The power of praxis/I believe in nonviolence

'I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent'
thankyou Gandhiji

These past few days, facebook (yes folks--I'm writing about facebook. what has the world come to?) has been awash with news--mostly in Albanian--about the violence in Skopje (Mom, Dad. Don't worry--I'm fine. it's the same old same old sleepy Tetovo-town). and I just want to walk around and sigh all day. firstly because this is my home--and there's little worse than getting security warnings from folks at the Embassy (especially via text--how decontextualized), seeing the photos, the sadness in the voices of my colleagues. Maybe it's that I'm not a particularly violent person--but violence, especially senseless violence (come now Claire, what violence isn't senseless?)--beating children in the streets, well it doesn't make sense to me. I can't comprehend how people believe or see violence as "working." And these past few days of protesting, rock throwing, smashing windows--tell me: How does this help? who does this help (other than politicians--who no one seems to really like, but tolerate because "thats how it works here")? What good comes of this?

Violence--as these past few days have shown--always begets more violence.

I'm honestly not sure how it all started--but a controversial former UCK leader was given a prominent position in the department of defense (he's now a politician. oh some things never change) and there were protests  (the UCK is taking over the army, and that kind of nonsense). and then there were some mysterious beatings of school children by uber-nationalist Macedonians--and then counterprotests by probably nationalist Albanians which got heated (a bus got burned, some arrests, some injured).
and Mom--because I'm sure you're reading this and starting to fret--I really don't think there's serious danger of something erupting (I'm also remembering a similar e-mail I sent you from Georgia just about five years ago. and no--I still am not interested in being a war correspondent. so don't worry. a colleague, for example lives smack dab in the middle of where everything was happening and said it wasn't that big a deal (and, duh. I'm not going to go around the Carsija singing Xhamadani Vija Vija (a popular Albanian song--which could probably be seen as provocative in someone's eyes) or anything). Things here in Tetovo are quiet--the smog is probably more of a threat to my health than anything.

So on a philosophical/life-being way I can't comprehend what is happening around me. but, what's even more frustrating and saddening is that the response I hear from so many--especially young people--is "oh. this happens every year, or around election time. it's no big deal [read: why are you concerned about this? you silly American]. it's just the way things work here. Macedonians and Albanians--well, we always fight." like it's programmed into the DNA here or something.

and my knee-jerk reaction is "I can't believe that--violence isn't genetic" but when I stop and think for a moment--the weight of that kind of statement really hits me.  violence is so normalized that people just pass it off as pre-election tension, or hooligans or just the way things work. (It's especially aggravating when people start with the sentence "What do you expect, this is the Balkans?). If it's become so normalized, so internalized--how do we raise enough critical consciousness to question, to reject, to change this kind of behavior? and without that fundamental rejection of violence as the solution (or even as a solution) how, tell me how, can there be living breathing peace? here or anywhere.

So yes "I believe in non-violence and I believe in praxis"

I'm just not quite sure how to get there.

Last week for one of my classes we "read" (we is perhaps a too inclusive pronoun--some of us read, some only downloaded) Keith Basso's "Stalking with Stories"--which develops a hunting metaphore for using stories/stories rooted in place and place names to teach/impart the moral/social values of the Western Apache (within the community as a way of reifying what it means to "be," to practice Apache). it's a beautiful piece and I highly recommend it to any and all--and will gladly hook you up with a copy if you like. when a person has transgressed, someone, usually an elder in the community will "shoot them with a story"--a narrative of an event, somehow parallel to this particular event or action, set in a specific locale in the community. linking the place with the story (and more importantly the moral message contained within the story) serves as a way for the individual to think of that story (and their misdeeds) every time they see that place, or hear it's name (god it's beautiful. embodied/embedded reflective practice). these arrows, these stories "work on you," helping you see your own errors, and change your (evil) ways through this link between self, place, community. 

But I also see how in order for these stories to effectively stalk you--in order for you to "meet" the other, to use Vahido's language--you have to hear them.

Hear as an active not a passive verb--to let the words in, to let them work their magic on you.

to be able to hear something that may challenge you--what you believe, or see, think or do. it takes a certain kind of willingness to hear criticism or challenges in a productive manner--it's far too easy to ignore them all together, or to get defensive. and it's a totally self-directed process, I can't force someone else to hear me, to reflect, take ownership of their past mistakes--or to try to change themselves. it comes from within. you have to, in a way, let yourself be hit by the arrow. agree to be hunted.

and people who have that strength, that courage, that love to truly transform themselves--

I am in awe of you.

The thing that Basso doesn't discuss is how places--especially when linked to what has happened there (either real, imagined or semitrue, constructed) also inform how we interpret/interact with places--how other stories of our community stalk us--with or without a storyteller/hunter to direct them. the still destroyed houses along the Sana in Sanski Most--they certainly stalked me. and still do. and I'm sure the conflict in 2001 here in Tetovo is still stalking this community.

the question is what we will learn from it.