Thinking the Olympics

I’ll admit that my hopes for a peaceful future get fired up during the Olympics.  I am a fan of the accomplishments and striving of each generation of athletes who gather in an Olympic Village to compete.  I’m also a fan of the idea that people all over the world pause to appreciate and cheer for them.  Yes, I know the games are commercialized, controversies abound, and media coverage—in every country—often tends to promote nationalism versus a sense of global community.  I still love the Games.

I also love the opportunities Olympics' issues offer to thoughtful teachers and students.  Here are ways to continue the excitement of the games in the classroom, with an eye to enhancing critical thinking, media literacy, discussion of human rights, and appreciation of sportsmanship and athleticism.

Look at nationalism versus global unity: 

Colman McCarthy is one of my heroes.  Former Washington Post journalist McCarthy details his transition to peace educator in his 2002 book I’d Rather Teach Peace.  He directs the Center for Teaching Peace, and if you don’t know of McCarthy’s work, please visit the links below.  Perhaps he points to the need for peace education best by asserting “Unless we teach our children peace, somebody else will teach them violence.”

In 2006, McCarthy wrote an article entitled The Olympics are too Politicized, describing the career and critical thinking of 1990s Olympic speed skater Nathanial Mills.  Mills valued the games—as many of us do—as an opportunity for internationalism and the way they bring athletes and spectators together in pursuit of and appreciation of excellence.  However, McCarthy wrote, Mills began to look at the Olympics with a more critical eye:

It was only after he retired from competition that Mr. Mills saw how nationalism and pseudopatriotism degraded the Olympics. Why, he wondered, are national flags raised at the medal ceremonies? Why are national anthems played?

If the Games become contests between hired gladiators of various nations with the idea of building national prestige or proving that one system of government or other is better than another, they will have lost all purpose.

"The simplest way to de-nationalize the medal ceremony," Mr. Mills believes, "is to raise the Olympic flag and sound an Olympic anthem when awarding the winner. The Olympic flag, representing the continents on which humanity resides and not the nation-states artificially created upon them, has become one of the most recognized positive symbols on the planet. A denationalized ceremony would simply recognize the accomplishment of the winner—and all competitors—as a victory for humankind, giving everyone cause to say, 'That is one of our own….'"

McCarthy continues:

At the 2002 winter games in Salt Lake City, where he spoke as a representative of the U.S. Athletic Commission, Mr. Mills expressed those views. He was rebuked as a dreamer, an agitator and an unpatriotic nag….

Such thinking is beyond the executives of NBC, the Olympic broadcaster providing coverage—if past performance means anything—gushingly pro-American. NBC might as well become the Nationalistic Broadcasting Company….

Think about media coverage with your students.  Have they thought about the nationalism versus patriotism versus internationalism concepts Mills and McCarthy raise?  Probably not. 

• Classroom activity to promote media literacy and a discussion of the nationalism factor of the Olympics: Invite students to browse lead stories from an international array of news sources during the time period of the 2012 Olympic Games.  Assign pairs of students to work in teams to represent different countries.  Ask them to count mentions of “their” country’s athletes versus those of other countries on “frontpage” headlines.  (See the link below to REFDESK, a compendium of national and international online newspapers.)  Follow with a discussion of Mills's suggestion of abandoning national flag ceremonies for Olympic flag ceremonies.  I can guarantee an engaging debate on the symbolic nature of national and international flags, media focus, and the role of the Olympics in international life.

Think about human rights and the Olympics:

While McCarthy decries the over-politicization of the Olympics, many wonder why certain issues are not discussed.  Which countries encourage women to compete?  Where are women’s rights discouraged?  What are the economic barriers to athletes and families?  Which countries support athletic development.  Is that support “fair?”  What is the role of the Olympian as role model?  Does an athlete on the global stage have a duty to speak out against human rights abuses in his/her country?  What happens to athletes who go “out of bounds” to bring such questions to the fore? 

In the 1968 example of U.S. gold medalist Tommie Smith and bronze medalist John Carlos, their demonstration against racism and poverty caused immediate controversy.  Most of our students have not heard of Olympians Smith and Carlos.  They should know what they did on the medal stand—and more importantly—why.

• Classroom activity to discuss the 1968 Mexico Olympic Award Ceremony in which U.S. gold medalist Tommie Smith and bronze medalist John Carlos raised fists on the podium to bring attention to human rights issues.  Watch several minutes of the Democracy Now recap of the race and ceremony (and a compelling interview with Juan Carlos in 2011).  Have students read Dave Zirin’s Fists of Freedom article.   Pose the following questions for your students: Is it appropriate for an Olympian to use the award pedestal to make a statement about human rights in his/her country?  Would the American media applaud a Chinese athlete who did this today?  Did the raised-fist athletes disgrace or enhance the image of the United States?  What happened to the careers of these athletes compared to their peers?  Who supported these athletes’ stands?  Why?  These and other questions will engage your students in active thinking about the roles of athletes and the Olympics.

