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Showing posts from July, 2011

Non-Polluting Passive Power

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While much of the concern and focus of the Eupan Global Initiative includes human violence and reconciling that violence for peace – we celebrate all things that bring about the good for the all ! Issues of energy use, production and pollution – which effect all forms of life on this planet – are also within the scope of our interest! Non-Polluting Passive Power that is sustainable and achievable sounds great. Toward eupan ~ ~ marty alan michelson, ph.d. Posted via email from Eupan Global Initiative

Peacemaking and the Role of Religion

In this article by Dr. Scott M. Thomas (December, 2010), Thomas notes several ways in which religion plays an active role in shaping ideology that informs foreign affairs within and between nation states.  ( Full PDF here. )  (More about Dr. Scott M. Thomas here .) If you are young or old - and associated with the Eupan Global Initiative and are thinking about being a peacemaker in our world - you may want to consider ways that you can become an expert on issues of religions and nations states as a means to shaping global peace - bringing the good for the all. The final paragraph of Scott Thomas' articles reads: Faith informs the daily struggles of millions in confronting larger political conflicts regarding democracy, human rights, and economic development. Ethnic and religious diasporas in the global South are connected to the West in ways that can create or reinvigorate collective identities, whose influence can both promote social welfare and fuel terrorism and interreli

A Muslim teaching about Peace from the Buddha

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What a privilege to spend the day with Chaiwat Satha-Anand while in Thailand. Dr. Satha-Anand is Professor of Political Science – Thammasat University.  Among other titles, his is the Chairperson of the Strategic Non-Violence Commission. There were many reasons it was interesting to hear and learn from Dr. Satha-Anand – and I learned much from the depth of his “moral” and “peace” experience, teaching, research and life.   One of several interesting things that stood out to me about his story, though – had to do with his motivations and interests in studying peace.   Dr. Satha-Anand was educated in Thailand in the 1970s when Thailand experienced its own levels of political turmoil, including the fact that Dr. Satha-Anand was a student at Thammasat University in 1976 when the October 6 th massacre took place .   As Dr. Satha-Anand said, “This event shaped my life.”   Dr. Satha-Anand went on to study at the University of Hawaii – gleaning from Dr. Glenn D. Paige from a course e

Entrepreneurs - Changing the Systems - with Empathy

Ashoka is a citizen sector organization with some particular ideas for “how to change the world.” Social entrepreneurs address complex social problems and -- in our increasingly complex and fast-moving world -- more and more people need those same kinds of skills. Ashoka imagines and builds a world where “everyone is a changemaker.” Sound abstract? Let’s start with an example. Frank Hoffman is an Ashoka Fellow in Germany. Frank is a gynecologist by trade and was frustrated with Germany’s health care rules: Women could not receive preventative breast cancer mammograms until age 50. Frank knew that women needed these services much earlier. He may have been able to advocate for a legislative change, but didn’t. Instead, he taught blind women how to give mammograms. Lacking sight, these women saw the world through their hands. And these sensitive hands could detect -- as well as expensive medical equipment -- early stage breast cancer. Not only did German women receive preventative brea

Imagine Peace - Elise Boulding

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Elise Boulding has been an influential thinker and creative voice in peace and conflict theory.   She served as the secretary-general of the International Peace Research Association(IPRA) and president of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Boulding is credited with introducing to the field of peacemaking the idea of “imaging the future.”   For Boulding, the idea of imaging the future is placed within the context of “the 200-year present.”   Within this framework, we must understand that we live in a social space which reaches into the past that extends, as well, into the future.   For Boulding, the “200-year present” contains within it the basis for a world culture of peace and problem solving for the world, but also, the possibility of conflict, chaos and Armageddon. In my reading of religious persons throughout the history of the world, I believe they understood intuitively what Boulding labels with this term, “the 200-year present.”   We must live with

Burma - Myanmar - Statelessness, Slavery, Human Trafficking

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Learning more about the situation(s) in Burma/Myanmar and Laos - border countries with Thailand. More for you in your shared awareness and shared advocacy can be gleaned from this 50 minute video by John Pilger - entitled "Burma: Land of Fear" Or, this Reith Lecture by the elected and functionally exiled leader of Burma, Aung Sun San Kyi - "Securing Freedom" Hoping to do more to extend the good for the all! Toward eupan . ~ marty alan michelson, ph.d.