Category Archives: global

The Elders urge European leaders to stand firm on Israeli annexation threats

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

A press release from The Elders

The Elders have called on European leaders to maintain their resolve against Israel’s plans to annex swathes of the West Bank, and to insist that any such moves would have negative political and economic consequences for bilateral relations.

The absence of any direct military and legal moves towards annexation on 1 July – the deadline unilaterally declared by Israel’s Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu – should not be taken as grounds for complacency. Annexation of any part of the West Bank, including illegal settlement blocs, would constitute a flagrant breach of international law.

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Question related to this article:

Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

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In letters to French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell, The Elders underscored the damage annexation would cause not only to any hopes of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but also to global respect for the rule of law.

Annexation “is fundamentally contrary to the long term interests of both the Israeli and the Palestinian peoples. [It] will not dampen future Palestinian demands for rights and self-determination, but destroying hopes in a two-state compromise will increase the risks of future violence in one of the most combustible areas in the world”, the Elders warned in their appeal to Europe’s leaders.

They called on the EU leaders to consider suspending the bloc’s Association Agreement with Israel if annexation does go ahead in any form, and recalled the UK’s historical and abiding responsibility to the region as the colonial Mandate holder in pre-1948 Palestine.

The Elders also reiterated their support for human rights defenders and civil society activists in Israel and Palestine, whose voices need to be protected and amplified at this challenging time.

[Editors’s note: The Elders is an international non-governmental organisation of public figures noted as elder statesmen, peace activists, and human rights advocates, who were brought together by Nelson Mandela in 2007.  They have included Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Graça Machel, Mary Robinson, Ban Ki-Moon, Juan Manuel Santos and Kofi Annan, among others.]

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global

More than 29 thousand people registered in the Second International Montessori Congress, a free virtual event

. EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article from Murcia.com

From July 6 to 10, the second International Montessori Congress will be held, organized by Miriam Escacena, head of Your Montessori Guide, and by the renowned researchers, trainers and founders of Montessori Canela International, who this year will join the organization of this international event, Marco Zagal and Betzabé Lillo Orellana, who contribute their more than 10 years of experience in teacher training and transformation of schools in Spain and various countries.

The virtual event will bring together thirty experts from Spain, Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Sweden, France, Slovakia and Italy. Most of the speakers are friends and collaborators of Montessori Canela and will speak on different topics related to education as an element of social change. The presentations can be seen for free during the week of July 6-10.


In Montessori schools, the children are not required to sit passively in regimented rows of desks.

In Spain there are around 150 Montessori schools.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of María Montessori, the founder of Montessori schools.

The program is based on eight axes: Montessori Education, Human Development, Inclusive Education, Educational Neuroscience, Public Schools, Educating with the family and Educational documentary films, united by the theme “Educating in the now: Montessori, culture of peace” ..

The opening ceremony will take place on Sunday, July 5 at 6:00 p.m. in mainland Spain and will be broadcast through the organizers’ social networks.

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

Question related to this article:
 
What is the best way to teach peace to children?

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Betzabé Lillo Orellana points out that “the purpose of this congress is to be able to convey a message of hope, optimism and tranquility in a context as uncertain as we are in, which is why we emphasize Educating in the Now, since it is important to take this crisis as an opportunity to rethink how we want to live life, discovering the essentials in everyday life, getting closer to the real meaning of happiness.”
The Congress promises a space that allows participants to :

– Become aware of the human potential that is present in the adverse situations of life, because, well oriented and accompanied, they become a source of growth to consider adversity as an opportunity.

– Search for alternatives to find within yourself that energy that is needed to overcome and advance in any difficult or problematic situation that we are experiencing.

– Connect with the creativity that is in each child, youth and adult as part of their being, as a transforming force that takes greater prominence in family, socio-cultural and specific adversity situations such as what happens in these times of pandemic.

– Know experiences, life stories and the creative duality of theory and practice in different areas that favor a more humane education.

– Mutually share inspiration to be able to help all of us nurture an awareness that helps us see that everything we are experiencing is an opportunity to change and grow.

