OMNI
PEACEMAKERS NEWSLETTER #1, February 22, 2015.
Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology.
What’s a stake: Yoko Ono invites people all over the world to join her in spirit when she lights IMAGINE PEACE TOWER in honor 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.
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Contents Peace Heroes Newsletter #1, Feb. 22, 2015
Aristophanes
Hennacy, The One-Man Revolution, from Woolman and Jefferson to Malcolm X
and Demoskoff
and Demoskoff
Beller and Chase: 20th Century (mainly recent) Peacemakers: From Thoreau to
King
King
DeBenedetti:, 20th Century Peacemakers: Jane Addams, Eugene V. Debs,
Norman Thomas, Albert Einstein, A. J. Muste, Norman Cousins, Martin Luther
King, Jr., and Daniel and Philip Berrigan.
Norman Thomas, Albert Einstein, A. J. Muste, Norman Cousins, Martin Luther
King, Jr., and Daniel and Philip Berrigan.
Lanza del Vasto, France’s Gandhi
Ammon Hennacy, Christian Anarchist, Pacifist
David Hartsough, Waging Peace, Autobiography and Peace Heroes
J. William Fulbright, Advocate Inside Government of Empathy, Diplomacy
Mairead Maguire, N. Ireland, Nobel Peace Prize
Salim Ali and Peace Parks
Lennon Ono Grants For Peace 2012, awarded to Rachel Corrie, John Perkins, Christopher
Hitchens, Pussy Riot, and Lady Gaga
ARISTOPHANES’ THREE PEACE PLAYS
“The Archarnians, is an appeal for peace. Peace, produced four years later, is a celebration of peace; for negotiations were nearing completion, and the Peace of Nicias, delusive end of a ten years’ war, was concluded only a few days after the play was performed. Lysistrata is the third and last of Aristophanes’ peace plays that we possess; it has much in common with the other two, but its spirit is different from either of them. It is a dream about peace, conceived at a time when Athens was going through the blackest, most desperate crisis she had known since the Persian War.” (Lysistrata/The Archarnians/The Clouds, Aristophanes, p. 177)
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.”
Great Peacemakers:True Stories from Around the World
Ken Beller, Heather Chase LTS Press 03/08
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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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.
Books and Audios Recently ReviewedReviews and database copyright © 1970 – 2012
by Frederic and Mary Brussat
Peace Heroes in Twentieth-Century America
Edited by Charles DeBenedetti. Indiana UP, 1988.
Over twenty years ago when he was running for President, John Kennedy published a book called Profiles in Courage. He was interested in conventional heroes, principled and dedicated, who devoted themselves to holding "the ship of State to its true course." Charles DeBenedetti's timely book is about equally principled heroes who were frequently at odds with the direction the American ship of State was taking at home and abroad. The people who gave shape to the American peace movement in the twentieth century were Jane Addams, Eugene V. Debs, Norman Thomas, Albert Einstein, A. J. Muste, Norman Cousins, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Daniel and Philip Berrigan. These dynamic and individualistic people are discussed in separate mini-biographies in this volume.
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 Peace Center in Toledo
The One-Man Revolution in America BY Ammon Hennacy
PREFACE BY Joan Thomas. Wipf and Stock, 7/12/2012.http://wipfandstock.com/the-one-man-revolution-in-america.html
"Yukeoma, the grand old man of the Hopi, personifies man as part of Nature, much more than Thoreau did at Walden or in his life. He saw the Sun as Father and the Earth as Mother, and the Corn as Step-mother. He lived and prayed for that rain which was necessary for his people, and which came at Walden without effort. His people handled snakes as Thoreau did the fishes, frogs, birds, and woodchucks. . . . He spent, not one night in jail, but many years in confinement, among them time at Alcatraz, one of the worst of American prisons."
