The International
Day of Peace (9/21/11) and contributions of Peace
Psychologists to the International Day of Peace
(9/21/11)
It is with great
appreciation of the International Day of Peace that
we as peace psychologists contribute to the
International Day of Peace. Here we share what our
members do in building peaceful communities and in
conflict resolution. Our Society's peace
psychologists are dedicated to exploring multiple
directions in scholarship, research, practice, and
public policy that will make peaceful societies with
social justice become a reality. Please find below
examples of our members' activities associated with
peacebuilding. Our members work and volunteer in
many venues, providing parts of the complicated
answers related to transforming communities from the
largest: national and international groups, to the
smallest: the family and individual. Some of our
members live in the USA, some live and work in many
other parts of the world, and some commute between
the USA and other locations. Dialoguing among
peoples, conflict resolution, rebuilding in
community partnerships with communities affected by
natural disaster and ethnopolitical warfare, and
scholarship, research and policy-building associated
with vital issues concerning family, community,
nation and nations, are a few examples of what we
do. Our psychologists work in cities, towns and
rural locations as psychologists and private
citizens and contribute on many levels to
transforming individuals and societies.
Please read through
the submissions that are now on the site. The
expectation is that we will increase the numbers of
entries from our members on this website as this
week and month go on. Remember, we ask for a moment
of silence at noon wherever you are in remembrance
of where we need to go to make this a better world
for all without war.
Join us in the
celebration of peace worldwide by sending in
descriptions of your experiences as psychologists in
our Society who help build peace. Please write me at
julie.levitt@verizon.net.
Please remember that APA
has Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Status in
the United Nations.
Julie Meranze Levitt, PhD, President, 2011, the
Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and
Violence: Peace Psychology Division of the American
Psychological Association
Dear
Friends,
The greatly
increased culture of war in the United States
makes it more important than ever to work for a
culture of peace. For that reason I continue to
improve the following two culture of peace
websites
http://cpnn-world.org,
devoted to the further development of a global
news network for a culture of peace, has evolved
considerably in recent years. We are now receiving
and posting almost one article per day from around
the world in English, French and Spanish.
http://www.culture-of-peace.info,
devoted to the scientific study of a culture of
peace, hold a great deal of information. Of
particular importance is a brief history of the
culture of peace, as well as on-line books on
psychology for peace activists, an extensive
history of the culture of war and a strategy for
the transition from the culture of war to a
culture of peace.
Also on this
website, The Aggression Systems has been completed
as an on-line book with sections on human
aggression, evolution of aggression, brain
mechanisms of aggression and dynamics of
aggression.
I look forward to
hearing from you,
Peace,
David
Adams
david@cpnn-world.org
I
would like to offer the following as well as let you
know about an upcoming event on the aftermath of
9/11 in New York City.
Please come if you are in the NYC area and please
let you colleagues know about it via the attached
schedule and poster. The event consists of
three sessions, is free, and open to all. I
planned this multidisciplinary event in
collaboration with colleagues from within and
outside the academy.
Best regards,
Susan Opotow
Editor, Peace and Conflict
9/11
Plus Ten:
New
York City in the Aftermath of September 11th
Monday,
September 19th, 2011, Noon to 5:30pm
The Graduate
Center, City University of New York
365 Fifth Ave @ 34th Street, New York, NY 10016
Website:
http://tinyurl.com/911plus10
Program:
Click
here.
The first annual
UnSpoken human rights forum will take place this year
from Oct. 13-15. It combines the arts with a scholarly
conference. This year, the conference theme is the
role of the arts and culture in resettlement of
refugees and other immigrant populations and, as the
forwarded announcement indicates, places particular
emphasis on film and features films that look at human
rights--surely a necessary underpinning of real peace
as opposed to absence of war.
Sponsoring partners
include the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for
Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service,
New York State's Bureau of Refugee and Immigrant
Assistance, Colgate University's Upstate Institute and
its Peace and Conflict Studies, Hamilton College's
Arthur Levitt Institute of Public Affairs, and Utica
College. For extensive information about UnSpoken,
including the program and registration materials, see
www.iamunspoken.com.
