Protest: Personal or Communal?

In chapter 4 of his book God’s Politics, entitled “Protest Is Good; Alternatives are Better”, Jim Wallis argues that communal protest can have enormous “transformational” power if channeled into the form of an “alternative”. Wallis breaks his chapter down into two main points:

1. Saying “no” (e.g. protesting) is good, but proposing alternatives is better.

2. During our “most difficult and darkest moments” we must reconnect with relationships that nurture us and our faith in the sanctity of life.

Wallis, Director and Editor-in-Chief of Sojourners, wrote in reflection upon his experience protesting the Iraq war. Up until the “eleventh hour”, Wallis promoted his “Six-Point Plan” (a document detailing a peaceful alternative to war) in both the United States and overseas. Rather than merely protesting Bush’s decision to go to war, Wallis and his like-minded peers advocated for an alternative. Together these Americans presented a strong protestation to their own government’s foreign policy. Wallis claims this form of protest is powerful, “effective and transformational”, and able to “illumine a society to its need for change.” For Wallis, “protest should be making a promise”: An explicit promise made by a community.

There are several important weaknesses to this view of protest:

1. Wallis assumes that one or both of the two major sides might be willing (or made willing) to listen to a legitimate alternative. It seems historically that frequently the major power players in politics are driven by irrational thinking. Fear, greed, and anger are blinding and compelling at the same time and politicians are not afraid to manipulate their constituents using these emotions. I’m no Machiavellian, but the reality I’ve seen is that legitimate alternatives are not given legitimate consideration because other priorities take over.

2. Wallis assumes that the public are disciplined and educated enough to seriously consider an alternative (international quake zone summit or Michael Jackson’s memorial service?).

3. The kind of diplomacy Wallis advocates would require a degree of unity nationally and globally I have never witnessed in my life. In order for a plan like Wallis’s to be taken seriously, Americans and nations across the globe would have to wholly commit to the values of the doctrine and its authors: in this case pacifism and trust. As honorable as I believe these values to be, for any alternative to gain momentum, it would have to appeal to large, but different groups. In the process of gaining support, the original supporters risk watering down the original alternative, simplifying, and reducing it into a simple black and white option. This tends to happen in American politics because Americans naturally prefer bipartisan politics: it’s easiest for us to react in black and white ways.

As for my understanding of protest, I have been heavily influenced by Wendell Berry’s essay "A Poem of Difficult Hope.” Communal protest for a counterculture alternative is an ideal I admire, but when it comes to daily life I find Berry’s view far more powerful and far more comforting:

“Much protest is naive; it expects quick, visible improvement and despairs and gives up when such improvement does not come. Protesters who hold out for longer have perhaps understood that success is not the proper goal. If protest depended on success, there would be little protest of any durability or significance. History simply affords too little evidence that anyone's individual protest is of any use. Protest that endures, I think, is moved by a hope far more modest than that of public success: namely, the hope of preserving qualities in one's own heart and spirit that would be destroyed by acquiescence.”

What do you think?

Finally, the theme for StreetFest 2009: “Walk Humbly”

Although in the same sentence as do justice and love mercy (Micah 6:8), “walk humbly” is not met with the same enthusiasm. God doesn’t gives us the option of walking humbly, he commands us to. The hope for StreetFest is that this idea of walking humbly will be explored and that students, faculty, and staff will commit to a new way of seeing and participating in this world.

Walking conveys quite a different message than running. Running means stress, speed, and desire to get from point A to point B as fast as possible without slowing to observe what’s in between. Walking, though, is much the opposite. Walking still gets you from here to there but it allows for, even encourages, fellowship, conversations, intimacy with the surroundings, and the ability to see a place in its true form.

Walking can be powerful- it was the pace from which Christ administered his love on the least of these in society. If we are to emulate Christ we must also walk- walk in order to notice the details of God’s creation, walk to create opportunities for meaningful conversations, but most importantly walk to be in stride with those who are struggling.

Humility can be applied many ways as well. First, as we walk through life we must be humble before Christ. Our savior left heaven to die for this spoiled world. He lived his life here- never commuting from heaven. He not only healed and preached but spent time and socialized in a non-serving way. He lived with prostitutes, prisoners, non-Christians, and by doing so showed that they were just as deserving of his attention and saving as anyone else. We must respect that this was Christ’s focus, and be humbled by the knowledge that we weren’t necessarily the type of people that were on the top of God’s list to see.

We also must be humble before others. Too often we elevate, spiritually, people with a well-rounded Christian education, people who have clear criminal records, those who attend fancy churches, and people who are gifted with the ability to thoughtfully articulate themselves. As we (should) know, none of these things make a person closer to God. Instead we should be humbled that every single person was made in God’s image. We should be humbled that the people we “serve” are just as connected to God as we are.

