Random Peace Resources & Trainings

I've come across a few resources of interest lately. Here they be:

• "The Center on Faith & International Affairs offers a selection of syllabi from universities in the U.S. and abroad" on "courses discussing religion’s role in politics." See list.
• Peace and Justice Studies Association Blog
• A "comprehensive, annotated guide to peace studies and conflict resolution programs at colleges and universities worldwide. This edition profiles over 450 undergraduate, Master's and Doctoral programs and concentrations in 40 countries and 38 U.S. states." View here.
• Canadian School of Peacemaking -- 2011 Courses at CMU (June)
• Summer Peacebuilding Institute -- 2011 Courses at EMU
• Book: Conflict and Development (Mac Ginty & Williams)

Summer Peace Classes

Canadian Mennonite University has published their upcoming summering offering -- Canadian School of Peacebuilding.

Eastern Monnonite University's Summer Peacebuilding Institute hasn't released the 2011 schedule yet. Keep looking.

Peace

The Journal of Adventist Education dedicated an edition to peace. To view the articles online, go to the Issue Index and click on Volume 70, Issue 3, 2008. 

Looking for reading material in peace history? Maybe these can help you get started:

• Select Bibliography
• Gerlof Homan, "Peace History: a Bibliographical Overview," Choice (May 1995), 1408-1419.

And a different type of history: A Natural History of Peace (Robert M. Sapolsky, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2006).

Israel & Palestine

Today in Peace Colloquium, a student reported on her work/internship at Mar Elias school in I'billin, Israel, which was started by the Arab Palestinian Christian priest, Elias Chacour. The student body is composed of both Muslim and Christian students. While there are no Jewish students (if I heard correctly), there are a number of Jewish teachers and professors. Classes don't meet on Fridays or Sundays, but they are on Shabbat.

If you are interested in this unique school, you can learn more here:

• Mar Elias Educational Institutions
• Blood Brothers (Elias Chacour)
  

She said tourists can stay at the school for ~$35-40 a day, which includes room and board. In return, travelers spend half the day volunteering at the school and the rest of the time sight-seeing.

We were asked to watch this CBS clip before attending the presentation--Is Peace Out of Reach?

Four of the many resources she had on display:

• THE HUMANITARIAN IMPACT OF TWO YEARS OF BLOCKADE ON THE GAZA STRIP (Report by OCHAOPT)
• Encounter Point (film, 2006)
• Until when... (film, 2004)
• Waltz with Bashir (film, 2008)

Howard Zinn -- You Can't Be Neutral

For Memorial Day 2008, we went shopping. We wandered up and down the dusty paths at the local flea market looking at antique bottles and bookcases, homemade knick-knacks, and Amish rugs. We neither bought nor sold.

Then we came home and finished watching a documentary about Howard Zinn, You Can’t Be Neutral on Moving Train. Interviews with Zinn are interlaced with archival footage, commentary from his colleagues, and readings from his various books by Matt Damon. While documentaries like The U.S. vs. John Lennon and Why We Fight are more engaging (entertaining? up tempo?), this one is still enlightening and well worth watching.

The dialogue and readings are full of excellent quotes, and I’ll finish this post with the one Matt reads as the film comes to and end:

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

“And if we do act in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents. And to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

Darfur Diaries

At our last movie night, a friend handed me a book, Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival. It works a tricky balance as part adventure log, part history lesson and part activist investigation. Brutal.

While not covering the details of systematic burning, pillaging and raping, the reader still gets a sense of the desperation and hope. It was interesting to read the sentiments of the displaced people; some wanting revenge, others just wanting to return home. All wanting peace, someday.

One item on the author’s agenda list is to convince the reader that the general media has over simplified the conflict into a North/South, Arab/African, Islamic/Christian dichotomy. Instead, the author believes that the government is using divisions between groups to cause chaos, keep it in power, and obtain the resources it desires. Thought provoking.

Now I want to watch the documentary—Darfur Diaries: Message from Home.

Justice Education at Harvard

Today I came across this blog post at Spectrum.

It mentioned this justice class at Harvard. Watch it for free.