Inspiring Quotations...       

                                           Poems of Peace

The UNESCO Motto: Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed. (For the origins of the quote, see http://www.peace.ca/faq.htm )

This poem was written by Martina Boyd’s 12 year old granddaughter who lives in Vancouver , Canada . Martina wanted Alexandra’s spirit and soul to speak to you as it has spoken to her:

How Many?

By Alexandra MacLellan

How many rumors and warnings until it all begins

How many moments of unease until the nation sins

How many regular meals until each family runs low on food

How many warming fires until their homes are as cold as their mood

How many alarming sirens until hope is hopelessly shaken

How many mothers' cries until their sons are not taken

How many lonely children until their fathers don't say Good-Bye

How many brave young men until no one has to willingly die

How many mourning families until someone's life is persevered

How many near-death incidents until rest is deserved

How many dark invasions until all the cities are torn down

How many stabs of pain until the killer's smile becomes a frown

How many bloody fields until the fighting is all done

How many gruesome battles until the end has begun

How many soldiers' deaths until a white flag is risen

How many shouts of protest until someone will listen

How many bombs thrown until the hatred will decease

How many more days of war until we are at peace

Thanks to Irene Gale for sending this from Australia on the origins of Mother’s Day!  

A Prayer for All Who Come Here (whether it be a meeting, a web site, a newsletter, or wherever): “In our hurried lives we took the time to attend this meeting today.  So let us come together as one, to listen and learn, to work and have fun, to see past our differences and reach common goals.  We ask our creator, mother earth and all our spirits to guide us in this journey.  Let us sit here today and listen to our fellow members, respecting all input, effort and presence.  Give us the ability to focus on the task at hand and assist others as we can.  Help us to be better people and to make valuable contributions to our communities and people.  And when we rise to leave this meeting it will be in unity and peace.”

The Power of Love: “Be not disheartened by the misdoing of men.  Love a man even in his misdoing, for such love is a likeness of the divine, and the highest we can know on earth.  Love all God's creation, both the whole and every grain of sand.  Love every leaf, every ray of light.  Love the animals, love the plants, love every single thing.  By love you shall discern God's mystery quickening all things, and so, day by day, be drawn into a fuller understanding of it: till at last you will come to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.  Sometimes, at the sight of men's misdoing, one stands perplexed, wondering how to correct it, whether by coercion or by love.  Let all things be done in love and humility.  If to that resolve we hold fast, we shall win all the world to our heart's persuasion.”  “The Brothers Karamazov” Dostoevsky

"Responsibility does not only lie with the leaders of our countries or with those who have been appointed or elected to do a particular job. It lies with each of us individually. Peace, for example, starts within each one of us. When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. When our community is in a state of peace, it can share that peace with neighboring communities, and so on. When we feel love and kindness towards others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace. " - HH The Dalai Lama

“But the proles, if only they could somehow become conscious of their own strength, would have no reason to conspire.  They needed only to rise up and shake themselves, like a horse shaking off flies. If they chose, they could blow the party to pieces tomorrow morning.  Surely, sooner or later, it must occur to them to do it?  And yet - ”  George Orwell, 1984

“if your wishes are pure, then they become true”.  Mohondas K. Gandhi

“I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore I can do, or kindness that I can show to my fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”—Stephen Grellet

“Compromise and accommodation are the key elements in any effort to peacefully resolve differences among sovereign nations. Without a cop on the beat or a court with the authority to order compliance with its decisions, there is no disinterested force behind international law or diplomacy. With the demise of the willingness to reach compromises and accommodations in international disputes, the war fever mounts.” MILITARY FUTURECAST: TACTICS AND STRATEGY IN THE 21ST CENTURY http://www.futurecasts.com/Military_futurecast.html  

"And though we meet resistance, we more so will meet great souls who will hail us, love us and guide us, and we will know them when they appear."  Clarissa Pinkola Estes

"Ubuntu", Humanist Declaration - It's a Bantu word we should make our own. It is so rich that linguists call a "crowditude" of other words to the rescue to express its nuances. "Ubuntu" is, in academic terms: "the quality inherent in the fact of being a person with other persons." When he uses it in his autobiography, Nelson Mandela translates it into English as "fellowship," literally camaraderie or, in the context "fellow citizenship." In fact, ubuntu means much more, well beyond that: a way of being human, a way of conducting oneself as a human being, a practice of mutual humanity. Also, far from being simplistic, Mandela's translation is at the heart of South African political invention, that unprecedented response anti-apartheid militants brought to the question every liberation poses: how to live together after hatred, after civil war, after crime against humanity? How to reconnect there where there was nothing but separation?   We know their response: by reconciling oneself to the truth. It will soon be ten years ago that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, chaired by Mgr. Desmond Tutu, was established by the South African Constitutive Assembly in 1995. Its power: to bestow individual amnesty, case by case, in exchange for complete revelation of their crimes, to the authors of serious violations of human rights associated with a political objective. No vengeance, no reprisals, but no oblivion, no getting off, no concealment. "Facing up" says the 1993 South African Provisional Constitution, to "a heritage of hatred, of fear" on the basis of a "need for ubuntu and not victimization." By Edwy Plenel, Le Monde http://www.truthout.org/docs_05/010105H.shtml  

“The other day, Satish Kumar spoke at the University (of Calgary ).  When he was 26, Satish and a friend walked from India to Moscow and Paris and London and Washington to protest nuclear weapons.  He was invited to speak by the Dean of Environmental Design.  As part of his talk, Satish explained the profound connection that we all have that few of us recognize.  I asked him, "Given this profound connection, how do we build communities?"  He said that communities are really only about relationships.  I'm not sure that that was the message that the Dean of Environmental Design wanted to hear, but it is profound knowledge for those who want to build a culture of peace. Building a healthy culture is about building healthy relationships.  If we focus on that, we won't get sidetracked by other matters.”  Paul Nelson, Director of Organizational Development, Canadian Culture of Peace Program

"Cautious, careful people always casting about to preserve their reputation or social standards never can bring about reform.  Those who are really in earnest are willing to be anything or nothing in the world’s estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathies with despised ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences.”  Susan B. Anthony

"If you want to know your past, examine your present conditions. If you want to know your future, examine your present actions."  Buddhist saying.

"If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies."   Moshe Dayan

During the period of 1965-1973, more than 50,000 Americans made their way to Canada , refusing to participate in an immoral war - America 's war in Vietnam .  Canadian public opposition to that war, along with strong pressure placed on the Canadian government, resulted in Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau saying at the time, "Those who make the conscientious judgment that they must not participate in this war...have my complete sympathy, and indeed our political approach has been to give them access to Canada. Canada should be a refuge from militarism."

"Foresight is the ability to see ahead.  Innovation is the ability to develop new solutions and deploy new ideas.  And Strategy is the ability to create practical paths to reach desired goals.  These are the three key elements we all must use to create the future."  Timothy Mack, President, World Future Society  

"The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely, or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles." Anne Frank (1929-1945)

"the crux of democracy, a people who want, think through, and vote for a better future"  http://www.csudh.edu/dearhabermas/leftright12.htm

“Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience.  Therefore (individuals) have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against Peace and Humanity from occurring.” The Nuremberg ’s ( Germany ) Tribunal of 1945/46

"Man to man: 1. Violence against women is a male issue.  Eradicating it is no more the responsibility of women than eradicating slavery was that of slaves.  2. The good guys must meet the challenge.  Male silence is unacceptable.  3. All men have women in their lives they care about.  Yet male language often casts them as lesser beings.  Telling a boy that "you throw like a girl" insults both him and girls.  The impression can last a lifetime.  4. The goal for men is not to remove their masculinity or toughness.  It is to add more emotional components because emotions are tools that allow us to cope in non-violent ways.  Violence against women is no minor matter.  In the past 10 years, three pro football players have been charged with murdering women.  But in the United States at large, a man kills a woman four times a day."  Don McPherson  http://www.adelphi.edu/communityservices/sli/mcpherson.php

"I am a child of a peace culture. I am one of the children that we are now “consciously” trying to form." Christina Alexander,  United States Canada Peace Anniversary Association (USCPAA),  P.O. Box 4564 ,  Blaine , WA 98231-4564 , email christina@peacearchpark.org , website  http://www.peacearchpark.org

“If you want to send my son to your war, send yours to show the way.”  Only those who preach with deeds, deserve to be heard.  (author unknown)

“May all who pass through here travel in safety.”  Sign in the airport in Cambridge Bay , Northwest Territories , Canada

“Did you know that unacceptable behaviour is not tolerated?  Everyone is entitled to travel in a safe and secure environment.”  Safe Advice For Everyone poster from the Government of Canada posted on the walls of many airports in Canada .   Ed. – if unacceptable behaviour is not tolerated on airplanes, why is it tolerated elsewhere, including the Canadian parliament during ‘Question Period’?  Maybe the Government should post more ads that “Everyone is entitled to live in a safe and secure environment.”

“If we are going to prevent a breakdown of the nonproliferation regime, the United States is going to have to lead by example rather than by force.  This would require a major shift in policy for this Administration.  Congress and the American public need to be active participants in order to create such a shift.”  David Krieger, Saving the Nuclear Nonproliferation Agreement March 4, 2005

"Women make up more than half the population, perform 2/3 of the world's work ... However women earn only 10% of the world's income and own 1% of the world's property ... If we are serious about achieving peace then we must be committed to women's empowerment."  from Peace, Conflict, and Violence: Peace Psychology for the 21st Century http://www.peace.ca/peacepsychology.htm

"If you want to know your past, examine your present conditions. If you want to know your future, examine your present actions." Buddhist saying.

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."  Buckminster Fuller

 "In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists." Eric Hoffer

We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims. ~ R. Buckminster Fuller

Conservative education tries to adapt the learners to the world that is given; progressive education tries to make the students unquietly critical, challenging them to understand that the world that is being presented as given is, in fact, a world being made and, for this very reason, can be changed, transformed, reinvented.  Paulo Freire

We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims. ~ R. Buckminster Fuller

“My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.” - Charles F. Kettering

“Now is the only time. How we relate to it creates the future.” Pema Chodron

E.F.Schumacher’s book Small is Beautiful, was a great influence on many people’s thinking in England . Everything was giant, big is better, getting bigger and bigger. Leopold Kohr and E.F.Schumacher were the two great figures of the 60s and 70s who promoted the idea of human scale, of decentralized, local economies. Schumacher particularly combined the view of economic spiritual values when he wrote his essay called: " Buddhist Economics." Many people asked him, Mr. Schumacher, what does Buddhism have to do with economics? Schumacher jokingly said that economics without Buddhism is like sex without love. He was perhaps one of the only western economists with the background of Oxford and work with the government and establishment who dared to put those words together - Buddhism and economics.

