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Vol. XVIII, No. 2, Winter, 2004

ONGOING ACTIVITIES



     The Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA) has recently  come into collaboration with several institutions in the Midwest and on the East Cost to help grow the organization and its programs, while deepening its ties with the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) which will hold its major conference in Hungary this summer. Next Fall's PJSA conference will be in San Francisco. To subscribe to the Peace Chronicle or obtain other information about PJSA contact PJSA, The Evergreen State College, Mailstop SEM3127, Olympia, WA 98505 (360)867-6196, pjsa@evergreen.edu, www.peaceandjusticestudies.org.

     United for Peace and Justice is collaborating with thousands of organizations around the world to organize The Global Day of Action Against War and Occupation around the world on Saturday, March 20. The focus of the day of demonstrations is ending the war and occupation in Iraq, but collaborating groups are invited to include other issues of concern to them. "The U.S. protests will call for global justice and also take on Bush's violation of human rights at home in the name of national security, abuses experienced most sharply by people of color. We will call for an end to the mass detentions and deportations of innocent immigrants in the name of fighting terrorism. We will express the growing opposition to the Patriot Act, authorizing indefinite detentions, domestic spying, religious and racial profiling. And we will say no to massive military spending amidst vast cuts in vital domestic social and economic programs". For more information, contact UFPJ at: (212)868-5545, m20info@unitedforpeace.org, http://www.unitedforpeace.org.

Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (A.N.S.W.E.R) and United for Peace and Justice, the two coalitions that organized the largest anti-war demonstrations during the last year, held a huge, "Bring the Troops Home Now, End the Occupation of Iraq" National March and Rally in Washington, D.C., October 25, on the eve of the Patriot Act's second anniversary, which the Washington mobilization opposed as an unnecessary attack on civil liberties. The October 25 demonstration also highlighted the cost of Bush's policy in Iraq to health and human services, schools and jobs here at home. Over 120 regional organizing centers in cities around the country sent busloads of protesters to this demonstration. Contacts: Bill Dobbs, United for Peace and Justice: (212) 868-5545, www.unitedforpeace.org

Bill Hackwell, A.N.S.W.E.R.: (202) 544-3389, www.internationalanswer.org. United for Peace and Justice, founded in October 2002, is a major national anti-war coalition with over 600 member groups, ranging from local groups such as Nebraskans for Peace and the Peoria Area Peace Network to major national organizations like the American Friends Service Committee, Black Voices for Peace, Peace Action, and Global Exchange. "Our primary areas of work include war and occupation; immigrant rights and civil liberties; global justice; and nuclear disarmament".  Highlander Research and Education Center has been opposing the War in Iraq and a potential war in North Korea. Highlander opposes the Bush administration's use of the war on terror to curtail civil liberties, cut human services and humanitarian aid and to move aggressively against anyone in the world who opposes its policies. The center has also been acting to counteract the antiimmigrant backlash in the U.S. southeast since 9/11. especially for Latin American immigrants. Since the early 1990's, the center has been helping Latin American immigrants overcome language and cultural barriers in organizing to have an effective voice for justice. The center has been active in United for A Fair Economy, organized to counter the growing gap between rich and poor in the U.S. and around the world. For information contact Highlander Research and Education Center, 1959 highlander Way, New Market, TN 37820 (865)933-3443, hrec@highlandercenter.org, www. highlandercenter.org. Peace Action Education Fund's Campaign for a New Foreign Policy is supporting efforts to mobilize voter registration and education and linking with other organizations in its effort to promote  a more peace oriented and internationally collaborative U.S. foreign Policy. For information contact Peace action Education Fund, Inc., 1100 Wayne Ave., Suite 1020, Silver Springs, MD 20910 (301)565-4050

     Israeli and Palestinian peace organizations including Gush Shalom, the Other Israel, Rabbis for Human Rights and Women in Black have been holding continuing discussions of the recent and earlier proposed peace plans. Three drafts for an Israeli-Palestinian Peace Agreement are compared on Gush Shalom's web sites, in Hebrew: http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/compare_heb.html, in English: http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/compare_eng.html. The complete texts of the Gush Shalom document, the Geneva document, and the Ayalon-Nusseibeh document are available at: http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/peace.html, http://www.mifkad.org.il/eng/PrinciplesAgreement.asp, and http://www.heskem.org.il/Heskem_en.asp. The peace organizations continue protests against the building of the security wall, with specific actions against related and unrelated land seizures, house demolitions and other Israeli security acts injurious of Palestinians. At times they have provided a living shield to protect Arafat, after the Israeli cabinet threatened to kill him.