"Early one morning we accompanied Dorothy to the bus station and in a small restaurant nearby we had a cup of coffee. While there, two taxi drivers were having an argument and one of them took the sugar bowl and threw it in the face of the other one. The proprietor was crying over the broken sugar bowl. Dorothy got up and took a napkin and some water and commenced to clean the face of the taxi driver. Such was her exit from the city to speak on pacifism in the colleges."
"Early one morning we accompanied Dorothy to the bus station and in a small restaurant nearby we had a cup of coffee. While there, two taxi drivers were having an argument and one of them took the sugar bowl and threw it in the face of the other one. The proprietor was crying over the broken sugar bowl. Dorothy got up and took a napkin and some water and commenced to clean the face of the taxi driver. Such was her exit from the city to speak on pacifism in the colleges."
"I know what it is to be in a dark cell for five days, being told that I was to be executed. I know what it is to enter prison an 'innocent.' I know what it is to be ready to take my life because of loneliness and despair. I, too, know the uncertainty of the law and with what cooked-up charges one is liable to be confronted. I know, too, that Alexander Berkman helped me in those perilous days, and this being in jail again was a conscious move on his part and not an accident. He chose the hard life, and he chose the hard death. To me he is a friend, a comrade, a hero."
Others besides the Hopi, Yukeoma, Dorothy Day, and Alexander Berkman, included in the book Ammon Hennacy finished shortly before his death in 1970 are: John Woolman, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, William Lloyd Garrison, Henry David Thoreau, Mother Jones, Albert Parsons, John Peter Altgeld, Eugene V. Debs, Clarence Darrow, John Taylor, Bartolemeo Vanzetti, Malcolm X, and Helen Demoskoff.
But out of all these persons, it is perhaps the author, himself, who shines forth as first among those of whom he writes, in that Ammon Hennacy, himself, is the embodiment of the One-Man Revolution in America. But Ammon in truth may be more than that. For some men, it is their fate to play the role of archetype for lesser mortals. As it might be said that Carl Jung is the archetype of the wise old man, so we might say that the Christian anarchist and pacifist, Ammon Hennacy, with his penetrating vision into the chaos of our times, is the archetype of the prophet whom, like any prophet, we fail to heed at our own peril.
Bio(s)
Ammon Hennacy (1893-1970) was born in Negley, Ohio. His formal education consisted of one year each at three institutions: Hiram College in Ohio (1913), the University of Wisconsin (1914), and Ohio State University (1915). With the outbreak of World War I, he refused to register for military service and consequently served two years in the U.S. Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1931 he engaged in social work in Milwaukee, where he organized one of the first social workers' unions. With the coming of World War II, he again refused to register for the draft. He became baptized into the Roman Catholic Church in 1952 by an anarchist priest. Between 1953 and 1961, he was an associate editor of The Catholic Worker. In 1961 he organized and directed the Joe Hill House of Hospitality in remembrance of the martyrdom of Joe Hill. In Utah he was involved in picketing and fasting protests against scheduled executions of condemned prisoners at the state prison, fasting on various occasions for periods ranging from twelve to forty-five consecutive days. In 1965 he married Joan Thomas, and formally left the Catholic Church. From that time on, he wished to be known as a non-church Christian. Shortly after the publication of The One-Man Revolution in America, he suffered a heart attack while picketing for Lance and Kelback, two convicted murderers scheduled to be executed. He died six days later, on January 14, 1970.
Two Cents from the Religious Left
· Home
Ammon Hennacy: The “One-Man Revolution” in Americaby JULY 24, 2007 tags: Ammon Hennacy, anarchy, Catholic Worker
In these bleak times, when we struggle to find the courage to end the absurd war in Iraq let alone bring about the more fundamental social change the Gospel demands, it’s worth recalling the fierce, uncompromising witness of Ammon Hennacy.
