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.

Navajo Nation: Seeds of Hope during the COVID-19 Pandemic

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

A press release by Alastair Lee Bitsóí at Utah Diné Bikéyah

As the spread of the coronavirus continues to impact Indigenous communities and disrupt the global supply chain, a “Seeds and Sheep” program launched by Utah Diné Bikéyah’s Traditional Foods Program will help offset this need by empowering Ute and Diné citizens in San Juan County [Utah] to grow their own foods this spring for the months ahead. 

The need for the “Seeds and Sheep” program comes at a time when the coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, continues to impact the Four Corners region. In the Navajo Nation, for example, the incident cases of COVID-19 continues to increase with approximately 2,654 positive COVID-19 cases and 85 deaths, as of Thursday. In San Juan County, the incident cases continue to climb, with 119 positive COVID-19 cases with 12 hospitalizations and two deaths, according to the San Juan Record. 

“The stars, sun and clouds are yearning for our people to place seeds in the soil to rehydrate our relationship with Earth as we restore holistic health and balance during this challenging time,” says Cynthia Wilson (Diné), UDB’s Traditional Foods Program Director. “We are sourcing drought resilient seeds adaptable to the Four Corners region to gift to Native families willing to establish self-sufficient food systems as cultural solutions to overcome this pandemic.” 

In spite of this plight, UDB board and staff remain hopeful and committed to the various Indigenous communities it serves. For the past seven weeks, UDB has been working closely with Bluff Area Mutual Aid (BAMA) and the Rural Utah Project to provide over 600 families in San Juan County with emergency food relief.

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Question for this article:

What is the relation between movements for food sovereignty and the global movement for a culture of peace?

How can we work together to overcome this medical and economic crisis?

(article continued from left side of page)

We have received generous donations from Salt Lake City Area COVID-19 Mutual Aid ($10,000+ in donated goods); Cherokee People (10,000 surgical masks); Lowes Hardware ($10,000+ in gardening supplies); CoalaTree (100 face masks); 7th Generation products ($10,000+ in cleaning supplies and product); The Nature Conservancy; the Redd Ranch (2,000 of ground beef); the Salt Lake Patagonia store (food); 

Ardent Mills (½ ton of flour); Diné Farmers from Burnt Corn Valley; Pueblo seeds donated by the Traditional Native American Farmer’s Association; the several Indigenous varieties from Native Seeds Search; and Dirt2Table (40+ sacred plant seedlings). We have received over $20,000 in individual donations for COVID-19 relief efforts, which has been used to purchase bulk orders of food (through BAMA, SL Covid, and Pueblo COVID Relief) and the launch of the “Seeds and Sheep” program in San Juan County, Utah. 

This past week, we also received support from the Clark family, brothers Ron and Cliff, and parents Vicky and Dennis and volunteers, who sourced and delivered water storage tanks to 65 families who have no running water in San Juan County. These 275-gallon drinking water tanks will allow our families to shelter in place within the second highest infected county in Utah. More water tanks are still needed for both drinking water and gardening this summer. 

According to UDB Board Chairman Davis Filfred (Diné), the need to offer seeds as a source for food during this COVID-19 pandemic is needed more than ever. “Let’s go back to planting where everything is organic. We need to redo our ditches for irrigation and planting. We need to grow our own foods again like our ancestors,” Filfred says. 

To receive seeds sourced from Native seed keepers, Wilson recommends interested Native Americans from the Southwest to take a quick survey to request seeds. The survey is an important tool to help the Traditional Foods Program learn to better serve community members. Thanks to Diné Farmers from Burnt Corn Valley, Pueblo seeds donated by the Traditional Native American Farmer’s Association, and the several Indigenous varieties from Native Seeds Search for their generosity of expanding seed sovereignty among our communities. 

“Our spiritual leaders are also talking about the need to repair our relationship to the earth across all of humanity. Here at Utah Diné Bikéyah, our organization is supporting the elders who say, ‘It is time to plant corn, it’s time to pray for abundant food and wild game, and it is time to come together as a community to help each other,’ says Alastair Lee Bitsóí (Diné), communications director for UDB. “These are unprecedented times, and we are looking to the most knowledgeable land stewards in Utah to guide us forward.” 

