The Modern Peace Movement: 'Peace is Practical' Conference Report (Includes interview and first-hand account) - Digital Journal: Your News Network

by Stephen Dohnberg

An active movement is under way in the United States to establish a cabinet level 'Department of Peace and Nonviolence'. A 3 day conference in Washington, D.C. revealed a lot about the modern peace movement and the new urgency that surrounds it.

Robert Koehler: Gold for Humanity

"This begins to get at it -- what 'peace' can mean and why it's our future, if we are to have a future. It's not the naive, wishful thinking of the inexperienced, as it's so often portrayed; nor is it a tense and temporary armed standoff between adversaries; nor is it a wall, a barbed-wire fence, that keeps 'them' out.

Rather, peace is a primal cry of the soul, a naked groping for commonality. It is eye contact with 'the enemy' and, when necessary, the acceptance of a greater burden of responsibility than anyone could reasonably be expected to bear."

2009 Department of Peace Conference - Washington, D.C.

Nurses Back 'SiCKO

WPR: Is Peace A Dirty Word?

On March 24th, NPR reporter Daniel Zwerdling did a report for Weekend Edition on the backlash caused by the Fairmont, Minnesota, City Council’s decision to support the creation of a Department of Peace.

A month later, Wisconson Public Radio's Jean Feraca, host of "Here On Earth, Radio Without Borders," discusses that program and "Peace" as concept and action with Daniel Zwerdling, Morton Perlmutter and two of the Fairmont citizens who were part of Zwerdling's initial story.   The discussion looks at why some people seem to fear "peace" and asks if what happened in Fairmont might be typical of the country as a whole.

I found it to be a very informative discussion so I hope you will take some time to listen to the audio file linked at the site.

Violence and Silence

by Jeffrey Feldman

In the face of great tragedy, what often distinguishes Americans from
other national cultures is our incredible ability to talk about our
pain in public as a way of healing.  

When horror strikes, we do not buckle over alone and stay silent,
but walk into the public square, reach out to one another and chew our
way through the pain.   It is in these moments that Americans--all too
often self-absorbed with the day-to-day of making ends meet--find each
other again, share the details of the people we have lost, and remember
that we are not alone.  

As  I watched the public response to the tragic violence in
Blacksburg, I was filled with sorrow in the face of all the death, but
my sorrow quickly found a place with the outpouring of voices that has
risen up in response.  Due to the tireless voices, I now know the names
and faces of many of the people killed as their stories fan out across
the media and take root in our hearts.

But in the midst of all the past 48 hours of talking, crying and
slow healing, I have also been left--as have many--with a  question
almost too painful to ask:  Why have we not been able, neither as a as
a nation nor as individuals, to talk about the violence and pain
suffered by Americans and by Iraqis?  Why does the violence in
Blacksburg bring out the very best in our American character--our
ability to join together and heal--while the recurring violence in
Baghdad--experienced by Americans and Iraqis alike--has left us sitting
alone?

More.... http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/18/132522/892