Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

Tag: NAPF

  • NAPF Response to the August 2001 Session of Study on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Education

    Contemporary definition of disarmament education and training: An American perspective

    Very little comprehensive education on disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons exists for students prior to entering college. Considering the natural audience of high school and the importance of reaching students at a young age, a focused curriculum for high school students would best serve the goal of creating a good foundation for lifetime commitment and involvement in these areas.

    In order that there be fuller participation in disarmament and non-proliferation from a wider variety of ages, races, classes, etc., the participants must be able to take ownership in the issue. This means that the terminology, access to information, and input credibility must exist in a more user-friendly version. The reason that younger generations are less invested in non-proliferation, disarmament and abolition is their lack of exposure to peace-oriented education. The standard American high school curriculum for history is chronicled from war to war, general to general, and battle to battle with little coverage of the pacifist contingency nor the strides made for humankind by nonviolent activists. In fact, they are generally dismissed as dangerous or destructive rather than principled, disciplined individuals trying to create dynamic changes toward equality and justice.

    Those with the greatest potential for power, our young people, are not treated as viable candidates in the process of peacemaking. Peacemaking itself is an afterthought, a hopeful goal once the objectives ridding the world of nuclear weapons, civil conflicts, and chemical and biological warfare have been attained. Peacemaking can no longer be viewed as tangential to disarmament, but must become the sustenance which propels the disarmament and non-proliferation movement. Nonviolence and education are not the goals at the end of the road; they are the road.

    Assessment of the current situation of disarmament and non-proliferation education

    Access to information on disarmament and non-proliferation is limited to a specific group of people, namely college and post-graduate students whose academic interests focus primarily on these topics. A program for educating a wider audience through high schools is limited in existence. Yet education on disarmament and non-proliferation should not be limited to the academic elite, but should be available to the rising voters and general public, because fundamentally the topics concern everyone. The well educated have a responsibility to widen the circle of public involvement in eliminating the threat of weapons proliferation, and this task mandates dialogue with young people. The nongovernmental organizations and academics must utilize high school venues and assist in classroom education for both teachers and students, being mindful of the current trends in American public education.

    Education in the United States is experiencing a period of review and increased “accountability” where teachers are disencouraged to explore curricula outside the standard material and adhere to rigid testing aimed to prove that students are learning. The standardized tests are largely disliked by teachers and administrators because of the limited practical knowledge they measure; these tests are indicative of whether or not students are learning how to be good test takers, rather than common sense thinkers. This phenomenon of multiple choice testing has many effects, both for classroom learning and for societal implications. First, teachers have little time to explore creative and diverse learning styles because the standardized tests cover specific information, the majority of which does not cover multi-dimensional thinking. Second, because of the time constraints of the school year and the financial incentives offered to teachers whose students succeed, teachers must rush through all the material to be covered on the examinations. Third, the current system of schooling school does encourage character development through service to others nor does it endear students to explore other contexts outside their own experiences, like becoming involved in any social movements or positive change for society.

    Thus, for young people to become active in disarmament and non-proliferation, they must first have the opportunity to come to some understanding and awareness that these two topics are global problems with personal implications. Students are not taught to be system-oriented, seeing the world as living organism and acknowledging the web of interconnections that span the globe. If our goal is to educate kids about disarmament and non-proliferation, then our first step is getting them to believe that our world is worth saving. The military now has direct access into high schools in America through programming called Channel One, which broadcasts “news” into schools for fifteen minutes every day. ROTC recruiters are allowed onto campuses, but conscientious objectors are thrown off school grounds. Specific classes in nonviolence education are few and far between in the United States, and many teachers are too overwhelmed with their current curriculum to believe that themes of peace and justice infused into their existing lesson plans could work.

    Furthermore, disarmament and non-proliferation are at the end of a long path of exploration into issues of economic and social justice. Schools must first provide kids with the tools to handle their own personal conflicts and more importantly must make the existing subject matter, and the way it is presented, less violent. Visual media shows terrorism, civil strife and full-scale war as a real-life video game. For students to have some ownership in the problem, they need to understand where the countries obtain their weapons, who profits, and who uses the weapons. We must not treat the loss of human life as the military does, calling it “collateral damage”. Education for young people on disarmament and non-proliferation has varying implications based on where it will be implemented, i.e. gun control laws in the United States require a unique strategy, as do the problems of disarmament in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe.

