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.

Past Virtual Events in April

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

Here are events and application deadlines in April that were previously listed on the CPNN page for upcoming virtual events. Where possible links are provided to recordings of the events. Unless otherwise noted the events are in English.

April 7, 7:00-8:30 pm Eastern Standard Time
China, U.S. and the Risk of Nuclear War

This webinar, sponsored by the Committee for a SANE U.S.-China Policy and Western Massachusetts Back from the Brink, will examine the dangers of a nuclear war erupting between the U.S. and China, and consider strategies for preventing this. The webinar is open to the public and registration is free.
— To register, click here

April 7, 2021, 1:00-2:30 PM Eastern Standard Time
Sustaining Peace Forum: Peace is Always Local

Sponsored by the Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability along with a number of co-cponsors
— We will explore local-led peace efforts to show that they are at the center, not the periphery, of effective peace building. The panelists will also call for radical changes in how international actors understand and engage these key stakeholders. This dialogue aims to make the case that we can no longer operate under the paradigm in which local actors are “invited to the table.” In fact, local actors are already creating the most important “tables”, in meaningful and powerful ways. This event will include prominent scholar-practitioners who each focus their inquiry on different and complementary aspects of local-led peace efforts.
— Registration

Thursday 8th of April 16:00 Central European Time
Dialogue about “The World after Corona with Jan Øberg”

Watch the lecture now available online with this link. After you watch the lecture join the zoom discussion with the link you get after registering for the event below. Prepare to share your questions to Jan over chat during the zoom event.
— The course is sponsored and organized by The Necessary teacher training College and the students attending the programme. Learn more about us on our website www.dns-tvind.dk
— Zoom registration

April 14, 10-11:30 AM Eastern Standard Time
The role of apology, repentance, and forgiveness in societal transformation

Join the Mary Hoch Center for Reconciliation and Religions for Peace for a panel discussion and learning exchange among experts, including Dr. Eileen Borris, on the role of apology, repentance, and forgiveness in social change movements and transitional justice processes. During this event you will have the opportunity to listen to agents of change from around the world who have been involved in and/or studied political apologies and social repentance efforts. Through this event we hope to learn from global experiences to inform current efforts towards racial justice, transformation, and healing in the United States.
— Register here

April 14, 2021 09:00 AM in Guatemala
How transparent is gender equality funding in Guatemala and where do we go from here?

The Gender Financing Project has mapped national and international funding for gender equality in Guatemala. Our research examines how such information could be made more transparent and useful and offers some recommendations for improved co-ordination and allocation of gender equality funding in Guatemala.
— Join our webinar to learn how the Guatemalan government and international donors are funding gender equality in Guatemala, and where key stakeholders can work together to improve the transparency of this funding.
— We welcome comments and questions from the audience, which can be submitted in advance or during the event via social media and our interactive chat.
— This webinar will have simultaneous interpretation in English and Spanish.
— YouTube recording

Apr 14, 2021 12:30 PM Central European Time
Online Workshop: Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) for 2030 framework and the Berlin Conference: Time to act – Now or Never

Summarizes the learnings from the series of online workshops and highlights the focus areas of the new framework ESD for 2030, as well as its roadmap on the way forward, from UNESCO World Conference on ESD in Berlin, Germany and beyond. The previous sessions addressed the following questions:
* how can ESD learning continue in digital or remote formats?
* how can ESD equip young people with knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to be resilient under challenging situations?
* what are the interlinkages between the health of the planet and people?
* what is the role of ESD for climate action?’ and
* how can ESD promote alternative lifestyles/livelihoods in response to consumerism?
— Zoom registration

April 14, 2021 08:00 PM in Eastern Standard Time (US and Canada)
Asia-Pacific Working Group Webinar: Biden & China – The First 100 Days. Confrontations, Competitions, and Anti-Asian

Our expert panel will assess President Biden’s first 100 days in office, which have been marked by escalating military, economic and diplomatic tensions with China and what this has meant for Asian-Americans.Featured Speakers:
— Christine Hong, Professor, University of California, author of “A Violent Peace: Race, U.S. Militarism, and Cultures of Democratization in Cold War Asia and the Pacific”
— Joseph Gerson, President, Campaign for Peace, Disarmament & Common Security, author of “Empire and the Bomb: How the U.S. Uses Nuclear Weapons to Dominate the World”
— Jake Werner, Boston University, Global Development Policy Center and Co-Founder Critical China Scholars
— Video recording

