As the founder and director of , Schirch has worked for the past seven years to encourage U.S. government agencies to protect humanitarian space while embracing conflict prevention and peacebuilding principles. The project has progressed rapidly over the past year, as her strong relationships with military and civilian leaders have resulted in invitations to teach civil society peacebuilding concepts nearly weekly at the Pentagon, West Point, the U.S. Army War College and elsewhere.

“The quantity and quality of our relationships with the , , [the] and the grew exponentially during the last year,” Schirch wrote this spring in a report for the , a funder of 3P’s work.

Over the past year, Schirch also taught a course on Afghan civil society to nearly 1,000 foreign service officers, published several reports and book chapters for government audiences, and testified before Congress. Schirch noted that while she’s developed close relationships with American military and diplomatic leaders, she does not support many of the policies they now pursue.

“Building relationships is an essential part of peacebuilding,” she says. “The most important negotiations and diplomacy happen with people you disagree with.”

Schirch founded 3P (which stands for Partners for Peacebuilding Policy) Human Security during a sabbatical in 2005, after exploring ways that CJP could relate to policy-makers in Washington, D.C. She recognized opportunity to engage both the peace community, which often was simply opposing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan without offering viable alternatives, as well as the military, which was flailing in its attempts at “state-building” in those countries.

In the years since, 3P has worked with other peace organizations to better define and understand “security” while working with the military to imagine alternatives to the way it has carried out its missions overseas. While her short-term goal with 3P is to persuade the military and state department to recognize, support and protect the ability of Afghans and Iraqis to rebuild their own countries, her long-term goals are grander in scope.

“We have to conceive of ‘security’ in a totally new way,” Schirch says. This involves exploring what the concept of “security” means to people, what conditions are necessary for them to experience it, and how – or if – the military has a role in creating or protecting those conditions. These exercises then lead to bigger questions about pacifism, and whether the use of force is an appropriate intervention during security crises, and what kind of force, exactly, would be appropriate. A related set of questions involves what sorts of changes to the country’s budgetary priorities and military-industrial complex would allow the military to embrace peacekeeping rather than aggression as its primary role – all work that has proven both exciting and exhausting for Schirch over the past seven years.

“Lisa helped shape the thinking of a lot of people who are in Afghanistan and Iraq on the role that indigenous civil society groups can play in facilitating conflict prevention or stabilization,” says , vice-president for operations and government services with , a national security consulting firm. “She is definitely one of the innovators [in that field].”

Agoglia is a retired U.S. Army colonel who directed the Army’s Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute in Pennsylvania and the Counterinsurgency Training Center in Kabul, Afghanistan. He has worked with Schirch for years, both as an officer and a civilian.

After operating under the structure of CJP since 2005, 3P shifted its organizational affiliation as of July 1, 2012, to the , a coalition of practitioners based in Washington, D.C. While grant funding for 3P’s work will now flow through the Alliance for Peacebuilding rather than CJP, there will be no practical change to Schirch’s role and presence at 91����Ƶ, where she will remain based as a research professor. She will also continue to teach one class each year at its .

Through October 2012, Schirch is taking an unpaid sabbatical to focus on rest and renewal. She is pursuing her interest in the visual arts as the artist-in-residence at CJP. She hopes her example will help to “normalize” rest-taking and breaks in a field where people “all talk about self-care a lot, but don’t do a very good job of it.”

“When you work in war zones, you lose people who you work with,” she says. “Grief and trauma are a part of working to build peace in places where there is great tragedy.”

She also said the experience of developing strong working relationships with military leaders, with whom she still holds sharply divergent convictions about war, violence and justice, has become a mounting stress she hopes to alleviate during her sabbatical.

Schirch’s art itself will have a dual “3P” motif, both in its media – painting, photography and pottery – and subject matter – parenting, parks and poetry. Her sabbatical will culminate with an art show on campus that will open on Nov. 3.