    Recommendation for promoting education

    First, we must make our American schools more nonviolent institutions. Nonviolence education should be a mandatory component in all high schools, and the corporations providing the “news” to ripe young audiences should be forced to remove any marketing by the military branches. Our classrooms are not corporate experiments. Additionally, nongovernmental organizations should utilize the “news” networks to encourage coverage of peace-friendly programming to an already captive audience. Second, nongovernmental organizations should interface the existing material on disarmament and non-proliferation and compile a “user-friendly” seminar, video and worksheet questionnaire as well as a framework for allowing student participation in this issue, i.e. how to write to a newspaper, congressperson, how to create press releases and petitions, and how to engage their creativity toward a positive goal. Fourth, students must be sent on study abroad delegations to experience firsthand effects of governmental policies on other countries. Other options for field trips are visiting sites of nuclear testing as well as the companies and factories where the many different weapons are produced, and touring countries whose young people actively participate in conflict. We need to encourage students to see a more complete, real picture of the problem rather than blaming the warring parties for their reliance on weapons to settle conflicts. American students need to know that the number one export in their country is weapons and that America sponsors nearly three-fourths of the ongoing conflicts worldwide.

    Examining pedagogic methods

    The Internet can be a powerful tool to relate stories and facilitate dialogue between students in different countries. Academics and nongovernmental organizations can serve as moderators for communication between cultures on the topics of disarmament and non-proliferation. In addition, the Internet may be used to display “video diaries” of firsthand experiences from students in regions like East Timor and Cambodia to enhance the personalization of distance learning. Through these “video diaries”, students in different countries can hear their counterparts’ stories in their own voices, making a more real connection between their cultures.

    The Internet can also be used to disseminate teacher training materials and resources while providing a network of educators who have elected to participate in disarmament and non-proliferation education. Through this network, teachers and administrators can secure guest speakers, classroom activities worksheets and background materials, and an array of videos for their students. Students and teachers may also pose questions directly to the nongovernmental organizations’ educational liaisons through email and online discussion forums.

    Recommendations for the United Nations Organizations

    If peace education toward the goals of disarmament and non-proliferation is to work, then adequate funding must be provided for its implementation. First, the United Nations can exert pressure on national governments to evaluate the compensation teachers receive for the demands of their jobs. Currently, the priorities of the government of the United States focus on war making and funding programs through the Department of Defense. Cushioning the budgets of the Department of Education and ensuring adequate grants for States and Local Municipalities will increase the viability as well as the legitimacy of disarmament and non-proliferation education. Second, the United Nations can suggest that nongovernmental organizations pertaining to disarmament and non-proliferation take their messages into school board meetings and classrooms, and provide classes at the college level for teachers-in-training as a part of a Credential program. Third, textbook writers and manufacturers must accept a new version of history, and nongovernmental organizations must begin consulting with writers of world and American history texts to ensure accuracy and fair and adequate coverage of nuclear and weapons-oriented themes. To acquire authenticity in the classroom, these ideas of disarmament and non-proliferation must be written and viewed in print by students.

    Introducing disarmament and non-proliferation in post-conflict societies: Aceh, Indonesia case study

    UNICEF currently funds a peace-building educational program in Banda Aceh, Indonesia for young people who have been exposed to war throughout their lives. This experimental program combines nonviolent theory with practical applications of peacemaking and disarmament. It provides a forum for people to tell their stories and heal from their experiences, as well as create for themselves a more peaceable society. Nonviolence trainers are currently conducting teacher trainings in Aceh, and beginning in early September, the teachers will begin classes for young people in the province.

    In addition, the concept of “peacekeeping forces” must be reevaluated to incorporate more than reassigning soldiers to forcibly keep the peace in a region. Peacekeepers must be unarmed as well as trained in conflict management and crowd dynamics. The concept of disarmament and non-proliferation must grow from citizen awareness to government and military implementation of more peaceable resolutions for global problems.