Think about questions of disability versus ability and the example of Oscar Pistorius:  

Colleague Matt Newcomb and I involve our 7^th and 8^th grade debate class students in this topic with a debate of the appropriateness of runner Oscar Pistorius competing in the Olympics.  What’s the controversy?  Pistorius is a double amputee from the knee down.  Nicknamed “The Bladerunner,” Pistorius runs with prosthetic limbs—spring-like devices that have some commentators crying unfair advantage.  Others applaud the resilience of Pistorius, born without bones in his lower legs, to have made such strides in the demanding sport.   Denied permission to compete in the 2008 Beijing Games, Pistorius ran in London in 2012.  I cried as I watched him run. 

• Classroom activity: Invite students to read the Christian Science Monitor article about the Pistorius controversy.  Let them watch YouTube videos of on-street interviews and his competitions.  Using such resources, invite students to record pros and cons of allowing athletes with prosthetic devices to compete against so-called “able-bodied” athletes.  (Debate that term as well!)  In addition to the critical thinking that will result, awareness of disability rights is but one outcome of this activity.

Think about sportsmanship and the Games:

Is it wrong to conserve energy in one race to more effectively compete in another?  Can one fairly fall down after starting a race to ensure a better re-start?  Should a team “throw” a qualifying match to pull an easier opponent on the way to the medal stand?  These are questions raised in the 2012 Olympics that will surely engage students.  The most visible occurrence of such strategy was in the badminton qualifying rounds, where top teams were judged to be playing poorly to fare better against easier opponents later in the competition.  Eight Olympic badminton players were eliminated from the Games.  But some highly decorated Olympians admit to reserving energy in one race to better compete later.  Is this unsportsmanlike behavior?

• Classroom activity: The questions raised in the Los Angeles Times article (and online videos) will fuel formal debates and informal discussions in your classroom.  Consider such questions as the following: What is the role of sportsmanship in the Olympics?  What is the role of sportsmanship at our school?  Does our school have a “win at all costs” culture?  Is it cheating if you don’t try your best?  Should all students have the opportunity to play some sport during the school day?  Are some sports valued more highly than others?  Why?  Who benefits from the popularity of sports in our culture?  Your students will take over this discussion, raising numerous issues of personal and school relevance.

The wrap up: Regardless of where you stand on the Olympics, they offer opportunities for us to teach students to think critically.  Watching how we watch the Olympics—as citizens of one country or a global family (or both?), evaluating the role of Olympic athletes in consciousness raising, discussing the meaning of able-bodiedness, and bringing questions of sportsmanship from the Olympics to students’ personal lives are valuable ways for us to change watching the Olympics to thinking the Olympics.

Links to resources:

• Link to an interview with Colman McCarthy on teaching peace in schools: http://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/apr/27/colman-mccarthy-teaching-peace-americas-schools/  
• Link to Colman McCarthy’s The Class of Nonviolence readings and teaching guides: http://salsa.net/peace/conv/  
• Link to McCarthy’s article The Olympics are too Politicized: http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Viewpoints&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=true&source=&sortBy=&displayGroups=&zid=&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010557207
• Link to refdesk.com—Newspapers USA and Worldwide : http://www.refdesk.com/paper.html
• Link to 2011 Democracy Now program, John Carlos, 1968 Olympic U.S. Medalist, on the Revolutionary Sports Moment that Changed the World: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/12/john_carlos_1968_olympic_us_medalist

• Link to Dave Zirin’s article Fists of Freedom: An Olympic Story Not Taught in Schools: http://www.good.is/post/fists-of-freedom-an-olympic-story-not-taught-in-schools/  
• Link to Christian Science Monitor article: Oscar Pistorius achieves Olympic dream, advances to 400-meter semifinal http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Olympics/2012/0804/Oscar-Pistorius-achieves-Olympic-dream-advances-to-400-meter-semifinal
• Link to YouTube video: Should Oscar Pistorius compete in the Olympics? - That Paralympic Blog  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwtOENfqat0
• Link to Los Angeles Times article: London Olympics badminton scandal: Is it always wrong to lose on purpose? http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/la-sp-oly-spirit-of-games-20120802,0,2029408.story

Teaching about Muhammad Ali: Olympian, Boxing Champ, Humanitarian, & 2012 Liberty Medal Recipient

Muhammad Ali was recently announced as the recipient of the National Constitution Center’s 2012 Liberty Medal, awarded to “individuals of courage and conviction who strive to secure the blessings of liberty to people around the globe.”  The award makes me smile.  I never liked boxing as a sport, but I always liked Muhammad Ali.  Aside from his obvious talent, Ali had guts, he spoke out, he was funny, and he refused to fight in a war I also protested.   His religious views interested me in Islam, and his views on civil rights provoked me to become a more multicultural person.  Using his world-renown, he embarked on citizen diplomacy missions whose success intrigues me.  Suffering from Parkinson’s disease, Ali continues to work for the greater good: “I wanted to use my fame, and this face that everyone knows so well, to help uplift and inspire people around the world.”