North America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Agroecology: The Real Deal For Climate Crisis In Africa

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article from the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa

12 African organizations are taking action together online, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, to call for action on climate change and promote agroecology

* Agroecology is Africa’s future for healthy, nutritious, and resilient food systems

* Agroecology is Africa’s best solution for climate change adaptation

* Agroecology cares for Mother Earth and restores biodiversity

* Agroecology addresses the imbalances between the powerful and the powerless

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) is pleased to officially launch a social media campaign on Agroecology for Climate Action, today, April 21, 2020. The campaign will also observe the occasion of Earth Day 2020, which will be internationally celebrated on April 22. The campaign will be live between April 21-23 on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. The official hashtag for the campaign is #Agroecology4Climate

AFSA launched policy advocacy endeavor in 2019, during the first Africa Climate Week in Accra, Ghana championing agroecology as an African solution to the climate crisis. The major purpose of the drive was to establish agroecology as a key policy response to the climate crisis that is negatively impacting Africa.

This social media campaign intends to mobilize and engage with the digital community in Africa and establish agroecology as the real deal to feed Africa and cool the planet.

AFSA Chairperson Dr Chris Macoloo emphasized the challenge we face: “Africa is the continent hardest hit by climate change while contributing the least to its cause. Drought, land degradation and ocean-temperature-rise threaten the livelihoods of many millions of African farmers, pastoralists and fishers. Agroecology mitigates and adapts, putting carbon back into the soil, and provides innovative ecological solutions to meet the climate challenges.”

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Question for this article:

What is the relation between movements for food sovereignty and the global movement for a culture of peace?

How can we work together to overcome this medical and economic crisis?

(article continued from left side of page)

Dr Million Belay, General Coordinator of AFSA, said, “Holding a social media campaign on Agroecology for Climate is of urgent importance to AFSA. This is to quickly adapt to the new challenge that the coronavirus pandemic presented in communication as well as inject the voice of urgency to deal with the industrial agriculture, which is the root cause of the COVID 19 and the climate crisis.”

AFSA aims to establish agroecology as the priority African-led solution to the climate crisis.

The three-day social media campaign intends to:

* Promote agroecology as an African-led solution to climate emergency.

* Establish agroecology as a modern, scientific, and viable farming system that feeds Africa with culturally appropriate, healthy, and nutritious food.

* Establish agroecology as the most ecologically friendly farming system that works with the environment, nurtures biodiversity, and helps mitigate climate crisis.

Bridget Mugambe, AFSA Program Coordinator said, “Agroecology is a reverse response rejecting the industrial monoculture agriculture that contributes more than 90% of greenhouse gas emissions, degrades the environment, depletes biodiversity, erodes diverse cultures, and only feeds less than 30 percent of the world population. Campaigning for agroecology is campaigning for healthy and sustainable food systems while celebrating the farmers that feed 70% of the population with less than a quarter of all farmland.”

The online campaign will join a Twitter storm on April 22 commemorating World Earth Day. It is an ideal day to speak of the greatest bountiful gift that nature provides, our ability to farm and feed ourselves. We will join citizens of the world in their quest to make the human enterprise care and act towards a harmonious future that works for all life forms on earth.

AFSA is the biggest continental voice for food sovereignty and agroecology in Africa. It is the largest network of networks in Africa with more than 40 network members with a combined potential reach of up to 200 million Africans. Its membership embraces farmers, indigenous communities, pastoralists, hunters and gatherers, fisherfolk, consumer networks, women and youth networks, faith-based organizations and civil society organizations (CSOs).

Follow us on Twitter @Afsafrica, on Instagram @Afsafrica, and on Facebook AFSA.

Africa, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

North Africa: The Corona pandemic and the Struggle for our Peoples’ Resources and Food Sovereignty

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

A presentation by Omar Aziki published by The Transnational Institute (reprinted according to a Creative Commons Licence:Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 licence.)

Today, it appears that the Coronavirus Pandemic will inadvertently cause humanitarian tragedies of immense proportions. Its health, social, economic and psychological repercussions vary depending on social status. The lower classes will be the first to suffer from the lack of public healthcare and medication, as well as from the economic recession’s impact on employment and the cost of living.


Watch the video (In Arabic)

The spread of Covid-19 has exposed a relationship between the health crisis and other crises  brought about by the capitalist system. The latter includes financial crises (the crash of stock markets worldwide) as well as economic (the decline of production and economic recession), environmental (climate change and loss of biodiversity) and political ones (the rise of totalitarian governments and an institutional strain of international capitalism). The virus has also found fodder in the immigration crisis (spread across all continents) and the food crisis. There is a correlation between the vulnerability of the human immune system and the recurrence of epidemics. The manner by which agriculture has transformed, from an activity that produces ecological and healthy food, to a profit-making industry built on the poisoning of our bodies and environment.

