Guest Contributor Nathan Lawrence looks at anti-militarism bi-partisanship past and present.  

The year is 2013, Obama has been in office for more than 100 days, and the sequester has been in effect for several weeks now. In the midst of it all, the polarization between the GOP and the Democratic Party seems to be unceasing. Debates over the specifics of the federal budget seem to go nowhere and pushes for bi-partisanship are anathema… to some.

On April 17^th, 2013, libertarian Ron Paul (R) launched the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity in order to advocate for anti-interventionism within US foreign policy. Some of the board-members fit the usual libertarian mold. For example, Judge Andrew Napolitano is quite well known within right-wing circles for his activism. Llewellyn Rockwell Jr. is well-known for being the one of the founders of the Ludwig Von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, which approaches economics from the perspective of the Austrian School.

There are notable exceptions though. Most notable of which is former representative Dennis  Kucinich from Ohio who sits on the institute’s advisory board. Well known for his anti-war views and civil liberties advocacy, Kucinich made headlines for being the only democratic presidential candidate in 2008 that voted against the Iraq War and for his efforts to impeach President George Bush.

This intersection of the American political Left and Right around the single issue of anti-interventionism is a breath of fresh air but this isn’t the first time a bi-partisan coalition was formed to resist militarism within the United States. The largest anti-war organization in US history was the America First Committee which attempted to resist US entry into World War II. Though it quickly lost support after the events at Pearl Harbor, its membership consisted of people from across the political spectrum.

Many figures from the America First Committee went on and continued to be politically active in US politics after World War Two:

• Sargent Shriver went on to be the first director of the Peace Corp.
• Potter Stewart later served as a Supreme Court Justice and played a key role in several court cases related to the Civil Rights Movement. Cases like Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., Runyon v. McCrary, and Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham were landmarks in the struggle for equal-rights for African-Americans.
• Norman Thomas, the 6th presidential candidate of the Socialist Party of America
• Future president Gerald Ford was part of the America First Committee but left and joined the Navy as a reaction to Pearl Harbor.
• R. Douglas Stuart, Jr., the heir to the Quaker Oats fortune, later served as the US Ambassador to Norway.

This makes one wonder what would have happened if the America First Committee was successful in keeping the US out of World War II and what is the potential of creating an anti-war coalition against US interventionism today? We may never know the former, but the latter is entirely up to us!

Allison Pytlak, the Arms Control Coalition‘s Campaign Manager, discusses how she got involved in advocacy and what it’s like to do work that makes a difference. 

Tell me how you got started. I have been very lucky. After I finished my undergraduate degree in International Relations, I was a bit lost and unsure of exactly what I wanted to do and what opportunities were available to me. I began to volunteer with Mines Action Canada – the Canadian member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) – in Toronto. Through them, I attended a Youth Leadership Forum that was taking place on the sidelines of a diplomatic conference related to the Mine Ban Treaty. In one of the sessions, I listened to a woman from Uganda recount the story of how she lost her leg to a landmine while riding a bus in the countryside, hours from any form of medical service.  I was struck by her courage and strength, and horrified to realize how common her story is.  At this same conference I met for the first time the hundreds of individuals who are committed to eradicating landmines and realized the truly transformative power of civil society to render change and impact lives in real ways.  Shortly afterward, I became an intern with the ICBL in Geneva, and ever since have worked almost exclusively in international disarmament and arms control campaigns.

What interests you most about what you’re doing now? First, I feel very strongly about the issues that I work on. It’s ludicrous to me that arms are so poorly regulated, and that so much human intelligence and innovation goes into making the things with which we can kill and hurt one another. Weapons are truly terrifying to me, as well as sad in so many ways.  Second, I really enjoy the challenges that come with advocacy and campaigning. Nothing is easy or guaranteed and so you have to stay sharp and think two steps ahead. When you do well, you’ve actually earned it.