“Beauty is the opposite of violence, and that’s the theme of my art show,” she says.

1. The U.S. response to 9/11 has cost thousands more people their lives.
First, we have to think about the thousands who have died in the last decade as a direct result of the narrow choices the U.S. government made in how to respond to the 9/11 crisis. Instead of grieving the 3,000 who died that day, today we have to of about 30,000 Afghan civilians, about 100,000 Iraqi civilians, and thousands more people killed in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and other parts of the War on Terror. We also grieve the loss of humanitarian workers in these wars, including some of my own friends during humanitarian work. We grieve the lives of thousands of soldiers from the U.S. and other countries who have been killed and those who bear psychological and physical scars fighting in these wars.

2. The global economic crisis is in part due to the U.S. response to 9/11.
We also have to grieve the economic crisis that is due in part to the   carried out in response to 9/11. Of course, there is no price too great to pay for safety. But in reality, there is little relationship between safety and the amount spent on U.S. security. More money has not bought Americans more security. Official statistics confirm that over $1 trillion dollars have already been spent in these wars. The costs $4 trillion dollars when we include all related costs such as interest on the related debt and the lifetime care of wounded veterans. We have to grieve the expansion of the where profits go to large defense corporations with thousands of lobbyists rather than the soldiers themselves. We have to grieve that the U.S. spends more on its military than nearly all of the rest of the world’s countries combined. And all this adds up to misery for millions of people in the U.S. and abroad who suffer economic hardships because needed resources have gone to fighting wars rather than to education, healthcare, crime prevention and job creation programs.

3. The U.S. is still on a path of “Domination” not “Partnership” in the family of nations.
Everyone understood the U.S. had to respond to the attacks on 9/11. But between U.S. global domination and the range of options for the U.S. to be leaders and partners in the family of nations was not laid out for the American people to consider. Too often in forums in Washington D.C., I hear policymakers and military personnel talk about U.S. national interests and global domination in the same sentence, with an underlying assumption that U.S. global domination is in the average American’s national interest. Real security comes from acting as partners in an interdependent world where a famine in Somalia, an outbreak of disease in Asia, or a financial crisis in one part of the world impacts global security. We live in a global community. When the U.S. takes actions in its own self-interests, without considering the safety and interests of others, everyone loses. Real security in a post-9/11 world requires the U.S. to act as a partner in the family of nations to support global human security. Ordinary Americans do not benefit from the U.S. projecting global domination without regard to the human security of people in other countries.

Newt Gingrich critiqued the Bush administration’s war in Iraq saying, “The real key is not how many enemy do I kill. The real key is how many allies do I grow.” Former President Bill Clinton added, “If you live in a world where you cannot kill, occupy, or imprison all your actual or potential adversaries, you have to try to build a world with more friends and fewer terrorists.” The U.S. still invests too few resources in growing allies.

4. Americans lost their freedom to ask the legitimate question, “Why Do They Hate Us?”
In the weeks after 9/11, the covers of major magazines like Newsweek and Time asked, But soon these magazine covers abandoned this question and instead began laying out an agenda of how “they” in the Muslim world should change. We all knew the Al Qaeda attacks were illegitimate. But it became impossible to ask the question of whether Al Qaeda had any legitimate grievances against the U.S. Colleagues in Latin America and Africa told me while they were sorry for Al Qaeda’s actions they were not surprised that an group would lash out at the U.S. for what they thought were globally shared grievances against U.S. trade policies and military interventions.

We can denounce Al Qaeda’s methods but we are foolish to ignore their grievances, which are shared by millions of people in all parts of the world. In Osama bin Laden’s published in the British Guardian newspaper, the Al Qaeda leader lists its grievances against the U.S. as including U.S. policy in the Israel and Palestine, its sale of weapons for profit to dictators in the Middle East and promotion of an immoral culture that exploits women. These are not grievances solely of Al Qaeda. U.S. military leaders today know that U.S. policy toward Israel continues to fuel anti-American sentiments in many countries around the world. While it may be impossible and futile to try to negotiate solutions to these problems with Al Qaeda itself, these problems do have solutions that can be developed with more rational and legitimate leadership.

