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.

Egypt: Women’s Conference in Gharbia organizes “Women’s Peacemaker” conference

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article from Soutalomma (Google translation from original Arabic)

The National Council for Women in Gharbia Governorate organized a conference in the conference hall of the governorate’s General Directorate entitled “Women Who Make Peace Together against Extremism and Terrorism”, on the occasion of the International Day of Peace, in the presence of Mr. Ahmed Saqer, Governor of Al Gharbia, Major General Ahmed Saqr, Governor of Al Gharbia, Dr. Saad Al-Zant, Director of the Center for Strategic Studies and Communication Ethics, and Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim, Dean of the Faculty of Law Tanta University, Dr. Zeinab Abu El Fadl, Professor of Jurisprudence at the Faculty of Arts, Dr. Yasser Qansouh, Professor of Political Philosophy at the Faculty of Arts, and Dr. Rania El Kilani, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Faculty of Arts and a number of executive leaders at the government level.


(Article continued in the right column)

Question for this article

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

(Article continued from the left column)

The aim of the conference was to consolidate the role of women in establishing a culture of peace, fighting extremism, stirring brotherly spirit among the people of the homeland, rejecting hate speech, rejecting the other and consolidating the role of women in dealing with the effects of terrorist events and restoring national balance.

Al-Gharbi stressed in his speech the pivotal role of women in consolidating culture of peace and eradicating terrorism and extremism through educating children especially in light of the circumstances and challenges faced by the country, pointing out the need to observe the behavior of children and work on their evaluation.

The Governor of Gharbia praised the role of Dr. Safaa Mara’i, Rapporteur of the National Council for Women in the West Branch in supporting the role of women through continuing courses to raise awareness of women in all fields and to identify the problems of rural women and to present them to the officials to solve them. During the conference, Al-Gharbia in supporting the role of women in Gharbia province and thanked him for his interest in the activities of the Council, pointing out the role of women in society and facing terrorism through proper education.

Mideast, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

United Nations: Erica Ford Leads the International Day of Peace with Oprah’s Winfrey’s Guru Deepak Chopra

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An article from The Source

In 1994, Tupac Shakur tapped Erica Ford to be The Chairwoman of The Code, his Brooklyn-based anti-violence organization, she knew her life would never be the same. Hip-Hop needed a moderator, someone who in the midst of all the machismo ‘rah-rah’ could come in and usher peace in as a lifestyle. This has been her call: To work with rappers to use their prophetic gifts of emceeing and attraction to promote good. 20+ years later, Erica is still stomping the streets and moving Hip-Hop culture towards a lifestyle of peace.

Thursday, September 21, 2017, Ford attended the United Nations’ International Day of Peace for a conversation on the intersection of violence and public health. In attendance was New York City Council Member, Robert E. Corneygy, Jr (36th District), Shanduke McPhatter, the CEO & Founder of Gangsta’s Making Astronomical Community Changes (GMACC), Dr. Michael A. Lindsey, Director of McSilver Institute and Professor of Poverty Studies at New York University and Oprah Winfrey’s personal yogi and spiritual advisor, Deepak Chopra (The Chopra Foundation). Ford also provided an inclusive platform for Hip-Hop at the table for The Urban Yogis — a rap collective that also teaches yoga throughout South Jamaica, Queens to kids seeking to find a way to destress from the chaos of the day.

Question(s) related to this article:
FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, United Nations

Feminist icons join bid to upend Congo’s rape capital reputation

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article by Sebastien Malo from the Thomson Reuters Foundation

Leading feminist figures from around the world lent their support on Thursday to scores of Congolese women gathered in a bid to end the Central African country’s rape epidemic.

Giving women a role in peace efforts in the conflict-torn nation could help address its astronomical rate of sexual violence, they said, which has earned it the tag of “rape capital of the world.”

More than 400,000 women are raped in Congo every year, and much of the sexual violence is considered to be a by-product of years of fighting.

The women, hailing from each of Congo’s provinces and meeting in Kinshasa, linked up via social media with Liberian Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee and Ms. magazine co-founder Gloria Steinem in New York.

Involving Congolese women in ending the nation’s ongoing political turmoil would help establish the law and order needed to prevent rape, they said.

Gbowee, who was co-awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize for her work for peace and women’s rights, warned against incendiary politics getting in the way.

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Question related to this article:

Protecting women and girls against violence, Is progress being made?

(article continued from left column)

“Peace is more important than any political ideology,” she said.

“You have to tell yourselves ‘For us to start this journey, for us to work together collectively to sustain the peace in Congo, we have to put aside those things that will easily take us from on track’.”

A string of ethnically motivated attacks including rapes has been reported in recent months as Congo’s government has been fighting insurgents in the central Kasai region.

