicly affirmed its support for Ukraine membership in NATO and for enhanced military cooperation. Perhaps a greater engagement by all of us could have kept the war from starting and could even now move us toward a cease fire and negotiations to end this war.  

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a striking example of how events in other countries can affect our lives here at home. But it is not the only example, and here I speak as a citizen of the United States. Our wars on Afghanistan and Iraq have cost eight trillion dollars, money that has been much needed here at home for social goods. The wars have caused tens of thousands of American casualties and millions of Iraqi and Afghan casualties. Millions of Iraqi, Afghan and Syrians have been displaced and refugees fleeing these wars have contributed to the rise of a destabilizing radical European right. 

Millions of people in the US, including many Unitarian Universalists, tried to stop those wars, but that was not enough. Perhaps, and only perhaps, we could have stopped those wars or stopped them sooner If more of us had tried even harder.  

Our responsibility as US citizens also includes responsibility for US unconditional support for the Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people.  The recent reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem that establish Israeli guilt for the international crime of apartheid provide only the most recent documentation of this oppression. The oppression had already been well described for decades by Palestinian organizations, Israeli organizations, and the United Nations. Israel could not continue with its human rights abuses and violations of international law without the diplomatic, financial, and military support of the United States. 

What happens in Palestine, like what is happening in the Ukraine and what happened in Iraq, Afghanistan and Viet Nam, has major harmful effects on us here at home. Israel’s systematic denial of the fundamental human rights of Palestinians for the past 75 years and United States support for that denial have created a deep wound in the heart of the Middle East, and our unconditional support for Israel has earned us the enmity of many people in the region.  Arab enmity toward the US for its unconditional support for Israeli oppression was one of the reasons given by Osama bin Laden for his hatred of the United States, with all the consequences that followed from that, including the “war on terror.” The neutralizing of potential enemies of Israel was  also probably one of the reasons for our war on Iraq, for Trump’s cancelation of the Iran nuclear agreement, and Biden’s reluctance to recommit to the Iran nuclear agreement. Without that agreement, a catastrophic war with Iran could become likely.

An equally important consequence of the decades-long US support for Israeli violations of international law and basic human rights is the cynicism and contempt that it creates for the very concepts of human rights and international law. The same can be said for US participation in the Saudi war on Yemen, a war that has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Human rights and international law are nothing but words if they are only applied selectively rather than universally. 

In this regard, the contrast is striking between the immediate condemnation and sanctioning by the United States and Europe of Russia’s violation of international law in invading Ukraine and the lack of such condemnation or sanctioning of Israel, Saudi Arabia or the United States for similar crimes. In 1967 Israel conquered the West Bank and the Golan Heights of Syria and then annexed them to the state of Israel.  Such taking of land by military conquest is a supreme violation of international law. In addition, Israel continues to permanently occupy the West Bank, to move its citizens into settlements there, and to oppress the Palestinians in the occupied territories rather than meeting their needs - all crimes under international law. The United States invasion of Iraq was also a major violation of international law.  

The Russian invasion was immediately followed by the United States and other nations boycotting of Russian products, divesting from Russian corporations, and imposing massive financial sanctions. Neither Israel nor the United States have suffered such a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) regime for their crimes.  Indeed, the Palestinian-led, nonviolent BDS movement aimed at deterring Israel from its oppression of Palestinians is widely condemned in the West to the point of some nations making it illegal and some US states attempting to do so. 

Unitarian Universalists affirmed the right to boycott on behalf of Palestinian rights as a form of free speech in a 2019 Action Of Immediate Witness and have criticized Israeli behavior  in several General Assembly resolutions and actions over the years. But the forces demanding unconditional United States support for Israel are very powerful and call us to still greater engagement. 

Over seven million white Ukrainian refugees have been immediately and warmly welcomed into Europe but brown refugees fleeing the consequences of US and European wars in the Middle East have been violently rejected. Five million Palestinians live in squalid camps around the state of Israel but are not allowed to exercise their right to return to the lands from which they were expelled. In addition, the International Criminal Court immediately opened an investigation into Russian crimes but after years of petitioning  it remains uncertain if they will take up the crimes of Israel.  It is also unlikely that they will not take up US crimes in Afghanistan even though they have been petitioned to do so. 