As a member of Division
48, this event ties together many threads of my career
and life experience. I am the daughter of an immigrant
who, as a social worker in the 1940s and 50s resettled
European concentration camp survivors in the U.S. As
such, refugees and other immigrants have always been a
part of my life. In my 40's, with a doctorate in
social psychology, I began teaching at Utica College
and became Prof. Emerita of Psychology at the end of
2005. In addition to psychology courses, I taught
Culture and Personality for the Anthropology/Sociology
Department and made a point of incorporating cultural
issues in my social psychology and adolescent
development courses. In my research, I studied cross
cultural adolescent development and the mental health
systems of Kenya and two states in the US. In the
mid-1990s, since I was also involved in civil
liberties work, my colleague Ted Orlin, a human rights
lawyer, author, and consultant (see the attachment),
arranged for me to visit Albania to consult on human
rights of mental patients. At that time, I met the
headlining film maker for UnSpoken, Kujtim Cashku. I
have been a volunteer in various roles at the Mohawk
Valley Resource Center for Refugees since the
mid-1990s and, almost a year ago, became a part-time
staff member, working as a client advocate developing
a means of assessing client satisfaction. In this way,
I actively promote peace in my highly diverse local
community.
Pauline (Polly)
Ginsberg, PhD
Professor Emerita of Psychology, Utica College
Client Advocate, Mohawk Valley Resource Center for
Refugees
Recent
Research Findings by the Center for Research on Peace
Education
Gavriel Salomon - Click
for bio.
July, 2009
CERPE's
Mission The mission of the Center for Research on
Peace Education (CERPE) is to advance the field of
peace, reconciliation and partnership education
through conceptual development and empirical research.
CERPE is supported by an initial grant by the Stronach
family in Canada and by grants from the Spencer
Foundation, United States Institute of Peace, the
Slifka Foundation, the Fohs Foundation, and private
donations. http://cerpe.haifa.ac.il
A SUMMARY
OF CORANN OKORODUDU'S U.N. WORK
For
approximately 19 years, I have focused my professional
commitment at the United Nations on promoting global
policies and practices that promote human rights and
social justice as foundational attributes of peaceful
and democratic community. At the United Nations I have
served as Main Non-Governmental Organization
Representative for the Society for the Psychological
Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) and the American
Psychological Association (APA). I was a major
contributor to APA's application for accreditation at
the United Nations and helped to recruit a diverse
team of psychologists to begin the process of
integrating psychological and social science
perspectives into work to advance various global human
rights and social justice standards.
My human
rights and social justice work at the UN involves
working with other NGO representatives and committees,
UN personnel, and governments on education, advocacy,
and the monitoring of the implementation of
international human rights standards and consensus
documents of UN world conferences focused on the
following aspects of the UN's agenda: (1) The
elimination of all forms of racism, racial
discrimination, and xenophobia and the development of
a Permanent Memorial to the Victims of Slavery and the
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade; (2) the elimination of all
forms of discrimination against women and girls,
especially violence against them, and promotion of the
fulfillment of their human rights; (3) the
understanding and promotion of the fulfillment of
children's rights to survival, safety, development and
social participation, including eliminating violence
against all children in the family, the community,
various institutional settings, and in the broader
society; (4) the promotion of the human rights of
migrants and refugees; and (5) psychosocial and mental
health as human rights factors that promote peace and
development. I have also co-facilitated arrangements
for dialogue between leading psychologists and
representatives of the UN at APA at the Society for
the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI)
conventions, and at UN Headquarters in New York on
these issues.
US
Peace Memorial Foundation (www.uspeacememorial.org
facebook.com/USPeace)
In 2005, Michael D.
Knox, Ph.D. founded the US Peace Memorial Foundation.
In
2007, he was awarded the Marsella Prize for the
Psychology of Peace and Social Justice, recognizing
him "for more than 4 decades of outstanding
contributions to peace and humanitarian
assistance." Dr. Knox is a Distinguished
Professor Emeritus at the University of South Florida
and his biography is included in the latest editions
of Who's Who in the World and Who's Who in America.
For more information go to www.uspeacememorial.org/Knox.htm.
A national grassroots
effort is underway to create a cultural shift toward
peace in the United States. The US Peace Memorial
Foundation plans to build of a national monument (US
Peace Memorial) in Washington DC to honor Americans
who have publicly opposed war(s) and/or proposed
peaceful alternatives to war. Efforts of the
foundation include documenting the broad range of
modern peace activism, as well as recognizing
individual and organizational role models for U.S.
peace leadership.
These efforts will help
preserve the nation's long history of patriotic
citizens who have promoted peace and opposed war,
reinforce peacemaking, increase comfort levels, and
lead to greater citizen involvement in antiwar
actions. The goal is to demonstrate that advocating
for peaceful solutions to international problems is an
honorable and socially acceptable activity.
The Foundations efforts
should inspire more Americans to speak up for peace
and to work to end the hatred, ignorance, greed, and
intolerance that lead to war.
Regarding
this project, "World Peace: A First Step"
was published in the Journal of Sociology & Social
Welfare, June 2011 and is available at www.uspeacememorial.org/WorldPeace.htm.
