1999 EVENTS
From War Culture to Cultures of Peace:
Challenges for Civil Society
and
Dialogue on Hague Peace Conference
Results & Next Steps
From War Culture to Cultures of Peace:
Challenges for Civil Society
In anticipation of the United Nations designation of the Year 2000 as the United Nations International Year for the Culture of Peace, the BRC sponsored three conferences to explore peaceable practices in families, schools, economic systems, and religious communities. This series created the first opportunity in New England for sustained dialogue on the notion of cultures of peace.
To view a scrapbook of images from our 1999 events visit our 1999 EVENTS PHOTO GALLERY
Conference 1: Creating Cultures of Peace: Family Life and Education
Co-convenors:
Elise Boulding, Sociology Professor Emerita, Dartmouth College
Paul Joseph, Tufts University
In Collaboration With
Peace and Conflict Studies Program, Brandeis University
Cambridge Peace Commission
Peace and Justice Studies Program, Tufts University
Peace and Justice Studies Program and the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, Wellesley College
Conference Facilitator
Gordon Fellman, Social Psychologist, Brandeis University
CONFERENCE 1
Creating Cultures of Peace: Family Life and Education
February 5-6, 1999
Friday Evening, February 5, 1999
Panel Discussion: What Is A Peace Culture?
Panelists
Michael True, Co-author of UNESCO’s Culture of Peace Program: An Introduction
Elise Boulding, Professor Emerita of Sociology, Dartmouth College
Paul Joseph, Professor of Sociology, Tufts University
Moderator
Winston Langley, Professor of International Relations, UMASS-Boston
Click Here for the Text of the Keynote Panel Address by Michael True
Click Here for the Text of the Keynote Panel Address by Elise Boulding
Click Here for the Text of the Keynote Panel Address by Paul Joseph
Saturday Morning, February 6, 1999
Panel Discussion: Cultures of Peace and Family Life
Panelists
Betty Burkes, President, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
Maria Guajardo Lucero, Executive Director, Assets for Colorado Youth
Lewis Randa, Co-founding Member of the Families Against Violence Advocacy Network
Moderator
Michael True, Author of Ordinary People: Family Life and Global Values
Presentation on Stone Walk Project
A local, grassroots peace initiative by Lewis Randa, Founding Director of the Peace Abbey and Life Experience School
Presentation on Building Enterprises
for Learning and Living
An educational initiative to increase the opportunities and achievements of urban youth by Earl Phalen Co-founder/CEO, BELL Foundation
Saturday Afternoon, February 6, 1999
Panel Discussion: Cultures of Peace and the Schools
Panelists
Alfie Kohn, Author of Punished by Rewards and No Contest
Diane Levin, Author of Remote Control Childhood
Linda Mizell, Author of Think About Racism
Moderator
Cathy Hoffman, Director, Cambridge Peace Commission
CONFERENCE 2
Cultures of Peace in the Global Marketplace
March 5-6, 1999
Friday Evening, March 5, 1999
Cultures of Peace and Economic Justice
Keynote Speaker
Gar Alperovitz, President, National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives
Commentator
Dessima Williams, Professor of Sociology, Brandeis University
Moderator
Harvey Cox, Professor of Divinity, Harvard University
Saturday Morning, March 6, 1999
Panel Discussion: Micro Models of Peaceable Economics
Panelists
Carol Grodzins, Director of International Development Programs, JFK School of Government, Harvard University
Patricia Walker, Policy Analyst on Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
Gregory Watson, Director, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative Network
Moderator
Frank Ackerman, Senior Research Associate, Global Development and Environment Institute
Presentation on a Call to Reneweal and Jubilee 2000
Two grassroots movements aimed at overcoming poverty and confronting the issue of unfair distribution of wealth by Jim Wallis, Editor of Sojourners
Presentation on the Alliance for a Caring Economy
With Barbara Brandt, Research Director
Saturday Afternoon, March 6, 1999
Panel Discussion: Macro Models of Peaceable Economics
Panelists
Frank Ackerman, Senior Research Associate, Global Development and Environment Institute
Lucas Baker-Siroty, Student and Research Associate, Brandeis University
Charles Derber, Professor of Sociology, Boston College
Lucy Webster
Executive Director, Economists Allied for Arms Reduction
Moderator
Nena Uche, Freelance Journalist, Formerly with The Guardian
Peace Camp: A Concurrent Program for Children Ages 6-12
Saturday, March 6, 1999
Co-sponsored by Lemberg Children’s Center
Brandeis University
This special program for children used the arts to explore the many ways individuals cooperate successfully in communities. The children also created a "Declaration on the Appropriate Treatment of Children" and shared ideas with peace activist Elise Boulding on envisioning the world in 30 years.