Violence in Congo follows President Joseph Kabila’s decision to stay in power beyond the end of his two-term mandate. It has escalated amid fears that a presidential election may not take place.

Speaking from her native South Africa, Navi Pillay, the former U.N. rights chief who rose to prominence as an anti-apartheid lawyer, said she was reminded of her own country’s struggles in establishing democracy for all.

“I feel for you right now because we also twenty years ago started like you did, we got into a room, all the women,” she said.

“Even though we disagreed with one another, we agreed on the principle points we want which is equality and fundamental rights and democracy.”

Gbowee, Steinem and Pillay were joined on the Donor Direct Action Facebook Live broadcast by television series creator Lena Dunham, actress Meryl Streep and Sweden’s Foreign Minister Margot Wallström, who called Congo the rape capital in comments she made as a United Nations Special Representative on sexual violence in conflict.

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article)

Africa, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2017

.. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ..

An article from the Transcend Media Service

Nuclear power was born in a sea of euphoria out of a collective American guilt over dropping the atomic bomb. And for at least two decades it was the “clean” alternative to coal that was going to meet all of our energy needs forever. The Three Mile Island meltdown, in 1979, ended the euphoria but the dream continued and it still goes on without much regard to contrary facts.


(click on image to enlarge)

The opponents of nuclear power have shown a similar disregard for changing facts. They largely ignored the fact that many well-meaning people viewed local air pollution and climate change more of a danger than nuclear. In those years shutting down a nuclear plant did mean increased emissions of local pollutants and green house gases.

The debate about nuclear power was similar to talking about a religion. It was seldom grounded in all the relevant facts- each side had a religious belief in their point of view boosted by whatever ad hoc facts supported their view.

Because of that history, this 2017 World Nuclear Industry Status Report is perhaps the most decisive document in the history of nuclear power. The report makes clear, in telling detail, that the debate is over. Nuclear power has been eclipsed by the sun and the wind. These renewable, free-fuel sources are no longer a dream or a projection-they are a reality that are replacing nuclear as the preferred choice for new power plants worldwide.

(Continued in right column)

Question for this article:

Are we making progress in renewable energy?

Is there a future for nuclear energy?

(Continued from left column)

It no longer matters whether your greatest concern is nuclear power or climate change the answer is the same. The modern-day “Edisons” have learned to harness economically the everlasting sources of energy delivered to earth by Mother Nature free of charge.

The value of this report is that this conclusion no longer relies on hope or opinion but is what is actually happening. In country after country the facts are the same. Nuclear power is far from dead but it is in decline and renewable energy is growing by leaps and bounds.

The entire Report is must reading so that the facts of nuclear decline in the U.S., Germany, Japan, and France –indeed just about every country- really sinks in. It is more than symbolic that the Japanese Government has formally accepted the death of its breeder reactor, which was the original holy-grail of nuclear power.

Most revealing is the fact that nowhere in the world, where there is a competitive market for electricity, has even one single nuclear power plant been initiated. Only where the government or the consumer takes the risks of cost overruns and delays is nuclear power even being considered.

The most decisive part of this report is the final section- Nuclear Power vs Renewable Energy Development. It reveals that since 1997, worldwide, renewable energy has produced four times as many new kilowatt-hours of electricity than nuclear power.

Maybe the Revolution has not been televised, but it is well underway. Renewable energy is a lower cost and cleaner, safer alternative to fossil fuels than nuclear power.

The world no longer needs to build nuclear power plants to avoid climate change and certainly not to save money. If you have any doubt about that fact please read the World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2017.

global, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, Uncategorized

USA: Labor Unions Are Stepping Up To Fight Deportations

…. HUMAN RIGHTS ….

An article from the Huffington Post (reprinted according to the principle of “fair use”)

Organized labor is finding creative ways to protect immigrant members and families vulnerable in the Trump era.

Yahaira Burgos was fearing the worst when her husband, Juan Vivares, reported to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in lower Manhattan in March. Vivares, who fled Colombia and entered the U.S. illegally in 2011, had recently been given a deportation order. Rather than hide, he showed up at the ICE office with Burgos and his lawyer to continue to press his case for asylum.


UNITE HERE 631 out in force in Phoenix demanding that Motel 6 stop cooperating with ICE

Vivares, 29, was detained for deportation. That’s when Burgos’ union sprang into action.

Prepared for Vivares’ detention, members of the Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ gathered for a rally outside the ICE office that afternoon, demanding his release. Union leadership appealed to New York’s congressional delegation, enlisting Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D) to reach out to ICE leadership. The union president even disseminated the name and phone number for the ICE officer handling Vivares’ deportation and urged allies to call him directly.