Capitalism has destroyed subsistence agriculture, a mode of production in harmony with its environment, and caused massive deforestation and over-exploitation of marine resources. Meanwhile, big corporations have seized the genetic heritage developed by peasants through the centuries. They have appropriated a biodiversity constructed through the natural selection process of varieties of seeds, plants, and livestock. As such, GMOs were disseminated based on the logic of excessive production. These organisms form the basis of destructive monoculture, using production techniques that heavily depend on chemical fertilizers, toxic pesticides, industrial feed, added hormones and antibiotics. This heinous process of production affects both farm and marine animals. Capitalist conglomerates have dominated plant and livestock production chains, as well as distribution and consumption networks. The globalization of transportation and communication, as well as advertising (which is one of capitalism’s most effective weapons) made the penetration of an industrial consumer-oriented food regime possible.

That’s how famine developed; from which more than 820 million people suffer around the world today. And we mustn’t forget that the numbers do not reflect the extent of malnutrition in the countries of the South (especially amongst women and children) and its repercussions on the outbreak of diseases. The food dependency of most of the countries of the South was intensified by the agricultural policies of the big capitalists who produced to export what the world markets required according to the international division of labour. The import of essential commodities became dependent on speculative food markets. This is the reality experienced by the countries of North Africa and the Middle East, which have become one of the largest global importers of foodstuffs. These countries live at the mercy of food markets, a reality which has subjected them to regular bread riots as food prices have risen during the last 40 years. The most recent are the protests resulting from the food crisis in the context of the 2007-2008 international financial recession. This food crisis can be directly linked to the subsequent popular uprisings we witnessed in most countries in the region, from the end of 2010 until the beginning of 2020 when confinement measures obliged protesters to desert the streets.

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Question for this article:

What is the relation between movements for food sovereignty and the global movement for a culture of peace?

How can we work together to overcome this medical and economic crisis?

(article continued from left side of page)

Today, as our region faces the Covid-19 outbreak, we see direct producers risking their lives as they resume their activities. Meanwhile, agricultural capitalists continue to show their disregard for the workers’ lives. They deny their right to preventive health measures both in transportation and inside production units while benefiting from state support, tax concessions, loan facilities and other benefits. On the other hand, small farmers, fishers, herders and agricultural labourers suffer from the lack or insufficiency of social subsidies, public healthcare, on top of a rise of prices for essential commodities, falling incomes and outright job loss.

The North African Network for Food Sovereignty, to which I belong, has put forward a series of demands and urgent measures  to be implemented through the entire health emergency period:

a. For small farmers, fishers, herders, forest workers and the unemployed in rural areas:

b. The payment of monthly compensation, no less than the minimum wage in rural areas, for the entire health emergency period.

c. The amount of compensation should be proportionate to the number of dependents in the worker’s household.

d. The universalization of social security and healthcare coverage and access to regular pensions.

e. The cancellation of debt owed by small farmers.

f. Providing all types of support to subsistence farming activities (in plains, mountains, forests and oases), subsistence stockbreeding, and coastal subsistence. As well as encouraging the consumption of their products through the creation of direct markets and fighting illegal and monopoly speculation.

For employees who lost their jobs in the fishing and agriculture sectors:

a. The payment of full wages.

b. The payment of employees’ social security contributions.

c. The cancellation of consumer credit and micro-credits.

For all direct producers in agriculture and fishing sectors:

a. The creation of a fund to regulate the prices of essential commodities (major food crops, vegetable oils, sugar, butane gas…)

For households, the state must cover the cost of:

a. The means of protection against Covid-19.

b. Medication and all medical services.

c. Water, electricity, communication networks and rent.

d. Children’s education.

Indeed, the deterioration of living and healthcare conditions will once again fuel popular uprisings which are already finding new ways to manifest themselves during the lockdown. We in the North African Network for Food sovereignty will work to engage with and mobilise small farmers, fishers, herders, forest and agricultural workers in this upcoming struggle.

We will continue, from within the Network, our activism and campaigns for:

* Popular education.

* Strengthening solidarity and organizational links.