    *Leah C. Wells is Peace Education Coordinator at the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

  • Notes From the Road

    On Saturday March 10, 2001, I participated in World Peace through Human Revolution at the SGI-USA Santa Barbara Community Center. The event exposed attendees to Buddhist practices and allowed local non-profit organizations the opportunity to discuss our respective missions and programs with SGI members and event participants. Event organizers treated participants to a historical overview of Buddhism, brief discussion of the main figures who shaped present day Soka Gakkai International, and recitation of the Lotus Sutra. The program debuted Changing Society by Changing Ourselves, a captivating visual chronicle of the major figures and events shaping war and peace in the 20th century. Talented SGI members not only showcased their theatrical skills through a skit entitled Changing Poison to Medicine, which portrayed a day in the life a young women in the process of changing her life for the better by overcoming greed, foolishness, and anger, but also their musical skills through an inspirational piece combining turntable, spoken word, and vocal stylings. Many participants experienced the Victory Over Violence exhibit, learning whether it was their first time or viewing the exhibit as a reminder of our need to wage peace. Also, Nonviolence International Founder and local high school educator, Leah Wells, donated her own facilitation skills to a workshop on conflict resolution. Initiated and led by students, World Peace through Human Revolution relayed Gandhi’s message of be(ing) the change that you want to see in the world. I commend all of those who contributed to the success of the afternoon festivities.

    The video Changing Society by Changing Ourselves features Foundation President David Krieger. Video narrators reiterate his belief that the collaborative and organizational efforts among those of us working to affirm and expand the just and humane components of our society must equal and exceed the efforts among individuals, organizations, and corporations organized around preparing for and mounting war. This concept remains a rallying point today! Case in point – approximately three years ago, SGI youth collected 13 million signatures from Japanese citizens calling for both an international treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons within a fixed time period and for the reallocation of resources from military purposes to social services. David Krieger accepted the signatures on behalf of the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons at a ceremony at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Being that the United States is twice the size of Japan, I believe it is possible to collect 26 million signatures through our current Appeal to End the Nuclear Threat to Humanity. Please join with me and voice our commitment to transforming society for the better starting with ourselves.

    *Michael Coffey is the Youth Outreach Coordinator for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

  • Creating a Center for Humanity’s Future: Celebrating Creativity in the Coming Age

    The idea of a great circle around the world, with people of all ages speaking and listening to one another … presenting an Annual Report on the State of Humanity … a fountain of joy and inspiration, confidence, strength and limitless creativity

    People all over the Earth are gradually awakening to the most astounding aspects of human beings — that we are not only parts of the mysterious universe, we are embodiments of the whole cosmos, each of us absolutely original and unique but limitless in our capacity. We are finite individuals and yet we will affect everything that happens in the future.

    In this century the discoveries of the human mind — the release of nuclear energy and other revelations — have brought us to the brink of annihilation. In the same century, we have demonstrated enormous cruelty and enormous compassion. We have created a global communications system in which human beings reach out to one another across all boundaries of time and space. Ideas flash around the world, reshaping old institutions and bringing new ones into existence and rapid growth.

    To serve the global community now arising through the individual efforts of people all over the planet, I believe there will be a great opportunity for the fostering and celebration of human creativity through a Center for Humanity’s Future. I advocate the formation of such a Center as a statement of confidence in the tremendous productive capacities of human beings — as a place of light and listening, a place of exploration and encouragement, a launching pad for ideas from throughout the world.

    That Center could have the bold spirit that marked the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, which blazed across the world’s horizons from 1959 to 1981 with the many projects it launched from its headquarters in Santa Barbara. It helped to prevent a war between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was a pioneer in the environmental movement. It called attention to the destructive potentialities of television. It published a model for a new American Constitution, designed to protect human liberties and to indicate human responsibilities in the future. It brought together thousands of people in dialogues and conferences in Santa Barbara, Chicago, New York, Washington, Malta, and Geneva. It became an “early warning system” for humanity.

