peaceworks newsletter winter 2011

WINTER !"##

Auckland as a Peace City

The Peace Foundation Newsletter workspeace

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE…

Bully-proofing our schoolsThe Peace Awards

E-newslettersPlease let us know your email address. During the year, we have events and news that are of interest to members and to reduce the costs of printing and postage, we would like to update our database with your email details. Send your email contact details to [email protected].

The Peace FoundationPO Box 8055, Symonds Street, Auckland 1150Level 2, 128 Khyber Pass Road, Grafton, Auckland 1023Aotearoa/New Zealand

Phone +64 9 3732379Fax +64 9 3792668Email [email protected]

The Peace Foundation is the operating name of the Foundation for Peace Studies Aotearoa-New Zealand – Te Tuapapa Rongomau o Aotearoa. The Peace Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation working to promote peaceful relationships among people of all ages and cultures – from personal to global through education, research and action. We o!er a range of programmes and resources that proactively and successfully promote peaceful processes and alternatives to violence.

PEACEWORKS is the newsletter of The Peace Foundation. Opinions expressed in this issue are not necessarily those of The Peace Foundation. Contributions are welcome and should be sent to The Editor, Peaceworks, The Peace Foundation, PO Box 8055 Symonds Street, Auckland 1150.

Editor: Toni IngramEditorial advisers: John Hinchcli! and Caroline Ongleo

Message from Patron Pauline Tangiora. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2President’s message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Auckland: A Peace City. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Bully-proofing our schools . . . . . . . . . . 6Peacemaker Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Honour for nuke campaigner . . . . . . . . 8Disarmament for Development . . . . . . 9Cool Schools Update. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Funding Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Disarmament and Security Centre . . . 11Wellington o"ce closure . . . . . . . . . . . 11New ‘education4peace’ website. . . . . 12Youth Wing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Review: The Day the Raids Came. . . . .13Ruth Coombes visits Cuba. . . . . . . . . . .13Review: Countdown to Zero . . . . . . . . 14Peace Sites in New Zealand . . . . . . . . 14Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15Subscription and donation form . . . . 16

2 peaceworks $%&'() 2011

Contents

KIA ORA KOUTOU,We are already past the winter solstice and during these next few weeks we should reflect within the warmth of our homes how blessed we are to have shelter, fresh water and whanau. No more do we have to look overseas to those people that don’t have the above. The force of Mother Nature has shown the impact the earthquake in Christchurch and its effect of what they now suf-fer during these cold weeks ahead. May we continue to keep contact within whatever way we can, whether monetary, letters, phone texting or by prayer.

Such tragedy though should not cancel out the violence in our everyday society, the difficulties hardworking families are having to try and keep food on the table and children appropriately dressed for school and sports. There is a need to care for each other without being judgemental – if we can keep a peaceful inner self this transmits to those around us. This of course is not easy and even when we ourselves find we cannot do as much as we’d like.

The world is going through an upheaval we’ve never seen before. The enemy is man’s greed to want more or build structures that are not in harmony with Mother Nature – the destruction of forests in the Amazon so farmers can grow crops to feed animals here in Aotearoa! Building nuclear power plants to generate power without realising the consequence of such accidents as seen recently in Japan.

Time is ripe for us all to rethink how we can live more harmoniously with Nature. Drilling oil wells and mining, cutting down world forest ecosystems is not the answer. Everyone should be paid a wage equivalent to the cost of living so they may live with dignity.

To be people who can bring up children without fear for the future and the generations who are being born today, let us make a conscious effort to befriend our Mother Earth so that she can reward us with elements that we will all thrive on. It’s all about helping each other.

May the Blessings be with us all.In Peace,Pauline Tangiora

Pauline Tangiora is a Maori elder from the Rongomaiwahine Tribe on the East Coast of the North Island of Aotearoa (New Zealand). She is the former president and cur-rently vice president of Womens International League for Peace & Freedom Aotearoa, former representative for the World Council for Indigenous Peoples, a member of the Earth Council and an Earth Charter commissioner, life member of the Maori Women’s Welfare League, and a committee member of Rigoberta Menchu Tum Nobel Laureate Indigenous Initiative for Peace. Pauline Tangiora has represented Aotearoa at many international meetings for peace, the environment, spiritual well-being and indigenous rights. In 2005 she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize as part of the 1000 Women for Peace project. Pauline features on the Women for Peace billboards in La Paz, Bolivia.

Message from Patron Pauline Tangiora

THIS YEAR has been a mixture of consolidation and reaching out with new initiatives. We can be pleased that, with our min-imal resources, we continue to contribute significantly to our community.

We were relieved and pleased that the Ministry of Health has continued to fund our crucial Cool Schools Peer Mediation Programme. The work of Christina Barruel and her team is most impressive.

Unfortunately, our income stream is not thriving despite some generous support from people such as David Levene. So, it was with great sadness that we have had to end our financial support for our Wellington office. Fortunately, we will continue to have representatives on our Council from Wellington and Alyn Ware will continue to represent our organisation as appropriate. The Christchurch Disarmament Centre will connect as the circum-stances make it useful.

Also, we have had to prune back our Auckland office opera-tion and, sadly, lose the services of Sue Tregurtha. We trust this will not impair our services too much. We are most fortunate to be serviced by Caroline Ongleo and Rae Holloway.

A recent initiative has thrown the challenges of our peace quest onto sharp relief. Laurie Ross, part of our Auckland team, organised a submission to the Auckland Council to declare itself as a Peace City. This would follow in the tradition of the former Waitakere, North Shore and Auckland Cities and nearly 5000 other cities nationally and internationally. Rotary International sponsors about 50 Peace Cities internationally.

Our presentations included wonderful speeches by two children, Alida Newman and George Shirtcliffe representing One People, One Planet. They expressed their hope that the City would hold the future in trust for them. Unfortunately, Councillors Quax, Brewer, Wood, Walker, Raffills, Morrison and Stewart refused both to entertain the issues of our sub-mission and shunned democratic processes by contemptu-ously dismissing the motion to forward it to Local Boards for their comment.

Cameron Brewer argued and even circulated a press release mischievously and fallaciously proclaiming this “distraction” of a Peace City label would cost a million dollars, which would be “taken away from more urgent projects and core business”. We clearly stated that we sought support for a set of principles and a symbolic gesture. Interestingly, in this process we discovered that the former Waitakere Council bequeathed $40,000 to estab-lish Auckland as a Peace City!

