Letter from the Chair
To Our Community of Peace:
“There are three truths: my truth, your truth and the truth.” Chinese Proverb
We are living at a time when the truth – specifically, in our case, of current events -- is extremely difficult to pin down. It is distorted throughout much of the media by a variety of intransigent political agendas and the spurious "truths" of many in power. These make for deep anxiety and even hopelessness. Unable to know how to find our own "truth," we feel uncertain about our convictions and fearful of confronting and acting against current injustice and forces that call for war.
The Peace Task Force is dedicated to seeking out the truth of current events. We believe that presenting alternative views is critical to a person's ability to learn and decide on his or her own truth. Conviction without a search for truth is self-delusion. Believing that our own conviction is the absolute truth is self-deception. Only through a commitment to search by presenting and learning about alternative stories can we shake such intransigent convictions and alter behavior – our own, first, and, ultimately, others'.
Newcomers to the Peace Task Force often ask what we do in order to ensure that the presentations we offer are “fair and balanced”; or whether we are concerned about giving equal time to “the other side”. My answer is that our goal is not to be “fair and balanced” as this claim is in itself spurious. Rather, we aim to challenge the beliefs we all form as a result both of the news the media choose to report, as well as of the points of view espoused by many of the pundits we watch and the columnists we read in the mainstream press. Rather than presenting academic debates about issues, we aim to put forth information and insights that in our best judgment are seldom covered by the mainstream press, thus achieving balance by reporting other aspects of an event or opinion. Some of our past programs concerned stories that the mainstream press had mostly ignored-- such as the killing of the Spanish cameraman Jose Couso in the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad. Other programs bring opinions on current events that we seldom hear, such as Ann Wright, a former diplomat and army officer speaking out against the war in Iraq; or Palestinians and Israelis working together for peace. (See mission, events and archives.)
As 2006 begins, I would like to thank all the volunteers who have made 2005 a success, and mention four people (Diana Davis, Don Hamrahi, Erika Dilday, and Joy Pereths) who have made significant contributions to the Peace Task Force, but have withdrawn from the committee due to other demands on their time. We wish them the best in their endeavors and hope that they will return, when they have time. Just as we are saying goodbye to four, we are welcoming five more people into the committee (Antonia Ilieva Cathleen Gallander, Jeannine Pak, and Barbara Wightman and Paula Gannon Connor). I would also like to give special thanks to Sanjay Khurana who developed our first web site and continued to maintain it for almost two years. His generosity has been overwhelming. Our new web site has been developed by Noah Zimmerman, who has also given very generously of his time. Thanks to both. A major contributor to the content of our website in the last 18 months has been Phoebe Hoss, who diligently attended every event and wrote an informative summary. Phoebe has moved away from New York, but whenever she is here, she attends and writes. At all other times, Jan Wahl is covering the events. Again, my appreciation goes to both for their time, efforts, and contributions. For a complete list of volunteers, see list of volunteers. If you wish to work with us, see the volunteer section. If you simply want to be on our listserv, to be informed of events, send an email to peacetaskforcenyc@yahoo.com
Let my final words be a truth of Dorothy Day's: "No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is too much work to do." Best wishes for a peaceful 2006.
Hanan Watson
Chair
1/6/06