"A Cultural Shift toward Peace: The Need for a
National Symbol" was published in the journal
Peace and Conflict. Read
this short essay at www.uspeacememorial.org/article.htm.
In 2009, "Honoring Peace and Antiwar Behavior:
The US Peace Registry" was published in Peace
Psychology. Read it at www.uspeacememorial.org/article2.htm.
Dr.
Knox was interview on a public radio station on
September 19, 2011. There were strong
positive responses to the project from a
dozen listeners who called in to the show, many of
whom were military veterans. Here is the link
to the interview: http://sound.wmnf.org/sound/wmnf_110919_170417_talkM1_395.MP3.
The podcast loads very quickly, but you will need to
scroll through a few minutes of NPR news before the
interview begins.
From Steven E.
Handwerker
For over 30 years , I
have been serving my extended community as a Board
Certified and Licensed Psychologist in three states ,
as a clinical psychologist to help individuals,
families , and groups to create more peace in their
lives. In addition, I serve the community and planet
as an active environmentalist, promoting
sustainability and humanitarian interventions in
regions in crisis around the globe . With others, I
have worked with Faith leaders in Palm Beach County,
where I work, and on a national level to develop and
implement curricula for children in Sunday religious
schools to promote interfaith harmony. We ask clergy
to develop lesson plans from their own religious texts
to share with other religious schools of other faiths
and thereby, promote peacefulness and understanding
for children of all religious faiths. Because of our
activities with professionals attending conventions in
our area, with community counsels, and through active
community participation in special events , we believe
that we are helping people to accept, celebrate, and
develop productive working relationships. Our work on
building resiliency in the general community, by
working with professionals, is gaining momentum .
Education to expand understanding of peacebuilding has
made a difference in the cultures of the communities
in which we work. Let this year be the beginning of an
ever-expanding role to help heal the planet and
support peace all over the globe.
On
August 12, 2007, Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, a
psychologist and an advocate for the poor, was
kidnapped--one of the many egregious actions of the
coup regime that overthrew the democratic government
of Jean-Bertrand Aristide (who happens also to be a
psychologist). On the 3rd anniversary of
Pierre-Antoine's disappearance there were
demonstrations in Haiti demanding "Where is
Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine?" Peace psychologist
Adrianne Aron participated in a demonstration in the
San Francisco Bay Area with the Haiti Action
Committee to stand in solidarity with Lovinsky, his
family, the members of his organization, Fondasyon
30 Septanm (September 30th Foundation) and the
people of Haiti. (portrait by artist Nia Imara)
International Work
for Peace:
From Paul Kimmel
I have done
evaluations of the USAID International Training
Programs for the U.S.A. State Department (from
1969-1973.
I am currently a
member of International Psychologists for Social
Responsibility (PsySR) and will be one of the (US)
PsySR representatives to their meetings in South
Africa in 2012. In addition, I am chair of their
Task Force on creating cultures of peace. In
addition, I teach on-line for Saybrook University, a
graduate school based in San Francisco that has many
international students.
I am living in Panama
and have made a few presentations to Panamanian
groups on "Collateral Damage: The Psychological
Consequences of America's War on Terrorism,"
the book that resulted from the APA's Task Force on
Psychological Effects of Efforts to Prevent
Terrorism. I chaired that Task Force for 3 years,
one that resulted from my initiative when I was the
Society's representative to the APA Council of
Representatives in 2002.
I may be doing
training in Panama helping visitors adjust to
another culture, using the role-play techniques that
I developed while working for the Business Council
in International Understanding in DC.
Understanding the
origins of mass violence, prevention and
reconciliation: Workshops, trainings, seminars and
educational radio projects promoting healing and
reconciliation in Rwanda (and Burundi and the Congo)
Ervin Staub and
Laurie Anne Pearlman
This
project, beginning in 1999 and still continuing,
aims to promote healing and reconciliation in
Rwanda, thereby to prevent new violence after the
genocide as well as to help improve lives. It
started with seminars/workshops in Rwanda, and then
continued with educational radio programs, first in
Rwanda, and then also in Burundi and the Congo. The
approach lends itself not only to preventing new
violence, but also to reducing hostility between
groups before intense violence. In this overview I
will focus on a central element that has been part
of both components of the project, the
trainings/seminars and educational radio dramas:
Information about the influences that lead to mass
violence--genocide or mass killing, about avenues to
prevention (partly implied by the influences that
lead to violence), and about healing and
reconciliation. All these are important in the
prevention of violence.