This complex figure is one who will captivate the imaginations of students: a world famous athlete and humanitarian with a hip-hop wit and outspoken views.  Ali’s civil rights, humanitarian, diplomacy, and anti-war and anti-racism work are deserving of attention in the classroom. 

The links below are good tools for introducing students to Muhammad Ali.  Numerous encyclopedia articles and biographies are also available.  In 1967, Ali spoke out dramatically against the Vietnam War. The YouTube video provides details of Ali’s refusal to be drafted that galvanized the anti-war and civil rights movements of the 1960s-70s.  The Constitution Center announcement provides background information on the Award and Ali’s career.  The Ali Center website provides videos featuring the Center’s core principles (respect, confidence, conviction, dedication, spirituality, and giving) and a Peace Garden curriculum, inviting schools in underserved communities to apply for funding to plant gardens.  Finally, the Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Staff provides a strong defense of Ali’s choice as Liberty Medal recipient. 

The selection of Muhammad Ali is controversial, and this aspect of the award is one to pursue with students.  For example, the Inquirer website has a reader poll featuring questions suitable for a classroom debate: Was it right to give boxing great Muhammad Ali the 2012 Liberty Medal?  Yes, honors his fight for religious freedom…  No, he dodged the Vietnam draft…. Yes, despite Parkinson's, he's devoted himself to traveling the world on humanitarian missions….  No, better candidates than a former heavyweight boxer…. Other aspects of Ali’s life provide students with opportunities to explore such topics as the relationship between the religion of Islam and the Nation of Islam, freedom of religion afforded under the U.S. 1^st Amendment, the U.S. civil rights and anti-war movements, diplomatic and hostage crises from Lebanon to Afghanistan, and brain injury among athletes.  Ali will receive the award in a ceremony in Philadelphia on September 13, 2012.

·         Link to YouTube Video—Muhammad Ali: Went to jail rather than be drafted for war:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vk6KWdwJ6A    Muhammad Ali defends his 1967 decision to refuse to fight in Vietnam: "My conscious won't let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America. And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didn't put no dogs on me, they didn't rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father....”

·         Link to National Constitution Center announcement of Muhammad Ali as winner of 2012 Liberty Medal: http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2012/07/muhammad-ali-to-receive-national-constitution-center%E2%80%99s-2012-liberty-medal/

·         Link to Ali Center: http://alicenter.org/site/  

·         Link to Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial praising the decision:  Ali a good choice for the Liberty Medal http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/161852105.html

A Revolution in our Thinking -- July 4th

On the resource-rich Zinn Education Project website, Bill Bigelow of Rethinking Schools asks us to rethink the 4^th of July.  He writes:

[T]here is something profoundly inappropriate about blowing off fireworks at a time when the United States is waging war with real fireworks around the world….  U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan alone have killed more than 200 people, including at least 60 children. And, of course, the U.S. war in Afghanistan drags on and on. The pretend war of celebratory fireworks thus becomes part of a propaganda campaign that inures us—especially the children among us—to the real wars half a world away….

Bigelow invites readers—especially teachers—to investigate other ways to look at July 4^th.  For example, he suggests employing Ray Raphael’s research depicting a more complete story of the American Revolution.  Raphael writes about omissions from American school textbooks of the active participation of lower and middle class Americans in working for independence, as well as the 90 “declarations of independence” from various localities that preceded Jefferson’s version. 

I ask my students to consider whether the Revolutionary War itself was even necessary.  For years, I have incorporated non-violence strategist Gene Sharp’s March 1976 article, Disregarded History, to enhance students’ understanding of successful nonviolent techniques Americans used in the years preceding the Revolutionary War.  As my students formally debate whether the American Revolution was necessary in order for the United States to become independent, we realize there are many legitimate arguments suggesting that the protracted and bloody conflict could have been avoided with continuing economic boycotts and collective nonviolent actions that had already proven effective by 1776.  Read about numerous instances of economic and political non-cooperation Sharp details in the section American Colonial Nonviolence, circa 1776.

Teachers also need to help students rethink what the American Revolution meant to American Indians and enslaved Africans.  “Should they celebrate July 4^th as Independence Day?” I query.  In years of asking students to consider this question, only one parent has objected.  But to numerous students (and many families) the question was an eye opener, leading to critical and heartfelt exploration of the painful violence toward Indians and enslaved Africans perpetrated by our country’s founders.

Bigelow refers to Frederick Douglass’s 1851 speech about the 4^th of July:

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?  I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.  To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity….