What’s been your biggest accomplishment? Biggest challenge? The day that the Arms Trade Treaty was adopted was amazing. I have not been working on the ATT as long as many other people have, but to hear the words “The Treaty is adopted” was a great feeling and extremely emotional. It’s been wonderful to be a part of this process and watch international law take shape. The partnership and cooperation between governments and civil society has been very special and I feel privileged to have been involved.

As for challenges, well, of course there are so many – some big, some small. What I find the hardest to deal with is negativity from others, or even hostility about the Treaty or arms control more generally. Differences of opinion are fine, but there are some people out there who can be mean about it and that is very discouraging.

Who or what inspires you? I am most inspired and motivated when either our Control Arms Coalition comes together or I have the opportunity to travel and meet people who are working so hard, every day, to bring about change and sometimes in the most difficult of circumstances – with few resources and real political obstacles. We have some coalition members who are extremely dedicated and don’t give up; some have survived conflict and personal loss. They work on a shoe-string budget to get their message out and really believe in what we are doing. They inspire me.

Why is peace sexy to you?  What does “Peace is Sexy” evoke for you? Peace brings happiness and well-being. What isn’t sexy about that? I think the Peace is Sexy initiative is great and goes a long way to show that standing up for something and making change is about confidence and determination; qualities that for me are definitely sexy.

What is a simple thing you do to create peace? What is something you do everyday? Well, many days are not peaceful! They include controversy, argument and difference of opinion. But in finding that middle ground and working out differences with others, there is peace. Separately, exercise brings me much peace of mind. I grew up studying classical ballet and still enjoy taking a class from time to time; running and yoga also make it possible to just tune out and be in the moment and let stress and pressure slip away.

How would you like Peace is Sexy to make a difference in what you are up to? Keep doing what you are doing and get the word out anywhere that you can! There is a perception that people who work in NGOs are not sexy and that working for good causes is somehow lame. This couldn’t be less true! Our sector is made up of beautiful, vibrant and motivated people. If we want to get anywhere in building a more peaceful world, then peace itself needs to be re-cast as something intriguing and compelling.

Where would you like to see your passion go in the next 10 years? 20 years? 100 years? At the moment I am about halfway through a Master’s degree program, which I am doing on a part-time basis. I am really looking forward to completing my studies over the next two years. I am also keen to do some field work. It’s likely that I will continue to work in arms control and disarmament. I would really like to see more progress be made on nuclear weapons – whether it be reducing existing stockpiles or banning them entirely.

Our goal is the creation of a United Nations resolution to establish colorless flags – as official flags of peace – to be raised by embassies worldwide each 21st September, in celebration of the International Day of Peace. For as long as man has walked the Earth, there has never been an official flag of peace which unites humanity as a whole.

We would love your support in spreading our message and join us in our quest to establish this global symbol of peace. For up to date information about our initiative’s progress, kindly follow our Facebook page.

If Turkey wants to join the ranks of countries like Norway, Canada and Japan, it has some work to do.

May 9, 2013 - Last month, I was invited to teach a Peace Journalism course and speak at a conference in Istanbul, Turkey which gave me an opportunity to revisit and re-acquaint myself with a country that I have a lot of affection having lived there in 2001. It was with great joy that I saw how much Turkey is embracing peace (certainly influenced by the company I kept, but still notable). Turkey is a-buzz with the peace process currently taking place between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), addressing 30 years of conflict. This has also sparked some interest in peace journalism with a conference organized at the prestigious Bogazici University and attended by journalists and editors of major Turkish newspapers and television stations. And let’s not forget Turkey’s aspiration to be an international peace negotiator, most visibly in its joint initiative with Brazil, successfully brokering an agreement with Iran over its disputed nuclear program in May 2010. Some Turkish analysts believe that Turkey is trying to position itself globally with other countries long associated with peace, notably Norway, Canada and Japan.