Dick Quax aggressively proclaimed our proposal to be a mere “boondoggle” defined as “an activity or project that is trivial and wasteful of money” or “of little practical value”. His reasoning-free and aggressive attack surprised the petitioners.

Fortunately, the Council voted by 10 – 8 to refer the issue to the Local Boards for comment. This will provide an important opportunity for us to promote our purpose to so many represent-atives throughout the region.

I sent to the New Zealand Herald an article on our submis-sion and the hearing process. It was rejected because the sub-ject was not of interest to the general public. This, and the attacks by some councillors, highlights the chasm in world-views. For some the word ‘peace’ seems to be threatening and for others not newsworthy.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the convention of US Mayors for Peace on the 19 June 2011, that: “The road to peace and progress runs through the world’s cities and towns.” He said the Mayors for Peace helped to break the global deadlock in nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament negotiations and pro-vided expertise in the Global Counter-terrorism Strategy. Also, they assisted in various development and human rights projects. So many naïve boondogglers!

Ban Ki-Moon may be coming to New Zealand later in the year. We are seeking to host with the Auckland Mayor and Auckland Rotary Club a major public event for him to address.

Your Council is mindful that there are various initiatives we could be taking. They all require the resources of time, energy and sometimes finance. We hope next year you could consider engaging with us in one of our many projects. We would welcome you and our community would benefit.

John HinchcliffMA#HONS$, PHD, HOND, CNZM

President’s message

$%&'() 2011 peaceworks 3

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Cameron Brewer argued and even circulated a press release mischievously and fallaciously proclaiming this “distraction” of a Peace City label would cost a million dollars, which would be “taken away from more urgent projects and core business”.


AUCKLAND: A PEACE CITY

OVER THE last seven months represent-atives from Auckland’s peace groups have worked closely with Auckland Council officers to develop a Peace City Declaration for Auckland. This started from a letter to Mayor Len Brown and a presentation to Council last November 2010 by Laurie Ross. One of the prime motivators is to ensure New Zealand does all it can to support the process of a Nuclear Weapons Convention for the abo-lition of nuclear weapons.

The most effective way to do this at present is to support the International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). One significant way to further this objective is to empower civic leadership of our cities in reaffirming the principles of peace and disarmament as part of their core values. Thus, many Auckland based organisations are pursu-ing this goal including the United Nations Association NZ, Abolition 2000, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and the NZ Peace Foundation.

The recent US Conference of Mayors unanimously adopted a resolution calling on President Obama to pursue the elimi-nation of nuclear weapons, implementing the United Nations Secretary General’s 5-Point Plan. This is endorsed by Mayors for Peace, which has more than 4,700 members in 150 countries and should be endorsed by our Auckland Mayor and Council. As SG Ban Ki-moon says, ‘The road to peace and progress runs through the world’s cities and towns.’

It is important to note that Auckland and Waitakere Cities each proudly adopted the policy resolution declar-ing a City for Peace in 2007 followed by North Shore in 2009. Christchurch has been a leader in development of its Peace

City title since 2002 with numerous com-munity Peace Projects, wonderful Peace Festivals and installing a magnificent Peace Bell from Japan in Hagley Park.

In addition, we must remember the historic contribution New Zealand made to nuclear disarmament in 1987 when it established Nuclear Weapon Free Zone legislation as a nation state. We must never forget that this was based on indi-vidual council declarations as Nuclear Free Zones, which was the result of com-munity peace groups’ submissions during 1982 – 86.

Thus, we are proceeding on a firm foundation for the ongoing work to regen-erate our collective conviction to achieve this goal for the benefit of humanity. However, in addition to reaffirming com-mitment to the abolition of nuclear weap-ons we share the common higher values for social justice, human rights and non-violence as the conditions for building a more peaceful society.

This would take the form of a Peace City Declaration as stated in our formal sub-mission to council on 16th June 2011. Our deputation featured three senior peace workers from different groups plus two Intermediate students making the case on behalf of Auckland’s youth for the Council to adopt the Peace City Declaration.

The Declaration starts with: ‘The Auckland Council recognises its role of stewardship for present and future gen-erations and hereby declares Auckland to be a City for Peace. Dedicated to the promotion of nuclear free zones and a culture of peace based on social, eco-nomic and environmental justice, toler-ance and non-violence.’ There are twelve points that elaborate on these principles, which support New Zealand’s role in the

international community to actively pur-sue the abolition of nuclear weapons.

The council officers have produced a brilliant report, which further explains and justifies the meaning, purpose and value of making a Peace City Declaration based on the honouring of Tangata Whenua, human rights and non-violence. It also included recommendations of appropriate council projects for practical manifestation of the Peace City ethos that would appeal to the public and involve the community, such as peace festivals, tree planting and peace heritage walks.

At the June 16th meeting the Councillors were divided on the issue and voted to defer the matter to the 21 local (community) boards. Thus, we now refo-cus our Auckland Peace City Committee to carry out this task of making a presen-tation to each Board. It would be highly desirable and laudable for the Council and local boards to support this ethos even if there is no funding available. Ideally, the Council would take pride in brand-ing one annual event as ‘The Auckland Community Peace City Celebration’, which could be organised by local groups in their area.

So, we ask each Local Board to please support the positive vision of Auckland as a Peace City. At least let us support Len Brown as our Mayor for Peace, in order to make Auckland part of the interna-tional network of cities working for abo-lition of nuclear weapons. It does not cost money, no budget funding required, it is a statement of principle. PW

For more information or to help support the process please contact Laurie Ross on (09) 818 0696 or email [email protected]

Auckland: A Peace CityBy Laurie RossCOORDINATOR % AUCKLAND PEACE CITY COMMITTEE

MR MAYOR, COUNCILORS

HELLO


AUCKLAND: A PEACE CITY

My name is George Shirtcliffe and I repre-sent One People One Planet. So what can a 10 year old tell you about Peace?

Well, if Auckland is going to lead the world and be a Peace City, it has to feel like a Peace City for kids too. We may not know how Super Cities work. But we do know how peace really feels.

First, there has to be no bullying. You may not think it’s your job to stop it. But bullying only happens when people turn a blind eye. At my school, no one gets bul-lied. But other kids aren’t so lucky. They need you, Mr Mayor, to stick up for them.

Kids need to feel safe wherever they are. I live in a loving family. But plenty of kids don’t. Every day, kids in our city get abused. So what can you do to stop it?