Hennacy, born this day in 1893, called himself a Christian anarchist:
A Christian is one who follows Christ; kind, kindly, Christ-like. Anarchism is voluntary cooperation for good, with the right of secession. A Christian anarchist is therefore one who turns the other cheek, overturns the tables of the moneychangers, and does not need a cop to tell him how to behave. A Christian anarchist does not depend upon bullets or ballots to achieve his ideal; he achieves that ideal daily by the One-Man Revolution with which he faces a decadent, confused, and dying world.” — excerpt from The Book of Ammon.
Hennacy forged his prophetic vision of the Gospel in daily struggle against violence at every level, a struggle which is beautifully recounted by the folksinger Utah Phillips, who lived with him for several years at the Catholic Worker House (The Joe Hill House of Hospitality) that Hennacy set up in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hennacy refused to register for the draft in WW I (for which he was jailed for two years in Georgia, a year in solitary confinement) and WWII, refused to ever pay taxes because they would support the military, and refused even to accept work other than casual labor for cash. Hennacy was an indefatigable radical who was arrested countless times for protesting war and violence of every kind. He died on 14 January 1970, six days after suffering a heart attack while protesting the scheduled execution of two men convicted of murder.
Hennacy’s legacy challenges anyone who would claim to be a Christian. He was driven by faith that Jesus’s message would not fail the world, whatever the fears and failings of the organized church and its caretakers. For Hennacy, change wasn’t pie in the sky that you might sing about on Sunday — and dismiss as an impossibility the minute you hit the parking lot. Hennacy did not expect political or institutional mechanisms to bring about change. Change begins when and individual turns her or his heart to God. And acts accordingly.
That’s a faith we need today.
David Hartsough | |
Wednesday, February 05 2014 @ 12:23 PM (View web-friendly version here) | |
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Dick Bennett’s Peace Rock, which bears the names of 30 peacemakers. Sculpted by Hank Kaminsky
J. William Fulbright
Can Empathy Pave the Path to Empire?
Students, scholars and guests met in Giffels Auditorium on Tuesday, Feb. 25, for “J. William Fulbright: A Voice for Reason and Diplomacy.” In this Fulbright Book Forum, professors Hoyt Purvis and Sidney Burris and professor emeritus Dick Bennett each explored one of the senator’s texts to compare ideas and themes.
A member of OMNI UA, the student division of the OMNI Center for Peace Justice and Ecology, introduced the three scholars and the text that each would cover. Purvis, professor of journalism and international relations, focused on The Arrogance of Power (1966). Burris, professor of English and director of the Fulbright College Honors Program, addressed The Crippled Giant (1972). Bennett, professor emeritus of English and OMNI Center founder, presented The Price of Empire (1989).
The Arrogance of Power, Fulbright’s third book, came from a series of lectures. In this critique of U.S. foreign policy, Fulbright asserts that great nations have a tendency to equate power with virtue, but the best thing a truly powerful nation can do is provide a good example to the rest of the world.
“Fulbright was a politician and a senator, but more than that, he was one of the foremost foreign thinkers in the world,” Purvis said.
This foreign policy appraisal was delivered while Fulbright’s own party was in the White House and in control of both houses of Congress.
“Fulbright believed that we serve as an example to the rest of the world by the way we run our own democracy,” Purvis said. “Thoughtful dissent is a part of living in a democratic society. Fulbright became a dissenter not because he wanted to, but because he felt he had to. He saw it as part of his patriotic duty.”
Fulbright continued these themes in The Crippled Giant. Both books examine the United States’ involvement in Vietnam, and in both instances Purvis and Burris found criticisms of American Foreign Policy that still hold true.
Fulbright’s observations include:
· The war has been supported by non-factual ideas.
· The major purpose of the war is external to the country engaged in the conflict.
· The war has not worked.
· Most of our friends and allies have been against our involvement.
· We are in a place not because we should be there but because of what might happen if we are not there.
· We have allowed our constitutional protections to be neglected in favor of expediency.
“There are important differences between what was happening then and what is happening now,” Burris said. “But I find the similarities more disheartening than I find the similarities comforting.”
