All posts by CPNN Coordinator

About CPNN Coordinator

Dr David Adams is the coordinator of the Culture of Peace News Network. He retired in 2001 from UNESCO where he was the Director of the Unit for the International Year for the Culture of Peace, proclaimed for the Year 2000 by the United Nations General Assembly.

The Gloria Fuertes School of Andorra demonstrates the “transformative power of education” at the UNESCO National Meeting of Schools

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from La Comarca (republished by permission – translation by CPNN)

(See also The Unesco Schools Meeting in Andorra to strengthen the culture of peace).

“In these times, with frequent hate speech and violence, I only hope that the essence of what was built 41 years ago with this school lives forever and stays with you.” This is how Lola Oriol, director of the Gloria Fuertes Public School of Special Education in Andorra, concluded the XXXIV National Meeting of UNESCO Schools, which was hosted this year by the center. She received the applause of the 130 participating teachers from all over the world, before which The Friends of Andorra Folklore filled the room with music to conclude an event that “has been a success” and that, above all, has shown “the transformative power of education.”


The UNESCO National Meeting of Schools is organized every year in an educational center in Spain. Last year it was held in Zumaia (Guipuzkoa) and it had not been in Andorra for 28 years. At that time, in 1995, the Gloria Fuertes hosted the eighth UNESCO Schools Meeting, leaving an “indelible memory” for the most veteran people in the network, a feeling that will also be repeated after this year’s meeting. “Being able to carry out this meeting has been the dream of my life,” said Oriol.

(This article is continued in the column on the right.)

(Click here for the original article in Spanish.)

Question for this article:

What is the relation between peace and education?

Will UNESCO once again play a role in the culture of peace?

(Article continued from left column)

The events of the meeting began on Monday and lasted until this Thursday (July 3-6) with conferences, different working group sessions and a round table with experts on the territory’s heritage. In these three days, there was also no shortage of important symbols for Andorra and the rest of the towns in the region, such as the drums and bass drums on the route or visits to “must-see” places such as the Centro Pastor and the Iberian settlement ‘El Cabo’ in the mining town . Representatives of UNESCO Schools from different parts of Spain, and other more distant places such as Angola, Portugal, Poland, Argentina or Cuba were able to discover them. And all this without neglecting the opportunity to taste products from Teruel and enjoy a night of live music and tapas through the streets of the town organized by the Andorra-Sierra de Arcos and Bajo Martín Business Association under the name ‘La noche del Gloria’.

Among the objectives pursued by this meeting are: to promote cooperation, the exchange of knowledge and collaborative associations between similar schools throughout the Spanish territory; highlight the four pillars of education – learning to know, learning to do, learning to be and learning to live together; and act as a laboratory of ideas to stimulate innovative and creative pedagogies to put global concepts into practice in the school.

The three intense days of activity served to set the work objectives to achieve the next course from the Gloria Fuertes School. «Everything will be closely linked to the prevention of bullying and abuse. In addition, we will also work on sustainability issues, something in which we have been immersed for five years now through the ‘Desplastify’ project, with which we seek to raise awareness about the use of plastic in our lives”, explained Oriol.

These objectives will also add value to the heritage of the territory, another of the themes that was present on more than one occasion during the meeting and which could also include the role that Gloria Fuertes fulfills for hundreds of families.

Next year the meeting will be in Aguilar del Campoo (Palencia), although the Andorra special education school will keep its doors open “forever” to all those who made this edition possible this year. «We carry out many events, but I think this has been the most important. For me, it has been the culmination of my life. It has become clear that our school, the Gloria Fuertes, radiates light and people have been able to capture it. I can’t do anything other than say thank you,” its director concluded emotionally.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Europe, Uncategorized

‘A Terrible Mistake’: Key Dems in US Oppose Biden’s Move to Send Cluster Munitions to Ukraine

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article by Kenny Stancil in Common Dreams (reprinted under license Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Several high-ranking House Democrats have joined human rights groups in expressing dismay over President Joe Biden's decision to supply Ukraine with cluster munitions—weapons that more than 120 countries have banned due to their devastating and long-lasting impacts on civilians.


