Category Archives: EDUCATION FOR PEACE

Argentina: Program announced for the Film Festival “Nueva Mirada”

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article from Escribiendo Cine

Organised by the Nueva Mirada Association, under the slogan “Buentrato: For a culture of peace”, the Festival, unique in its subject in the country, has been declared to be of interest fr Cultural and National Education by the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate of the Nation, the Legislature of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of National Education.

cine

The festival will officially open on Thursday August 27 in Room INCAA Km.0 at 14 pm with the screening of the animated feature Shaun, the lamb. The film is based on the television series of the same name and was written and directed by Richard Starzak and Mark Burton.

As in past festivals, Nueva Mirada present high quality films that have been made by recognized professionals, but that have not been distributed in the commercial film and television circuits. Films will be shown from several countries, including Germany, Italy, Brazil, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Cuba, UK, Netherlands, Switzerland, Iran and Mexico. In addition, the Festival will feature prominent guests, such as Jan-Willem Bult from the Netherlands, who will participate as an Official in the Jury and who will conduct the Television Production Workshop with children. The short films in this workshop will be exhibited at the close of the Festival and will be disseminated through the Internet and other circuits.

The “Panoramic” section (fiction) of the Official Competition for Feature Films will include: Life According to Nino, by Simone van Dusseldorp; Shana, the Swiss Nino by Jacusso; Lola, the German by Thomas Heinemann; The bike of my father and I, by Fayaz Mousavi; Teaching how to live, by Giuseppe Piccioni; and beautiful horizon by Stefan Jäger.

Among the films confirmed to compete in the animation section are: Pim and Pom, the great adventure, by Gioia Smid; The legend of the mummies of Guanajuato, by Alberto Rodriguez; Pinky finger, by Ernesto Pradón; Worms, by Paolo Conti;, and Beyond the beyond, by Esben Toft Jacobsen. Various other animated short films and fiction, selected for the viewer’s age ,will also be shown.

In addition, a Retrospective Tribute will take place for Juan Pablo Zaramella, one of Argentina’s most creative independent filmmakers of animation. His films have won the Silver Condor Best Short Film three times, while all his short films have won awards worldwide. In 2010, the International Animation Festival of Annecy presented a retrospective of his work. His latest short film, Luminaris, was shortlisted for an Oscar category of Best Animated Short Films, and he has already received over 300 international awards, including the Audience Award and the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize at Annecy in 2011.

The venues of the Festival New Look, confirmed so far are Space INCAA Km 0 -Gaumont- Rivadavia Av 1635, Leonardo Favio (Library of Congress), Alsina 1835..; Bicentennial National House, Riobamba 985; Bernasconi Institute, Catullus Castillo 2750; Julian Centeya Cultural Center, San Juan 3255; Casa de la Cultura Villa 21, 3500 Iriarte Av.; Cultural Space Carlos Gardel, Olleros 3640.

(The article is continued on the right side of the page)

(Click here for the original Spanish version.)

Question for this article:

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

(Article continued from the left side of the page)

Among the parallel activities, on 28 and 29 August: the International Seminar “critical eye. Audiovisual, Transmediality and Education in the XXI century “in the headquarters of the OEI (Organization of Ibero-American States), Jorge Cavodeassi Falgari Auditorium, located in Paraguay 1583, 2nd floor, with leading domestic and foreign experts. Also in this space, the transmedia game “Kitchen Project” on Monday September 1, with the participation of entertainers, musicians, filmmakers, video game producers, and renowned specialists and representatives of TV channels of Latin America. Admission is free, as in all activities of Nueva Mirada, with registration at: Info@nuevamirada.com

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

World Congress of Education International: Call for values and end to violence

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article from Education International

Several resolutions were passed at Education International’s 7th World Congress on the promotion of democracy, sustainable development, fair trade, basic social service and health and safety through solidarity and cooperation among member organisations, the international trade union movement and civil society.

edinternational
Photo Credit: Gabriel Castro – IEAL

Resolution 4.1: The Promotion and Protection of Standards and Values in the World “recognises four major interlinked challenges: the liberalisation of the economy, the lack of respect for agreed standards by governments, geopolitical shifts, particularly in Eastern Europe, and the rise of religious extremism,” said EI’s General Secretary, Fred van Leeuwen, who proposed the resolution on 25 July. The resolution calls on EI to work with its members and stay vigilant in response to these four global challenges, he said, adding that EI must continue to engage with the UN and other international organisations.