In addition Israeli peace organizations continue their support for "refusniks", members of the Israeli security forces refusing to serve in the occupied territories or to take part in Israeli initiated security operations against Palestinians, including attending and reporting on trials of refuseniks. These activities continue to be supported by internationals that the Israeli government attempts to keep from entering Israel and the occupied territories, and often detains and deports. On December 25 the army fired live bullets at peace activists, wounding one, tearing down a gate in the separation wall at Masha to allow Palestinian farmers access to their lands on the other side. The Palestinians were promised access, but the gate was locked preventing them from reaching their sole source of income. Various peace groups also continue to assist Palestinians with olive harvests, particularly in orchards that are, or are about to be, cut off by the building of the wall, or lost to land seizures. Some harvesters have been arrested. For more information, contact Gush Shalom, pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033, Israel, info@gush-shalom.org, www.gush-shalom.org. The website contains links for Articles and documents in German, French and Spanish. In order to receive Gush Shalom's Hebrew-language press releases [mostly WORD documents - not always the same as the English versions] E-mail: gush-shalom-heb-request@mailman.gush-shalom.org + NB: write the word "subscribe" in the subject line. Also, contact The Other Israel: otherisr@actcom.co.il.

     Peace Now's activities included a tour of the existing settlement outposts, in late November. For more information contact Yariv Oppenheimer: yariv@peacenow.org.il. Rabbis For Human Rights has been particularly active in assisting Palestinians in the olive harvest this fall. For more on their doings, contact them at: Tel. 972 2 563-7731, Cell: 972 50607034, info@rhr.israel.net, rhr.israel.net. International Solidarity Movement volunteer Radhika Sainath, from   Orange County, California is suing the state of Israel for unlawful imprisonment, negligence and breach of obligations. Ms. Sainath, along with 8 other internationals, was seized by Israeli soldiers in November in the olive groves of the West Bank village Jayyous. For more information call: Radhika Sainath:    065 203 596, or her Attorney Shamai Leibowitz: 064 414 505. Among the action's of Yesh Gvul has been notifying Israelis heading east in central Israel into territory seized from Palestinians that they are entering occupied territory. For more details go to: http://yesh-gvul.org/english

     On November 10, Eliyahu McLean of Peace Maker Circles reported, "We made clear that no walls would stand between the people. Some two hundred Palestinians, 35 Israelis and a similar number of internationals gathered yesterday in the village of Zububa to mark the international day of solidarity against the wall, by tearing a portion of it down. Our day started much earlier though. Zububa is the village located farthest north in the occupied territories, and adjacent to a village named Salem, inside the 1948 borders. In the days before the wall became a cold and hard fact it had been a matter on mere minutes walking between the two villages. Nowadays the two villages are cut from each other completely, and so was our easy route to Zububa. We were forced to go through a military checkpoint in the wall, 10 kilometers away, where we were to switch to a Palestinian bus. 10 kilometers may not sound all that much, but in the reality of the occupation this short ride took us over an hour and a half of dirt roads and roads regarding which even former term will seem like an unreasonable euphemism...." Also In November, Peacemaker Circles held a special Ramadan celebration in the Galilee village of Rama, on the grounds of the Greek Catholic church of Santa Maria, with delegations of Christian, Druze, Muslim and Jewish religious leaders to honor the Muslims in their sacred month of Ramadan by sharing together 'iftar', the Ramadan break-fast meal. Peace Maker Circles has an interfaith prayer circle chanting for peace every Friday on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, extending over the time that Muslims exit the Mosques after prayers. For more information contact Eliyahu McLean: eliyahu@actcom.co.il or eliyahu@peacemakercircle.org.

     Mosaic Communities is organizing multinational housing cooperatives to overcome discrimination against Arabs (and others who are not Jews) in owning land in Israel and in obtaining low interest mortgages. For information contact Fred Schlomka‚ Telephone: +972-(0)56-875-893‚ fred@icahd.org, http://www.cjme.org/MosaicConceptPaper.pdf, or Friends of Mosaic Communities - USA, P.O. Box 4726, St. Paul, MN 55104 (800)809-7913, info@mosaic-coop.org.

     The Jewish-Arab Musical Youth Orchestra is a young Jewish and Palestinia ensemble. "The orchestra has a multicultural attitude, not only as a vision but also as a matter of actual practice," says the conductor, Wissam Jubran.  Its activities are decided by a regional panel of musicians. The Orchestra toured Holland last fall to promote peace through music in the Middle East. In January. a joint Israeli and Palestinian expedition by Extreme is undertaking a 35 day trek in Antarctica. to climb an unclimbed mountain. The joint venture to promote peace is being documented in a film, CEBreaking the Ice. For over a year,  Physicians for Human Rights has sponsored a project in which a group of volunteers has been regularly helping to care for Palestinian children from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank who are hospitalized at the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, and to assist the parents who are looking after them.

