Making-Visible: Protective Presence in the West Bank
with Katie Loncke
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Katie Loncke (they/them) (above), a previous speaker at Making-Visible, and a U.S. American Buddhist person of Jewish and African-American ancestry. For the past several weeks they have been in the West Bank, serving as a protective presence for Palestinian families.
A Palestinian young artist in the West Bank holds up one of their drawings: an anatomical heart with a message in Arabic.
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Wednesday, February 7, 2024
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM EST
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Dear Friends,
We would like to welcome you to a very special conversation happening Wednesday, February 7 at 7-8:30PM ET / 4-5:30 PM PT focusing on the use of protective presence as one non-violent way to support peace during these difficult times.
A dear friend of ours (who uses the pronouns they/them and who, for safety reason, we will identify after they return to the U.S.) will lead our February 7th conversation.
They are a previous speaker at Making-Visible, and a U.S. American Buddhist person of Jewish ancestry. For the past several weeks they have been in the West Bank, serving as a protective presence for Palestinian families.
Although not currently practicing Judaism, they are a secular/cultural Jew who has Holocaust survivor grandparents, so they understand antisemitism well. The experience of antisemitic violence is alive in their bones and blood, and it has affected them personally in their life.
Protective presence — a beautiful phrase, perhaps with a double meaning. On the surface, protective presence describes a tried-and-true political activity of strategic nonviolent accompaniment, where the privilege and presence of outsiders means protection for locals: in this case, local Palestinian families in the West Bank who have been facing intimidation and attacks by both soldiers and armed Israeli settlers.
On another level, protective presence might describe the inner, spiritual refuge that true presence offers practitioners of mindfulness who choose to engage in political nonviolence.
This session will be focused on how we -- as practitioners of mindfulness and/or Buddhism -- can support peace during difficult times. As part of this webinar, we are asking those who register to review a set of free resources to prepare us to talk about the situation in Palestine from a place of compassion and the desire to be of help, not from a place of taking sides in a conflict.
The first resource we would like you to watch is this YouTube recording of Buddhist Peace Fellowship talk with Sami Awad, Miki Kashtan, and Kazu Haga, which addresses the question: How does the Buddha’s commitment to the principle of Ahimsa (often translated as non-harm or nonviolence) respond to violence? How do we conjure up the courage to resist oppression without giving into the delusion of separation?
See below for the 2nd -6th resource:
2. Documentary Film: The Law and the Prophets
3. Essay: Anti-Semitism, Uprootedness, and Zionism: My Voluntary Political Exile from Israel
4. Brief essay: Two Hands of Nonviolence
5. Fundraiser: Trauma Support for Palestinian Children
6. 3-min Video: No Vengeance In My Name, from mother Michal Halev who lost her son Laor to Hamas
Please do your best to review some portion of these resources and reach out to us if you have any questions.
Additional resources mentioned in our session:
7. Go Fund Me page: Trauma Support for Palestinian Children
8. Article: The scene in the West Bank’s Masafer Yatta: Palestinians face escalating Israeli efforts to displace them
9. Article: Umm Alkhair is in a big danger
If you feel curious and compelled to hear a firsthand account of taking action for peace, please join us!
About Katie:
Katie Loncke (they/them) just returned from over two weeks in the West Bank, joining in voluntary protective presence for Palestinian shepherding families facing violent attacks by Israeli settlers and soldiers. As a former 10-year Co-Director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, a lifelong activist, and a student of the embodiment of courage, Katie believes in applying the wisdom of our faith traditions in order to build solidarity, deepen compassion, and meet the suffering of the present moment.
Closed captioning thanks to Don Rombach.