CONFERENCE 3
Practices of Peace in Religious Communities
March 26-27, 1999
Friday Evening, March 26, 1999
Religions and Cultures of Peace
Keynote Speaker
Victor Kazanjian, Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life, Wellesley College
Commentator
Donna Bivens, Co-director, Women’s Theological Research Center
Moderator
Virginia Straus, Executive Director, Boston Research Center
Saturday Morning, March 27, 1999
Panel Discussion: Religions and Cultures of Peace
Panelists
Jim Hill, Community Coordinator, Soka Gakkai International
Zina Jacque, Associate Pastor, Union Baptist Church, Cambridge
Taalib Maadee, Omam, Masjid Al-Quran, Dorchester
Harold White, Wellesley Friends Meeting
Gordon Fellman, Brandeis University
Moderator
Doris Hunter, Unitarian Universalist Minister
Co-chair, U.S. Chapter of the International Association for Religious Freedom
Presentation: The Interfaith Pilgrimage of the Middle Passage
By Jacquelyn Smith-Crooks
Presentation: Greater Boston Interfaith Organization
By Stephanie Spellers, Resurrection Lutheran Church
Afternoon Panel: Interfaith Initiatives Toward Peace
Panelists
David Chappell, Parliament of the World’s Religions
Anne Custer, World Religions and Ecology
Bawa Jain, Temple of Understanding
Moderator
John Berthrong, Associate Dean, Boston University School of Theology
Closing Remarks
Paul Joseph
Elise Boulding
Peace Camp: A Concurrent Program for Children Ages 5-12
Saturday, March 27, 1999
Co-sponsored by Lemberg Children’s Center
Brandeis University
This special program fulfilled its mission of "providing a day-long camp experience that fosters realtionships between children of varying backgrounds by integrating activities and discussion regarding issues of peace and justice." In addition to cooperative games, mask-making, and a percussion jam session, the children developed their own rules for getting along. Some of the rules they created for themselves were shared with the adult conference attendees: Touch gently. Be friendly. Clean up. Share. Be safe. Be polite. Enjoy yourself. You can yell.
Dialogue on The Hague Peace Conference
Results & Next Steps
May 22, 1999
Presented By
Coalition for a Strong United Nations
Boston Research Center for the 21st Century
United Nations Liaison Office of Soka Gakkai International
Co-sponsored by many organizations working for a culture of peace and human rights.
This one-day conference in May of 1999 was viewed as an opportunity for scholars, activists, and concerned citizens to be brought up-to-date on recent efforts toward world peace in The Hague. A distinguished panel of speakers, with a closing commentary by Elise Boulding, attracted a large audience and focused attention on a variety of interrelated issues. The program of speakers, topics, and excerpts from their remarks follow:
Historical Perspective
Winston Langley, UMASS-Boston
"That [Hague conference] system was based on the thinking that the reason why countries so frequently engaged in inter-state violence was because they generally did not meet to speak with each other, except when they sought to conclude wars. If they could meet and confer (hence the conference system) during times of peace, they could perhaps solve many of the problems which invited wars. The system, however, had other aims: to re-conquer those portions of Europe that were still influenced by the spirit of Napoleon and to repress ideas of republicanism which threatened the idea of monarchy.
