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Search Select Language Issue #75 August/September 2010 Powered by Translate News & Highlights Peace Education in the SEPTEMBER 11th: STILL A TEACHABLE MOMENT? Field David Potori Action Alerts CoFounder Events & Conferences September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows Trainings & Workshops Like the proverbial tree, if a teachable Publications & Research moment occurs and no one hears the lesson, is it still a teachable moment? If Jobs & Funding you’ve been paying attention to the Opportunities controversy, real or imagined, over the socalled “Ground Zero mosque” you Quick Links may have found yourself considering GCPE Website some form of this question. How, nearly Subscribe ten years after the 9/11 attacks, can Archives some remain so insular, so ill Contribute to the informed? How has anger managed to Newsletter keep so many from completing—or even starting—their necessary journey Make a taxdeductible through grief to wisdom and contribution to the Global understanding? How are we even Campaign (coming soon) having this conversation in 2010? For the members of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, we’ve been having conversations of a different sort since the fall of 2001. That’s when a handful of family members of 9/11 victims decided to turn their grief into action for peace by calling for alternatives to war during a symbolic walk from the Pentagon to the World Trade Center facilitated by Kathy Kelly of Voices in the Wilderness (now Voices for Creative Nonviolence). A persontoperson trip to Afghanistan under the auspices of Medea Benjamin and Global Exchange took place in January, 2002, putting us in contact with our counterparts, family members of those lost to the U.S. bombing done in reaction to 9/11. Our group was launched that Valentine’s Day with the sponsorship of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the support of the American Friends Service Committee and the Hague Appeal for Peace and goals that included promoting dialogue on alternatives to war, supporting others seeking nonviolent responses to terrorism and calling attention to threats to civil liberties and other freedoms as a consequence of war. It was the stories we told of our own losses, and the stories our members brought back from Afghanistan of losses inflicted in our names, that forged a connection among our members and people around the world who had similar experiences, shared our desire for nonviolent alternatives and had formed likeminded organizations. They included Israeli and Palestinian members of The Parents Circle, Japanese Hibakusha, or atomic bomb survivors, family members who lost loved ones in the 2005 train bombings in Spain, the Iraqi peace coalition La’Onf, the South African Institute for Healing of Memories, and a host of others. Bringing our stories, and their stories, to a wider audience is one of the goals of our new web site, 911 Stories: Our Voices, Our Choices. In the critical year leading up to the tenth commemoration of the September 11th attacks, it will provide a key opportunity to revisit the paths that could have been taken in the days after 9/11. How could we have responded differently? What could 9/11 families, and citizens around the world, have taught us about their experiences of terrorism, political violence and war? What choices could we have made, and what choices can we make today, to create peaceful tomorrows for everyone? 911 Stories: Our Voices, Our Choices will profile our members, collecting their public statements, speeches, essays, letters to the editor and telling stories of the projects they have undertaken. Through a dedicated YouTube channel it will feature film and television appearances and interviews with Peaceful Tomorrows members everywhere from Afghanistan to Iraq, from Hiroshima to Oklahoma City. It will also shine a light on the work of those others around the world who have been similarly affected by terrorism, political violence and war and have chosen to work for peace and nonviolence. Utilizing the latest technologies with an eye toward accessibility, 911 Stories: Our Voices, Our Choices will serve as a rich, user friendly resource for a range of constituencies at a time of unprecedented interest. We will partner with progressive educators to develop an array of downloadable, age appropriate curricula for students in grade school through adult education. For the media, the stories will provide ideas and contact information for interviews and articles. For politicians and policymakers, the Web site will be a source of successful, realworld examples of the power of nonviolence. And for the general public, the stories will serve as a source of hope, inspiration and new ways of envisioning their world. We will work with advocacy organizations, peace and justice organizations, places of worship, public libraries and other organizations to ensure the project’s prominent visibility and broad distribution. And we hope the web site will be the centerpiece of a series of public and online forums that will increase dialogue among those with differing points of view. It will remain as a living document to the love we feel for those we lost on 9/11 and our enduring hope for peaceful tomorrows for everyone. 