Letters - 13 January 2017

From Syria to the Inward Light

Syria

Simon Fisher’s article (23 & 30 December 2016) enables us better to discern how the sufferings of the peoples of Syria might have been avoided. Regime change was desired but, as with the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, it is probably better to tolerate the intolerable until nonviolent change can happen.

The South African Quaker Hendrik Willem van der Merwe, a friend of Nelson Mandela, in his book Peacemaking in South Africa: A Life in Conflict Resolution introduced the concept of accommodation as the means of temporarily tolerating injustice in order to avoid violence and allow time for peacebuilding to be effective. This does not mean being reconciled to the injustice; rather it is a more humane way of dealing with it. Better then to accommodate the regimes of the dictators of Syria, Iraq and Libya than to have enormous suffering and destruction? Better to tolerate the intolerable until the seeds of nonviolence are watered?

Peter Jarman

Simon Fisher is to be congratulated on his efforts to understand the true situation in Syria. UK foreign policy has failed to take on board the lessons that should have been learnt from previous attempts at ‘regime change’. As Simon says, the present ‘warts and all’ Syrian government still offers the best outcome to accommodate the diverse population of the country. Failure to recognise this will only prolong the suffering and provide the opportunity for self-interested advancement by the various countries at present involved in the conflict.

Martin Cox

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