“I believe very much in building forces. I would say that that is my theme. The art of politics is: to create forces to be able do in the future what we cannot do now. It has been said that an opportunist is someone who states that (s/he) does not have power and adapts. The revolutionary is the one who knows that (s/he) does not have power, but looks for ways to create the necessary conditions for it. Inventing, searching how to change the correlation of power. Those are two very distinct positions: one is conformist, opportunistic, the other, for me, is revolutionary, one that works to build the forces that will allow them to reach the objectives. Those who believe are more left because they launch more leftist speeches have been misled. I go even further: those who want to be radical should work to build the social and political forces that will allow them to be. We struggle creating. That is why I like the idea of distinguishing between the destructive left and the constructive one.”  Marta Harnecker, political scientist born in Chile

“I must forgive so that the desire for revenge does not corrode my being … This has to do with our world view as Africans: I can be human only in relationships.  Our greatest good is communal harmony.  Revenge and anger subvert this.”  Desmond Tutu

“Compassion is not just feeling with someone, but seeking to change the situation.  Frequently people think compassion and love are merely sentimental.  No!  They are very demanding.  If you are going to be compassionate, be prepared for action!”  Desmond Tutu

President Harry Truman said, "No one nation, no regional group, can, or should expect, any special privilege which harms any other nation." Referring to World War II, Truman observed, "Out of this conflict have come powerful military nations, now fully trained and equipped for war. But," he proclaimed, "they have no right to dominate the world."

"If the United States were to put as much military might into building and establishing peace after a conflict as it puts into winning wars quickly and efficiently, the age of terrorism would soon be at an end."  military futurist Thomas Barnett of the U.S. Naval War College

"It is up to government, and all the other holders of a nation's wealth, to start addressing root causes and assuming a degree of moral responsibility ... that still eludes them today."  Janice Kennedy ( Calgary Herald Nov 7/04)

"I don't think that anybody anywhere can talk about the future of their people or of an organization without talking about education. Whoever controls the education of our children controls our future, the future of the Cherokee people and of the Cherokee Nation." Wilma P. Mankiller, CHEROKEE

"One hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car we drove or what kind of clothes we wore or what our blood  quantum  was . All that will matter is that we tried to make a difference" ..... unknown

"A man should rely on his own resources; the one who so trains himself is ready for any emergency." --Oral Tradition, OMAHA .  Man is designed to function independently and to rely on the Creator for his resources. If we build our relationship with the Great Spirit, we are ready when emergencies occur.

"We need to adopt the mindset of most professional futurists and become systemic optimists - those who believe that life can get better, but only if we fundamentally alter the way we think and do things.  We need to embrace whole-system change."  Richard Eckersley, fellow at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University, Canberra.

The Canadian Peace Initiative (“CPI”) is a process to simply provide the venues, support and guidance to ‘Open Space to Open Minds to Peace’.  The  CPI process is open, transparent, patient and committed, drawing people from all walks of life, freeing them from their stasis and mobilizing them.  All members of the Culture of Peace movement have to be leaders in their own right, drawing on their own potential and inner strengths, galvanizing, inspiring and energizing the peace movement.  Everyone is a peace leader and peace educator.  Every day we must take ownership of ourselves and our relationships: we can do anything we set our minds and hearts to; we do no harm, expect and demand no harm be done to us or others; no one is better than another;  we are critical thinkers, finding our own truths; education is our best investment and information our most important resource.   Building a healthy culture is about building healthy relationships – we can do that.   As we take ownership of peace others will follow – because it will be uplifting and empowering, it will be infectious, and lead to sudden, massive, cultural change.           

(As in all things peaceful, this enlightening statement is the result of many contributors and supporters.  The CPI process has led to the Canadian Culture of Peace Program.)  

“The other day, Satish Kumar spoke at the University (of Calgary ).  When he was 26, Satish and a friend walked from India to Moscow and Paris and London and Washington to protest nuclear weapons.  He was invited to speak by the Dean of Environmental Design.  As part of his talk, Satish explained the profound connection that we all have that few of us recognize.  I asked him, "Given this profound connection, how do we build communities?"  He said that communities are really only about relationships.  I'm not sure that that was the message that the Dean of Environmental Design wanted to hear, but it is profound knowledge for those who want to build a culture of peace. Building a healthy culture is about building healthy relationships.  If we focus on that, we won't get sidetracked by other matters.”  Paul Nelson, Director of Organizational Development, Canadian Culture of Peace Program

“Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience.  Therefore (individuals) have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against Peace and Humanity from occurring.” The Nuremberg ’s ( Germany ) Tribunal of 1945/46

“If you want to send my son to your war, send yours to show the way.”  Only those who preach with deeds, deserve to be heard.  (author unknown)

“May all who pass through here travel in safety.”  Sign in the airport in Cambridge Bay , Northwest Territories , Canada

“Did you know that unacceptable behaviour is not tolerated?  Everyone is entitled to travel in a safe and secure environment.”  Safe Advice For Everyone poster from the Government of Canada posted on the walls of many airports in Canada .   Ed. – if unacceptable behaviour is not tolerated on airplanes, why is it tolerated elsewhere, including the Canadian parliament during ‘Question Period’?  Maybe the Government should post more ads that “Everyone is entitled to live in a safe and secure environment.”

“If we are going to prevent a breakdown of the nonproliferation regime, the United States is going to have to lead by example rather than by force.  This would require a major shift in policy for this Administration.  Congress and the American public need to be active participants in order to create such a shift.”  David Krieger, Saving the Nuclear Nonproliferation Agreement March 4, 2005

"How to Build Global Community"

"How to Build Community" ; Note - to purchase the poster, order at http://www.syrculturalworkers.org/catalog/posters/Poster1.html 

"If you want to know your past, examine your present conditions. If you want to know your future, examine your present actions." Buddhist saying.

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."  Buckminster Fuller

"In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists." Eric Hoffer

 "Anything that you sincerely believe in, ardently desire, vividly imagine and enthusiastically work upon will inevitably come to pass." Starhawk

 "The empires of the future are the empires of the mind." Winston Churchill

 "Activism is my rent for living on this planet." Alice Walker

 "Hao han bu dang bing, hao tie bu da ding." (A good lad does not become a soldier, good steel does not become nails.)  Chinese proverb

 "It is time to speak your Truth.  Create your community.  Be good to each other.  And do not look outside yourself for the leader.  We are the ones we've been waiting for." The Elders, Oraibi, Arizona, Hopi Nation

  "Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience.  Therefore [individual citizens] have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring" -- Nuremberg War Crime Tribunal, 1950

 What leader now-a-days would deserve a posthumous tribute such as this?:- >From an editorial of Jan 3, 1948 on the death of Mahatma Gandhi.

"What is the secret of Gandhi's worldwide fame and unquestioned influence.  For one thing, his culture had all the traits of what is called the culture of character . He thought closely and seriously; he insisted on seeking fact or truth for oneself boldly and clearly, and not merely  echo it as hearsay; he cherished not fashions or expedients of thinking, but true convictions with a strength of feeling which neither the coaxing of friends not the railleries and the rapier thrusts of opponents could weaken. Throughout his career in whatever continent, country or clime his activity for the time being lay  - whether in in South Africa, Sabarmati or Champaran in the sub-montane region of Bihar among the indigo planters there - he carried to those among whom he worked unquestionable conviction that he could be trusted. It was because he inspired such trust that he proved a determining force in the formation of public opinion. He was essentially a men of action, not of sweet words. He had, further,
what many others lacked, a constructive faculty. He would not merely denounce other men and other measures; he would show them a way and a method better than theirs. Gandhi had a philosophy of his own and a way of life steeped in Sanatana Dharma;  and neither that philosophy nor that way of life to which it lead one, was such as may be dismissed offhand as obscurantist. No wonder so many leaders of thought in Europe and America have been profoundly struck and influenced by his ideas of plain living and high thinking, non-violence even in the face of extreme provocation and a life of service to all.  The Father of the Nation has passed away. What shall we do now; and what is our duty?"

I want to share a tale by Gabriel Garcia Marquez that I feel portrays very nicely the innocence and wisdom that children can teach us ...It was originally in Spanish and translated to English: "Once  there  was  a  scientist  who lived worried about the problems in the world,  and  was  decided to find the ways in which these could be less. He would spend days and days in his lab searching for answers with no results.  Then  one  day,  his  seven  year  old  son invaded his sanctuary, set upon helping  him  in  his  task.  The  scientist,  nervous  about  his  son's interruption,  asked  him to go play outside. Seeing that it was impossible to  get  him  out,  the  father  thought  of something to give his child to distract his attention. Suddenly he found a magazine in which there was a map  of the world! With scissors, he cut in several pieces the map, grabbed some  duck  tape  and  gave all that to his son and said: "Since I know how much you like jigsaw puzzles, I am going to give you the world all cut into pieces so that you repair it all by yourself".  The  scientist  thought  that  it  would take the child at least 10 days to repair  the map, but it didn't happen that way......Just after a few hours, he  heard  his  child's  voice  calling  him  in  a serene way. "Dad Dad, I finished  repairing  the whole map." At first the father didn't believe his son.  He  thought  that  it  was impossible that at his young age, he could repair  it  without ever seeing it before. Sceptical, looking away from his scientific writings, he directed his sight towards the map that his son had repaired. He was certain to find a job made by just a kid. Surprisingly, he noticed  that  the  map  was very well put ogether, with all the pieces placed in the correct place. How was that possible? How was the child capable of doing such a good work?  The  father  with  much amazement asked his son: "My child, you didn't know how the world was, how did you do it? And the child answered: "Dad  I  didn't know how the world was...but when you took out the map from the magazine to cut it into pieces, I noticed that in the other side, there was the shape of a man."  "So I turned each little piece and started to repair the man.  When I was able to repair the man, I turned it to the other side and saw that I had repaired the world.""  [courtesy of MingHui Wong]

 "Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but look at what they can do when they stick together!" 

 "Peace: a science, a profession, a passion.  It is a rigorous field of study, requiring painstaking labour and detailed study.  It is an opportunity to explore the future societies and cultures through what people wish for the future.  Above all, peace is a journey of discovery into the time in advance of history books, a journey into the unknown."  Robert Stewart

"Thanks for ... a list of truly amazing and encouraging initiatives from all over the world.  Reading it, Auden's poem, "Sept 1, 1939" (the day WWII broke out) comes back to me:

Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.

