Vice-President IFOR
Director Peace Institute,
University of Hawaii.
Personal Background.
Age: 45
Ethnic Heritage: Hawaiian, Japanese, Filipino, Chinese, Spanish, Swedish.
Where do you live and why? Nu'uanu, Oahu, Hawaii. Close to Uni and city amenities.
Education, from High School:
Puwahou High School, Honolulu
Under graduate studies at Lousson Clarke College, Oregon, USA
Doctorate at UNI of Southern California, USA.
First political action: 1960's, a Vietnam War march and rally in Honolulu while I was at High School.
Involvement in community organisations:
· Anti-military land struggles, specifically bombing targets
· Converting military downsizing
· Geothermal wells on the island Hawaii.
· NGO's (national or international):
· Anti-war groups against the Vietnam war and more recently the Gulf war.
· Draft resistance campaigns.
· Nuclear waste and emissions.
· Star wars testing on Kawai.
· IFOR, Quakers, Ecumenical, usually spiritually based groups not just political.
Group of Greatest Personal Focus.
International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR)
What is IFOR for you? I see IFOR as a central, core organisation that brings together and assists nonviolence groups globally.
Vision. I see IFOR stronger and more visible. Take an active lead in developing a global nonviolence movement. Right now nonviolence is blooming all over the world. We can join together and give support.
What were the highlights of your last year's participation in IFOR? Meeting a variety of people from all the world at Sweden, to hear their stories,struggles and hopes. It was exciting to see the ages, the different generations, the optimism. Understanding that this is the necessity, that this is the way. I think that IFOR could provide the leadership to create a nonviolence global community and that the people I met at the conference were some of these people.
Which of your comrade's work would you like to acknowledge? I want to acknowledge the work being done in Africa (specifically Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Zambia, Zaire and Madagascar.
Newcastle Aboriginal Support Group.
Personal Background.
Age : 56. I'm a crone!
Ethnic Heritage: Irish Australian Catholic
Where do you live and why? Lambton, Newcastle, Australia. I like it here. It's where my partners job is- our financial support. I'm glad this is where it is.
Education, from High School:
Bachelor of Arts and secondary Teacher's certificate at Melbourne University.
Non-degree major in psychology at Newcastle Uni.
Conflict resolution with the Conflict Resolution Network.
First political action: 1957. Outside a hotel in South Yarra (Melbourne) which had kept out a a Naruan family because of their colour. I carried a sign which said "South Africa, South USA, South Yarra"
Involvement in community organisations
· Catholic parishes
· NGO's (national or international)
· AUB - a section of Overseas Service Bureau I was in the second batch in it's second year of operation. As a member of The Asian Group I was involved in third world development before it was called that. That's where I met my husband, Bob (Berghout). We discussed whether we were going away to help or be helped. It was a source group for many others.
Group of Greatest Personal Focus.
Newcastle Aboriginal Support Group.
What is NASG for you? A network of white Australians in Newcastle who wish to improve our understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture; and to support Aboriginal initiatives that we have the people with the energy and interests to offer. My job in that is to see that people remember those goals. It was set up with those goals in 1980.
Vision. To be taken over by Kooris. For us to be just helping out whatever way they want us to. Sort of work ourselves out of a job. And for us to take our own initiatives in dealing with white racism. To become a network in which there are many groups with different focuses, in which there are white people working closely with Aboriginal people
What were the highlights of your last year's participation in NASG or work related? One highlight was an executive meeting where I organised not to ever facilitate another night time meeting. I am just a consultant, which is part of my vision for me. I feel really excited at seeing one person who was so shy I had to take her by the hand to go and see media and that sort of thing. Now she is doing all those things on her own. We now have 350 people on the mailing list and about a third of those have paid a sub.
Which of your comrade's work would you like to acknowledge? Jack Doherty was the white part involved in founding the group. His visions and goals were just way ahead of anyone else's thinking in 1980. He wasn't trying to tell anyone what to do. He went along to Awabakal Co-op meetings and just sat there and never said a word, just listened. He wrote letters, kept hassling churches, the ALP, everyone. He kept in touch with heads of big organisations. Jack died five or six years ago.
Nonviolence
What is nonviolence to you? Nonviolence is going for what you want and what you think is right using means that are in harmony with your ends. Respecting people and tackling issues.
How do you integrate nonviolence into your life? When I'm feeling good and mad I go and have a session with a friend and I think through what I'm going to do. That way I usually come up with something that's respectful to all parties.
Have you ever lived in community? Comment. In third year of teaching I shared a house with other people called"House of the Heavenly Company". One occupant was called God. Later I moved next door to an all female hospice and then went to Papua New Guinea with Volunteers abroad. It was living on this mission that most tested my sense of community. I was tested by other white separatists at that time. It was very hard because it sat so uncomfortably with other whites and I didn't have much of a relationship with other Papuans It was very lonely and I responded by just soldiering on. I learned a tremendous amount about community from Papuans. They didn't have so much a sense of the individual. They had a very strong sense of the whole group.
Religion/Spirituality. I say what? My catholic upbringing is very central. Because of the conflict between the teaching and the practice I've had a lot of soul searching to do about what was good and what was crap. As a result I've decided to never put myself in the position of listening to a lot of sexist language. Now I'm a part of a do it yourself group. We have our own little eucharist every couple of weeks.
I still keep contact with the Catholic Church but I won't take part in celebrations that treat god as male. And I minister to people, mainly listening to them when want to be listened to. And I spend a lot of time in the bush or the garden. I didn't want to throw out the baby with the bath water but I didn't want to take any of that bilge any more.
L. Finegan