Links

Bacha Khan in Afghanistan

Written by a former member of the Pakistani Intelligence Services in Afghanistan, this memoir recounts details of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan's life in Afghanistan after the partition of India. In addition to its historic significance, it also contains an incisive introduction outlining Khan's remarkable achievements in rising out of a stagnant society to be a leader of rare spiritual depth. By Dr. Sher Zaman Taizi, June 2002.

http://www.asianreflection.com/khanafghanistan.shtml

(Added: Fri Jul 18 2003   Modified: Fri Dec 16 2005   Hits: 226)

Center for Global Nonviolence

The Centre for Global Nonviolence aims to be a creative facilitator of research, education-training, and problem-solving leadership for nonviolent global transformation. The Center began in the 1980s as an exploratory planning project in the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute of Peace of the University of Hawai'i . On October 2, 1994, it became an independent nonprofit institution incorporated in the State of Hawai'i.

http://www.globalnonviolence.org

(Added: Thu Jul 01 2004   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 90)

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT)

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) offers an organized, nonviolent alternative to war and other forms of lethal inter-group conflict. CPT provides organizational support to persons committed to faith-based nonviolent alternatives in situations where lethal conflict is an immediate reality or is supported by public policy. CPT seeks to enlist the response of the whole church in conscientious objection to war, and the development of nonviolent institutions, skills and training for intervention in conflict situations. CPT projects connect intimately with the spiritual lives of its constituent congregations. Gifts of prayer, money and time from these churches undergird CPT peacemaking ministries.

http://www.cpt.org/

(Added: Thu Mar 27 2003   Modified: Wed Nov 29 2006   Hits: 107)

Civil Society and Conflict Resolution: The Role of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI) in the Northern Uganda Conflict

The ARLPI main aim has been to make contact and initiate talks with the Lords Resistance Army, with a view to ending the rebellion. The aim of this paper is to review the work that has so far been done by the ARLPI in the context of its aims. Whilst the group has been instrumental in keeping the peaceful method option to ending the conflict alive, its work has sometimes been undermined by the Uganda government's insistence that Kony can only be defeated militarily. (Apuuli Phillip KASAIJA, 2006)

http://www.istr.org/conferences/bangkok/WPVolume/Kasaija.ApuuliPhillip.pdf

(Added: Fri Jan 11 2008   Hits: 23)

Global Peace Service USA

Global Peace Services-USA (GPS-USA) is a movement to create a professional peace service by promoting education and skills-training for men and women based on a philosophy of active nonviolence. Together with others in a growing national and international network we want to hasten the day when many women and men will earn their living in peace services. Some may serve for several years; others may have a full career of professional service. They will be equipped to: (1) manage, resolve and transform conflicts, (2) provide preventive measures against eruption of violence, (3) help rebuild and sustain communities suffering from violence, and (4) protect the environment and help reclaim damaged ecosystems. Global peace Services-USA is now developing pilot projects and a broad-based membership to advance its goals.

http://www.globalpeaceservices.org/

(Added: Thu Mar 27 2003   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 92)

He gets guns to play song of peace

Guns for peace may sound like an oxymoron, but Colombian Cesar Lopez has a vision. Why not transform a tool of war into an instrument for peace? So was born the "escopetarra" - a combination of the words for rifle (escopeta) and guitar (guitarra) - a symbol of civilization overcoming destruction. (The Boston Globe, June 11, 2006)

http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2006/06/11/he_gets_guns_to_play_song_of_peace/

(Added: Thu Jun 15 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 202)

International Solidarity Movement

The International Solidarity Movement is a Palestinian-led movement of Palestinian and International activists working to raise awareness of the struggle for Palestinian freedom and an end to Israeli occupation. We utilize nonviolent, direct-action methods of resistance to confront and challenge illegal Israeli occupation forces and policies. As enshrined in international law and UN resolutions, we recognize the Palestinian right to resist Israeli violence and occupation via legitimate armed struggle. However, we believe that nonviolence can be a powerful weapon in fighting oppression and we are committed to the principles of nonviolent resistance.

http://www.palsolidarity.org/

(Added: Thu Mar 27 2003   Modified: Thu Dec 08 2005   Hits: 123)

Is the cycle of violence inevitable?

"When I arrived here on the first day of the course, I had a hard heart, full of desire for vengeance. I felt like a dry withered flower without hope. The symbol of how I felt is this empty cup. I was like this crumpled-up tissue broken by pain." These are same of the statements made by participants of the ESPERE (Schools of Pardon and Reconciliation) course that we recently gave to a group of educators at the Center for Human Rights and Popular Education (CDHEP) here in São Paulo. ESPERE means hope in Portuguese/Spanish and the course helps participants learn to transform anger and desire for vengeance. It also offers theoretical and practical training in pardon and restorative justice so as to build a culture of peace. ( Joanne Blaney, Brazil Justice Net, 25 May 2007)

http://www.braziljusticenet.org/recent_newsletters.htm

(Added: Tue May 29 2007   Hits: 26)

M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence

Founded by Arun Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi's grandson) and his wife Sunanda, the mission of the Gandhi Institute is to promote and apply the principles of nonviolence locally, nationally, and globally, to prevent violence and resolve personal and public conflicts through research, education, and programming.

http://www.gandhiinstitute.org

(Added: Thu Mar 27 2003   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 113)

METTA

The METTA Center for Nonviolence Education works to inspire and support the study and practice of Nonviolence. By providing resources and other educational activities, we empower ourselves and others to enliven the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and all those who have blazed a trail to the "beloved community" and a nonviolent future for humanity.