Completing the American Revolution for many African Americans is a process still underway.  But revolutionary—and nonviolent—action for equal rights is detailed compellingly in the 2001 movie A Force More Powerful and in a 2012 speech by Civil Rights leader Dr. James Lawson.  Lawson studied Gandhian nonviolence in India and incorporated techniques of nonviolent direct action in such effective Civil Rights campaigns as lunch counter sit-ins in the American South.  To become critically thinking citizens, our students must learn that these stories, too, are part of the American Revolution.

I ask my students to consider whether citizens of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan might look at American soldiers as occupiers—as Americans thought of British soldiers in the 1700s.  We compare the “messiness” of the American Revolution with the “messiness” of current revolutions around the world.  By considering such diverse aspects of July 4^th, are we asking our students to become anti-American?  Of course not.  Are we asking them to be thoughtful Americans?  Yes. 

I agree with Bigelow that 4^th of July fireworks can be jingoistic and disturbing.  But I also use their noise and smell to evoke empathy in my students for their global neighbors—kids like themselves—who live in war zones, who experience American drone attacks, and who experience the shocks of blast after blast—night after night.  Is this something our students want for themselves or their fellow children on the planet?  Aren’t “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” rights they want for all members of the human family?

Former president Jimmy Carter asks Americans to remember another declaration of rights: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, establishing “equal rights of all people to life, liberty, security of person, equal protection of the law and freedom from torture, arbitrary detention or forced exile….”  In a June 2012 op-ed piece, Carter bemoans the direction of U.S. foreign policy, with assassinations, drone attacks on civilians, and torture:

At a time when popular revolutions are sweeping the globe, the United States should be strengthening, not weakening, basic rules of law and principles of justice enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But instead of making the world safer, America’s violation of international human rights abets our enemies and alienates our friends….

During my peace education sabbatical year in 2005-06, I asked Norwegian peace mediator Johan Galtung what American youth most need to understand about their role in the world.  He answered that most of the world’s citizens want Americans to walk humbly—to realize that the United States is a nation among nations—and that we need to cooperate with the world community.  Days like the 4^th of July, or September 11^th, or the International Day of Peace give us opportunities to awaken a thoughtful and active spirit of American and global citizenship in our students.  Let’s empower them to rethink our revolution.

• Link to Bill Bigelow’s 2012 post Rethinking the 4^th of July and Frederick Douglass’s speech: http://zinnedproject.org/posts/18505 

• Link to Ray Raphael’s 2012 post Re-examining the Revolution: http://zinnedproject.org/posts/180
  
  
• Link to Frederick Douglass’s 1851 The Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro: http://zinnedproject.org/posts/11086

• Link to Gene Sharp’s 1976 article Disregarded History: http://www.fragmentsweb.org/fourtx/dishistx.html

• Link to Reverend James Lawson’s June 2012 keynote speech and resources on nonviolent direct action: http://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/index.php/learning-and-resources/educational-initiatives/fletcher-summer-institute/fsi-2012/2303-keynote-address-rev-james-lawson/#karjlresources
  
  
• Link to Jimmy Carter’s 2012 Op-ed A Cruel and Unusual Record: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/opinion/americas-shameful-human-rights-record.html
• Link to teaching resources for human rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: http://teachforpeace.org/care/Universal-Declaration-of-Human-Rights

Nonviolence Interview on PRI's The World with Srdja Popovic- 6 mins.

Visit The World (Public Radio International)  and take 6 minutes to listen to an informative and inspiring interview with Srdja Popovic. He helps us see nonviolence as powerful and viable. While not mentioning it by name, he includes references to Swarthmore College's Global Nonviolent Action Database demonstrating the effectiveness of nonviolence in numerous past and current revolutions. There are wonderful opportunities to teach about nonviolence here.  See my Memorial Day blog for more information on these valuable resources.  

In this interview (Srdja Popovic Defends Non-Violence When Toppling Dictators | PRI's The World), Popovic mixes historical references and current events as he discusses the importance of nonviolence in Syria.  Program description from PRI: "Social movements advisor and former activist, Serbian Srdja Popovic speaks with Marco Werman about Syria and his insistence on keeping social movements non-violent."

September 21st is the International Day of Peace.  Heads up, teachers!  Play the interview, debate the pros and cons of nonviolent action.  Then, send kids to the database and have them teach classmates about past and present nonviolent revolutions around the world.

• Link to Srdja Popovic's interview on PRI's The World:  Srdja Popovic Defends Non-Violence When Toppling Dictators | PRI's The World:    http://www.theworld.org/2012/06/srdja-popovic/
• Link to Swarthmore's Global Nonviolent Action Database:   http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/  

Another Side to Memorial Day: “They Prefer Peace Over War…”

In contrast to parades, sales, and barbecues, I offer another side to Memorial Day: a mixed bag of research and personal reflection on war and peace.  The research (useful to teachers and others) points us to forgiveness and nonviolence as effective, powerful peacebuilding tools.  The personal reflection (on my father’s military service) invites us to remember the human cost of war to soldier and civilian alike. War is truly an inhuman behavior.  We can do better.  The research and the long view of history point the way to peace.  Let’s pay attention.