“I was very lucky to have a union,” said Burgos, a 39-year-old native of the Dominican Republic who works as a doorwoman on the Upper East Side. “They moved very fast. They moved every politician and every union member. … If it were not for the union he would be deported.”

Vivares is now at home with Burgos and their 19-month-old son, having been granted a stay of deportation as the court considers his motion to reopen his asylum case. Although he’s far from being in the clear, his lawyer, Rebecca Press, says the union’s quick response was critical to keeping Vivares in the U.S. for now. “I do believe that their being able to reach the upper echelons of Congress gave us a window of time,” she said.

Vivares’ case provides a vivid example of the gritty work unions are doing to protect immigrant members and their families vulnerable to deportation in the Trump era.

Their efforts show the ways in which many unions ― particularly those in the low-wage service sector ― have become de facto immigrants rights groups advocating for their members. They also show how much organized labor on the whole has evolved on immigration issues. It wasn’t so long ago that unions generally viewed undocumented workers as competitors who undercut wages (in fairness, some unions still see them that way).

In recent months unions around the country have been hosting “know your rights” workshops to teach workers how to handle encounters with ICE agents and where to turn when someone is detained. They’ve provided legal assistance to and rallied around members and their families who have wound up in deportation proceedings. And they have made a concerted push to win language in union contracts aimed at avoiding deportations and helping workers who run into problems with their immigration papers.

“We’re trying to make people realize that part of the power of being organized at work is you really do have the ability to get additional binding protections if you have the strength to win them at the bargaining table,” said Shannon Lederer, the director of immigration policy at the AFL-CIO, a federation of 56 unions.

Some unions have gotten employers to agree to notify a shop steward whenever ICE or the Department of Homeland Security reaches out to the company about employees’ status. They have also succeeded in getting companies to agree not to allow immigration officials onto the worksite unless they have a warrant. In some contracts, employers have vowed not to conduct “self audits” of their employees’ immigration paperwork unless the feds force them to.

While these tactics predated Trump’s election, unions are now making them a priority. The AFL-CIO recently distributed a nearly 200-page toolkit to its member unions that included contract language they could push for with respect to immigration. In many cases, companies and unions have a mutual self-interest in enacting the protections: Employers do not want to lose trained workers, and unions do not want their members deported.

(Article continued in the right column)

Questions related to this article:

The post-election fightback for human rights, is it gathering force in the USA?

What is the contribution of trade unions to the culture of peace?

(Article continued from the left column)

Ron Herrera, the secretary-treasurer at Teamsters Local 396 in Los Angeles, said it was a point of pride for his union to secure clauses in their sanitation contracts guaranteeing workers a grace period for dealing with any snags that come up with their work papers. The contract assures that, so long as they can eventually clear up the problem, the workers won’t lose their jobs or their seniority while they deal with immigration officials.

Herrera said he has received two phone calls in the past week from alarmed members who are working under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which was created by President Barack Obama. The program granted legal work status to an estimated 800,000 young undocumented immigrants who’d come to the U.S. as children. Last week Trump said he would rescind DACA in six months, leaving it to Congress to pass legislation authorizing such a program.

Herrera’s union is a good example of the changing demographics of many labor groups. As a Latino, Herrera said, he was an affirmative action hire at UPS in the 1970s. Now, many of the workplaces his union represents are predominantly Latino. “Even if somebody has legal residence, a lot of times there’s a family member that doesn’t,” he said. “We need to step up and understand that this social issue is actually a work issue, too.”

One of the most powerful things a union can do for an undocumented worker or family member is intervene politically on his or her behalf. Not all cases turn out like that of Juan Vivares. Eber Garcia Vasquez, a Long Island sanitation worker and father of three U.S.-born children, was detained by ICE last month. He had left Guatemala and entered the U.S. illegally 27 years ago. His union, Teamsters Local 813, rallied in lower Manhatta after he was detained, and the union’s Washington lobbyists took his case directly to the Trump administration.

Garcia Vasquez was nonetheless sent back to Guatemala last week, according to the Daily News. He hadn’t been back since he left more than a quarter-century ago.

Many unions have launched training programs aimed at helping members navigate run-ins with immigration agents. In Seattle, an immigrant rights group taught members of SEIU Local 775 how to run such workshops; the union’s members in turn were able to fan out and teach colleagues.

“It’s stuff that we’ve always had on our radar but we kicked into high gear,” said Heather Villanueva, one of the union’s organizers. “The tone changed from generally talking about it to literally trying to protect families once Trump was elected.”

In Austin, Texas, the teachers union has been doling out Fifth Amendment rights cards and packets to help students’ families plan for immigration raids. Many teachers sought out rights training from the union after seeing how frightened their students’ families had become, according to Montserrat Garibay, the vice president of Education Austin. They have been partnering with pro bono immigration attorneys to host presentations for families after school hours.