In The Price of Empire, Fulbright continues to criticize the United States’ need for domination and to praise fact over ideology.
“All of his books are strong expressions of his values,” Bennett said. “These books have a point of view.”
Fulbright credits growing up in Arkansas with shaping his thoughts on the use of power. He felt that the richer states had taken advantage of Arkansas for its natural resources, which gave him a more personal understanding of the “ruthless exploitation of the weak by the strong.”
This experience also led to the central theme in almost all of Fulbright’s work – empathy. The way people and nations find a way out of ruthless exploitation is through empathy. We must learn about others, appreciate others and develop the capacity to understand, even if we do not agree.
“We identify with the physicality of others, not the humanity,” Bennett said. “It is important that we understand not only our allies, but also our enemies. International relations can be improved and the possibility of war greatly reduced. Fulbright's ideas may be considered unsuccessful because they have never really been tired.”
Empathy is at the core of Fulbright’s international educational exchange programs. It is also the foundation of a liberal arts education. Only by understanding our neighbors – whether they are across the street or across the world – will we be able to achieve a world that chooses diplomacy over war. Nations can achieve peace though education.
Hoyt Burvis
The Arrogance of Power
The Arrogance of Power
Sidney Burris
The Crippled Giant
The Crippled Giant
Dick Bennett
The Price of Empire
The Price of Empire
Commentary
J. William Fulbright: Can an Empire Change Its Attitude?
J. William Fulbright
If you previously knew anything about J. William Fulbright, it was probably of his educational exchange program, one of the world’s most admired peacemaking innovations. One proposed exchange, as recounted in his last book, The Price of Empire, never began.
In the early 1970s Fulbright approached the Soviets to apply part of their World War II Lend-Lease debt owed to the U.S. to Fulbright fellowships. Remember, this was in the middle of the Vietnam War in the middle of the Cold War, but Nixon’s détente was advancing. The Soviets had agreed to repay about $800 million, and Fulbright hoped to get “maybe a hundred million.” But the détente was sabotaged by a group of Cold War Senators, and the Soviets abrogated the exchange agreements and other joint ventures in retaliation.
The story has a larger meaning. On the first page of Fulbright’s first book, The Arrogance of Power (1966), you encounter a main foundation for all. In Old Myths and New Realities (1966), he writes (my italics): His purpose is “to stimulate public thought and discussion free of the rigid and outdated stereotypes which stultify many of our foreign policy debates.” This is a main duty of Congress, he writes, “under our Constitutional system.” We should and can rid ourselves of dogmas dangerous to humans, such as the Evil Enemy.
While the poet of “Howl,” Allen Ginzberg, cries out for “breakthroughs!” to explode the entrenched cruelties and stupidities, in dispassionate syntax and vocabulary Fulbright applies facts and irony to weaken the foundations of “prevailing practices” adhered to “with a fervor befitting immutable principles.”
In his last book, The Price of Empire (1989), Fulbright’s guide to a humane community and global culture of peace continues to unfold. By practicing international cooperation, joint international ventures, negotiation and diplomacy, international understanding, a cosmopolitan perspective, knowledge, facts, reason and empathy will gradually reduce fear, paranoia, parochialism, nationalism, jingoism, fanaticism, arrogance, militarism and wars.
The world was made by human actions; actions are based on attitudes; and it is “possible to alter human attitudes,” he believes. Wars are not inevitable (speaking of today: nor are empire and warming); we can learn, and we must choose.
Join the Discussion, Learn From Others
J. William Fulbright: Voice of Reason and Diplomacy
A Forum discussing Fulbright’s resistance to dogma and fanaticism, to war and empire, during the 1960s to 1980s.
Panelists: Prof. Hoyt Purvis, Prof. Sidney Burris, Prof. Emer. Dick Bennett
At Giffels Hall, University of Arkansas.
Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Sponsored by the OMNIUA Student Organization.