This Congress is aimed at all people who seek to contribute to a better education, to a better society. Marco Zagal explains to us that “there are parents, professionals, and self-taught people from different areas who are always looking to learn something new or reinforce ideas that allow them to create respectful spaces in the different areas of childhood and adolescence. The contribution that we believe this Congress will give to families and professionals is directly related to a broader understanding of what children and adolescents are, and how caring for their psychological, emotional, social and physical life is the best gift. and the best inheritance that we can leave them. ”

Miriam Escacena highlights that “after the success of the congress last year, this year we are once again uniting with a spirit of trust with great expectation”. In these times in which we are facing a true paradigm shift, in which that change in the educational system that so many long for is finally coming true, accessible and quality initiatives are necessary more than ever.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Europe, global,

2020 Peace Prize of German Book Trade to Amartya Sen

. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION .

A press release from Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandeis

The German Publishers and Booksellers Association hereby awards the 2020 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade to the economist and philosopher Amartya Sen. In doing so, the association and its members have chosen to pay tribute to a pioneering scholar who has addressed issues of global justice for decades and whose work to combat social inequality in education and healthcare is as relevant today as ever. Among Sen’s most important contributions is the idea of evaluating a society’s wealth not solely based on economic growth indices, but also on the opportunities for development available to all individuals who comprise that society, in particular its weakest members.

[Editor’s note: Click here for Professor Sen’s response to the pandemic crisis.


Professor Sen carried out some of his studies in India on a bike

Throughout his work, Amartya Sen has consistently highlighted solidarity and a willingness to negotiate as essential democratic values, proving in the process that cultures need not be the source of disputes over identity. His vivid and powerful descriptions have also served to elucidate the fundamental ways in which poverty, hunger and illness are intimately linked to the absence of free and democratic structures. The »Human Development Index«, the »capabilities approach« and the notion of »missing women« are just three of his groundbreaking concepts that continue to set high standards to this day with regard to generating, preserving and evaluating equal opportunities and decent living conditions for all.

Amartya Sen’s inspiring oeuvre represents a compelling call to establish a culture of political decision-making borne by a sense of responsibility for the well-being of others, including the right to self-determination and the right to articulate one’s interests and have a say in one’s own future.

“The freedom of choice gives us the opportunity to decide what we should do.” (Amartya Sen,”The Idea of Justice”)

Biography

Amartya Kumar Sen was born on 3 November 1933 in Santiniketan, India. He is currently the Thomas W. Lamont University Professor, and professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard University. For many decades, Sen’s multifaceted and award-winning scholarly work has contributed unmatched insights and impulses to a number of fields, including welfare economics, social choice theory, decision theory, studies in hunger and poverty, and development economics. As an economist-philosopher whose research areas include public health and gender studies, he has also worked tirelessly for the cause of democracy, freedom and global justice. In 1998, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics. In 2020, Amartya Sen, one of the most important thinkers of our time, will receive the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.

Amartya Sen was born into a family of scholars and raised in an environment steeped in tradition. He spent part of his childhood in Dhaka, the present-day capital of Bangladesh, and finished his school education in his hometown of Santiniketan. His early years were influenced by the political movement for independence that took place across India during the 1940s, which was also the time of the conflicts between Hindus and Muslims, as well as that of the great famine in Bengal in 1943.

In 1959, after having completed a B.A. in economics at Presidency College, Kolkata, Sen received his Ph.D. at Trinity College, Cambridge. He continued to devote himself to the study of philosophy in addition to economics, something that is clearly reflected in many of his later works, where issues of economic theory meet moral philosophy and ethics.

In the 1960s, Sen was a guest professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as well as at Stanford, Berkeley and Harvard. After that, he worked as a professor of economics at the University of Delhi’s Delhi School of Economics (1963–1971), the London School of Economics (1971–1977) and Oxford University (1977–1987) as Drummond Professor of Political Economy. From 1988 to 1998, he was the Thomas W. Lamont University Professor, and Professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard, after which he was appointed as Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. In 2004, he returned to Harvard as the Thomas W. Lamont University Professor and Professor of Economics and Philosophy.

