I'm not going to compete with Chad's good-bye below, but I just want to say thanks to everyone who participated in the peace project -- posters, readers and commentors. You all taught me so much and, for that, you have my gratitude.
So I leave you with two more links, one as evidence that peace is possible, and the other as a sign of how much work still needs to be done.
Until next time ...
posted by Sammy @ 4:15 PM
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The recent peace meetings in India resulted in a commitment to an "irreversible" peace process.
K Subrahmanyam, former head of India's National Security Advisory Board and a leading defence analyst, stated: "The Pakistan government has come to the conclusion that the use of force is no longer an option, therefore, the [peace] process can only go forward, the peace process is irreversible."
posted by Sammy @ 2:19 PM
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Ninety years ago today, Turkish officials rounded up 250 leaders of the Armenian community. Some were executed; others deported. It marked the beginning of a two-year campaign that claimed more than 1.5 million Armenian lives.
Turkey claims these deaths were casualties of war. But residents of Armenia (and 15 other countries) say that the mass executions and starvations were the first genocide of the 20th century, a precursor to the Holocaust 25 years later.
Governments often sweep their misdeeds under the rug (see Katie's posting on Japan for a good example of this), and, in this case, nearly everyone who remembers the Armenian genocide has died. The few who are left were children when the killing began, and they tell their stories here. Because there are so few survivors remaining, it becomes easier and easier for Turkey to deny the genocide ever occurred. Soon, it may disappear, vanishing within the pages of history."After all, who remembers the annihilation of the Armenians," Hitler has been quoted as saying.
Armenians around the world say it is essential for them to remember.
"We can't let our children forget what happened. The world does not pay attention to Armenia as it is, so we should do our best to keep reminding them," said Borseb Gevorkian.
posted by Sammy @ 8:32 PM
1 comments
The bombs that fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended World War II at the price of close to 300,000 Japanese lives. But from that destruction, even all these years later, has emerged pleas for peace.
Hiroshima's univeristy is sponsoring an intensive war and peace class, designed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the A-bomb. Every year, residents and visitors to the city send lanterns floating down the river, inscribed with messages of peace. The peace lanterns began floating only two years after the bombing of Hiroshima.
The voices of peace that emerge from the ashes of war are a constant reminder both of the destruction war has wrought upon the world and of the possibilities of peace, even for those most harmed by a conflict. The fact that Hiroshima's response is not retribution or simmering anger towards America, but a call for the abolition of nuclear weapons, is startling when we consider our own responses to destructive force used against civilians. The circumstances of each situation are vastly different, of course. But the lessons of Hiroshima may be that peace is possible, even in the most dire of circumstances.
posted by Sammy @ 9:50 AM
2 comments
The Nationals played their home opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks last week. Forty thousand fans cheered and hollered as they saw their home team win in the first game played in D.C. in three decades.
And outside the stands, doing some cheering and hollering of their own, were a group of protestors, including high school students, demonstrating against the construction of a new $600 million baseball stadium. "Millions for baseball, peanuts for schools" read the signs. These protestors didn't get nearly the media coverage of the baseball team (and actually had some rather nasty insults hurled their way).
Here's the problem: I believe in public education. I want kids from inner cities and rural areas to have the same opportunities as children who grow up in affluent suburbs. I believe, more strongly than I hold any other belief, that education can be the silver bullet, solving problems of poverty, of intolerance, of the imbalanced power structure. And yes, quality, even exceptional, education for every child can be a harbinger of peace.
But, I also love baseball. I love emerging from a long tunnel and seeing the green field, pristine below me. I love the sound of a homerun. I love the excitement of a three and two pitch. And, on Thursday night, 40,000 baseball fans were right there with me (and we all wanted a new, bright stadium to house our new, bright team).