We used this
information in settings where there was recent or
still ongoing violence. In the workshops/seminars we
guided the recipients to apply this information to
their own situation. Our assessments indicated that
listeners to the radio program did this on their
own. Early evaluation has indicated that the
information led to changes in attitudes, feelings
and actions. The changes have presumably deepened in
the course of the 7 years of broadcasting, in
particular of extremely popular educational radio
dramas.
Click here for photos and additional information.
In my joint roles as
Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda
Council on Conflict Prevention and Director of the
Harvard International Negotiation Program, I launched
a program to develop the world’s first Global
Curriculum on Conflict Management for senior-level
policymakers and business leaders. The aim of the
curriculum is to equip senior leadership with the
tools to resolve regional and international conflicts
through negotiation rather than violence. I led a team
that developed the curriculum’s prescriptive
approach, the 5x5 Framework, which draws heavily on
emotions and identity theory. The curriculum includes
firsthand negotiation accounts from Bertie Ahern,
former Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland;
Morgan Tsvangirai, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe; Tony
Blair, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom;
Ambassador Martyn Indyk of the Brookings Institute;
and others. A first draft of the curriculum has been
completed, and we are working to refine it in the
months ahead. More information about our program can
be found at www.internationalnegotiation.org.
Daniel L. Shapiro,
Ph.D.
Director, Harvard International Negotiation Program
Faculty, Harvard Law School (PON) & Harvard
Medical School (Psychology)
1563 Mass. Ave
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-495-9694
From Dan Christie:
Peace
workshop (two weeks) for graduate students,
post-docs, and faculty at University of Queensland
in Brisbane, Australia. Results were a book for
the Peace Psychology Book Series entitled Peace
Psychology in Australia (in press).
Workshop at the
International Islamic University in Malaysia. I
worked with colleagues there to establish a master's
program in Peace and Conflict Studies and part of
the curriculum is a two-course sequence in Peace
Psychology. Students were also involved and attached
are pictures from my political psychology students.
Duc Viet
Nguyen, Ph.D. left Vietnam by boat to seek asylum,
arriving in the USA on Feb. 19, 1979. Prior to this
he was providing social services for boat people in
a Malaysian Refugee Camp. He now is Vietnamese
American, a former socio-political refugee.
Regarding his service work on behalf of others and
peace, he was employed for 24 years by the State of
California as a Rehabilitation Professional. His
services included socio-psychological counseling for
clients with physical and or mental limitations.
Many of his clients were survivors of war and those
with Post-traumatic Stress related to the Vietnam
War. He currently engages in research and writes
papers to further peace. He is a peace psychologist,
a recipient of a Fulbright Award, and works for the
Delegate of Citizen Ambassador Program. He has
written speeches, met with scholars and students
from Vietnam, Jordan, Japan, Brazil, Morocco, Laos
and Cambodia to further peace through the People to
People International (PTPI). PTPI Activities are
Peace Through Understanding. Working with this
organization since 2006, Duc Viet Nguyen describes
how much he has learned about conflict brought about
because people simply do not understand each other.
Photography
as Healing: September 11 Through the Lens of the
Viewers
By
Iris Fodor
e-mail: ief1@nyu.edu
The events of September 11 and the aftermath were
probably the most photographed traumatic event in
history. When the planes hit the World Trade Center
in New York on the morning of September 11, causing
the towers to burn, smoke, and suddenly collapse,
there were probably more people close to the
disaster zone and direct eyewitnesses than any other
similar event in history. The twin towers, the
tallest buildings in New York, were visible from
almost every street in lower Manhattan, from most
buildings that faced south, and clearly not far from
the waterfronts of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island
and New Jersey. Tens of thousands of people were in
the buildings or close by on the streets and forced
to flee. Thousands more were buried in the rubble
and are still missing. Click
here for full information.
ENDGAME
Perhaps you’re dead
or have not heard
that US culture is absurd.
Our nation teeters on the brink
of self-destruction, and I think
for our redemption it’s too late
as we rush madly toward our fate.
We squander treasure on dumb wars
while patriotic madness soars.
We all have got PTSD
and terminal insanity.
Now we are being forced to learn:
All empires crash, and it’s our turn.
Tom Greening,
Member/Poet
From Hal Bertilson
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This
is an anti-war protest. I’m not in the picture
because I took the picture. Duluth, MN. |
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In
this picture I am participating in a Northland
Anti-War Coalition (NAWC) protest against the
war in Iraq. The coalition includes labor
groups, Veterans for Peace, Grandmothers for
Peace, Unitarian Universalist Social Justice
Committee, and others. I am holding the UUs for
Social Justice with another Unitarian
Universalist. |
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I am
coordinator of the Amnesty International Local
Group #642. This is a picture I took of
our protest of Dick Cheney’s new book. |