Beyond Revenge: University of Miami psychology professor and researcher Michael McCullough takes a long view of history and knows that humans “prefer peace over war, every time…”  Not only do we prefer it, but Beyond Revenge author McCullough agrees with Better Angels of our Nature author Steven Pinker that humankind is moving in the direction of peace.  Based on his research of human and animal psychology of revenge and forgiveness, McCullough speaks in a realistically hopeful way about the power of forgiveness in Ugandan peace initiatives, childrearing, school anti-bullying strategies, and interpersonal relationships.  If we’re really serious about celebrating Memorial Day, we will work to build a world in which war is not the answer.  McCullough seems to have some of the peacebuilding answers to the question of how we can get along.  Take time to read the transcript or listen to the podcast of McCullough’s conversation with On Being’s Krista Tippett.  (See link below.)

Global Nonviolent Action Database: For practical reasons why war is not the answer (and evidence than nonviolence actually works!), read about creative, dynamic, powerful, and NONVIOLENT movements for peace and justice across the United States and world.  At 560 cases and growing, the Global Nonviolent Action Database was started by activist, researcher, and peace educator George Lakey, assisted by his Peace and Conflict Studies students at Swarthmore College.  Advance searching helps you find historical cases dating back to the year 300 when Catholics nonviolently defended a basilica in Italy.   Or select 1619 when Polish artisans nonviolently protested for the right to vote in Jamestown, VA.  Search by types of nonviolent campaigns for civil rights or democracy.  Or, search by case or geography for historical and recent nonviolent actions recently in the headlines.  (See link below.)

Waging Nonviolence: For connections from the database collection to current events, read Lakey’s (and colleagues’) weekly column Living Revolution at the Waging Nonviolence news site.  Students from middle school through adulthood can easily engage in discussing these cases and the weekly column.  Recent topics connect Long Walks for Justice in India, Thailand, and the Americas or More Violence, the Less Revolution, in which Lakey details research of international revolution movements throughout history: violent and nonviolent.  (See link below.)

Teach for Peace—Memorial Day & Every Day: The research exists to help us change the prevailing belief system from one that nurtures a culture of war to one that builds an enduring culture of peace.  Strong motivation should exist as well.  If you think about it, every soldier is a child soldier.  What does war do to the children we send to fight it? 

For me, a deeper level of understanding the human cost of war came with learning my father’s experience of war as a World War II combat infantry soldier.  I had grown up with his nightmare-driven screaming, but only as an adult had I videotaped my middle school son interviewing him about the war.  Later I read the thousands of letters my father, Fred, had written my mother.  Here’s a letter from boot camp in Georgia:

• “I was low the other day & I went to see the chaplain on the advice of my Sergeant who calls that T.S. (Tough Shit).  I talked for about 1-1/2 hours about this, that, & everything, until finally he steered me around to my favorite subject—YOU.  I guess it was a little bit of home-sickness, me for the old fireside, eh.  I love you so much honey, that when I next see you they will probably have to use a crow-bar to get me anyplace but where you are.  You are my idea of all that is fine & sweet in this world.  I shall write tomorrow.  God Bless You.”

 Months later, my father was under attack on the way to Italy.  This is not something he would have or could have written my mother.  Fifty years later he told my son:

• “We were on the water for about 60 days sometimes in cold, sometimes in warm weather.  There was rotten food and sleepless nights and tempers were at knife’s edge.  Many fights occurred….  After a long time we were going through the Strait of Gibraltar.  That night we were attacked by a German airplane and a pack of submarines….”

Fighting at the Gustav Line May 10-15, 1945, my father Fred recounted seeing farmers along the road sides selling black bread and onions.  Soldiers would trade cigarettes in exchange.  He earned a Purple Heart there, but experiences on the battle field were so fierce he would only say this to his grandson,

• “Those times weren’t a vacation and it wasn’t a game.  There were thousands of dead people lying around.  Not just one--- thousands.” 

Seeing war from a soldier’s point of view may help us wake up from our Memorial Day parade-sale-barbecue-induced acceptance of war.  Dying civilians.  Dying soldiers.  Scars: mental and physical for the survivors.  Summing up his view on war for his grandson, my father concluded:

• “It is the devilish invention of mankind.  Even for our enemies that we have—that this country has in the world today—I wish no casualties to either side.  War is hell.  And I hope we never, never, never have to go through it again.”