The message to the world is clear. Invasion of sovereign nations, violations of international law and violations of human rights are acceptable if they are done by the United States or its allies but are to be roundly condemned as immoral and illegal if done by the enemies of the United States. This one-sided weaponization of human rights and international law cannot continue if we want a peaceful and liberated world, a world of beloved community. If we really want such a world, we must engage in the struggle for human rights and international law wherever and by whomever they are violated. We know we are part of an interdependent web of existence in which what happens to one people affects what happens to all.

Racism and colonialism are clearly at play in the markedly different responses to these two sets of crimes, and this is quite overt. Thus, many news commentators and statesmen have expressed how more concern is called for in the case of Ukrainians because the Ukrainians are “white”, “civilized”, and “our own people”.  Unhappily, the racism and colonialism that so many Unitarian Universalists rightly struggle against here at home are also present in other lands.

Unitarian Universalists are deeply engaged in the struggle against racism, colonialism and all forms of oppression especially here at home in the United States and Canada, and all this work is much needed. The invitation being made here for greater engagement internationally arises from the simple fact that all of these domestic issues are deeply connected to and affected by what happens outside the United States, and that an exclusive focus on what happens domestically addresses only part of the problem. The interdependent web of existence of which we are all a part does not end at the US border.  International engagement on the part of Unitarian Universalists is needed too because of the great danger to life on earth posed by what happens outside our borders such as conventional wars, nuclear war, climate change, hunger, the rise of authoritarianism, pandemics, and world inequality. 

Our values are in accord with a greater international engagement. Our 6th principle calls for a world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all, and each of the other principles declare universal values of dignity, justice, equity, connectedness, and democracy, with no mention of limitation to a single nation.  

We of course already have Unitarian Universalist organizations that have done and are doing excellent work internationally. During the second world war the UUA encouraged the formation of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) to help Jews escape from the Nazis, and the UUSC has worked very hard over many years  in support of democracy and human rights, in Central America, in Burma and in many other sites around the world. Similarly, the UUA office at the United Nations has maintained a voice for Unitarian Universalism at the United Nations, has kept UUs informed about the critical work of the United Nations, and has worked for human rights and climate justice around the world. Engaging with these organizations, providing them with the active and broad support that they need to move the world toward peace and a world of beloved community  is certainly one way in which Unitarian Universalists can engage internationally. 

We are entering a critical time for peace in the world, as illustrated by the Russian invasion of the Ukraine and its fearsome possible consequences including nuclear war. As illustrated too by the current climate of United States confrontation, including military confrontation, with China and Russia. The trauma of foreign wars, the evil of foreign oppression, and the lack of respect for the universality of human rights and international law will continue to come home to haunt us for years to come. 

I believe that our values as Unitarian Universalists direct us to do more to bring about a world at peace and a world that respects all humankind. I believe we can engage more fully in ending the violence that haunts the world and in upholding the universal application of human rights and international law. I also believe that the times demand it.

THIS IS MY SONG 

This is my song,
O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine. 

But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.
My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on clover- leaf and pine. 

But other lands have sunlight too and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
Oh, hear my song, O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine. 

*To the melody of Finlandia *Lyrics by Lloyd Stone. From the UU hymnal, “Singing the Living Tradition.”

Suggestions for Engagement. 

There are many ways for each of us to work for peace and universal respect for human rights and international law: 

• Join local peace action groups.
• Become active in national peace groups such as Code Pink,  Win Without War or Peace Action.
• Support human rights groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch or B’Tselem. 
• Form a peace group at your congregation.
• Tell your Congress persons to work for universal human rights, for international law and to oppose war. 
• Within the UU framework – support the work of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and the UUA Office at the United Nations. Work for Palestinian justice and respect for international law by joining Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East.