“We feel this is a crisis that the Latino immigrant community is going through right now,” Garibay said. “As teachers we feel an ethical and moral responsibility.”

The hotel and hospitality union Unite Here, which is heavily immigrant, went so far as to create a ringtone in Spanish called “Nada Nada,” with lyrics enumerating one’s rights when la migra comes knocking: “If immigration comes to arrest you, keep calm / You have the right to not sign anything and not say anything.”

Maria Elena Durazo, Unite Here’s general vice president, said the union redoubled its efforts on immigrant rights once it saw Trump’s cabinet taking shape, with nominees such as Jeff Sessions, now attorney general, making clear that the deportation talk was more than campaign bluster. The union wants to insert more immigration safeguards into new contracts moving forward, like having employers contribute to assistance funds for undocumented workers who lose their jobs, she said.

Part of the challenge unions face, Durazo said, is making all their members see the value of such investments, particularly those who have little sympathy for undocumented immigrants.

“The main thing is to understand the union as an organization of their fellow workers, that we’re all in this together,” she said. “In some places, that could be more difficult: Why are we doing this if they’re here undocumented? It takes a lot of work to build that kind of clarity and solidarity.”

North America, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

France: What mobilizations for peace?

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article in L’Humanite (translated by CPNN)

Panel discussion with Paul Quilès, President of IDN, former Minister of Defense and former Chairman of the Defense Committee of the National Assembly, Patrice Bouveret, Director of the Armaments Observatory, co-host of Ican France (International Campaign to abolish nuclear weapons) and Roland Nivet, vice-president of Mouvement de la Paix.


Background facts. With the exacerbation of tensions in Asia, the question of peace is urgent. As part of the International Day of Peace, a call for demonstrations everywhere in France on Saturday 23 September was launched by a collective of more than 50 organizations.

A renewal of international tensions seems to be observable since the inauguration of the new President of the United States. Is this situation irreversible?

Paul Quilès
Donald Trump is not solely responsible for what you call the revival of international tensions, even though his foes and his changing and aggressive attitude tend to destabilize the international scene. Beyond the excitement of a news that the media make us live minute by minute, we must put the developments in their context in the long term. Our multipolar world is crossed by many conflicts of interests and potential confrontations. The reduction of tensions can only be achieved if there is an international will of the great powers to dialogue, which is irreconcilable with systematic defiance, radical antagonism and threats.

The new arms race that we are witnessing is making this dialogue even more difficult. It is regrettable in this respect that France, which is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), is not meeting its commitments and is preparing to substantially increase the budget for nuclear deterrence. As for the official discourse of the atomic weapons powers (including France), it is similar to that of the North Korean leader in an astonishing way, justifying the possession of this weapon by the need to defend the “vital interests” of their countries ! The agreement negotiated two years ago with Iran shows that even in a very complex context, a strong political will and persevering diplomatic work can open the way for a less conflict-oriented world.

Patrice Bouveret
The renewal of tension began before Trump came to the presidency of the United States, although his way of managing his country’s relations with the rest of the world resulted in an acceleration of certain ongoing crises. Effectively, we have to get out of the short media time to take into account, on the one hand, the root causes of the current international disorder – mainly the reinforcement of inequalities – on the other hand, the main threats we face, climate change and weapons of mass destruction. History has taught us that no situation is irreversible. Everything depends on the ability of different civil societies to seize this or that topic to shake up the game of states and their leaders – both internally and within the international community. In this regard, the adoption of the UN treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons last July is a good example of what mobilization of associations can achieve when they group around a specific objective and find relays among a majority of States. The fierce opposition of the nuclear Powers, the pressure they have exerted on many States, underlines, if need be, the shock caused by this development.

Roland Nivet
Trump multiplies irresponsible decisions and contributes to creating a climate of fear to justify massive increases in the US military budget, a source of profits for the military-industrial complex. It will be increased to $ 600 billion in 2018 (+ $ 54 billion). It fuels the arms race ($ 1.8 trillion worldwide in 2016), the militarization of international relations, and perpetuates the logics of domination. The policy of NATO encircling Russia, the Korean crisis, etc. strain tensions. These policies accentuate the uncertain and dangerous character of the present period. The situation, especially in the Near and Middle East, shows that war is always a failure, leads to chaos and engenders monstrosities like Daech. It is never the solution. On the other hand, the political resolution of the Iranian crisis, the peaceful transition in Colombia and the adoption of a treaty banning nuclear weapons in the United Nations show that political solutions are possible and that nothing is irreversible.

The United Nations voted a nuclear-weapons treaty on 7 July. How can we get out of the era of nuclear terror?

