Session Summary

The Politics of Peace

Using Local Peace Groups/NGOs to Influence US Government and Global Policies Toward Peace

Sherry Zitter

The highlight for many of us was 10-year-old Ceryn convening the group (combined, so ended up co-facilitating) with her unflinching and articulate optimism about influencing our gov't thru determined pressure, and the new gov't then influencing the mainstream. We raised many good questions, about how local peace groups could collaborate more effectively with each other and at national and int'l levels, how to understand and transform the roots of violence and offer practical suggestions to replace violence as a response to fear, how to transform the need for security through power and control to a paradigm of security thru mutual collaboration, understanding/empathy and communication. Suggestions included use of the internet (blogs, You-Tube videos about peacework referencing relevant website links and encouraging collaborative responses), podcasts, and teleconferences. We emphasized how vital peace education and on-the-ground skills that really work is for the mainstream public, so they see the usefulness of conflict resolution techniques. We discussed how to raise the will and money to do these things, and how to influence the media through letters to the editor and other methods. We discussed the necessity of developing a common vocabulary for discussing peacemaking.

Best practices or lessons learned from our previous experiences on this topic and our conversation here:

Don't preach to the choir! Reach out, listen deeply to those who disagree, and offer alternatives to their concerns. Understand that those who resort to violence think they have no other choice, feel threatened and want security.

New alliances formed between group members/participants:

We look forward to using the collective list of the registrants of this conference and the website to network and provide mutual support and inspiration!

What we will do following this conference, individually and collectively, to keep our work going:

One young man was challenged to create a You Tube video about his experience of this conference, and was promised a response when he did so. Others want to write more letters to the editor and do more networking with other peace groups.

Creative thinking and new ideas that have emerged:

See summary, above.