Biden on Friday defended his move to send cluster bombs to Ukraine as part of a new $800 million weapons package, tellingCNN it was "a very difficult decision" made because "Ukrainians are running out of ammunition" needed to stave off Russia's invasion.

Biden's comments came after top Democrats on the House Rules Committee and the panels that fund the Pentagon and State Department denounced the White House in rare statements broadcasting discord within the president's party.

"The decision by the Biden administration to transfer cluster munitions to Ukraine is unnecessary and a terrible mistake," said Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. "The legacy of cluster bombs is misery, death, and expensive cleanup generations after their use."

"These weapons should be eliminated from our stockpiles, not dumped in Ukraine," she added.

"The Biden administration will probably think twice when the pictures start coming back of children who have been harmed by American-made cluster munitions."

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), ranking member of the House Rules Committee, said that he continues "to strongly support helping Ukraine stand up to Russia's brutal war of aggression."

"But cluster munitions won't help," he stressed. "They are indiscriminate weapons that disperse hundreds of bomblets which can travel far beyond military targets and injure, maim, and kill civilians—often long after a conflict is over. I urge President Biden to listen to our NATO allies, such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Spain, who oppose sending cluster munitions to Ukraine for the same reasons."

One hundred twenty-three nations—including 23 of NATO's 31 members—have joined the United Nations Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits all production, stockpiling, transfer, and use of the weapons. The treaty entered force nearly 13 years ago, but the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine have yet to sign it.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday published a report detailing the catastrophic effects that cluster bombs with exceptionally high bomblet failure rates used by both Russian and Ukrainian forces since the start of the war last year have already had and will have in the years ahead. Mary Wareham, the organization's acting arms director, said that "both sides should immediately stop using them and not try to get more."

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, said Thursday that she was "alarmed" Biden was even "considering sending cluster bombs to Ukraine." She pointed out that more than three dozen human rights and anti-war organizations had urged Biden in June to "remain steadfast" in opposing any transfer of the widely condemned weapons despite growing calls from congressional Republicans and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to send them to Kyiv.

U.S.-made cluster munitions have been used around the world for decades—including during Washington's wars on Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia—unleashing widespread destruction and littering landscapes with unexploded ordnance that still endangers unsuspecting civilians and hinders socioeconomic development generations later. HRW has documented how U.S.-made cluster bombs continue to cause grievous harm in various countries, including Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemen.

The subcommittee Lee previously chaired has long blocked the transfer of cluster munitions, which were last exported from the U.S. in 2015. Although the U.S. destroyed roughly 3.7 million cluster bombs from 2008 to 2017 and they are no longer produced by any U.S. companies, the Pentagon is estimated to still possess about 3.7 million "obsolete" cluster bombs containing over 300 million submunitions.

(Article continued in right column)

Questions for this article:

Can cluster bombs be abolished?

(Article continued from left column)

As Arms Control Association executive director Daryl Kimball explained Thursday: "In 2008, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates issued an order to phase out by 2018 cluster munitions with an unexploded ordnance rate of greater than 1%… [and] in 2011, the Obama administration affirmed this policy."

"The Pentagon has, unfortunately, dragged its feet and in 2017 the Trump administration announced the 2018 deadline for phasing out non-compliant cluster munitions would not be met," said Kimball. "No new deadline for meeting that goal was set by the Trump administration or the Biden administration."

In December, Lee and McGovern were among the 11 Democratic members of Congress who wrote in a letter to Biden that the U.S. "should be leading the global effort to rid the world of these weapons, not continuing to stockpile them."