     Americans for Peace Now is calling for a negotiated two state solution between Palestinians and Israelis with Israel withdrawing most settlements, seeing their existence as an existential threat to Israel. Americans for Peace Now believes that time is not on Israel's side, and that it is strongly in Israel's interest to move to achieve a just peace as quickly as practical in order to insure Israel's security. For more information contact Americans for Peace Now, 1101 14 St., NW, Washington, DC 20005 (202)728-1893, apndc@peacenow.org, www.peacenow.org.
 
     Search for Common Ground (SFCG) finished its 21st year with its staff growing to almost 400, working out of offices in 13 countries.  "In places like Burundi, Sierra Leone, and Macedonia, we believe we made a real difference in moving societies back from the abyss.  Globally, however, 2003 was not a good year for peacemaking.  To our regret, war and violence became even more prevalent and overshadowed peaceful conflict resolution. Still, we are optimistic. We are convinced and we operate from this premise that history and human consciousness are largely evolving in positive directions".  In the Middle East, SCGME in partnership with Middle East Non-Violence and Democracy (MEND) and the Truman Institute for Peace at Hebrew University brought together a group of 16 Israeli and Palestinian women active in nonviolence in their communities for a five day workshop in Northern Ireland with local women active in conflict resolution and peacemaking. The group met again in Washington, DC, in July for a number of workshops and trainings. The D.C. sessions included meetings hosted by Women Waging Peace in which the group came together with female activists from Afghanistan and Iran for discussions of the role of women in nonviolent action. The group also met with congressional aids, to whom it recommended that more aid be given to conflict resolution. SCGME has partnered with Ma'an Network of Independent Palestinian TV stations to put on a twice weekly series of round table discussions of nonviolent action. The Middle East consortium on Infectious Disease Surveillance (MECIDS) held its third meeting, in June, of governmental and nongovernmental specialists in public health and biological defense from Egypt, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian authority to build trust and reduce vulnerability in the region to natural and malicious disease outbreaks. Plans were refined for several projects, and a sharing of experiences with the SARS crises took place.

The Regional Activities SCGME convened a meeting in Cyprus, in June, to consider steps that cooperating groups could take to enhance confidence building between Palestinians and Israelis and move toward peace in the region. Participants from Egypt, Iran, Israel Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian territories, Syria, Canada and the U.S., including former ambassadors, generals, heads of policy institutes and NGOS, policy analysts and journalists, agreed to develop activities that tended to reframe the way Palestinians and Israelis deal with problems of incitement. the idea is to undertake joint projects to overcome the barriers incitement enforces. It was also decided that the Saudi peace proposal adopted by the Arab league was a positive initiative that should now be promoted among Arabs and Israelis. A small working group discussed Iraq, agreeing that the views of neighboring countries on the situation and how to contribute to rebuilding the country should be published as a series of papers.

The Common Ground News Service (CGNews) published a series of articles on nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, in July, written by Palestinian, Arab and western experts and analysts. CGNews has now distributed over 500 articles promoting nonviolence, peace and mutual understanding in the Middle East. To subscribe to CGNews in English, Arabic, or Hebrew, contact: subscribe-cgnews@sfcg.org; subscribe-cgnewsarabic@sfcg.org, or subscribe-cgnewshebrew@lists.sfcg.org.  The Bulletin of Regional Cooperation in the Middle East published its last hard copy issue with its Spring/Summer 2003 issue and is now available on line. To subscribe in English, Arabic, or Hebrew, contact: subscribe-bulletinenglish@sfcg.org; subscribe-bulletinarabic@sfcg.org, or subscribe-bulletinhebrew@lists.sfcg.org.

SFCG's Shape of the Future TV Series is currently producing a five-hour series of TV documentaries on final status issues, including Jerusalem, Refugees, Settlements and Borders, and The Nature of the Two States in Arabic, Hebrew, English and other languages. The goal is to demonstrate that negotiated settlements are possible, without threatening the national existence of either Israelis or Palestinians. Radio Soap Opera, in partnership with MEND (Middle East Non-Violence & Democracy), a Palestinian NGO, is producing a 26-part, dramatic radio series, Il-Dar Dar Abuna (Home Is Our Home), being aired by nine stations on the West Bank and in Gaza, stressing themes of non-violence and individual responsibility.

