News and reflection

Several stories prominent in the news at the moment raise questions about the rights and wrongs of reclaiming public streets from chaos, violence and disorder. What does ‘cleaning up’ or ‘sanitising’ mean in such a context?

Are the Syrian authorities ‘cleaning up’ or ‘sanitising’, restoring civil life or annihilating their opponents in the aftermath of the siege of Homs? As stories of atrocity multiply, it is hard not to remember the horrors of the war in former Yugoslavia, the Srebrenica massacre, the ‘ethnic cleansing’. But, if we cast our minds back to earlier events in Syria’s civil unrest, we may remember poignant reporting of the Christian minority terrified by the prospect of the toppling of Assad. Is the restoration of something like normality, of firm and predictable if not particularly fair government, something we ought to welcome? Is this truly a ‘cleansing’? Except that now the Christian minority, as well as any other opposition voice, appears to be under violent attack from the regime.

It’s not easy to sort right from wrong. As some particularly unpleasant thieves were convicted last week for their actions last year during the south London riots, we saw again pictures of the destruction caused in our own country, and were reminded of the damage inflicted by the rioters on ordinary citizens. This week and next, other convicted rioters will come up for sentencing and each time the pictures of destruction will return to our screens. This is not the country we want to live in. But is criminality or lack of social justice at the root of civil unrest? And is harsh justice after riot a price we are prepared to pay for civil calm?

The particularly cruel instance where those pretending to help a victim – a young foreigner at that – were seen using the chaos as cover to rob him, suggests a further possible reason for restoring normality promptly after tumultuous events. Do we all need the bridle of law to control us? Do burned-out buildings, torn up streets, ugly graffiti, scattered debris, hide from us the contours of civilisation and inevitably help release an undesirable ‘feral’ side? 

Perhaps only Jesus of Nazareth, the one man with genuinely divine insight, could get rid of all the dishonesty, wickedness and distractions from the Temple, with just the necessary level of violence and without damaging his own integrity. Among ordinary imperfect human beings, claims of good intent behind violent authority are always going to be greeted with scepticism. While many, perhaps most, regimes fully merit the deepest scepticism about their motivation, we must not lightly dismiss the need of ordinary people to be able to live their lives free from both violence and fear. It seems that inevitably we are reduced to balancing evils.

Prayer

A meditation on trying to approach God’s holiness without becoming ‘holier than thou’: perhaps a preparation before trying to say anything about this or any of the world’s violent trouble spots.

Dear God! What a roller-coaster of emotions. First, a land of oppression and injustice erupting into freedom. Well, actually, demonstrations, then violence  – and, eventually, chaos. Horrors, atrocities, mass destruction. But impossible to judge the rebels adversely. And, for that matter, given the high stakes, and the chaos elsewhere in the Middle East, could you not understand the Syrian army’s actions?

No! The regime is appalling, repressive. It imprisons, it tortures, it makes people savage in their frustration. But then, a whisper, from the Syrian Church, that the ‘appalling’ regime is better than an Islamic state, banning alcohol, mandating the veiling of women, perhaps, even, forbidding Christian worship. If the rebels are fighting for freedom will everyone be equally free? If they are fighting for democracy will it be one mature enough to tolerate dissent? 

Never mind such questions! The rebels must prevail. They stand for justice. The regime is cruel, criminal. It has cut off water to the town. It is firing on civilians indiscriminately. Women, children, the old and the sick in hospital, no one is safe. The freedom fighters are stalwart in defence of basic rights.

Or are they simply desperate? Will they become savage? Oppressors not champions of freedom? Even so, we must keep faith with them. The regime is now deliberately targeting the foreign press.  With shells. Western journalists are killed and injured – and many activists are killed helping injured westerners to safety. Such reckless courage! 

Then the rebels retreat from the horror of Homs. Dare we ask, ‘If they could not prevail in the end, why did they so prolong the agony of the citizens?’ We feel guilt for our admiration of their panache, their determination, their courage. We see – and shrink from – the sadness in the eyes of the fleeing refugees, the terror in the faces of the women, old men stumbling, children shivering in the cold of night. All for what?

Dear God, we lift our full hearts and our puzzled spirits to you. We lay before your judgement the part for good or ill foreign interest may have played in the horrors of Syria’s war. We lay before you, too, the sufferings of fighters and civilians, government and rebels. In your mercy may succour reach all the people of Syria, shelter and blankets for the homeless, food and water for the thirsty and starving, medical aid and comfort for the injured and grieving. And send the light of your justice to us, to keep us from baseless pride, from lazy judgments and from despair not just of Syria, but of all humanity.
Amen.

Questions

• When, if ever, is violence justified?

• What cause would convince you to take to the streets or otherwise indulge in civil disobedience?

• Churches are not, usually, given to taking extreme action. Is it always better to seek unity through compromise or should radical action – like ejecting a dissentient minority – ever be taken?
  

Action

Is this week the time to write to your MP, or join a local action group, or contract a regular donation to a particular charity in support of the cause which you find most important?

Young People

Bullying was part of what the traders in the Temple were doing! They were extorting money from visitors to the Temple who were often strangers, foreigners, unfamiliar with Temple rules and customs and so vulnerable to dishonest demands for high prices and unjustified fees. Jesus stood up to them in the most extreme way. What do you think of his actions? How would they rate in terms of your school’s anti-bullying strategy? Of course we have to allow for huge differences between ancient Jerusalem and our present-day society, but do you see any problems in instigating violence against people who are not, themselves, actually violent – just dishonest, unpleasant, irreverent and a nuisance?

Brenda Vance is a URC elder and a writer. She lives in Sussex.

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