Patrice Bouvere
By bringing this treaty into force so that the nine current nuclear powers – the five permanent members of the Security Council – the United States, Russia, France, China, the United Kingdom, plus India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea – find themselves forced to participate, not only by stopping to modernize their arsenal – as planned in particular by France – but also by eliminating their nuclear weapons in a controlled, transparent and irreversible way. This implies, of course, a complete change in their strategy, which is currently based on the threat of mass destruction, a strategy not aimed at ensuring the security of the population, but their domination on the international scene – or the regime’s “impunity” its national space as for North Korea or Israel – at the risk of total destruction of the planet! Yet, as Mikhail Gorbachev noted in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet bloc, “everyone must ensure the safety of the other”. It is exactly the opposite way that is being implemented with the nuclear threat and the increase in military budgets.

(Article continued on the right column)

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

Question for this article:

Does military spending lead to economic decline and collapse?

(Article continued from the left column)

Paul Quilès
This requires demonstrating that nuclear weapons are useless in current and future conflicts, that they are in themselves a cause of nuclear proliferation, that they are very costly, and that they are terribly dangerous. The world came close to the catastrophe during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, not to mention the dozens of accidents or possible misinterpretations that could have led to the outbreak of nuclear war. Tomorrow, a technical error, a cyber attack, a terrorist attack could threaten global security. Even limited use of nuclear weapons would have catastrophic environmental impacts on a part of the planet, resulting in the devastation of agriculture, cold and famine through a “nuclear winter”. The treaty that has just been voted at the UN is to delegitimize nuclear weapons, as has already been done to eliminate other weapons of mass destruction – biological, chemical – antipersonnel mines, submunitions, to prohibit nuclear testing and even to reduce nuclear weapons stocks (from 70,000 in the late 1990s to about 15,500 today). It is the indisputable proof of the will of a majority of States to overcome the era of nuclear terror, despite the strong contrary pressures of the “endowed” states.

Roland Nivet
The UN treaty of July 7 states that atomic weapons pose a major risk of humanitarian catastrophe. It prohibits any State from engaging in the development, testing, production, manufacture, acquisition, possession or storage of nuclear weapons and prohibits any commitment to use or threaten to use weapons nuclear. This is another historic achievement in the actions that, since the 1950s, have mobilized tens of millions of people for the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction, without undervaluing the determination of the military-industrial complex and of the nine States, which possess a total of 18,000 nuclear bombs (184 states do not), to delay its implementation. But the principle of the illegality of nuclear weapons being confirmed, it is the timetable for their elimination which is now on the agenda. The register of ratification of the treaty will be opened at the UN on September 20, 2017. There is urgency to get together in action to win ratification of the treaty by the maximum number of states, including France, but also the immediate freeze modernization programs, for which it is planned to double the expenditure on nuclear weapons in France in the years to come, when so many resources are lacking to meet social needs (health, education, employment).

What can be the role of popular mobilizations to promote peace as a goal of international relations?

Patrice Bouveret
War is above all the result of a political choice. So it is obvious that the mobilization of the various civil societies and the establishment of strong solidarities between them, are paramount. It remains to define what is meant by the word “peace”! We are witnessing a global pacification of our societies. The number of deaths due to armed conflict is decreasing. Except that in parallel, the number of migrants, the violence they suffer, is exploding; the climatic catastrophes have dramatic human consequences that are becoming more and more important, to take only the two most glaring examples … Except that this pacification takes place with a reinforcement of the militarization of our societies, through the development of various tools social control, the reduction of individual freedoms, etc.

Peace is not only the absence of war, but must be accompanied by freedom and social justice. It must be shared by all of us, no matter where on the planet we live. It is indeed the whole issue of the nuclear-weapons treaty that concerns the right of non-dominant states to say precisely the right, a binding right for all.

Roland Nivet
A global convergence of forces for peace is brought about by the mobilization of the peoples (trade unions, NGOs, parliamentarians, mayors, International Red Cross, feminist, pacifist and environmental movements, associations for the defense of human rights, social forums …) with the action of the United Nations. It is this convergence that has won the prohibition treaty and seeks to build peace through projects such as the culture of peace and the objectives of sustainable development (SDO). In this context, the collective “En marche pour la paix” was founded in France, including more than 120 different organizations working for human rights, against racism and xenophobia, for gender equality, for the decrease in armaments expenditure, for peace education, to deal with the climatic emergency. In this dynamic, 53 organizations of this collective have co-authored a white paper for peace, which formulates concrete alternative proposals for a policy of peace. This white paper is meant to be a tool for the debate and the popular mobilization of all those who intend to come together so that the right of everyone to peace and human security is the primary goal of international relations. Believing that “none of our differences of belief, belonging or philosophical, political, religious, trade union or other sensibilities should hinder the expression of our common will to live in peace in a world of solidarity, justice and fraternity”, this collective calls, within the framework of the International Day of Peace, to organize, all over France, Saturday, September 23, marches for peace to express this common will. These marches will also contribute to the global wave of peace launched on 6 August 2017 in Hiroshima

