OMNI
CELEBRATES UN INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE, Friday, September 21, 2018, NEWSLETTER #7.
Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology.
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Contents
UNITED NATIONS INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 21, 2018
Background, Events, Resources
ORIGIN OF UN DAY OF PEACE
UN Resolution Designating September 21, 2018
World Council of Churches Resolution
ANTI-WAR ACTIONS FOR PEACE TODAY
Prevent War with North Korea: Veterans for Peace
End War in Afghanistan: Roots Action
INTERNATIONAL PEACE PLACES
Yoko Ono’s Lennon’s Lights in Iceland
Dr. Ali’s book, Peace Parks: Conservation and Conflict
Resolution (MIT Press, September, 2007),
Resolution (MIT Press, September, 2007),
TWO BOOKS ON 20thCENTURY PEACEMAKERS
Beller and Chase, Great Peacemakers from Around the World
DeBenedetti, Peace Heroes in 20th Century America
INDIVIDUAL PEACEMAKERS
Lanza del Vasto
Salem Ali
Mairead Maguire
International Day of Peace 21 September - the United Nations, Google Search 9-21-18 www.un.org/en/events/peaceday/
Each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on 21 ... 2018 Theme: “The Right to Peace - The Universal Declaration of Human Rights ...
UNIFIL Commemorates International Day of Peace | UN ... | International Peace Day celebration at UNOCI (United ... |
Events. On 21 September 2018, from 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., the ... | Each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the ... |
https://internationaldayofpeace.org/
TOGETHER: A global campaign to change perceptions and attitudes towards refugees and migrants ...2018 Peace Day Theme: ... Established in 1981 by unanimous United Nations resolution, Peace Dayprovides a globally shared date for ...
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History about September 21 as a Global Peace Day
History about September 21 as a Global Peace Day
September 21 is lifted up as a day when communities are called to turn away from participation in violence and toward what they can do for peace. Each year on September 21, the United Nations’ International Day of Peace takes place in parallel with the World Council of Churches’ International Day of Prayer for Peace.
The United Nations International Day of Peace
In 1981 the United Nations General Assembly passed resolution 36/67 declaring an International Day of Peace. In 2001, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a new resolution 55/282 declaring 21 September of each year as the International Day of Peace. The intention of the resolution is to have the entire world observe a day of peace and nonviolence. September 21 is held as a day on which armed conflict is meant to be stilled, a day for combatants to observe ceasefires, a day on which all people are invited to commit or reaffirm their commitment to non-violence and the peaceful resolution of disputes.
Read more on the International Day of Peace: International Day of Peace
The World Council of Churches’ International Day of Prayer for Peace
Since 2004, the World Council of Churches has joined the United Nations in marking September 21 as a day of prayer for peace, the International Day of Prayer for Peace.
In their meeting on May 18, 2004, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and World Council of Churches General Secretary Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia. Expressing appreciation that the UN General Assembly has designated 21 September as an International Day of Peace, Kobia shared with Annan his intention to propose to the WCC governing bodies that they invite member churches to mark that day with special prayer services. “As a day of prayer for peace, the invitation could also reach people of other faiths,” Kobia stressed. Annan warmly welcomed the proposal, saying that it responds to his hope that the International Day of Peace will encourage people in different contexts to reflect together on what they can do for peace.