We here at the Peace Project are dedicated to bringing unheard protests to light, which is why I mention those protestors outside the baseball stadium last weekend. But, this time, I don't think they're right. They're framing the issue as an either/or -- a new baseball stadium or millions in education money for schoolkids. That simply will not happen. If the stadium bill had not been passed, the students in D.C. would not be getting a $600 million windfall for new school facilities.
That said, I am embarrassed by the funding amounts designated for D.C. public schoolchildren. Students here deserve better. They deserve new facilities, updated textbooks, and flourishing arts and athletic programs. Urban schoolchildren, as a whole, face more challenges than kids from affluent communities. They aren't read to as children. They don't have parents with the time to help them with their homework. They may have to care for younger siblings or disabled parents. English may not be their first language. These children have enough struggles before they even make it through the schoolhouse door. It shouldn't be more difficult once they get inside.
So, in the interest of bringing together my two passions, I suggest that instead of protesting the new stadium, the activists begin negotiating with the city and the team owners. Public funding is not sufficient for our kids. Designating some portion of money from the new stadium -- 50 cents of every hot dog sold, for example -- would add a private source of funding on top of the appropriations the schools get now. The schools would get more money, and the baseball team would get some positive publicity.
The fight over the baseball stadium is over. But it's not too late to still get more money for the city's schoolchildren.
posted by Sammy @ 10:42 PM
1 comments
The tsunami in South Asia took hundreds of thousands of lives. But it may also have been the springboard to saving hundreds from perishing in the country's civil war.
Aceh rebels and an Indonesian government delegation have met to start the third round of peace talks aimed at bringing lasting peace to the tsunami-ravaged province. . . .
After a tsunami on 26 December devastated Aceh, the rebels proclaimed a unilateral truce saying they wanted to help rescue efforts.
But the Indonesian military said it would continue combat operations until a formal ceasefire was signed, and the army commander has claimed his troops killed nearly 200 rebels in the first two months after the disaster.
"Today's talks were conducted in a good spirit," Cowell said on Tuesday. "On the agenda were the Free Aceh Movement's demands of a ceasefire, and the amnesty of political prisoners."
posted by Sammy @ 6:11 PM
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Music teacher Liz Shropshire bought her plane ticket to Belgium with plans for a backpacking trip through Austria. Instead, after seeing news footage of the refugees fleeing Kosovo during the war, she decided to volunteer. She packed up suitcases filled with donated instruments (pennywhistles, drumsticks) and boarded a plane for Europe.
Six years later, the Shropshire Music Foundation has established programs in Kosovo, Northern Ireland and Uganda. The goal: teaching children something beyond war. Giving them pride in themselves. Giving them a choice.
"These kids are growing up with no reason to do anything but hate," she said. "But if they do hate, they're in prison all their lives. A lot of this program is letting these kids know they can make their own choices."
The younger children learn how to play instruments (small ones that they can keep in their pockets, that no one can take away). The teenagers learn how to teach a music class. The volunteers (all Kosovo teens, numbering around 30) run the program while Liz is in the States, trying to raise money and donations for the foundation.
The change in the teenagers -- going from children traumatized by war to teachers of other children -- has given Liz hope for the future of Kosovo.
"It's these teenagers who are changing their country," she said. "When I watch them teach right now, it almost makes me cry. They're such good teachers. And they say, 'I can do something for my country now.'"
Liz wants to expand the program to other places scarred by conflict -- Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Palestine and Israel. She hopes that by teaching children something other than hate, a new generation will grow up committed to peace.
"This is just a little music program, and we're not going to change the world tomorrow. But by helping these kids to choose peace, we may be preventing these conflicts from happening again."
She believes peace is possible. Not everyone has to change their lives and start a music program in another country (although Liz says she is "so rich because I get to do this amazing job.") But it will require small commitments on the part of everyone -- volunteering time, starting conversations, teaching their children peace.
"There's so much that could be done," she said. "We're only going to fix it if we all start doing what we can."
posted by Sammy @ 10:11 AM
1 comments