Speakers to the debate raised concerns about privatisation, standardised tests, violence against teachers and students, the environment, climate change, and urged unions to protect agreed standards and shared values.

Millions of children across the globe are involved in child labour, denied their right to education and health. So said James Tweheyo, Uganda National Teachers’ Union in proposing Resolution 4.2: Accelerated Action Against Child Labour in Connection with the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals on 25 July. “The damage to these children is too much to ignore.”

Speakers called for further actions of education trade unions in collaboration with other unions, civil society organisations, governments and international institutions to eliminate child labour. The Resolution echoed the keynote speech earlier on 25 July by Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailish Satyarthi, the founder of the Global March Against Child Labour, who said that EI, trade unions, and teachers played a key role in facilitating the building of the Global March Against Child Labour. “I refuse to think the world is so poor that it cannot bring all children to school,” he said.

Society should not have to witness the abduction and killing of students and teachers across the world, said Philipa Harvey of the National Union of Teachers (UK). She was proposing Resolution 4.3 Resolution on Education, Peace and Justice in Conflict Areas to Congress on 26 July.

The resolution instructs the Executive Board to encourage affiliates to promote peace, justice and conflict resolution. And it urges affiliates to press governments to adopt and endorse international guidelines for protecting schools and universities from military use during armed conflict.

Delegates raised concerns around extremism and school shootings and the education deficit caused by warfare and violence.

The need to promote values to combat extremism was a common theme in contributions to Resolution 4.4 Resolution on Education and Extremism. “Education is key to tackling extremism in all its forms,” said Arthur Frederick Brown, of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT). “The role of teachers and trade unions is to promote the values of equity, solidarity, democracy, and respect for others.”

Amongst other elements, Congress resolved to ensure EI continues to demonstrate its commitment to equality and diversity and its opposition to exclusion and extremism in all its forms.

Question for this article:
EDUCATION FOR PEACE, global

Education International to focus on refugees

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

Education International (reprinted according to terms of Creative Commons)

Education International (EI) must – and will – work to ensure that education is made available to displaced children, according to Education International’s 7th World Congress in Ottawa, Canada.

refugees
Michael Thomson of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU/Australia), Photo Credit: Gabriel Castro – IEAL

At the end of 2014, 60 million people were displaced. These UN statistics were brought to Congress by Graham Dawson, of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT/UK) who proposed a resolution on the Right to Education for Displaced People, Refugees and Stateless Children. He highlighted the plight of refugees from Iraq, Syria, the Middle East, North Africa, and elsewhere saying they “should not be allowed to struggle alone.”

The Resolution outlines Congress’ resolve to support member organisations in countries hosting large numbers of refugees and displaced children. It also outlined Congress’ resolve to pressure national and international agents to prioritise financial assistance for the education of refugees and internally displaced people.

The treatment of refugees all over the world is unacceptable, said Michael Thomson of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU/Australia), adding that the “inhuman treatment of children” must be tackled head on by trade unions.

EI should call for an extra protocol to make those responsible for war also responsible for education, said Jean Kamdem, Fédération des syndicats de l’enseignement et de la recherche (FESER/Cameroon). This would promote quality education for all, he said, and would also promote education in areas of conflict.

Contributions to the debate were made by Michelle Olivier, SNUIPP-FSU (France), Rose Therese Magalie Georges, CNEH (Haiti), Stephanie Ly, AFT (US), Aurelia Sarasin, SNES-FSU (France), and Abdelaziz Iouy, SNE-FDT (Morocco).

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

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

Question for this article:
EDUCATION FOR PEACE, global

Wanep Gambia Holds Peace Education Training for Students

… EDUCATION  FOR PEACE …

An article by Abdoulie Nyockeh, All Africa (abridged)

West Africa Network for Peace-Building (WANEP) -Gambia on Thursday held a two-day peace education training of trainers for peer mediators for school children within region one and region two. The theme of the training was “Catch them young. Peace education a long term preventive mechanism against violence”. The training, which targeted thirty students from thirteen schools within regions one and two, was held at the NANA conference hall.

new wanep

In her official opening of the workshop, Mrs Amicoleh Mbaye, Director of Basic and Secondary Education, registered the appreciation of her ministry for the unique role WANEP has continued to play in supporting peace education in schools through peace clubs in schools.