Congress has passed legislation forbidding the export of cluster bombs that leave behind more than 1% of their submunitions as "duds." However, Biden is using a rarely invoked provision of the Foreign Assistance Act to bypass the restriction on so-called "national security" grounds, increasing the chances that Ukrainian neighborhoods and farms will be polluted with de facto landmines. Ukraine is already facing a multibillion-dollar cleanup effort, de-mining experts say.

According toThe Washington Post:

The principal weapon under consideration, an M864 artillery shell first produced in 1987, is fired from the 155mm howitzers the United States and other Western countries have provided Ukraine. In its last publicly available estimate, more than 20 years ago, the Pentagon assessed that artillery shell to have a “dud” rate of 6%, meaning that at least four of each of the 72 submunitions each shell carries would remain unexploded across an area of approximately 22,500 square meters—roughly the size of 4½ football fields. . . . The Pentagon now says it has new assessments, based on testing as recent as 2020, with failure rates no higher than 2.35%. While that exceeds the limit of 1% mandated by Congress every year since 2017, officials are ‘carefully selecting’ munitions with the 2.35% dud rate or below for transfer to Ukraine, Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said Thursday.

"It's dismaying to see the long-established 1% unexploded ordnance standard for cluster munitions rolled back as this will result in more duds, which means an even greater threat to civilians, including de-miners," Wareham told the newspaper.

"The lack of transparency on how this number was reached is disappointing and seems unprecedented," she added.

As Politico reported:

Marc Garlasco, a former Pentagon official and military adviser at PAX Protection of Civilians, a Dutch NGO, noted that the actual dud rates in the field are much higher than those recorded during tests “conducted under perfect and unrealistic conditions.”

Comments from U.S. officials defending the decision do not allay the fears of many in the community, Garlasco said, expressing skepticism about the Pentagon’s latest test data showing lower dud rates.

Arms control advocates who were on a call with administration officials on Friday said that despite claims the cluster munitions being sent would have lower dud rates, there were no details about the types and sources of the cluster munitions the U.S. plans to send.

Congressional Democrats' December letter urging Biden to join the majority of the world's countries in outlawing cluster bombs was also signed by Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).

On Thursday, Jacobs and Omar introduced an amendment to the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act recently approved by the House Armed Services Committee that would prevent the sale or transfer of cluster munitions.

Jacobs, Lee, McGovern, and Omar are all members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. But even some hawkish Democrats such as Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania are not hiding their disgust with Biden's about-face.

"There are some who will say that these weapons are necessary to level the battlefield given Russia's reported use of them," said Houlahan, co-chair of the bipartisan Unexploded Ordnance and Demining Caucus.

"I challenge the notion that we should employ the same tactics Russia is using, blurring the lines of moral high ground," she continued. "And I challenge all of us to remember that this war will end, and the broken pieces of Ukraine will need to be rebuilt."

Biden's move was praised by John Bolton, a notorious warmonger who has served in every GOP-led White House since the Reagan administration. It was also welcomed by some congressional Republicans, including far-right Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark.), whose only complaint was that "it took too long."

Sarah Yager, HRW's Washington director, toldThe Hill that those "legislators, policymakers, and the Biden administration will probably think twice when the pictures start coming back of children who have been harmed by American-made cluster munitions.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, North America

Dominican Republic: Ministry of Education develops program to promote a culture of Peace

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from the Government of the Dominican Republic (translation by CPNN)

The Ministry of Education of the Dominican Republic (MINERD) has developed a program aimed at fostering a culture of peace and peaceful conflict resolution in the educational community, especially students.

The National Strategy for a Culture of Peace, as the program is called by the Directorate of Guidance and Psychology of the Vice Ministry of Technical and Pedagogical Services, seeks to strengthen values to form a peace-loving citizenry with the capacity to face and resolve conflicts that may arise in the social environment.

Vice Minister Ancell Scheker pointed out that “the Culture of Peace proposal is implemented with and for all the actors in the educational community, understanding that the school is accompanied by families and in a community context in which we teach and from where we learn to live with the other”.

(Article continued in right column)

Questions for this article:

What is the relation between peace and education?