     In 1995, Search for Common Ground began a multi-pronged initiative on the ground in Burundi to help defuse ethnic violence, including a Women's Peace Center, a project to work with young people who had been involved in violence, and a radio production facility, called Studio Ijambo (Wise Words).  In 2002, SFCG supported the launch of an independent radio station, Radio Isanganiro (Crossroads) by an ethnically mixed group of former Studio Ijambo journalists. The station's motto is "Dialogue is better than shooting." Dozens of programs have been produced encouraging tolerance and reconciliation. The Pillars of Humanity series tells the stories of Burundians who have risked their lives to protect a person from another ethnic group.

"Mbabarira (I'm Sorry)" is a new series providing a safe forum for Burundians to talk about past acts that they now regret. In a society where atrocities are commonplace, SFCG believe it is important to encourage forgiveness and apology. According to producer Michel Rwamo, "We wanted to reach people who were either too afraid or too proud to face the other person."  SFCG's work in Burundi is highlighted in a new TV documentary to be aired on U.S. public television, "Peace by Peace: Women on the Frontlines", focusing on women as peacemakers. In 1995, SFCG realized the necessity of focusing attention in Washington on the whole Great Lakes region of Central Africa, to encourage cooperation among government agencies, multi-lateral organizations, NGOs, and academia.

In partnership with Refugees International, SFCG began what became the Great Lakes Policy Forum. In October, it held its 100th meeting, featuring Ambassador Aldo Aiello, Special Representative of the European Union. The Council on Foreign Relations, the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars have now become partners in the forums, which have provided a model for other forums.  In 1996, SFCG launched a similar group in Brussels. In 1999, it began the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Forum in Washington, along with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Conflict Management Program at SAIS, the Conflict Prevention Project of the Woodrow Wilson International Center, the Center for Preventative Action at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Partners for Democratic Change. Then, in 2002, SCFG organized the NGO Working Group on Angola that has grown into the Washington Roundtable on Angola.

      For the last few years, with funding from the European Union, SFCG has been holding meetings of Greek and Turkish editors and publishers to improve communication and encourage joint projects. One result was that Greek State TV (ET3) and Turkey‚s NTV agreed to co-produce six documentaries on subjects of shared interest. This fall, the documentaries aired in both countries to critical acclaim. They included programs on refugees, music, economic cooperation, leadership, everyday life, and the role of civil society in building better relations. Another outcome of the Turkish-Greek media meetings was publication, in September, of a six-page supplement by the Greek daily Makedonia and the Turkish daily Cumhurriyet, written in both languages, focusing on earthquake diplomacy, which in the last few years has transformed the very nature of Greek-Turkish relations. It described how the two countries have moved beyond historical enmity and shifted their dealings from a win-lose to a win-win approach. The common ground turned out to be highly destructive earthquakes that struck both countries and led to a reciprocal flow of support and human connection.

     SFCG continues its efforts, started in 1996, to improve US-Iranian relations. In August, in cooperation with the Iranian Interests Section in Washington, SFCG organized a meeting between Ayatollah Seyed Mostafa Mohaghehg Damad and US religious leaders on the compatibility of Islam and Christianity.  

       In October, SFCG held the third annual Common Ground Film Festival in Washington, DC. The opening featured the documentary, GACACA: Living Together Again in Rwanda, which focuses on the balance between vengeance and forgiveness and how to achieve mass justice for mass crimes. For more information on any of SFCG's activities, contact: Search for Common Ground, 1601 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Suite 200, Washington, DC 20009 (202)265-4300, search@sfcg.org, http://www.sfcg.org.


     Common Bond Institute is engaging in experiment, collaborating on a series of 5 major international conferences in 3 countries that focus on advancing the consciousness of peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation. The goal is to increase the capacity for a global culture of peace. Although each is independent with its own content and goals, all of the events in this series will be held within a 3 month period and are programmatically linked to progressively build on each other for an energetic flow and larger impact. As a result, outcomes will emerge and coalesce synergistically as the process progresses. While each event will devote a different amount of time and energy to the core components of this process - ranging from a 1-day institute to a full conference program - all 5 events are tied together by a common theme of exploring the fundamental elements of a consciousness of peace that allows our skills to effectively cultivate and maintain a genuine state of harmony with the world around us.

