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| March 2008 Newsletter | |
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Dear {Account - Short Salutation}, Today, we are pleased to announce that Dot Maver is President & CEO of Peace Partnership International. We recognize that Dot's style of leadership is akin to the advice of business guru Peter Drucker, who once said, "The task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths... making a system's weaknesses irrelevant." We look forward to participating in the alignment of strengths in government, civil society, and business to catalyze the shift from living in a culture of violence to a culture of peace. This shift to living in a culture of peace will require more than treating the symptoms of direct violence. This shift will require a new language in the spirit of nonviolence and cooperation for interacting with one another and all life forms. This shift will require building the structures within social, economic, and political systems to support cultures of peace that reinforce our beliefs and images of the future as we envision a world that works for everyone. Thank you for your support and participation as we journey together. With a grateful heart,  Marjorie Mann, Chair Peace Partnership International Dear {Account - Short Salutation}, It is with heartfelt gratitude and joy that I take on the responsibility of President / CEO of Peace Partnership International. Our focus is forging partnerships and strategic alliances to co-create a culture of peace. I am excited to share with you our major initiatives for 2008, and invite you to participate! Development and Demonstration of Applied Peacebuilding is one of our program areas:
Calling for Structures in Government that Support and Encourage the Culture of Peace is another major program area:
2008 promises to be a good year for the visibility and growth of peacebuilding. There are numerous opportunities for shared leadership and shared responsibility as we continue the journey to realize a culture of peace. We wish you all the best as you continue to live peace - it's an inside job, after all - and invite you to join the partnership. In loving cooperation and in the Spirit of Peace,  Dot Maver, President & CEO Peace Partnership International Visit our website at www.peacepartintl.org
Peace Partnership International, Business as an Agent of World Benefit (a center within the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University), and The Biosophical Institute are initiating a process that will lead to establishment of a National Peace Academy. As a first step, we are convening a small gathering of advocates, educators, corporate leaders, and policy makers from around the world. The intended outcomes of this Vision Meeting, to be held in April at Case, are:
Peace Partnership International is a founding member of the Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace and works in strategic partnership with The Peace Alliance, which is the working group for the Global Alliance within the United States, campaigning for a U.S. Department of Peace. A Youth's Perspective on the Japan Summit  "As one of two American youth delegates at the Third Global Summit for Ministries and Departments of Peace in Japan in September 2007, I arrived in Hiroshima expecting to see a city still leveled to the ground. Tears welled in my averted eyes as I walked through the Hiroshima Peace Museum and experienced the reality of the A-Bomb Dome and the staggering consequences of nuclear weapons." (Photo: Julia Simon-Mishel and Aaron Voldman with A-bomb survivor Toshié Uné)Read Julia's report on the Japan Summit here. Peace Ministries on the Table for Israel and Palestine  The Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI), founded in Jerusalem in 1988, is the only joint Israeli-Palestinian public policy think tank in the world. It is devoted to developing practical solutions for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.IPCRI co-founder Gershon Baskin, who attended the Third Global Summit for Ministries and Departments of Peace in Japan, reports, "We are on the road to establish Ministries of Peace in Israel and Palestine!" Read more here! Reports from the World Spirit Youth Council in Thailand  The World Spirit Youth Council (WSYC) is an international youth project incubated by Children of the Earth. According to the meeting proposal, "The aim of the WSYC is to connect youth who live oceans apart by awakening the realization that we are all related to one another and the earth. Youth are inspired by other active people they meet and become spiritually activated themselves; they are called to be a moral force on the world's stage." The 2008 World Spirit Youth Council met February 12-22 in Thailand, and Peace Partnership International provided travel scholarships for Aaron Voldman of the United States and Corina Simon of Romania to attend. Here are their stories.The African Alliance for Peace  The stories out of Africa over the past 15-plus years have been horrific. And the pace seems to be only accelerating: civil wars, inter-tribal hatreds, violence against women, child conscriptions, electoral rigging and violence. At the same time, though, at a quickening pace but largely out of the media spotlight, Africans are coming forward with a passion for peace and dedication to working for sustainable peace. Across this continent that is the birthplace of humankind, people are working for a peace based on principles of cooperation, inclusion, understanding, healing, and nonviolence. The African Alliance for Peace (AAP) was formed by seven African participants at the Global Alliance's Japan Summit from the nations of Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, and Uganda, and it has since grown to include many more (Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and others). The AAP is planning its first Regional Summit in Accra, Ghana, this May, which will be followed by six days of intensive training in Nonviolent Communication (NVC). Miki Kashtan, who facilitated the Japan Summit, will also facilitate the AAP Summit and lead the NVC training.
