When trouble, especially life-threatening trouble, brews before our eyes, it is natural to want to "do something". Is it enough to witness? As I've written before, witnessing is powerful. Witnessing is not passive and should not be dismissed, much less disparaged. Still, with it can come an uncomfortable agitation, feelings of helplessness, and an urge to do more. We need to honor those feelings. We need to so with care and without disrupting the witnessing energy or making it unwelcoming to those for whom witnessing is exactly what they are called to do and no more. With unlimited diaries on DK4, we can make separate rooms. Just as you wouldn't have a metal band rehearse in a room designated for quiet study, we established a room for witnessing and a room for intervention.
I'd like to use this diary to say, "okay, we have these feelings. what can we do with them? Anything useful?" My hope is that this may be a constructive community exercise for those of us who are witnessing. That we can explore this without dismissing witnessing as meaningless, useless or "not enough." What is enough for some may not be for others. That is why we all walk different paths in life. Another's path is not less valuable because we are called to ours. So, I ask for respectful dialog, along with mindful consideration of possibilities.
We don't like to feel helpless. Especially in our American, "individual as superhero" cultural persona. The uncomfortable feeling is real and it may lead us to do good things. I don't dismiss those feelings.
As someone who has helped people in abusive situations, I know the overwhelming feeling of wishing that I could do something to change that for them. I know the urge to intervene. I'm a big "helper". I've had to learn the hard way not to help unless my help is wanted. To understand that there may be far more to consider than I realize and that my intervention may not be considered help. Also, a very difficult lesson is that, as much as I want to relieve someone's suffering, there is no freedom from suffering like that achieved for oneself. Sometimes that means asking for or accepting help, indeed. Sometimes, though, it means doing it for oneself and having full ownership over it. Sometimes, the success isn't the point, the process is. Sometimes a person's dignity can't be restored any other way, as hard as it is to watch.
That's on a personal, one-family level. When we watch the suffering in an entire country, with millions of people, foreign nationals from around the globe, a ruthlessly brutal madman in control of an armed militia, a resource precious to the global economy flowing out it's lands, very flawed international institutions and so much more, the answer to, "what to do" must encompass many complexities and be well thought through. It is possible to actually be a destructive force in the process, otherwise.
So, let's honor that urge to intervene by examining it. How much of it is about wanting to ameliorate our own discomfort? Does that invalidate the urge? Perhaps. Perhaps not. That might be different for each of us. It's not something to argue about or judge each other over. It's a self-assessment. Each finding her own inner truth.
If we were to pursue something other than witnessing, here are some questions to consider (I'll ask in the context of Libya since that's the most compelling situation of the moment):
1) what help do the Libyans want from us?
2) how do we know that's what they want?
3) what kinds of interventions do we consider?
4) what are the potential benefits of a particular intervention?
5) what are the potentially destructive ramifications of a particular intervention?
6) what might impede success of that invention?
7) is that impediment surmountable?
8) does the benefit outweigh the risk? or not?
9) can we make our government do anything?
10) are we certain that we know better than the people handling this for us?
11) can we make the UN do anything?
12) do we feel it's worth the effort even if we know it's futile.
I'm sure there are more. I'm sure you can suggest some. For the same reason that we feel the urge to do something - people are dying - we need to make very careful consideration of what we might do. Will more or less people die? Will we help them achieve their goals or undermine them? Certainly, if they're willing to put their lives on the line, we can push ourselves to delve deeply into our choices.
I'll open with starting to consider one possible political intervention:
Petitioning the UN to enforce a no-fly zone:
If we're going to petition the UN, isn't the single biggest obstacle to them taking any action the veto powers of individual states? We can rail against that, but can we make it change? Maybe we can start making it change and hope this spurs that reform. But, is there anything that can be done to get past that obstacle for Libya today? If so, then we all need to know about that!
Is a no-fly zone really the best thing, or could it backfire in some way? There are no simple answers. Who would enforce it? Does it prevent evacuation flights? Does it prevent sending in aide via air drops? Would it be helpful to have the possibility of air strikes against Gadaffi's force, so better to leave the fly zone open? Please, ask more questions. Provide your own analysis. Remember, each person will make her own final assessment. And that's okay.
It seems clear that supporting aide organizations who can get medical supplies, food, clothing, or whatever basic needs there are, met for the people on the ground is a wonderful thing to do. Even if one can't contribute financially, one could help get the word out and encourage others to offer support.
It's so hard to watch and feel that we aren't able to end someone's suffering. Still, we must discern what can be done that is actually helpful and also matches up to what the people we want help want. It's all very frustrating, actually. And completely uncomfortable. One doesn't want to watch as some kind of tragi-porn entertainment experience. Holding the intention of witnessing is key to that. Knowing that they appreciate it helps. Still, I know the hunger for wanting to find something more interventionist which is meaningful. I'm not here to say "do this!" or "don't do that!" I provide this space for a community consideration of ideas, questions, strategies and future visioning.
May we all have inner peace, mutual respect and an assumption of the best in each other as we wade through this.