What Keeps the Penguins Marching Together:
Reflections on the Peace Task Force of All Souls

Given by Hanan Watson on October 9th, 2005

Excerpts of Speech delivered to the UU of BCO on October 9, 2005
by Hanan Watson, The Unitarian Church of All Souls, NYC.

Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here today. I’d like to thank Lucinda Manning and this congregation for inviting me to speak. How many of you have seen the recent film “March of the Penguins”? For those who haven’t, it is about the penguins in Antarctica living in brutal frigid weather that march together for love and survival. [Hanan outlines the film’s storyline.]

As I watched this film, I was struck by the fierce drive for survival as well as the meaninglessness of the penguin’s life, which seems solely driven by survival and self perpetuation. I was also bemused by the way they all went in lockstep together without ever questioning why? I guess one could say: “Well, they’re only penguins!” So, why am I telling you this story when I am supposed to be talking about the Peace Task Force of All Souls?

The drive toward survival and self-perpetuation is not unique to penguins. Human beings have an equally strong drive. Where we can differentiate ourselves is by thinking about what we do. If we commit to self-perpetuation in its narrowest sense, our values may range from selfishness, to racism, to the belief that our survival depends on the destruction of others. A thoughtful person would understand that self-perpetuation cannot be limited to oneself, one’s family, or even to one’s nation. It must be inclusive not only of the entire human race, but also of our entire planet.

Under the best scenario, this approach to self-perpetuation would translate into peace, value of human life and respect for human rights, caring for the earth and the entire planet. In this scenario, there is no room for war, strife or hunger. Everyone’s survival depends on everyone else’s; and we march together to make this happen. In the worst case scenario, we think exclusively of our own individual or national survival. This translates into competitiveness, greed, excessive nationalism, exploitation, and a warped sense of patriotism. Taking it to its logical extreme, while desperately trying to perpetuate ourselves, we may unwittingly bring about our self-destruction instead.

In context of the many world disasters we are experiencing, the author, Kurt Vonnegut, in last Friday’s PBS show “NOW” said, and I paraphrase, that our disregard for the planet and the environment may be causing the earth to shed itself of our presence.

This brings me to why the Peace Task Force came into being and why we think the work we are doing is so important. Education is not only the key to knowlege; it is also the key to activism. It is the fundamental block upon which we build our opinions and beliefs, decide on how we wish to behave, what actions to take, and who we wish to walk in lockstep with. Education also develops leaders. A leader who develops a passion about something may become an educator and an activist as well.

The Peace Task Force would more accurately be named today, the Peace Education Task Force. Our current commitment is to bring programs to the congregation and the public to increase awareness of current events, present analyses that throw a new and different light on these events, and expand our thinking beyond reports presented by the mainstream media. Our so-called free press, while not government owned, is run by an alliance between government and major corporations that filter the news and manipulate the public. An educated public is a threat to governments and corporations wishing to exercise excessive control. This is exactly why we need to educate ourselves.

Howard Zinn, speaking in a commencement address at Spelman College, where he was chair of the History Dept and was fired in 1963 for his civil rights activities, recently said the following:

“My first hope is that you will not be too discouraged by the way the world looks at this moment. It is easy to be discouraged, because our nation is at war — still another war, war after war — and our government seems determined to expand its empire even if it costs the lives of tens of thousands of human beings…”

He went on to remind them of the positive changes that resulted from the civil rights movement, the pressure to end apartheid in South Africa, and opposition to the Vietnam War, and exhorted them not to be discouraged. Instead, he urged them to each play their small part towards freedom and justice.

The Peace Task Force of All Souls, which is doing that small part, was created in early 2002, in response to the environment created by 9/11. It was at a time when our government was thinking of invading Afghanistan and the Patriot Act was beginning to be implemented. Criticism of any government policy was viewed by many as unpatriotic. Public debate was so polarizing that most people retreated into their shells of fear.

The Peace Task Force was founded as a voice to affirm justice, diplomacy and human dignity. It started with small discussion groups consisting of 4-14 people who met around topics such as “What happens if we lose the war on terror?” or “What can the average person do to promote peace?” The Peace Task Force created a safe space for such discussions to occur.

We felt the need to educate ourselves further and to structure the discussions around a specific topic that we could read or learn about. After experimenting with a few approaches, we found that good discussions seemed to follow the screening of independent documentary films that tackled a particular topic—civil rights, Palestine and Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and other. We scheduled film screenings on a monthly basis, followed by discussions moderated by one of us, and people began to show up. We went from a maximum of 14 people to about 35 people. We moved from the Ware Room to our small chapel. We announced our events in the monthly bulletin and the order of service. We began to develop our email list. [Hanan tells us the history of the development of the Peace Task Force and their cooperation with other local groups on Task Force programs.]

My goal this year is to turn the Peace Task Force into a sustainable organization by getting more people involved in the decision-making and leadership… Having worked with volunteers and activists in a variety of settings, I know that one of our major challenges is to affirm in our own behavior the principles we are fighting for – peace, cooperation, democracy and justice. This is not easy to do. As the leader of the Peace Task Force, I am always reminding myself and gently prodding my group to live by these values

While we continue to face challenges, we are marching forward together. We have defined our mission and our goals. We continue to develop the organization. We celebrate our successes and learn from our failures and, above all, we try to live by the principles we espouse and demand of other people, our national and world leaders.

We continue our march.