Each one of the initiatives you have told us about is one of those points of light. Those of us attempting to live lives of justice, to be "the Just" for our time, are exchanging messages of action and hope.  Thanks as always for your part in this."  Courtesy of Donald Grayston, PhD, Director, Institute for the Humanities, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC  V5A 1S6, Canada; tel: 604/291-5516 / fax: 604/291-4504; website: www.sfu.ca (Academic Programs - Humanities).

"It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
Lights of peace become circles of peace.
Circles of peace become communities of peace.
Communities of peace become a peaceful world community."
Bob Stewart

  All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten.

"Relationships are built upon trust.  Honesty is the foundation of trust.  There can be no real relationship with another person without honesty."  Greg Ramey, Cox News Service in 'Bryant offers a teachable moment' about the trials of basketball superstar Kobe Bryant.  Mr. Ramey goes on to say "Believing something doesn't make it true.  You don't know the evidence.  There is no way you can have an informed opinion.  Keep an open mind until facts become known. ... This is a wonderful opportunity to encourage young people to develop a more thoughtful and careful approach before arriving at any conclusion.  Integrity matters. ... Talk with your children about the importance of values ... Long after the court has decided Bryant's legal culpability, doubts regarding his personal integrity and honesty will have lifelong consequences."  [I would suggest that these same important conclusions can be applied with respect to relationships between countries - Robert Stewart]

"A city will be an educating city when it can recognize, exercise and develop an educating function in addition to its traditional economic, social, political functions and the provision of services. The educating city must accept as a goal and a responsibility the education, advancement and development of all its inhabitants."  Educating Cities  Latin America http://ar.geocities.com/ce_paz

"Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience.  Therefore [individual citizens] have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring" -- Nuremberg War Crime Tribunal, 1950

"Recall the face of the poorest and most helpless person you have seen and ask yourself if the next step you contemplate is going to be of any use to that person."--Mohandas Gandhi

"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace." Thomas Paine

Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein

"The elders look back toward the young and help them find a future that the elders do not see." - Parker Palmer

"The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that its leaves to its children." Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Another world is not only possible, she's on her way. Maybe many of us won't be here to greet her, but on a quiet day, if I listen very carefully, I can hear her breathing. -Arundhati Roy

"Peace education involves developing an accurate knowledge and awareness of the nature and causes of the real threats to peace and security; developing an achievable vision of a just and peaceful world; learning about the necessary pre-conditions for peace and the international organizations involved; developing the attitudes, knowledge and skills necessary to bring about collective peace and security; and developing a sense of empowerment in students - an attitude and belief that as an individual one can effect change and make a difference." (Adapted from the Canadian Peace Educators Directory)

"Better to let them do it imperfectly than to do it perfectly yourself, for it is their country, their way, and your time is short." T.E. Lawrence

"We must identify the roots of global problems and strive with imagination to check conflicts in their early stages. Better still prevent them. Prevention is the victory that gives the measure of our distinctively human faculties. We must know in order to foresee. Foresee in order to prevent. We must act in a timely, decisive and courageous manner. The universal renunciation of violence requires the commitment of the whole society. These are not matters of government but matters of state, not only matters for the authorities but for society in its entirety. In order to change, the world needs everyone. It is time for action. We must react, each of us, to the best of our faculties. It is not just a matter of looking at what the government is doing. We must part with something of our own. We must give, give of ourselves." - Excerpts from the declaration of UNESCO’s (past) Director-General, Federico Mayor on: "The human rights to peace".

"In Canada, we don't really look for big acknowledgments unless they sort of come your way." Mers Kutt (Canadian and creator of the world's first microcomputer)

"My guess is that the Network will, inevitably, replace the world of boundaries and nations.  Does it matter, then, that Canada is losing its place in a world that may no longer even be relevant? Or is there some mileage in the idea that Canada as the anti-nation fits rather well within the iconoclastic impulses of the world emerging under the knowledge economy? As the University of Toronto's Janice Stein recently put it: How can Canada reposition itself in a global economy, where "sovereignty is no longer what it was and states no longer have the same power to protect, or to abuse, their citizens?" Perhaps the force will lie with the countries that are able to make the vertical links, and insert and align themselves within the matrix of the Network? ... It's just a thought, but maybe by encouraging and making these kinds of connections or networks, Canada can stake its claim in the emerging world. "  Ken Wiwa http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030926.wwiwa0927/BNStory/Front/

"Teachers are the Guardians of Civilization".  Bertrand Russell 

"Cowardice asks the question - is it safe? Expediency asks the question - is it politic? Vanity asks the question - is it popular? But conscience asks the question - is it right?  And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.  Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.... The chain reaction of evil -- hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars -- must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963

"The best defence of peace is not power, but the removal of the causes of war, and international agreements which will put peace on a stronger foundation, than the terror of destruction."  Lester B. Pearson, Canadian Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

"Observe good faith and justice toward all nations.  Cultivate peace and harmony with all."  U.S. President George Washington

"We believe - as you do - that the problems of our time cannot be solved by military strength alone.  Peace can be won only by the quality of infinite patience.  We may differ on the 'hows', but never the 'whys'.  You may depend upon us as faithful friends and comrades."  Vincent Massey, Governaor General of Canada to the U.S. Congress 1965

"The long Canadian frontier from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, guarded only by neighbourly respect and honourable obligations, is an example to every country and pattern for the future of the world."  British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill

"Make us a nation of searchers of peace, and then lead us to peace in our time.  May we be an example to the world of disciplined peace research.  Let us neither aggress nor support aggression, and may we strive as much as we have it in us, to live in peace with all men."  Tim Bentley, a young Canadian 1967

"Faith is greater than any bomb!  Faith is the most potent weapon ever devised.  Do not lose faith in mankind, and in the purposes of the creator.  Do not lose faith in the future.  Much is being done to promote brotherhood, understanding and peace."  David E. Lilienthal

"Our defense is not in armaments, nor in science, nor in going underground.  Our defence is in Law and Order."  Albert Einstein

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought.  The mind is everything.  What we think we become."  Buddha

“Science of war leads one to dictatorship pure and simple. Science of non-violence can alone lead one to pure democracy.” Mahatma Gandhi, HARIJAN, Oct. 15, 1938

"I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of the way and let them have it." U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower

“The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.”  U.S. President Abraham Lincoln

“At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.”  Martin Luther King Junior

"Democracy and Freedom cannot be force fed at the point of the occupier’s gun.”  U.S. Senator Bird

“If there is to be peace in the world, There must be peace in nations.  If there is to be peace in the nations, There must be peace in the cities.  If there is to be peace in the cities, There must be peace between neighbours.  If there is peace between neighbours, There must be peace in the home.  If there is to be peace in the home, There must be peace in the heart.”  the 6th century Chinese philosopher Lao Tse

 "I was once asked why I don't participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I'll be there." Mother Teresa

  "As privileged people and spouses of Rotarians who are known for humanitarian services, we must team up to give back to society what society gave us. We must Lend a Hand in helping to clothe the naked; Lend a Hand in feeding the poor; Lend a Hand in healing the sick; Lend a Hand in caring for the aged and comforting the bereaved." - Ade Majiyagbe Rotarian, Nigeria

"There never was a good war, or a bad peace." Benjamin Franklin

You can best reward a liar by believing nothing of what he says. — Aristippus (applicable to government and media propaganda)

"Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows." Dr. Martin Luther King

  Uniting America in Common Purpose: Meeting America's Real Challenges at Home and Abroad- Tuesday 21 January 2003 t r u t h o u t | Address by Senator Edward M. Kennedy- "Yes, our country is strong. But it can be stronger -- not just in the power we hold, but in the promise we fulfill of a nation that truly does make better the life of the world. If we rededicate ourselves to that great goal, our achievements will reverberate around the globe, and America will be admired anew for what it must be now, in this new time, more than ever -- "the last, best hope of earth." 

"Every diplomatic and non-military avenue for the prevention or peaceful resolution of the humanitarian crisis must have been explored. The responsibility to react — with military coercion — can only be justified when the responsibility to prevent has been fully discharged." the report of the Canadian-sponsored International Commission on Intervention and Sovereignty entitled Responsibility to Protect

"Whoever decides that all peaceful means that international law has put at our disposition have been exhausted assumes a serious responsibility before God, his conscience and history."  Vatican press release March 18, 2003.  The release came just two days after Pope John Paul II implored Iraqi President Saddam Husein to avoid giving the West reasons to attack and warned the UN Security Council that military intervention could trigger an explosion of extremism.

"Never in history has there been such an outpouring of resistance from average people all around the world before a war had even begun. Millions took a stand. This doctrine of moral and popular preemption must be sustained." Desmond Tutu 

In a March 22, 2003 poll of Albertans (considered a "strongly conservative" province) asking "Do you agree with Prime Minister Jean Chretien's position not to support the U.S. in the war on Iraq?" 48.9% in the Age Group 18 - 29 strongly agreed, compared to 21.5% strongly disagreeing with Chretien's position.  Calgary Herald March 25, 2003.