The miles-away stare in the eyes of the returning veteran or war-surviving civilian should tell us that war is truly an inhuman behavior.  The other side of Memorial Day is to remember the human cost of war to soldier and civilian alike.  We can do better.  The research and the long view of history are pointing the way if we pay attention and wake up.

Research the possibilities for active peacebuilding at the links below: 

• Link: On Being: Michael McCullough—Getting Revenge and Forgiveness: http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2012/revenge-forgiveness/transcript.shtml
• Links: Global Nonviolent Action Database:
  Browse cases: http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/browse
  Geographical locator: http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/map
• Link: George Lakey (and colleagues’) Living Revolution column at Waging Nonviolence: http://wagingnonviolence.org/2012/03/the-more-violence-the-less-revolution/#more-15545
• Link: Teachforpeace.org: Numerous peace education resources for critical and creative thinking, local and global care, and effective social action are at my website: www.teachforpeace.org

MOTHER’S DAY IS A PLEA FOR PEACE!

"We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says "Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice…."
Julia Ward Howe, 1870

Recently, with other visitors to Colonial Williamsburg, I participated in a historical re-enactment of a militia training session.  As we stood shoulder to shoulder, harangued by “officers,” “shot” by musket, and rushed by bayonets, a shudder went through the line of adults and children.  We were to be turned into killing machines.  

I thought of my father, a World War II infantryman, and the fear and injury he suffered as he endured basic training to turn him from a loving son, brother, husband and neighbor to a weapon of war.  As his daughter, I have tried to work for a peaceful future for our children and ourselves.  As Mother’s Day approaches, I find strength in Julia Ward Howe’s proclamation, printed below.

Want to do something special for Mother's Day?  Join the Peace Alliance’s Peace Wants a Piece of the Pie Mother’s Day Campaign to include peacebuilding in the national budget.  Information at this link: http://www.thepeacealliance.org/take-action/campaigns/mothers-day-2012.html

Mother's Day Proclamation
by Julia Ward Howe, 1870

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or tears!

Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have taught them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of the devastated earth, a voice goes up with our own. It says, "Disarm, Disarm!"

The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail & commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesars but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.

[This text can be found in numerous sources.  This version is from http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/0000/1870_howe_mothers-day_print.htm ]

Biography of Julia Ward Howe (from Waging Peace.org)

US feminist, reformer, and writer Julia Ward Howe was born May 27, 1819 in New York City. She married Samuel Gridley Howe of Boston, a physician and social reformer. After the Civil War, she campaigned for women rights, anti-slavery, equality, and for world peace. She published several volumes of poetry, travel books, and a play. She became the first woman to be elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1908. She was an ardent antislavery activist who wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic in 1862, sung to the tune of John Brown's Body. She wrote a biography in 1883 of Margaret Fuller, who was a prominent literary figure and a member of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Transcendentalists. She died in 1910. 

Stopping Thoughtless and Violent Responses 2012-Part 1:

In the days and weeks following the release of Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 video, many students asked me about the movie and the situation in Uganda.  “What can we do?  Have you seen the movie?  Can we buy an action kit?” 

Several teachers asked a more nuanced question, “What do you think?”  That’s the question we should be helping our students answer.

With the help of members of the Peace and Justice Studies Association, I offer several good resources to help ourselves and our students better analyze the Kony 2012 video and the aims of the organization that produced it.  More importantly, the information and links below propose nonviolent responses that (as history proves) will be much more likely to result in peacebuilding in Uganda. 

We and our students care about local and global injustice and violence.  However, “shoot from the hip” responses, as we too often see, do not yield lasting, peaceful and just outcomes.  Peacebuilder Betty Bigombe explains ongoing negotiations for peace in the video linked below. Project Plowshares advocates for stopping the weapons trade that fuels violent conflict.

After the dust settles, if you and your students are still interested, watch Bigombe’s short video together.  Or, have a class debate the pros and cons of various proposed responses.  Students could even discuss the pros and cons of distributing such a video to raise awareness of an important issue.  I am sure students will be engaged.  Resources include the following:

Project Ploughshares is an NGO that works “to advance policies and actions to prevent war and armed violence and build peace.” The response from Project Plowshares contains clear points and clear action alternatives to the video.  Excerpts are here and link to the full article is below:

1.       “The Kony 2012 video does not make clear that the LRA effectively stopped operating in Uganda in 2006. Kony and the LRA leadership originated in Northern Uganda, but have been roaming the inhospitable border zones of three neighbouring countries since 2008.

2.      Kony 2012 leaves the impression that sustaining the U.S. decision in October 2011 to assign 100 Special Operations military advisors to Uganda’s military is the key to arresting Kony in 2012. In fact, a military-led solution aided by the U.S. may not be the best option for stopping the LRA

3.      Finally, arresting Kony and others in the LRA leadership and handing them over to the International Criminal Court is not a panacea.