* Speaking up against repression and the stifling of freedom of expression

* Exposing the prevailing model of production and consumption.

* The alternative of Food Sovereignty.

Africa, Mideast, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT,

The end of plastic? New plant-based bottles will degrade in a year

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by Jillian Ambrose in The Guardian (“Courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd. open license for personal, non-commercial website)

Beer and soft drinks could soon be sipped from “all-plant” bottles under new plans to turn sustainably grown crops into plastic in partnership with major beverage makers.

A biochemicals company in the Netherlands hopes to kickstart investment in a pioneering project that hopes to make plastics from plant sugars rather than fossil fuels.


 A mound of plastic bottles at a recycling plant near Bangkok in Thailand. Around 300 million tonnes of plastic is made every year and most of it is not recycled. Photograph: Diego Azubel/EPA

The plans, devised by renewable chemicals company Avantium, have already won the support of beer-maker Carlsberg, which hopes to sell its pilsner in a cardboard bottle lined with an inner layer of plant plastic.

Avantium’s chief executive, Tom van Aken, says he hopes to greenlight a major investment in the world-leading bioplastics plant in the Netherlands by the end of the year. The project, which remains on track despite the coronavirus lockdown, is set to reveal partnerships with other food and drink companies later in the summer.

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Question for this article:

How can we ensure that science contributes to peace and sustainable development?

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The project has the backing of Coca-Cola and Danone, which hope to secure the future of their bottled products by tackling the environmental damage caused by plastic pollution  and a reliance on fossil fuels.

Globally around 300 million tonnes of plastic is made from fossil fuels every year, which is a major contributor to the climate crisis. Most of this is not recycled and contributes to the scourge of microplastics in the world’s oceans. Microplastics can take hundreds of years to decompose completely.

“This plastic has very attractive sustainability credentials because it uses no fossil fuels, and can be recycled – but would also degrade in nature much faster than normal plastics do,” says Van Aken.

Avantium’s plant plastic is designed to be resilient enough to contain carbonate drinks. Trials have shown that the plant plastic would decompose in one year using a composter, and a few years longer if left in normal outdoor conditions. But ideally, it should be recycled, said Van Aken.

The bio-refinery plans to break down sustainable plant sugars into simple chemical structures that can then be rearranged to form a new plant-based plastic – which could appear on supermarket shelves by 2023.

The path-finder project will initially make a modest 5,000 tonnes of plastic every year using sugars from corn, wheat or beets. However, Avantium expects its production to grow as demand for renewable plastics climbs.

In time, Avantium plans to use plant sugars from sustainable sourced biowaste so that the rise of plant plastic does not affect the global food supply chain.

global, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Webinar: How Young People Can Lead Climate Change Action – November 2019

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An announcement and video from YOUTHLEAD (updated)

Around the world, young people possess the passion and potential to create solutions for the world’s toughest challenges—including climate change. Focused on the connection between localized learning and collective action, this webinar [builds] awareness around the issue of climate change, provide applicable skills and recommendations, and better equip young leaders and changemakers to take action in their own communities. The International Youth Foundation invites you to join Mohsen Gul—the co-founder of Green Box—and a panel of guest speakers from across sectors. We hope you can join us for this informative, instructive, and inspiring discussion. Together, we can create the future we want!


Video of webinar

Moderator: Ehsan Gul

Ehsan co-founded Green Box, a youth-led national think tank aiming to help create routine attitudes, values, and actions for sustainable development. He now serves as a volunteer with the organization providing strategic support. A 2018 Atlas Corps Fellow, Ehsan has a master’s degree in Sustainability (Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management) from the University of Nottingham, UK. He has a wide range of professional experience in the development sector with organizations including UNESCO, Punjab Public Health Agency, and the International Youth Foundation, where he worked on the Social Innovation team to develop and launch new programs to engage young people around the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Currently, Ehsan is the Head of Experimentation for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pakistan.

Speakers:

Mohsen Gul

Mohsen is the co-founder of Green Box, a youth-led national think tank on actions and strategies for sustainable development. A Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford, his latest research focuses on how youth engagement is constructed and interpreted within wider environmental governance frameworks and geographical contexts. With over 7 years of diverse experience in the international development sector, Mohsen has undertaken a range of research and advocacy assignments with UNESCO, UNDP and UN Volunteers in the UK, Thailand, Kenya, Brazil and Nepal. As the lead author for the UN’s Global Environment Outlook for Youth report, he directs a team to develop simple, engaging, and scientifically informed content and tools for young people. Mohsen is an honorary member of UNESCO advisory panel on youth and has recently been selected as regional finalist for the 2019 UN Young Champion of the Earth (Asia and the Pacific) award.