Prevent War with N. Korea
Veterans for Peace Weekly e-News, 9-20-18  We know that the UN has presented challenges towards achieving a JUST peace. However, as veterans we know that peace is not achieved in the moments before a conflict, and the price of "peace" after war are countless lives lost, survivors scarred, civil society in tatters and resources wasted. A JUST peace is found by building communities that meet human needs. We are all too familiar that injustices felt through poverty, racial inequality, religious bigotry, collapsing inner cities and infrastructures, lack of universal health care, climate change and quality education contribute to war and insecurity. If we want to abolish war we must help our fellow citizens here at home see the same connections. We need to understand that dropping more bombs, killing innocent civilians and resorting to military solutions is robbing the world's children of health care, education and meaningful jobs to build a safer and more secure future. We believe that as people see and understand this connection, they will stand up with us against war. We can then work together to put in place the building blocks necessary to build a sustainable and peaceful future. To that end, we call upon our members, fellow veterans, supporters and greater communities to move beyond talk of ending conflict, and instead adopt and implement practices that build peace at home and abroad. Read our entire statement and check out our action page Great article detailing the work of the Korea Peace Network, a coalition that Veterans For Peace is a member. "Amid the clamor and saber-rattling, however, a steady, persistent grassroots peace movement is working hard to counter the negativity. By influencing stakeholders b ehind the scenes, building new coalitions and reframing the narrative to promote negotiation as a difficult but worthwhile process, this movement has risen above [Trump’s threat of] “fire and fury” to chart the way toward lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. Among the most important developments for the peace movement in the last year is the formation of broad coalitions. According to international scholar-activist Simone Chun, 2018 marked “the first time we saw a formidable, sustaining coalition with major American peace activists and the Korean activist communities.” These coalitions have allowed actors to coordinate strategically in pushing for clear goals, like a formal declaration ending the Korean War and sustained diplomacy on a path to peace. These coalitions have also been key in elevating a range of voices, particularly those of Koreans, women and people of color, who have often been marginalized from the mainstream policy debates in Washington D.C." |
New Peace In Our TimesAvailable for Order
A note from the PIOT team:
We’re very excited about the fall issue of Peace in Our Times. Two great lead stories that you can see on the front page – one by Vietnam veteran and wilderness advocate Doug Peacock on the de-listing of grizzlies from the Endangered Species Act and what that means not only for the grizzles, but also for the threats to our land and water. In ‘Why I’m going to Ireland ...’ David Swanson writes brilliantly about the importance of the upcoming global conference in Dublin against U.S./NATO military bases. This issue is filled with compelling, well-written articles and dramatic pictures about the urgent state of affairs in the United States and the world.
Articles include
· Chris Wright on the wave of young socialists winning Democratic primaries
· Jane Regan on immigration and its root causes
· Howard Machtinger on why combatting white privilege is in everyone's interest
· Col. Ann Wright on the Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla
· Daniel Borgstrom on why no one, including John McCain, should be called a war hero
· Kathie Ragsdale on a federal suit challenging U.S. corruption in Iraq
Plus pieces by Alice Kurima Newberry, Gideon Levy, Marjorie Cohn, Dave Zirin, Denny Riley, Brittany Ramos DeBarros, Miko Peled, Ellen Barfield, and others.
To be sure you don’t miss out on this very important issue please place your order before September 21. Those of you with annual subscriptions please check to see that it has not run out.
END THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN
This Day of Peace let's end a war
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INTERNATIONAL PEACE PLACES
YOKO ONO’S “IMAGINE PEACE” TOWER
The annual lighting of IMAGINE PEACE TOWER will take place in the evening at 8pm local time on the island of Viðey in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Yoko Ono invites people all over the world to join her in spirit when she lights IMAGINE PEACE TOWER in honour of all the activists of the world; past, present and future.
She asks everyone to join together and let the power of light become a collective expression of the desire for peace and harmony on the planet.
https://visitreykjavik.is/yoko-ono-will-pay-her-annual-visit-iceland-october-illuminate...
Yoko will be paying her annual visit to Iceland this October, to signal the illumination of Imagine Peace Tower in memory of John Lennon on Monday 9th October ...
DR. SALIM ALI, Peace Parks: Conservation and Conflict Resolution(MIT Press, September, 2007).