http://www.mettacenter.org/

(Added: Mon Aug 26 2002   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 91)

Nonviolent Peaceforce

The mission of the Nonviolent Peaceforce is to facilitate the creation of a trained, international civilian nonviolent peaceforce. The Peaceforce will be sent to conflict areas to prevent death and destruction and protect human rights, thus creating the space for local groups to struggle nonviolently, enter into dialogue, and seek peaceful resolution.

http://www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org/

(Added: Tue Feb 17 2004   Modified: Wed Dec 14 2005   Hits: 282)

Peace Brigades International -Colombia Project

Peace Brigades International (PBI) is an NGO (non-governmental organisation) which maintains international observer/ accompaniment teams in areas of conflict at the request of local organisations. The teams protect the political space of human rights defenders who suffer repression due to their non-violent work for human rights. International accompaniment is a way of transforming the conflict, where third parties can help create the conditions necessary to find solutions. To do this, PBI Colombia operates four sub-teams in Barrancabermeja, Bogotá, Urabá, and Medellín. These teams operate as observers in the area, accompanying people or organisations under threat, making regular visits to conflict zones, distributing information about the evolution of the conflict, working with civil and military authorities and carrying out public relations and lobbying work to give international support.

http://www.peacebrigades.org/colombia.html

(Added: Sat Jun 29 2002   Modified: Tue Dec 20 2005   Hits: 145)

Peace Magazine

Journalists, educators, and activists keep up to date on the important work of peacemaking by reading this popular and respected magazine. Four times a year we publish articles, news stories, book and film reviews, letters, and a calendar of events. We discuss disarmament; conflict resolution; nonviolent sanctions; peace institutions (e.g. the United Nations and the World Court); conflicts and crises around the world; profiles of activists and researchers; and controversies about development, population, and environmental protection. Our illustrated 32-page magazine includes an eight-page section produced in collaboration with Science for Peace. Our stories are technically accurate, yet intelligible to any reader with a general education and some interest in international affairs and global security. Peace Magazine is published by Canadian Disarmament Information Service (CANDIS) -- a nonprofit organization. We rely heavily on volunteers, including our associate editors who select and commission articles for each issue.

http://www.peacemagazine.org/

(Added: Thu Mar 27 2003   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 102)

Rachel Corrie -- Peace Activist

Rachel Corrie was a 23-year-old American peace activist from Olympia, Washington, who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer on 16 March 2003, while undertaking nonviolent direct action to protect the home of a a Palestinian doctor, his wife, and three children from demolition. This website contains a collection of reports about her work and the reactions of people to her death.

http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/people/8.shtml

(Added: Mon Mar 22 2004   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 97)

Servicio Internacional para la Paz/International Service for Peace (SIPAZ)

SIPAZ is a coalition of North American, Latin American and European organizations formed in 1995 to support the peace process in Chiapas, Mexico. SIPAZ combines violence reduction and peacebuilding strategies in Chiapas with efforts to inform and mobilize the international community.

http://www.sipaz.org/

(Added: Thu Mar 27 2003   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 90)

The Dalai Lama Foundation

The mission of the Dalai Lama Foundation is to support the work of the 14th Dalai Lama to reduce conflict and suffering, and promote peace and happiness in the world.

http://www.dalailamafoundation.org/members/en/index.jsp

(Added: Thu Mar 27 2003   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 94)

There are alternatives

In this Open Democracy article Paul Rogers makes the case for non-violent alternatives to the "War on Terror". He looks at the work of the Christian Peace Making Teams (of which New Zealand resident Harmeet Sooden is a member). He also discusses the book "People Power and Protest since 1945: A Bibliography of Non-violent Action", a book which documents the achievements of non-violent public protest. To Rogers, non-violent alternatives to the 'Clash of Civilizations' are crucial at a time when the war in Iraq is going disastrously and when the Taliban is resurgent in Afghanistan.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict/alternatives_3405.jsp

(Added: Mon Apr 03 2006   Hits: 159)

Two Islamic Soldiers

Delving into the shadows of history, this essay explores the lives of two men in Afghanistan and Pakistan for insights into religion and the war in Afghanistan. These men, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and General Akhtar Abdur Rahman Shaheed, led two entirely different movements drawing upon religion before the Taliban. Their lives illuminate universal truths on the role of religion in nurturing peace and war.

http://www.asianreflection.com/twoislamicsoldiers.shtml

(Added: Fri Jun 07 2002   Modified: Fri Dec 16 2005   Hits: 199)

What People Believe

Why do people go to war? Persuading people to go to war is complicated and involves identity, which is constructed of beliefs. To this writer, his identity as an American was based on my beliefs, and part of those beliefs was that every American had a duty to take his turn on watch. It is an evil paradox, he writes, that men with the lowest motives can launch wars by appealing to the highest ideals of better men. He ends with a call to remember the distinction between America in the abstract and America in reality, and to be alert to politicians who practise mind control through talk of abstractions like patriotism, national security and international stability. (Charley Reese, Information Clearing House, 28 May 2006)

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13410.htm

(Added: Mon May 29 2006   Hits: 44)

Witness for Peace

Witness for Peace is a politically independent, grassroots organization. We are people committed to nonviolence and led by faith and conscience. Our mission is to support peace, justice and sustainable economies in the Americas by changing US policies and corporate practices which contribute to poverty and oppression in Latin America and the Caribbean. We stand with people who seek justice.

http://www.witnessforpeace.org/

(Added: Wed Mar 19 2003   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 101)