(Article continued from left column)

He specified the Culture of Peace program in educational centers develops life skills so that students learn to live with others with a sense of respect, guaranteeing harmonious coexistence and taking into account that conflict is natural to human beings.

In this regard, the Vice Minister of Technical and Pedagogical Services said that the Culture of Peace program teaches that while conflict is natural, what is not natural, nor should it be accepted, are the different forms of violence.

Likewise, the national curriculum, which follows a competency approach, includes transversal axes to strengthen the general themes that guarantee citizen training and the integral development of students.

Among the fundamental competencies that are developed throughout the curriculum, some directly affect the construction of a culture of peace, such as Ethical and Civic Competence, Communication, Problem Solving, Personal and Spiritual Development, and Environmental and Health Competence.

Ancell Scheker cited that the General Directorate of Curriculum recently published a booklet on the culture of peace in digital format to guide teachers on how to address the issue transversally in curricular development.

(Click here for the original article in Spanish.)

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

France: FSU course on building peace, fighting without violence: a revolutionary idea!

. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .

An announcement from Syndicat National Unitaire des Instituteurs – 35

Every year the trade union federation, FSU Bretagne, organizes a large federal training course at regional level. This year we are returning to the two-day colloquium formula as for the 2019 internship on Food in Guitté.

Our course will be held at the youth hostel in St Malo (35) on Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19 October. The theme of these two days will focus on peace and the need to develop a culture of peace and non-violence, in conjunction with the activists of the Mouvement de la Paix Bretagne.

In addition to the theme of educating young people for peace, which is dear to us, we will give a large place to the issue of multilateralism and social and climate justice in international relations. Our work will also focus on the issue of violence in social and political relations in our societies. This second part of the internship is of particular urgency in our current situation marked by the government’s repression of social movements in the name of “republican order”, their fight against “ecoterrorism”, and their plans to force youth to be obedient.

(article continued in right column)

(click here for the original French version)

Question related to this article:
 
What is the contribution of trade unions to the culture of peace?

(article continued from left column)

The program for these two days is not yet completely fixed and the FSU is currently continuing contacts with the prospective speakers. The following have already given, among others, their agreement to participate in these two days:

– David Adams of the Seville Statement on Violence and Unesco Culture of Peace,

– Bertrand Badie, specialists in international relations, professor emeritus at Sciences -Po Paris and CERI,

– Alain Bergerat, historian, author of the History of France through songs, Jacques Fath, author of Putin, NATO and war,

– Amélie Hart-Hutasse, teacher, head of the history-geography group at SNES which follows the ‘Universal National Service’ file,

– Venance Journé, physicist, representative of the Climate Action Network at the ESEC, author of Weapons of Terror Ridding the world of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons,

– Frédéric Mathieu, parliamentarian, member of the commission of Defense at the National Assembly,

– Sebastian Roché, director of research at the CNRS, specialist in relations between the police and the population, author of De la police en democratie,

– Laura Lema Silva, specialist in social movements in Colombia, head of studies at the Institute for Peace and associate member of the LCE laboratory of Lyon-2,

– Nathalie Tehio lawyer, member of the national office of the LDH and of the Paris Observatory of public freedoms, author of a report on the BRAV-M units.. .

You can register now online by following this link: https://framaforms.org/construire-la-paix-lutter-sans-violence-une-idee-revolutionnaire-1681734847 or by means of the registration form below. Registration confirmations with the precise program and organizational arrangements for these two days will be sent to registrants at the end of September.

Don’t wait to register and to submit your request for leave of absence to your school (strict deadline of 1 month, i.e. a deadline for submission on Friday 09/15/2023).

Register early and spread the word – the course is open to FSU union members and non-union members alike.