April 15, 2021 07:00 PM in Eastern Standard Time (US and Canada)
A Tax Day Like No Other: Pressing for our budget priorities amid pandemic, economic and climate crises and new Cold Wars

Organized by: Massachusetts Peace Action, Massachusetts Alliance of HUD Tenants, Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security, New England War Tax Resistance, American Friends Service Committee – Northeast Region, Maine Peace Action, Peace Action New York State (list in formation)
— For more information: info@masspeaceaction.org, 617-354-2169
— https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMrc-qrrjMsEtSzPJ328CaAEu4EczzRg0Qp”>Zoom registration

April 15, 12-1 pm Pacific Standard Time (California)
Nonviolence Skills Practice Hour- April Session

The Metta Center for Nonviolence is teaming up with Meta Peace Team for a monthly one-hour nonviolence skills practice sessions in 2021 with skills ranging across the spectrum of nonviolent intervention and personal nonviolent development.
— Meta Peace Team has trained and placed violence de-escalation peace teams locally, nationally, and internationally for over 25 years, and teaches these skills to anyone interested: They’re just as important in our own day-to-day lives! Their mission is to build a just and sustainable world through active nonviolence.
— The session will begin with a short inspirational reading, a skill review, and then participants will have a chance to practice together.
— You must register ahead of time and be available with video on Zoom for the sessions. (See below)
— This project is part of the Third Harmony Project and the Meta Peace Team “hub” project.
— Register here

Saturday, April 17, 2021 • 2:00 PM Central European Time
Threats of War: Britain’s New Global Role – Conference of Stop the War Coalition

Host Contact Info: office@stopwar.org.uk
— Our government is desperate for Britain to play a global military role. Despite the pandemic, economic crisis and crumbling services, they boosted defence spending in 2020 by the biggest margin in years. They are refusing to withdraw support for the Saudi-led war on Yemen war and are keen to be partner No. 1 in the US push for a new cold war on China.
— Make sure you join us at this conference to discuss what is driving this new round of provocations and how they can be stopped.
— YouTube recording

April 18, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (US and Canada)
International Day of Action in Solidarity with Venezuela

In 2015, the World Peace Council called for declaring April 19 the GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF VENEZUELA. The date symbolizes the Day of the Declaration of Independence of Venezuela in 1810, which constitutes the beginning of the struggle for independence from Spanish colonialism. Every year, members and friends of the WPC hold solidarity events with the people of Venezuela, and organize protests against the imperialist aggression in dozens of countries, declaring their militant solidarity with the people of Venezuela, for their right to self-determination and independence.
— Zoom Webinar moderated by Bahman Azad, Executive Secretary, U.S. Peace Council
— Bilingual (English and Spanish)
— CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

April 21, 2021 04:00 PM in Kathmandu
How transparent is gender equality funding in Nepal and where do we go from here?

The Gender Financing Project has mapped national and international funding for gender equality in Nepal. Our research examines how such information could be made more transparent and useful and offers some recommendations for improved co-ordination and allocation of gender equality funding in Nepal.
— Join our webinar to learn how the Nepali government and international donors are funding gender equality in Nepal, and where key stakeholders can work together to improve the transparency of this funding.
— We welcome comments and questions from the audience, which can be submitted in advance or during the event via social media and our interactive chat.
— YouTube recording

Fri, April 23, 2021, 2:15 AM – 3:30 AM Central European Time
Women Peacemakers

sponsored by the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice
— how international peacebuilding organizations can better partner with local women peacebuilders to address the closing spaces and increased insecurity women are currently facing when working to end cycles of violence.
— During this Kroc School signature event, you’ll hear more about these efforts, plus:
— Real stories about what it’s like being a woman peacebuilder in the Covid era
— Insights about the challenges and opportunities of being on the front lines and in the back rooms of shaping more peaceful societies
Ideas for how we can bring more equity, justice, and compassion to our communities.
— Click here to register

Saturday, 24 Apr 2021, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm (Central European Time)
Youth Summit Against NATO