"If you start changing regimes, where do you stop?  This is the problem.  Who is next?  Give me the list ... the priorities. ... When someone is working for peace it is never useless."  Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, while in Mexico discussing the Iraq war.  This quote is inspiring for a number of reasons: the Canadian Prime Minister spoke up, saying what many Canadians have on their minds, concerned about U.S. foreign policy; the P.M. also recognized the important work of peacebuilders.  Thanks can be sent to the P.M. E-mail Address(es):  pm@pm.gc.ca

"Once again the hopes of people of two nations are being smashed by weapons in the name of eliminating weapons. Let us abolish weapons of mass destruction at home. Joblessness is a weapon of mass destruction.  Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction.  Hunger is a weapon of mass destruction. Homelessness is a weapon of mass destruction.  Poor health care is a weapon of mass destruction. Poor education is a weapon of mass destruction.  Discrimination is a weapon of mass destruction." U.S. Representative Dennis J. Kucinich in a speech 'Peace as a Civil Right' January 19, 2003   

"Ask not what the U.N. can do for you, but what you can do for the U.N." The Chinese symbol for "conflict" is a combination of "crisis" and "opportunity".  That is exactly what we have with the current Iraq crisis, and U.S. imposed "Crisis of Relevance of the U.N.". The opportunity before us is as follows:
- to strengthen and reform the United Nations into a most credible system of international law and world governance (dealing with terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, among other things)
- to make the United Nations democratic and replace the veto in the Security Council (if democracy is recommended for our countries, then it should be recommended for our world; one can imagine safeguards such as a very significant majority to vote for matter of major importance such as war, not a simple majority; further, the U.N. can not be a puppet for any one country and votes should not be able to be bought or coerced)
- to make a clear statement that the power of "United Nations" (and "We the People") is greater than the power of any one Nation (and any one government, including the United States)
- to make a clear statement that the world has significant concerns with U.S. foreign policy, and reformation of the United Nations and U.S. foreign policy is in the U.S. and world's best interests
- to raise world awareness that we are at a major crossroads: one path leads to global systems breakdown (resource depletion, violence, dieoff); the other path can build "A World Fit For Our Children"
A vote for a strengthened and reformed United Nations is a vote for peace and security for ourselves, all peoples of the world and future generations.
Please pass it on.  Robert Stewart (see also http://www.peace.ca/un.htm )

"Trust, but verify"  Ronald Reagan, U.S. President

"Imagine there's no heaven, It's easy if you try, No hell below us, Above us only sky, Imagine all the people living for today...
Imagine there's no countries, It isn't hard to do, Nothing to kill or die for, No religion too, Imagine all the people living life in peace...
Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can, No need for greed or hunger, A brotherhood of man, Imagine all the people Sharing all the world...
You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one, I hope some day you'll join us, And the world will live as one."  John Lennon

"Ev'rybody's talkin' 'bout Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism, This-ism, that-ism, ism ism ism
All we are saying is give peace a chance, All we are saying is give peace a chance
Ev'rybody's talkin' 'bout Minister, Sinister, Banisters and Canisters, Bishops, Fishops, Rabbis, and Pop Eyes, Bye bye, Bye bye
All we are saying is give peace a chance, All we are saying is give peace a chance
Ev'rybody's talkin' 'bout Revolution, Evolution, Masturbation, Flagellation, Regulation, Integrations, mediations, United Nations, - congratulations
All we are saying is give peace a chance, All we are saying is give peace a chance
Ev'rybody's talkin' 'bout John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rosemary, Tommy Smothers, Bobby Dylan, Tommy Cooper, Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer, Alan Ginsberg, Hare Krishna, Hare Hare Krishna
All we are saying is give peace a chance, All we are saying is give peace a chance" John Lennon

CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS (CASW) STATEMENT ON NON-VIOLENCE - "Social workers in Canada will celebrate 2003 National Social Work Week under the theme "Social Work for Social Justice", a reflection of the social work profession's long-standing commitment to social justice, peace, and non-violence. Such a commitment is very relevant given today's reality in which people who take control with fists, weapons and other unjust means devastate families and communities. The devastation is evident in the continuing high incidence of poverty, ongoing social injustice, continued reports of child abuse and violent deaths. The Canadian Association of Social Workers, representing over 18,000 social workers in Canada, advocates for solutions to conflict that are based on principles of justice and compassion for humanity. At this time of turmoil in the world, we join the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) and others worldwide to challenge those in power to show their respect for human life and choose non-violent solutions to conflict. The priority must be to avoid the unnecessary suffering of citizens in all countries and especially those where people are already marginalized and disadvantaged as a result of conflict and economic strife. All countries that claim to be just societies are compelled to continue to seek alternatives to war and conflict and to uphold the dignity and rights of all people."  For more information, please contact: Ellen Oliver, President, (709) 736-8162, elleno@mun.ca ; Eugenia R. Moreno, Executive Director, (613) 729-6668 morenoeu@casw-acts.ca

 "And if we are to be any better now is the time to begin."  - Alfred Tennyson

 "Radical simply means grasping things at the root." - Angela Davis

 "There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility is being superior to your former self."  - Muhammad ibnu Abdillah, Islamic Prophet

 "Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it." - Chinese Proverb

 "Peace is not something you wish for; it's something you make, something you do, something you are, something you give away."  Robert Fulghum

 "Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding." Ralph Waldo Emerson

 "It is essential to know that to be a happy person, a happy family, a happy society, it is very crucial to have a good heart, that is very crucial. World peace must develop from inner peace. Peace is not just the absence of violence but the manifestation of human compassion." Dalai Lama, Associated Press, 5/14/01

"In order to combat the culture of violence that pervades our society, the coming generation deserves a radically different education -- one that does not glorify war but educates for peace nonviolence and international cooperation."  The Hague Agenda, p. 13

As indicated in the basic Global Campaign for Peace Education statement, educators agreed that: "A culture of peace will be achieved when citizens of the world understand global problems; have the skills to resolve conflict constructively; know and live by international standards of human rights, gender and racial equality; appreciate cultural diversity; and respect the integrity of the Earth.  Such learning can not be achieved without intentional, sustained, and systematic education for peace."  Excerpted from the Campaign Statement of the Hague Appeal for Peace Global Campaign for Peace Education.

"The Hague Appeal for Peace has launched a world-wide campaign to empower people at all levels with the peacemaking skills of mediation, conflict transformation, consensus building and nonviolent social change." The Hague Agenda, p. 13  For more on the Global Campaign for Peace Education, refer to http://www.peace.ca/globalcampaignforpeaceeducation.htm 

"It is a conviction that war is not an answer to human conflict any more than cannibalism is to human hunger."  Bruce Kent, International Peace Bureau President

"As far as I am concerned, war itself is immoral." Omar Bradley, U.S. 5-Star General

"Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind"  John F. Kennedy

"I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed.  I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war." Franklin. D. Roosevelt

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." George Orwell

"Conduct your triumph as a funeral." Lao Tzu 565

"Personal excellence can be achieved by a visionary goal, thorough planning, dedicated execution and total follow through." Gerald Ford, 38th US President

The human body experiences a powerful gravitational pull in the direction of hope. That is why the patient's hopes are the physician's secret weapon. They are the hidden ingredients in any prescription. -Norman Cousins

"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. - John F. Kennedy

"Forgive, but never forget." "Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings." "Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation." "But peace does not rest in the charters and covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people. So let us not rest all our hopes on parchment and on paper, let us strive to build peace, a desire for peace, a willingness to work for peace in the hearts and minds of all of our people. I believe that we can. I believe the problems of human destiny are not beyond the reach of human beings." "When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses." "The quality of American life must keep pace with the quantity of American goods. This country cannot afford to be materially rich and spiritually poor." "Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind." "Those who make peaceful revolutions impossible will make violent revolutions inevitable." "Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth." -John F. Kennedy (1917-63)

In Hollywood, more than 100 celebrities, including Kim Basinger, Carl Reiner, Tim Robbins, Matt Damon, Ethan Hawke, Samuel L. Jackson, Jessica Lange and Martin Sheen, signed a letter released in December 2002 urging President Bush to avoid a war.

"Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience.  Therefore [individual citizens] have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring" -- Nuremberg War Crime Tribunal, 1950

"The best defence of peace is not power, but the removal of the causes of war and international agreements which will put peace on a stronger foundation that the terror of destruction."  Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, Nobel Peace Prize speech, 1957

"I believe that the first priority of humankind in this era is to establish an effective system of world law that will assure peace and justice among the peoples of the world.  There would be an immediate diplomatic advantage if the world knew that the US was beginning to explore strengthening the UN. We would appear before the peoples of the world as a champion of peace for all by the equitable sharing of power.  This would be in sharp contrast to the growing global concern that the US intends to use its dominant military power to enforce a sort of Pax Americana."  prominent US newscaster, Walter Kronkite, in receiving the Norman Cousins Global Governance Award, 2000

"To suggest that war can prevent war is a base play on words and a despicable form of warmongering. The objective of any who sincerely believe in peace clearly must be to exhaust every honorable recourse in the effort to save the peace. The world has had ample evidence that war begets only conditions that beget further war." - Nobel Peace Prize winner Ralph Bunche, as quoted by Jimmy Carter

"An enemy is one whose story we have not heard."  Gene Knudsen Hoffman, Quaker (Religious Society of Friends) Peace Activist http://www.coopcomm.org/listening.htm

"The heart of the matter now is not what governments should do, but what the rest of us must do to turn our governments, and the other organizations that turn to violence to achieve their ends, to the path of peace." ---  Andrew Lichterman,  program director of Western States Legal Foundation and John Burroughs, executive director of Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy.

"We must make clear to the Germans that the wrong for which their fallen leaders are on trial is not that they lost the war, but that they started it. And we must not allow ourselves to be drawn into a trial of the causes of the war, for our position is that no grievances or policies will justify resort to aggressive war. It is utterly renounced and condemned as an instrument of policy." Supreme Court Justice Robert L. Jackson, U.S. Representative to the International Conference on Military Trials, August 12, 1945

"The practices of the unscrupulous money-changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men faced by the failure of credit, they have proposed only the lending of more money. They have no vision and, when there is no vision, the people perish. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit."  President Franklin Roosevelt, Inaugural Address, 1933

"Averting war is the work of politicians; establishing peace is the work of education." - Dr. Maria Montessori

"The teacher - one who shows the way."  Anon

"Leaders only change because they either see the light or feel the heat."  Joyce L. Gioia, president, The Herman Group

"The Canadian opportunity lies in this American ambivalence.  A rules-based international order is unquestionably in our interests. ... Canada can still make significant contributions ... particularly in peacebuilding ... bridging the gap to long-term peace might still be a better use of Canadian military and police resources.  The choice of peacebuilding over combat is rational for the Canadian Forces because they are comparatively small and weak, by the conscious choice of successive governments, which have had to juggle priorities demanded by Canadian citizens."  Major David Last, PhD, teaches at the Royal Military College of Canada; from "What Kind of Friends Does America Need?" in Oct/Dec 2002 Peace Magazine

Jewish High Holidays in Toronto: Listen to Palestinians, to everyone - At Temple Emanuel in Toronto, Canada, Ms. Niki Landau delivered a remarkable Rosh Hashanah Dvar Torah sermon.  It was Sunday, September 12, 1999, nine years after Niki's Toronto friend, Marnie Kimelman, was killed in a terrorist attack at a Tel Aviv beach.  Niki spoke of her step-by-step healing from that experience, especially through face-to-face compassionate listening -- even to "the enemy" -- to discover our equal humanity, our common past, our shared future.  Niki says: "Hisham approached me, handed me a tissue and said: 'I lost a friend.' 'I lost a friend too,' I said. And there we were, facing each other, Palestinian and Jew, each of us trapped in our own tragedy.  "And Hisham said, 'Then you and I have to make peace. Because if we can't make peace, how can we expect others to?'"  Click link to read full article.