Saleem H. Ali, Julia Marton-LaFevre
Peace Parks: Conservation and Conflict Resolution
Publication Date: August 24, 2007 | Series: Global Environmental Accord: Strategies for Sustainability and Institutional Innovation
Although the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a Kenyan environmentalist, few have considered whether environmental conservation can contribute to peace-building in conflict zones. Peace Parks explores this question, examining the ways in which environmental cooperation in multijurisdictional conservation areas may help resolve political and territorial conflicts. Its analyses and case studies of transboundary peace parks focus on how the sharing of physical space and management responsibilities can build and sustain peace among countries. The book examines the roles played by governments, the military, civil society, scientists, and conservationists, and their effects on both the ecological management and the potential for peace-building in these areas. Following a historical and theoretical overview that explores economic, political, and social theories that support the concept of peace parks and discussion of bioregional management for science and economic development, the book presents case studies of existing parks and proposals for future parks. After describing such real-life examples as the Selous-Niassa Wildlife Corridor in Africa and the Emerald Triangle conservation zone in Indochina, the book looks to the future, exploring the peace-building potential of envisioned parks in security-intensive spots including the U.S.-Mexican border, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, and the Mesopotamian marshlands between Iraq and Iran. With contributors from a variety of disciplines and diverse geographic regions, Peace Parks is not only a groundbreaking book in International Relations but a valuable resource for policy makers and environmentalists. .Saleem H. Ali is Associate Professor of Environmental Planning at the Rubenstein School of Natural Resources at the University of Vermont and holds adjunct faculty appointments at Brown University and the United Nations mandated University for Peace.
2 BOOKS ON INTERNATIONAL PEACE LEADERS
Great Peacemakers: True Stories from Around the World
Ken Beller, Heather Chase. LTS P, 2008.
Book Review By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat in Spirituality and Practice.
Conflict, war and violence are the norm in today's world. But, fortunately, there are also peacemakers around who offer another path, one that brings meaning and transformation and hope to a weary planet. Ken Beller and Heather Case spent five years researching and writing this inspiring and salutary resource, which presents the true stories of 20 peacemakers. The book is organized into five sections:
Choosing Nonviolence
• Henry David Thoreau: Living Deliberately
• Mahatma Gandhi: Nonviolent Resistance
• Martin Luther King, Jr.: Daring to Dream
• Anderson Sa: An Instrument of Change
Living Peace
• Mother Teresa: Love in Action
• Thich Nhat Hanh: Being Peace
• Colman McCarthy: Teaching Peace
• Oscar Arias: "Us" Refers to All of Humankind
Honoring Diversity
• Bruno Hussar: Interfaith Harmony
• Desmond Tutu: All Belong
• Riane Eisler: Partnership, Not Domination
• The Dalai Lama: Universal Compassion
Valuing All Life
• Henry Salt: The Creed of Kinship
• Albert Schweitzer: Reverence for Life
• Astrid Lindgren: A Voice for the Voiceless
• Jane Goodall: Realizing Our Humanity
Caring for the Planet
• Rachel Carson: The Balance of Nature
• David Suzuki: Redefining Progress
• Nader Khalili: Sustainable Community
• Wangari Maathai: Planting Seeds of Peace
This is an invaluable resource for youth who need many more models of the different ways to bring peace into our world of savagery. Each biographies concludes with a section of quotations from the peacemaker. We highly recommend Great Peacemakers and hope that it will find its way into religious libraries of all types.
Beller, Ken and Heather Chase. Great Peacemakers: True Stories from Around the World. Rev. Peace and Change by Stephanie Van Hook (July 2010): “a truly educational and commendable piece for the shelves of time.”
In the book, Peace Heroes in Twentieth Century America,the editor, Dr. Charles DeBenedetti, lauded individuals "of conscience and purpose who decided to act at the risk of being wrong for what they believed was the greater good in living peace." These peace heroes were persons of hope who aspired not to power but to purpose. Borrowing a phrase, Dr. DeBenedetti described them as progenitors of "the party of humanity," an association of leaders who would move beyond nationalistic concerns and consider the well-being of the whole human family. These leaders would "depict and communicate accurately the nature and gravity of the global crisis, propose possible solutions, promulgate an inclusive sense of human solidarity, and, most of all, inspire a sense of hope that humankind might yet prevail."
...For me and for many others, Charles DeBenedetti was himself a contemporary peace hero. As a professor of history at the University of Toledo in Ohio and author of three books, he combined extensive research with dedicated classroom teaching in his effort to further the cause of peace. His search for grassroots solutions moved him to help found the Interfaith Justice and Peace Center in Toledo, which continues to be a powerful influence for good in our area. His passion for peace thrust him out of the classroom into the world of marches, rallies and protests where he acted with both courage and intelligence. Throughout his all too brief academic career, he spoke out against the dangers of nationalism while finding his own natural home in "the party of humanity." Upon his death, the amazing outpouring of tributes testified in a graphic way to the sense of hope that he often inspired in others. Using his own criteria, we can count him among our local peace heroes....