    The preamble for the proposed model for a new Constitution for the United States contained a declaration that it was designed “to welcome the future in good order.” In our time, we have become intensely concerned with “the future.” All organizations have “vision statements” and make plans for the next years, the next decades, the next century, or even longer.

    Welcoming the future in good order should be one of the primary purposes of the new Center. For many people, the future has a menacing aspect — with imagined disasters and catastrophes rushing toward us. The Center could give a continuing emphasis to the positive possibilities, while recognizing the negative ones..

    The Importance of Celebration

    In the coming age, in which human beings will face more complex problems and more challenges than ever before, it will be essential to evoke the positive powers inherent in every person. That is why the proposed Center should be dedicated to celebration — to foster the release of everyone’s highest thoughts and emotional intelligence. Celebration means more than a never-ending party, or fun and games all year round, although it does include all the aspects of joy, because human beings are at their best when they are joyful, when they take delight in everything to which they are related in a mysterious unfolding universe.

    A Center for Humanity’s Future could raise the banner of celebration over the whole Earth — bringing together people of all kinds in meetings and dialogues, honoring the fine work going on in many places by creative and compassionate persons, inviting everyone to open up and communicate in many languages through the Internet and other channels, lauding the value of cooperation, encouraging everyone to “welcome the future in good order.”

    Overcoming the Power of Violence

    In addition to honoring and promoting the positive potentialities of all human beings, the Center could explore and advocate every possible step to overcome the power of violence. With the existence of nuclear weapons and other instruments of mass destruction, the continuation of life on Earth is at stake. The costs of violence in the twentieth century have been colossal. Millions of lives have been destroyed in the countless wars which have occurred. The Holocaust revealed the destructive depths to which human beings could descend. The massacres in Africa, Yugoslavia, Asia, and elsewhere have been horrifying in their ferocity — the extermination of neighbors by neighbors, the tortures and slaughters of women, children and old people, have shown cruelties on a staggering scale.

    One of the primary purposes of the Center could be to examine the strategies used in human efforts to reduce or eliminate violence. The admonitions of religious leaders, the development of severe punishments under strict laws, the therapeutic programs of psychologists, have not been very effective.

    A six-point pledge developed by the United Nations Education and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) would be offered for consideration. The points are:

    • Respect all life.
    • Reject violence in all its forms, particularly violence directed at the most deprived and vulnerable people.
    • Share with others, in a spirit of generosity.
    • Listen to understand.
    • Preserve the planet.
    • Rediscover solidarity.

    This pledge is based on the realization that everyone must take a personal share of responsibility for the future of humanity.

    Widening Roles for Women in Shaping Humanity’s Future

    The Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions was almost exclusively a male enterprise, dominated by highly active men with elitist ideas of leadership. Only one woman was ever appointed to the scholarly circle — the Fellows — who ran the Center. The increasing activities of women in all fields certainly has crucial significance for the future of the human species. A Center dedicated to humanity’s future must give the widest scope to women, who now compose 52 percent of the world’s population. From its board of directors to its staff, such a Center must have women fully represented.

    Since that Center will be continuously engaged in initiating, receiving, discussing, and promoting ideas for the benefit of humanity, women around the world will be continuously invited to take part in the life of the Center. There will be a place for everybody at the Center’s table. There will be a physical table, located in the Center’s headquarters in Santa Barbara— but the table will extend around the planet through the Internet and other methods of communication.

    Hearing from People of All Ages: The Lifting of Every Voice

    The idea of a great circle around the world, with people of all ages speaking and listening to one another, has seemed to be a fantasy — until our time, when it has become a reality. Human beings are now crossing all geographic boundaries easily and swiftly. The Center for Humanity’s Future would invite participants in all the dialogues already under way to comment on the principal topics offered by the Center for worldwide discussion. The first topics could be:

    • Overcoming the power of violence, preventing a war and building a culture of peace;
    • Awakening everyone to the primacy of individual persons in shaping the future;
    • Recognizing the spiritual dimensions of every human being and encouraging spiritual growth;
    • Reaffirming the necessity for protecting the environment and maintaining the earth as a flourishing home for all forms of life;
    • Emphasizing the need for cooperation as an instrument for achieving the good of all;
    • Exploring what it means to be human in the 21st Century; and
    • Developing a Code of Human Responsibilities.