“This initiative is very timely as peace is the only tool that can address the numerous challenges that our world is confronted with,” she said.

In Africa, she added, genocide, tribal and ethnic conflicts have been threatening peace and stability of nations, thus the need to incorporate attitudinal change towards the promotion of issues such as human rights, democracy and good governance.

According to her, the intervention of WANEP through such training would contribute immensely to ensuring that the Gambian population continues to maintain peace and stability by supporting students to acquire values and knowledge as well as develop positive attitudes, skills and behaviours to live in peace and harmony with one another.

“The youth are the future leaders and the education system is indeed a platform that can target the youth to inculcate a culture of peace in them.

“It can also equip youth and citizens with skills that holistically nurture citizens to peaceful coexistence of community citizens,” she stated.

Peace, which is a process of establishing trust and cooperation among people, entails learning to appreciate other people and their culture, learning to resolve disputes through communications and dialogue rather than violence.

She stated the UN defines the culture of peace as a combination of values and attitudes and behaviours and life styles that reject violence and prevent conflicts.

Director Mbaye further stated that the current education policy commits government to upholding the right of every person to basic education, regardless of gender, age, religious or disability.

This however cannot be attained without inculcating the culture of peace in the student, she said.

“When students harness a culture of peace, they will be better able to tolerate others regardless of their circumstance, thus the need for education on peace building,” she said. . . .

“I believe this august gathering will agree with me that this workshop really came at an opportune time, for it will raise awareness of the peer mediators on the importance of peace and equip them with skills to further support other peers.” . . .

Question related to this article:
Africa, EDUCATION FOR PEACE

The Peace Gong E-book on promoting peace through inter-cultural dialogue and respect for diversity

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

by Syeda Rumana Mehdi and Kanupriya Gupta

Inviting young people below 21 years of age to share short stories, poems, posters and paintings for the Peace Gong E-book.

new peace gong

“Tolerance, inter-cultural dialogue and respect for diversity are more essential than ever in a world where people are becoming more and more closely interconnected.”- Kofi Annan

The former UN Secretary General has rightly underlined the centrality of tolerance, promotion of inter-cultural dialogue and mutual respect for global peace. At a time when various parts of the world is hungering for peace and the phenomenon of racism, xenophobia, extremism and various other forms of violence are stirring the very edifice of a peaceful global society, all efforts needs to be made to promote voices of compassion and love.

All cultures of the world inherently promote the ethereal values of compassion, respect, tolerance and mutual understanding. It is only when negative elements try to exploit situations leading to self-destruction and conflicts. This is the challenge the whole humanity faces.

Promoting dialogues amongst different cultures, sharing unique stories of respect for diversity and nonviolence, bringing out the transient nature of peace in every culture will go a long way in challenging divisive forces. As Kofi Annan says people are becoming more and more closely interconnected, we need to share these stories so that we can promote mutual understanding.

In this context, The Peace Gong plans to bring together an E-book comprising of short stories, poems, posters and paintings which draws how different cultures promote the values of mutual respect, tolerance, dialogues and humanism. As the book would be aimed at youth, it can be a unique melting pot of stories and poems by young people from different cultures on peace and nonviolence.

Those below 21 years of age can send their entries. The entries can be sent to thepeacegong@gmail.com

Short stories should not be more than 1000 words in length.
Paintings and posters should be in jpg format.

A small undertaking should be sent by the writers/poets/painters that their work is original and not plagiarized.

Contributors should also send a few lines about themselves and their education along with their email and a photograph.

We plan to put together this E-book by October 2, 2015 the International Day of Nonviolence.

(Article continued in right column.)

Question for this article:

Peace-building Stories, literacy development with peace-building

(article continued from left column.)

The Peace Gong is a children’s newspaper brought out from India aiming to promote voices of young people from different cultures.