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Questions related to this article:

Where in the world can we find good leadership today?

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As an economist-philosopher, Amartya Sen’s thinking is shaped by the question of how social justice can be advanced for all individuals in a society. In exploring these issues, he uses economics, politics and social choice theory.

Sen first became known to a wider public in 1970 for his advancement of the theory of social choice and his analysis of the compatibility of reasoned social decisions and individual rights (»Collective Choice and Social Welfare«, 1970, Expanded Edition, 2017). In 1981, he published his most famous work, »Poverty and Famines – An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation«. This essay showed definitively that poverty and hunger are caused not only by food shortages, but above all by problems of distribution and a lack of access and entitlements. In addition, Sen showed that famines do not break out in functioning democracies with a free press.

In the 1990s, Sen played a significant role in the development of the Human Development approach of the United Nations, including devising the Human Development Index (HDI) which is an indicator of well-being in countries around the world and takes into account factors such as health and education in addition to average income.

Sen has always worked with his conviction that the quality of an economic system should not be measured solely on the basis of its growth indices, but rather on the opportunities available to the members of society to pursue their own development as well as their freedom to lead a life they have reason to choose (»capability approach«). Among the elements necessary for achieving this, Sen shows are education, healthcare and a free and fair press, in particular. In his 1999 book »Development as Freedom«, he has called for fair sharing of rights and opportunities by women. They also contribute to eliminating global inequalities and improving overall living standards.

Years earlier, in 1990, Sen had already used the idea of “missing women” in an article titled »More Than 100 Million Women Are Missing« published in the New York Review of Books. The term refers to noticeable shortfalls in the number of women in some regions of the world in relation to what may be expected on demographic grounds. This results from neglect of young girls as well as gender-selective abortion of female foetuses, related to »boy preference«, resulting from patriarchal values.

In 2006, the philosopher Sen became involved in the “clash of cultures” debate through his book »Identity and Violence«. In it, he warned of the increasing tendency to reduce individuals to a single identifying characteristic. He described how violence and fundamentalism arise as a result of such narrow construction of identity, and how this tendency fosters conflicts, as well. As an alternative to this approach, Sen made a decisive plea for the active promotion of pluralist understanding.

In 2009, Sen published »The Idea of Justice«, which soon became a bestseller. In that book, Sen examines the theory of justice put forth by John Rawls, criticising it for its ideal-oriented assumptions, which make it unsuitable for application in practical reality. In contrast, Sen proposed a practice-oriented theory and declared democracy to be a basic requirement for social justice.

In 2013, Sen joined with fellow economist Jean Drèze for the book »An Uncertain Glory. India and its Contradictions«, in which they proposed solutions designed to foster a fairer coexistence of peoples in India. Both economists placed the focus of their analysis on the lives and needs of poor and underprivileged populations, portraying the ways in which the introduction of a democratic system influenced Indian’s economy and social fabric, but also showing how the accompanying neglect of social problems has had a serious impact on the country’s economic and political system to this day.

Amartya Sen has been the President of the Econometric Society, President of the International Economic Association, President of the Indian Economic Association and President of the American Economic Association. For two years, he was Honorary President of OXFAM and he continues to be active there as an honorary advisor. Sen is a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows, a Fellow of the British Academy, an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Member of the American Philosophical Society.

Sen has received over 100 honorary doctorates and countless awards for his highly influential work, and his books have been translated into over 30 different languages. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his wife, the British-born economic historian Emma Georgina Rothschild, whom he married in 1991 and who is also a professor at Harvard. Amartya Sen has four children, Antara, Nandana, Indrani and Kabir.

“The terrible connection between economic poverty and comprehensive unfreedom (even the lack of freedom to live) was a profoundly shocking realization that hit my young mind with overpowering force.” (Amartya Sen in “Identity and Violence” about his childhood experience during the clashes between Hindus and Muslims in 1944).

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global

Protests worldwide embrace Black Lives Matter movement

… . HUMAN RIGHTS … .