The future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) depends on young people. NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, said that ”young people have the greatest stake in NATO’s future” during the NATO 2030 Youth Summit held in November last year. The new agenda of the transatlantic alliance called “NATO 2030” seeks to indoctrinate younger generations into the false narrative of militarized security that the alliance has promoted for decades. The first Youth Summit Against NATO will gather young leaders from the peace movement to share their thoughts about resisting NATO and the implications this nuclear-armed alliance will have for their future.
–> Speakers:
Angelo Cardona, International Peace Bureau, Advisory Board World Beyond War (Colombia).
Dirk Hoogenkamp, NVMP-Artsen voor Vrede, European student representative to the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) (Netherlands).
Lucy Tiller, Youth and Student, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (UK)
Lucas Wirl, Co-Chair, No to War-No to NATO (Germany).
Vanessa Lanteigne, National Coordinator, Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (Canada).
— Facebook recording

Mardi 27 avril de 19h à 20h30 (Central European Time) – en Français
Georges Corm: éclairage sur la situation au Proche-Orient

Nous avons le plaisir de vous annoncer que Georges Corm a accepté de participer à une visioconférence à la demande du Mouvement de la Paix. Son éclairage sur la situation au Proche-Orient est toujours intéressant, surtout dans le contexte actuel de désinformation, et notamment en ce qui concerne la Syrie. Cela fait déjà quelque temps qu’il n’a pas participé à des conférences en France.
— Si vous avez des questions à lui poser, merci de nous les envoyer en retour d’e-mail et nous les lui transmettrons avant cette conférence, pour la bonne tenue de cette dernière.
— Georges Corm est ancien ministre, économiste, historien, professeur à l’Institut de sciences politiques de l’Université Saint Joseph à Beyrouth. Auteur de nombreux ouvrages sur l’histoire du Liban et du Proche-Orient, dont en particulier :
“Le Proche-Orient, éclaté (1956–2012)” / Ed. Gallimard/Histoire, 2007
“Orient-Occident, la fracture imaginaire” / Ed. La Découverte, 2002 et 2004
— YouTube recording

Thursday, April 29, 2021 • 7:00 PM • Eastern Daylight Time (US & Canada)
Militarism & Climate Change: Disaster in Progress

Join us on April 29 for a webinar on the intersections between climate justice and anti-war movements.
A just transition requires not only a transition from fossil fuels to renewables, but also demilitarization. Bloated defence and border security budgets not only fund violence and destruction, but absorb resources needed to fund a just transition, build a green economy, secure economic and racial justice, and end poverty.
Addressing the climate crisis is at odds with Canada’s current plans to increase military expenditures astronomically, and sign contracts for the purchase of 88 new bomber jets and Canada’s first fleet of unmanned armed drones. Not to mention Canada’s growing role as a major global arms dealer and weapons manufacturer.
— Host Contact Info: canada@worldbeyondwar.org
— YouTube Recording

Jeudi 29 Avril 2021, 09:00 Greenwich Mean Time
Repenser la place des Femmes et des Jeunes en Afrique Post Covid 19

L’Institut Mandela(IM), le Laboratoire de Recherches et d’Actions Diplomatiques (LaRAD), et l’Ecole Doctorale Gouvernance de l’Afrique et du Moyen-Orient (GAMO) de l’Université MOHAMMED V de Rabat, vous invitent à la prochaine Vidéoconférence Panafricaine. Discours d’ouverture de Son Excellence Madame Jamila EL MOSSALI, Ministre de la Solidarité, du Développement social, de l’Égalité et de la Famille du Royaume du Maroc.
— lien Zoom

April 29, 2021, two sessions 5:30 PM in New Zealand and 5:15 Central European Time
Time for global No-First-Use policies

A webinar exploring No-First-Use (NFU) policies, their contribution to nuclear risk-reduction and disarmament, and new possibilities for their adoption by additional nuclear armed and allied states. The webinar is hosted by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and cosponsored by Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, Peace Depot Japan, People for Nuclear Disarmament, PragueVision Institute for Sustainable Security and the World Future Council.
— The first session will focus primarily on NFU in the Asia/Pacific region. Chair: Alyn Ware (New Zealand). Global Coordinator, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament.
— The second session will focus on NFU in North America and Europe. Chair: Marc Finaud, (France/Switzerland), Head of Arms Proliferation at Geneva Centre for Security Policy
— YouTube recording of first session

global, Uncategorized

Yellen pledges U.S. international cooperation, calls for global minimum tax

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by David Lawder from Reuters (Reprinted by permission)

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Monday that she is working with G20 countries to agree on a global corporate minimum tax rate and pledged that restoring U.S. multilateral leadership would strengthen the global economy and advance U.S. interests.


Reuters File Photo : U.S. Treasury Secretary-designate Janet Yellen in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., December 1, 2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

In a speech ahead of her first International Monetary Fund and World Bank Spring Meetings as Treasury chief, Yellen signaled stronger U.S. engagement on issues from climate change to human rights to tax base erosion.