By 1899, the system had reached a crossroads since, by then, members far from uniting to repulse perceived common enemies had begun to prepare for war against each other. The system either had to transcend itself--develop further, or face disintegration.
Like 1899, too, 1999 represents a crossroad: do we continue the weak and ineffective system created in 1945--a system that allows states to confer but limits the UN's capacity to act--or do we move to another level of human cooperation?"
World Parliament
Jock Forbes, World Federalist Association of New England (WFANE) Moderator
"Winston Langley noted this morning that we're again at a crossroads in history. What that means to us is that we've got to create a positive response to the spirit of triumphalism that dominated not only in 1899 but certainly through the middle of this decade as well. He pointed out the need for us as Americans is to listen. We must conceive alternatives to continued reliance on the war system and pursue both personal and institutional transformations toward a culture of peace. It's in that effort that we're going to be focusing this afternoon on the strands of conflict prevention, conflict resolution, and culture of peace components."
Conflict Resolution
Cathy Hoffman, Cambridge Peace Commission
"When we do conflict resolution, one of the guidelines we have to adhere to is recognition. We have to recognize all the different voices in the conflict resolution work that we do. And we have to understand that oppressed people's voices have a different relationship to violence and conflict than people who are choosing to enact violence out of a position of power like our own government."
Fostering of Peace-Next Steps
Hiro Sakurai, Soka Gakkai International
Kazuo Ishiwatari, chairman of the Soka Gakkai Peace Committee, spoke [at the conference in The Hague] and offered some ethical and spiritual contributions from the Buddhist perspective to creating a culture of peace. Like Professor Langley, he also stressed the importance of inner, personal transformation as a key element to the creation of a culture of peace.
Ishiwatari quoted what Olara Otunnu, the special representative to the U.N. Secretary General, said at the opening plenary. He issued an urgent appeal for spiritual renewal in order to eliminate the sufferings of war. Ishiwatari pointed out that this reflects the same basic orientation as what he termed inner personal transformation. He used the term human revolution interchangeably with an inner personal transformation and said that the work of promoting a global movement for human revolution holds the key to creating a culture of peace.
He then quoted from Mr. Ikeda of the Soka Gakkai International and said, "A great revolution in a single person can transform an entire society and can make possible a positive change in the destiny of all humankind."
Peace Education
Dale Bryan, Tufts University Peace and Justice Studies
"Let me ask you this. How many of you are formerly involved in academic settings of higher education, primary, secondary, pre-school and the like? A significant number, perhaps close to half. How many of you are involved with education at the community-based level in organizations of one sort or another teaching people of all ages? Now that could be close to another half. How many of you would consider the work that you do for political organizations or other institutions the cultural work of social learning for peace education?
I share this [question] with you as a way of telling you what my experience was like at the Hague. Because all of those voices were present interpreting what peace education would be.
My reflection is simply to share with you that as members of the global North, as we struggle to implement peace education in our institutions and communities, we will bring to that struggle certain biases that we have by occupation. We may very well reinforce these varied dimensions that were emerging at the Hague. And that's not a bad thing. But it will be a struggle. As we engage globally, we should be fully aware that we will be engaged in this struggle from our place with people all around the planet. And their priorities will be different."
Abolition 2000
Miriam Butterworth, American Friends Service Committee
"I'd like to reinforce the previous speaker’s comments about the different interpretations of peace and peace education. One of the things that I remember hearing [in The Hague] that struck me was that in some places, absence of war means acquiescence instead of any kind of real peace.
I think we have to be very aware and very positive about the need for disarming weapons of mass destruction. The United States is very much involved in the need to move in that direction. It isn't just nuclear weapons. It is other types of weapons that we have not been willing to abolish, like land mines. There was a good deal of information at the Hague conference, including testimony from a Cambodian who had lost her leg at age 6 and from someone else who had visual pictures of what land mines did. I heard somebody there call land mines, 'weapons of mass destruction in slow motion.'"
Click Here for the Text of the Panel Commentary by Elise Boulding
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