An article from Thomson Reuters (reprinted by permission)

Thousands of people took to the streets in European and Asian cities on Saturday [June 6], demonstrating in support of U.S. protests against police brutality.


Video of demonstrations around the world

The rolling, global protests reflect rising anger over police treatment of ethnic minorities, sparked by the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis after a white officer detaining him knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes with fellow officers beside him.

After a largely peaceful protest in London, a few demonstrators near British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s residence threw bottles at police, and mounted officers charged push protesters back.

Earlier, more than a thousand protesters had marched past the U.S. Embassy, blocking traffic and holding placards.

Many thousands had also crowded into the square outside parliament, holding placards reading “Black Lives Matter”, ignoring government advice to avoid large gatherings due to the risk from the coronavirus.

“I have come down in support of black people who have been ill-treated for many, many, many, many years. It is time for a change,” said 39-year-old primary school teacher Aisha Pemberton.

Police in the German city of Hamburg used pepper spray on protesters and said they were ready to deploy water cannons. One officer was injured, they added.

Several hundred “hooded and aggressive people” had put officers under pressure in the city centre, police said, tweeting: “Attacks on police officers are unacceptable!”

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Question(s) related to this article:

Are we making progress against racism?

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In Paris the authorities banned demonstrations planned outside the U.S. Embassy and on the lawns near the Eiffel Tower.

However, several hundred protesters, some holding “Black Lives Matters” signs, gathered on Place de la Concorde, close to the Embassy. Police had installed a long barrier across the square to prevent access to the embassy, which is also close to the Elysee presidential palace.

In Berlin, demonstrators filled the central Alexanderplatz square, while there was also a protest in Warsaw.

PLACARDS AND FLAGS

In Brisbane, one of several Australian cities where rallies were held, police estimated 10,000 people joined a peaceful protest, wearing masks and holding “Black Lives Matter” placards. Many wrapped themselves in indigenous flags, calling for an end to police mistreatment of indigenous Australians.

Banners and slogans have focused not just on George Floyd but on a string of other controversies in different countries as well as mistreatment of minorities in general.

In Sydney, a last-minute court decision overruling a ban imposed because of the coronavirus allowed several thousand people to march, with a heavy police presence.

In Tokyo, marchers protested against what they said was police mistreatment of a Kurdish man who says he was stopped while driving and shoved to the ground. Organisers said they were also marching in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

“I want to show that there’s racism in Japan now,” said 17-year-old high school student Wakaba, who declined to give her family name.

In Seoul, dozens of South Korean activists and foreign residents gathered, some wearing black masks with “Can’t breathe” in Korean, echoing George Floyd’s final words as he lay on the ground.

In Bangkok, activists avoided coronavirus restrictions by going online, asking for video and photos of people wearing black, raising their fists and holding signs, and explaining why they supported the Black Lives Matter movement.
Protesters were expected to gather in Washington for a huge demonstration on Saturday as demonstrations across the United States entered a 12th day.

Reporting by Reuters bureaux around the world; Writing by William Mallard and Hugh Lawson; Editing by Frances Kerry and Kevin Liffey
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

global, HUMAN RIGHTS

Herstory of Black Lives Matter

… . HUMAN RIGHTS … .

Excerpt from the website of Black Lives Matter

In 2013, three radical Black organizers — Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi — created a Black-centered political will and movement building project called #BlackLivesMatter. It was in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman.

The project is now a member-led global network of more than 40 chapters. Our members organize and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.

Black Lives Matter is an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. It is an affirmation of Black folks’ humanity, our contributions to this society, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression.

As organizers who work with everyday people, BLM members see and understand significant gaps in movement spaces and leadership. Black liberation movements in this country have created room, space, and leadership mostly for Black heterosexual, cisgender men — leaving women, queer and transgender people, and others either out of the movement or in the background to move the work forward with little or no recognition. As a network, we have always recognized the need to center the leadership of women and queer and trans people. To maximize our movement muscle, and to be intentional about not replicating harmful practices that excluded so many in past movements for liberation, we made a commitment to placing those at the margins closer to the center.