The registration form can be sent by post to the address indicated or sent by email to aetj.le-bourg@wanadoo.fr Online registration can also be done via the website https://bretagne.fsu.fr

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Europe

National Coordinators of the UNESCO Associated Schools Network gather to reflect and share experiences

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from UNESCO

National Coordinators of the UNESCO Associated Schools Network  reinforced the importance of the network as a laboratory of ideas for educational quality, innovation and transformation by endorsing the “70th Anniversary Declaration” as a result of the conference.

From 6-8 June 2023, the German National Commission for UNESCO and UNESCO ASPnet co-organized the global conference “Strengthening international collaboration towards peaceful and sustainable futures!” to gather 80 participants from 60 countries at the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin and online.


In the context of the 70th anniversary in November 2023, the conference provided a unique platform for National Coordinators, representatives of National Commissions and the International Coordination Unit to jointly develop new ideas for the network, to reflect on experiences and achievements from the past and present, and to explore ways and possibilities for a successful path to strengthen ASPnet for the future.

ASPnet – a treasure in our hands

For the opening, Assistant Director-General for Education, Ms Stefania Giannini, valued the network as a “treasure in our hands” and as “one of UNESCO`s most powerful networks” in implementing the organization`s values through education in a video message. She further encouraged the National Coordinators to commemorate the 70th anniversary as important milestone in the history of ASPnet through national celebrations as well as together with other countries to honour the global nature of the network.

Germany was one of the 16 Member States, which participated in the first “Scheme of co-ordinated experimental activities in Education for Living in a World Community” in 1953. This successful collaborative experiment evolved into today´s global network of over 12,000 educational institutions in 182 countries. Mr Luckscheiter, Secretary-General of the German National Commission, highlighted the important role of ASPnet schools as drivers for innovation and societal change:

“The schools are a mirror of society – and at the same time, they are bridges into the future. ASPnet has been this bridge to strong and democratic school cultures – from its very beginning as a little laboratory until today with a strong and important outreach.”

Responding to global challenges – Co-creating the future

For the last 70 years, ASPnet has demonstrated its role as a laboratory for innovative teaching methods and its ability to incorporate new topics and approaches into the classroom in response to global challenges and events.

(This article is continued in the column on the right.)

Question for this article:

What is the relation between peace and education?

Will UNESCO once again play a role in the culture of peace?

(Article continued from left column)

Ms Julie Saito, International Coordinator at UNESCO, drew a line from the first experiments on Rights of Women, study of other countries and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1953, to today’s school projects that retain ASPnet’s character as a laboratory of ideas and that, for example, engage students and teachers in shared learning experiences around the colonial past, promoting global citizenship education and intercultural learning.

“Our experimentation is the constant attempt to develop schools, to innovate, to pioneer, to make learning more meaningful and contemporary, to rethink education, to take into account global events and challenges and to empower all learners to assume active roles, both locally and globally, in building more peaceful, tolerant, inclusive and sustainable futures,” said Ms Saito.

Transforming the network for the future – Strengthening international collaboration

The central element of the conference were workshops by the International Coordination Unit around three core processes in transforming the network for the future. In participatory and action-oriented workshops and discussions, National Coordinators jointly explored possibilities for operationalising the new ASPnet Strategy 2022-2030 “Building peaceful and sustainable futures through transformative education”, tested the beta version of the new ASPnet community platform  or shared ideas for developing an ASPnet Young Ambassador initiative following the adopted resolution at the last UNESCO Executive Board. Further, National Coordinators were invited to share their good practices and engage in dialogues with fellow colleagues on how to strengthen transnational collaborations and school partnerships.

