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The Balance Between Hope and Despair

© Kelly Scheufler

In 1965, a blaze of fire spread, turning hundreds of pages of Indonesian author Pramoedya Ananta Toer's historical research and writing into ash. After burning his papers and impounding his library, the Indonesian army beat up Toer and threw him in prison. What crime did he commit that warranted this arson and imprisonment? He refused to ignore social problems in his country and he was an outspoken advocate for peace and tolerance. Although those he opposed were politically powerful, he fearlessly fought for the rights of his fellow countrymen. It was these countrymen, born on the same soil as Toer, who destroyed his works and put him in jail.

The Indonesian government never tried Toer. Still, he remained in prison for fourteen years. They may have imprisoned his body, but his captors could not stifle his spirit. Every day he composed and recited oral versions of stories to his fellow prisoners. He was finally able to put these stories to paper. Since his release, he has published many best-selling books. You can't buy these books in Indonesia. The Indonesian government issued a blanket ban on his work, a ban that is still in effect today.

1965 was not the first time Toer was persecuted for his beliefs. Decades earlier, in 1947, the Dutch Colonial Army captured and imprisoned Toer. His crime that time - he was born a native Indonesian. Like many of his countrymen, he longed for independence from Dutch rule and oppression. He wrote many of his early works between 1947 and 1948 while he languished in the Dutch prison.

In 1947, the same year that the Dutch army took away Toer's freedom, the Nobel council awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to both American and British members of The Friends Service Council. For hundreds of years, members of this council, better known as Quakers, have fought tirelessly, regardless of nationality or race, for human rights. Despite their small numbers, the Quakers have led and won many battles against human suffering, offering aid where aid was needed. These triumphs reinforce their belief in the victory of spirit over force.

Everyday, we read about violence and strife in the papers. On the global level, millions of people are persecuted simply because they were born to parents of a certain religion or nationality. On the streets of our local neighborhoods, drug dealers, gang members, and, sometimes school children, take the lives of innocent people. We know who the offenders are. Who fights against violence and war?