The sequence is designed to build on the energy and products of each event to progressively deepen the dialogue and foster proactive networks of social activists and healers along the way. The intent of these networks will be to create practical strategies for applying results to current social relationships and for developing the capacity for peace, locally and globally. Within this process participants will examine universal dynamics in developing and maintaining fear-based belief systems, negative stereotypes, prejudice, scapegoating, and justified violence for a deeper understanding of how these become embodied in our concepts of "The Other." Also explored will be how these dynamics can become systemic in a society, leading to blind intolerance, hostility, and a sense of personal disempowerment, when the energy of fear, revenge, and a victim identity are pervasive; and how confident compassion, reconciliation, and forgiveness can be powerful antidotes to this. The 5 Conferences are listed in the Calendar of events above. They will lead to a number of publications, including a documentary, and will include planning and development meetings on methods of applying the results of the series. An international network to promote on-going future collaboration and proactively advance the work of the conferences will be established and made up of participants and key contacts developed over the course of the process. For more information contact: Common Bond Institute 12170 S. Pine Ayr Drive, Climax, Michigan 49034 Ph/Fax: (269)665-9393, solweean@aol.com, http://ahpweb.org/cbi/home.html.


Amnesty International (AI) has joined with Oxfam and a coalition of over 500 gun control groups in an international campaign to control the global gun trade. With over 640 million firearms in circulation, guns (including automatic and semiautomatic weapons) are cheap and easy to obtain in many parts of the world, inflaming local conflicts, facilitating "a plague of misery and human rights abuses," increasing criminal violence and causing accidental death and injury. The campaign calls on all governments to end all arms shipments likely to cause human rights abuses and to take the steps necessary to protect their own citizens from gun violence. AI is concerned that the small progress Yemen had made in human rights over the past decade has been reversed as the government has yielded to pressure from the U.S. in the war on terror, "replicating U.S. tactics at Guantanamo Bay" in detaining people for weeks or months with out access to lawyers or the judiciary. AI is concerned that, both at home and abroad, the U.S. needs to develop an approach to terrorism that is effective without sacrificing human rights. For more information, contact Amnesty International, 322 8 Ave., New York, NY 10001 (800)807-8400, www.amnestyusa.org.


     The third annual convention of Woman for Afghan Woman, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in September, with women leaders from all over the nation, proposed a Women's Bill of Rights, at least part of which has been included in the recently approved Afghan Constitution. For details, go to www.womenforafghanwomen.org.

     The National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD) is currently collecting evaluation tools and information about evaluation practices used by a variety of dialogue and deliberation organizations and programs.  NCDD and the Deliberative Democracy Consortium are in the beginning stages of a collaborative project that they hope will lead to the creation of a new evaluation tool or series of tools which can be utilized for a wide variety of deliberative forums.  NCDD requests organizations to send samples of, or information about, the tools and processes they have used to evaluate D&D programs (via email if possible) to: Sandy Heierbacher, NCDD Convener, at sandy@thataway.org or P.O. Box 402, Brattleboro, VT 05302. The Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR), formed by the merger of AFM, CREnet and SPIDR, is an organization of conflict resolution professionals putting on conferences, providing professional development and skill building opportunities, newtorking conflict resolution professionals and publishing a quarterly magazine, ACResolution, a journal, Conflict Resolution Quarterly, and an on line monthly newsletter, ACR Update. For details contact ACR, 1015 18 St., NW, Suite 1150, Washington, DC 20036 (202)464-9700. acr@acrnet.org, www.acrnet.org.

The Public Conversations Project (PCP) has been exploring the impact of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict on people in the U.S. PCP is conducting intra Jewish dialogues with members of a synagogue in Massachusetts and facilitating conversations between Arab and Jewish neighbors while working with the Jewish Dialogue Group to produce a guide to dialogue and deliberation about the Israeli-Palestinian situation. For more information contact PCP at (617)923-1216 or E-mail: info@publicconversations.org with "subscribe" on the subject line to receive monthly electronic updates.

     Psychologists for Social Responsibility (PsySR) has been active in coalitions with other organizations, including Abolition 2000, 20-20 vision, Urgent Call, Psychologists Acting with Consciousness Together, Unity for Peace and Win without War, as a result of many members (in the words of PsySR President Linden Nelson) "feeling outraged about actions of the Bush Administration. Examples of our grievances include: waging preemptive War in Iraq on false pretext, marginalizing the United Nations, withdrawing from international agreements, developing new nuclear bombs and Star Wars systems, lowering taxes for the wealthy while ignoring the needs of the poor, and cutting programs for controlling population, pollution and global warming." PSysR has created a listserv for people interested in participating in political action. To join one send a blank e-mail to PsySR-announce-subscribe@Yahoogroups.com.

Another listserv is available for members to share ideas about issues with each other, which is joined by sending a blank message to PsySr-disc-subscription@Yahoogroups.com. PsySR Media Watch Project provides feedback to a range of media outlets when it perceives that they are providing or making statements based on incorrect data or are presenting a biased picture in areas relevant to the organization's mission. The project collects examples of biased and inaccurate reporting, and also recognizes excellent coverage. For more details contact PsySR Media Committee Chair, Dan Mayton: dmayton@icsc.edu.