But if Turkey wants to join the ranks of countries like Norway, Canada and Japan, it has some work to do. Since its inception in 2007, the Global Peace Index has consistently ranked Turkey in the bottom 30 least peaceful countries in the world whereas Norway, Canada and Japan have consistently ranked in the top 10 most peaceful. Categories in which Turkey has the largest spread with its role models include:

In order for Turkey’s commitment to peace to be more than just lip-service, it will have to make a significant investment in both internal and external peace.  There are seeds of peace that have been planted, but need to be nourished and allowed to spread. In order to bring peace, Turkey will need peace workers with solid conflict transformation and peace building skills. Bogazici University now has a peace education program while Hacettepe University offers the country’s first Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies. Change.org has just launched its Turkey platform which could have a positive impact on political participation. And of course a successful outcome to the peace process with the Kurds could do much to raise Turkey’s peace profile.

Restorative Justice is generally concerned not with collecting facts, determining fault, or laying blame but with repairing the harm done and moving beyond the victim/offender dichotomy in order to address the feelings and needs of all parties to the conflict.

by Matthew Johnson, Peace Is Possible Contributor

Most, if not all, arguments made in favor of the traditional, retributive criminal “justice” system are cynical ones. Defenders claim either that some criminals are too evil to live in society and must be incarcerated or executed as a matter of public safety or that there is no tenable alternative to the current system despite its flaws. In her small but compelling book, Are Prisons Obsolete?, Angela Davis points out that prisons (which I use here as a synecdoche) have become self-justifying: We need them because there are dangerous people locked up in them — or so the flawed logic goes.

Approaches that take into account the humanity of the alleged offender are often dismissed as naïve or inconsiderate to the victim, even though these approaches tend to give victims much more power than the current system. The oldest such approach stems from hunter-gather traditions, was codified in the 1970s by the Mennonite community in the eastern United States, and is now referred to as restorative justice. Its success in locations as divergent as New Zealand and Baltimore, Maryland (USA), would suggest that its critics are the naïve ones. While the Community Conferencing Center of Baltimore, which facilitates restorative conferences that include all parties to the conflict seeking to reach a shared agreement, boasts a 95 percent rate of post-agreement compliance, a recent study examining the impact of disparate juvenile justice systems came out heavily in favor of a non-punitive model based on measures such as costs and recidivism rates and cites New Zealand for pioneering the “restorative approach to offending by young people.” Some see it as only a matter of time before a country like New Zealand takes a restorative approach to its entire criminal justice system.

It is difficult to give a concise definition of restorative justice given its many forms and the depth of its philosophical underpinnings. There is even some controversy among enthusiasts over whether to define it at all. Suffice it to say that it is generally concerned not with collecting facts, determining fault, or laying blame but with repairing the harm done and moving beyond the victim/offender dichotomy in order to address the feelings and needs of all parties to the conflict.

Despite its ancient roots and modern success, restorative justice is not widely known. Yet due to the failures of the current justice system and the determination of its proponents, it is slowly entering the mainstream. Restorative processes as they relate to the workplace have become the subject of a recent movie called Face to Face, and citizens across the United States are involved in study circles related to conflict resolution. Nonviolent Communication interest groups are another example.

Although governments can and should take a leading role in promoting and financing restorative processes when and where crime occurs, the demand is such that small organizations and individuals are taking it upon themselves to change the status quo in their communities. Some have even gone a step further and developed a philosophy of justice called transformative justice that takes into account the broader social circumstances that give rise to acts of interpersonal violence. Efforts by activists to apply transformative justice principles to conflict — particularly gender-based violence —within communities have cropped up in cities such as Oakland, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.

Jaye Starr discusses how she combines her Muslim faith with social justice, humanitarian work, theater and the circus. 

Tell me how you got started.

I don’t recall a point when I “got started,” but there I was greatly influenced by three books I read as a child: Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, Alicia: My Story, and Zlata’s Diary. Each shares a tragic story of life and death: Sadako’s story unfolds in Hiroshima as bomb-induced leukemia takes her from this world, Alicia’s as she miraculously survives the Holocaust/Shoah traveling on foot from Poland, and Zlata as she withstands the siege of Sarajevo. These tragically true stories awoke in me an awareness of the bitter realities of war, but also of the contributions individuals could make to peace-building – both for the individual and the society.

What interests you most about what you’re doing now?