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Question related to this article:

How can webinars and online courses contribute to the culture of peace?

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Hai Ha Vu Thi

Driven by her passion to collaborate with young leaders across the globe to address social, economic and political injustice, Hai Ha has worked with grassroots initiatives on gender-based violence (GBV), Youth Development and Migration in France, Nepal and Sierra Leone. Today, as the Youth Program Officer at UNESCO Ha Noi, she fuels youth enthusiasm in changing the status quo in their communities by using innovative and creative ways to involve youth from all walks of life to have a say at the decision-making table. Hai Ha’s master’s degree in human rights and humanitarian action at Sciences Po combined with her experience in co-founding the Start Up “Kiron Open Higher Education France” set the foundation for her commitment in spurring social change for and with youth.

Mandy van den Ende

Mandy is a Coordinating Lead Author for UN Environment’s Global Environment Outlook-6 for Youth (GEO-6) report. She is also a Junior Researcher at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, where she works on futures methods and citizen participation in policy. She explores and tests practical methods to involve citizens in the process of designing, planning and building climate-resilient urban deltas. During her master’s thesis on transformative bottom-up futures, Mandy got involved in the GEO-6 report as a Contributing Author. In GEO-6 for Youth she is now part of an amazing team that informs the youth with several scenarios and concrete transformative movements towards a radical, different, sustainable future. When she is not behind her laptop, Mandy can be found at her newest initiative: a local, organic farmers market in Amsterdam, which she sees as a concrete step in building a fair, more sustainable food chain chain.

Maryam Inam

Maryam is a passionate environmentalist and a communications specialist. She holds a master’s degree in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science and has diverse work experience with the government, civil society and international organizations. She has extensively worked on issues related to climate change, biodiversity conservation, humanitarian crisis and poverty alleviation with different development organizations such as WWF-Pakistan, Concern Worldwide and National Rural Support Programme. At a policy level, she has carried out research work with Food Security and Climate Change section of Government of Pakistan’s Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform. Maryam is also a freelance journalist who likes reporting and penning down her thoughts and opinions about development issues and challenges in Pakistan, particularly related to climate change. Currently, she is working as the Reporting and Communications Officer with Youth Empowerment Programme at United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pakistan.

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global

Webinar and Video: Young Women Fighting for Our Planet

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An announcement and video from Nonviolence International (updated)

We are excited to invite you to join us for Nonviolence International’s weekly Wednesday webinar series called We Are All Part of One Another— April 22nd at 10:30 am-12:00 pm EDT (1430-1600 GMT). This Wednesday we focus on “Young Women Fighting for Our Planet” featuring Phyllis Omido from Kenya, Kehkashan Basu of the United Arab Emirates, Tamara Lorincz from Canada, Juhee Lee from Korea, and hosted by Dr. Maia Hallward.


video of webinar

Panelists include:


Phyllis Omido: A Kenyan environmental activist. She was one of 6 people to be awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015. She is known for organizing protests against a lead-smelting plant located in the middle of Owino Uhuru, a slum near Mombasa. The plant was causing lead poisoning by raising the lead content in the environment, killing residents, in particular children, and harming others, including her own child. The plant was ultimately closed.  She is the founder of the Centre for Justice, Governance and Environmental Action (CJGEA).

Kehkashan Basu: A climate, ecology, and human rights activist. She is a United Nations Human Rights Champion, Youngest Recipient of Canada’s Top 25 Women of Influence, Winner of the International Children’s Peace Prize and Founder-President of Green Hope Foundation. She is also the Youth Lead of the Toronto-St.Paul’s Constituency Youth Council, Youngest Recipient of L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth Canada, a Climate Reality Leader, TEDx Speaker, Youth Ambassador of World Future and Former Global Coordinator of Children and Youth at the United Nations Environment Programme MGFC. Her organization works with young people and other sections of civil society in 15 countries, especially with marginalized youth and women, fighting for the rights of women and children.

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Question related to this article:
 
How can webinars and online courses contribute to the culture of peace?

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

(continued from left column).