Well, you can get tough on where you sell liquor, so it’s harder for grown ups to be drunk around their kids.

You can put security guards in parks

so kids can play safely on their own. I know what you’re thinking, great idea kid, but it would cost too much. Well, that’s the price of peace.

Kids need to be safe walking or biking to school. Last year you made Ponsonby Road 40 kms per hour, and it’s heaps safer. So make all busy roads like that. Go on.

So far, Mr Mayor, I’ve told you lots of things to do. But don’t worry, you’re doing a good job already. Two of my favourite places are my local library and my local park. And you’re the boss of them both. They’re so important for any Peace City, because every time a kid picks up a book, or plays in a park, they’re at peace.

When I fell off my scooter in the park, a kind man I didn’t know picked me up and made sure I was OK. And guess who he worked for? Your Council.

Now that’s what living in a Peace City is all about.

I am Alida Newman, speaking for One People One Planet.

Already in my short life, I have seen changes to the beautiful places I go to –changes that are irreversible and that affect the wildlife, nature and communities.

On behalf of the children, I strongly encourage everyone in this room to listen to the voices that are currently trying to speak out – the voices of the children.

The children of today want our planet to be a peaceful place, with no wars and conflict. We want tolerance of religious dif-ferences. We want an environment with abundant natural sources of food, ani-mals and resources. We want a poverty free planet where all children have a voice and a chance to shine. We want a world where all can flourish in a near to pristine envi-ronment. Listen to us, respect us, and value us. We need a group of adults who will lis-ten to our ideas and views, who share the

same dream and will help us achieve our goal, our vision, our dream.

Imagine a pebble being dropped in a pond. The ripples on the water move out, becoming greater, and affect the rest of the pond. I believe that if Auckland becomes a Peace City, a similar thing would hap-pen. New Zealand would see how united we are, and become a nation of peace, and in turn other countries will follow – trans-forming the World into a more peaceful place – for generations to come. The planet is the children’s to inherit, and we do not want to clean up the mess others before us have made.

My generation is relying on you to help us, and take action towards creating a bet-ter future. If you do not step up to this chal-lenge, then we will – and we won’t give up. Because we are wise, we were born wise, lis-ten to our wisdom – we are your partners. Because we all deserve a future.

George ShirtcliffePEACE PALS ONE PEOPLE ONE PLANET

Alida NewmanPEACE PALS ONE PEOPLE ONE PLANET


IN RESPONSE to video images of teenage bullying in New Zealand schools, bully-ing has become a hot topic in the media recently. Even Prime Minister John Key has got involved by instructing the Ministry of Education to write to all schools remind-ing them of their responsibilities and urg-ing them to review their anti-bullying policies. Why is bullying causing so much concern and what can be done?

First it is important to clarify what bullying means. Professor Smith of the psychology Department at Sheffield University gives this definition:

“Bullying is the systematic abuse of power, persistent and repeated domination which is intended to intimidate, manipu-late or hurt another person. There are three key factors; harm is intended, an imbalance of power is present and as it is a repeated pattern-systematic and organized.”

Bullying is a deliberate act and usually the victim is chosen because they will find it difficult to resist. Any perceived differ-ence, physical appearance, size, culture or sexual orientation or less overt ones like shyness, sensitivity or lack of friends can make you vulnerable. Often bullying is equated with physical attack but there are many different forms; verbal abuse including text messages, social emotional bullying, you are excluded from activities and no one talks to you, mental bullying

when you are threatened or intimidated into doing things you do not want to do and bullying by others taking or damag-ing your possessions.

Students find bullying difficult to deal with because of fear and shame. They fear that nothing will be done if they speak out and that the situation will get worse. They are ashamed because they think there must be something wrong with them to have been picked out as the victim. These fears of inadequacy are exacerbated by not being able to deal with the problem themselves. Consequences of bullying range from absenteeism, impaired aca-demic progress, personality changes and physical and mental health problems to suicide in the most extreme cases.

Bullying can also cause problems for the bullies. A leader is usually supported by others who act tough, as they are afraid of being bullied themselves. A recent Swedish survey showed that 60% of those identified as school bullies at intermedi-ate school had criminal convictions by 24 years old.

Parents find dealing with bullying diffi-cult. It is a very emotional situation to see the results of your son or daughter being bullied at school and feeling powerless to change things. Often parents are prevented from approaching the school because their children react strongly against this fearing

retribution. Some parents fear their child will be picked on if they make a fuss and others just want the bullies shamed in front of the school and punished. Many parents have little confidence that the school can cope with bullying.

In the Sunday Star Times Article, “Life is Easy for Bullies, say Parents,” (22 March 2011) parents felt bullies were not getting the consequences they deserved. In the Morrinsville College incident, referred to in the article, a 13 year old student suf-fered serious head injuries after four fel-low students attacked her in the school grounds. Her attackers were suspended for several days then allowed to return to school. This resulted in parents and locals staging a 200 strong protest outside the school gates because they felt the bullies should have been expelled and that the victim had not been protected.

Schools find bullying difficult to deal with for many reasons. Often they are the last to find out about a bullying inci-dent because of the code of silence where victims are afraid to seek help. When par-ents do report bullying to the school they are often angry and upset and demand the bullies be punished or in serious cases expelled. Schools have to follow required procedures in these cases and are encour-aged by the Ministry of Education to handle the problem within the school if possible.

Bully-proofing our schoolsBy Yvonne Duncan QSMCO&FOUNDER COOL SCHOOLS


BULLYPROOFING OUR SCHOOLS

If the students have not reached 16 years, they must attend school so they will just become another school’s prob-lem if expelled or, in a worst-case sce-nario, not complete their education or end up on the streets. Bullying is a sensi-tive subject for schools because a school’s reputation can be damaged, especially if the media gets involved and this can also affect the way bullying problems are dealt with. There is a legal requirement that schools provide safe learning envi-ronments and the Ministry of Education expects all schools to have a policy on dealing with bullying and to record bul-lying incidents. However, schools around New Zealand do vary considerably in their ability to handle this complex issue successfully.

So how can we bully-proof our schools to give all our students a safe learning environment? The bullying problem can become an opportunity for change; a catalyst for transforming our schools, if we recognise it as a universal problem. The whole school approach needs to set a vision, goals and guidelines on how to achieve a safe environment for learn-ing. Schools are not only for academic learning; social/emotional development skills must also be valued and taught. In addition, schools need to model the values and behaviour they expect from students. Training, monitoring and eval-uation procedures are also necessary to ensure an evolving process and continu-ing improvement.