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Question(s) related to this article:

Are we making progress against racism?

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Painting a street near the White House on June 6, 2020 (click on image to see video)

As #BlackLivesMatter developed throughout 2013 and 2014, we utilized it as a platform and organizing tool. Other groups, organizations, and individuals used it to amplify anti-Black racism across the country, in all the ways it showed up. Tamir Rice, Tanisha Anderson, Mya Hall, Walter Scott, Sandra Bland — these names are inherently important. The space that #BlackLivesMatter held and continues to hold helped propel the conversation around the state-sanctioned violence they experienced. We particularly highlighted the egregious ways in which Black women, specifically Black trans women, are violated. #BlackLivesMatter was developed in support of all Black lives.

In 2014, Mike Brown was murdered by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. It was a guttural response to be with our people, our family — in support of the brave and courageous community of Ferguson and St. Louis as they were being brutalized by law enforcement, criticized by media, tear gassed, and pepper sprayed night after night. Darnell Moore and Patrisse Cullors organized a national ride during Labor Day weekend that year. We called it the Black Life Matters Ride. In 15 days, we developed a plan of action to head to the occupied territory to support our brothers and sisters. Over 600 people gathered. We made two commitments: to support the team on the ground in St. Louis, and to go back home and do the work there. We understood Ferguson was not an aberration, but in fact, a clear point of reference for what was happening to Black communities everywhere.

When it was time for us to leave, inspired by our friends in Ferguson, organizers from 18 different cities went back home and developed Black Lives Matter chapters in their communities and towns — broadening the political will and movement building reach catalyzed by the #BlackLivesMatter project and the work on the ground in Ferguson.

It became clear that we needed to continue organizing and building Black power across the country. People were hungry to galvanize their communities to end state-sanctioned violence against Black people, the way Ferguson organizers and allies were doing. Soon we created the Black Lives Matter Global Network infrastructure. It is adaptive and decentralized, with a set of guiding principles. Our goal is to support the development of new Black leaders, as well as create a network where Black people feel empowered to determine our destinies in our communities.

The Black Lives Matter Global Network would not be recognized worldwide if it weren’t for the folks in St. Louis and Ferguson who put their bodies on the line day in and day out, and who continue to show up for Black lives.

global, HUMAN RIGHTS, North America

International Fellowship of Reonciliation: Open letter to the United Nations

TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

An open letter published by Pressenza (reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license)

His Excellency Mr. Antonio Guterres Secretary-General
United Nations Headquarters, New York City

Dear Mr. Secretary-General,

We are writing to you as International Fellowship of Reconciliation, a global movement seeking to transform, through nonviolence, the world away from endless cycles of violence towards justice, reconciliation, and lasting peace. As a concerned international NGO, accredited to the UN ECOSOC, we are writing to you to express our appreciation for your efforts dealing with the current health crisis in the world and to share some of our thoughts with you at this difficult time.

We join with you in recognizing “the fury of [COVID-19] illustrates the folly of war,” and we thank you for your leadership in calling for a global ceasefire as a first step to “end the sickness of war”. We are encouraged that your call has resonated with millions across the world, and gained endorsements from 70 Member States, with expressions of acceptance from parties to conflict, and non-state actors as well.

We call on all UN member States to support Your appeal, to the General Assembly and to the Security Council, and put it into practice.

The pandemic has revealed the single common vulnerability of humankind, which knows no border. We who are but one of the species on the planet earth must shun our urge for identity superiority or risk even more devastating pandemics. With this shattered illusion of separateness, humanity cannot tolerate war and violence anywhere, as it threatens health and peace for everyone everywhere. Countries are grappling internally with political, economic, racial, and social divides that exacerbate efforts to contain the virus, while inequity in the global community reveals the new depths of suffering in countries that already bear the brunt of the pain caused by climate change, hunger, economic sanctions and exploitation, and armed conflicts.