Tamara Lorincz: A Ph.D. candidate in Global Governance at the Balsillie School for International Affairs at Wilfrid Laurier University. She has a Masters in International Politics & Security Studies from the University of Bradford and a Law degree and MBA specializing in environmental law and management from Dalhousie University. Her research is on the climate and environmental impacts of the military. She’s a member of the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Tamara is also on the advisory committee of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and the No to NATO Network. She was involved in the international 2019 No to NATO mobilization and started the monthly protest against NATO in Toronto in 2019.

Juhee Lee: A former intern at Nonviolence International from Korea, a staffer at the Korean Climate Change Center.

Our host Dr. Maia Carter Hallward, is a full professor at Kennesaw State University, Georgia, USA, in the School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding, and Development and Executive Editor of the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development. Maia has published widely in the fields of international relations, civil resistance, and international conflict management, including textbooks on International Conflict Management (2019, Routledge) and Nonviolence (2015, Polity).  A former intern at Nonviolence International, she became a vegetarian for environmental reasons at 13.

Through these timely webinars, Nonviolence International will educate, inspire, and build a strong community as we work for a better world.

Over the coming months, we will be hosting an impressive range of nonviolent activists, thinkers, and leaders. We hope that you will make our new webinar series a regular part of your week. Each week you will hear a powerful story of how people are using creative nonviolence in these difficult days. 

We look forward to an interactive and inspirational webinar series

global, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Online World Conference: No Nukes, Climate Justice, Peace , April 25

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An announcement from Massachusetts Peace Action (updated)

In the context of the suffering and changes being wrought by the pandemic, the six- hour world conference [focused] on the continuing urgent need to abolish nuclear weapons and its relationship to stanching the climate emergency and challenging injustices which have left so many people marginalized and vulnerable. Additional sessions of the World Conference and four workshops will be for a healthier time in the future.


Video of conference

To accommodate people across the world the conference [was] held at 9 a.m. New York/Boston time (3 p.m. in Europe, 10 p.m. in East Asia) with simultaneous interpretation. The conference [was] held in concentric circles with up to 500 people in the conference itself with simultaneous live streaming so everyone can join by listening in. The conference [was] recorded and posted and made available on the worldconference2020.org and co-sponsors’ sites for continuing availability.

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Question related to this article:

How can webinars and online courses contribute to the culture of peace?

(Article continued from left column.)

No Nukes – Climate – Justice – PeaceSpeakers include :
• Sharon Burrows (ITUC, Australia)
• Reiner Braun (IPB, Germany)
• Joseph Gerson (AFSC/CPDCS/IPB, USA)
• Emad Kiyaei (IDG Group, Iran)
• Hiroshi Takakusaki (Gensuikyo, Japan)
• Rev. Liz Theoharis (Poor People’s Campaign, USA)
• Dr. Carlos Umana (IPPNW, Costa Rica)
• Wada Masako (Japan Confederation of A- & H- Bomb Sufferers Organizations, Japan)

Invitations pending to United Nations Office for Disarmament, the Sunrise Movement, and Marshall Islands

ONLINE WEBINAR – April 25th, 2020 @ 9:00 a.m. EDT

[The Youtube film of the conference is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v63jCpBJEXc

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global

Campaign Nonviolence: Weekly Nonviolence Online Community Course

EDUCATION FOR PEACE . .

An announcement from Pace et Bene

INTRODUCTION TO NONVIOLENCE ONLINE COMMUNITY COURSE

EVERY THURSDAY AT 1PM PACIFIC / 2PM MTN / 3PM CENTRAL / 4PM EASTERN, BEGINNING MAY 28TH THROUGH JULY 2, 2020
Six weekly sessions of 1.5 hr each – approx.

Goals of the Course:
This online course is a basic introduction to principled and strategic nonviolence using Pace e Bene’s Engaging Nonviolence Manual. It is intended to provide an opportunity to build community while studying nonviolence. Participants will connect with up to 50 people who share their interests in discovering the many dimensions of active nonviolence. Using small and large groups, facilitators Veronica Pelicaric and Rivera Sun will guide the participants through explorations into the personal, interpersonal, and social justice aspects of nonviolence. This Community Course is designed to be accessible, fun, friendly, and fearless. Using an online platform, participants can engage with this exciting field from the comforts of their home. The course will familiarize participants with the overall contents of the Engaging Nonviolence study program which will serve to foster personal growth, healthy relationships and work for world peace.