    In the Center’s outreach to people of all ages, there could be a continuous reminder of the fact that every human being has an impact on the future and will have an influence felt for many generations.

    Presenting an Annual Report on the State of Humanity — and a Global Celebration of Creativity

    Each year, the Center could present an Annual Report on the State of Humanity, based on the ideas flowing into it and from it throughout the year. People everywhere might be asked to pledge their support for the international movement for the formation of a culture of peace and nonviolence.

    The Center could also sponsor a global Celebration of Creativity, highlighting the marvelous achievements of women, men, children, people from all backgrounds. Artists of all kinds — musicians, dancers, singers, poets, mystics, doctors, healers, prophets, sculptors— could lead community celebrations which would be linked together around the world. It would recognize the creativity of everyone — and the connections of human beings with one another. It could be videotaped and used on television and the Internet to bring delight into the daily lives of people everywhere.

    The Center itself could be a fountain of joy and inspiration — with its mission to foster hope and happiness and sing a great song as Beethoven did — a song of confidence in the strength and wide-ranging abilities of human beings, aware of their tremendous roles in a universe filled with limitless creativity.

    *Frank K. Kelly is the senior vice president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. Kelly is a former speech writer for President Truman and staff director of the U.S. Senate Majority Policy Committee. He served for 17 years as Vice President of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions.

    Thoughts On a Center for Humanity’s Future and the State of Humanity

    by David Krieger President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

    The Center for Humanity’s Future could be composed of Nobel Laureates and selected other world leaders in various fields, who would issue an Annual Report on the State of Humanity. These leaders would meet at least once a year to finalize the report, which could be released to the people of the world through the media and in the form of a book.

    The purpose of the report would be to offer creative solutions for coping with the dangers humanity faces, and to inspire people to live with full human dignity and to be active participants in shaping a better future.

    The Center for Humanity’s Future would have a full-time secretariat who would work throughout the year in preparing the State of Humanity Report and arranging meetings with leaders in many fields who would provide input to the Nobel Laureate group that would issue the report.

    The Center for Humanity’s Future would operate through two existing non-profit organizations located in Santa Barbara, California: The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and La Casa de Maria Retreat Center.

  • Imagine Peace

    Imagine Peace

    “Can you imagine a world in which the hungry are fed, the cold are clothed, the homeless are housed? Can you imagine a world that is peaceful, a world in which war is only a memory?”

    “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.”—President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953

    Try to imagine such a world! What would it look like? What would it feel like? How would a peaceful world differ from our present world? How would your own life be different than it is now? How would the resources be used that were once devoted to ever more deadly armaments?

    These are important but rarely asked questions that call upon us to use our imaginations. They call upon us to examine the priorities of our own societies, and to think seriously and creatively about our own commitment to ending war and building peace.

    I imagine that peace would be built on justice. People would be treated fairly. The hungry would be fed, the cold would be clothed, the homeless housed. There would be no children dying of preventable diseases, and no illiteracy, because societies would prevent these conditions from arising.

    If everyone had adequate food, shelter, health care, and education, there would not be so many angry and alienated people. Parents would not despair for the lives and futures of their children. Peace would brighten the future.

    What if societies allocated adequate funds to protect the environment and develop environmentally friendly technologies to replace dangerous and damaging ones? What if there were a societal ethic that the environment is a common heritage that we humans must steward for all forms of life and for future generations?

    There are reliable estimates that everything I have envisioned above could actually be accomplished for only a small percentage of current world military expenditures. It has been suggested that for approximately $40 billion annually, some 5 precent of current world military expenditures, poverty in the world could be ended.

    In a peaceful world, people would treat each other with respect. Diversity would be appreciated. People would be entitled to their own beliefs. They would find ways to cooperate. Borders would be far less important than they are now. There would be a general recognition that we all share one Earth and the responsibility to preserve its abundance and beauty for future generations.

    Even in a peaceful world, there would still be conflicts. People and nations would disagree, but there would be conditions assuring that differences would be settled without resort to violence. If this commitment could be trusted—and over time we would come to trust it—there would be no need to expend outrageous amounts on military forces and weapons systems.