So what can we do?
Not mentioned in the video is the key role that the pervasive presence in East Africa of small arms and light weapons makes to sustaining the murderous rampage of the LRA and other marauding groups…..  [Show your] support from the grassroots up for a strong and effective Arms Trade Treaty, which aims to stop atrocities fueled by irresponsible arms transfers. You can help by adding your voice to the Speak Out campaign. And you can follow this link to learn about the World Council of Churches Arms Trade Treaty Campaign....”

Betty Bigombe, is a Ugandan government minister and peace activist who has worked for peace in Uganda for decades.  Watching her 4-minute video will give students a much more hopeful, peace-oriented understanding of the Ugandan situation than Kony 2012 does.  The link for Betty Bigombe’s video is below.   

The Africa Faith and Justice Network issued a statement on non-military solutions in Uganda, including this passage: "While we acknowledge and denounce the terrible destruction brought about by Joseph Kony and his militia, and deplore the heart-breaking suffering imposed on so many ordinary people, we stand opposed to the choice of the Obama administration to send further military assistance to the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and the Republic of South Sudan as of October 14th 2011. We do not see that further militarization will be in the best interest of the peoples of these countries in the long term; rather we advocate for non-military support to be sent to deal with the complex political issues....”  The link to the website and full statement is below.

Invisible Children, the organization responsible for the video and information campaign, has issued responses to questions raised about the video.  Discussing these responses with students may help them think critically about the aims of Invisible Children.  Many students, for example, think 100% of their dollars spent at the site go directly to helping Ugandan children, women, and men.  They are surprised to learn that only 37% of funds raised by Invisible Children go to humanitarian programs in Uganda, while the rest is used for developing films and other programming.  For other critiques, see journalist Michael Wilkerson’s posting in Foreign Policy, linked below. 

Links to articles and video:

• Project Plowshares article on Uganda and small arms treaty: http://www.ploughshares.ca/content/kony-2012-now-we-have-your-attention
• Betty Bigombe, Building Peace in Uganda: (4-minute video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG7icDkOOHk
• Africa Faith and Justice Network webpage and statement: http://afjn.org/focus-campaigns/militarization-us-africa-policy/133-latest-news/1028-urging-nonviolence-in-dealing-with-the-lords-resistance-army-.html
• Michael Wilkerson in Foreign Policy Blog: http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/03/07/guest_post_joseph_kony_is_not_in_uganda_and_other_complicated_things
• Invisible Children: http://www.invisiblechildren.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/critiques.html
• Peace and Justice Studies Association: http://www.peacejusticestudies.org/

EMPOWERING YOUTH; INSPIRING BRAVERY:

As she usually does, Lady Gaga is grabbing attention.  This time, however, it is for the important cause of building a culture of love, compassion, and empowerment for youth.  At a Harvard Graduate School of Education event featuring Oprah Winfrey, secretary of health and human services Kathleen Sebelius, and Deepak Chopra among others, Lady Gaga and her mother Cynthia Germanotta launched the Born This Way Foundation.  Nicholas Kristof summarized the background story in a New York Times article. The Born This Way Foundation website and YouTube videos provide background on the foundation’s philosophy. 

Gaga is seeking to empower youth to engage in transformative change in our culture to promote acceptance, respect, kindness, and civic engagement among youth.  Emphasizing the need for all youth to feel safe in school and online, to have the skills to interact respectfully with others, and to have the opportunity to effect positive social change, the Foundation is partnering with Harvard, the MacArthur Foundation, and others.  The long video of the event at HGSE might interest classroom teachers as a prompt for classroom discussion of school climate and individuals’ power to change negative energy to positive in schools and communities.  Gaga and the panelists frequently refer to various movements (civil rights, anti-smoking, women’s movement, etc.) and the grass roots empowerment that led to key societal transformations. 

Short (1:14) YouTube interview: Gaga and Oprah discuss “safety, skills, and opportunity,” the mission pillars of the foundation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJLh4UarrAQ

Long YouTube (1 hour+) video of the launch event: http://www.youtube.com/btwfoundation

Born This Way Foundation link to mission: http://bornthiswayfoundation.org/pages/our-mission/  

Kristof article link:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/opinion/kristof-born-to-not-get-bullied.html?_r=2&src=me&ref=general

INTERRUPTING VIOLENCE, BUILDING PEACE

In my English classes for the past few years, we’ve read an award-winning novel that deals with racism and violence: Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor.  As we explore the strong bonds of family that enable the Black protagonists to fight nonviolently for their human and civil rights, my students and I also explore the bonds of humanity that tie us together as classmates and members of the human family. 

When students share “circles of culture” in which they examine their own backgrounds, multiple heritages, and interests, they delight in finding surprising similarities along with obvious differences between them and their classmates.  We also interrupt our reading to write “kind words” notes to each other for Valentine’s Day.  Former students return yearly to tell me they’ve kept these tiny “put-ups” and feel good when they read them.  When I suspend typical English class pursuits to explore such activities, I ask my students why they think I have taken the time to do so.  “You want us to ‘get’ the book….”  “The book is harsh and this gives us a break….”  “You want us to learn more about each other….” 