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Question related to this article:

How can webinars and online courses contribute to the culture of peace?

(Article continued from left column.)

Weekly Themes:

Week 1: Understanding Nonviolence; Unpacking Violence

Week 2: Exploring Nonviolence: Going Deeper

Week 3: Conflict & Community: Using Nonviolence In Our Lives

Week 4: Nonviolence, Emotions, & Inner Awareness

Week 5: Principles of Nonviolence: Gandhi, King, and Beyond!

Week 6: Building a Culture of Nonviolence: Why We Need Nonviolence In Our World

Requirements: All participants need to purchase the Engaging Nonviolence Manual. It can be bought on Amazon or directly from Pace e Bene. The course will be held on Zoom. Participants must have internet access, and microphone and video on their computer. Each week, participants will be expected to complete weekly readings/viewings and come prepared for group discussions online.

Participants are strongly encouraged to invite friends and community members. Shared knowledge increases the power of active nonviolence in our communities!

Maximum number of participants per course: 50

Cost: $80 USD for the 6 sessions. Register below. If you are in need of a scholarship, a few are available, just let us know. Email us at info@paceebene.org

REGISTRATION

Register here on bottom of page.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global

Webinar: Youth Actions for Climate, Nuclear Disarmament and Sustainable Development – May 14 and 19

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An announcement and video from Basel Peace Office (amended to update)

Youth movements for climate action, peace and nuclear disarmament have sprung up in Europe and around the world in the past few years. Young people have become concerned about existential threats to current and future generations, and increasingly frustrated at the insufficient action by governments to address these threats.


video of May 14

Further, the coronavirus pandemic has reinforced the need for governments and the international community to focus more on universal human security issues – like public health, climate and peace – and to move away from nationalism and militarism. Youth are well aware of the changes needed.

This webinar [includes] voices of civil society and youth from climate, peace, disarmament and sustainable development campaigns to inspire further action and to encourage intergenerational dialogue. It [also presents] Abolition 2000 Youth Network’s new project focused on the participation of youth in global, intergenerational dialogue. 

While the focus of the webinar is on the youth, any civil society members interested in sustainable development, nuclear disarmament and climate action are welcome to join. 

The webinar will be held in two sessions: Session 1 on May 14 timed to suit participants in the Americas, Europe and Africa. Session 2 on May 19 timed to suit participants in Asia and the Pacific.

Session 1: Thursday May 14. 11am EDT (New York), 5pm CET (Berlin)

Timed to suit participation by people in the Americas, Europe and Africa.

Speakers:

Chair: Marzhan Nurzhan (Kazakhstan, Switzerland). Coodrinator, Abolition 2000 Youth Network. Deputy-Director, Basel Peace Office

Yasmeen Silva (USA). Partnerships Manager, Beyond the Bomb

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Question related to this article:

How can webinars contribute to the culture of peace?

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Kehkashan Basu (UAE/Canada). Youth Ambassador, World Future Council. 2016 Children’s Peace Prize recipient. 

Akinyi Obama-Manners (Kenya). Sauti Kuu Foundation.

Anca Gliga (USA) Representative of the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth

Chaimae Sebbani (Morocco, Czech Republic). Project leader, Youth Voices for Climate, Peace and Nuclear Disarmament

Vanda Proskova (Czech Republic). Program Officer, PragueVision Institute for Sustainable Security

Session 2: May 19. 9am CET (Berlin).

Timed to suit participation of people in Europe, Asia and the Pacific
Speakers

Chair: Vanda Proskova (Czech Republic). Program Officer, PragueVision Institute for Sustainable Security.


Nicole Ponce (Philippines);  Member of the I am Climate Justice team. Research Fellow for the Normandy Chair for Peace.

Christopher Cruz (USA); Co-Founder / Outreach Director, Nuclear Free Schools.

Mostafiz Ahmed (Bangladesh). PNND South Asia Youth Program Coordinator

Junhong Min, (South Korea). Member of Friends of NPT

Takuya Moriyama (Japan); PNND Japan Coordinator. Researcher at Peace Depot. Coordinator of the Citizens’ Watch Project (monitoring peace and denuclearisation of North East Asia). 

Nuriya Azamatova (Kazakhstan); Organizer & Ambassador, Youth Peace Week Kazakhstan.  