Paul Quilès
This mobilization would be desirable and certainly effective, even if the leaders do not always listen to the people! It would still be necessary for the latter to be able to express himself or herself and to be provided with the information needed to assess what is happening when a conflict spreads. For example, the alarmist and sometimes caricatured statements about the Korea do not help understand the distant origin of the confrontation between North Korea and the United States, the interests involved, and the role of China. By suggesting warlike responses (bombardment of Korean nuclear sites), evoking the hypothesis of a third world war, or suggesting that France might be at the mercy of a Korean missile fire, to prove to public opinion that there is no other answer than military, this is inaccurate.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Europe

Brazil: Mahatma Gandhi monologue will bring the Culture of Peace to the Municipal Theater of Barueri

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An announcement by Barueri na Rede (translated by CPNN)

On Thursday, September 9, with two presentations, at 3 PM and 8 PM, the Municipal Theater of Barueri will feature the free monologue of Mahatma Gandhi, The Change We Want to See, performed by the actor and journalist João Signorelli. The purpose of the show is ‘to spread a culture of peace and to replace the culture of war and domination of the other by a culture of respect and acceptance of cultural diversity’.


During the 50-minute presentation, Signorelli shows the public the trajectory of Gandhi as leader and his task of sowing solidarity among peoples. Throughout the day there will be a program focused on the theme Culture of Peace and Nonviolence, a thinking for peace – that begins at 1:00 pm with the exhibition Occupation for Peace, followed at 2:00 pm by a children’s talk and a sample of research on the theme done by students of the municipal network.

The first presentation of Gandhi’s monologue will be at 3 o’clock. The program extends to 19 hours with poems recited by students of municipal schools and ends at 20 hours, with another presentation of the show Mahatma Gandhi – The Change We Want to See.

In 2000, the manifesto For a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence was launched by Unesco with six basic principles: respect for life; reject violence; be generous; listen to understand; preserve the planet; rediscover solidarity.

For those who want to check out the monologue presentations, free tickets are already available at the TMB box office, located at Rua Ministro Raphael de Barros Monteiro, 255, in Jardim dos Camargos.

(Click here for the original Portuguese version)

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Mexico: Cristina Ávila-Zesatti and peace journalism

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An interview by Erik Flores for NTR Zacatecas

Although she could be considered a wandering soul, because she has changed cities more times than her years, Cristina Ávila-Zesatti still retains her two great dreams of 20 years ago: that of exercising a journalism that awakens consciousness and being grateful to the people who have helped her on her way.

In an interview with NTR Media, the writer commented that she provides an emotional break from conventional journalism that you read every day, because she has dedicated herself to peace journalism. For this she does not restrict herself to “good news”, but she approaches reality with another perspective and another ethical motivation. Instead of emphasizing conflicts, she highlights solutions.

“I consider that conflicts, from open warfare to economic, political and ecological conflicts of all kinds, can be seen from the perspective of offering a solution. Even if only a description of the problem is made, this type of journalism achieves a completely different social change than one gets from conventional journalism,” she said.

On November 4, the Women’s Peacepower Foundation will award Cristina Ávila Zesatti the Woman Peace Award 2017 at its headquarters in Tampa, Florida, USA, for the work she has done for peace, especifically her peace journalism .

She has worked for “the great monsters” of the media and realized the difference between counting not only the problems but also peaceful, non-violent outlooks; “I found there is a whole social universe ignored by traditional journalism, even scorned, badly treated and a bad way to tackle content, and in this universe I discovered the peace that you can find in the world.”

For this reason, Ávila-Zesatti wrote her first book: “Mexico in the labyrinth of contradiction.” It shows how to bring peace to a country that is not officially at war by explaining the phenomenon of violence from the perspective of peace studies.

Now in Zacatecas she is writing “Peace that does exist (and that journalism ignores)”, in which 20 international stories of peace are told; for three years the book was rejected by eight publishers, and now in its second edition, Texere distributes it throughout Mexico.

 Culture of violence

Cristina Avila-Zesatti explains that “what we are seeing now is a very deep corruption since 2006, with the war against narco, when a very irresponsible civil war was declared, and now what scares us is physical violence, death. ”

However, she stressed that Mexico has for many years been immersed in a violent culture, “and now it is turning against us, that is why I am saddened so much the way that the media covers this phenomenon. It hurts us all. As a guild it does not help to heal, it does not help the country to heal, it does not help the country to understand itself in another way “.