In October, PsySR sponsored a working conference, "Rethinking Gender, War and Peace: Feminist Perspectives" at George Washington University, in Washington, DC. The Status of Women Action Committee has been focusing on the results of the conference. For details contact Anne Anderson: anderson@psysr.org

The Trauma, Resilience and Social Reintegration Action Committee completed its second "Clara Conference: Working with Communities Effected by Ethnopolitical Conflict," giving people working in a variety of disciplines with differing orientations in the field of psychological humanitarian aid the opportunity to discuss the similarities and differences in their approaches with reference to concrete situations. For more information on the committees work, contact Deanna Beech: beeches@earthlink.net.

The Conflict Resolution Action Committee has been working on updating PsySR's Enemy Images Manuel. For details, contact Steve Fabeick: SteveFabick@aol.com. The Global Violence and Security Action Committee has been focusing  on the nuclear issue because of the heightened attention it has been receiving with the public. The committee's goals are to increase awareness of psychological issues related to nuclear weapons and to coordinate with and support actions of other organizations by supplementing their positions with a psychological perspective. The committee continues to be concerned about psychological factors involved in other forms of global violence including preemptive war, terrorism, weapons sales and contracts, land mines and the disruption of young people and habitats through global imperialism. A library has been started on the psychological issues of global security. For details contact: brandon@pysr.org or subscribe to the committee's listserv: psysr-gv-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

The Nonviolent Social Change Action Committee is seeking funds to implement the Project Unity Summer Internship Program this year, developed with support from the Christian Children's Fund to address adolescent psychosocial health post 9/11. For details contact Dan Christie: christie1@osu.edu.

The Peace Education Action Committee is developing a brochure to help members promote conflict resolution and violence prevention education programs for K-12. The committee is also continuing to encourage college teachers to ad or improve instruction about war and peace issues in their courses. For details contact Linda Nelson: llNelson@calpoly.edu.

The Environmental Health and Justice Action Committee operating jointly with American Psychological Association Division 48 has been focusing on the intersection of environmental conflicts, peace, conflict and social justice. The committee has working on ways to make its web site more useful to psychologists wishing to respond to ongoing events. A second project in motion involving sustainable growth is working with smart growth, including its psychological issues, in hopes of obtaining holistically well planned future development. The committee's third piece of work is developing research linking resource issues to armed conflict around the world. A paper on the topic has been submitted to the Journal of Social Issues. In addition, a second edition of Psychology of Environmental Problems has been prepared and has been published by Lawrence Erlbaum. For more on the committees doings contact Deborah DuNann Winter: dwinter@whitman.edu.

The Universal Health Care Action Committee has developed a statement calling for fundamental reform of the U.S. health care system, so that everyone, regardless of ability to pay, will have adequate insurance covering health care, mental health, substance abuse, preventive care and long term health care, as well as prescriptions. For details contact Marianne Jackson: (718)857-4610, MJack46@earthlink.net. Establishment of two new action committees on poverty and discrimination and mental health reform have been proposed. PsySR's quarterly Newsletter has switched from hard copy to internet posting. To be notified of postings send an E-mail to psysr@psysr.org. RE: newsletter. For more on PsySR's work, contact Psychologists for Social Responsibility, 208 I St., NE, Washington DC 20002 (202)543-5347, psysr@psysrusa.org, www.psysr.org.

     The International Peace Practitioners Network of PsySR and the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict and Violence: Peace Psychology Division [48] of the American Psychological Association supported "an International Appeal to Oppose War Provocation in Korea and to Resolve North Korean Issues By Peaceful Means" involving Korean and international NGO's last fall (for more contact Gyung-Lan Jung: jglan21@hahoo.com). The network reports the Coalition for Work on Psychotrauma and Peace is developing a proposal for a field institute in post-conflict studies in Vukovar, Croatia, with contact person: Charles David Tauber: Coalition for Work With Psychotrauma and Peace, Gunduliceva 18, 32000 Vukovar, Croatia, tel and fax +385-32-441975, tel only +385-32-444662, http://www.cwwpp.org. To join the IPP Network send a blank E-mail to ippn-subscription@yahoogroups.com.