Right now I am unbelievably excited about being back in school! I’m striving to build a solid foundation for the community and individual-level peace building I am dedicating the rest of my life to. After working in various parts of the field for a decade, I’ve got a good grasp on what I don’t know but would really like to learn – namely the tools of chaplaincy. I’m blessed to have the opportunity to immerse myself in learning and I hope to pay it forward in service to humanity. I’m pursing an MA in Islamic Studies with a concentration in Muslim-Christian Relations as well as a Graduate Certificate in Chaplaincy. While it might not seem related, it builds on my background in social justice movements, humanitarian work, theater and circus. My intent is twofold: first I’d like to help bridge the gap between psychological first aid providers and the Muslim communities they are often serving.  Secondly I’d like to help alleviate some of the burden carried in the hearts of people living in the US who have been impacted by armed conflict and natural disaster by combining the skills of chaplaincy with theatrical and visual arts.

What’s been your biggest accomplishment? Biggest challenge?

I think they are one in the same: I’ve worked almost entirely for small understaffed non-profits and I’ve only been properly trained to do one position – incidentally, it was a three month interim administrative role. Everything else I’ve largely had to figure out on my own. That I’ve generally been able to do it successfully is an accomplishment, but it speaks to a tragic challenge faced by civil society. Our failure to train, mentor and support those around us is preventing us from taking full advantage of the extraordinary capacity that we have. I feel that I’ve lost a lot of time over the years going in circles rather than building on best-practices and past lessons. Now, when I start anything I try to figure out everything that has been done prior to my arrival before moving forward.

Who or what inspires you?

The testament of faith in Islam is called the shahādah. Lately I’ve been ruminating on the idea of living my shahādah “out loud.” The idea is that our shahādah is not just something that we say and believe, but that we live. For me this action builds on a major focal point of Islam: tawḥīd (توحيد‎ ) – or the oneness of God which some understand as the unity of creation. I believe that to fully respect the oneness we need to live life in a manner that recognizes the intimacy of this connection. To work for the wellbeing of each person is deeply linked to my sense of what it means to live my shahādah out loud. Also central to this is humanity’s calling from God to serve as vicegerents on Earth (Qur’an Chapter 2 Verse 30). I find in this the obligation to care for the earth’s abundant resources and creatures as I care for the people upon it.

Why is peace sexy to you?  What does “Peace is Sexy” evoke for you?

I’ve spent an insane amount of time thinking about this and the best answer that I can come up with is that, just as sex is necessary for humanity to survive, peace is as well. And seriously, wouldn’t everyone enjoy sex more if the world were more peaceful?

What is a simple thing you do to create peace? What is something you do everyday?

Earlier I spoke about how the principle of tawḥīd inspires me to live my shahādah out loud. That commitment manifests itself daily in my life through some of the most mundane tasks. Stopping to pick up trash, recycling, seeking out organic produce, and carrying my own silverware, travel mug, and towel for when I make my prayer ablutions are ways of respecting tawḥīd and my human role as a vicegerent of the earth. Advocating economic policies at the state, federal and international levels recognize God’s commands for building justice. Calling my Congressional representatives to request that they stop supporting the sale of weapons to governments with known abuses of human rights records and engaging in inter-faith action, purchasing fair trade products, and treating people with compassion are all acts of living my shahādah out loud.

How would you like Peace is Sexy to make a difference in what you are up to?

The “sexiness” attributed to violence and warfare in the media and entertainment fields is simply disgusting. I look forward to the role that Peace is Sexy can play in the creation of a counter narrative. I dream of a day when people opt to care about what needs to be done in their community and when, in looking for a life partner, they become more concerned with the contributions someone has made to the world than their clothing, fast car or big bank account.

Where would you like to see your passion go in the next 10 years? 20 years? 100 years?

Lao-Tse wrote of peace at the individual level providing the foundation for peace at the global level. My dream is to help provide the foundation blocks for communities. I’d like to do this by combining my background in theater with my current chaplaincy studies to help bring peace to individuals impacted by disaster and armed conflict. My hope is to enable people to share their stories as a means of redistributing and sharing the burdens they carry from their experiences. Just as the three books I mentioned above have helped to create change in society, I hope to empower others to do the same along the way.