Andrea Cohen-Kiener, from Emissary of Peace.

"I repeat that all power is a trust; that we are accountable for its exercise; that from the people and for the people all springs, and all must exist." Benjamin Disraeli, "Vivian Grey," 1826, Book vi. Chap. vii.

  "The way chosen by the United States was plainly marked by a few clear precepts, which govern its conduct in world affairs. First: no people on earth can be held, as a people, to be an enemy, for all humanity shares the common hunger for peace and fellowship and justice. Second: no nation's security and well-being can be lastingly achieved in isolation but only in effective cooperation with fellow-nations. Third: any nation's right to a form of government and an economic system of its own choosing is inalienable. Fourth: any nation's attempt to dictate other nations their form of government is indefensible. And fifth: a nation's hope of lasting peace cannot be firmly based upon any race in armaments but rather upon just relations and honest understanding with all other nations.  "In the light of these principles the citizens of the United States defined the way they proposed to follow, through the aftermath of war, toward true peace. This way was faithful to the spirit that inspired the United Nations: to prohibit strife, to relieve tensions, to banish fears. This way was to control and to reduce armaments. This way was to allow all nations to devote their energies and resources to the great and good tasks of healing the war's wounds, of clothing and feeding and housing the needy, of perfecting a just political life, of enjoying the fruits of their own free toil.  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 spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its labourers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some 50 miles of concrete highway. We pay for a single fighter with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron." · President Dwight D Eisenhower, 1953

 "Peace is the only battle worth waging." Albert Camus

"Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience. Therefore [individual citizens] have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring" -- Nuremberg War Crime Tribunal, 1950

"We need more owls - not doves or hawks."  Spark Matsunaga Institute for Peace Studies, University of Hawaii

"And that's what the universe is -- a vast system of cooperation. Though many contemporary social institutions teach us to see others as enemies or potential rivals for scarce resources, the truth is that we live in a world in which the basic principle is one of cooperation." Michael Lerner's Spirit Matters (p. 45)

Some Quotes from Mahatma Gandhi:

• An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
• The first principle of nonviolent action is that of non-cooperation with everything humiliating.
• A nonviolent revolution is not a program of seizure of power.  It is a program of transformation of relationships, ending in a peaceful transfer of power.
• One has to speak out and stand up for one's convictions.  Inaction at a time of conflagration is inexcusable.
• Nonviolence will prevail - whatever man may or may not do ... It will have its way and overcome all obstacles irrespective of the shortcoming of the instruments.
• Mankind has to get out of violence only through non-violence.  Hatred can be overcome only by love.  Counter hatred only increases the surface as well as the depth of hatred.
• I regard the employment of the atom bomb for the wholesale destruction of men, women and children as the most diabolical use of science.
• Nonviolent defence neither knows nor accepts defeat at any stage.  Therefore a nation or a group which has made nonviolence its final policy can not be subjected to slavery even by the atom bomb.
• Goodness must be joined with knowledge.  Mere goodness is not of much use, as I have found in life.  One must cultivate the fine discriminating quality which goes with spiritual courage and character.
• Nonviolence is the noblest as well as the most effective way of defending one's rights.
• A 'satyagrahi' is one who is consecrated to nonviolent defence of the truth.
• Ahimsa is an attribute of the brave.  Cowardice and ahimsa do not go together any more than water and fire.
• If we remain nonviolent, hatred will die as everything does from disuse.
• Without the recognition of nonviolence on a national scale there is no such thing as a constitutional or democratic government.
• Peace will never come unless the great powers courageously decide to disarm themselves.
• The cause of liberty becomes a mockery if the price to be paid is the wholesale destruction of those who are to enjoy liberty.
• Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with innocent blood.
• A reformer has to sail not with the current.  Very often he has to go against it even though it may cost him his life.
• Ahimsa calls for the strength and courage to suffer without retaliation, to receive blows without returning any.  But that does not exhaust its meaning.  Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.
• To benefit by others' killing and delude oneself into belief that one is being religious and nonviolent is self-deception.
• There can be degree in violence, not in nonviolence.  The constant effort of the votary of nonviolence is to purge himself of hatred toward the so-called enemy.  There is no such thing as shooting out of love.
• Two basic maxims for nonviolence: 1. Ahimsa is the supreme Law or Dharma, 2. There is no other Law or Dharma than Truth.
• A satyagrahi should fast only as a last resort when all other avenues of redress have been explored and failed.
• My fast should not be considered a political move in any sense of the term.  It is obedience to the peremptory call of conscience and duty.  It comes out of felt agony.
• 'First they ignore you; then they laugh at you; then they attack you; then you win' 
• "Non-violence is more powerful than all the armaments in the world. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man."  
• "A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history"
• Things undreamt of are daily being seen, the impossible is ever becoming possible.   We are constantly being astonished these days at the amazing discoveries in the field of violence.  But I maintain that far more undreamt of and seemingly impossible discoveries will be made in the field of nonviolence.
• "You must be the change you want to see in the world."  
• "I have not conceived my mission to be that of a knight-errant wandering everywhere to deliver people from difficult situations. My humble occupation has been to show people how to solve their own difficulties...my work will be finished if I succeed in carrying the conviction to the human family that every man of woman, however weak in body, is the guardian of his or her self-respect and liberty." Gandhi quote from Raghavan Iyer's, The Moral and Political Thought of Mahatma Gandhi, Oxford University Press, New York, 1973, p.373.
• "The role of a civil protester is to provoke a response, keep protesting until they respond. ... They are not in control - we are."
• "be prepared to make the injustice visible"  
  

  If we are going to bring about       peace in the world,        we have to begin with the children       -Mahatma Gandhi

Some Quotes from Albert Einstein:

• The 1932 Disarmament Conference, Berlin, September 4, 1931: "What the inventive genius of mankind has bestowed upon us in the last hundred years could have made human life care free and happy if the development of the organizing power of man had been able to keep step with his technical advances. As it is, the hardly bought achievements of the machine age in the hands of our generation are as dangerous as a razor in the hands of a 3-year-old child. The possession of wonderful means of production has not brought freedom--only care and hunger.  Worst of all is the technical development which produces the means for the destruction of human life, and the dearly created products of labor. We older people lived through that shudderingly in the World War. But even more terrible than this destruction seems to me the unworthy servitude into which the individual is swept by war. Is it not terrible to be forced by the community to deeds which every individual feels to be most despicable crimes? Only a few have had the moral greatness to resist; they are in my eyes the true heroes of the World War.  There is on ray of hope. It seems to me that today the responsible leaders of the several peoples have, in the main, the honest will to abolish war.  The opposition to this unquestionably necessary advance lies in the unhappy traditions of the people which are passed on like an inherited disease from generation to generation because of our faulty educational machines. Of course the main supports of this tradition are military training and the larger industries. Without disarmament there can be no lasting peace. On the contrary, the continuation of military armaments in their present extent will with certainty lead to new catastrophes.  Hence the Disarmament Conference in Geneva in February, 1932, will be decisive for the fate of the present generation and the one to come. If one thinks back to the pitiful results achieved by the international conferences thus far held, it must be clear that all thoughtful and responsible human beings must exercise all their powers again and again to inform public opinion of the vital importance of the conference of 1932. Only if the statesmen have, to urge them forward, the will to peace of a decisive majority in their respective countries, can they arrive at their important goal. For the creation of this public opinion in favor of disarmament every person living shares the responsibility, through every deed and every word.  The failure of the conference would be assured if the delegates were to arrive in Geneva with fixed instructions and aims, the achievement of which would at once become a matter of national prestige. This seems to be universally recognized, for the  meetings of the statesmen of any two states, of which we have seen a number of late, have been utilized for discussions of the problem of disarmament in order to clear the ground for the conference. This procedure seems to me a very happy one, for two persons, or two groups, ordinarily conduct themselves most sensibly, most honorably, and with the greatest freedom from passion if no third person listens in, whom the others believe they must consider or conciliate in their speeches. We can only hope for a favorable outcome in this most vital conference if the meeting is prepared for exhaustively in this way by advance discussions in order that surprises shall be made impossible, and if, through honest good will, an atmosphere of mutual confidence and trust can be effectively created in advance.  Success in such great affairs is not a matter of cleverness, or even shrewdness, but instead a matter of honorable conduct and mutual confidence.  You cannot substitute intellect for moral conduct in this matter--I should like to say, thank God that you cannot!  It is not the task of the individual who lives in this critical time merely to await results and to criticize. He must serve this great cause as well as he can. For the fate of all humanity will be that fate which it honestly earns and deserves."
• Not until the creation and maintenance of decent conditions of life for all people are recognized and accepted as a common obligation of all people and all countries - not until then shall we, with a certain degree of justification, be able to speak of humankind as civilized.
• "Shall we put an end to the human race or shall mankind renounce war?"  Russell-Einstein Manifesto of 1955 http://www.pugwash.org/about/manifesto.htm
• “Peace is not merely the absence of war but the presence of justice, of law, of order--in short, of government.”
• Nothing that I can do will change the structure of the universe. But maybe, by raising my voice, I can help in the greatest of all causes -- goodwill among men and peace on earth. Albert Einstein, c 1920. 

Some Quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.:

•  April 4, 1967 speech- "It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. Five years ago he said, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken - the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investment. I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values." For the rest of the speech.
  
•  There was a time when Martin Luther King himself doubted whether it was morally right to start a boycott. However, the works of Mahatma Gandhi and David Thoreau assured him that we cannot "lend our cooperation to an [unjust] system". In his own words on the evening of December 5, 1955, the first day of the Montgomery Bus Boycott: We have sometimes given our [governing] brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and Justice [...] Our method will be that of persuasion not coercion. We will only say to the people, "Let your conscience be your guide." If you will protest courageously and yet with dignity and [...] love, when the history books are written, the historians will [have to pause and] say: "There lived a great people - a [...] people who injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization." This is our challenge and our overwhelming responsibility.  Boycotts have worked in numerous historical settings. In fact, it may be the only way to stop these unjust wars.
• "The supreme task is to organize and unite people so that their anger becomes a transforming force."

• "while the nonviolent resister is passive in the sense that he is not physically aggressive toward his opponent, his mind and emotions are always active, constantly seeking to persuade his opponent that he is wrong. The method is passive physically, but strongly active spiritually. It is not passive non-resistance to evil, it is active nonviolent resistance to evil." 

