Last month Wellington saw a tussle of powers which seems to have resulted in small but persistent resisters winning over countries that would prefer to continue supporting the United States in its manufacture and use of cluster munitions.
A conference organised by the Cluster Munitions Coalition under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade brought the manufacturers of such bombs together with those who had lost limbs to these indiscriminately destructive arms.
Sr Denise Coghlan’s story on the front page of Wel-com has details of the conference but it seems to have been a triumph of the persistence and resistance of small groups of people organising and bringing their passion for a just and peaceful world together. Every day a small team of writers produced a raft of media releases and a pamphlet of daily events at the conference.
Some groups, such as Pax Christi who came from Auckland, had been protesting for many years the use of these sorts of arms which maim and kill civilians without discrimination.
No way were they going to be persuaded by a small but powerful group of US allies to allow any treaty to be watered down thus shoring up US hegemony over such powerless nations as Iraq or Sudan.
Veronica Lawson’s analysis of today’s gospel (March 2, 2008) highlights a persistent resistance in the man born blind. He persists in believing that Jesus is a prophet despite the Jews try to make him give up his stand. His focus on God as the source of all power overrides any fear the Jews could instil in him.
So must we keep our eyes on the goal and work together to bring about the promised reign of God.