I am also interested in contributing my knowledge of Islam to the growing physiological first aid movement. I’d like to enable tools within the faith to contribute to peace for impacted Muslim individuals and communities and to help change people’s views of it as “the source of problems” to a source of solutions.

Is there anything else you want to tell us?

Y’all are a bunch of sexy peace building rock stars – thanks for the work you are doing!

The multi-national main characters – Ambassador Avery Bird (a dove), Rosalia (a Latina bird of paradise), Ragnar (a Norwegian seagull), Lakpa (an Asian kitten), Ricotta (European mouse), Jubnah (Middle Eastern mouse), and Mma Gaboon (an African viper) – model strong family relationships, cross-cultural communication and curiosity about the world.

The innovation of Ambassador Bird is that it’s more than just a children’s TV show. Its ambition is to plant the seeds of understanding, acceptance, respect and peace in the newest generations.  The show helps 3 to 6 year olds – and their parents – feel more at home in our increasingly globalized world. Ambassador Bird takes viewers on trips around the planet by incorporating locally produced folktales and songs. Additionally, it is backed by research and accompanied by workbooks and comic books.

The characters were created by artist and writer Bill Weber to inspire children to express their natural enthusiasm for peace.  While the show has yet to be picked up by a TV network or production studio, there are plenty of opportunities to interact with Ambassador Bird on his website.  In the United States, an Ambassador Bird puppet makes personal appearances at parades and civic events, and over ten thousand “Increase The Peace” stickers have been sold to children for their peace rallies and peace clubs.

What interests you most about what you’re doing now?

Currently, my greatest interest is to empower the youth of the Itapoã community (an extremely poor area near Brazil’s capital city) to create an Ecological Park and to protect a degraded water source within it. So it’d be the Itapoã Ecological Park and the Caiapó do Rosário dos Negros Stream.

What’s been your biggest challenge?

The insensitivity of the concerned authorities that persist in their errors and administrative abuses.

Who or what inspires you?

I’m very inspired by the work of Herbert de Souza, a Brazilian sociologist who passed away in 1997, affectionately known as “Betinho.” He left us the organization Citizen Action Against Hunger, Poverty and for Life that I help run in Brasilia.

Another person who inspires me greatly is the deceased Professor Wangari Maathai from Kenya who launched the Billion Tree Campaign which I coordinate in the capital.

Why is peace sexy to you?  What does “Peace is Sexy” evoke for you?

Peace is sexy to me because it offers the possibility to care for other people and for the environment. Peace Is Sexy evokes for me the impulsive desire to build the roads to a better society.

What is a simple thing you do to create peace? What is something you do everyday?

I plant seeds and trees native to the Brazilian ecosystem to join in the initiative of the Billion Trees Campaign and in order to help lower the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

I also facilitate groups of people from various poor communities and organize them around microfinance. I administer free classes to mold the ecological consciousness of popular ecotourism guides.

Everyday, I leave the car at home and use the bus or walk to work. Considering that we have a horrible public transit system and that I’m the only one in a community of 400 people that acts in this way, what should be the norm is treated like an exception where I’ve lived and worked for the past 6 years.

How would you like Peace is Sexy to make a difference in what you are up to?

I think that if we could show in short videos (4 minutes max.) what we need to finish building the Betinho Community Center for Technical Education, we’d succeed in maintaining consistency with our ecotourism guide courses as a source of continuing education for environmental consciousness.

Where would you like to see your passion go in the next 10 years? 20 years? 100 years?

Into the minds of the youth of Itapoã, in Brasilia, in Brazil and in the world.

And into the stories that my granddaughter, Ana Clara, invents.

Is there anything else you want to tell us?

As a worker specialized in the area of Public Policy and Governmental Management, I’d love to share with you that I mediate dialogues and interfaces within society using a powerful communication tool that we created where I work, at the Ministry of Education of Brazil. Using this platform, we’re reinvigorating the National Conference on Education’s strategy of Free Conferences and I dream of being able to talk to people through out the world, mainly youth and children about what their hopes are for their own education.