911 Stories: Our Voices, Our Choices will appear at www.911stories.org beginning September 11, 2010 with a small sampling of our work. As our inventory of stories grows week by week over the coming year, we welcome your reactions and invite you to share your ideas about how we can partner with you to keep the events of September 11th a teachable moment for future generations of Americans and others around the world. David Potorti CoFounder September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows [email protected] Links: September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows 911 Stories: Our Voices, Our Choices News Education Minister Receives Draft Peace Education Curriculum (Sierra Leone) (allafrica.com) The Minister of Education, Youth and Sports has received the draft copies of the Peace Education Curriculum (PEC) at the ministry's conference room, New England Ville in Freetown. Presenting the PEC to Dr. Minkailu Bah, course director Dr. Thomas Mark Turay said peace education will be introduced to selected secondary schools come September 2010. Dr. Turay stressed that peace education, when introduced in the selected schools in the western rural and Tonkolili district, will aid the kids to use non violence skills, knowledge, values and attitude in dealing with conflict, reduce the level of violence, create safer school settings for school going pupils and build the capacity of teachers.. Peace Education and the Construction of Peace in Colombia (CNN iReport) Despite years of armed conflict which remains unresolved on the battle field and in the political sphere, the highest level of violence in Latin America, Colombia has become a center of international collaboration in the field of Peace education. As a result of the complex nature of the conflict, peace keeping and peace building efforts in Colombia have called on diverse national and international nongovernmental organizations, the United Nations, multiple governments and academia to create interdisciplinary strategies to transform, and address social consequences of armed conflict… Colleges as Teachers of Peace and Conflict Resolution (USA) (Times) David Smith of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) writes on the efforts that are going on in U.S. community colleges in teaching about peace and conflict. Prioritize Peace Education In Schools CPE Boss Urges Government (Liberia) (Heritage) The Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Peace Education (CPE) has called on the Liberian Government to prioritize the teaching of Peace Education in schools across the country. Mr. Mainlehwon Ebenezer Vonhm Benda said the teaching of peace education will curtail the high rate of violence perpetrated by the youths. “I want the government to first of all recognize how important this idea. This can be mandated to be taught in all schools across the country. We know the war is over, but there will not be total peace until we build peace in the minds of the people, mainly the youths who constitute more than half of the total population,” he said… Peace Education Needed in the Philippines (The Mindanao Examiner) Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma urged educational institutions in the Philippines, most especially those in Mindanao, to integrate peace education in their curriculum to help educate the new generation to pursue peace in light of the decadesold conflict in the southern region. “We need a change of mindset especially in our understanding of the dignity of the human person, whatever his/her culture or religion and the best way to inculcate this on the younger generation is through the educational system,” he said… Afghan Native Stresses Peace, Education (Afghanistan/USA) (Grand Haven Tribune) Education can bring peace to wartorn Afghanistan. That was the message presented to members of Spring Lake Rotary Club Friday by Fazal Rabani, an Afghanistan native who is attending Grand Valley State University through a Rotary International ambassadorial program. "I think that before everything — the first thing is education," he said… Afghanistan Needs Education (The Age) An Afghani woman whose schools for girls were forced "underground" during the height of the Taliban government has spoken of the positive signs emerging in her troubled country. Sakena Yacoobi founded the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) in 1995, a nongovernmental organization that provides education, health and medical services. Dr Yacoobi says she believes "education is the key infrastructure that Afghanistan needs." Dr Yacoobi's classes teach the Afghan government sanctioned curriculum and, she said, there was also a special emphasis on "critical thinking... peace education (and) gender issues." Every Teacher a Peace Teacher (USA) (Yes! Magazine) In middle school, high school, and college classrooms, David Jackson Cook teaches that nonviolence, peace, and justice are not utopian dreams but real and practical ways in which humans can affect the world around them.