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.

Testimonies from the First Advanced AVP Workshop in Apanteos Prison, El Salvador

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article by Antonio Salomón Medina Fuentes, National Coordinator of AVP El Salvador for Friends Peace Teams

All people should have the opportunity to be able to change and redeem themselves. Often, it is considered too late, especially when someone is completing some type of punishment because there are stigmas. Many people have prejudice and contempt for people who are in a prison.

Going back and realizing that there have been some interesting and significant changes in the lives of the incarcerated men is very rewarding. It motivates us to continue in everything we do to contribute and strengthen a Culture of Peace and Non- violence in vulnerable sectors, especially in places often excluded and sometimes even forgotten, like the jails of our country.


(Click on photo to enlarge)

The theme that we defined with this group was: A dialogue based on the Non-violence in human relations

It was an excellent and challenging topic! It allowed us the possibility of finding answers to some of the needs that the inmates of this penitentiary center currently have, which is evidenced by some of the testimonies that we share below:

“Well, what I learned from this workshop is to use dialogue to be able to resolve a conflict without violence. What I want to put into practice is to continue changing my attitude. The AVP program is an excellent program to continue transforming lives through Him. My testimony is that through AVP, I have been able to understand that one should respond before acting, that is, a conflict can be resolved without violence. I will think in the positive and discard the negative.”

(Continued in right column)

Question for this article:

Where is peace education taking place?

(article continued from left column)

“I learned to work on a team, about companionship, and to respect small and big people. I liked the games because it’s fun and I forget everything that hurts me psychologically. I would like to have more time to learn more. For me, this workshop is excellent because it has helped me to put my values ​​into practice and it has also helped me to solve problems in the best way.”

“It is totally and without any doubt an experience to live life fully well. To live without malice, remembering the good that I can give to others without expecting anything in return. I learned to always expect the best from others and always give the best of me. God bless the fantastic 4!”

“The truth is that this workshop has taught us many values ​​to be able to face any conflict or problem that we find ourselves, to always be positive. What I liked is that it taught us to respect everyone and to act wisely so as not to make mistakes. I would love to teach the other incarcerated men. For me, the workshop has been a great learning opportunity.While cultivating my values, ​​I have managed to learn that in any problem or situation, we always have or could use dialogue to solve all conflicts. Thanks for bringing the program here in the prison and sector!”

“One of the things I learned and will put into practice is to solve any problem through dialogue and not with violence, to think before acting to be able to do good to others in the future. My testimony is that thanks to the AVP workshop I have been able to relate more with my colleagues and to respect them and be able to help others without expecting something in return.”

“I learned to respect my fellow inmates, not to disrespect any security guards, to seek dialogue to avoid violence, and to listen to colleagues. I am grateful to the 4 facilitators for taking us into account. I thank God for bringing AVP to the penal centers. Actually when I found myself with no exit, without encouragement in this sector, God opened the doors to 4 excellent teachers, for which there were values ​​that we had forgotten. I learned how to recover the forgotten by thinking before acting, because everyone has the right not to be attacked. AVP has taught me to love my neighbor.”

“I learned to think before acting and to know how to value my friendships and empathize in order to give good advice to my friends. I liked the whispered affirmations because I remembered what my parents advised me. It has helped me to recover my lost values ​​and to remember again the advice that my parents gave me when I was little. It has allowed me to be able to control my emotions. I am grateful to the AVP workshops since they have come and dedicated their time to help me live my life as before.”

Once again as a facilitator team, we are very grateful for this valuable opportunity to serve the inmates considered emotionally unstable, with whom we had the enormous privilege of sharing their lives and experiences of how AVP has helped them and will continue to help them in the midst of of everything they live.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Film from South Africa: Everything Must Fall

. EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

Film publicity for Everything Must Fall

A Feature length film : 84 min – TV hour – 48 & 58 min directed by Rehad Desai


An unflinching look at the #FeesMustFall student movement that burst onto the South African political landscape in 2015 as a protest over the cost of education.


film trailer

Short Synopsis

The story is told by four student leaders at Wits University and their Vice Chancellor, Adam Habib, a left-wing, former anti-apartheid student activist. When Habib’s efforts to contain the protest fail, he brings 1000 police on to campus. There are dire consequences for the young leaders. By blending dramatic unfolding action with a multi-protagonist narrative, much of the drama lies in the internal struggles the activists have around the weight of leadership. Threaded through the film is a pulse of anticipation, shared across the generational divide, that somehow these youth have reached breaking point and won’t back down until they achieve the kind of social transformation that previous generations had long given up on.