5. The U.S.’s Global War on Terror has made the world less safe, more hostile.
Instead of reducing threats on the U.S., the War on Terror has made the world a less safe place for everyone. Former CIA chief in Afghanistan Graham Fuller states, “Both wars have made the Middle East and the world much more dangerous for Americans and for any American presence overseas. It’s creating much greater hostility towards the U.S. and creating a whole lot more people that would be happy to kill Americans or join in some kind of terrorist operation.” Today, .

claims that Al Qaeda conducted the 9/11 attacks because the U.S. was not willing to negotiate and only understood the “language of violence.” History tells us negotiation is the only way to solve a war of ideas. It is a fantasy to think that these grievances can be extinguished with a heavier military presence in the world. The Global War on Terror’s brute force has not brought the U.S. security. Instead, it has planted a thousand seeds of hatred in the minds of new generations suffering from problems that demand diplomatic solutions.

6. The U.S. is still not investing in a realistic security strategy.
Ten years out from 9/11 tragedy, Congress is out of touch with the who believe that violence can be prevented and problems can be solved with negotiation. Reams of research prove that communities and nations that invest in prevention experience less violence. But those who profit from war steer U.S. spending toward weapons that are powerless to create a safer world.

Real security comes from robust diplomacy paired with economic trade and development strategies that benefit all people, not just those who are wealthy. Real security grows from the ground up in participatory democracies where all people have a voice. For too long, the U.S. has supported dictators and corrupt regimes because of narrowly defined, short term economic interests rather than investing in human security strategies that solve problems that benefit ordinary people at home and abroad.

The U.S. spends relatively less than most other developed countries on foreign assistance aimed at addressing the root causes of global problems. And the U.S. does not have enough diplomats trained in principled negotiation to find real solutions to the root causes of these conflicts. Now Congress is threatening to cut the State Department and USAID’s budget even in a time when the military budget is expanding and military leaders tell Congress the U.S. needs more diplomats and development specialists. When the .

An ounce of prevention is worth far more than a pound of cure. Security is not a win/lose game in today’s small global community. We either all win. Or we all lose.

Sept. 11 brought devastating loss to thousands of people in New York City, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C. and around the world. It changed our worldview from “before 9/11” to “after 9/11.”

“As a community of learning committed to walking boldly in the way of nonviolence and peace, 91����Ƶ’s thoughts on this anniversary turn towards peace and the ongoing hope that people of varied faiths and traditions can unite around common values and aspirations,” said Fred Kniss, PhD, provost of 91����Ƶ. “From our various disciplinary and faith perspectives, we want to explore the important and complex questions that the events of 9/11 and afterwards pose for our global well-being.”

What have we learned? How have we changed? 91����Ƶ is offering resources and events to provide a perspective on those questions.

“We hope they will help our students and community to gain a richer understanding of the challenges that face us today,” said Kniss.

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Planned events provide opportunity for corporate and individual lament, prayer and processing as a local and campus community.

Saturday, Sept. 10, 7 p.m., interfaith gathering, “Turning toward Peace,” Court Square, downtown Harrisonburg, co-sponsored by 91����Ƶ’s Center for Interfaith Engagement and others.

The time will include reflections, poetry, singing, inspiration and artistic expression for peace.  This gathering welcomesChristians, Muslims, Jews, persons in faith or no faith traditions, students and families. The event is open to persons of all ages.

Sunday, Sept. 11, 1 p.m., National Moment of Remembrance. 91����Ƶ will toll the bells at Lehman Auditorium for one minute.

Sunday, Sept. 11, 7 p.m., outdoor gathering for reflection, singing, prayer and thoughts on turning toward hope for reconciliation and peace in our world.  Sponsored by 91����Ƶ Campus Ministries. Located on the hill behind the 91����Ƶ Campus Center.