The Guiding Principles are: “Let every dream become Martin Luther King’s dream, let every step towards peace become Mahatma Gandhi’s Salt March and let every obstacle in your path become Nelson Mandela’s painful twenty-seven years in prison. Promise yourself that you will contribute your best to make the phenomenon of violence outdated, promise yourself that you will try to motivate your friends to walk on the path of nonviolence.”

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, South Asia

Malala marks 18th birthday by opening school for girl refugees in Lebanon

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Human Rights Activist and Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai has marked her 18th birthday with a renewed commitment to refugees and education by inaugurating a school for more than 200 Syrian girls living in refugee camps in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

Malala
Education activist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai celebrates her 18th birthday in Lebanon with Syrian refugees. Malala opened a new school in the Bekaa Valley funded by the Malala Fund, the non-profit she co-founded with her father Ziauddin.
©HUMAN for the Malala Fund/M. Fezehai

Opening The Malala Yousafzai All-Girls School on Sunday (July 12), she said: “I am honoured to mark my 18th birthday with the brave and inspiring girls of Syria. I am here on behalf of the 28 million children who are kept from the classroom because of armed conflict. Their courage and dedication to continue their schooling in difficult conditions inspires people around the world and it is our duty to stand by them.”

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres welcomed the initiative.
“We are really heartened by Malala’s ardent support for the education of refugee girls whose aspirations have already been so cruelly cut short by war. These children are the future of Syria; we must not jeopardise that by denying them the basic right to education while they are in exile,” he said.

Malala, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, was attacked in her native Pakistan in 2012 because of her campaign for girls’ rights and education. The new school will offer education and skills training to girl refugees aged 14 to 18.

“Whenever I ask a Syrian refugee child what they would most like to do, the overwhelming response is ‘I want to go to school.’,” Guterres added. “In Malala, we could not have a better advocate for refugee education and are very grateful for her solidarity and support.”

Yousafzai added that she believed world leaders were failing Syria’s children.

“On this day, I have a message for the leaders of this country, this region and the world: ‘you are failing the Syrian people, especially Syria’s children’. This is a heart-breaking tragedy — the world’s worst refugee crisis in decades.”

Lebanon is hosting nearly 1.2 million registered Syrian refugees, though the total number in the country may be even higher.

The influx has placed strains on Lebanon, which has just four million citizens.

UNHCR itself has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on two occasions, the last time in 1981.

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

Question for this article:
EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Mideast

Bolivia: Mediators are formed in culture of peace

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article by Henry A. Aira Gutiérrez, Correo del Sur (translation by CPNN)

Culture of peace and conflict resolution are new phrases that Bolivians can use to avoid going to court. With the implementation of the new moral codes as of August 6, it is also the expression of the mediators, whose job is to reduce the caseload in the courts for civil and commercial matters. After selection by the Judicial Council, the mediators train for a period of 20 days.

Bolivia
Courses in which mediators learn how to solve conflicts.

In four classrooms at Casa Tréveris, over 150 mediators receive theoretical training and practice in the functions that will serve beginning next month.

“The intensive course is organized into four modules: the first related to justice and human rights, the second dedicated to the culture of peace, conflict theory as a basis for negotiation and conciliation; the third communication and conciliation; and the fourth refers to the process of reconciliation taking into account the principles, models and phases of the facilitative model,” according to Antonio Aramayo, executive director of the UNIR Foundation, the institution in charge of the mediation training.

The new officers are trained in the instruments that will need to apply when they are to reconcile conflicts when the new Codes Morales take effect in August.

The Judiciary Act indicates that the mediation is “the means of conflict resolution and immediate direct access to justice as well as the first procedural action”. In other words, the judicial mediation aims not only to expand access to justice but to introduce the culture of peace and peaceful methods of settling conflicts to shared solutions.

“The culture of peace is a breakthrough in the country and now we are implementing the new codes in practice for the resolution of disputes through conciliation. This is good, creating a culture of peace and a country not of confrontation, but of rapid resolution of conflicts,” said Patricia Yufra, from the mediation district of Quillacollo (Cochabamba).

“We are learning how to reconcile, to look beyond the law, to analyze problems so that they (people in conflict) can resolve their conflicts and disputes peacefully and maintain their human relationships,” said Erick Suarez, Santa Cruz conciliator.