Question(s) related to this article:

What are some good films and videos that promote a culture of peace?

Long Synopsis


An unflinching look at the #FeesMustFall student movement that burst onto the South African political landscape in 2015 as a protest over the cost of education, and morphed into the most militant national revolt since the country’s first democratic elections in 1994. The story is told by four student leaders at Wits University and their Vice Chancellor, Adam Habib, a left-wing, former anti-apartheid student activist. When Habib’s efforts to contain the protest fail, he brings 1000 police on to campus. There are dire consequences for the young leaders: Mcebo Dlamini is arrested and charged with serious offences, Shaeera Kalla is shot 13 times with rubber-coated bullets; others, fearing the involvement of the state security agencies, are forced into hiding.

At the heart of the film sits an intergenerational conflict connecting us to an important contemporary discourse on the conceptualisation of higher education as a public good. To date there have been unprecedented numbers involved, three deaths and 800 arrests. By blending dramatic unfolding action with a multi-protagonist narrative, much of the drama lies in the internal struggles the activists have around the weight of leadership. Threaded through the film is a pulse of anticipation, shared across the generational divide, that somehow these youth have reached breaking point and won’t back down until they achieve the kind of social transformation that previous generations had long given up on.

Contact information

UHURU PRODUCTIONS PTY LTD
6th Floor, SAMRO House
20 De Korte Street
Braamfontein
2001
011 339 1063
ziviaATmweb.co.za

Africa, EDUCATION FOR PEACE

Many Peaces in Iraq: Creating a Foundation for Conflict Transformation Through Peace Studies

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article by Aala Ali, Adham Hamed & Muntather Hassan from Impakter

“We heard children singing ISIL songs, and saw them role play executions in an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp playground. We were distributing humanitarian aid. It was then that I realized, if we don’t do anything about this … a new, more extremist generation will be born,” Ziena, 27 years old.

Ziena graduated from one of six youth-training workshops hosted by UNDP Iraq partner, Iraqi Al-Amal Association, in 2018. Focused on preventing violent extremism (PVE) and conflict transformation, Ziena is one of 146 university students and youth activists who have been supported to carry out creative community-based activities in their universities and local communities.


In the Photo: IDP Camp Children with Song Book. Photo Credit: Iraqi Al-Amal/2019

Struck by her own experience in an IDP Camp, Ziena created a children’s songbook; filled with words of peace and ideas that support a non- discriminative, gender equal, and non-violent future for Iraq. Each page of the book is decorated with the artwork of IDP children, which today, Ziena and her team of volunteers take to IDP camps to share. She hopes that music and song will guide these children toward a culture of peace and a future free from divisive ideologies.

But, whilst her story is heartwarming and her hands are those working to directly mend the hearts of conflict-affected communities, Ziena is addressing just one layer of conflict in Iraq’s peace-building process. She is instrumental in building a bridge between academic ideas and concepts required to frame a new culture of peace in Iraq, and the tangible actions made in her community, where she encounters survivors of conflict every day. Both aspects are necessary, and indeed complimentary, but there is another layer which is critical to ensuring sustainability of peace in Iraq — the structures that enable peace. For this, the active engagement of the government is crucial.

Recognizing the complexity of this task, the UNDP-funded project, Education for Peace in the Iraqi Higher Education System,” implemented by national NGO Iraqi Al-Amal Association  and the UNESCO Chair for Peace Studies at the University of Innsbruck’s Unit for Peace and Conflict Studies, is designed to address all three levels of conflict — grass-roots, middle and high-level — through a combination of community level programming, curriculum development with the Iraqi Universities Consortium for Peace Studies and government engagement through the  Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR).

Between October 2018 and March 2019, this culminated in the development of the first national Diploma for Peace and Conflict Studies, which will be piloted at the University of Baghdad later this year. Such an endeavor required an in-depth reflection about the potential meanings of peace and the impact of different notions of peace in the Iraqi context.