Sunday, Sept. 11, 8 p.m., faculty and staff forum on how their work has been shaped and changed by the events of Sept. 11. Panelists will include , PhD, director of and professor in the ; Carolyn Yoder, PhD, founder and trainer with 91����Ƶ’s program; and and t from 91����Ƶ’s . The forum will be held in Common Grounds Coffee House in the lower level of University Commons. The event is free and open to the public.

Resources

Publication of an e-book, “STAR, The Unfolding Story, 2001-2011, a 9/11 commemorative edition,”  celebrates the birth and phenomenal growth of 91����Ƶ’s trauma healing and training program, STAR, which grew out of 9/11 and has gone on to touch thousands of lives all over the world.

91����Ƶ’s thoughts on this anniversary point towards peace and the ongoing hope that people of varied faiths and traditions can unite around common values and aspirations.

91����Ƶ hopes these events and resources will generate energy to “walk boldly in the way of nonviolence and peace,” a stated goal from .

That was a major finding of 91����Ƶ professor of peacebuilding Lisa Schirch, who was in Pakistan last week, researching and consulting with Pakistani peace groups in Islamabad, south of the city where Osama bin Laden was killed on May 2.

Many of the Pakistanis consulted by Schirch previously studied at 91����Ƶ’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding and Summer Peacebuilding Institute. Schirch’s Pakistani colleagues noted that thousands of innocent civilians in their country have been killed, contributing to widespread anger and, ironically, to more support for Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

“U.S. military experts agree that over the last 10 years Al Qaeda has increased its members and number of bases around the world despite hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars spent on the War on Terror,” said Schirch, who holds a PhD from the Institute of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University.

Schirch said her friends and colleagues in Pakistan told her, “Yes, we have a mess in our country. But when you add the American policy mess to ours, it makes a disaster. It seems like the Americans don’t have a plan, just bombs.”

At one peacebuilding organization visited by Schirch, she saw a poster that read, “The more we sweat for peace, the less we bleed in war.”

Schirch said “the Pakistani people themselves fund and carry out almost 90 percent of all the work for peace, development and human rights in Pakistan.”

Schirch said she is familiar with the following Pakistani-led peacebuilding efforts: interfaith dialogues and reconciliation programs between tribes; peace education programs in schools and madrassas; micro-credit loan programs to help people develop viable livelihoods; media ads to stop harmful practices against girls and women; thoughtful videos produced on such topics as traditional Muslim men walking their daughters safely to school.

Schirch noted that many Pakistani Christians, belonging to a small minority of the population, take huge personal risks to protect the rights of all religious and ethnic minorities. Pakistanis welcome the United States playing a major role in diplomacy and development in the region, noting these are the real solutions to the root causes of the problems, said Schirch. But she added that many Pakistanis believe “America isn’t serious about diplomacy, only about its bombs and weapons.”

In interviews with diverse groups in Pakistan, Schirch found unanimous condemnation of American drone bombs targeting extremists, which have caused hundreds of civilian deaths. But there is also common ground, she added. Many Pakistanis share Americans’ hope that Bin Laden’s death will bring an end to the War on Terror and will lead to U.S. military withdrawal from these regions, she said. “The wars in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq impose costs on all of us,” said Schirch.

Schirch traveled to Pakistan as part of her ongoing work as a research professor and policy expert with 91����Ƶ’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.  In April 2011, Schirch received a $70,000 grant from the to continue and to bring the voices of civil society members in war-torn countries to the attention of policymakers.

Read more:
by Lisa Schirch (Huffington Post, 4/25/11)

That’s according to Dr. Lisa Schirch, an professor who has spent considerable time with Iraqis and Afghans—both in America and their countries—and with U.S. military leaders, whom she says are now telling Congress that it must rethink what security looks like.