These two professional lawyers are, like many others, being trained and expected to return to their districts on August 7 to start their work.

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

Question for this article:
EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Book review: Culture of Peace, A Utopia that is Possible

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

A book review by Ericka Montaño Garfias in La Jornada (translated by CPNN)

Although violence has become a household word and the word peace is only an isolated reference in the media, since war is an invention of the human being, then we are capable of inventing a culture of peace. This is proposed by the American essayist David Adams in his book Culture of Peace: a Utopia that is Possible, published in Spanish by the Herder publishing house.

review
From left to right: Roberto Mercadillo, Institute of Neurobiology, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, editor and translator of the book; Norman Bardavid, Director of Culture and Arts of Comnapaz Mexico; David Adams, author of the book; Arturo Vallejo Casanova, Rector of the Technological University of Corregidora; and Hiram Valdez, President of the National Peace Commission of Comnapaz Mexico

Culture of Peace: a possible utopia brings together three books into a single volume: The History of the Culture of War, World Peace through the Town hall: A Strategy for the Global Movement for a Culture of Peace; and I Have Seen the Promised Land: A Utopian Novella.

(Review continued in right column)

( Click here for the original version in Spanish.)

Question for this article:

What are the most important books about the culture of peace?

(Review continued from left column)

Adams, also a neurobiologist, is coordinator of Culture of Peace News Network (cpnn-world.org) and he participated in several programs and declarations of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) in favor of peace such as the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace as well as the International Year for the Culture of Peace that resulted in the 2000 Manifesto with 75 million signatories worldwide promising to promote a culture of peace in everyday life.

David Adams’s approach is that if humans invented war and violence, then humans are able to invent and build peace.

According to the editor and translator, Roberto Emmanuele Mercadillo: “This work pursues a simple and basic idea: if war and violence are a creation, a cerebral and cultural construction, man can also invent and build peace in a rational and intentional way, even if it is necessary to internalize the concept of ‘other’ based on equality. The adage ‘I am the other’ should be the goal of family, school and institutional teaching to enhance the human right to peace, proposed by Unesco in 1997.”

Going beyond the responsibility of each individual, Adams also analyzes the role of civil society in creating and practicing a culture of peace through movements for peace and disarmament, ecology, human rights, democracy, women’s equality, and the free flow of information, in addition to raising the role of local governments.

Although the novel tells of a utopia, Adams is not a dreamer, or at least not entirely: he knows that the culture of peace should be understood as a process, in the original sense of the word culture. We will not just wake up one morning and discover that we have constructed a culture of peace.

(Editor’s note: The book is available from Herder in Mexico, from Herder in Spain and from Amazon in Spain.)

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

Colombia: Teaching peace

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

Un blog de Ernesto Amézquita en Cronica del Quindio (translated by CPNN)

According to law 1732, adopted in 2014, the national government has issued the decree “by which the teaching of Peace is regulated in all educational institutions of the country”.

colombia
Click on photo to enlarge

It is foreseen in article number 2 that “to meet the constitutional mandate enshrined in the articles 22 and 41 of the Constitution, the teaching of Peace is compulsory.” It is so decreed that “the teaching will aim to create and consolidate a space for learning, reflection and dialogue on culture of peace and sustainable development which should contribute to the general welfare and improve the quality of life of the population.”

Historically it has been shown that it is much more productive, civilized and proactive to invest in peace instead of the criminal business of arms dealers, mercenaries and beneficiaries of war.

For Colombia, more than 60 years of violence, about 300,000 dead, millions displaced, thousands missing, wounded and false positives, massacres, millions of orphans; should be more than enough to say enough to the ignorance of death, the peace of the grave and yes to life, to peaceful coexistence, the rule of justice, concord and respect for difference.

As such, these new standards are a good contribution to teaching in the school, family, college; accompanied by administrative bodies, judicial, ecclesiastical, military, police, social, business, etc., to begin to fully implement the rejection of the warmongering, bullying, and all violent, aggressive or armed way of solving problems. Today we have alternative means, justice, both formal and informal, as specific mechanisms for he solution of conflicts.