While the impact of COVID-19 on the countries where we have active members has varied, together, we affirm the urgency for a new and creative way forward that builds human security globally through health, economic justice and peace. We therefore appeal:

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Question related to this article:
 
How can we work together to overcome this medical and economic crisis?

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1. Prioritize the protection of poor and marginalized people. Economic inequality increases the impact of the pandemic and sets the stage for more devastation with the risk of even greater lethality. For instance, underinvestment in healthcare means many countries are unable to meet the simple challenge of providing personal protective equipment to those in need. Concentrated poverty means sheltering in isolation, and for women and children locked down with abusers, it promises new levels of violence, abuse, and death.

2. Protect civil liberties and human rights. Emergency legislation rushed through in many coun- tries may serve as cover for oppressive measures and the violation of human rights. Traditionally marginalized communities are forgotten or ignored, and vulnerable people are cut off from offi- cial support. We urge you, Mr. Secretary-General, to prioritize and support the work of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Michelle Bachelet to adapt the global index for hu- man rights to ensure that it monitors abuses in a world now reshaped by COVID-19 legislation. We urge you to call on all member States for accountability.

3. Use the momentum of this global crisis to shift resources to meet human needs and create lasting peace. Weapons of war cannot defeat a virus, address climate change, nor solve any other world problem. As States pursue ‘business as usual’ military strategies to contain the virus and create security, the world wastes opportunities to coalesce around creative responses that match the grave nature of this crisis, like protecting the most vulnerable from harsh economic impacts and working in solidarity to ensure global health emergency preparedness. These are the kinds of creative responses that lead to lasting peace. We call for disarmament and a major reduction in military spending worldwide, starting with the abolition of all nuclear weapons. We call for the conversion of military industry to civilian production and for the end of exports of weapons to states at war or violating human rights. Humanity will thrive with equitable local community investment and the shift from funding warfare to funding healthcare and peace. We urge the United Nations to invest more capacity and financial support in nonviolent conflict transfor- mation, mediation and Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeping.

Now is the time to create a “new normal” built on a culture of peace and non-violence. We call for global bridge-building and cooperation, and global leadership encouraging increased global solidarity. The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals recognize the interconnected reality of our world. With branches, groups, and affiliates in more than 40 countries, IFOR offers its support to UN agencies in achieving these goals. By highlighting the centrality of peace to a world free from poverty and ine- qualities, the SDGs challenge the world to put into practice a new way of thinking. Addressing the issues named above ensures that nations can create roadmaps out of COVID-19 that leave no one behind.

We wish you well and further success in your work.

Charlotte Sjöström Becker, President of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation

[Editor’s note: The International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) was founded in 1914 in response to the horrors of war in Europe. Today IFOR counts 71 branches, groups and affiliates in 48 countries on all continents.]

global, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY, United Nations,

If Culture of War was a human choice and invention, what if we choose a culture of peace?

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

By Myrian Castello  

Peace is in Our Hands is a project that works to increase and promote culture of peace around the world, and one of the ways is through Webinar interviews with people who are references on the topic.


Video of webinar

CPNN now has an YouTube channel where other people can access the interviews and support the new project. To view the videos and subscribe, just go to this link.

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(click here for the Portuguese version of this article.)

Question related to this article:

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

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The first and second interviews were with Dr. David Adams

“Peace is in our hands” – A review of the culture of war and the possibility of creating a culture of peace, actions, thinking globally and acting locally – a new possible world.

and

“Are humans naturally aggressive?” – a little about his research on the human brain and our society.

The third interview was with Dr. Roberto Mercadillo: “Are humans naturally peaceful?” Possibility to choose a Culture of peace. Empathy and connection, how we develop and what happens when we see ourselves as equals?

As Dr. David Adams said, we need to invest more in solidarity, sustainability, education, democratic participation, equity instead of investing in war. In addition, David proposes power to cities instead of nation states as a way to leave a culture of war and move to a culture of peace. If we choose a culture of war, why not choose a culture of peace? It is necessary to think globally and act locally.

See you soon,

In our next conversation

Peace is in Our Hands

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global

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?

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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