Lanza del Vasto
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [only partially quoted --Dick]
 Lanza del Vasto | |
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. |
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.
Contents [hide] |
[edit]Meeting Gandhi
In December 1936, Lanza went to He left then
He came back to
[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 In 1962 the Community of the
[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, 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,
Left to right, Jean-Marie Muller, Lanza del Vasto, Jacques de la Bollardière on the Larzac during the struggle against the military camp extension.
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 In 1976, he participated to the demonstrations against the building of the fast breeder reactor Superphénix at Creys-Malville, Isère (France).
[edit]Books in English
- Return to the Source,
- Make Straight the Way of the Lord: An Anthology of the Philosophical Writings of Lanza del Vasto,
- Warriors of Peace: Writings on the Technique of Nonviolence,
- Gandhi to Vinoba: The New Pilgrimage,
![Maguire, Máiread [Credit: Courtesy of Máiread Maguire]](file:///C:/Users/ROBERT~1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image015.jpg)
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 Northern Ireland Belfast
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
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• Saleem H. Ali, Sustainable Planet, Peace Parks
o Travel Terminal
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• BOOKS: Treasures of the Earth: Need, Greed, and a Sustainable Future.
• Peace Parks: Conservation and Conflict Resolution (MIT Press, September, 2007)
•
Endorsement for Saleem's new book Treasures of the Earth: Need, Greed and a Sustainable Future (Yale University Press)
"In a book that ranges from geology to psychology, with a history of metallurgy along the way, [Ali] argues that sometimes a nation has to extract a nonrenewable resource...to leapfrog from dire poverty to a more diversified economy"
Forbes magazine, review by Elizabeth Eaves
Now available in paperback and Kindle from Amazon.com for only $15
Visit the Book's web Site: http://www.treasurebook.info
The Virtual Realm of Saleem H. Ali
Email: saleem@alum.mit.edu
Follow on Twitter: saleem_ali
Blog on National Geographic (environmental topics): http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/author/saleemali/
Blog on Huffington Post (various topics): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/saleem-h-ali/
Blog on Newsvine (political issues) http://saleemali.newsvine.com
Detailed list of Media Links
To invite Dr. Ali for lecture presentations, please contact Verbatim Lectures Management
"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.
Research appointments include a visiting fellowship at the Brookings Institution's research center in Doha, Qatar; a Public Policy Fellowship at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, a Baker Foundation Research Fellowship at Harvard Business School and a parliamentary internship at the U.K. House of Commons. Teaching experience includes courses on environmental planning, conflict resolution, industrial ecology, research methods and technical writing. Professor Ali received his doctorate in Environmental Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), an M.E.S. in environmental law and policy from Yale University, and his Bachelors in Chemistry from Tufts University (summa cum laude).
Kindle Book
Peace Parks: Conservation and Conflict Resolution
by Saleem H. Ali, Julia Marton-LaFevre
Table of Contents
First Pages
Index
Book Description
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. He is the author of Mining: The Environment and Indigenous Development Conflicts.
(![IMAGINE PEACE]()
Silent Peace Walk Around Central Park, NY on Sunday Oct 7th 2012. Everyone welcome.TimesTalks: A Conversation with Yoko Ono (The Times Center NY) – Oct 15th
Lennon Ono Grant For Peace 2012 awarded to Rachel Corrie, John Perkins, Christopher Hitchens, Pussy Riot and Lady Gaga
Fri 05 Oct 2012 - Awards (Dick: I consider Christopher Hitchens a brilliant writer and very often a true support of peace and justice, but I would not give him a prize for peacemaking.}
Get their 2013, 2014 awards
LENNONONO GRANT FOR PEACE 2012
On October 9th, 2012, in Reykjavik , Iceland
This year’s LENNONONO GRANT FOR PEACE recipients are:
· LADY GAGA
· RACHEL CORRIE
· JOHN PERKINS
· CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS
· PUSSY RIOT
LADY GAGA
“LADY GAGA is one of the biggest living artists of our time,” Yoko says, and that “she is not only an artist, she is also an activist, using her art to bring better communication to the world. She is being acknowledged for her activism, and how her album “Born This Way” has widely changed the mental map of the world. And how it has made us deal with the future world, which happens to be here already.”