An attitude of humbleness is necessary in working towards the Service-Learning Center’s goals of long-term relationships, racial reconciliation, and cultural intelligence. “Walk Humbly” is simple and familiar, but rarely is it importance dissected as frequently as other commands.

In other StreetFest news, we have again commissioned the work of a local Grand Rapids artist. This year, Rick Beerhorst, a Calvin grad, is helping us translate our thoughts into a meaningful logo. The Beerhorst family consists of Rick, his wife, and their 6 children who all make up “Studio Beerhorst”, the family business. They are committed to the city of Grand Rapids and have mastered the art of car-less living by intentionally buying a house within walking distance of the Famer’s Market, grocery stores, and places of worship. All of these lifestyle choices make Rick a perfect artist to represent what StreetFest attempts to communicate to incoming students. I will update more as details emerge!

Thoughts?

Reading Reflection 1

Hello S-LC staff and alumni!

I hope you are doing well and enjoying your summers. This blog post will be the first of a series of conversations about the S-LC Summer Reader 2009. Whenever I blog, I will try to present discussion questions in such a way that focuses on the service-learning subjects, rather than the particular readings. Please feel welcome to post any responses, comments or questions whether or not you have had time to study the relevant reading.

How would you teach “social justice”?

This week’s conversation is about social justice pedagogy. In his essay, Educating for Shalom, Nicholas Wolterstorff describes his vision of social justice and several methods he uses to impress this vision upon young people. Wolterstorff’s vision of social justice is founded on “Shalom”: a specific vision of human flourishing in “ethical community” in which justice and happiness exist in harmony. In support of this conception of social justice, Wolterstorff cites Walter Brueegemann’s Living Toward A Vision: Biblical Reflections on Shalom, his own book entitled Until Justice and Peace Embrace, and one of his essays entitled “Why Care about Justice”. There are many interesting and provoking ideas presented in Educating for Shalom, but the focus of this blog entry will be the strategies Wolterstorff outlines for teaching Shalom.

1. ILLUMINATION: Make students aware of their current framework for understanding social justice issues. Challenge them to consider the ways their past experiences have shaped the way they perceive the world and critique the legitimacy of this view.
2. DISCIPLINE: Take a highly behavioral approach using a punishment and reward system to educate young people about the value of Shalom. Wolterstorff says punishments and rewards may be physical/material or based on praise.
3. MODELING: Essentially the best teachers are the ones who live in a way that authentically reflects their values.
4. EMPATHY: Cultivate empathy in the students by confronting them “with the faces and voices of suffering – with images and voices of the night.” Photography, film, and other creative mediums can be powerful forms of documentation, capable of educating and “illuminating”. However, there are several important caveats to consider. First, although images can cause a healthy dissatisfaction and discomfort in the viewer, sometimes images can desensitize and paralyze the viewer. Second, the education of the viewer should never be bought at the expense of the subject’s integrity. I respect a teacher who wants to challenge their students with real images, but I respect even more a teacher who preserves the integrity of the individual in the photograph, film, etc. What I mean is, the individual in the photo should be respected; the suffering should not be objectified.
5. EXPERIENCE: Wolterstorff concludes his essay by suggesting the possibility that teachers cannot teach social justice because students only truly acquire social justice as they experience their own suffering. I prefer this option to the other five because personal experience of suffering can create authentic feelings of empathy. Experiential learning is the most intense of all learning styles and in my opinion, offers the greatest opportunity for growth.

I’m very interested to hear thoughts and comments about any of Wolterstorff’s or my own ideas presented here or in the reading. Do you agree with Wolterstorff’s definition of “social justice”? Do you think social justice (or shalom) can be taught? Should it be taught? If social justice is to be taught, what strategies should a teacher use?

s-lc blog goes international

According to this map provided by our site meter, we've got an international readership!

New Faces in the Service-Learning Center

June 2009 marks a new milestone in the life of the Service-Learning Center at Calvin College. We, Megan and Noah Kruis, are serving together as the new Associate Directors of the Service-Learning Center. Together we will assist Jeff in the operations of the office, focusing on the Student Based Service-Learning activities (like Streetfest, Residence Hall Community Partnerships, and Spring Break Trips), while Jeff focuses on Academic Based Service-Learning. We’ll also help the office to remain better connected to our community partners and to assess the success of the S-LC.

We are excited to begin this new endeavor serving and learning alongside Calvin students in the community of Grand Rapids. Story is an important part of each person’s life, and we’d like to share a bit of ours.

Since graduating from Calvin College in 2003 and 2004 respectively, Megan and I have sought justice and pursued civic engagement in particular ways. These passions drew us to the work of the Service-Learning Center to share in this unique work.