• Martin Luther King, Jr., pointed out that fear can suppress anger, while anger can produce the courage that overcomes fear: "The long repressed feelings of resentment on the part of the Negroes had begun to stir. The fear and apathy which had for so long cast a shadow on the life of the Negro community were gradually fading before a new spirit of courage and self-respect."
• "In conclusion let me say that Dr. DuBois' (founder of the NAACP) greatest virtue was his committed empathy with all the oppressed and his divine dissatisfaction with all forms of injustice. Today we are still challenged to be dissatisfied. Let us be dissatisfied until every man can have food and material necessities for his body, culture and education for his mind, freedom and human dignity for his spirit...Let us be dissatisfied until our brother of the Third World - Asia, Africa and Latin America - will no longer be the victim of imperialist exploitation, but will be lifted from the long night of poverty, illiteracy and disease. Let us be dissatisfied until this pending cosmic elegy will be transformed into a creative psalm of peace and "justice will roll down like waters from a mighty stream."  
• "Through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate. Darkness cannot put out darkness.  Only light can do that....  Difficult and painful as it is, we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future.  When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us  remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows.  Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."  "Where do we go from here?", August 1967
• "The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate.... Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." 
• " Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest. " 
• Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech "I have a dream" http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/Docs/march.html "... I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down at the table of brotherhood ... I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. ..."
• "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools"
• "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of controversy."
• "A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard."
• "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
• "I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live."
• "I just want to do God's will.  And he's allowed me to go up to the mountain.  And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land. ... So I'm happy tonight.  I'm not worried about anything.  I'm not fearing any man." (Speech in Memphis, April 3, 1968.  King was assassinated the next day.)
• download and see short 2 minute Martin Luther King video 

Some Quotes from Nelson Mandela:

• "One of our strongest weapons is dialogue." 
• "If the criticism is valid, it must be made." 
• "Make every home, every shack or rickety structure a centre of learning." 
• "No power on earth can stop an oppressed people determined to win their freedom." 
• "When a government seeks to suppress a peaceful demonstration of an unarmed people by mobilizing the entire reserves of the state, military and police, it concedes powerful mass support for such a demonstration."  
• "I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities and a thousand unremembered moments produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people. There was no particular day on which I said, Henceforth I will devote myself to the liberation of my people; instead, I simply found myself doing so, and could not do otherwise." 

Some Quotes by Dr. Johan Galtung ('father' of peace research):

• A part of the human vulnerability is short time perspective combined with a single-peaked time cosmology, easily leading to exaggerated optimism and exaggerated pessimism.  A long time perspective and wave-like time philosophy, inspire perseverance. 
• The gandhian action September 11 would have been to organize, with the same precision and synchronization, and on a  global scale, massive demonstrations around all US-Western-Japanese embassies in the world, surrounding them by the thousands, totally nonviolently, presenting the facts of global injustice, inviting dialogue.  And not only the economic exploitation but all dimensions of class: the political monopolies and manipulation in Palestine and Afghanistan, the military violence in Iraq and elsewhere, the cultural domination through the media and other means, the sacrilege in Arabia./30/   And there would have been a massive world boycott of the goods and products from the most objectionable, least socially and ecologically conscious, global corporations that same day, combined with promotion of concrete action for an economy privileging basic needs for the most needy; all of this far beyond Seattle, Gothenburg, Genova.  The demand would be for dialogue between people and government, assuming that they, democrats all, will never be scared of meeting people.  Would this have an impact on the hard, corporate US/West backed by police and military power? In the longer run yes, and it would have saved thousands of lives in New York, Washington DC and all over Afghanistan so far.  Soon maybe many, many more.  
• When the chips are all down, like for the cases of slavery and colonialism, massive global injustice is not a problem of force, counterforce, and cycles of retaliation.  Basically it is a moral problem, just like the other two.  And here the underdog has the upper hand, low in status, but high on moral standing; and more so the more nonviolently he conducts the struggle.  The top dog may win the game of force.  But not the moral issue - and when that dawns upon him and his allies, change of consciousness sets in, and demoralization starts thawing the frozen heart.  The game is over. And deep in the guts the better among those at the top know this already - brutally woken up by three planes raping three buildings.  By the September 11 wake-up call.  
• When asked how he keeps himself so cheerful in the face of so much ignorance and pain, Dr. Johan Galtung said, "I celebrate the joy of life." His recipe for happiness is "Enjoy the smallest things you take for granted. Just stand up – curl your toes."

• "It's quite understandable that concentrations of power should pursue those ends.  It makes good sense.  Understanding can liberate people to design and follow very different paths, to overcome the injustice and the needless suffering that deface contemporary civilisation, to defend 'the substance of society', to enrich it for themselves and for others and to show that human beings are something better than the ridiculous creatures that are crafted by contemporary ideology and the power that it serves."   Noam Chomsky, Whose World Order: Conflicting Visions http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~gharris/ ; updated in the Summer/Fall 2001 issue of the McGill International Review http://www.irsam.ca/mir/
• "The first step is to penetrate the clouds of deceit and distortion and learn the truth about the world, then to organise and act to change it. That's never been impossible and never been easy."
• "If you assume that there's no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, that there are opportunities to change things, there's a chance you may contribute to making a better world. That's your choice"
• "There is no reason to accept the doctrines crafted to sustain power and privilege, or to believe that we are constrained by mysterious and unknown social laws. These are simply decisions made within institutions that are subject to human will and that must face the test of legitimacy. And if they do not meet the test, they can be replaced by other institutions that are more free and more just, as has happened often in the past."

"Activism is contingent on a kind of tough optimism, a stubborn belief that our power is our own and that it is enough to change the world. In other words, activism and social change must be preceded by hope. This hope is necessary if we are ever to escape the cycles of violence between nations and create a lasting peace." The www.9-11Peace.org bulletin

"The people of the western world have been trained to be good consumers; to focus on money, sports cars, beauty, consumer goods. They have not been trained to look for character in people. Therefore what we need is education for politicians, a form of training that instills in them a higher sense of ethics than service to money. There is no training now for world leaders. This is a shame because of the responsibility that leaders hold to benefit all mankind rather than to blindly pursue destructive paths. We also need education for citizens to be more efficient in their democracies, in addition to education for politicians that will create a new network of elites based upon character and social intelligence." Dr. Johannes B. Koeppl, Ph.D. a former German defense ministry official and advisor to former NATO Secretary General Manfred Werner.

As a mark of his respect for all religions and for all human beings Ghandi incorporated into his daily prayer relevant hymns or daily prayers, but he influenced millions in India to use them also. "My effort should never be to undermine another's faith but to make him a better follower of his own faith." M.K. Gandhi.  All these selected passages have the underlying theme of PEACE:

Hindu Peace Prayer
I desire neither earthly kingdom, nor even freedom from birth and death. I desire only the deliverance from grief of all those afflicted by misery. Oh Lord, lead us from the unreal to the real; from darkness to light; from death to immortality. May there be peace in celestial regions. May there be peace on earth. May the waters be appeasing. May herbs be wholesome and may trees and plants bring peace to all. May all beneficent beings bring peace to us.  May thy wisdom spread peace all through the world. May all things be a source of peace to all and to me. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti (Peace, Peace, Peace).

Islamic Peace Prayer
We think of Thee, worship Thee, bow toThee as the Creator of this Universe; we seek refuge in Thee, the Truth, our only support. Thou art the Ruler, the barge in this ocean of endless births and deaths. In the name of Allah, the beneficient, the merciful. Praise be to the Lord of the Universe who has created us and made us into tribes and nations. Give us wisdom that we may know each other and not despise all things. We shall abide by thy Peace. And, we shall remember the servants of God are those who walk on this earth in humility and, when we addrss them, we shall say Peace Unto Us All.

Christian Peace Prayer
Blessed are the PEACEMAKERS, for they shall be known as The Children of God. But I say to you: love your enemy, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To those who strike you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from those who take away your cloak, do not withhold your coat as well. Give to everyone who begs from you; and, to those who take away your goods, do not ask them again. And as you wish that others would do unto you, do so unto them as well.

Jewish Peace Prayer
Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, that we may walk the paths of the Most High. And we shall beat our swords into ploughshares and our spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation - neither shall they learn war any more. And none shall be afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.

Shinto Peace Prayer
Although the people living across the ocean surrounding us are all our brothers and sisters why, Oh Lord, is there trouble in this world? Why do winds and waves rise in the ocean surrounding us? I earnestly wish the wind will soon blow away all the clouds hanging over the tops of the mountains.

Baha'i Writing
Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity.  Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbour, and look upon him with a bright and friendly face.  Be a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answerer of the cry of the needy, a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge.  Be fair in thy judgement, and guarded in thy speech.  Be unjust to no man, and show all meekness to all men.  Be as a lamp unto them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful, a sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed, an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression.  Let integrity and uprightness distinguish all thine acts.  Be a home for the stranger, a balm for the suffering, a tower of strength for the fugitive.  Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring.  Be an ornament to the countenance of truth, a crown to the brow of fidelity, a pillar to the temple of righteousness, a breath of life to the body of mankind, an ensign of the hosts of justice, a luminary above the horizon of virtue, a dew to the soil of the human heart, an ark on the ocean of knowledge, a sun in the heaven of bounty, a gem on the diadem of wisdom, a shining light in the firmament of thy generation, a fruit upon the tree of humility. (Gleanings from the Writings of  BAHA'U'LLAH, CXXX)

"The day will come when the progress of nations will be judged not by their military or economic strength, nor by the splendour of their capital cities and public buildings, but by the well-being of their peoples: by their levels of health, nutrition and education; by their opportunities to earn a fair reward for their labours; by their ability to participate in the decisions that affect their lives; by the respect that is shown for their civil and political liberties; by the provision that is made for those who are vulnerable and disadvantaged; and by the protection that is afforded to the growing minds and bodies of their children." Peter Adamson of UNICEF (Preamble to the Progress of Nations Report 1993--following up on promises made at the World Summit for Children in l990)

"people have a right and a duty to point out where our national policies are mistaken" Crandall R. Kline Jr.

"One has probably learned in kindergarten the fundamentals of foreign policy: Don't cheat.  Don't lie.  Don't steal.  Don't kill.  Don't hate.  Don't seek revenge.  Be responsible.  Treat others with respect.  Seek friends who follow these rules." Crandall R. Kline Jr.

Helen Caldicott says that with the birth of her first child, she realized "that I would die to save the lives of my children. At that moment I accepted personal responsibility for stopping the nuclear arms race."