Mr Klaus Schilling, National Coordinator in Germany, highlighted in his closing the strengths of the network in learning together transnationally and in taking action for a better world: „The ASPnet Conference in Berlin was a strong boost to foster international collaboration and transformative learning within our network. New synergies between National Coordinators, new thematic and methodological approaches as well as clear strategies to empower students and teachers will help to dynamize cooperation within the ASPnet and to strengthen its contribution towards peaceful and sustainable futures. The rich presentations of the ASPnet Conference – for example on the pilot projects how to confront the colonial past in transnational dialogues as well as the example of Recreation Projects in solidarity with Ukraine show the enormous potential and commitment of its member institutions. ASPnet makes a real difference for another world.“

70th Anniversary Declaration of the UNESCO Associated Schools Network

At the end of the successful conference, the participants jointly endorsed the “70th Anniversary Declaration of the UNESCO Associated Schools Network”. Initiated by the ASPnet National Coordinator in Greece, Ms Vera Dilari, the declaration was the result of a co-creative process during the conference.

The declaration invites National Commissions for UNESCO, other UNESCO networks and entities, policy-makers, civil society, the private sector and other stakeholders to collaborate with ASPnet institutions, National Coordinators and the International Coordination Unit and to support and strengthen the UNESCO Associated Schools Network (ASPnet).

UNESCO ASPnet celebrates the 70th anniversary of the network under the theme “Fostering a culture of Peace and Sustainability through Transformative Education” through the country initiatives of ASPnet members as well as with a dedicated exhibition during the 42nd General Conference in November 2023.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, global, United Nations,

Global Women for Peace United Against NATO

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

A Declaration for Peace from Women against NATO

As NATO prepares for its upcoming summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11th and 12th, the peace movement is organizing internationally. We are organising protests – and as well as saying No to NATO, we are saying Yes to peace, presenting alternatives to war, and a new vision of security.

In March, many women got together online, from across the world, to present an action plan: to ensure women’s mobilization on this crucial issue. We call ourselves Global Women for Peace United Against NATO and we have produced a Declaration for Peace, outlining our message of peace, justice, solidarity, and common security.


As part of the international protests, we are organizing a programme of events in Brussels, home of the NATO headquarters. This will take place from July 6th to 9th; there will be meetings, debates, seminars, and street actions – and much of it will be available online as well as in person. Find the programme here.

Please join us however you can – and help us expand participation, especially from those living in NATO states, or in NATO ‘partner’ countries. The events are women-led but we welcome all who are against NATO to participate.

The Declaration, together with the names and affiliations of the first signatories can be found on this page. Click here to find the Declaration translated into many languages. More are being added all the time.

(Article continued in right column)

Questions related to this article:

Do women have a special role to play in the peace movement?

Can NATO be abolished?

(Article continued from left column)

The Declaration and list of signatories will be sent to the NATO headquarters, NATO members and partners, and their parliaments, together with the EU Commission and members of the European Parliament. We will make sure our voices are heard – our voices for peace and justice.

Will you join us?

Will you sign now?

Let’s build this movement for peace together!

LIST OF SIGNATORIES FROM 37 COUNTRIES

CONTACTS

Women for Peace Finland:

Ulla Klotzer: ullaklotzer[at]yahoo.com
Lea Launokari: lea.launokari[at]nettilinja.fi

WILPF USA:

George Friday: geo4realdem[at]gmail.com
Nancy Price: nancytprice39[at]gmail.com 

CND UK:

Kate Hudson: kate.hudson[at]cnduk.org

VREDE vzw BELGIUM:

Emmelien Lievens: emmelien[at]vrede.be (especially for media and press)

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Europe, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Comment by Mazin Qumsiyeh on Palestine: Hope, Present and Future

. . HUMAN RIGHTS . .

A blog in the Popular Resistance Blogspot

The past 30 hours, Israeli occupation and apartheid forces invaded the city of Jenin including the Jenin Refugee camp. They bulldozed streets and electricity and water infrastructure. They prevented ambulances and attacked he press. Thousands of people were forced to leave their homes. A second etic cleansing for them. Our people are refused international protection and as before, Israeli atrocities are done with western and Arab world complicity. The few “statements” issued by some governments to express “concern” are satisfactory to the Israeli oppressors. While the Western powers hypocritically give billions of aid to Ukraine against Russia for occupying part of its territory, the same powers support the occupiers of Palestine. They support apartheid and ethnic cleansing.