A global minimum tax proposed by the Biden administration could help to end a “thirty-year race to the bottom on corporate tax rates,” Yellen told an online event hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

The proposal is a key pillar of President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure spending plan, which calls for an increase in the U.S. corporate tax rate to 28% while eliminating some deductions associated with overseas profits.

Without a global minimum, the United States would again have higher rates than a number of other major economies, tax experts say, while the U.S. proposal could help jump-start negotiations for a tax deal among major economies.

World Bank President David Malpass said finance leaders from the Group of 20 major economies on Wednesday would discuss global tax issues, including for digital services, adding that international attitudes were shifting away from continual tax reductions.

“Taxes matter to development, and it’s important that the world get it right,” Malpass told CNBC television.

Separately, a group of Democratic senators unveiled a legislative proposal to roll back parts of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 U.S. tax cuts.

(Article continued on the right column)

Question for this article:

Opposing tax havens and global exploitation: part of the culture of peace?

(Article continued from the left column)

NEW ATTITUDE

Yellen also said she would use the IMF and World Bank meetings this week to advance discussions on climate change, improve vaccine access for poor countries and push countries to do more to support a strong global recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

“We will fare better if we work together and support each other,” Yellen said.

Her more cooperative approach marks a sharp contrast to the ‘America First’ approach of her Trump administration predecessor, Steven Mnuchin. She has backed a $650 billion increase in IMF monetary reserves that Mnuchin opposed last year, and said she will work with international institutions and partners on carbon emission reduction targets.

Mnuchin had routinely opposed any climate change references in G20 and other communiques issued from large multilateral gatherings.

Yellen also has dropped here a key Mnuchin demand from international tax negotiations – a provision that would allow large U.S. technology companies to opt out of any new rules on taxation of digital services.

PRESSURE ON TAX HAVENS

The new Treasury chief said it was important to “end the pressures of tax competition” and make sure governments “have stable tax systems that raise sufficient revenues in essential public goods and respond to crises, and that all citizens fairly share the burden of financing government.”

Separately, a U.S. Treasury official told reporters that it was important to have the world’s major economies on board with a global minimum tax to make it effective, but did not say how many countries were needed for this.

The official said the United States would use its own tax legislation to prevent companies from shifting profits or residency to tax haven countries and would encourage other major economies to do the same.

The Biden plan proposes a 21% minimum corporate tax rate, coupled with eliminating exemptions on income from countries that do not enact a minimum tax. The administration says the plan will discourage the shifting of jobs and profits overseas.

Yellen said in her remarks that while advanced economies had successfully supported their economies through the COVID-19 pandemic, it was too early to declare victory, and more support was needed for low income countries to gain access to vaccines.

global, North America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT,

Angola: Luanda Biennial Strengthens Culture of Peace

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An article from the Angola Press Agency

Angola has reiterated the 2nd Luanda Biennial’s commitment to strengthening of the climate of peace in Africa.

This was expressed by Secretary of State for International Cooperation and Angolan Communities, Domingos Vieira Lopes, on Tuesday.

Focus on a culture of peace is also aimed at creating conditions to attract more foreign private investment to the continent, said the Angolan diplomat.

(Continued in right column)

Question related to this article:

The Luanda Biennale: What is its contribution to a culture of peace in Africa?

(Continued from left column)

Speaking  at the opening of the seminar on “The role of Angolan diplomacy in promoting a culture of peace”. Domingos Vieira Lopes defended the need to intensify investment and industrialisation in the continent to enhance the main export products.

However,  he appealed for the support and participation of the member states of the African Union in the Pan-African Forum,  in order to deepen knowledge about continental reality.

The diplomat said the online seminar served to reflect on the experience acquired through the peace and reconciliation process in Angola, after 19 years.

The meeting also aimed at sharing ideas on the best way to contribute to the preservation of peace.

As for the ongoing preparations for the 2nd edition of the Luanda Biennial, scheduled for next September, the Itinerant Ambassador and coordinator of the National Management Committee for the Biennial in the Angolan capital, Diekumpuna Sita José, said that the concept of a culture of peace has to do with change.

He added that the fundamental objective of African leaders is to achieve long lasting conciliation.