A primary school in West Auckland became a good example of whole school development to deal successfully with bullying some years ago. One teacher on the staff had trained in the Cool Schools Programme and implemented the pro-gramme in the school. When she left, it stopped as no one else was trained. A dep-utation of children went to the principal and asked that the programme be rein-stated. The principal was so impressed with what the children had done, not only was the whole staff trained in Cool Schools, but she organised staff, students and parents to work together to produce a non-violence policy. This policy which contained a rational, purpose, guidelines and monitoring system, was successfully

implemented and became a model for many other schools.

Students can become resources not problems if they receive training in com-munication and conflict management skills and are given opportunities for leadership. Most students in my experi-ence in teaching, have an altruistic side and will choose to make a contribu-tion if given the skills, opportunity and

trust, because they are very interested in relationships. About five years ago I was visiting a small secondary school in the far north where I was expecting to train some senior mediators. Instead, I was asked to take a session with a year 10 class who called themselves ‘The Rebels’ and were already causing prob-lems for the school although it was only February. As this was supposed to be a demonstration session for two other trainers, I faced the class with some trep-idation. After a settling down period, I was able to explain that the workshop was about learning skills, which would help them with friendships, relation-ships and give them skills to help others and to make a difference in their school. Their attitude completely changed and they became enthusiastic supporters of the programme to the surprise of staff members and some eventually became school mediators.

The skills which encourage self knowl-edge and service leadership opportunities have been shown to motivate students to improve academic learning and can influ-ence career choices. In the Cool Schools Newsletter Term 3 – 2010, the story, ‘From Bully to Peacemaker’, Jonnie Black says, ‘After I trained in the various skills, I realised a lot about myself, how I acted in a conflict situation and how to handle it in a more constructive way next time. It gave me a great sense of belonging to

the school and that great feeling you get when you are helping your peers.’

Jonnie is now in tertiary studies train-ing to be a teacher and to use what he has learned in Kaupapa Maori Schools.

Schools do not always demonstrate the values and behaviour they expect from students. A teacher coordinator saw no incongruity when, for several minutes, she castigated a whole group of 35 medi-ators waiting to begin a training session with me, because one child had used the hall toilet which was forbidden. Leading by example is by far the most effective way of ensuring the problem solving approach to problems becomes part of the school culture.

Once the whole school community has been proactive by setting their vision, goals and guidelines, training not just for the students, but also for the teachers and parents will be needed. Fortunately, New Zealand has a wealth of programmes and resources from which schools can choose. The Restorative Justice Programme is pop-ular in many schools, Eliminating Violence focuses on improving a school’s culture, Kia Kaha, developed by the NZ Police

Youth Education Service is a successful anti-bullying programme. The Ministry of Education provides Resource Teachers for Learning and Behaviour (RTLBs) who provide information about pro-grammes and help schools develop and implement strategies to manage behav-iour. The Peace Foundation, The Mental Health Foundation and the Ministry of Social Development have resources, pro-grammes and information available.

Bullying occurs in every school and the key to change is for schools to rec-ognise the importance of using students’ full potential to become resources not problems. Schools feel pressured by the demands of the curriculum, national standards and examinations and com-plain of lack of time, forgetting how much of it is spent on dealing with problems. Teaching life skills must become more important in order to create the full poten-tial of each school community’s learning environment and to achieve the major role of schools in producing New Zealand Citizens able to contribute to the complex requirements of the 21st Century. PW

Bullying occurs in every school and the key to change is for schools to recognise the importance of using students’ full potential to become resources not problems.


AWARDS

Peacemaker Awards

CONGRATULATIONS Chris Barfoot and Dorothy Brown!

The ‘Peacemaker’s Award’ was con-ceived in August 1995 to mark the 50th anniversary of the atomic bomb-ing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Over the years The Peace Foundation has presented Certificates of Recognition to a number of people who had made significant contri-butions to peace in the preceding years.

This year The Peace Foundation proudly recognises Chris Barfoot and Dorothy Brown. If you missed the award presentation, here is a snapshot of Kevin Clement’s speech recognising Chris and Dorothy and their outstanding work in our country to promote peace and peace-ful relationships.

‘It gives me much pleasure in intro-ducing the two honorees for this award to the Peace Foundation and its friends. Chris Barfoot and Dorothy Brown have been long time pacifists and workers for peace. They both understand that if we are to establish the best case for peace and justice we need to direct the best minds in the world to this task. This is why they were both concerned to complete the vision of the original Founders of The Peace Foundation by establishing a Chair

in Peace and Conflict Studies. Together, they committed their own philanthropic resources and built up a list of over 1,000 other New Zealanders who were inter-ested in this task. They raised over a million dollars and asked New Zealand Universities to match this amount. The University of Otago did so and the new National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies came into existence with me as its Foundation Chair.

None of this would have happened were it not for the vision, tenacity, com-mitment of Dorothy and Chris and all the other members of the Aotearoa-New Zealand Peace and Conflict Studies Trust. They did this work as a team but individ-ually Chris and Dorothy also brought their own distinctive individual talents to the task. Chris brought organisational

and financial skills to the task. Dorothy brought formidable networking skills. Together they galvanised friends and acquaintances behind their vision and plans for the new centre.

Dorothy and Chris are both wonder-fully talented individuals – well educated, cosmopolitan and internationalist in ori-entation. They also bring many years of experience working with others for important causes. They bring profound religious convictions to the task as well. The Centre could not have asked for bet-ter people to have helped breathe this new Centre into existence. I salute them both as peacebuilding pioneers.’ PW

Professor Kevin ClementsCHAIR IN PEACE AND CONFLICT STUDIESDIRECTOR, THE NATIONAL CENTRE FOR PEACE AND CONFLICT STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO

Chris Barfoot Dorothy Brown

Honour for nuke campaignerHAMILTON GIRLS’ High School has hon-oured a feisty former student with a new award to mark the school’s centenary. The inaugural Annie Cook Award – named after the first girl to enrol at the school – was won by Dr Kate Dewes.

She has been a passionate anti-nuclear campaigner almost since leaving the school in 1970, and was the first New Zealander to be appointed to the United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters. Dr Dewes has been on the board for the last three years and expects to be there for another two.

In a ceremony on Friday, she told the students how important it was to follow their heart and apply themselves to their

work. And she admitted the recognition came as a surprise.