As Sandy Pollack wrote, "I have to work for what I want, and that's where the beauty and joy lies...when I'm engaged in 'struggle,' in accomplishing anything of any sort, I'm not depressed - but feel rather good."

"Many seem to believe that it has simply become impossible for an individual to influence the course of national and world events. I disagree. My experience in Australia from 1971 to 1976 taught me that democracy can still be made to work - that by exerting electoral pressure, an aroused citizenry can still move its government to the side of morality and common sense. In fact, the momentum for movement in this direction can only originate in the heart and mind of the individual citizen. Moreover, it takes only one person to initiate the process, and that person may be politically naive and inexperienced, just as I was when I first spoke out." Helen Caldicott

Some Quotes from David Adams, Psychology for Peace Activists http://www.culture-of-peace.info/ppa/title-page.html [5 Star Must Reading]:

• "The acquisition of values and purpose is only a beginning of consciousness development. Further development depends not only upon ideas, but must come through practice as well ... But practice for justice and peace, in a society dominated by militarism and material gain does not come easily. It takes courage and motivation, the key to which is the emotion of anger.  In one autobiography after another we find the same story - the initial action for peace and justice is motivated by anger against injustice. Like the spark that ignites the fuel in an engine, anger is the stimulus that initiates action ... If anger is not guided by the optimism of vision and clear humanistic values, it can be diverted into desperate and anti-human activities. The enemies of peace and justice often try to exploit anger in order to divert movements into such desperation "  
• At higher levels of consciousness development, anger, unlike fear, can be harnessed by affiliation and put to work as a powerful force for social change. Rather than the emotion of a single individual setting forth into action, it becomes the battle cry of the movement. Martin Luther King saw this as a critical truth and a secret of the success of W.E.B. DuBois as a leader of the civil rights and peace movements: "History had taught him it is not enough for people to be angry - the supreme task is to organize and unite people so that their anger becomes a transforming force."

• We don't need any special psychological principle to explain why activists move on to the step of affiliation: quite simply they find that the power of their action is greater when they work in a group rather than alone. As Debs concluded at the end of his life, "Unorganized you are helpless, you are held in contempt. Power comes through unity.  Affiliation is not just a practical matter; it produces a psychological transformation. Purpose becomes shared. Anger is collectivized. Action becomes not only effective, but also more complex, with a division of labor... Affiliation provides not only inspiration, but it also provides a necessary psychological support to initiate and sustain difficult actions... More than any other step of consciousness development, affiliation requires the learning of psychological skills." 

• "To sustain action and affiliation, these steps must be integrated with an activist's other social relations, including family, friendships, and means of earning a living. The question of personal integration is especially important because it enables an activist to sustain a lifetime of involvement and to avoid the danger of burnout. The danger of burnout is especially great for peace and justice activists because more than others, they are confronted by deliberate pressures from the forces of militarism and exploitation. These pressures can be overwhelming such as those that led to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Most major peace activists have been under attack by the police and mass media, and many have been sent to prison at one time or another." 

• "To sustain the struggle, activists must share the burden of political responsibility with other people in their organizations - developing relationships of mutual support. Otherwise, the whole "burden of the world" seems to sit on their shoulders alone, and eventually the stress becomes too much for a single individual to take. ... "Burnout" is not just the absence of the feeling of social support, but it is also a particular psychological state that may deepen by degrees into depression with inactivity, disaffiliation, despair, debauchery, guilt, exhaustion, nervous and physical illness.... Personal integration provides not only practical support, but it also produces an enriching and rewarding psychological transformation. By integrating each new affiliation with their previous networks of personal relationships and group affiliations, King, Debs, and Day (after meeting Maurin) were able to grow not just in public stature and strength, but also in private individuality. They were not "swallowed up" by their new affiliations and did not lose their individuality..." 

• For most people, including many activists for peace and justice, the step of personal integration is the highest step of consciousness development. But the peace movement needs leadership and for that a higher step of consciousness is needed, world-historic consciousness. ... World-historic consciousness, the highest step of consciousness, is not the quality of an individual acting alone, but of a leader working in affiliation. It is the kind of leadership that enables action and affiliation for peace and justice to develop in an effective and progressive rather than a narrow and sectarian direction. It's the ability of a leader to know the mood of the people, to analyze the strengths and directions of all political forces, and to organize and broaden the political character of the movement so that it is in step with the agenda of history, which, in the present time, means the abolition of war.  ... First of all, a leader must know the mood of the people. This can come only from long and direct experience working among them. ... Second, a leader must understand the strengths and directions of all political forces in a systemic, not a superficial way. Such understanding must be "radical" - it must go to the roots of things - their economic and social causes. It must not be content with talk of superficial change, but must recognize that peace requires fundamental economic and political changes in society.... World-historic consciousness requires what Helen Caldicott has called, "a global view of reality and a sense of moral responsibility for humanity's future." Jane Addams called it "a new consciousness, a nascent world consciousness:" 

• "at the present time the achievement of peace with justice is the primary issue on the agenda of history. All other activism for social justice is related, in one way or another, to the quest for peace; it will all come to nothing if civilization goes up in the flames of nuclear war. Today we have the opportunity to achieve a higher level of consciousness than in any previous period of history. Never before has there been such a single, universal threat to our species and such an all-inclusive, world-wide task as the task of abolishing war. Never before has our species as a whole been faced with its own ultimate question of life or death. We have come full circle: the species consciousness that gave each of us the opportunity to attain individual consciousness is now endangered; and only the full development of individual consciousness in the masses of humanity can save it." 

• If we are to see the replacement of the culture of war with a culture of peace, it will be necessary to replace the use and/or threat of military force for internal state control with a system of democracy which can ensure stability without coercion. This task requires an economy of peace, as well as political institutions of participative democracy.  

• The current system of militarism and inequality promotes war, violence and injustice ... "proclaim the values of peace and justice ... the pursuit of peace as the purpose of life ... promote the values of peace and justice in the government, the mass media, and the educational systems.  . Whether it is the election of Congressional candidates who will speak out and work for peace, or the struggle for peace education programs in the public schools and universities, or the task of printing letters-to-editors or appearing on talk shows in order to provide an alternative to the media's militarism, the task is difficult, but ultimately necessary and rewarding."  

• Many see the rise in anger as a sign for despair, but the new psychology will see it as a force to be harnessed. ... Anger is a skill that needs to be harnessed so that it is used constructively rather than destructively. ... The new psychology must help engage people in today's "social motor," which is the peace movement, teaching them that their anger takes on constructive value within that social context. ... The use of fear must not be encouraged, but must be exposed as the method of militarism and repression. ... As well as providing a concrete basis for optimism, the new psychology should directly combat the psychological warfare of pessimism.  

 "Maybe we aren't on a one-way road to oblivion. Maybe we're standing at a crossroad, facing what may be the most important choice human beings have ever faced, a choice between two directions. In one direction is what we will have if we do nothing to alter our present course. By doing nothing, we are choosing a world of pollution and extinctions, of widening chasms and deepening despair, a world where humanity moves ever farther from achieving its highest aspirations and ever nearer to living its darkest fears. Our other choice is to actively engage with the living world. On this path we work responsibly and joyfully to make our lives, and our societies, into expressions of our love for ourselves, for each other, and for the living Earth. In this direction we honor our longing to give our children, and all children, a world with clean air and water, with blue skies and abundant wildlife, with a stable climate and a healthy environment. If you live with fear for our future, you are not alone.  If you live with dreams of a better world, you are not alone.  We all live, now, with both the pain and the possibility we carry in our hearts, both the despair and the hope that we may yet learn to live in harmony with our precious and endangered Earth. There is not a person alive today who does not, at some level, know we are facing these two directions, and understand how much is at stake.  I am aware how strong are the forces of ignorance, greed, and denial in our society. I know it is possible that we won't make it. But I am also aware of how strong is the longing and the love of life in the human heart. And so I know it is possible that we will make it, that we will create a sustainable economy that protects the living systems of the Earth, that we will come to be part of the world's repair. The power of darkness in our world is great, but it is not as great as the power of the human spirit. We can learn to provide for our needs and limit our numbers while cherishing this beautiful planet and its creatures. It is in our nature to honor the sacredness of life.  What is at stake today is enormous; it is the destiny of life on Earth. At such a time, walking a path of honoring ourselves and the living planet is our responsibility as citizens of the planet, but it is something more, as well.  It is also a joy, and a privilege." John Robbins http://www.foodrevolution.org

I think it was not long after my daughter was born, in 1989, that I came to the conclusion that, logically, there was no reason for hope for the earth and humanity. We were (are?) doomed to destroy the earth and our own species because of overconsumption, overpopulation and war. And yet, I had always worked for peace, knowing that I would continue this work, even if it were somehow possible to know that we were destined to blow up the earth... and I sensed that choice, to continue to hope, to have enough humility to know that what my brain tells me about our chances may not be the whole truth, was vital.  I saw that at the root of our problems was our economic system and went looking for answers. ... Then personal upheaval had one upside, that of allowing me to see, for myself, that the world is "stranger" than it first appears, that "miracles" can indeed happen. That, and having read books which validate that conclusion, have led me to the point where I consciously talk about "globalizing love" for instance.   Jan Slakov, October 2001

Winston Churchill took the Bush view of his enemies. In 1945, he preferred the straightforward execution of the Nazi leadership. Yet despite the fact that Hitler's monsters were responsible for at least 50 million deaths  -- 10,000 times greater than the victims of 11 September  --  the Nazi murderers were given a trial at Nuremberg because US President Truman made a remarkable decision. "Undiscriminating executions or punishments," he said, "without definite findings of guilt fairly arrived at, would not fit easily on the American conscience or be remembered by our children with pride." Robert Fisk

There once was a king who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The king looked at all the pictures. But there were only two he really liked, and he had to choose between them.  One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for peaceful towering mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.  The other picture had mountains, too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky, from which rain fell and in which lightning played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall.  This did not look peaceful at all.  But when the king looked closely, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest- in perfect peace.  Which picture do you think won the prize? The king chose the second picture. Do you know why?  >"Because," explained the king, "peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart.  That is the real meaning of peace."  Author Unknown

For Canadians, though, the most prescient words come from former UN General Assembly president and prime minister Lester Pearson, in his 1957 acceptance speech during the Cold War.  His words could have been written today: "The stark and inescapable fact is that today we cannot defend our society by war since total war is total destruction, and if war is used as an instrument of policy, eventually we will have total war.  Therefore, the best defence of peace is not power, but the removal of the causes of war, and international agreements which will put peace on a stronger foundation than the terror of destruction," he said.  Because there is always an end, it isn't enough just to fight a war.  That's why the biggest question to be answered by the United States and its allies isn't who to kill in this war against terrorism, but what will happen after.  Pearson believed it wasn't in armaments and materiel that solutions were found, but in people.  "It would be folly to expect quick, easy or total solutions.  It would be folly also to expect hostility and fears suddenly to vanish.  But it is equal, or even greater folly to do nothing; to sit back, answer missile with missile ... it would not make for peace."  During the Korean conflict, Pearson advised calling off the fighting as soon as the immediate aim had been achieved; creating a situation in which it would be possible to work for the ultimate goal of peace.  The solution, said Pearson at the Nobel awards, always returns "to one person and his own individual response to the challenges that confront him."  courtesy of Catherine Ford, Calgary Herald, October 12, 2001.