Africa, FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

Pope, in Easter message, slams weapons spending in time of pandemic

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An article by By Philip Pullella in Reuters (reprinted by permission)

Pope Francis urged countries in his Easter message on Sunday to quicken distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, particularly to the world’s poor, and called armed conflict and military spending during a pandemic “scandalous”.

Coronavirus has meant this has been the second year in a row that Easter papal services have been attended by small gatherings at a secondary altar of St. Peter’s Basilica, instead of by crowds in the church or in the square outside.

After saying Mass, Francis read his “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message, in which he traditionally reviews world problems and appeals for peace.

“The pandemic is still spreading, while the social and economic crisis remains severe, especially for the poor. Nonetheless – and this is scandalous – armed conflicts have not ended and military arsenals are being strengthened,” he said.

Francis, who would normally have given the address to up to 100,000 people in St. Peter’s Square, spoke to fewer than 200 in the church while the message was broadcast to tens of millions around the world.

The square was empty except for a few police officers enforcing a strict three-day national lockdown.

(Article continued in right column.)

Question for this article

Religion: a barrier or a way to peace?, What makes it one or the other?

(Article continued from left column.)

The pope asked God to comfort the sick, those who have lost a loved one, and the unemployed, urging authorities to give families in greatest need a “decent sustenance”.

He praised medical workers, sympathised with young people unable to attend school, and said everyone was called to combat the pandemic.

“I urge the entire international community, in a spirit of global responsibility, to commit to overcoming delays in the distribution of vaccines and to facilitate their distribution, especially in the poorest countries,” he said.

Francis, who has often called for disarmament and a total ban on the possession of nuclear weapons, said: “There are still too many wars and too much violence in the world! May the Lord, who is our peace, help us to overcome the mindset of war.”

‘INSTRUMENTS OF DEATH’

Noting that it was International Awareness Day against anti-personnel landmines, he called such weapons “insidious and horrible devices … how much better our world would be without these instruments of death!”

In mentioning conflict areas, he singled out for praise “the young people of Myanmar committed to supporting democracy and making their voices heard peacefully”. More than 550 protesters have been killed since a Feb. 1 military coup in Myanmar, which the pope visited in 2017.

Francis called for peace in several conflict areas in Africa, including the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia and the Cabo Delgado province of Mozambique. He said the crisis in Yemen has been “met with a deafening and scandalous silence”.

He appealed to Israelis and Palestinians to “rediscover the power of dialogue” to reach a two-state solution where both can live side by side in peace and prosperity.

Francis said he realised many Christians were still persecuted and called for all restrictions on freedom of worship and religion worldwide to be lifted.

global, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Germany: Collateral Crucifixion – Pressuring for Julian Assange’s Release!

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article by Sabine Bock from Pressenza

The artist duo Captain Borderline has created on the theme of “Collateral Crucifixion” a huge, artistic mural on a complete house facade directly in front of the SPD headquarters, the Willy Brandt House, in Stresemannstr. 15 in Berlin Kreuzberg. In conversation with the two artists, they explained to us the reason for creating the revolutionary, crucifix-like work of art.


(Click on image to enlarge)

For almost 10 years, Julian Assange has been in captivity for exposing horrific, inhumane war crimes in an oil war that violated international law and for making his knowledge available to a broad public. The UN Special Investigator on Torture, Nils Melzer, has been the only neutral body to conduct serious research regarding these incidents.

He concludes that Julian Assange has become the victim of a huge show trial whose sole purpose is to show the media worldwide the limits of investigative journalism. The real issue in this legal case against Assange, then, is freedom of the press. Journalists and whistleblowers are being made to believe, through this witch hunt, that they will suffer the same fate should they report on the illegal machinations of the American or Western establishment and governments. How else can it be that powerful men like George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld can invade a country like Iraq for no reason, bomb it, and be responsible for the deaths of almost a million people with impunity, while a man like Assange, who merely publicizes these illegal machinations of the warmongers as a journalist and publisher, ends up in a maximum security prison for it. The responsible politicians, Bush and consorts, on the other hand, can enjoy their stolen wealth in their castles unmolested. That is why we demand the immediate release of Julian Assange from the British prison and to respect the freedom of the press.

(continued in right column)

Questions for this article:

Do the arts create a basis for a culture of peace?, What is, or should be, their role in our movement?

Julian Assange, Is he a hero for the culture of peace?

Free flow of information, How is it important for a culture of peace?