    In a peaceful world, some nations might still maintain military forces, but they would be for defensive purposes only. It would be a very different orientation. Weapons and delivery systems would be designed for defense, and thus would not be threatening to neighboring countries.

    In a peaceful world, the purpose of governments would be to serve all of the people, not to favor the powerful at the expense of the disempowered. Governments would protect the Earth and the heritage of those yet unborn, and find ways to settle differences without resort to violence.

    If we cannot imagine such a future, we certainly cannot begin to believe in its possibility. I believe in the power of imagination. If we can imagine a future, it is possible to create it. We may not know today how to get from here to there, and it may seem a very long way away. But we can begin the journey.

    Knowing that something is possible is a long step forward on the journey toward achieving it. There may be failures and backtracking along the way, but a peaceful world is a powerful vision, one that ultimately will not be denied.

    The Spring 1999 issue of Waging Peace Worldwide focuses on “Building a Culture of Peace.” The authors are all pioneers in this effort, an effort that takes not only imagination, but compassion, courage and commitment. As you read the articles, I encourage you to ask yourself the question, “What role will I play in bringing such a world into being?”

  • The Magna Carta For The Nuclear Age: A Universal Declaration of Individual Accountability Prepared by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

    Preamble

    Affirming that all people of the World are entitled to life, liberty and other basic human rights;

    Believing that all individuals, states and international organizations share in the responsibility to ensure peace, protect human rights and sustain the common heritage of the planet;

    Acknowledging the significant efforts of the United Nations and other international organizationstoward these ends;

    Committed to the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Nuremberg Principles;

    Convinced that nuclear, chemical and biological weapons have no place in a civilized World order;

    Further convinced that survival in the nuclear age requires adherence to principles of justice and the World rule of law;

    Determined to establish a just, peaceful and civilized World order in the twenty-first century,

    We proclaim this Magna Carta for the Nuclear Age.

    Article I

    All individuals, including Heads of State, Ministers of Government, industrial, scientific and military leaders, shall be held personally accountable under international law for planning, preparing, initiating or committing the following acts:

    • Crimes against peace, including waging a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties.
    • War crimes, including deliberate attacks against civilian populations, the use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, and other grave breaches of humanitarian law.
    • Crimes against humanity, including genocide, torture, and other serious mass violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.
    • Crimes against the environment, including intentional spoliation of living habitats.
    • Economic crimes against a people or nation, including slavery in all forms.
    • Terrorism, piracy, kidnapping, hostage taking, and the training, support or sheltering of persons engaged in such crimes.
    • Illicit trafficking in arms or narcotics, and all acts in furtherance of such crimes.
    • Covert acts to overthrow or destabilize a legitimate foreign government, including assassination.
    • Deliberate persecution or denial of civil rights on grounds of race, color, gender, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status.

    Article II

    The World Community shall ensure the further codification of these provisions through the continuing activities of the United Nations and other international organizations, and shall ensure compliance with them by establishing and maintaining the following institutions:

    • An International Commission of Inquiry to engage in fact finding and certification of cases for trial;
    • An International Criminal Court, composed of distinguished jurists, to try cases certified by the International Commission of Inquiry;
    • International Police Forces to enforce the orders of the International Criminal Court;
    • An International Criminal Penitentiary for confinement of convicted offenders; and
    • A Center for the Advancement of International Criminal Law and Justice, independent of governments, to assist in codification of international criminal law and monitoring the implementation of this Charter.
    • An International Commission of Inquiry to engage in fact finding and certification of cases for trial;
    • An International Criminal Court, composed of distinguished jurists, to try cases certified by the International Commission of Inquiry;
    • International Police Forces to enforce the orders of the International Criminal Court;
    • An International Criminal Penitentiary for confinement of convicted offenders; and
    • A Center for the Advancement of International Criminal Law and Justice, independent of governments, to assist in codification of international criminal law and monitoring the implementation of this Charter.

    Article III

    These provisions, upon adoption, may be added to, abridged or altered by the common consent of the World Community of nations and peoples, but without amendment they shall be binding in perpetuity.