Creating a Culture of Peace

The Sun Chronicle, Tuesday, January 15, 2013: On Jan. 1, I began a 30-day fast to encourage our nation and leaders to embrace the values and commitment to nonviolence exemplified by the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I propose a National Day of Prayer and Reflection on individual and collective responsibility for violence; the appointment of a National Advisory Commission on the Causes of Violence in America; incorporating nonviolence education into elementary and secondary school curricula; a study on the history and causes of violence; and a commitment by faith communities to teach forgiveness and unconditional love.
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A timely message from Maulana Karanga, the creator of Kwanzaa, about violence and peace. --Toni McClendon, CCP Board Member

Los Angeles Sentinel, December 27, 2012, p. A-6: The savage and senseless massacre of 26 people, 20 children and 6 adults, at an elementary school in Connecticut has once again forced the country to face a random rage and murderous rampage which allows no exemption for innocence of age, non-involvement or accidental presence. Indeed, it extends no respect to person or place, striking with cold-blooded calculation at movies, malls, religious sanctuaries and schools, and in big cities, small towns, so-called nice neighborhoods and mean streets, offering security and peace of mind to no one. But no matter how often it happens, it is a shocking and shattering experience, and a reminder of the continuing and problematic presence of violence as both an inadequately discussed legacy and continuing life-experience in this country and in its conception of overwhelming armed power as a personal and national existential need.

--by CCP board member Elliott Adams, who was arrested on October 25, 2012 at Hancock Air Base along with 17 other nonviolent activists who were drawing attention to reaper drone war crimes.
The US government is attempting to silence people who call attention to the war crimes of drones by serving "orders of protection," a legal order intended to protect vulnerable victims of domestic violence.

The Upstate New York Coalition to Ground the Drones has repeatedly tried to deliver an indictment for war crimes to the Commander of Hancock Field Air National Guard Base. In response to trying to fulfill this obligation under International Humanitarian Law and the principles of Nuremberg, members of the group have been arrested six times and sentenced to fines and jail time. If the government believes drone attacks are legal, they would welcome the chance to address the accusations in a court of law. Instead the government denies these citizens their First Amendment Rights.

Two CCP facilitators, Katherine Wojtan and Elliott Adams, were present at this event:

October 7, 2012, Portland, OR – Seventeen people from across the United States and Canada, committed to nonviolence and teaching the tools of third-party nonviolent intervention, gathered this weekend at the Whitefeather Peace House in Portland, Oregon to discuss unifying their efforts to create a nonviolent response to violence in their local areas.  The three-day gathering resulted in the creation of the Shanti Sena Network (SSN). "Shanti Sena" was a term coined by Mahatma Gandhi, and it means “peace army.”

Read more at: http://mettacenter.org/applications/shanti

It is with a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation that we announce the retirement of our founding Executive Director, Janet Chisholm, on May 31, 2012.

More than 12 years ago, Janet envisioned the possibilities that would emerge from a national nonviolence training organization. She created the curriculum that is at the heart of our work, thus giving birth to this organization that is becoming a national movement. We would, simply, not be here without her leadership, her vision and her dedication.