Megan’s college experience did not really involve Service-Learning beyond Streetfest, but soon after graduating, she became enrolled as an Americorps Vista serving as an education organizer in the Creston Neighborhood of Grand Rapids. Her work there cultivated a passion for community, engagement, and urban renewal. In the subsequent years she has worked with many local non-profit agencies, working towards parent involvement in education, home ownership for low-income households, and home foreclosure prevention.

My own Calvin experience was deeply rooted in the Service-Learning Center, where I worked as a part of the student staff for two years. My career path has kept me here at Calvin, working in the Admissions Office in a variety of roles. One theme that I pursued during my time there was developing institutional partnerships with schools and organizations that help to promote college access for under-represented minority students.

Together, as members of Creston Christian Reformed Church, we worked together with partners in the church, at Calvin, and at the Inner City Christian Federation, to found Calvin’s fourth Project Neighborhood House, Nizhoni. We’ve served for the past two years there as mentors, ushering Calvin students into the Creston neighborhood for new and exciting ways to serve and learn.

In the Service-Learning Center, we hope to combine our networking within the non-profit community in Grand Rapids and institutional knowledge of Calvin College with our shared passion for community development and engaging students in the life of the city.

Case Study: Oberlin College and Social Networking Sites

Curious about how other liberal arts colleges are leveraging technology, I spent the past weekend checking out the websites of several colleges. Oberlin College seems to be ahead of the game. Let’s see where it’s leaving its technological footprints.

Facebook? Check. Oberlin’s Facebook account has over 2,000 fans. Kind of low for a college with a long history, eh? Well, not when I found out that Calvin’s Facebook group has a grand total of… 136. Calvin 0, Oberlin 1. Moving on.

Twitter? Check. Oberlin maximizes the beauty of Twitter, a site that uses one-line teasers and leaves it up to the reader to find out more. Many of those posts highlight students’ achievements in winning prestigious fellowships and scholarships. Twitter’s unique selling proposition and Oberlin’s excellent academic record make a good looking couple. Even though Oberlin only started to use Twitter earlier this month, it might want to work on getting more people to know about its Twitter account and creating a broader base of loyal followers. Calvin’s official Twitter page (http://twitter.com/CalvinCollege), on the other hand, has about 9 times more followers than Oberlin. Calvin 1, Oberlin 1. Yay, go Knights!

Blogs? Oh boy, Oberlin beat us hands down. It almost seems like Obies – faculty, staff, and students – are a community of bloggers. Check out http://blogs.oberlin.edu/. Calvin 1, Oberlin 2 :/

So Oberlin is using major social networking sites in the market. Even though Calvin is moving towards the same direction, Oberlin is racing far ahead of us—Oberlin is #5 of all liberal arts colleges that truly understand how to use technology (http://www.languagemonitor.com/college-rankings/college-rankings-april-2009). In summary, Oberlin knows what the internet world of consumers are looking for and it knows how to be the producer of information in a presentable and efficient fashion.

What’s the lesson here? Calvin and Oberlin understand that the unlimited reach of technology stretches to the ends of the earth. Calvin and Oberlin realize that there is the physical community that we reside in, as well as the virtual community called the web. Social networking sites are the gathering space for virtual communities to come together like the situation room for readers and bloggers to share information, the virtual laboratory to test hypotheses that advocate social change, and the boardroom to re-gather and re-strategize. Therefore, social networking sites allow web administrators to be relationship weavers who keep the collegial fabric intact. Oberlin, with its extensive and sophisticated use of technological tools, could reap greater benefits if it can get its alums engaged and involved in its technological endeavors. Our S-LC blog draws alums and new friends in. Somehow, we are doing something right somewhere. Calvin 2, Oberlin 2.

Wash Your Hands, People!

Public health officials around the world are paying close attention to the Swine flu outbreak in Mexico. This outbreak has claimed 68 lives as of about an hour ago (i.e. Saturday, noon EST). CNN reports that this "new strain of swine flu has resisted some antiviral drugs" (http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/25/swine.flu/index.html), which naturally makes the world anxious about whether the flu might become a global pandemic. Minimal contact with pigs should reduce the possibility of catching the flu, although direct contact with those already infected by the flu increases the odds. As we wait patiently for the WHO and our Federal govt. to issue useful advice and provide analysis of the situation, good personal hygiene is the way to go for now: cover your mouth when you cough/sneeze and wash your hands regularly with soap (especially after using the bathroom and before eating). Nevertheless, go ahead and shake hands at church tomorrow or if you meet your girlfriend's father. Remember, however, not to touch your face if you have not washed your hands.

Disease is scary. It is scary because we do not know how scary it can get. Because it is scary, it serves as a wakeup call to the complacent ones. Having visited several agencies that serve small children in this neighborhood, I noticed that the kids usually do not wash their hands before meals. I wonder if we have not being teaching our kids how to protect themselves, public health policies needing some tweaking, our attempt at saving water, or some combination of these possibilities.