     With the retirement of Paul Wahrhaftig, Conflict Resolution Center International (CRCI) has closed its office, after more than 20 years, and published the last issue of Conflict Resolution Notes, with the September-December 2003 issue. CRCI has reduced its operation to two functions, supporting the Coalition for Work with Psychotrauma and Peace, in Vukovar, Croatia, and sponsoring some small peace training and organizing programs in the Pittsburgh, PA area. CRCI's library has been transferred to the Conflict Resolution Network, Canada, reachable through: www.vmetwork.ca, with the core of the collection available full text on line at www.CRIinfo.org. CRCI can be located at its original location, the house of: Paul Wahrhaftig, 7514 Kensington St., Pittsburgh, PA 15221 (412)371 1000, Paul@Conflictres.org, www.mediate.com/conflictres.

     The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is sufficiently troubled by current administration policies of going to war in Iraq, unnecessarily limiting civil liberties, and cutting programs to those who need them, that it has launched Catalyst for Change, including activist training, bird dogging (having people politely but pointedly ask important questions of candidates) to show citizen concern about issues of peace and justice, voter registration efforts and "Listening Projects," where people from diverse communities can express their deepest concerns. In addition, AFSC's activities include providing assistance in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia and North Korea (which again faces severe famine). For more details contact American Friends Service Committee, 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia, PA 19102 (888)588-2372, www.afsc.org.

     The International Institute for Peace through Tourism in partnership with the Africa Travel Association put on the Second IIPT African Conference on Peace through Tourism in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in December, hosted by the Tanzania Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism. With the theme:  "Community Tourism: Gateway to Poverty Reduction," The Conference aimed at developing partnerships, implementation strategies and action initiatives that contribute to sustainable community development, peace and poverty reduction. For details contact: Conference@iipt.org or Judy_Karwacki@hotmail.com, or visit: www.iipt.org.

     Life & Peace Institute is an international center for peace research and action, based in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1985 by the Swedish Ecumenical Council, LPI aims to further the causes of justice, peace and reconciliation through means of conflict transformation programs, action research, seminars, conferences and publications. The Institute has been involved, since its inception, with initiating research projects that underpin attempts to make violence less plausible, acceptable and probable. It does not see its task as the advocacy of specific causes. Nevertheless, in its considerable research output, it seeks the collaboration of people from all around the world, who will support the broad Christian ethical principles of justice, peace, truth and reconciliation. It is a small institute with 9 staff people.

     The Alliance for Conflict Transformation (ACT) is a resource for Careers and opportunities in human rights, peace and conflict resolution, development and civil society development. ACT maintains Announcement Forums for individuals seeking jobs and scholarships and information on conferences/events, and for organizations interested in recruiting qualified candidates/applicants. Over 150 organizations and universities throughout the world currently use the forums to recruit advanced professional and academic candidates in the fields of conflict resolution, peace studies, development, human rights, women's rights, civil society development, etc. For details, contact the forums manager, Mr. Craig Zelizer at forums@conflicttransformation.org,or Alliance for Conflict Transformation, Inc., PO Box 3203 . Fairfax, VA 22038. www.conflicttransformation.org.

     Nuclear Age Peace Foundation works to "advance initiatives to eliminate the nuclear weapons threat to all life, to foster the global rule of law, and build an enduring legacy of peace through education and advocacy." For details contact David Krieger, President, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, PMB 121, 1187 Cost Village Rd., Suite 1, Santa Barbara, CA 93108 (805)965-3443, wagingpeace@napf.org.

     We, the World was created to "dramatically increase public involvement in creating a peaceful, caring and sustainable world". Its "international strategy for achieving this goal includes: 1) Creating comprehensive and empowering global links between those working for peace, sustainability and transformation and 2) Utilizing those links in an ongoing series of highly publicized Public International Events to engage, inform and involve large numbers of people in this work". For more information contact Rick Ulfik, Executive Director, We, the World, 211 E. 43 St., Suite 710, New York, NY 10017 (212)867-0844, info@wetherworld.org, www.wetherwprld.org. City Quest of Chicago's mission is, "Together we seek ways to facilitate the healing of persons in our fragmented culture, the growth of spiritually-grounded leadership, and the building of peaceful, loving, and diverse small interfaith communities". For more, contact: City Quest, 3320 Robincrest Dr., Northbrook, IL, 60062 (847)498-1342, halandbetsy@comcast.net.