(continued from left column)

To help bring to light the truth behind the construct of lies of which Julian Assange has been a victim for many years, the artist duo Captain Borderline created and completed this revolutionary crucifix-like artwork with Julian Assange as the crucified of the media world on the complete house wall directly in front of the Willy Brandt House in Berlin Kreuzberg during the Holy Week before Easter.

Note

With the purchase of an art screenprint you support the non-profit art and culture association “Colorrevolution” e.V. in financing a huge (20m*10m), media-created mural of “Captain Borderline” with this motif directly in front of the Willy-Brandt-Haus in Berlin. https://assange.colorrevolution.de/

[Editor’s note: The artists of Captain Borderline are A. Signl, B. Shanti and Dabtar, as shown here: augsburger-skandal-zeitung.blogspot.com/2013/08/wer-hat-sich-das-alles-ausgedacht.html

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Europe, FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

Drawing on Earth: The Global Creative Challenge 2021

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An announcement from Drawing on Earth

Hi Everyone, we have a new exciting big project in the mix. It’s so big we need your help, we are inviting you and the rest of the world to be part of it.

Earth Day April 22, 2021 – founder and creative director of Drawing on Earth – Mark Lewis Wagner will be attempting to set a new Guinness World Record for the largest chalk street art drawing. We have a story being birthed about imagining a climate changed, about a world creating together, about the future being a place of dynamic balance for everything.


(Click on image to enlarge)

A Creative Challenge to the World

While this is happening we are putting out a Creative Challenge to the World to be part of this Global Story. Draw, paint, dance, music, poetry, use any medium. Set your own personal world record for your largest creative expression. We’ll use FaceBook to create a gallery for everyone to share our work.

The present time of covid isolation and talk of climate change are hard on everyone, it’s especially hard on our youth. They are afraid of something they can’t see, afraid of their future, afraid for the world that they are inheriting. Adults saying, “you young people figure it out, we sure did leave you a mess” is not helpful. That’s a heavy burden, suicides are up with kids around the world for not having a reason to live – that’s OUR PROBLEM to be creative with.

What do we need now on the planet? We asked the Earth what it needed. Imagination, not the frilly stuff but the visionary powerful real imagining that makes the future happen. That’s how we put humans on the moon, made cars, cell phones, how we handled other pandemics – we imagined these first.

(continued in right column)

Question for this article:

Do the arts create a basis for a culture of peace?, What is, or should be, their role in our movement?

(continued from left column)

The Earth said it needs humans to basically grow up, or grow in. The Earth needs humans to evolve out of their current teenager mind and into our mature beings where we use our intuitions and mystery. We take responsibility for ourselves, for each other, our communities, and the world (another word for this is Initiation).

Let’s imagine the world we want to live in, and in doing so making it happen. Let’s make up a story and an artistic challenge for everyone to participate and feel connected, and then see what happens. A new tribe of creating creators.

Recipe for Success

Here is what we want and need to make it happen.

* For you to make some art on or near Earth Day April 22, 2021

* Get friends and family involved. A friend has already talked to her neighbors and everyone is going to do a chalk drawing in each of their driveways.

* Be part of our virtual team. Email us: info@drawingonearth.org for more info.

* Network to an organization in your community: art centers, schools, school district, PTA council, church, etc. and get them involved.

* Nationally Networking: children’s art museums, museums, art organizations, community organizations, Burning Man, etc..

* International Networking: every continent, countries, UN, UNICEF, etc…

Drawing on Earth

Drawing on Earth is a 501c3 nonprofit that Connects Art and Creativity to Youth and Communities Around the World. In 2008 our first project set a Guinness World Record for the largest pavement art (chalk drawing). We covered 90,000 sq. ft. of pavement (almost 2 football fields) with chalk with the help of 6,000 people, most of them elementary school kids from Alameda CA. We even had a satellite photograph the art. We mainly focus on chalk drawing on streets and school playgrounds. We have drawn on 3 continents and so far worked with 30,000 kids and adults.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, global

Breizh, France: Women of Peace

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article by Geneviève Roy for Chroniques du 8 mars 2021 de Breizh Femmes

Sarah is a young peace activist from Rennes. To conclude the evening programmed in video a few days ago by the Mouvement de la Paix , she described the citizen actions carried out by her generation as less collective than those of their elders. “We try to seek peace from day to day through dialogue, exchanges, travel. Our outlook is different because for most of us we have not known a war first hand.” Impressed by the words of the various women who testified from one end of the planet to the other, she deplored the lack of commitment of young people “caught up in everyday life” in a society “where everything goes fast”.


