IV. How Can We Be Effective Peacemakers? (B)
B. Non-UU Initiatives
Win Without War.
The coalition that the UUA works most closely with on International
Peace and Security issues, especially Iraq and Iran. Win Without War is a
coalition of national organizations representing broad constituencies that aim
to Keep America Safe by advocating that international cooperation and
enforceable international law provide the greatest security for the United
States and the world. The coalition offers a mainstream, patriotic voice for
engaging opinion makers, activating concerned citizens, and communicating
effectively to the media.
Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL).
The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) is the largest
peace lobby in Washington, DC. Founded in 1943 by members of the Religious
Society of Friends (Quakers), FCNL staff and volunteers work with a nationwide
network of tens of thousands of people from many different races, religions, and
cultures to advocate social and economic justice, peace, and good government.
The UUA Washington Office for Advocacy works very closely with
FCNL.
Amnesty International.
Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who
campaign for internationally recognized human rights. AI's vision is of a world
in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.
Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service.
Pace e Bene's mission is to develop the spirituality and practice of
active nonviolence as a way of living and being and as a process for cultural
transformation. Pace e Bene developed Engage: Exploring Nonviolent Living, a
12-session study program exploring and experimenting with nonviolence to address
personal and social concerns. Participants are invited to open to the creative
power of nonviolence in a logical sequence through exercises and readings that
expand group intimacy and build skills. This adult curriculum presents a
participatory style, with ritual, intellectual, and spiritual content which UUs
value. It consistently connects personal transformation with social
change.
Public Conversations Project.
The Public Conversations Project (PCP) helps people with fundamental
disagreements over divisive issues develop the mutual understanding and trust
essential for strong communities and positive action.
Help Increase the Peace Network, by American Friends Service Committee.
This Peace Program, known as HIPP, teaches young people and adults
communication skills for conflict resolution. And it does more. HIPP confronts
prejudice and renews our hope to be agents for positive social change. The
training introduces alternatives to violence and bullying and allows
participants to practice various options by modeling and role-playing. Exercises
include self-affirmation and discovery of how insensitivity can magnify
problems.
WIN Magazine.
WIN, formerly The Nonviolent Activist, is the new quarterly magazine
of the War Resisters League, an 83-year-old nonviolent organization committed to
ending war and its root causes. Through articles, interviews, and reviews, WIN
covers resistance to war abroad as well as resistance to violence and militarism
within the United States. WIN nurtures its readers as activists, equipping them
with relevant and accessible information to support their organizing work. WIN
hopes to build bridges between various struggles against violence and for
justice, to support the growth of a broad-based, nonviolent, anti-racist, and
revolutionary movement to end all war and oppression.
The Catholic Peacebuilding Network: an online peacebuilding resource.
The Catholic Peacebuilding Network (CPN) is a voluntary network of
practitioners, academics, clergy and laity from around the world that seeks to
enhance the study and practice of Catholic peacebuilding, especially at the
local level. The CPN aims to deepen bonds of solidarity among Catholic
peacebuilders, share and analyze "best practices", expand the peacebuilding
capacity of the Church in areas of conflict, and encourage the further
development of a theology of a just peace. While it is a Catholic network, the
CPN believes that authentic and effective Catholic peacebuilding involves
dialogue and collaboration with those of other religious traditions and all
those committed to building a more just and peaceful world.
Global Action to Prevent War: A Coalition Building Effort to Stop War,
Genocide and Internal Armed Violence (Program Statement 2003).
Global Action to prevent war is a comprehensive project for making
armed conflict increasingly rare. It is an international coalition of NGO's and
peace studies programs. The program statement describes concrete ways in which
globally cooperative institutions may be strengthened and used to create
sustainable security and sustainable peace. The project has three strands. The
first is the institutionalization of conflict prevention and conflict resolution
measures within local, national, regional and international organizations.
National security and global security are to be maintained by international law,
and national sovereignty is to be subject to that law. The coalition was active
in the creation of the International Court and is now working on the creation of
the UN Emergency Peace Services. This first strand involves reform of the UN and
creating and strengthening local means of preventing violent conflict and
building sustainable peace. The second strand is a phased program of global
disarmament, culminating in countries maintaining only defensive forces, and the
responsibility for international security being carried by multilateral
peacekeeping and legal institutions. The third strand is continuing support for
a culture of peace.
The Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
The Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the
University of Notre Dame conducts educational, research, and outreach programs
on international peace. The Institute's programs emphasize international norms
and institutions; religious, philosophical, and cultural dimensions of peace;
conflict transformation; and social, economic, and environmental
justice.
Christian Peacemaker Teams.
Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) arose from a call in 1984 for
Christians to devote the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent
peacemaking that armies devote to war. Enlisting the whole church in an
organized, nonviolent alternative to war, today CPT places violence-reduction
teams in crisis situations and militarized areas around the world at the
invitation of local peace and human rights workers. CPT embraces the vision of
unarmed intervention waged by committed peacemakers ready to risk injury and
death in bold attempts to transform lethal conflict through the nonviolent power
of God's truth and love.
The Shalom Center.
A network of American Jews who draw on Jewish tradition and
spirituality to seek peace, pursue justice, heal the earth, and build community.
Religions for Peace USA.
Gathers representatives of religious communities in the U.S.
(including the UUA); promotes multi-religious cooperation for peace and justice;
builds on the spiritual, human, and institutional resources of its communities;
enhances mutual understanding; and acts for the common good. Religions for Peace
- USA is the largest and most broadly-based representative multi-religious forum
in the United States.
Alternatives to Violence Project.
AVP aims to empower people to lead nonviolent lives through
affirmation, respect for all, community building, cooperation, and trust.
Founded in and developed from the real life experiences of prisoners and others,
and building on a spiritual base, AVP encourages every person's innate power to
positively transform themselves and the world. AVP/USA is an association of
community based groups and prison based groups offering experiential workshops
in personal growth and creative conflict management. The national organization
provides support for the work of these local groups.
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