“I thought my lifetime of campaign-ing for fairly radical causes would be seen as too subversive, so I am delighted these causes are now accepted as mainstream and worthy of recognition,” Dr Dewes said.

As head girl at the school in her final year, she got some unique opportunities, including meeting the Queen for lunch and discussing youth, polo, pollution and euthanasia with a young Prince Charles. But Dr Dewes said it was a slightly less glamorous event that shaped her future. In the winter of 1970 she was one of the city’s state secondary school head prefects who sent a petition to then prime minister Sir Keith Holyoake, criticising the educa-tion system and suggesting changes such as smaller class sizes and a revised curric-ulum. It was one of her first political acts

and “it was a really important thing when I think about it”.

Currently the director of the Peace Foundation Disarmament and Security Centre in Christchurch, Dr Dewes said her work had taken a back seat after the earthquakes ravaged the city, but it was not long before she was back to doing what she did best.

“I’m a grandmother now and I still think there’s a threat to life on the planet because of nuclear weapons,” she said. “What keeps me going is I want children to be born into this world without this threat of nuclear annihilation.”

Despite having done it for decades, Dr Dewes’ days of campaigning are far from over. “There’s still life in the old girl,” she said. PW

Waikato Times: 19/07/2011


INTERNATIONAL

THIS GUEST post comes from Alyn Ware at the Peace Foundation in New Zealand – and challenges us to consider the links between military spending and poverty.

‘Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spend-ing money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.’ US President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Militarism is probably the world’s larg-est barrier to ending poverty. Whether it be armies and weapons of war, or small arms flowing into our neighbourhoods and local communities, militarism destroys com-munities, wastes resources and prevents sustainable development. Military and weapons spending consumes resources that could be applied instead to human needs. The flow of arms into a conflict region destroys democratic and traditional control structures for land-use, production and the economy and replaces this with warlords, gang leaders and militias.

Armed conflicts push people out of their houses, off their lands and into slav-ery, refugee camps or having to accept other subhuman conditions. The use of weapons kills or maims people, tak-ing them out of the workforce and add-ing an additional economic burden of medical care for the wounded. Weapons testing and use also destroys the environ-ment, whether it be the devastation from nuclear weapons testing, the farmlands no longer usable because of landmines or cluster munitions, the toxins released from explosions in war or other weaponry like depleted uranium weapons.

And the use of military vehicles; air-craft, ships, rockets, tanks, armoured vehi-cles in exercises and military operations constitutes possibly the largest single glo-bal contributor to carbon emissions and

climate change. Addressing militarism is thus the best hope we have of achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals of ending poverty, achieving universal edu-cation, providing primary health care, adequately combating major diseases, addressing key environmental concerns such as climate change and providing suf-ficient renewable energy for basic needs.

Some initiatives on disarmament for development:

! Religions for Peace Arms Down Campaign – Over 20 million reli-gious youth have endorsed the call for elimination of nuclear weapons and a reduction in military spending by 20% to fund MDGs.

! UN Charter Article 26 campaign – led by the government of Costa Rica, the campaign calls on the Security Council to implement Article 26 of the UN Charter, under which it is required to adopt a disarmament plan in order to release resources for social and eco-nomic needs (See also President Arias discusses military spending cuts with President Obama).

! Costa Rica Consensus – calling on debt relief to developing countries that reduce their military spending.

! International Peace Bureau’s Disarmament for Development cam-paign – this Nobel Peace winning organization has been leading the campaign with posters, books, cam-paign manuals and other resources;

! Global Day of Action Against Military Spending – annual actions around the world. Join an action in your community.

! End the power of the arms corpora-tions – divest from shares in these corporations, or ask your church, city or government to divest (See also Norway Ministry of Finance Takes Action Against Companies Involved In Producing Nuclear Weapons). PW

Disarmament for Development

SOME FACTS

" US$1.6 trillion = annual global military spending

" US$320 billion = annual amount (additional to current spending) required to meet all of the UN Millennium Development Goals, i.e. 20% of the global military budge

" US$100 billion = annual amount spent on nuclear weapons globally

" US$100 billion = annual amount required to end extreme poverty and provide primary education for everyone in the world

" US$14 billion = cost of UK Trident nuclear submarine programme – 4'submarines (some estimates put the replacement cost at double this'figure)

" US$14 billion = amount required to Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major diseases

" 8 million – number of children worldwide who died before their 5th'birthday in 2009 due to poverty US$8 million = the cost of 8 Exocet'missiles

" 300,000 = number of lives lost annually to small arms and handguns

" US$15,000 – cost to build one school in rural Nicaragua or Pakistan and pay the teachers’ salaries for one year

" US$15,000 – cost of two cluster munitions

A snap shot of a recent blog post from Alyn Ware. For the full blog post go to: http://www.globalpovertyproject.com/blog/view/403


COOL SCHOOLS

WE HAVE a new name of our Cool Schools newsletter… MediationWorks. There is a powerful message in this name and for those of us who have been in the game for a while, we know it rings true! You will also notice the new Cool Schools logo to the right. Our signature colours have changed too – nothing like a fresh, new image to mark the positive developments with the programme.

Cool Schools is alive and well. We have had some interesting publicity over the last few months with the focus on bully-ing issues in the media.

Jonnie Black, our Maori Programme Coordinator and Youth Wing Chairperson, was interviewed by Greg Boyed on TVNZ 7’s 8pm News. The Deputy Head Boy (a senior peer mediator) from De la Salle College and a female student from Selwyn College were interviewed live on TVNZ Breakfast Show the following morning. The New Zealand Herald cover story on bullying (26th March) ‘To fight or not to fight?… It’s Okay to Tell’, featured two Mt Roskill Grammar advanced peer mediators explaining how their service helps students to feel safe. ‘We are social justice activists in our school promoting and modelling fairness and respect for oth-ers, watching out for harassment and bul-lying and supporting students to get help when needed.’

These are examples of the media cov-erage we received during March and April which highlighted the Secondary Cool Schools Peer Mediation Programme and its positive, pro-active impact on sup-porting students to help provide a safe physical and emotional school environ-ment and the prevention of bullying. The ‘X-factor’ surrounding these media oppor-tunities is that the student peer mediators themselves are telling their success stories to the NZ public.

Apart from training in schools, a lot of my time over the last two terms has been

spent in updating the primary programme resources. These resources include:

The Primary Manual (Edition 5): new, revised and teacher user friendly.The Essential Peer Mediator’s Handbook: for school student peer mediators.A2 Posters x 3: supports and aligns with the new manual.Cool Schools Co-ordinator ’s Kit (Edition 2): USB Stick – practical, user friendly.

