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May/June 2002 Martin Luther King’s "Axis of Evil" by Carol Bragg Even before completing the military mission in Afghanistan, President Bush has laid out the next stage of the war on terrorism. He plans to confront what he terms an "axis of evil"–Iraq, Iran, and North Korea–and the danger that they will acquire and use weapons of mass destruction. Critics speculate that, with the expansion of the anti-terrorist effort into the Philippines, Georgia, and Yemen, and the redefinition of the drug war in Colombia as an anti-terrorist campaign, the United States has committed itself to perpetual war. If history is any guide, one of the tragic consequences of the course we have embarked upon is that any relief from violence will be at best temporary. In placing our bets on sophisticated technology and military strategies to address the capacity for human evil, we are inventing weapons that may one day be used against us and that will eventually be rendered useless through counter-technology or circumvention of our networks of defense. Those genuinely concerned about the security of this nation must seriously face the fact that possessing the strongest military in the world and the most advanced weaponry has not made us safe. We lack and will always lackfail-safe technology. We have intelligence, immigration, and security agencies that are staffed and will always be staffedby fallible (and sometimes malicious) human beings. It is in science fiction and novels–not in real life–that we have the ability to develop perfect weapons and perfect systems of defense. Given this reality, it would be foolish not to pursue other approaches to the problems of violence and terrorism. April 4 marked the thirty-fourth anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the only private American citizen honored by a national holiday in his name. Interestingly, Dr. King also described a kind of axis of evil that threatens world peace. He spoke of the triple evils of racism, poverty/materialism, and militarism, and their intricate connections. In his last book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?, King made a compelling case for addressing racism internationally as well as in this country; eradicating domestic and global poverty; and pursuing, through the United Nations, nonviolent alternatives to war. In a world of weapons of mass destruction, King believed, war was not even "a negative good." He therefore advocated programs that would establish justice and amicable relations among nations rather than allow conditions and animosities to fester to the point where war becomes inevitable. King was particularly concerned that this nation shift its priorities away from its tough anti-Communism to addressing "those conditions of poverty, insecurity and injustice which are the fertile soil in which the seed of Communism grows and develops." He proposed a Marshall Plan to eradicate global poverty: the wealthy nations of the world could dedicate two percent of their GNPs (now GDPs), over a period of ten to twenty years, to an aid program motivated by genuine compassion for the poor and downtrodden. Such a plan should not be used, he cautioned, "as a surreptitious means to control the poor nations." King also cogently argued that we must move beyond nation-state thinking and narrow allegiance to tribe, race, class, and religion to an understanding that we inhabit a World House in which we are all interdependent. We live in an age in which the time-honored adage that "self-preservation is the first law of life" is no longer useful. In order to preserve that which we hold dear, we must work diligently to guarantee to others the rights and economic well-being we enjoy ourselves. Meanwhile, we can strengthen our own society and find greater fulfillment by curbing materialism and becoming people- rather than thing-oriented. Today, with our contemporary awareness of global warming, toxic wastes, and diminishing non-renewable resources (not on the national agenda when King was alive), we know that reducing our disproportionate consumption of the world’s resources will not only benefit the environment but may ease some of the anti-American sentiment in the developing world In the concluding paragraph of Where Do We Go From Here, King warned of "the fierce urgency of now"–that time will not wait for us to address poverty, racism, and militarism. He reminded us that "over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, ‘Too late.’" His blunt final statement that our choice was between chaos and community seems eerily prescient in the wake of September 11: the vision, the analysis, and the agenda that King espoused and we largely neglected might have prevented those horrific events. It is easy to discount Dr. King as an idealist, but his words were prophetic. Shortly before King’s assassination, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, author of the classic study The Prophets, introduced him to an assembly of rabbis: "Where in America today do we hear a voice like the voice of the prophets of Israel?…God has sent him to us. His presence is the hope of America. … His mission is sacred… Martin Luther King, Jr., is a voice, a vision, and a way. … The whole future of America will depend on the impact and influence of Dr. King." Historian and theologian Vincent Harding suggests that if Heschel was correct in his assessment of Dr. King, "for scholars, citizens, or celebrants to forget the real man and his deepest implications would be not only faithless, but also suicidal." President Bush and Dr. King represent dramatically different worldviews and agendas:
The choice is clear, yet painfully difficult. We are creatures of habit who have come to rely upon the counsel of presidents, corporate executives, the media, and military leaders. We follow almost instinctively like lemmings over the cliff as they lead us from one war into another and away from addressing deeply entrenched social injustices and structural violence. September 11 should serve as a wake-up call. The choice is between chaos and community. It is time to heed the prophet.
Carol Bragg, a member of the FOR National Council, lives in Providence, Rhode Island.
©2002 Fellowship of Reconciliation |