“Yes,” I say, “All that.  I want you to see how you can find a way to connect with another person—here in the classroom and anywhere in the world—if you stop to consider that you have similarities as well as differences.”

This week, appropriately enough on Valentine’s Day, PBS Frontline presents The Interrupters, the true story of three street-savvy peace builders courageously intervening to stop violence on the streets of Chicago’s roughest neighborhoods.   The press release states: “The interrupters work for an innovative organization, CeaseFire, [whose founder] believes that the spread of violence mimics that of infectious diseases, and so the treatment should be similar: Go after the most infected, and stop the infection at its source.”   More information and interviews with the Interrupters, Ameena Matthews, Cobe Williams and Eddie Bocanegra, and director, Steve James (Hoop Dreams) are available at the link below. 

But, before you check out The Interrupters, read about “Chicago’s Peace Warriors,” working with less fanfare.  Students, teachers, and administrators at Chicago’s North Lawndale College Preparatory High, a charter school in a gang-troubled neighborhood, are employing Kingian Nonviolence to interrupt cycles of violence and build a culture of peace in the school, and ultimately, the community. 

Teacher Tiffany Childress wanted to do something about school and community violence and took nonviolence training offered by the Positive Peace Warrior Network.  Founded by renowned Civil Rights leader Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Jr. and others, the mission of the Network’s curriculum is to “institutionalize and internationalize nonviolence,” as Dr. King expressed in 1968.

Dr. King, like Gandhi, never saw nonviolence as passive.  Rather, nonviolence is proactive, energetic, and strategic.  The website defines Kingian Nonviolence as “a systematic framework of both conceptual principles and pragmatic strategies to reduce violence and promote positive peace at the personal, community, national, and global levels.”

Teacher Childress brought the training to her school, and school officials supported trainings for faculty and students, crucial steps in the process of transforming the school.  Students took ownership of their school and wider community, working to promote peaceful solutions to everyday problems that would typically lead to fights.  Realizing violence was not acceptable was a first step.  Teaching their peers to suspend negative judgments and creatively de-escalate conflict situations was the next step.  School officials committed time and importance to the issue, realizing “We have to teach the skills of building peace, just like we teach for the SATs.” 

One year, school violence dropped 70 percent.  Yet, realizing they could not simply create a bubble of peace at school, leaving students alone to deal with their stressed and violent community, Childress helped students conduct civic engagement projects in their communities with the aim of building peace in and out of school.  Students recognize they are creating “the beloved community.  We show people that Kingian Nonviolence is a way of life that can better our lives and society as a whole.” 

You can read about the Six Principles and Six Steps of Kingian Nonviolence at the links below.  But, before you do that, please know that I read about Chicago’s Peace Warriors in the reform-oriented magazine Rethinking Schools.  Veteran teachers for peace and justice will recognize the name.  If you don’t already subscribe to Rethinking Schools, please do so.  Visit their website to learn more about their rich and innovative resources for combining theory and practice to teach for equity and social justice.     

So, now you may interrupt your reading to explore these links.  May we all become interrupters of violence and builders of peace.

Learn more about PBS Frontline’s The Interrupters: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/interrupters/

Learn more about Kingian Nonviolence and Positive Peace Warrior Network  http://positivepeacewarriornetwork.wordpress.com/kingian-nonviolence/  

Learn more about Chicago’s Peace Warriors: http://rethinkingschools.org/archive/26_02/26_02_haga.shtml

Learn more about Rethinking Schools:  http://rethinkingschools.org/

Learn more about infusing peace education into our classrooms and curricula: http://www.teachforpeace.org/  

TALKING ABOUT PEACE EDUCATION TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

When they were in middle school, I taught many of the students now in high school at The Episcopal Academy, and it was fun taking them down memory lane in my recent speech about peace education.  The theme for our Chapel program is Gandhi's "Be the change you want to see in the world."  I explained why I focus in my book and teaching on teaching for peace and change by teaching students to think, care, and act.  I reminded the students of the ways we had done this in middle school and invited them to step up their work to build a peaceful future--to be the change-- in high school and beyond.  Two former students introduced me.  Since the talk, students and faculty members have stopped by to talk about ideas and to thank me for the message.  We can build a peaceful future.... and we can empower our students to do so.  See the talk on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig3T7vYTNRw

KRISTOF: "AFTER RECESS, CHANGE THE WORLD...."

‎"After Recess, Change the World..." Read Nicholas Kristof's column in NYTIMES about kids and others using Change.org to right wrongs and focus attention on worthy causes: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/kristof-after-recess-change-the-world.html?_r=1