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 GLOBAL MOVEMENT FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE

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Question: Continuation of Department of peace: Not just a pipe dream CPNN article: Department of peace: Not just a pipe dream
CPNN Administrator
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(The following is continued from the main article listed above.)

Speaking as a member of Voice of Women, Joy Warner welcomed the proposed legislation, reminding her listeners that women and children are particularly vulnerable in times of war, and that sexual and gender-based violence have become “weapons of war.” She quoted a recent symposium in Nagoya, Japan, that supported the Santiago declaration of the “human right to peace.” She said a Department Of Peace should pursue the Right to Peace as a serious policy objective, and “ensure that women make up 50 per cent of all positions at every level of the new ministry.”

Don Woodside, of Conscience Canada, noted that a previous speaker had already said “if only 2 per cent of citizens refused to fight, that wars would cease, since the jails would all be full.” He challenged the audience to take a personal stand by redirecting their military taxes to peace.

Bert Wreford drew attention to the massive study by Harvard professor Stephen Pinker, which shows world violence gradually declining. By pulling together scores of studies about wars, riots and insurrections, Pinker shows that the public is becoming less and less accepting of violence.

Other speakers called for “a law against war,” reminding the audience that slavery has been abolished and “another world is possible.” One speaker quoted U.S. research indicating that preventing a war is 60 times cheaper than fighting it.

The full text of Bill C-373 can be found at departmentofpeace.ca. Comments can be submitted by email to info@departmentofpeacehamilton.ca until March 31st.

Ray Cunnington is a member of the Hamilton peace community. He lives in Dundas.
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