This has been a very rewarding process. I am delighted that our Primary Cool Schools Peer Mediation Programme is now refreshed with effective, quality

resources that compliment and align with the robust teacher training. My next goal is working on developing the sec-ondary programme resources so that they align with the updated secondary student training.

I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to Sue Tregurtha, who was the Cool Schools adminis-tration assistant for 14 years! Sue has put many dedicated hours into work for Cool Schools around the country. She leaves her position to pursue other directions. We wish her all the very best on her journey. PW

Funding UpdateWe are pleased to report that the Ministries of Health and Social Development have advised that they will continue to support our Cool Schools Peer Mediation Programme and our Parents Programme for the year commencing 1'July 2011 – at the same level as the previous year. While this funding does not cover our costs, it provides a strong platform as we approach other funders to make up the'shortfall.

At present we are utilizing funds received from the Todd Foundation, the Lion Foundation, and the NZ Lotteries Grants Board.' A donation from the David Levene Foundation is funding our Schools’ Peace Week activities in schools this August. As always, we have other funding applications in the pipeline, and will report on the success of those in the next issue of Peaceworks.

Rae Holloway FINANCE MANAGER

Cool Schools UpdateBy Christina BarruelCOOL SCHOOLS NATIONAL TRAINER

Thumbs up!

New!

!"#$%"&'(

)*&+,"&'

for the Cool Schools Peer Mediation Programme

Con!ict! It’s a part of life – how we deal with it"makes the di#erence.

Equip students with a tool kit of peaceful con!ict resolution skills for life plus excellent opportunities for service leadership.

Students supporting students to help provide a safe physical and emotional school environment and the prevention of bullying.

For more information: Phone (09) 373 2379 Email [email protected]

www.peace.net.nz

Thumbs up!

Cool Schools new logo and advert


NEWS

Disarmament and Security CentreBy Kate Dewes and Rob Green

THIS HAS been a challenging year so far at the Disarmament and Security Centre, leavened by new initiatives, and by sup-port of our friends and colleagues in New Zealand and around the world. Our offices suffered more structural damage in the February and June earthquakes. Chimneys have been removed as unsafe, and the roof was only recently repaired; the office was unusable for a few months; the DSC library and archive had to be packed away in boxes after bookcases came down again in February. Despite all this, with the closure of Wellington office of the Peace Foundation, we are commit-ted to continuing our work as the sole dis-armament specific office in New Zealand.

Since the launch of Rob’s book Security Without Nuclear Deterrence last year, over 1500 copies have been sold or dis-tributed around the world. He undertook a speaking tour to the US and a virtual

one of Canada – the North American tour was cut short by the February earthquake. Before that, Rob gave the Tenth Frank Kelly Memorial lecture in Santa Barbara, California as guest of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. The Japanese version continues to sell steadily, a French trans-lation is underway and an e-Book version is available.

Kate is currently considering ways to revive the Conference on Disarmament as part of her continuing work on the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters. Recently she was invited to be on the International Working Group of the Australia-based International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

Natasha Barnes has continued her work on youth outreach, including lec-tures at the University of Canterbury. She has attended a number of international conferences, including the establishment of the International Network for Emerging Nuclear Specialists (INENS). This is the only international young professional network seeking to include young policy

makers, scientific and technical experts, military, advocates, academics and civil society involved in nuclear disarma-ment. The first INENS Nuclear Policy Dialogue was held in Washington DC in April where it was well received by all participants including senior members of the US State Department. In line with the network’s objectives, 80% of partici-pants were young professionals (includ-ing an equitable gender balance), with the remainder senior advisors and speak-ers. Back home, she also recently became the youngest member ever of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control.

The DSC has been working with the University of Canterbury Arts Department’s Internship Programme and has our first intern, Tess McClure for the first semester. Tess has been work-ing on a new project that the DSC is developing titled Teaching Youth Global Responsibility. We have developed a number of new collaborative partnerships to develop peaceful and engaging online games for young people. PW

Wellington o!ce closure

By Alyn WareTHE PEACE FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE

ON FRIDAY 13 May 2011, due to lack of funding, the Peace Foundation Wellington office was closed and all Wellington-based staff positions dissolved. These included the Global Communities and Social Justice Progammes Coordinator (held by Mayra Gomez), Youth Programmes Coordinator (held by Leah Rothman) and the Wellington Director Alyn Ware.

Schools in the greater Wellington region that implement the Cool Schools Peer Mediation Programme will continue to be served by Lynn Scott, The Peace Foundation Peer Mediation Regional Trainer work-ing from her home. The Human Rights in Education programme (a joint initiative of the Peace Foundation, Human Rights Commission, Office of the Children’s Commissioner, Global Focus and Amnesty International – NZ) will remain open

and running from the Centre for Global Action, directed by Ced Simpson.

The Peace Foundation Wellington Committee will remain active on a voluntary basis in implementing Peace Foundation programmes in the Wellington region. Alyn Ware will con-tinue in his position as Peace Foundation International representative, volun-teering his time and personally cover-ing travel and other expenses for this work. Mayra Gomez will continue to

work part-time for Aotearoa Lawyers for Peace and Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament – based in the Centre for Global Action.

The Peace Foundation thanks mem-bers for their interest and involvement in the range of peace and disarmament pro-grammes and activities we have run from the Peace Foundation Wellington office, and we look forward to a future time when funding will enable us to undertake some of these again. PW

From left to right: Alyn Ware, Leah Rothman, Lachlan Mackay, Rod Alley, Ced Simpson


NEWS

New ‘education4peace’ websiteTHE NATIONAL Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (NCPACS), based at the University of Otago, and the Aotearoa NZ Peace and Conflict Studies Centre Trust

(ANZPCSC) have developed an online resource to support New Zealand collabora-tions around education for peace – the shar-ing of information and exchange resources.

The NCPACS aims to work with teach-ers/curriculum groups to help develop relevant resources and capacity for the teaching of peace education in the New Zealand school curriculum. It also aims to link with existing organisations and indi-viduals promoting peacefulness and nonvi-olence in New Zealand education contexts – to build the evidence base for peace edu-cation and to enhance learning and skills.http://podcasts.otago.ac.nz/nzpeace-ed/

Who is education4peace for?People working in the early childhood, primary, secondary and tertiary sec-tors, or anyone involved in programmes and initiatives contributing to education for peace.