Mazin Qumsiyeh and Jessie Chang founded the Palestine Museum of Natural History and the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability. Photo from Dec. 19, 2018.

I would like to make a personal reflection here. I am 66 years old and has spent all my adult life working for the cause of freedom, A vision of sustainable human and natural communities. Hope is indispensable because we cannot afford despair. Empowerment is far more challenging because it implies work on conviction. We find it most challenging to get enough people empowered to effect the change needed. Once empowered people engage and use methods they deem most effective to get the desired results. I discussed hundreds of methods people used here, most of them not armed, in my book “Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of hope and empowerment”. I also engaged myself in dozens of popular resistance methods. For the past 9 years my wife and I have been volunteering full time (and 7 days a week) building up from scratch a “Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability. It is an oasis of hope and of sanity in the middle of mayhem. It is a candle in the darkness. I do not want you to have the illusion that we are 100% sure of our way.

(continued in right column)

Question related to this article:

Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

(continued from left column)

Doubts and uncertainty abound especially in difficult times which we face a lot and in times of crisis like this one with Jenin. For example, how certain are we (at a personal level) that our way is the right way when the Israeli regime has been bombarding us for 75 years, has caused 8 million refugees or displaced people? Was John F. Kennedy right to say “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable”? Is there a survival of the meanest and the most wicked in this crazy world? Are the majority of Palestinians infected with mental colonization that immobilizes them (I wrote a chapter on this in a book on post-colonialism)? How many people have discipline and a work ethic and a commitment to make this a better world? How many people have “enlightened self interest” rather than narrow and foolish self-interest?  Are my expectations of myself and those around me higher or lower than it should be? Last night as I pondered these and other questions in a sleepless night, I realized that I do not have many answers and what answers I have, they can only apply to me (afterall, we can only change ourselves in reality).

Twenty years ago in my book “Sharing the Land of Canaan”  I articulated what I consider the rational way to stop the onslaught on people and nature in historic Palestine (now under the boot of Israel) I add the quote from Howard Zinn related to hope which I used in that book to remind myself:

“There is a tendency to think that what we see in the present moment we will continue to see. We forget how often in this century we have been astonished by the sudden crumbling of institutions, by extraordinary changes in people’s thoughts, by unexpected eruptions of rebellion against tyrannies, by the quick collapse of systems of power that seemed invincible. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places — and there are so many — where people behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

A blog I posted in late 2014 about life and how we live

B’Tselem Conquer and divide

Palestine video 1938

Who is the national security advisor Jake Sullivan, the man running US foreign policy?

Palestinians are in Israel’s cross hairs because they are not Jews

The Hindu Nationalists Using The Pro-Israel Playbook

Bill Clinton Lied—And So Did Everyone Else: A Mystery Solved in the Israel-Palestine Conflict

HUMAN RIGHTS, Mideast

Solidarity with Palestine: Swim with Gaza

. . HUMAN RIGHTS . .

Mail received at CPNN from Paul O’Brien plus excerpts from the website of Swim with Gaza

Hi,

In your language see here: swimwithgaza.com

It would be lovely if you could join us on this international solidarity swim with children on Gaza beach on August 26th.

On that day hundreds of children who have learned to swim this summer with be streaming into the sea as part of the Gaza Swimming Festival.

Would you, your friends or family like to take to the water the same day in your own area, and send a video to us?

Maybe you could join the video live stream going to and from Gaza on the day.

See more here: swimwithgaza.com and use the form to leave your details.

Please pass this message onto others who might be interested.

It will be fun for all.

Paul O’Brien
Swim With Gaza

(continued in right column)

Question related to this article:

Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

(continued from left column)

Excerpts from website of Swim with Gaza

Since 2007 the people of Gaza have been imprisoned. They have no parks, no mountains, no valleys.

But they have the sea.

Their only free space for fun.

