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A Brief History of the SEWPeace Particles, by Kim Montenegro

Around the spring of 2007, and the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war. Lynn Rhodes, (a Pacific School of Religion professor), and Kim Montenegro (a PSR student), were lamenting about feeling helpless in their opposition to the war machine. Apparently, this conversation was not unique; there were similar conversations being held around campus in informal ways. These were living room conversations that we saw immense value in and wanted to bring it more into the public sphere. It was from a spirit of friendship that this was group was birthed.  Dr. Rhodes and Emily McGaughy, (another student), picked up the banner by looking for a community of people who are concerned about peace issues. Our conversations in the classroom were implicit and some of us were looking for more explicate conversation. Matthew and Michelle Harris-Gloyer, Corbin Davis, Noel Anderson, Audrey DeCoursey, Ryan Baum, Joy Richardson, Emily McGaughy, and Kim Montenegro started meeting weekly with Professor Rhodes to discuss issues of peace and our role as seminarians. This community grew into a special reading course but continued through the summer and into the fall, becoming the primary peace group at PSR.

There are some major themes that guide our group. First, our faith informs how we enter into the conversation. Second, we do not have one uniform ideology. We are all very different in our approach to any given particular situation and we see that as an asset, not a liability.

Out of a sense of lament, we changed, and are seeking transformation. Our format is loose and open, allowing people to enter into the conversation from different points. From the beginning we were clear that the lenses through which we interpreted the war were different. Some of us were outraged about how war creates violence on women’s bodies. Some saw a key link between the recruitment of people of color in low-income areas and coupled with our already existing outrage about United States foreign policy. It is from our collective and distinctly different experiences with hip-hop, immigration, social work, and pacifism that we came together to form this group. One of the books we have chosen to read is Multitude. As the authors, Hardt and Negri write in their book, we try to live out swarm intelligence:

When a distributed network attacks, it swarms its enemy: innumerable independent forces seem to strike from all directions at a particular point and then disappear back into the environment. From an external perspective, the network attack is described as a swarm because it appears formless. Since the network has no center that dictates order, those who can only think in terms of traditional models may assume it has no organization whatsoever—they see mere spontaneity and anarchy.

So far we maintain a blog. As I mentioned earlier, we have a reading component to the group, we are currently working on Multitude, and will begin to work on Democracy Matters, by Cornel West. In the fall of 2007 our first campus wide activist project will take place at PSR, culminated in Peace week, September 17-21. We have brought in guest speakers to speak about how to lobby in Washington D.C., the political situation in Palestine/ Israel and are looking forward to more. As a group we have many facets and ways to enter into the group. How do you fit into the swarm?

 

 

Our Objectives

Networking

To network, to link resources and people already involved in justice and peace work within seminaries on a national level, so that we can organize and work together for the same cause, to end the Iraq War. Please work to sign on your theological community!

Organizing Faith Communities

To educate, advocate and organize amongst our faith communities for peace.

Theological Reflection

To create a space for conversation, dialogue, and theological reflection on peace organizing against the war and discuss the various global implications of the conflict in the Middle East. Please see the conversation board on this blog site.

Sharing Resources

To share and organize resources, research, readings, actions and announcements related to peace work and the anti-war movement throughout US seminaries and faith communities.

Please join us!

We welcome support from seminaries across these United States, seminarians who wish to use their unique roles as emerging Christian leaders in educational settings to end this and every war. Please contact us if you would like your organization listed as a supporting member of the SEWPeace network, or if you have a relevant blog or link to share with our members.

Who we are is a bunch of folks who were/are increasingly worried about the American occupation of Iraq who want to get together and find ways that seminarians can mobilize to help end the war.  If you are another person like us, we would love you to join us!  We run this blog (please comment, subscribe, and share this site with your friends!), we meet regularly, and we are planning a week of education, art, and action for this International Day of Prayer for Peace.  Please contact us at sewpeace (at) gmail.com to plug into our (net)work.  We want to swarm with you!