When we choose not to show empathy for the people of Syria, it leads us to ignore their country’s ancient history and the rich fabric of Syrian society today.

I’m writing to you as an anti-war activist, seeking your support for Petition EN5846 – Help ameliorate the humanitarian crisis in Syria by suspending sanctions. (The petition has been sent to Foreign Minister Senator Penny Wong for a response.)

I was first exposed to anti-war activism in the 1960s when one of my brothers was a draft resister and a founding member of Students for a Democratic Society.

Like my brother, Dr Martin Luther King was also a strident anti-war activist. His landmark 1967 ‘Beyond Vietnam – Time to Break the Silence’ speech presents both the difficulty of opposing war and the reasons we must. In it, Dr King expressed his fear for America’s ‘soul’.

Until Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s government abolished conscription and ended our participation in the war in Vietnam, my brother and other draft resisters faced a two-year prison sentence.

In the 2003 Academy Award-winning documentary film ‘The Fog of War’, former US Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara outlined the lessons he had learnt from war. His priority had shifted from prosecuting a war to saving humankind.

His first – and perhaps most important – lesson was ‘empathise with your enemy’. Mr McNamara explained that during the Cuban crisis he observed America’s Ambassador to the Soviet Union stand up to a warmongering US general. By choosing to heed the diplomat’s advice, President Kennedy was able to avoid a major conflagration with the Soviet Union.

Now, I write to urge you to empathise with the people of Syria.

To capture the spirit of Syrians and their country, I have worked with Syrian........

© Pearls and Irritations