The CA Peace Alliance promoted facets of peacebuilding at the CA Democratic Party (CDP) statewide Executive Board meeting in Long Beach. They gathered letters and signatures and, following the Executive Board meeting, they took peacebuilding messages and thousands of signatures to legislators in Sacramento, CA and Washington, DC that it is time to stop the violence and make peacebuilding a national priority.
The Peace Alliance is connected with an international organization in existence for over 10 years now that promotes departments of peace internationally – currently known as the Global Alliance for Ministries and Infrastructures for Peace – or GAMIP. With members representing 50 countries, 6 countries actually have operational governmental peace infrastructures – Costa Rica, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, South Sudan and East Timor.
Listen to the third Peace Alliance Call in our “Call to Calm Series” with Rita Marie Johnson. Rita Marie was instrumental in the eventual inclusion of peacebuilding in the federal government through Costa Rica’s Ministry of Justice and Peace. In 2004, Rita Marie also began offering what she coined the “Connection Practice” in Costa Rican public schools.
Please join us on July 11th for part two of our Call to Calm election series dialogues with leading American thinkers. We will be joined by Stephen Dinan, a social entrepreneur and political strategist, and the CEO of The Shift Network. Stephen will be talking about how we can bring peace and civility to the Political season, as well as sharing about his new book, Sacred America, Sacred World: Fulfilling our Mission in Service to All.
Join The Peace Alliance in a national conversation with Sylvia Boorstein on how we can nurture a more peaceful and respectful way of engaging each other, thriving in diversity, and collectively benefiting from this election season. We have this opportunity to unite in our intentions, navigating the months ahead and bringing about a greater peace in the midst of so much negativity. This is the essence of Peacebuilding at its most powerful.
We have some big news to share. Late last week, President Obama signed an Executive Order to institutionalize the Atrocities Prevention Board. While this is less permanent than passing the Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act into law would be, it’s still a major accomplishment, strengthening early warning and response to mass atrocities and violent conflicts as a focus of US foreign policy.