She poses the question, if the narco traffic were to be terminated, by legalization or some other way, “would people stop killing?, would there be no more deaths from the drug? I do not think so because the wound in Mexico is much deeper. It is time that we start to face it in another way, because to divide the country into hitmen, policemen, military and ordinary people will not lead us to heal. We are killing each other, this is really a civil war, I do not think compartmentalizing violence is the solution. ”

“It is not that homicides are more important than femicides, but our great capacity as a people for cruelty is worrying. We are a cruel people. And you can see in simple comments about Enrique Peña Nieto, when people regret that the plane did not crash in which he was traveling.”

Ávila-Zesatti explains that “this speaks of the underlying, cultural, learned violence that we have normalized. You can see when there is a news about a riot in jail. The comments are: ‘the more they suffer, the better’. Even though journalism does not cause this, journalism creates a vicious cycle that puts us into a downward spiral from which it will be hard to escape. ”

(Interview continued in right column)

(Click here for the original program in Spanish)

Question for this article

Journalism in Latin America: Is it turning towards a culture of peace?

(Interview continued from left column)

That is why she has dedicated herself to peace journalism, “which is not “ipso facto” journalism, a journalism of reaction. It is not catchy headlines; I believe that journalists have in their hands an enormous responsibility to make ordinary people understand the world around them. ”

However, adds Cristina Ávila-Zesatti, “if journalists do not even understand what is happening around us, if we do not scratch deep, if we do not investigate, if we do not put together the pieces that allow us to have moral responsibility, to try to explain the world to others , we are part of the problem.”

For this woman from Zacatecas, “the world needs a “slow journalism,” because the world is going very fast. We need to explain what is happening, but the journalists themselves are not understanding it or giving themselves the opportunity to understand it. ”

On how to do peace journalism in Zacatecas, Cristina Ávila-Zesatti stressed: “one must have the intention. In Zacatecas and in Mexico, in general, I would be pleased to hear journalists who know what needs to be done.”

She added: “in Zacatecas I have not found the curiosity that the profession of journalism should have. Journalists are not well trained. They are very politicized, with many interests, which are completely removed from journalistic ethics. The first thing that is needed is to do something for society, to accept that the vocation and profession of journalist means that you never stop learing, because you are covering a reality that is constantly changing.”

“Journalists should always be learning, because we form minds. I have offered courses in peace journalism, but no one wants to take them. And it is paradoxical that in other countries I recognized for what I do for peace journalism while in Zacatecas I have not been able to do anything with it,” she lamented.

“I love my land very much, but precisely because I love her, I can not help but see her great reluctance to move forward from her stagnant situation; nevertheless, I always ask young journalists, above all, not to stop dreaming, not to surrender their dreams of changing the world. Imagine what it would be like if all the journalists decided to do journalism because we want things to change and improve,” she said.

Cristina Avila-Zesatti has rejected money offered for projects which, in her words, “what they want is for me to tell only about the violence in this country, but I do not want to tell only that part of my country. My country is violent and it is raping every day, but there is another part that we need to listen to, count and rescue, and that almost nobody wants to hear.”

She explained that the mass media incites frustration, fear and, therefore, an internal war, which will end up transforming into an external war, whether personal, family or social. We need another kind of journalism that can collaborate which what is peaceful and to face the world in a non-violent way.

“I believe in the power of the word. In my beginnings in journalism I dreamed of being a war correspondent and, in the end, I became a correspondent of peace. I look at the darkest part of the world from its most luminous side, and that part we all have, both personally and socially, and I still believe that the word has the choice between immensely healing or immensely destroying,” she added.

Tireless Activist

Cristina Ávila-Zesatti is a tireless activist. She rescues animals. She has earned a degree in Communication Sciences from the Universidad del Valle de Atemajac, a master’s degree in Documentary Drama from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and a degree in Culture of Peace from the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.

For her pacifist activism she has received national and international awards from the Madrid Press Association in Spain; the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Germany, and the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) in Mexico.

Cristina Ávila-Zesatti has given lectures and workshops in Mexico, Spain, Colombia and the United States; was editor in the Channel TV6, of Guadalajara; producer on Telemundo in western Mexico; producer and publisher of International News for Cable News Network (CNN); head of correspondents for NBC-Telemundo International, as well as associate producer in documentaries for MS-NBC Investigatives, Canadian Television and ARD German Public Television.

In 2003-2006 she dedicated herself to research journalism in Belgium, France and Spain, in social issues, and was a collaborator of the Mexican weekly journals Day Seven and Eme-Equis, among other publications.

