In his article “Bin Laden Killed, Americans Celebrate”…beyond the dispute, Glen Gersmehl discusses some of the questions raised post-Bin Laden. Drawing on his experience working within high crime communities as well as his international peace work he explores the ways in which violent and non-violent responses to conflict achieve their touted goals of achieving peace.
Here is an excerpt:
The retraction of many key details of bin Laden’s killing makes it even more likely – and scary – that we’ll once again be distracted from what we most need to face about the war on terror, our place in the world, and the many and tragic ways our culture misunderstands conflict and violence.
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Glen Gersmehl directs a project assisting volunteers at food programs serving the homeless. He represented the U.S. and Canada at meetings in India to plan the major UN initiative on nonviolence of the past decade. He coordinates Lutheran Peace Fellowship and the Peace & Justice Resource Center. His graduate degree in public policy is from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