Excerpted from Spirituality in Action, by Fr. James J. Bacik (Sheed and Ward, 1997), pp. 195-198.
INDIVIDUAL PEACE LEADERS PAST AND PRESENT
Lanza del Vasto
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Giuseppe Giovanni Luigi Enrico Lanza di Trabia
29 September 1901
San Vito dei Normanni, Italy
Died January 5, 1981
Elche de la Sierra, Spain
Occupation Philosopher, poet, artist, and nonviolent activist.
Lanza del Vasto, (Giuseppe Giovanni Luigi Enrico Lanza di Trabia), (September 29, 1901 – January 5, 1981) was a philosopher, poet, artist, catholic and nonviolent activist.
He was born in San Vito dei Normanni, Italy and died in Elche de la Sierra, Spain.
A western disciple of Mohandas K. Gandhi, he worked for inter-religious dialogue, spiritual renewal, ecological activism and nonviolence.
Meeting Gandhi
In December 1936, Lanza went to India, joining the movement for Indian independence led by Gandhi. He knew of Gandhi through a book by Romain Rolland. He spent six months with the Mahatma, then in June 1937, went to the source of the Ganges river in the Himalayas, a famous pilgrimage site. There he saw a vision who told him "Go back and found!"
He left then India and went back to Europe. In 1938, he went to Palestine, then in the midst of civil war, to Jerusalem and Bethlehem, "between two lines of tanks".
He came back to Paris at the time when the Second World War started. He wrote some poetry books and in 1943 he published the story of his trip to India, Return to the Source, which became a huge success.
[edit] Foundation of the Ark
He founded the Community of the Ark in 1948 which first met a lot of difficulties. In 1954, he went back to India to participate in nonviolent anti-feudal struggles with Vinoba Bhave.
In 1962 the Community of the Ark settled in Haut-Languedoc, in the south of France, at the Borie Noble, near Lodève, in a deserted village. After numbering over a hundred members in the 1970s and 1980s, some communities were closed in the 1990s due to conflicts, ageing population (under thirty members) and a lack of interest in its work and lifestyle. Since 2000, groups are present in few regions of France, in Belgium, Spain, Italy, Equator and Canada.[1]
[edit] Nonviolent struggles
In 1957, during the Algerian War, del Vasto started with other known people (General de Bollardière, François Mauriac, Robert Barrat, etc.) a movement of protest against torture. He fasted for 21 days. In 1958, he demonstrated against the nuclear power plant in Marcoule, France, which produced plutonium for nuclear weapons.
In 1963, he fasted for 40 days in Rome during the Second Vatican Council, asking Pope John XXIII to stand against war - "Pour demander au Pape de prendre position contre la guerre."
In 1965 he was at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina, talking about no-violence during weeks with the students.
In 1972, he supported the farmers of the Larzac plateau against the extension of a military base while fasting for 15 days. In 1974 a community of the Ark settled in the Larzac in a farmhouse bought by the army.
In 1976, he participated to the demonstrations against the building of the fast breeder reactor Superphénix at Creys-Malville, Isère (France).
Máiread Maguire, née Máiread Corrigan, also called (from 1981) Máiread Corrigan Maguire (born Jan. 27, 1944, Belfast, N.Ire.), Northern Irish peace activist who, with Betty Williams and Ciaran McKeown, founded the Peace People, a grassroots movement of both Roman Catholic and Protestant citizens dedicated to ending the sectarian strife in Northern Ireland. For their work, Maguire and Williams shared the 1976 Nobel Prize for Peace.
Although Maguire from a young age earned her living as a secretary, she also was from her youth a member of the Legion of Mary, a lay Catholic welfare organization, and through it she became deeply involved in voluntary social work among children and teenagers in various Catholic neighbourhoods of Belfast. She was stirred to act against the growing violence in Northern Ireland after witnessing in August 1976 an incident in which a car being driven by an Irish Republican Army(IRA) terrorist went out of control when the IRA man was shot by British troops. The car struck and killed three children of Maguire’s sister. Williams was also a witness. Within days each woman had publicly denounced the violence and called for mass opposition to it. Marches of Catholic and Protestant women, numbering in the thousands, were organized, and shortly afterward the Peace People was founded based on the conviction that genuine reconciliation and prevention of future violence were possible, primarily through the integration of schools, residential areas, and athletic clubs. The organization published a biweekly paper, Peace by Peace, and provided for families of prisoners a bus service to and from Belfast’s jails.