Defining Peace

UN Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG 16) calls for the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development — providing justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. In the same vein, on the International Day of Peace 2018, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres stated, “There is more to achieving peace than laying down our weapons.”

Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.

So, what are the potential meanings of peace beyond the absence of war and direct violence? The preamble of the UNESCO constitution provides a helpful reference point: “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.” Such an understanding of peace opens up a possibility to think about the idea of peace beyond a single universal notion that could be applied in all places and all times, regardless of the respective socio-political and cultural circumstances.

Wolfgang Dietrich, UNESCO Chairholder for Peace Studies at the University of Innsbruck, proposed the idea of “many peaces;” a concept that suggests that there are as many interpretations of peace as there are human beings in the world. This perspective provides an alternative avenue to universalist notions of how peace ought to be. By contrast it introduces a human-centered approach that puts people and the diversity of their lived experiences at the center of conflict transformation work. In the Iraqi context, which has long experienced external interventions, this makes the radical shift of agency to Iraqi citizens, who are now considered the central agents for formulating their own understandings of peace.

(Continued in right column)

Question related to this article:

A culture of peace in Iraq, Is it possible?

(Continued from left column)

Conflict and Violence in Iraq

From the first Gulf War and the authoritarian rule of Saddam Hussein, to the 2003 invasion, the subsequent 8-year Iraq war and ISIL’s occupation between 2014-2017, it is no surprise that the scars of war and conflict have marred the economic and social development potential of Iraq, despite its considerable oil resources. In 2017, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, the economic impact of violence on the global economy was 14.76 trillion US Dollars or the equivalent of 12.4% of the global GDPBeyond Conflict Resolution

If it were the case that families, communities and societies could be fixed like the engine of a broken car, narrowly focusing on the material aspects of conflict might be a sufficient response. However, human relationships are more complex than the mechanistic qualities of an engine and they are not always rational, with messy human traits tied up in our experience, including crucial sexual, emotional, mental and spiritual dimensions that all constitute a part of human existence.

All of these aspects contribute to the tangible costs of conflict, and using short-term solutions alone to address them will only temporarily suppress conflict — with a strong likelihood that it will appear again, somewhere new. This is why, beyond the idea of simple conflict resolution, a more comprehensive approach to conflict transformation needs to put the relationships of people living and surviving in protracted conflicts at the center of a journey toward peaceful communities.

We know from experience that conflict transformation processes require years, decades or even generations, in the case of large-scale violence. The concept of the “200-years present,” first introduced by sociologist Elise Boulding, explains how an experience of violence will continue to resonate in subsequent generations, through the trans-generational dimensions of trauma. Which is why episodes of violence, such as those experienced during ISIL’s occupation of Iraq, will likely affect the relatives of survivors and witnesses for many years to come.


Hence, while immediate interventions for peace are necessary to address the material dimensions of conflict, such as reconstruction, it is equally crucial to consider the mid and long-term processes of relational work through trauma healing and peace education. This is not only much more cost-effective than investing in further securitization and militarization, but it also opens up the possibility for long-term change processes through the education sector, strengthened to provide platforms for peace. Peace education provides a possibility to think about “many peaces” and conflict transformation as a means of addressing personal and collective challenges that remain deeply ingrained in families, communities and societies moved by the experiences of war and violence. It’s an approach that in the spirit of the UNESCO Constitution starts with the human mind as a central resource for defending peace. And, from experience we know that this may not only contribute to the prevention of further outbreaks of direct violence but that it’s actually a means of transforming cultures of violence to cultures of peaces; equipping people with alternative and effective tools to transform their conflicts peacefully, such as dialogue, and mediation.

Peace education can also be used to help people develop their own ways of living and fostering cultures of peace, and to avoid the belief that their reality is directed by external forces. In Iraq there is a widespread belief that violent conflict is merely imposed by foreigners. This sense is built up from the community level and challenges the notion that people were living in peace before foreign intervention. Whilst we can recognise that there are many external factors contributing to instability in Iraq, we also see how this recognition is used as a strategy to avoid personal responsibility and agency, limiting the possibility of addressing conflict from within one’s own context. Avoiding agency frequently occurs as part of a denial phase after trauma. However, the inclusive, and elicitive approaches in peace education can facilitate ownership for Iraqis, enabling them to take forward this type of peace work and enhancing their level of responsibility on foundational issues.