The central of this law are the culture of peace and sustainable development to be implemented in the academic syllabus that must be incorporated before December 31, 2015, in the areas of social sciences, history, geography, politics and democracy constitution, life sciences, environmental education, ethics, human values ​​and principles.

It is clear that the teachers responsible for this initiative must be qualified, skilled and experienced in those academic areas, because otherwise the effort would be counterproductive. We don’t ask Satan to teach the Bible.

So, we must ask: When will the schools of Quindio and the rest of the country, both public and private, begin to incorporate into their academic programs, this officially mandated teaching? When will we Colombians begin to disarm our own spirits, and when will the communication media become truly objective, truthful and impartial?

With this in mind, let us welcome the teaching of peace, principles and values ​​that we have missed in these 60 years of war and fratricidal violence between brother and brother.

(click here for the original Spanish version of this article)

Questions for this article:

‘

Peace Studies in School Curricula, What would it take to make it happen around the world?

What is happening in Colombia? Is peace possible?

This discussion question applies to the following articles:

Children as Peacemakers
Peace Education Center in Ghana
Asian Educators Symposium and Exchange Program: Creating a Culture of Peace through Education
Life-Link Program Promotes a Culture of Peace
Education for Peace: Le projet intégré prend tout son sens
‘Education for peace’ wins the Youth Excellence Award 2011 in Mauritius.
Convivencia y Protección Escolar: Bogotá, Colombia
Coexistence and School Protection: Student Project in Bogota Colombia
Convivencia y Protección Escolar: Red de Educadores en Bogotá
Coexistence and School Protection: Teachers Network in Bogota Colombia
Premios a la Promoción de la Cultura de Paz y la Convivencia Escolar.
Prizes for the Promotion of Culture of Peace and School Coexistence
Hawaii Teachers Impact NEA National Assembly – 3 Million Members to Support Peace Day
Gambia: Teachers Trained On Peace Building
Málaga destaca por fomentar la convivencia y la cultura de paz, según la Junta de Andalucía (Espagne)
The Junta of Andalucia (Spain): Malaga promotes coexistence and culture of peace
Cultura de Paz nas escolas do Norte de Minas, Brasil
Culture of Peace in the schools of Norte de Minas, Brasil
Formation des enseignants à la résolution non-violente des conflits (France)
Teacher training in nonviolent conflict resolution (France)
Álvarez Rodríguez firmará un acuerdo para aplicar “Cultura de Paz, Gestión de Paz” en las escuelas
Álvarez Rodríguez to sign agreement for “Culture of Peace, Managing Peace” in schools
Gambia: PS Bouy Launches WANEP Peace Education Implementation Guide
Culture de paix et de non-violence dans les écoles : Le réseau ouest-africain pour l’édification de la paix lance son guide
The West African Network for Peacebuilding publishes its guide for culture of peace and non-violence in the schools
Prefeitura de São Luís e Unesco firmam parceria pela cultura de paz nas escolas (Brasil)
City of São Luís and UNESCO sign partnership for the culture of peace in schools (Brazil)
México: Urgente incorporar la cultura de paz a la educación formal
Mexico: Urgent to incorporate culture of peace in formal education
France: 12e Forum « La non-violence à l’école »
France: 12th Forum “Non-Violence in Schools”
Ghana: WANEP trains 150 peace Ambassadors in Tamale Schools

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

USA: Response to the Massacre in Charleston; Grieve, But then Teach and Organize Nonviolence

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article by the Reverend John Dear in the Huffington Post (abridged and reprinted according to fair use)

Like millions of others, I’m grieving the death of the nine church folk killed in the unthinkable massacre inside Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church on Wednesday night. My heart goes out to the families and friends of the dead, and the church members, and I offer all my condolences, prayers, blessings and love. . .

John Dear
Click on photo to enlarge

Of course, this was a hate crime, an act of violent racism and domestic terrorism. Press reports claim that the insane young man who shot the church goers had just been given a gun by his father for his 21st birthday. No doubt he was a sociopath, an advocate of hatred and racism, a white supremacist, the normal product of our culture of guns, hatred, racism, violence and war.

Like millions of others, I feel swept up in grief. Where does one start? The police killings of African Americans such as Amadou Diallo, Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin, Sean Bell, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Walter Scott (of South Carolina, in April)—these are just the well known names. Thousands have been killed. And the big massacres such as Virginia Tech college students, the Sandy Hook elementary school children, the Boston marathon runners and bystanders, and the Aurora, Colorado movie goers. One could go on.