Although Williams broke away from the Peace People in 1980, Maguire remained an active member and later served as the group’s honorary president. In 2006 Maguire joined Williams and fellow Nobel Peace Prize winners Shirin Ebadi, Jody Williams, Wangari Maathai, and Rigoberta Menchú to found the Nobel Women’s Initiative. Maguire was also active in various Palestinian causes—notably efforts to end the Israeli government’s blockade of the Gaza Strip—and she was deported from Israel on several occasions.
Saleem H. Ali
"Ideals are like the stars, we may never reach them
But like the mariners of the sea we chart our course by them"
(Carl Schurtz)
Saleem H. Ali is Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont's Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources and the founding Director of the Institute for Environmental Diplomacy and Security at UVM's James Jeffords Center for Policy Research. Currently he is on leave from UVM and serving as the Director of the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining at the University of Queensland, Australia where he is also affiliated with the Rotary Peace Studies Centre. He is also on the visiting faculty for the United Nations mandated University for Peace (Costa Rica).Dr. Ali's research focuses on the causes and consequences of environmental conflicts and how ecological factors can promote peace. Much of his empirical research has focused on environmental conflicts in the mineral sector. His most recent book is titled Treasures of the Earth: Need, Greed and a Sustainable Future (Yale University Press).
Dr. Ali is also involved in numerous nonprofit organizations to promote environmental peace-building and serves on the board of The DMZ Forum for Peace and Nature Conservation and International Peace Park Expeditions in the United States and on the board of governors for LEAD-Pakistan. He has also been involved in promoting environmental education in madrassahs (Islamic religious schools) and using techniques from environmental planning to study the rise of these institutions in his ethnic homeland -- Pakistan, leading to a sole-authored book published in January 2009 by Oxford University Press titled Islam and Education: Conflict and Conformity in Pakistan's Madrassahs.
Among his earlier works, is the acclaimed comparative case-based research book Mining, the Environment and Indigenous Development Conflicts. Volumes where he has served as editor include Earth Matters: Indigenous Peoples, The Extractive Industries and Corporate Social Responsibility (edited with Ciaran O'Fairchellaegh) and the widely acclaimed volume Peace Parks: Conservation and Conflict Resolution(MIT Press, September, 2007), which has received cover endorsements from environmental scientists E.O. Wilson, George Schaller and UNEP executive director Achim Steiner, and a foreword by IUCN Director General Julia Marton-Lefevre.
The World Economic Forum chose him as a "Young Global Leader" in 2011. He has also been selected by the National Geographic Society as an "emerging explorer" and was profiled in "Forbes magazine" in September, 2009 as "The Alchemist."
Dr. Ali is a member of the World Commission on Protected Areas and the IUCN Taskforce on Transboundary Conservation.
Some of his current research on environmental health perception in mining areas and social responsibility in the mining sector is supported by the Tiffany &Co. Foundation . The latest Tiffany-funded project pertains to the Sustainability of Pearl Farming in small-island states.
Prior to embarking on an academic career, Dr. Ali worked as an environmental health and safety professional at General Electric (based at GE headquarters in Fairfield, CT, and at silicone resin manufacturing sites in New York). He has served as a consultant for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Health Canada as an Associate at the Boston-based consulting firm Industrial Economics Inc. Pro bono projects include a mining impact prospectus for the Crowe Tribe of Montana and research assistance to Cultural Survival (an indigenous rights NGO).
He is also a professional mediator and has conducted workshops on consensus-building for private and public interests, as well as peer review of research publications for the World Bank, the International Institute for Sustainable Development, The Woodrow Wilson Center, the Journal of Environmental Management, the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, the Natural Resources Forum and Yale University Press.
Past OMNI Celebrations of UN International Day of Peace
END OMNI UN INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE 2018