A Catalyst for Change

The development of a national pilot curriculum for a “Diploma of Peace and Conflict Studies” is an intervention that has come after many years of armed conflict. At the beginning of this project, promoting peace education in the Iraqi higher education sector was the goal, but how can you continue academic life in a context marked by war, where lecture halls and libraries have been destroyed or burnt to the ground? And beyond material damage and destruction: How do you continue academic work and life in a meaningful way after experiencing the kind of atrocities that put all meaning of life into question?

Whilst the circumstances in post-ISIL Iraq are in many ways different from the political, cultural and social situation in Europe post-World War II, there are also certain parallels. Most strikingly we see a new-found momentum to establish a foundation of Peace and Conflict Studies as an academic discipline — and a recognition that the neighboring discipline of International Relations, founded after World War I, was largely unsuccessful in finding the answers to prevent genocide and the use of weapons of mass-destruction. This had a direct effect on the development of a broad range of applied conflict transformation methods, which have been of utmost use for transforming conflicts in a non-violent manner, and which, with the right methodologies, may achieve positive results in Iraq too. This consideration was at the heart of the “Education for Peace in the Iraqi Higher Education System” project. But why academia? Because Iraqi academics have collectively demonstrated a desire to actively contribute to national reconciliation, with a strong will to work together to address the questions of peace and conflict transformation through establishing Peace and Conflict Studies as a new discipline in Iraq.

This culminated in the formation of The Iraqi Universities Consortium for Peace Studies, between 2016-2017, with support from Iraqi Al-Amal, UNDP Iraq and Eastern Mennonite University. The Consortium — comprised of academics from the Universities of Baghdad, Tikrit, Anbar, Basra, Karbala, Kufa and Mosul — became a vocal advocate for the development of Peace Studies in a post-conflict Iraq and actively participated in capacity building activities to train academics and in-turn contribute to the development of a context appropriate curriculum.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Mideast, United Nations,

Latin America and the Caribbean need a culture of peace

. .DISARMAMENT & SECURITY. .

An letter to the editor of the Guyana Chronicle

Dear Editor,


THE situation in neighbouring Venezuela is very dangerous. It has led to many clashes between forces loyal to the government of President Maduro and the Opposition. The potential for escalation is great and the consequences for life and politics could be very serious.


Donald Ramotar, 
Former President of Guyana

(continued in right column)

Question for this article:

What is really happening in Venezuela?

(continued from left column)
 
What happens in Venezuela would have repercussions on our whole continent. Outside intervention can be both positive and negative. I wish to urge that all efforts must be put to preventing the escalation of violence and to oppose any type of coup and military intervention.

Any action that could lead to the forceful overthrow of Maduro’s government would renew the culture of military coups and bloody dictatorship in Latin America, reminiscent of the 1960s and 70s. The scars from military intervention in our region hasn’t been totally healed as yet. To move for regime change through violence would only complicate and worsen an already serious situation.

The greatest contribution that external intervention can play is to encourage democratic solutions and promote political negotiations and dialogue, for a peaceful settlement. Any other course, such as economic sanctions, will only worsen the situation and lead to bloodshed and violence. Latin America and the Caribbean need a culture of peace.

Regards

Donald Ramotar

Former President [of Guyana]

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Latin America

Abiy Ahmed Ali, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia laureate of the 2019 edition of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny – UNESCO Peace Prize

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An article from UNESCO

Abiy Ahmed Ali, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is named as laureate of the 2019 edition of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize for his actions in the region and, in particular, for having been the instigator of a peace agreement between the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The jury also recognizes the laureate’s worthiness for the reforms undertaken to consolidate democracy and social cohesion. Finally, the jury considers this distinction as an encouragement to pursue his commitment to the promotion of a culture of peace in the region and across the African continent.

(Article continued in the column on the right)

(Click here for a Spanish version of the article or here for a version in French.)

Questions related to this article:

Where in the world can we find good leadership today?

Can peace be achieved between Ethiopia and Eritrea?

(Article continued from the column on the left)

The Jury met on 29 April at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris to designate the laureate of the 2019 edition of the prize, which will mark the 30th anniversary of its inception.