Currently she edits Corresponsal de Paz on the Internet, which has an average of 30 thousand readers per month, with visits from more than 70 countries on five continents.

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, Latin America

Brazil: Community mediation centers begin to work in Recife and Olinda

. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .

An article from Diario de Pernambuco (translated by CPNN)

The conflict mediators trained by the Secretariat of Justice and Rights (SJDH) began to work in two conflict mediation centers opened in the districts of Rio Doce in Olinda and Bomba do Hemetério in Recife. The spaces are part of a set of eight that will be implemented in six districts of the metropolitan region and managed by four Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), with the support of the State Government through the SJDH, and the Conflict Mediation Program of the Executive Secretariat of Rights Human Rights (SEDH). The partnership was signed on July 18 with the NGO’s, Collective Mulher Vida, Grupo Ruas and Praças, Cáritas Brasileira NE2 and Grupo Adolescer.


Seminar for Community Conflict Mediators in Recife

The Bomba do Hemetério community nucleus is in operation at the Giganda do Samba, at Rua das Pedras. The space, managed by Cáritas Brasileira NE2, has four mediators and offers initial assistance on Monday from 8am to 1pm and on Friday from 2pm to 5pm. It is necessary for the interested party to present their identity card and inform the contact telephone number. After an initial evaluation, the mediation will be scheduled.

(article continued in right column)

(Click here for the original article in Portuguese)

Discussion question

Mediation as a tool for nonviolence and culture of peace

(article continued from left column)

In Rio Doce, the community nucleus works at the Composer Antônio Maria Polyvalent School, located at Avenida Acácias. In the space, which is managed by the Collective Mulher Vida, the service is carried out by three mediators, on Wednesday from 9am to 11am, and on Friday, from 2pm to 4pm. Those interested must attend the place with photo identification and proof of residence.

Santo Amaro is the next neighborhood to have a center inaugurated. This Tuesday, at 13h, the Adolescent Nucleus opens the doors for the population. On Thursday it is the turn of the Grupo Ruas and Praças to start serving the community. The inauguration of the space happens at 13.30.

The mediators underwent training lasting 40 hours of classes, taught between July 18 and August 08 by the technical team of the Conflict Mediation Program of SEDH, formed by a psychologist, social worker and lawyer. Among the topics covered in the training were human rights, culture of peace, conflicts, community mediation, the role of mediator and the social assistance network.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America

Mexico: Tlalnepantla initiates program of Youth for a Culture of Peace

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article by Huellas de Mexico (translated by CPNN)

Mayor Denisse Ugalde Alegría has launched the program “Youth for a Culture of Peace”, which provides for the painting of murals with different messages in more than 120 public spaces to raise public awareness of the importance of promoting a healthy coexistence through positive actions.


A mural in Tlalnepantla

Speaking to more than 100 young people who gathered in the municipal esplanade, Denise Ugalde stressed that their participation is fundamental for the development of this municipality, as they represent 30 percent of the population.

She announced that starting on September 29 the city will implement the program “Drive for life, Drive for peace”, aimed at reducing the number of car accidents due to alcohol.

She said that according to statistics of the Pan American Health Organization, Mexico ranks seventh in the world in deaths from road accidents involving young people between 15 and 29 years of age, hence the challenge of the 2016-2018 administration is to raise public awareness about this problem.

(continued in right column)

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

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)

Alejandra Rangel Díaz, director of the Municipal Institute for Youth, explained that the program “Youth for a Culture of Peace” was born from a project of several areas of the administration that seek to spread healthy coexistence between people through different activities.

She explained that on the instructions of the municipal president, the murals should carry short messages and images that promote a culture of peace, such as respect for people, animals and care for the environment.

She added that with the support of the Social Communication Coordination, to date 60 murals have been painted throughout the municipal territory, in which young people can freely express themselves, thus contributing to crime prevention.

She stressed that private initiatives have also joined in this project, providing their respective fences so that the people of Tlalnepantlenses can express themselves and thereby prevent them from falling into misconduct.

The municipal official said that this program is in addition to the nearly 100 events that were held on the occasion of the Youth Month, including a speech contest, a forum on human rights, sexual diversity talks, gender equity and participation youth policy.

In this event, attended by Eunice Santos, coordinator of Social Communication; Rubén Omar Herosa, representative of the Regional Red Cross; and Alejandra Rizo, president of Santa Monica Scouts; the artist, Antonio García Mendoza “AKO”, indicated that all the murals contain elements that besides promoting peace, convey a sense of identity and belonging.

It should be noted that as part of the program,”Youth for a Culture of Peace”, it is contemplated to give a new image to outdoor theaters, among them, the Algarabía, which soon will have a mural that will be selected through a contest.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America