But my grief mingles with the grief of the world, the quiet death of millions of children from extreme poverty and unnecessary disease, and the deliberate killing of children by the U.S. war machine.

Not too long ago, I spent days listening to teenagers in Kabul, Afghanistan, cry as they told me in detail how their loved ones were blown up by U.S. drones which dropped bombs upon them. I remember visiting the Catholic high school for girls in Baghdad and being surrounded by hundreds of girls who cried as they denounced the U.S. bombings and war. I recall the hundreds of people I met in the 1980s in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala who wept as they told me about the killing of their loved ones by U.S. backed death squads. I have witnessed the tears of grief brought on by the forces of death as well in India, South Africa, Egypt, Palestine, Colombia, Northern Ireland, and the Philippines.

For me, like all my activist friends, it is a lifetime of grief in solidarity with sisters and brothers around the world whose loved ones died by the systemic forces of greed, war, violence and death.

That’s why I see beyond the sickness of hatred, racism and sexism toward something deeper—an addiction to violence–to death itself–that inflicts nearly every living human being to some degree, an addiction which fuels the unjust national and global systems which bring death to so many poor people. It’s like everyone, especially us North Americans, is addicted to crack cocaine, yet we don’t know it, much less try to become sober. We’re all full of violence, and we go forward, not knowing what to do. So we maintain a culture of violence, torture, war and nuclear weapons as if that’s a perfect reasonable way to maintain a society. It’s as if we’re all living in a zombie movie.

(Article continued in the right column)

Question for this article:

Can peace be guaranteed through nonviolent means?

Are we making progress against racism?

(Article continued from the left column)

Consider the hundreds of devout Christians who attend prayer services, bible studies and Catholic masses at the Pentagon, and then go about the big business of mass murder. Or the thousands of devout Christians who attend church each Sunday in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and then spend the rest of the week devoutly building nuclear weapons. Think of the Jesuits of Baltimore who hold an annual Mass for War, who process their one hundred ROTC graduates up the main aisle at graduation mass to profess their Army Oath to Kill to the Blessed Sacrament, just as the Nazis did long ago. . .

We are all addicted to violence in one form or another. We have all surrendered to sociopathic killing in one form or another. We have refused the wisdom, the divine call, the spiritual heights of universal, loving nonviolence. But that is the only option ahead of us.

The real challenge before us, I submit, was laid down long ago by our national teacher, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. He invites each one of us to undergo the journey he went through toward active nonviolence. We have to renounce the ancient stupidity of “an eye for an eye thinking” (which Jesus outlawed when he commanded in the Sermon on the Mount, “But I say, offer no violent resistance to one who does evil”) and take up where Gandhi left off in his pursuit of truth and nonviolence. . .

In August, I’ll be hosting a national conference on nonviolence at the Hilton Hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It’s sold out, but we will broadcast the entire historic two day event live on line for free, and I hope tens of thousands will watch it live (you can see it at: www.campaignnonviolence.org). We will have some of the nation’s greatest visionaries of nonviolence there, beginning with Dr. King’s friend Rev. James Lawson, whom King called the world’s greatest theoretician of nonviolence.

We will also broadcast live on line our peace vigils in Los Alamos, New Mexico, marking the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6th and 9th. (See: www.campaignnonviolence.org for details).

More, we are calling for a week of nonviolent action across the United States, from September 20th to 28th, as we mark International Peace Day, Sept. 21st. Last year, Campaign Nonviolence organized over 250 demonstrations against war, poverty, nuclear weapons and environmental destruction, and for Dr. King’s vision of a new culture of peace and nonviolence, in all fifty states. We hope to double that number this September, and we need more people to step up to the plate and get involved. That means, organizing a march, a rally, a prayer service or a lobby effort in your local community. If you are looking for some way to get involved, consider yourself invited. Here’s a concrete step you can take, in solidarity with thousands of others across the nation. As we take to the streets together, we will know that we are not alone. . .

Mother Jones was right. Don’t just mourn. Organize!

See you in the street!

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, North America