Mentions of the European Union (EU) currently conjure up images of financial distress and bailouts. While facing such challenges, this much-maligned institution is currently debating how its international development cooperation can complement the individual efforts of its 27 member states. As the world’s leading provider of Official Development Assistance (ODA), this is one area in which Europe is still a superpower.

A welcome source of new ideas is the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDM), a self-styled independent “think and do tank.” In a recent blog entry, its deputy director, shines some welcome light on African views on the development agenda. Among the numerous interesting topics that Mr. Geert Laporte brings up, some of the most relevant concern national ownership, governance, and the need for economic diversification.

Few sectors are as prone to fads as development cooperation, and the current one includes a relentless focus on progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and bypassing local government structures to provide measurable results. African leaders are right to be critical: while the MDGs are in many ways laudable, they give little space for national priorities. Furthermore, they do little do tackle the need for economic diversification. Finally, the ways in which they are implemented may actually compromise governance and democracy.

Although setting eight worldwide goals can be welcome in order to focus attention and raise resources in the rich world, they do not account for the diversity of challenges in developing countries. They also do little to empower poor countries to build local economic structures that provide jobs, produce value-added goods, and ultimately steer poor countries away from over-dependence on extractive industries. In terms of governance, rich donors often stilt the domestic political debate by moving “discussions” to closed-door meetings in which donors tell local governments what they should prioritize. In such situations, who can blame voters from becoming disillusioned and thinking that their vote will have little influenced?

A more enlightened approach has been spearheaded by some of the world’s leading development economists, such as Dani Rodrik, Ricardo Hausmann and Andres Velasco, all affiliated with Harvard University at different times in their careers. By launching Growth Diagnostics they have developed a methodology centered on unlocking the key constraints to economic growth in each country, rather than providing across the board solutions.

In a recent article in the Financial Times, Hausmann proposed an innovative tool for Aid 2.0 that would allow goals and proposed solutions to emerge from different stakeholders in each country. Professor Hausmann refers to this as a Wikipedia-approach whereby an online tool ”can help donors and recipients find each other based on their shared interests”.

By merging technology with sophisticated analysis this is just the type of idea that can help aid become truly useful. What’s needed is to identify local priorities and support emerging solutions emanating from the countries themselves. That’s what true empowerment is all about.

But a peer-reviewed article recently published in Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism takes a look at the reporting in the US mainstream media during the lead-up and the early years of the War in Iraq. This analysis shows how an approach rooted in peace journalism could alter the way in which such conflicts are portrayed in the media. Such a strategy can move the public discourse away from a focus on violent means, to find creative conflict transformation mechanisms that allow different voices and interests to be heard. While this article focuses on the content of journalism, rather than the structures,

We do not need to conclude that editors and reporters are mere cogs in a machine of their own making, and therefore efforts to reform journalism from within are pointless. Structural constraints govern the content of news, but they do not altogether determine it. Pressure from without and renewal from within are not mutually exclusive avenues […]; they may, indeed, be necessary counterparts. (Lynch et al., 2011: 8)

The paper goes on to offer a systematic analysis of Johan Galtung’s Peace Journalism-War Journalism table and applies it to coverage of Iraq.

A peace journalism approach would have opened up alternative ways for transcending the conflict between the United States and Iraq by bringing in more varied voices and points of view into the public conversation. This alternative is both comprehensive and viable (Lynch et al., 2011: 15) and can used for coverage of any subject journalists wish to cover. With the advent of social media and wider access to the internet giving more individuals the ability to replicate and dissemi­nate information, some elements of peace journalism are already becoming prevalent, notably making conflicts transparent, giving voice to all parties, humanization of all sides, exposing untruths on all sides, focusing on suffering all over including on women, the aged, children and the voiceless. Given that human beings tend to want to live in peace, why not further develop the structures and cultures that support peace, including in journalism?