The jury was composed of Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Former President of Liberia and Nobel Peace Laureate (2011), Mr François Hollande, Former President of France, Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan of Jordan – UNESCO Special Envoy for science for peace, Mr Michel Camdessus (France) – Former Director General of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Professor Muhammad Yunus (Bangladesh), founder of Grameen Bank – Nobel Peace Laureate (2006) and Mr. Forest Whitaker (United States of America), founder of the Peace and Development Initiative.

In 1989, in order to pay tribute to President Félix Houphouet-Boigny’s action for peace in the world, 120 countries sponsored a resolution unanimously adopted by UNESCO’s Member States to establish the  Félix Houphouët-Boigny Prize – UNESCO Peace Prize. The Prize is intended to honor living individuals and active public or private institutions or bodies that have made a significant contribution to promoting, seeking, safeguarding or maintaining peace in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations and the Constitution of UNESCO.

Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, on an official visit to Ethiopia on 2 and 3 May on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, will meet with the Prime Minister and convey her warm congratulations.

Africa, FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global, United Nations, ,

Spain: What a city of peace should be like, according to youngsters in Barcelona

.. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION ..

An article from Info Barcelona

The public audience with the city’s youth culminates months of debate based around the topic ‘Barcelona, city of peace’, with 250 children gathering in the Saló de Cent hall to represent the 37 participating schools and put forward their proposals for fostering a culture of peace in the city in front of representatives from political groups.


(Click on image to enlarge)

(continued in right column)

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

Questions for this article:

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

(continued from left column)

From last September through to April this year, over 1,630 pupils from 37 Barcelona schools have been putting together their proposals and making a detailed approach to this year’s topic: understanding Barcelona as a city of peace which backs basic rights and where people live side by side in harmony.

The students proposed a school subject on emotional and ethical education, more support for young people in centres for minors, talks on combatting sexism and racism, a protocol for school bullying and more.

The public audience  with the city’s youth promotes a participatory process for children and young people between the ages of 11 and 17 from different city schools (final year primary of primary school, secondary school and baccalaureate, as well as special education) to put forward ideas to improve life in the city.

The topic for the 25th public audience, for the 2019-2020 school year, is ‘Barcelona coeducator’.
 

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Europe

Nicaragua: Technical students promote the culture of peace through murals

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article from Viva Nicaragua

More than 50 students participated in the National Muralism Contest promoting peace held by the National Technological Institute where 27 centers participated.


video

(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)

The best works were exhibited and presented as part of the promotion of values, under the motto: “Technical students promoting peace”.

The objective of the contest is to promote dialogue and peace in technology centers, through different actions that promote spaces to strengthen artistic and creative attitudes.

The parameters to participate were to reflect the theme of promotion of a culture of peace, average size of the mural of 2 by 6 meters, it had to be elaborated in teams made up of 5 active technical students, working as a team, organization and creativity.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Michael True – Peacemaker

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

A notice on thewebsite of the Center for Nonviolent Solutions

Dear Friends and Supporters;

We will not forget April of 2019, a month that brought the departure of two significant peacemakers here at the Center. On Sunday, April 28, fourteen days after board member Paul Ropp died, Center co-founder Michael True passed away. He breathed his last at sunrise which was perhaps fitting for a man who loved the morning.

Professor, author, poet, peace researcher and activist, beloved husband and father, a good and true friend to many, these varied titles only partially describe the enormity of Mike’s marvelous life. The man who taught English at Worcester’s Assumption College for many years has been aptly described as “the heart and soul” of the city’s peace community. His co-founding of the Center with Bill Densmore is merely one initiative in a long list of local peace efforts dating back to the Vietnam War. Mike supported the city’s interfaith draft counseling center, participated in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience at nuclear weapons facilities, joined a coalition to prevent the introduction of JROTC in Worcester high schools, and attended countless peace vigils and wrote countless op-eds in opposition to our countless wars.

This incomplete list reveals nothing about Mike’s extensive work promoting peace education and research nationally and internationally – his active membership in the Peace and Justice Studies Association and the International Peace Research Association; his teaching trips to India, China, North Korea, and Colombia from which he would return full of stories about peacemakers and nonviolent initiatives unknown to us. One of his great joys was to witness the flowering of peace studies – from fledgling discipline to more than 400 programs worldwide – over the course of his lifetime.

