KIMBERLY LUSTE MARAN
n the end it was the ordinary workers who
turned the tide.” This sentence begins the cover feature of the October 16,
2000, Newsweek magazine. Writers Joshua Hammer and Zoran Cirjakovic describe
the Serbs’ raging drive to Belgrade, Yugoslavia—a drive that caused Slobodan
Milosevic to acknowledge Vojislav Kostunica as victorious at the polls, and
the new president of Yugoslavia. “As dawn broke over Serbia last Thursday, a
cavalcade of buses, trucks and battered Yugos choked the roads leading into
Belgrade. They carried men from towns like Cacak, Kragujevac and Kraljevo: grimy
industrial backwaters that had once been the heartland of Serb nationalism.
. . . They included farmers, factory workers and miners.”
As I read the article I was surprised that the end of Milosevic’s
rule came so swiftly. These downtrodden individuals decided to act, and united
they did. I marveled at this, wondering what would have happened if a council
had been formed to decide when and where to attack, then a subcommittee developed
to figure out who would go in first, then a task force sent out to discover
how many people had usable weapons and vehicles. The situation in Yugoslavia
might still be the same today.
Don’t misunderstand; sometimes committees are the only way.
They give people a chance to voice opinions and concerns. Committees also offer
members an opportunity to feel that they have an active part in society and
the shaping of their lives. Along with the ownership that being part of a governing
body invokes, the input of the participants can change the world and they are
needed to do just that.
The United Nations, for example, is a delegation that should
not be absolved from its task of challenge, dissent, and leadership, and acts
(or should act) in defense of the global status quo.1 Developing countries continue
to consider the U.N. to be at the “apex of world organizations and a policy
forum with a comprehensive global agenda, dedicated to the continual quest for
the betterment of all humankind and the achievement of the goals enshrined in
the U.N. charter.”2 For these countries, “the U.N. should be a body which restrains
the use of hegemonic political and economic power, providing a forum where all
members of the international community, irrespective of their weight or power,
can be listened to with the knowledge that their views also count for something.”3
While these objectives may not always become reality, it is the U.N. members
who have the responsibility to perpetuate the good the United Nations can do.
But it is a possibility that the members could become a detriment—unwitting
assistants in the bad that can happen.
The usefulness of a committee is negated when attempts to
make decisions about how, when, why, and where to do something are obstructed
by personal concerns. I attended a church where the hot issue was which week
of the month was better for fellowship dinner. You wouldn’t believe the arguments
that erupted (or maybe you would)—the personal reasons why such-and-such a date
wouldn’t work (someone had Sabbath school that week), questions about the holidays,
and maybe there shouldn’t be dinners during the winter or during summer vacations
. . . on and on the disagreeing went, until the meeting was adjourned with no
decision made and everyone worn out. I knew we’d be back with the same dilemma
again—five more meetings, and the issue was finally settled.
We have committees at the Review. And for the most
part, they are very productive. We have specific meetings in which we address
cover features, article page assignment, artwork, marketing, advertising—each
committee has a function that is vital and necessary to the magazine’s success.
I don’t always initially agree with the decisions our committees
make. But when I see them in publication—on the Web, in the magazine, or on
a promotional banner, I realize that this thing is bigger than I. And bigger
than the committee.
Christ has already defeated evil. The question is: As we
meet together, will we be a help or hindrance in the battle to save souls? The
Serbs realized that action was needed. Right away. And they acted.
Let’s meet when we need to, and act when we have to.
_________________________
1 “A Commentary on ‘Renewing the United Nations: a Program
for Reform.’” A policy brief prepared by the South Centre at the request of
the Group of 77 (September 1997), commenting on the U.N. document A/51/950.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
_________________________
Kimberly Luste Maran is an assistant editor
of the Adventist Review.
