Camus and Colonialism, Corporate Complicity up Close, the Next Coffee and Conversation with KTF

Plus, the words of peacemakers in Israel and Gaza

Hi all!

Our next monthly conversation with Jonathan and Sy for subscribers will be on July 23 at 1 PM EST – the registration link is at the bottom of this email. Everyone else, sign up so you can join us! The first conversation was fantastic, and we’ll be publishing it as a bonus episode, also for subscribers.

We’ll be taking a three-week summer break from the newsletter after this one, but fear not, we still have podcast episodes and some other great stuff coming your way during that time!

Our highlights this week include:

-        Conflict over Water between Texas and Mexico

-        Albert Camus and the Violence of Occupation

-        A close-up story of corporate complicity

-        Alabama’s illegal, unprofitable, state-sanctioned modern slavery

-        And Jonathan keeps us grounded with words from peace activists in Israel and Palestine

Jonathan’s Recommendations

Conflict over Water between Texas and Mexico

Since 1944, a treaty has required Mexico and the US to exchange over one trillion gallons of water every few years from the Rio Grande and Colorado Rivers. However, Mexico is behind on its water obligations. Climate change, droughts, and over-extraction have led to record low water levels in the Rio Grande. Some of Texas’ representatives in Congress, including its two Senators, support a measure withholding aid from Mexico until the country fulfills its duties under the treaty. But those same politicians deny climate change and support the fossil fuel industry, both of which exacerbate the water shortage. This highlights the power imbalance. Mexico's dependence on American aid may force it to prioritize sending water to the US to support Texan farmers over its own struggling agricultural industry. These circumstances harm both nations, and we need a peaceful, just resolution that prioritizes the most vulnerable and takes seriously the reality that climate change has dramatically altered the circumstances since we created these treaty obligations 80 years ago.

-            Read about the conflict over water

Camus and the Violence of Occupation

Sean Illing, host of The Gray Area podcast, recently facilitated a powerful conversation on the genocide in Gaza and the activism and philosophy of Albert Camus. His guest was Robert Zaretsky, a philosopher and historian from the University of Houston. They compare the resistance against French occupation of Algeria to the fight against Israel’s occupation of Gaza. Camus was born in Algeria and was a clear, but often-criticized voice “for his insistence that neither side had a monopoly on truth and justice”. Camus’ father died serving in the military and his disabled mother raised him with his grandmother in Algiers. Later in his life, his country became a theater for violence between French and revolutionary forces. His mother and family were vulnerable to the whims of both sides. And the vulnerability of innocent people like them drove his activism and political thought more than abstract ideals or political loyalties. As we in the United States continue to wrestle with conflicts around the world, Camus—regardless of how your own ethics match up with his—models how we can remember and honor the humanity of all those involved.

-            Listen to the podcast or read the transcript

Sy’s Recommendations

What Corporate Complicity Looks Like up Close

You may have heard of “forever chemicals,” and how the manufacturer 3M knew about their detrimental effects on health decades before those effects became public. You may have watched Dark Water starring Mark Ruffalo and seen the whole story of the legal fight that brought the extent of the problems with these chemicals to light. But ProPublica recently published an article on a different angle of the story. The piece chronicles the experiences of Dr. Chris Hansen, one of the many 3M scientists who “discovered” how long-lasting and easily transmissible the chemicals were. We read how the company buried her findings, reassigned her to other tasks, and gaslighted her into wondering whether she had made mistakes in her research. I find this story so interesting and instructive because it is a close-up picture of complicity. Hansen knew a lot, and whistleblowing could have saved countless people, animals, and ecosystems from poisoning, disease, and death. But she never exactly understood that she had that much power. She never fully knew the risks of the chemicals being in the wild. She only knew how long they lasted and how fast they spread. That gave her conscience some wiggle room. Plus, her superiors found a million ways to demean her and her work, which made her feel powerless. And not rocking the boat meant she kept her good paycheck, making taking care of her 5 children much easier. The story helps us see how the decisions that make someone complicit are often understandable and explainable. They are not the work of immoral monsters. They are decisions you yourself might make under the right circumstances. Stories like these help us see those who prop up institutions that do harm as humans who have wants and needs that we need to address as a society if we want more transparency and less institutional corruption. And they help us see the scope of the problem we’re facing in trying to reform or remake our richest and most powerful companies.

-            Read Hansen’s story

Alabama’s Illegal, Unprofitable State-Sanctioned Modern Slavery

Jonathan and I have written a couple times this year, and talked on a podcast, about the system of slave labor in American prisons. An encouraging trend is a few states have taken legal action to close the loophole that exists in the federal constitution which allows slavery if it is punishment for a crime. Unfortunately, one of those states, Alabama, is still enslaving prisoners, according to a recent lawsuit. Moreover, the state actually loses money by operating the programs where it forces prisoners to work. Why would a state enslave people at a financial loss even after it made doing so illegal? One activist, Bianca Tylek, has an idea. “The point is to remind people that the state owns you… They want to make it parallel to slavery, and they are willing to do it at their own cost.” This is a good example of the reality that dehumanizing people has a perceived and financially valuable benefit to the people who sit at the top of social hierarchies. Let’s pray for a willingness for people in power in Alabama to stop investing in supremacy and seek collective flourishing and liberation instead.

-            Read about Alabama's Modern Slavery

Staying Grounded with Jonathan

The voices of those who have been able to visit Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel since October 7 have been dear to my heart. Bill Haley is the Executive Director of Coracle, an organization that focuses on spiritual formation, pilgrimages, personal retreats, and more to inspire and equip people to engage in a life of justice. Haley’s recent reflections on his conversations with Israeli and Palestinian peacemakers, and on the Christ at the Checkpoint conference ground me in the reality of everyday people in the Holy Land. This helps me to not get lost in  abstract debates between people in power. Haley wrote:

“I was deeply struck by the words of Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian Muslim whose 12 year old daughter was killed by the IDF, shot in the back, ‘We are not doomed to keep killing each other.’  I was deeply struck by the words of his partner and friend, Rami Elhanan, an Israeli Jew whose 14 year old daughter was killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber, ‘A little light can drive out a lot of darkness…we must harness the power of our pain for good.’ I was deeply struck by the words of Palestinian Christians.  ‘We are a people of love.  We are a people of resurrection.  Let us carry our cross as we go.’  And, ‘Let us rise up, because Jesus rose from the grave.’”

Jesus, may it be so.

-            Read more of Haley’s reflections