Mike was the Great Encourager, the tireless advocate of people power. He believed deeply in the capacity of ordinary folk to effect social change, and expressed that conviction in his many books, lectures, and personal support for a myriad of campaigns. He had a lifelong interest in finding a language that precisely articulated the vision of peace and the means to achieve it. Poets, he thought, told the “whole truth.” When the UN came out with its Culture of Peace documents, he was ecstatic, because finally an international body recognized what he had known all along, that individual initiative, nonviolent direct action, and people power matter. That peace really does begin with each of us. [Editor’s note: Here is an article about the initiative by Michael in 1997 in collaboration with the CPNN coordinator who, at that time, was charged with the UNESCO program.]

An invaluable mentor, Mike was also one of my most important friends. I loved his curiosity, his humor, his capacity to marvel at the abundance of goodness in the world even while bemoaning the horrors, and his remarkable attentiveness to all whom he encountered. His departure leaves a distinct loneliness.

Mike frequently recited Denise Levertov’s poem “Making Peace,” a line of which became the title for his book An Energy Field More Intense Than War. For many of us, he was “an energy field,” a friend who animated courage and hope. Perhaps our best act of gratitude for his good and generous life is to be that energy of peace for others.

A Celebration of the Life of Michael True will be held June 1 at Worcester’s Mechanics Hall. More details forthcoming.

(Article continued in the column on the right)

Questions related to this article:

Where in the world can we find good leadership today?

(Article continued from the column on the left)

BY  DENISE LEVERTOV

A voice from the dark called out,

             ‘The poets must give us

imagination of peace, to oust the intense, familiar

imagination of disaster. Peace, not only

the absence of war.’

                                   But peace, like a poem,

is not there ahead of itself,

can’t be imagined before it is made,

can’t be known except

in the words of its making,

grammar of justice,

syntax of mutual aid.

                                       A feeling towards it,

dimly sensing a rhythm, is all we have

until we begin to utter its metaphors,

learning them as we speak.

                                              A line of peace might appear

if we restructured the sentence our lives are making,

revoked its reaffirmation of profit and power,

questioned our needs, allowed

long pauses . . .

                        A cadence of peace might balance its weight

on that different fulcrum; peace, a presence,

an energy field more intense than war,

might pulse then,

stanza by stanza into the world,

each act of living

one of its words, each word

a vibration of light—facets

of the forming crystal.

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, North America

English bulletin May 1, 2019

FREEDOM OF PRESS IS UNDER ATTACK

Freedom of the press is under attack around the world, with the biggest deterioration in North and South America. And the most spectacular and dangerous example is the arrest of Julian Assange of Wikileaks and the threat that he he may be extradited and tried by a kangaroo court in the United States.

According to Bruce Shapiro, the executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University School of Journalism, the very essence of the press freedoms in the United States is under attack in the U.S. attempt to extradite and try Assange. He calls it an “attempt to criminalize investigative reporting.”

Not only freedom of the press, but also democracy, human rights and peace are under attack.

Daniel Ellsberg, himself the courageous whistle-blower of the Pentagon Papers that revealed the lies of the Vietnam War, puts it this way: “Without whistleblowers we would not have a democracy. And there have to be people to distribute work and publish it. Julian Assange has done that in a way in which other publishers have not been willing to. . . . it is now up to us to make sure that the First Amendment is preserved.”

United Nations experts, including the UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial executions, the UN independent expert on the right to privacy, and the UN Special Rapporteur on torture warned that the arrest and threatened extradition of Assange is a violation of his human rights, “including his freedom of expression, his right to a fair trial, and the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

An example of how Wikileaks revelations promoted democracy comes from Kenya. Writing in Al Jazeera, Patrick Gathara describes how a report about government corruption was suppressed by that same government, but was obtained and revealed by Julian Assange and Wikileaks. Gathara states that  “For once, Kenyans were afforded an unvarnished and detailed glimpse of the amount of national wealth that was being stolen by the very people tasked with protecting it.”

The list of Wikileaks evelations of government corruption is quite long, and it takes the journalist Alison Weir 8,000 words to describe them in the article we have reprinted in CPNN. Wikileads revealed “the U.S. government’s cover-up of torture, cruelty, the killing of civilians, spying on its own citizens and others. It exposed Democratic Party cheating and manipulation, the fraudulence of ‘Russiagate.’ It unmasked Israeli plans to keep Gaza on the brink of collapse, to use violence against Palestinian nonviolence, to make war upon civilians.” And the list could be even longer, if one includes examples like the corruption in Kenya mentioned above.

