Newsletter #3 |
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#3 Democracy in Action (March 2007)Democracy in Action - An "Immediate-Action Alert" and a Long-term Goal.
If you live in California, here’s something extraordinarily easy you can do to advance the campaign to end war: lend your support to the establishment of a U.S. Department of Peace and Nonviolence. For maximum effect, you need to act within the next few days. If you live outside California, don’t feel left out. You can contact your own Congressperson and Senators, now and frequently. The Goal To urge California Senator Barbara Boxer to sponsor or co-sponsor a bill in the Senate to authorize the establishment of a cabinet-level Department of Peace and Nonviolence by having at least 1000 postcards and hundreds of phone calls reach the Senator immediately.This movement is well under way. In San Diego and across the country there are growing numbers of local chapters of the DOP movement. And perhaps most exciting, young people are getting involved. Danielle Gram, a San Diego high school student recently took postcards for Senator Boxer with her to school. If you want to read something exciting and encouraging, read Danielle’s e-mail to her fellow DoP supporters describing her experience with sharing her enthusiasm with her fellow students. Feel free to forward her letter to friends who could use encouragement. Read Danielle's email. Background What would a Department of Peace do? Congressman Dennis Kucinich is an early supporter and just recently re-introduced the bill. The chief powerhouse behind the movement is The Peace Alliance. You can check out specifically what the Peace Department would do, including facilitating nonviolent means of conflict resolution both nationally and internationally and establishing an Academy of Peace and Nonviolence. Your action makes a difference! Here is a statement shared recently by a Congressman with his constituents from the Department of Peace movement: “The Congress and Senate are reactive bodies. They hear what the people they represent want, and then they act.” This fact of political life cannot be overstated. When constituents lobby and persist and make their wishes clear, our elected representatives are not only encouraged to act as we want, they become empowered to do so: the voices of their people are behind them, supporting them. By adding your voice to the voices of many others, Senator Boxer will be more aware of the need for a Department of Peace and this just might be the final push that secures her support. Text of the Bill. Act Now Our culture of violence will not be changed nor will we end the practice of war by accident or by wishing it to be so. AFWW supports this national effort because establishing a cabinet level Department tasked to coordinate the effort to end war - and establishing such a coordinating body in the most powerful and richest nation in the world - is essential to our campaign. Such a Department is required to provide coordination of all nine of the AFWW cornerstones. Establishing an Academy of Peace and Nonviolence will also give the effort to end war a firm academic grounding and train necessary experts and leaders. Moreover, immediate benefits will be felt in our communities and homes when we facilitate and coordinate the efforts of the many organizations in the U.S. working to create a less violent culture. Within the next few days, find a postcard. Address it to:
Senator Barbara Boxer 501 I Street, Suite 7-600 Sacramento, CA 95814 Tell her you believe our country and the global community can be less prone to violence and that we can even end war if we choose, but we require leadership at the national level to make such change happen. Or write what violent situation you are concerned about and that the Dept of Peace can help and ask her to introduce or co-sponsor a bill in the Senate to establish a Department of Peace and Nonviolence. Be sure to write your return address on the card. If you can’t hustle up a postcard, a call, placed during the next few days, expressing your same wish for her to support the bill can also be effective. Call: (916) 448-2787. If you live outside of California, you can contact your representatives with the same message. Also check the The Peace Alliance website to see if there is a local DoP group you can join ... or start one yourself. Visit The Peace Alliance.
Don't Put It Off, Act Now!
~ Judith A Future Without War |
Quotable Quote
"The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness ... This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector." - Plato, The Republic, Bk. VII Good News One of the world’s most delightful new ideas comes from the Himalayan country of Bhutan. Research into happiness, or subjective well-being, shows that beyond the surprisingly low level of about $15,000/year, there is no causal link between economic growth and happiness. Yet most “developed” countries continue to measure their Gross Domestic Product, assuming incorrectly it turns out, that increasing growth will reflect increasing well-being. In Bhutan they measure as well a new metric: Gross National Happiness. They encourage growth, but not growth for growth’s sake. They are committed to sane and sustainable growth and decisions are, therefore, sometimes made that facilitate GNH instead of GDP. (Los Angeles Times, 13 November 2006, Eric Weiner, “Be Like Bhutan”) 
A Future Without War Believe in it. Envision it. Work for it. And we will achieve it. QuickLinks Dennis Kucinich More Good News AFWW Workshops Great Groups The Nine Cornerstones |