"Go to people, live with them, love them, learn from them. Start with what they know, build with what they have, and work with the best leaders, so when the work is done, people can say, 'We did this ourselves.' " (Lao Tzu, 700 BC)

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for enough good people to do nothing. The only thing necessary for the triumph of good is for enough good people to do a little extra." (unknown)

"I make no apology about reverting to the emotional argument which may have been lost along the way."  Musician and third world debt activist Bob Geldof, in response to public criticism of a new "Drop the Debt" campaign billboard advertisement in London, which features an emaciated black woman breast feeding a healthy white baby.

"No army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come". -Victor Hugo(1802 - 1885)

"There is only one power available to citizens which does not require great wealth or the use of violence.  It is the power of collective persuasion. It works on the subtle levels of thought and conversation and it works directly through democracy."

Dear (reader): I was in Queenston Drive Public School, Mississauga, Ontario this morning and in the hall, outside the Principle's office, they had some chart paper posted with the following information:

What We Planted in the Peace Garden
                    Grade 2M
>mint - cool thoughts
>heather - to discover yourself
>thyme - find the courage to find what your heart desires
>chives - absorb bad feelings
>parsley - to focus on our goals
>lavender - for calmness
>nasturtium - for energy to face challenges
>catnip - for 4-footed friends
>bee balm - for punk rocker flowers
>violets - faithfulness
>periwinkle - love is the best goal
>sage - wisdom
These flower ideas from a Grade 2 class give us something to think about!  Flower Power!!!
Best Regards, Doug Moore

"The Canadian peace movement plays an essential part in the new Canadian dialogue: for the peace movement challenges assumptions, not just policy, and forces us to examine those assumptions more closely." --External Affairs Minister Joe Clark

"I urge them (the peace movement) to strongly maintain the pressure at all times ... the pressure of honourable people working for the pursuit of peace is the strongest assurance democracy is healthy." --Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, House of Commons

"So I approach the pursuit of peace with determination, recognizing both the enormity of the task and the requirement for action. To those who say it cannot be done, I say it must be done. To those who say Canada can't do it alone, I say we can do it together. And to those who claim it is none of our business, I say the search for peace is everyone's business." --Prime Minister Brian Mulroney

"Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed... whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its power in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." - U.S.  Declaration of Independence, 1776

“It is a law of the universe that retaliation, hatred, and revenge only continue the cycle and never stop it.  Reconciliation does not mean that we surrender rights and conditions, but rather that we use love.  Our wisdom and compassion must walk together.”  Maha Gosananda

"When we dream alone, it is only a dream, but when we dream together, it is the beginning of a new reality." 

"Peace is not something you wish for; it is something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away!" Robert Fulghum

General Omar Bradley: "Wars can be prevented just as surely as they can be provoked, and we who fail to prevent them must share in the guilt for the dead."

General Douglas MacArthur: "I have known war as few men now living know it. Its very destructiveness on both friend and foe has rendered it useless as a means of settling international disputes."

Dwight D. Eisenhower: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who are hungry and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed." Speaking "as one who has witnessed the horror and lingering sadness of war - as one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization," he warned against the military-industrial complex.

John F. Kennedy: "Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind... War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today."

Lyndon B. Johnson: "The guns and the bombs, the rockets and the warships, all are symbols of human failure."

Pope John Paul II: "In the face of the man-made calamity that every war is, one must affirm and reaffirm, again and again, that the waging of war is not inevitable or unchangeable. Humanity is not destined to self-destruction. Clashes of ideologies, aspirations and needs can and must be settled and resolved by means other than war and violence."

Dr. Robert Jay Lifton has spent more than half a century pondering subjects like genocide, terrorism and nuclear extinction, but he
says he is not gloomy: "One's life work can be devoted to dreadful events without becoming deeply pessimistic." ... "I believe we must look into the abyss to see beyond it," he said.  "I'm a hopeful person." (Dr. Lifton, a prolific author who is a psychiatrist and the director of the Center on Violence and Human Survival at John Jay College of Criminal Justice)

"If we ourselves remain always angry and then sing world peace, it has little meaning.  So first our individual self must learn peace.  This we can practice.  Then we can teach the rest of the world."  The Dalai Lama

THOUGHTS FROM THE WORLD’S TWELVE GREAT RELIGIONS ON "PEACE":

Buddhism - "The aim of all should be to learn peace and live peacefully with all"

Christianity - "We should seek the way of peace and finally come to peace with God"

Confucianism - "Seek to live in harmony with all your neighbors and at peace with thy brethren"

Hinduism - "If one would find happiness and security, one must seek for peace"

Islam - "God will guide men to peace"

Jainism - "All men should live in peace with their fellow beings. This is the Lord’s desire"

Judaism - "The peaceful life offers the greatest opportunity for happiness and prosperity"

Shintoism - "The earth shall be free from trouble and (we) shall live in peace under the protection of the divine"

Sikhism - "By saturating my mind, (The True Name) has satisfied all my longings, and given me peace and happiness"

Taoism - "The good ruler seeks peace and not war, and he rules by persuasion rather than by force"

Zoroastrainism - "All men and women should mutually love one another and live in peace as brothers and sisters, bound by the indestructible hand of Humanity"

Baha’i - "Today there is no greater glory for man than that of service in the cause of the ‘Most Great Peace’"

"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies and competitive values.  For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge truth and falsehood in an open market is afraid of its own people".  John F. Kennedy

Matthew 5:9 This Chapter Matthew 5:8-10 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God."

"In the literature of peacemaking and peacebuilding, such contemporary doers and thinkers as Gene Sharp, Arthur Laffin, Fran Schmidt and Michael True have persisted in arguing what Gandhi, Muriel Lester, Jeannette Rankin, Barbara Deming and earlier pacifists believed: Pacifism is not passivity or appeasement, non-violence is not non-action. They are the opposite. Pacifists cherish the use of force: the force of well-organized resistance against corrupt power, the force of ideas, justice and truth-telling, the force of anonymously working to create the social and political conditions in which peace and justice, not killing and hate, have a better chance of flowering."  Colman McCarthy

"After slavery and apartheid, let’s abolish war." Archbishop Desmond Tutu, The Hague, May 4, l998.

“The abolition of war requires the development of effective nonviolent alternatives to military struggle” -Gene Sharp

“But war will only end after a great labour has been performed in altering men’s moral ideals, directing them to the good of all mankind and not only of the separate nations into which men happen to have been born.”   -Bertrand Russell

"There is something better than victory, and that is the avoidance of war." Bertrand Russell

"They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war anymore." Isaiah

"Today we are faced with the pre-eminent fact that, if civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships - the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together and to work together in the same world, at peace.... " Franklin D. Roosevelt

"We must proceed resolutely toward outlawing war completely and come to cultivate peace as a supreme good to which all programs and all strategies must be subordinated." Pope Paul

"Never give up.  Never give up." Winston Churchill

Here is the poem, Why We Are Here, which author Robert Arthur Lewis was
distributing in Seattle, on the occasion of the World Trade Organization
Ministerial Summit in 1999:

Why We Are Here

Because the world we imagined, the one
we had always counted on
is disappearing.
Because the sun has become cancerous
and the planet is getting hotter.
Because children are starving in the shadows
of yachts and economic summits.
Because there are already too many planes in the sky.

This is the manufactured world
you have come here to codify and expedite.
We have come to tell you
there is something else we want to buy.

What we want, money no longer recognizes
like the vitality of nature, the integrity of work.
We don't want cheaper wood, we want living trees.
We don't want engineered fruit, we want to see and smell the
food growing
in our own neighborhoods.

We are here because a voice inside us,
a memory in our blood, tells us
you are not just a trade body, you are the blind tip
of a dark wave that has forgotten its source.
We are here to defend and honor
what is real, natural, human and basic
against the rising tide of greed.

We are here by the insistence of spirit and the authority of
nature.
If you doubt for one minute the power of truth
or the primacy of nature
try not breathing for that length of time.

Now you know the pressure of our desire.
We are not here to tinker with your laws.
We are here to change you from the inside out.
This is not a political protest.
It is an uprising of the soul.

        -- Robert Arthur Lewis

Goals are the seeds from which the future grows. - Anon

"Understand the differences; Act on the commonalities." Andrew Masondo, African National Congress

"I believe that it is very important that we, as a society, teach people to be independent thinkers.  This means not just taking everything that is told to us without critical review.  It is unfortunate that government, advertisers, religions, etc. can not be trusted - but, at least in certain matters where they wish to control people's thoughts and actions, it is true.  When the general public becomes educated to be independent thinkers, then these 'perpetrators of propaganda' will be forced to be honest and change for the better (in all respects) will occur.  I think there would be very significant changes.  Being an optimist, I trust that these changes would be good." Bob Stewart

" The only way to abolish war is to make peace heroic." John Dewey, American philosopher and educator, 1859-1952

" We may not be strong enough to stop wars when the powers that be want them, but at least we are wise and humane enough to take political and moral stands as publicly as possible. This is, after all, the foundation we must build from." Leslie Cagan, anti-war activist

"This focus on money and power may do wonders in the marketplace, but it creates a tremendous crisis in our society. People who have spent all day learning how to sell themselves and to manipulate others are in no position to form lasting friendships or intimate relationships... Many Americans hunger for a different kind of society -- one based on principles of caring, ethical and spiritual sensitivity, and communal solidarity. Their need for meaning is just as intense as their need for economic security." 
Michael Lerner, journalist

The secret of getting ahead is getting started.  The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one. Mark Twain

There is no way to peace.  Peace is the way. - A. J. Muste

One is happiest, whether royalty or peasant, when you find peace at home.

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