These women were not lacking in enthusiasm when recounting their commitments for peace. However, “women’s work for peace is neither visible nor valued,” regretted Croatian journalist Shura Dumanic, relating the loneliness of activists in her country who do not receive any support from the state and can only count on NGOs or European religious associations.

“If we don’t start with the children, we will never guarantee the existence of peace or equality”

From Nabila the Palestinian to Birgitta the German via Mina in Algeria or Fatema in Morocco, all their voices praised the strength of women in this difficult fight for peace.
“When civil society acts effectively to promote the goals of peace” – recalled Birgitta Meier from Erlangen – “women are always in the forefront”. And it is for this reason that Mouvement de la Paix had chosen this year again to highlight them on the occasion of the month of March devoted in Rennes to women’s rights.

For many of them, building peace requires education. In Gaza, Nabila Kilani, English teacher and founder of an educational and cultural center, says: “If we don’t start with children, we will never guarantee the existence of peace or equality.” And she seems to have started well. She initiated her project in 2009 with two children and now welcomes 120! “We are reopening the minds of children to give them hope for a better future for themselves and for all of Palestine”.

(Article continued in right column)

(Click here for the original article in French.)

Questions related to this article:

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

(Article continued from left column)

For her part, the Japanese Miho Shimma fights relentlessly against nuclear weapons, choosing among other things, to address children. “One day I saw French children playing atomic warfare,” she says; that’s how her book l’Enfant Bonheur was born, now published in French but also translated into English, Italian, German and even an Indian language.

“Women are the first victims of global warming in many countries”

Women who work for peace also do so for more equality. In Germany, Birgitta Meier testifies, the peace movements work in convergence with the feminist movements and also the environmental movements. “We cannot do peace education without showing the role that women play in advancing these ideas, but without also approaching environmental movements since women are the first victims of global warming in many areas countries”.

Feminism and the environment was also discussed by Mina Cheballah who is leading a project in Algeria with feminist activists working with women farmers. “The culmination of the project is the safeguarding of ancestral seeds by the creation of a community seed bank in order to allow farmers to no longer depend on the big firms which force them to buy seeds every year.”

International firms also indicted by Miho Shimma in the name of her commitments to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki but also to the Bikini Atoll where she is from and which still bears the after-effects of the American nuclear tests of the 1970s. “When I disseminate information on atomic bombs, I am not only talking about the victims of nuclear weapons, I am also talking about the victims of nuclear tests.”

It’s the same concern for Tran to Nga. “I was under the bombardments, I buried comrades with my own hands.” 80 years old, she does not stop fighting against Agent Orange, responsible in Vietnam for many deaths and malformations still present on the site. fourth generation of population. “I started out on my own”, she says, referring to the too long trial that has occupied her for ten years – “but today I have thousands and thousands of friends around me all over the world, and my fight will continue because Agent Orange is the ancestor of pesticides and other toxic products which continue to poison our Earth.”

These determined women, despite the magnitude of the task, retain their enthusiasm in their struggle for peace. And which is perfectly illustrated by the conclusion of young Sarah: “for me, peace today is promoting social ties because it is the ignorance of other cultures which leads if not to war at least to fractures between human beings. . Unfortunately, I feel that this sense of combat is lost a bit with my generation when we could bring our skills to associations.” An observation which is perhaps already the beginning of a commitment.

Europe, global, WOMEN'S EQUALITY,

Brazil: Policy for the Culture of Peace and Restorative Justice is prepared by the Municipality of Recife

.. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION ..

An article from the Diario de Pernambuco

On Monday [March 26], the City of Recife drafted a Bill 009/21 with a proposal for a new Municipal Policy for the Culture of Peace and Restorative Justice and sent it to the City Council. According to the press office of the City Hall, the project was the result of a broad debate with the society.


Centro Communitário de Paz, Recife

The press office also states that the capital of Pernambuco “is one of the first to have such a complete law and that it covers all areas of municipal competence.” Once the proposal is discussed and approved by Casa José Mariano, the Recife City Hall, through the Citizen Security Secretariat, will have a Municipal Council for the Culture of Peace and Restorative Practices.

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(Click here for the Portuguese original of this article)

Questions for this article:

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

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The formulation of the proposal started at the 1st Municipal Conference on Culture of Peace and Restorative Justice, held on December 16 and 17, 2019, at the Catholic University of Pernambuco, where public and private institutions discussed the construction of paths and solutions to the difficulties that have been encountered by in the municipality in the field of security, justice and human rights.