What is the focus of education4peace?Education for non-violence, human rights, and peaceful solutions and prac-tices at all levels of the New Zealand national curriculum and more broadly for school communities and students.

How does education4peace work?The site is interactive. Read and com-ment on blog posts, access information and resources, share resources, ideas and expertise. Subscribe to regular email updates or RSS feeds.

We hope this website will be dynamic and meet needs of teachers, early childhood educators, teachers and others involved in education contexts. Please contact us with any feedback or suggestions. PW

For more information contact: Elspeth Macdonald (Peace Education Coordinator, NCPACS) [email protected]

Youth Wing

By Jonnie BlackMAORI PROGRAMME COORDINATOR

Unuhia te rito o te harakekeKei hea te komako e ko?Kina mai ki auHe aha te mea nui o tenei aoMaku e ki atuHe tangata, he tangata, he tangata

If the centre of the shoot of the flax is pulled outWhere will the bellbird sing?If you were to ask me what is the most important thing in the world?I would replyIt is the people, it is the people, it is the people

I HAVE recently attended the Aspiring Leaders’ Forum on Faith and Values held in Wellington 14 – 17 July. It was an opportu-nity for young people all around Aotearoa/New Zealand to meet up and share their ideas, beliefs and values with each other. It was an incredible experience. We had amazing keynote speakers; Michael Hill & Lady Hill, Nicola Bell, Rangi McLean, Marcus Akuhata Brown and Greg Fleming.

What amazing people! They do not only have great stories to share about their suc-cesses but also their failures and how they triumphed through. It goes to show that if

we really believe in something and hold strong to that, we can succeed in life.

I took away so many great thoughts to think about and how to make a difference in our beautiful country we all call home. It helped me ponder how we measure success and what are the values I hold and believe in. Aspiring Leaders’ Forum was an expe-rience that really made me believe that we all can make a difference no matter how big or small; the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow. We can build a more peace-ful society, we can help those less fortunate and we can give back to our community.

I would encourage all of us to find some-one who has the potential to become a leader, who we have faith in and we can

nominate to the Aspiring Leaders’ Forum.I would like to take this opportunity

to also thank David Clendon, Member of Parliament for the Green Party for nomi-nating and sponsoring me to attend this year’s forum. Without this support I would not be so inspired by the stories and discus-sions I have had with other young people. I would also like to thank team NORMAL–Samantha Leonard, Jessica Harvey, Ngariki Nia Nia, Joseph Bergin, Theo Helyer, Caleb Bridle, Chloe Jane (assistant Facilitator), and last but by far not least Kirsty and Greg Fleming our most amazing facilita-tor. Words could not begin to describe my appreciation for what you have given us all during the forum, thank you! PW


NEWS & REVIEWS

BOOK REVIEW

The Day the Raids Came: Stories of survival and resistance to the state terror raidsEdited by Valerie MorseREBEL PRESS, ()*), PP*+,

Review by Richard Keller

THE POLICE raids of October 15, 2007, named ‘Operation 8’ by the police and described as “anti-terrorist”, affected many people. The Tuhoe in Te Urewera were subject to a lockdown in which men, women, and children were terrorized by black clad, faceless raiders from the police anti-terrorist squad and which led to arrests. In Wellington and other loca-tions political activists faced break ins and other confrontations, this also resulted in many arrests. For all of these, no resolu-tion in a court of law or in the public con-sciousness has been reached even today in July, 2011.

Valerie Morse, one of the activists arrested, has gathered stories from many of those affected and published them in a book entitled The Day the Raids Came: Stories of survival and resistance to the state terror raids. Each story is personal and the selection is varied. Together they paint a picture that is compelling and enlightening. The book begins with a quote from Milan Kundera (Czech-born French writer), which the editor suggests reflects the importance of the book, ‘The struggle of man against power is the strug-gle of memory against forgetting.’

Not only to remember, but also to understand, I have found useful in the stories three aspects of the individual experiences:

What happened to each on the day?Why do they think it happened?How have they been affected since,

and what are they doing now?Below are snippets taken directly from

some of the stories. I hope they will raise your interest.

What happened on the day?Wellington–Being arrested that morning while tenting in the town belt:

‘I was naked and scared. “I’m just putting on some clothes….”. “Get out of the f—— tent! Hands in the air!”. I put on a singlet, some undies and pants, kissed (her) and stepped out of the tent. Cops were all around me. One was standing right in front of me, pointing his big gun right in my face. He was wearing all black and a balaclava.’

Why did it happen?‘The people who we’re raided were ‘do-ers’...

There are a lot of people who know this stuff about colonisation, about indige-nous rights, . . ., but there are so few people among the lot who are actually out there doing it.’

‘I reckon what put the s*** right up the cops was that diverse groups of people started talking to each other.’

How have they been effected since?‘I would like to say boldly that I’m still an activist and am not scared of the state, but that would be a lie. I’m still an activist but not like I used to be. Let’s just say: I’m recharging and taking a new look at things . . .then I’ll be back.’

Many of the people targeted by the raids of 'Operation 8' were among the most vocal political activists on various issues. The media hype after the arrests did appear to support the attempt to build a heightened fear political atmos-phere required for the so-called ‘war on terrorism’, and at the same time stifle dis-sent, by associating activism with terror-ism in the public mind. While the raids prompted a surge of support activities for the arrestees, it is likely energy has been diverted from work on some impor-tant issues. It is uncertain how success-ful the raids have been in raising public fear levels in the medium term. To com-bat these trends it will help to learn about what happened. The acclaimed documen-tary film ‘Operation 8’ (Errol Wright and Abi King-Jones) is proving valuable in shedding light on this dark episode. The Day the Raids Came also helps by describ-ing a down to earth picture with its per-sonal stories. PW

Ruth Coombes recently visited Cuba par-ticipating in the annual Southern Cross Brigade; a group of New Zealanders and Australians who were hosted by the Cuban Government to enable them to learn about the Cuban culture and politi-cal system.

This photo shows Ruth presenting a bag of peace bracelets to the principal of a primary school in Cienfuegos, a port city

about 150 kms from Havana. They had just been entertained by a fantastic group of children who sang, danced and played music, The bracelets were presented as a thank you gift. Ruth reported, ‘Their edu-cation system is particularly impressive. Free from early childhood to tertiary, encompassing every aspect of learning. There is a strong emphasis on the arts as well as academic subjects.’ PW

Ruth Coombes (left), principal of a primary school in Cienfuegos (centre) and Ezequiel Morales – interpreter (right).