Let’s join them in the sea for a solidarity swim. Each year they have a swimming festival on Gaza beach. This is last year’s Gaza Swimming Carnival

This year the Swimming Festival will be held on 26th August.

The kids have already started training in Gaza

So join in wherever you are – Egypt, Lebanon, South Africa, Morocco, Spain, Ireland, Brazil or Chile.

Splash, and swim, and paddle and enjoy the sea, together.

Join them in a swim on August 26th, 2023.

Make it a festive day – bring friends and family..

TO SWIM IS TO FEEL

TO FEEL IS TO EXIST

TO EXIST IS TO RESIST

And as you are at it, why not send a message in a bottle to Gaza children, like they did recently in their Letters through the Waves campaign.

Appealing to the Waves: Children of Gaza Prisoners Make Their Case to the Mediterranean

If you would like to be involved, leave your contact details here.

HUMAN RIGHTS, Mideast

India: Interfaith Forum for Peace and Harmony formed in violence-hit Manipur for restoration of humanity

. TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

An article from the Eastern Mirror of Nagaland

With an objective to provide relief, healing and restoration of humanity to those affected by the ongoing violent conflicts in Manipur, more than 30 people including religious leaders from diverse faith converged at Lainingthou Sanamahi Temple in Imphal and formed Interfaith Forum for Peace and Harmony (IFPH) on Tuesday.

(Click on photo to enlarge)

Manipur has been in turmoil since violent clashes broke out between the Meitei and Kuki communities on May 3, claiming more than 100 lives and leaving thousands of people homeless after thousands of houses were destroyed.

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Question related to this article:
 
How can different faiths work together for understanding and harmony?

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The forum (IFPH) was launched following a meeting attended by 34 people, including religious leaders representing diverse faiths like Christianity, Sanamahi, Manipuri Gauriya Vaisnav, Islam and Tingkao Ragwang, as well as various spiritual communities such as Divine Life Society, Art of Living, Brahmakumari, Bhakti Seva Lup and Gandhian movement Ekta Parishad.

The members of the forum resolved to embark on a journey of interfaith understanding and culture of peace by taking moral and social responsibilities of the sufferings caused to thousands of people in both the hills and valley of Manipur,’ read an update received here on Tuesday.

It was also resolved to organise an all faith prayer programme to end the violence and heal the sufferings through humanitarian support services throughout the state.

All the religious leaders appreciated the eight core values of Sanamahism, including humility, trust, calmness, honesty, compassion, good thought, reflection and contentment shared during the meeting and accepted it as common values for interfaith understanding.

The update went on to inform that a working committee of the forum was constituted comprising two representatives from each faith and Deben Bachaspatimayum was appointed as the convener.

South Asia, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Argentina: Conference on culture of peace and coexistence in diversity for the community of the City of Rio Primero

.. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION ..

An article from the Universidad Provincial de Córdoba (translation by CPNN)

Last Wednesday, June 14, the Open Chair for the Right to Peace and Coexistence in Diversity, of the Provincial University of Córdoba, held a conference on culture of peace and coexistence in diversity for the community of the City of Rio Primero.

Questions for this article:

How can culture of peace be developed at the municipal level?

This initiative was proposed by the mayor of the city, Cristina Cravero, and planned by the Coordinator of the University Chair, Maria Alba Navarro.

Members of the Río Primero community participated in the event: primary and secondary level teachers; firefighters, health professionals, justices of the peace, members of the municipal management team, among others.

The meeting and training space was proposed to address concepts related to the culture of peace and peaceful coexistence, ending with the creation of proposals aimed at improving coexistence in the community.

In addition, this initiative allowed the Municipality of Rio Primero to join REDIPAZ (Inter-institutional Network and People for Peace), to begin working in a coordinated manner with the various institutions and actors that make up the Network.

These activities allow the Provincial University of Córdoba to continue contributing to the construction of a Culture of Peace and more just, peaceful and inclusive societies.

(Click here for the Spanish original of this article)

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America