“According to the adviser, at the final plenary session, after two days of debate, 123 proposals were approved covering the six axes:
* The Culture of Peace;
* Restorative Practices and conflict transformations;
* Human Rights and ethnic racial relations;
* Gender, sexuality and vulnerable populations;
* Social participation and citizen protagonism;
* Communication and training.

Several proposals are foreseen in the new municipal policy, among them is the training in conflict mediation and non-violent communication for teachers and traffic agents, integrative health practices, the creation of a policy of continuous training of Culture of Peace for employees of the City Hall, conducting restorative circles in prisons, conducting workshops against bullying and other forms of violence, among other proposals.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America

Brazil: Ecocine International Film Festival of Environmental and Human Rights

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article from the Folha de Pernambuco (abridged)

The Ecocine International Environmental Film and Human Rights Festival begins today and continues until the 5th ( https://ecocine.eco.br/), an online meeting that gathers documentary series and films that focus on the environment. The virtual event brings together a list of 134 films in streaming from 35 countries, including Brazil, India, Holland, Malawi, France, USA and Iran.


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(Click here for the original version of this article in Portuguese.)

Question for this article:

Film festivals that promote a culture of peace, Do you know of others?

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The films address issues of an urgent nature with global impact. There are special sessions for children, adolescents and educators. All sessions are free.

Freedom

According to the event’s founder and anthropologist, Ariane Porto, the themes of environmental and human rights are so many and so urgent, that the voices coming from all directions meet and sometimes clash. ”We chose this year to honor “Liberdade.” Freedom to be, to be, to come. Freedom to stay, to rebuild, to resist, to change. Freedom of body, spirit, mind. And, fundamentally, freedom to live in a socially and environmentally sustainable world, where all species, human or not, have the right to exist”, she writes on the event’s website.

Free

Among the highlights is “From trash to treasure” (photo), a documentary directed by the Brazilian Iara Lee, which portrays a community in Lesotho, Africa, which transforms tons of garbage into everyday clothes and accessories. Another one in the spotlight is “Professor Polvo”, a film that is included in the race for an Oscar statuette this year – in the Documentary category, available on Netflix. The catalog can be accessed on the event website through quick registration.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Senegal: “Ethnic remarks”: the Platform of Women for Peace in Casamance calls for “serenity”

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

An article from Press Afrik

The members of the Platform of Women for Peace in Casamance (PFPC), meeting on March 25, 2021, deplore the ethnic comments made by some people in the country. According to them, “the social climate in Senegal is increasingly harmful because of these words and tendencies with connotations” dangerous and never known in the history of our Nation. The members of this platform call for serenity and social stability in the country.

“Our nation is characterized by a multiethnicity which, instead of being a source of division, is a richness and a pledge of a symbiosis, a harmony, a mutual respect. The joking cousin is the real social cement that unites the Serer to Pulaar, Diatta Ndiaye to Diop, the game of fraternal alliances which banishes any hostility between Diola and Serer. Respect for the other in his difference are in the process of being dangerously put to the test, ”said the members of the Platform of Women for Peace in Casamance in a statement made public.

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(Click here for the original French version)

Questions for this article

Can the women of Africa lead the continent to peace?

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They add: “These pillars of social stability, woven for millennia between ethnic groups, have always reduced tensions and possible crises are automatically and socially attenuated. Our nation has always known how to overcome its crises together as one people, with purpose and faith ”.

According to members of the platform, for some time now, comments that weaken these pillars have been made from north to south of the country. “A disrespectful speech of the other, which discredits and minimizes his neighbor because of his ethnicity. And even worse, we are witnessing a pitched battle between identity associations which once owed each other protection and mutual respect,” they added.

Continuing, the members of the PFPC express their deep dismay at the multiplication of divisive speeches and conflicting ethno-geographic actions recorded in recent days in the press and by certain politicians. According to them, this kind of speech and behavior is a source of hatred, seriously endangering human security, peace and national unity.

The PFPC condemns the resurgence of socio-ethnic and socio-political tendencies. They urge the State of Senegal and all voice carriers to curb these ethno-psychological tendencies by putting in place functional mechanisms for strengthening social dialogue and good practices in terms of a culture of peace, of socio-cultural and politico-religious coexistence.

The members of the Platform of Women for Peace in Casamance call on political actors, opinion leaders and members of the press to make and disseminate positive, constructive and peaceful speeches.

Africa, WOMEN'S EQUALITY