Schirch returned to her hometown Jan. 25 to deliver ‘s annual Keeney Peace Lecture on “Building Security from the Ground Up: How a Mennonite works with the U.S. military and Iraqi and Afghan community leaders to rethink U.S. strategy.”

The professor of peacebuilding at 91����Ƶ is also executive director of the 3D (Development, Diplomacy, Defense) Security Initiative at its graduate Center for Justice & Peacebuilding. For the last several years, she has been inviting military officials to campus to meet with Iraqi and Afghan students—who have also traveled to Washington, D.C., with her to suggest to lawmakers how the U.S. could better relate to their respective nations.

Suggesting that a map of the world’s worst violence corresponds with a map of its greatest poverty and inequality, Schirch cited a 2002 Bush Administration National Security Strategy: “Including all of the world’s poor in an expanding circle of development—and opportunity—is a moral imperative and one of the top priorities of U.S. international policy.”

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff have expressed support for more diplomacy and attention to causes of global instability, she said, noting that more people currently play in Army bands than serve as diplomats in the U.S. Foreign Service.

But funding is an ongoing issue, added Schirch, a former Fulbright Fellow in Africa who has worked in more than 20 nations and written several books on conflict prevention and peacebuilding. While 60 cents of every American tax dollar are allocated to the military, only half a penny goes toward development projects, such as, for example, schools that could give children a non-extremist education, she said. And the development budget, she pointed out, is in danger of being cut.

“Security doesn’t land in a helicopter,” Schirch said, quoting an Iraqi saying, “it grows from the ground up.” It requires the efforts of both government and civil society, she maintained, reminding her listeners that U.S. government policy in Iraq and Afghanistan has focused almost exclusively on building a state that, in each case, has been corrupt and disliked by its citizens.

In Afghanistan, where civil society is caught in the middle of two unpopular alternatives—the government and the Taliban—thousands of community leaders are working for peace, largely unbeknownst to Americans, according to Schirch. Many Afghans came to the U.S. about 20 years ago to study peacebuilding and, after earning their degrees, returned home to practice their skills at the community level. There, they continue talking to insurgents and Taliban supporters about entering into a peace process, she explained.

One leading Afghan activist, Suraya Sadeed, is pursuing a master’s degree at 91����Ƶ, noted Schirch, who holds her master’s and Ph.D. in conflict analysis and resolution from George Mason University. She said Sadeed has been building girls’ schools in her native land for 30 years and, after the Taliban rose to power in the 1990s, she did so with their consent after negotiating with their leaders.

A Mennonite who said she considers herself a pacifist, Schirch started attending military conferences in 2007, about the same time she began inviting its representatives to meet Iraqi and Afghan students at 91����Ƶ. How a pacifist can spend so much time with military officials is a recurring question, she acknowledged. But finding common ground with those you don’t agree with is a key principle of active Mennonite peacebuilding, or “practical pacifism,” she asserted, and that is why she can stand with the military and argue for a changed security strategy.

The Keeney Peace Lectureship was established in 1978 by the family of William Sr. and Kathryn Keeney to express appreciation for Bluffton’s influence and to strengthen the continuing peace witness among the community.

Nearly 200 people celebrated “Hope for Peace Day,” which brought 125 to campus to join learners in Saturday workshops, forums, storytelling, youth activities, music, dance and fellowship — organized by the .

Katherine Morgan, Staunton, Va., adds a symbol to the ‘welcoming table’ at the opening ceremony of ‘Hope for Peace Day.’
Photo by Jim Bishop

An opening ceremony paired flowers with qualities symbolized, such as black-eyed Susans signifying justice; dahlias, eloquence.

Citing grass-roots peacebuilding successes, CJP faculty member Lisa Schirch said,”We keep getting asked, when can we go to higher levels?”

Security and Foreign Policy

The “3D Security Initiative” attempts that, Dr. Schirch said in a workshop titled “Influencing US Foreign Policy”

The 3D Security Initiative based at 91����Ƶ is attracting wide interest among national leaders who often don