Neville Watson
Voices in the Wilderness
Baghdad October 9, 2003

The latter is probably the most accurate and much of what is here consists of direct quotes from the writing of Simone Weil’s essay “Human Personality”. (The Simone Weil Reader, David McKay Inc N.York 1977). I confess to understanding a fraction of that which she writes and I make no pretense that what follows accurately portrays her ideas. It is simply my interpretation of it - an interpretation prompted by the circumstances in which I write, the occupation of Iraq by the USA. For convenience, and because at 74 years of age the mind loses its edge, I write in the masculine. If you translate it into inclusive language that is all to the good and it is certainly my meaning. For my purpose I simply state what is found in many documents : ‘The term “his” is includes and means the word “her”.

There is something sacred in every human being. It is not his body, his soul, or his personality. It is the whole of him. To have it otherwise would enable the cutting off of a leg with equanimity. This sacred wholeness is variously described; Shalom and Salaam being two of the more common terms.

In the depths of one’s sacredness or wholeness is the expectation that good and not evil will be done to him. This is what justice and injustice are about. They are concepts inherent to life itself. Every time there arises from the human heart the cry of “Why am I being hurt?” injustice is evidenced.

This “cry of affliction” lies at the heart of the human condition. It is evidenced in the words of Jesus on the cross “My God my God why have you forsaken me”. If, as I am suggesting it is the good which is sacred, one could transpose one word and make the meaning even clearer: “My good, my good why have you forsaken me”

How about those who inflict the suffering. Their motivation varies from pleasure in inflicting pain to simply not hearing the cry of the afflicted. The latter is understandable but inexcusable

The cry is often a silent one. As Simone so pungently points out “those who most often have occasion to feel that evil is being done to them are those who are least trained in the art of speech.”

My most vivid experience of this was when, as a Uniting Church minister, I was appointed to a small country town with a significant indigenous population who were being treated in what I considered to be a condescending and inhuman manner in the Courts. In becoming a Uniting Church Minister I had moved from the Law to the prophets and was equipped to do something about it. The first case in which I appeared is still vividly impressed on my mind. At the end of the trial the elderly aborigine for whom I was appearing turned to me and said “What happened, boss?”. I was cut to the quick by both the appellation and the fact that the afflicted so often are the least able to express themselves.

Does the fact that the cry is so faint and inept excuse those who do not hear it. I do not think so. Many of those do not hear do not want to hear. “There are none so deaf as those who will not hear.”

Deafness is often an acquired art. What the ears do not hear, the heart doesn’t grieve over. This is particularly so in war. People become so intoxicated with patriotism that they turn people into puppets. The human dimension is lost in the cause of country.  Deafness is cultivated. As an Iraqi friend of mine puts it. “What use is freedom of speech if nobody listens to you?”  As Simone points out “Freedom of expression is that point in the heart which cries out against evil. But as it cannot express itself, freedom is of little use to it” She maintains that what is required is not so much freedom per se but “an attentive silence in which the faint and inept cry can make itself heard”  followed by institutions which will “put power into the hands of men who are able and anxious to hear and understand it”

In the light of all this, what is responsible action for those with a concern for justice. It is to be in the place of suffering, to listen to the cry of the afflicted, and to be the voice of the afflicted.  A group of people called “Voices in the Wilderness” offers an example of this process. It is a group that worked in Iraq before, during and after the invasion of the country.

As I understand this group there are three stages to their operations.

(1) The first is simply to be on the ground, to be where the action is. It is to become aware of the situation as it really is. It means disconnecting oneself from all judgments, intentions and understanding and just being there. When there is only presence then you actually experience other people’s suffering. You can also experience their anger as they rightly or wrongly identify you with their suffering. The important thing is that you are there, doing nothing, making nothing of it - you are just there.

(2) The second stage is to listen to the cry of affliction, to listen to what the people are trying to say. We hear today the voice of the Administration, the military and the media but rarely do we hear the voice of the people of Iraq

(3) The third stage is then to re-present the voice of the people to the world at large, to become the voice of the voiceless.