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Note #8164 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Rhetorical questioning
04134
March 15, 2004

Rhetorical questioning

Briefings prepare activists to challenge U.S. policy on Colombia

by Alexa Smith

WASHINGTON, DC -- When she talks policy with foreign policy staff on Capitol
Hill, Lisa Haugaard hones her message down to four points, plus a few do's
and don'ts.

She's sitting at a table in a ground-floor dining room of the Doubletree
Hotel in Crystal City, just across the Potomac from the District, briefing
more than 60 church-goers who have scheduled appointments with their elected
representatives.

For two days, they've been cramming down data in briefings conducted as part
of the Ecumenical Advocacy Days for Global Peace with Justice, a four-day
conference that started on March 5. The two-a-day sessions had tracks on
Africa, Asia, the Middle East, debt relief, nuclear disarmament, and
Haugaard's specialty, Colombia.

Her listeners are a diverse mix. Mennonites. Methodists. Presbyterians.
UCC'ers. Catholics. Peaceniks. Politicos. Missionaries. Ex-missionaries.
Bureaucrats. All of them wanting to change U.S. foreign policy on Colombia,
the fourth-largest recipient of U.S. aid and one of the most dangerous spots
on the earth for church leaders, union organizers, journalists and human
rights defenders.

In the briefings here, Mennonite, Presbyterian, Catholic and Quaker church
leaders all told the same story to their U.S. counterparts: Paramilitaries,
guerrilla groups and corrupt factions in the Colombian military kill about
6,000 non-combatants a year. Last year's tally included 45 Protestant pastors
who worked in Colombia's conflict zones.

To make matters worse, Colombian Christians said the government of President
Alvaro Uribe, who was elected in 2002 on a platform that emphasized security,
has instituted policies that undermine democracy by creating a network of
civilian informers, allowing arbitrary detentions of thousands of people,
permitting break-ins and harassment of civil organizations and trying to
discredit those who disagree even by peaceful means.

So in her send-off comments, Haugaard had good news and bad news for the
church lobbyists.

"I'd love to say that when you go tomorrow, Congress will change its mind and
send 100 percent social aid to Colombia. I would love that. But it is not
going to happen," she says, referring to the $3 billion the U.S. government
has spent in Colombia since 2000, with a continuing emphasis on military aid.

But that's not the end of the story, Haugaard says.

"The Bush administration doesn't care deeply about human rights in Colombia,"
she says, "but there are members of Congress, like Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA),
who do care about human rights. Or there are those who may not particularly
care, but can be persuaded by you. We aren't going to convince the
administration. We can influence Congress."

Cindy Buhl, McGovern's legislative director and a Washington policy analyst
since the 1970s, says debate in the U.S. Congress about human-rights abuses
in Colombia, misuse of military aid and infringement of basic civil liberties
has a powerful impact in Colombia. "It will make the pages of Colombian
newspapers for days," she says. "Our message will still be all over the press
for days."

The message is simple, really. Four points:

Cut military spending. "That is message number one," Haugaard says. Funnel
the money instead into development programs to help poor farmers change from
illicit to legal crops and increase support for the more than three million
Colombians who have been forced off their land by violence, and are refugees
in their own country. Stop the controversial aerial spraying to kill coca
plants, which reportedly is destroying legal food crops and livestock and
poisoning the water supply.

Sign letters and initiatives. Demand respect for human rights and bolster
human-rights provisions in U.S. law. Haugaard tells her listeners that "Dear
Colleague" letters keep the Colombian government reminded of U.S. concerns.

Protect threatened leaders. The government's expanded security-related
measures have been used to justify arbitrary detentions and searches of
church and other non-governmental organizations involved in legitimate civic
activity. "It is important to mention union leaders here," Haugaard says.

Increase funding for drug-treatment programs at home. "If we do not face our
own problem of drug abuse, we will be chasing production back and forth
across the region for decades to come," Haugaard says.

Buhl says short-term results are not the point. "Don't judge the quality of
your work on whether you win or lose a particular vote," she says. "Look at
other things: How well are you deepening your relationship with members of
Congress? How well are groups on the local community level engaged?

"Don't judge the quality of your work by what Congress is doing."

Haugaard offered a few pointers for people dealing with Congress: "Add
details from people you've heard this weekend. Or from your own personal
story. Make it real."

The Rev. Parrish Jones, a Presbyterian minister and veteran lobbyist who
lives in the District of Columbia, was on hand for three days of meetings.

He says the conference is the first effort to begin creating a Colombian
network within the PC(USA), and he feels hopeful about the coming week of
meetings between the 500 people at the conference and their elected
representatives. "As Catherine Gordon (of the PCUSA Washington Office) is
fond of saying, 'Alone we do not have much impact, but together we have a
great deal,'" Jones says.

"I do think (representatives and senators) listen to their constituents," he
adds. "They think, if it's important enough for you to come to Washington to
talk with them, they'd better listen. And the more who come, the better ear
you have."

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