Sooyoung Hwang (South Korea). Disarmament Program Manager, Peoples Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD)


Chaimae Sebbani (Morocco/Czech Republic). Project leader, Youth Voices for Climate, Peace and Nuclear Disarmament


Registration

Click here to register

Organized by:

Abolition 2000 Youth Network, World Future Council, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, Basel Peace Office. Contact vanda@pnnd.org

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global

Amnesty International: Ignored by COVID-19 responses, refugees face starvation

. HUMAN RIGHTS .

An article from Amnesty International ( licensed under a Creative Commons attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives, international 4.0 licence)

The inhumane treatment of refugees and migrants threatens to stall progress on tackling COVID-19, Amnesty International said today, warning that overcrowded camps and detention centres will become new epicentres unless urgent action is taken. The organization said  that lockdowns and movement restrictions have exacerbated dire living conditions, leaving millions of people at risk of starvation and illness.

The organization is calling for concerted global action to ensure hundreds of thousands of people on the move are provided with adequate access to food, water, sanitation and healthcare to ensure their survival as countries prepare to come out of lockdown.

“It is impossible to properly contain this virus when so many people worldwide are living in desperately overcrowded, unsanitary camps and detention centres. At a time when we need compassion and cooperation more than ever some governments have instead doubled down on discrimination and abuse – preventing deliveries of food and water, locking people up, or sending them back to war and persecution,” said Iain Byrne, Head of Amnesty’s Refugees and Migrants Rights team.

“In many camps death by starvation is now reported to be a bigger threat than the virus itself. This is an appalling abdication of the collective responsibility to protect refugees and migrants, and we are urging states to take immediate action to prevent this becoming a human rights catastrophe.”

Many governments have taken actions driven by discrimination and xenophobia, which needlessly place refugees at risk of starvation and disease.

For example,  water supplies were deliberately cut off by local authorities in Bosnia’s Vucjuk camp  to force the relocation of the camp’s inhabitants. Many refugees live in precarious economic situations, and lockdowns and curfews are making it harder than ever to earn a living. In Jordan’s Zaatari camp, lockdowns prevent people from working at all—meaning no food or income to pay for even basic necessities. In April, residents of makeshift camps in France’s Calais settlements  were not receiving adequate deliveries of food and water due to lockdowns, and restrictions on movement made it impossible for them to shop for themselves, even if they had money to do so.

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(Click here for the French version of this article or click here for the Spanish version.)

Question related to this article:

How can we work together to overcome this medical and economic crisis?

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Many governments have continued to unnecessarily detain people seeking asylum, putting them at risk of contracting the virus. There aren’t enough tests and protective equipment for staff and people being detained, potentially igniting a powder keg of illness and fatalities. People held in immigration detention in Australia  have been begging to be released because they are frightened that staff who have not been issued with PPE will unknowingly bring the virus in.

Other governments have violated international law by forcing people back to danger under the pretext of containing COVID-19.

Fueled by an existing anti-migrant and opportunistic agenda, the U.S. has turned back over 20,000 people in violation of domestic and international legal obligations since March 20.

Similarly, Malaysia turned back  a boat of Rohingya people seeking safety; although Bangladesh eventually allowed the boat to land, at least 30 people had reportedly died when their vessel drifted at sea for two months. Presently, there are reports that several hundred people urgently need search and rescue assistance.

Forcing people back to countries where they are reasonably expected to face persecution, torture or other cruel or degrading treatment amounts to refoulement  which is illegal under international law. There are no circumstances where the principle of non-refoulement does not apply.

Amnesty International is calling on governments to:

* Provide adequate food and water supplies and health care to camps and quarantined people

* Consider temporary regularization of all migrants, regardless of their documentation status, ensure that economic stimulus packages and protections apply to asylum seekers and refugees, and continue to allow resettlement where possible

* Decongest camps, immigration detention centres and informal settlements, and rehouse residents in dignified and sanitary conditions with adequate access to healthcare, food, and water. Immigration detainees should be released if their right to health cannot be guaranteed in detention.

* Uphold the right to seek asylum and the principle of non-refoulement.

“Governments keep saying we are all in this together. This means nothing unless they step up to protect the millions of people worldwide who are experiencing this pandemic far from their homes and loved ones,” said Iain Byrne.

“Any government which allows refugees to die of starvation or thirst during lockdown has failed dismally at tackling this crisis.”

global, HUMAN RIGHTS