 Anne Creter, liaison to the United Nations from Peace Partnership International, has been leading an effort within the UN NGO community and the Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace to draft and promote a UN General Assembly resolution calling for structures in governments that support the culture of peace. Read her report on the current status of that project here.
Youth violence is a tragedy that affects us all. According to the CDC, on average 15 young people are murdered daily in America. One such young person was the son of Azim Khamisa, founder and CEO of the Tariq Khamisa Foundation. In an all-too-common story, his 20-year-old son, Tariq, was murdered by a 14-year-old trying to get into a gang. The Peace Alliance, with financial assistance from Peace Partnership International, has produced a 30-second public service announcement (PSA) in collaboration with students from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, New Jersey. The PSA, which features Azim Khamisa and his story, is being distributed for airing during National Youth Violence Prevention Week, which runs from March 31 to April 4, 2008. Beginning March 31, The Peace Alliance website will feature a special PSA web page on violence prevention resources and education, where you will be able to learn more about existing programs that could help your community.
In his November 26, 2007, Landon Lecture at Kansas State University, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates said: "...One of the most important lessons of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is that military success is not sufficient to win: economic development, institution-building and the rule of law, promoting internal reconciliation, good governance, providing basic services to the people, training and equipping indigenous military and police forces, strategic communications, and more - these, along with security, are essential ingredients for long-term success. "...And I remain concerned that we have yet to create any permanent capability or institutions to rapidly create and deploy these kinds of skills in the future. "...New institutions are needed for the 21st century, new organizations with a 21st century mind-set." Could Secretary Gates be calling for structures in governments to support a culture of Peace? Read the full speech here.
One way to facilitate a culture of peace is to use the power of story to demonstrate what peace looks like in practice. These Profiles of Peace are intended to do just that. If you have a Profile you'd like to have us consider, please send an email to info@peacepartintl.org describing your idea, and, if it looks like a fit, we'll ask you to write it up for possible publication here. A Strong Will for Peace Fills Montana Montana. More than 147,000 square miles, the fourth largest state in the nation. Eight cities, 56 counties and nine Indian reservations. Eight hundred thousand people with a reputation for being individualists live in this Big Sky Country, which commands 13 hours to drive from the Canadian border in the northwest to the Wyoming border in the southeast. There is but one Congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives and one key advocate for the U.S. Department of Peace and Nonviolence. Robert M. Weir provides Debi Strong's Profile of Peace. Radical Conferencing for Crime and Conflict Management "We do the incredibly radical thing of getting people to talk to each other," says Lauren Abramson, Ph.D., founder and executive director of the Community Conferencing Center in Baltimore, Maryland. The people she and her staff of five bring into discussion are criminal offenders, their victims, and the supporters of each. The forum is face-to-face and everyone has an equal voice. The purpose is to introduce dialogue, gain understanding, create win-win resolution, and, ultimately, transform attitudes. Robert M. Weir provides Lauren Abramson's Profile of Peace. From the Peace Registry: Wolakota Foundation  The term Wo-lakota means peaceful, responsible and caring - a compassionate and generous people. Wolakota Foundation encourages people to step forward in recognizing the value of their own cultural roots and, in so doing, reconnect with the strengths and wisdom that all traditional cultures hold in common - our connection to each other and to the Earth. Peace Registry Manager Theresa McGallicher provides this Profile of Peace.
A War's Wake Up Call to Look Inside Karen Johnson, Illinois State Coordinator for the U.S. Department of Peace Campaign, sees the Iraq War as a wakeup call for all of us, a call to use the tools available today to prevent violence at all levels tomorrow. She dedicates these thoughts to her Viet Nam vet friend, who passed away recently.
Peace Partnership International is undertaking the following pivotal initiatives, which are purposely focused for transformational effectiveness: (a) establish a National Peace Academy, (b) develop youth leadership potential, (c) participate in and help grow the Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace, and (d) work with colleagues at the United Nations for a General Assembly resolution calling for such structures in government. In all that we do, we seek to forge partnerships with business, civil society, and government. You, too, can join the partnership with an investment in the future. Just click here to donate, and please consider becoming one of our monthly donors. Together we can create the foundation for a culture of peace! This email was sent by Peace Partnership, International, a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Donations to Peace Partnership International are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Contact information: Peace Partnership International 935 South B Street San Mateo CA 94401, USA Phone/Fax: 1-650-525-1297 General correspondence: info@peacepartintl.org Subscribe / unsubscribe: subscriptions@peacepartintl.org |
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