     STITCH, formed in 1996, is a network of US women organizers and activists that supports and connects Central American and US women organizing for economic justice. STITCH believes women across borders face many of the same challenges and can support each other in strengthening women’s leadership, building their organizations, and challenging injustices in the workplace and global economy. In Central America, STITCH currently works with unions in the maquila and banana industries. STITCH is a non-profit organization with one FT Executive Director and one PT Assistant Director based in Washington DC, and one FT Guatemala-based Program Coordinator. For more information, contact STITCH, 1525 Newton Street, NW, Washington DC 20010, FAX: 202-265-3575, stitch@stitchonline.org, www.stitchonline.org

Infact reports, that despite U.S. resistance, the final round of talks on the international Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) international treaty to control tobacco have lead to inclusion of strong language to protect health by limiting tobacco sales and advertising. Infact has lifted its nine year boycott of Philip Morris/Altir's Kraft Foods as public pressure, including Infact's efforts, have brought the conglomerate to stop promoting smoking, especially by young people, and acting against public policy efforts to limit tobacco use. For more information, contact Infact,, 49 Plympton St., Boston, MA 02118 (617)695-2525, info@infact.org, www.infact.org

The Campaign for Labor Rights was able to bring their international efforts to end sweat shops and assist workers around the world in gaining reasonable wages, benefits and working conditions by being able to unionize and participate in fair collective bargaining, by combining with other groups in Miami, FL at the time of the November talks on Free Trade in the Americas to put on workshops, join wider protests and obtain increased media coverage. For details, contact Campaign for Labor Rights, 1470 Irving St., NW, Washington, DC 20010 (202)232-5002.

     Ambassador Chowdhury and Virginia Swain have begun offering the first module of a program of the Institute for Global Leadership, "The Practice of Reconciliation Leadership", at the United Nations for a Culture of Peace, as part of a new leadership program based on vocational service. The Institute for Global Leadership For more information, go to: www.global-leader.org, or call Virginia  at: (508)753-4172.

     The Association for Humanistic Psychology (AHP), which focuses on inner and outer peace, has been operating for 40 years. For information on its doings and publications, go to ahpweb.org.

     Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), which is celebrating its 25th year, joined other anti nuclear groups in August in protesting Bush administration policies to develop new nuclear weapons while failing to seek expanded international nuclear arms control, seeing the Bush atomic arms policy as encouraging nuclear weapons proliferation and increasing the likelihood that the use of nuclear weapons will become accepted practice for nations in engaging in conflict. PSR has also been complaining that the Bush administration has been backtracking on global health protection. First, it has renounced the Kyoto protocol on global warming, with out putting forward any other means for countering global warming, which has serious health as well as economic consequences. Second, the administration has failed to fully implement the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), mandating phasing out, and ultimately eliminating, a whole category of dangerous chemicals including toxic dioxins, PCBS and pesticides such as DDT. Third, while the European Union has proposed requiring chemical manufacturers test new chemicals and chemical products to show they are safe, before putting them on the market, under the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) proposal, the Bush administration has followed the lead of the U.S. chemical industry in criticizing REACH and threatening to challenge it as a barrier to trade before the World Trade Organization. For more information, contact PSR, 1875 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 1012, Washington, DC 20009 (202)667-4260, psrnatlApsr.org, www.psr.org.

     The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is concerned that despite the fact that the most foremost society of physicists, the American Physical Society, supported findings by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) that the technology did not exist for an effective space based missile defense system, political pressure has caused MDA to accelerate launching of interceptor satellites, probably beginning in 2007. Among the environmental foci of UCS is an objection to the Bush administration's one dimensional approach to the natural gas shortages, bringing high gas prices that create hardship to home owners and slow economic development, by pushing the development of new gas sources, most of which would have to be abroad. Instead, UCS believes that stressing consumption conservation and the expansion of renewable energy (including wind power) and increasing energy conservation will be economically more feasible and will protect the environment, particularly in slowing (rather than accelerating) global warming. UCS was happy to see the U.S. Senate consider the Climate Stewardship Act, a year ago, which would have required reductions in emissions of heat trapping gasses that contribute to global warning. Although the measure was defeated 43-55, its strong bipartisan support indicated that the Senate is beginning to comprehend the threat of climate change. For more details, contact Union of concerned Scientists, 2 Brattle Square, Cambridge, MA 02238 (617)547-5552, ucs@ ucsusa.org, www.ucsusa.org.

     In May, numerous groups opposing the selling of public water supply systems to private corporations, a policy that the World Bank is requiring of 25 African counties, met in the first annual water forum, "Securing the Right to Water in Africa." For details go to www.citizen.org/cmep/water.

     CARE, in addition to fighting hunger by providing food an other supplies, including in war torn areas such as Iraq, the organization is helping farmers be more productive, as in Molleypata, Peru, where it introduced cherimoya fruits, both for home use and significant sale, showing villagers how to produce the fruit successfully and helping them find ways to get them to market easily. For more information, contact CARE, 151 Ellis St., NE, Atlanta, GA 30303(800)433-7385, info@care.org, www.care.org.

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