Ruth Coombes visits Cuba

REVIEWS

FILM REVIEW

Countdown to Zero

Review by Lyndon Burford

COUNTDOWN TO Zero is a powerful doc-umentary film with an all-star who’s who cast of nuclear weapons experts, politicians and disarmament advocates. It is not light viewing, however, its focus on the threat of nuclear terrorism raises the issue of how far it is useful to push fear as a means of creating political change.

For disarmament advocates, the film’s overwhelming focus on the threat of nuclear terrorism may be disappoint-ing – the issues of accidental or miscal-culated launch by nuclear armed states are acknowledged, but get far less atten-tion. Commendably, the solution offered to deal with the terrorist nuclear threat is

moving to zero nuclear weapons, however, this solution is delivered in strength only at the very end of the film, while most of its substance focuses on generating fear of terrorists detonating a nuclear weapon in a major city.

Technically, it is a very strong film from an award-winning British documentary director Lucy Walker (Devil’s Playground, Blindsight). However, the slick editing and computer-generated graphics risk sensationalising the frequent repetition of images of missile launches, and turning the threat of nuclear terrorism into dramatic entertainment. In addition, the repeated cutting between references to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ ‘doomsday clock’, sounds of clocks counting down and scenes of atomic devastation, make it eerily unclear whether we are counting down to zero nuclear weapons, or to doomsday.

Amongst the barrage of unsettling

images and information presented in the film, a very sobering point struck me. Ploughshares President Joe Cirincione remarked that it would require only a sin-gle use of a nuclear weapon by terrorists for all civil liberties to be drastically cur-tailed worldwide, if not revoked entirely, as citizens the world over demanded draco-nian security laws from their governments in the hope of preventing a further terror-ist nuclear strike.

All in all, this message of this film is positive, and I can’t fault its inten-tion to promote the urgency of the need to move towards zero nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, I can’t help the feeling that it risks disempowering audiences and thus distancing them from the resurgent global disarmament movements due to its over-whelming focus on fear, threats and the enormous challenges facing disarmament proponents. PW

Peace Sites in New Zealandby Margaret Thomson

THE IDEA of recording peace sites in our country began in May 2009 while I was on a visit to Christchurch. Walking in the Botanic Gardens one day I came across the World Peace Bell and took some pho-tographs of it in its lovely setting, as well as the Camphor Peace Tree nearby. I then wrote a letter to many of the City and District Council mayors, asking if they had any peace installations and there was a 95% response!

There are many peace sites – peace parks, gardens, murals, walks, walls, memorials, peace poles, trees, sculptures, stones and even fire – Te Ahi Ka, down-town Auckland and the Hiroshima flame, Wellington Botanic Gardens.

After recording the sites over a 2-year period I had to stop at 55, knowing there will be others. Audrey can Ryn had done the same work in Auckland prior to my research and we now exchange information. PW

Margaret Thomson is an artist and writer who lives in Dunedin. If you wish to support her work, please contact her at 03 467 2550.


OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO SUE

The Peace Foundation appreciates and recognises the long-term service of Sue Tregurtha. Sue’s 14 years of history with the organisation proved invalua-ble to the new staff in Auckland. She was responsible for the administration, resource centre, school liaison for Cool Schools and assisted in finance. Her position was disestablished last March 2011 but Sue still volunteers when she has time. She now has a full time work with the Child, Youth and Family Services in Auckland. Our heartfelt thanks to Sue for all the hard work and dedication to The Peace Foundation.

!"#" YOUNG NEW ZEALANDER OF THE YEAR MEETS WORLD MARCH FOR PEACE ENDORSERS

By Lachlan Mackay())- WORLD MARCH FOR PEACE ENDORSEMENTS ASSISTANT

2010 Young New Zealander of the Year and P3 Foundation Founder, Dr. Divya Dhar met with international endorsers of the 2009 World March for Peace, Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee and Alka Lamba while on an official P3 Foundation dele-gation to India in June.

Divya is a passionate and inspirational social change maker in New Zealand and has previously given her time to the Peace Foundation and the United Nations Youth in New Zealand before founding the P3 Foundation in late 2009, early 2010. P3 is a foundation led by young people

with a ‘mission to mobilise young adults across New Zealand to join in the effort of eradicating extreme poverty within this generation’.

Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee is the eld-est grand-daughter of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi and Alka Lamba is a member of the All India Congress Committee, a part of the largest demo-cratic party in the world. The 2009 World March for Peace and Nonviolence was launched on Mahatma Gandhi’s 140th birthday on the 2nd of October 2009 in Wellington, Aotearoa-New Zealand.

Divya and her delegation of three were in India to choose a local NGO, for P3 Foundation to partner with, on poverty alleviation initiatives. For more informa-tion on Dr Divya Dhar or the P3 Foundation please visit the following website: http://www.p3foundation.org/

Events August 8 – 12 Schools’ Peace Week 2011, Theme – Sports4Peace: Peace is Our Goal

August 19 Cool Schools Auckland/Northland Secondary Symposium

August 27 The Peace Foundation Annual General Meeting

September 21 International Day of Peace

For details of these events, please visit www.peace.net.nz or email [email protected]

INAUGURAL “ME RONGO” PEACE CONGRESS AND FESTIVALPeace, Sustainability And Respect For The SacredREKOHU !CHATHAM ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND" #$ % &# NOVEMBER &'##

(Hosts of the Opening Blessing Event for the World March for Peace and Nonviolence)The Congress will focus on indige-nous peace-making traditions.

! Peace and ethics

! Eradication of weapons and instruments of aggression

! Peaceful conflict resolution

! Peace education

A Peace and Sustainability Festival will precede the Congress. This will include 10 days of workshops facili-tated by local and international lead-ers in the fields of sustainability, creative arts, writing and respectful practices. More details will follow in your registration pack.

The main objective of the Congress is to gather peace makers together (physically and by video-link) in order to draft a Rekohu Peace Declaration based on principles of peace, sustain-ability and respect for the sacred. A critical part of this declaration will be a synthesis of conflict resolution methods, particularly those of indig-enous peace-makers, discussed at the Congress.

To register and receive your informa-tion pack, please email Susan Forbes at [email protected]

NEWS EVENTS


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peaceworks newsletter winter 2011

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