Lady Gaga will accept the award in person, and accept a charitable donation that she will in turn gift to the Elton John AIDS Foundation to support their work combating HIV among disadvantaged youth in the U.S.
RACHEL CORRIE
RACHEL CORRIE was a 23-year-old American peace activist from Olympia , Washington
In the wake of her killing, the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice continues the work that Rachel Corrie began.
The Foundation conducts programs that foster connections between people, that build understanding, respect, and appreciation for differences, and that promote cooperation within and between local and global communities. The foundation encourages and supports grassroots efforts in pursuit of human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice, which they view as pre-requisites for world peace.
Rachel Corrie’s parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie, will accept the award on Rachel’s behalf. The monetary prize will be received by the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice.
JOHN PERKINS
Author and activist JOHN PERKINS gained international fame and acclaim for his book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man which remained on the New York Times best seller list for more than a year.
It is a startling exposé on international corruption.
He is also founder of nonprofit organizations Dream Change and The Pachamama Alliance, organizations devoted to establishing a world our children will want to inherit.
Perkins has lectured at universities on four continents, and is now in the process of bringing out his latest book.
John Perkins will attend the ceremony himself. The monetary prize will be given to Dream Change, non-profit organization that promotes empowerment and positive change for more balanced and sustainable communities worldwide.
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS was an author and journalist with a career that spanned four decades writing for many of the world’s most prestigious news outlets such as The Atlantic, The Nation, Vanity Fair, The Daily Mirror and many more.
He authored twelve books and five collections of essays and was nominated for the National Book Award in 2007 for his best-selling book ‘God is not Great‘ which contends that organized religion is “the main source of hatred in the world.”
Hitchens was known for his confrontational style which made him a widely controversial figure in the western hemisphere. He routinely took aim at divisive topics such as religion, war, world figures and international politics.
Christopher Hitchens’ widow Carol Blue Hitchens will accept the award on his behalf. The monetary prize will be given to two charitable organizations, 826 National who encourage and support literacy among under-resourced youth, and PEN who advocate and protect the rights of writers and free expression.
PUSSY RIOT
On September 21, 2012, at a special ceremony in NYC, the Russian feminist punk rock band, were acknowledged for standing firm in their belief for freedom of expression. Yoko Ono presented the award to Pyotr Verzilov, husband of imprisoned Pussy Riot band member Nadia Tolokonnikova. The monetary prize is being used to assist the group’s effort to be released from prison.
Russian feminist punk rock band PUSSY RIOT stepped onto the global stage in February of 2012 after a provocative performance at Moscow’s sacred Cathedral of Christ the Saviour church in which they invoked the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of President Vladimir Putin.
After a video of the performance went viral, three of the group’s members were arrested and charged with HOOLIGANISM.
Their lengthy trial recently concluded with a two year jail sentence that has seen strong international criticism calling into question Russia
Pussy Riot has support of numerous world activists and human rights groups who have staged protests across the globe.
Yoko Ono with the backing of Amnesty International, awarded the grant to Pussy Riot in New York City
Yoko Ono and Amnesty International Executive Director Suzanne Nossel presented the LennonOno Grant for Peace to Pyotr Verzilov, husband of Nadia Tolokonnikova, one of the three imprisoned members of Pussy Riot.(Sept. 21, 2012)
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.
Lennon-Ono Grant For Peace 2014 awarded to Jann Wenner, Jeremy Gilley, Art Production Fund & Jon Gnarr
END PEACE HEROES NEWSLETTER #1 FEB. 22, 2015