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Peace News: Summer 2008

Submitted by FOR on July 29, 2008 - 10:10am.

Iraqi boys outside the Amiriya bomb shelter memorial in Baghdad. Christiaan Briggs, 2003.

We may be feeling the summer doldrums, but they won't last for long. FOR is currently ramping up for our 4th annual Festival of Peace on September 14th, and also preparing to organize a series of local solidarity events in support of the Iraqi Week of Nonviolence in the Fall.

LaOnf: saying no to violence in Iraq
Fourth annual Festival of Peace
Hope for Zimbabwe
Witness: summer member newsletter
Program updates
Upcoming events

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LaOnf - nonviolence in Iraq

FOR is partnering with our long-time friends at September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows in an effort to support an innovative Iraqi nonviolence initiative. LaOnf - literally meaning "no to violence" in Arabic - is working to advocate "non-violence as the most effective way to struggle for an independent, democratic, peaceful Iraq." LaOnf has organized nonviolence trainings all around Iraq, and is preparing to hold the third annual Week of Nonviolence, in concert with upcoming regional elections this fall.

FOR and Peaceful Tomorrows will be helping communities across the U.S. to demonstrate solidarity with LaOnf by organizing documentary screenings and sending messages of support for the Week of Nonviolence. Please contact us if you are interested in helping to organize such an event, and look for an invitation next month to an event near you.

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Festival of Peace brings the beloved community together

FOR will host our fourth annual Festival of Peace on Sunday, September 14th from 1:00 to 5:00 in Upper Nyack, New York.

The popular event, which has attracted hundreds of residents from the New York metro area and the lower Hudson Valley for the past three years, is FOR’s open house. The community is invited to enjoy the beautiful grounds of Shadowcliff, tour FOR’s national headquarters and learn more about our mission and programs. This year the theme of the festival, “Peace in the Human Family/Peace with the Earth,” will be celebrated with live international music, poetry, performance art, special activities and entertainment for children, plus a mixed media art exhibit and sale that features the work of local artists.

Peace Prizes

Another highlight of the Festival of Peace is the presentation of FOR’s esteemed peace awards to distinguished peacemakers. The 2008 winners of the International Pfeffer Peace Prize that was established in 1989 by Leo and Freda Pfeffer to honor those around the world working for peace with justice are a community of peace makers in Latin America. Serpaj Morelos of Mexico, the most active group of Servicio Paz y Justicia; Ricardo Esquivia, the founder of Sembrandopaz (Sowing Seeds of Peace) and recognized by many as the Gandhi of Colombia; and Guillermo Mateus-Corredor, an inspector in the Human Rights Special Investigations Unit of the Inspector General’s Office in Colombia, will share the international award.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Award, established by FOR in 1979 to recognize unheralded persons or groups working in the United States in the tradition of Dr. King, will be presented to George Lakey. Mr. Lakey has been an organizer, visionary, trainer, writer and educator of nonviolent social change for more than fifty years.

This year’s recipients of the FOR Nyack Area Peace Prize are the Rockland Coalition for Peace & Justice. The Coalition sponsors regular meetings and numerous progressive activities, most notably the anti-war vigils that are held on the corner of Route 59 in Nanuet every Saturday since November 2002 when the U.S. entered war with Iraq. For more information about all the Peace Prize winners, please visit FOR’s web site.

Be a part of the Festival of Peace by publishing your message in our commemorative journal. Rates are from $20 to $300. Contact jmiller@ forusa.org for more information.

Admission to the Festival of Peace is free; art, food and a variety of gift items will be for sale. If you live in the area and would like to be involved in the preparations for the Festival, we welcome volunteers. For all, near and far, please consider placing a message in the Commemorative Journal that is distributed to all who attend.

For more information about the Festival of Peace, the Commemorative Journal or the Art Show & Sale please contact Mary Heckler, FOR’s Events Director, at 845-358-4601 ext. 32, or mheckler at forusa.org.

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Hope for Zimbabwe

Many of us have been watching the situation in Zimbabwe with hopeful but heavy hearts. Last month we asked you to join us in asking U.S. Senators to support legislation (already passed in the House) calling for a peaceful resolution to that violent political crisis. So far 442 of you answered the call and sent nearly 900 letters to Congress!

For the first time in months, the news now has us feeling hopeful about the possibility of a resolution that can bring peace and democracy to Zimbabwe. Ethan Vesely-Flad, FOR's Co-Director of Communications, posted an update on our blog last week. Here is an excerpt:

On the one hand, there are the words of a southern African layperson, who says straightforwardly, "There is no ubuntu here."

On the other hand, my friend's web site also highlights African liberation leader Patrice Lumumba, who led the Congo to a short-lived period of democracy. Lumumba offers this visionary reflection:

History will one day have its say, but it will not be the history that Brussels, Paris, Washington, or the United Nations will teach, but that which they will teach in the countries emancipated from colonialism and its puppets. Africa will write its own history, and it will be, to the north and to the south of the Sahara, a history of glory and dignity.

Clearly, this is a critical moment for Zimbabwe, as well as its neighbors.

Click here to read the rest of Ethan's post at FORpeace.net.

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Summer 2008 Witness

Our semi-annual newsletter has just been distributed to members of FOR. This edition has features about our upcoming Festival of Peace, messages from FOR's National Council Chair and Executive Director, updates from our programs, and much more.

Click here to download a PDF, and click here to become a become a member and receive future newsletters.

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Program updates

FOR's programmatic work focuses on three main areas: Iran, Latin America, and Youth and militarism. Here are brief updates on just some of the recent work of FOR's program staff:

Iran Program	• Our eighth peace delegation will travel to Iran in August. It will be co-led by FOR's Iran Program Director Leila Zand and our recent Freeman Fellow Rev. Osagyefo Sekou. • We were recently recognized as "DIY Foreign Policy Heroes" in YES! magazine's issue on preventing war with Iran. Learn more at forusa.org/programs/iran & forpeace.net/tag/iran.

Youth and Militarism	• As a lead member of Not Your Soldier, FOR is helping to organize a campus tour from Minnesota to New York in November. The tour will feature workshops on direct action and conscientious objection, speakers from Red Juvenil (from Colombia), and performances by hip hop artist Invincible. Learn more at youth.forusa.org.

Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean	• Another human rights delegation will travel to Colombia in August. Participants will learn about community nonviolent resistance to impunity, and visit our Colombian Peace Presence. • FOR is bringing the Drug War Roadshow to communities in the Pacific Northwest. The show uses creativity and fun to bring attention to U.S. drug policies and their impact in communities here and abroad. Learn more at forcolombia.org & forpeace.net/tag/colombia.