Although the United States is exerting pressure behind the scenes, the arrest was due to the actions of the governments of Ecuador and the UK.
For Noam Chomsky, it shows the global reach of the American empire: “why should the United States have the power to control what others are doing elsewhere in the world? I mean, it’s an outlandish situation. It goes on all the time.”

Fortunately, many people are taking positive steps to support Assange. In CPNN, we have carried several articles of support from Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire. On January 7 she nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. And after his arrest in April, she demanded the right to visit him in prison.

Mairead Maguire reminds us that the actions of Assange are an important contribution to peace: “By Julians courageous actions and others like him, we could see full well the atrocities of war. . . . I live in an era where people like Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning and anyone willing to open our eyes to the atrocities of war, is likely to be haunted like an animal by Governments, punished and silenced.  . . .. This man is paying a high price to end war and  for peace and nonviolence and we should all  remember that.”

      

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION


2019 World Press Freedom Index – A cycle of fear

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT



Photo essay: Climate Change Protests Sweep Europe

WOMEN’S EQUALITY


UNCSW63’s positive outcomes for women’s human rights

EDUCATION FOR PEACE



National Campaign for Peace Education launched in Cameroon

DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY



Statement on Escalating Tensions in Venezuela Issued by the Caribbean Community

HUMAN RIGHTS



South Africa Launches Plan to Combat Xenophobia and Racism

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY



Haiti – Dominican Republic : “For a culture of peace theme of the week of the diaspora

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION



Benin: The Youth Movement for the Preservation of Peace and Democracy

Uncategorized

Panafrican Youth Network for the Culture of Peace  Gabon : The work begins

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An article from Gabon Review

Weeks after its election and the official presentation of the new officers to the Resident Representative of Unesco, the National Co-ordination of the Panafrican Youth Network for the Culture of Peace (PAYNCoP Gabon) unveiled its roadmap. The different actions to be carried out over the next two years are listed there.


Photo © PAYNCoP Gabon

Chaired by Vincenzo Fazzino, Resident Representative of Unesco, a meeting was held on April 24 in Libreville between the new PAYNCoP Gabon team and the UN system leaders in the country. Its purpose was to present the latter with the recent road map developed by the pan-African organization coordinated by Jerry Bibang, in order to “gather the opinions and orientations” of the various actors in the field. For PAYNCoP Gabon, it was also a question of reinforcing the partnership with the UN system in Gabon and to allow a better collaboration, especially in the promotion of the culture of peace and non-violence.

(Article continued in right column)

( Click here for the French original..)

 

Question related to this article.

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

Youth initiatives for a culture of peace, How can we ensure they get the attention and funding they deserve?

(Article continued from left column)

According to the national coordination of PAYNCop Gabon, the roadmap presented to the heads of the United Nations system is an “action plan [which] provides for four strategic axes, including the popularization of PAYNCoP, the promotion of a culture of peace, the appropriation of Resolution 2250 (youth, peace and security) and the transformation of PAYNCoP into a social enterprise “.

“Recognizing that the promotion of the culture of peace is also about the fight against unemployment and the economic empowerment of young people, our fourth axis has the specific objectives of training young people in social entrepreneurship and the implementation of projects. community development. Also, we are planning the creation of income generating activities to effectively encourage the financial independence of young people, “says the organization.

For the implementation of this roadmap, the National Coordinator of PAYNCoP Gabon has called for the intervention of professionals from various sectors of activity, such as education, higher education, communication, communication and communication. culture and politics. “Everyone has a role to play in this challenge,” said Jerry Bibang, not without remembering that the roadmap presented by the office in his charge “is part of the logical continuation of the work started by [its ] predecessors “. This, says the organization, “covers a period of two years (2019-2021) and takes into account the key issues of youth in peace and security at the national level.”

For PAYNCoP Gabon, “peace is not limited to the absence of war [but] involves other things as well, including social justice, respect for human rights, democracy, fight against poverty, etc.”

Africa, FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, United Nations,