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Nonkilling Arts Research Committee Letter: Vol. 3, N. 6 (Nov-Dec 2019)Bimestrially sent from our site: Nonkilling.org. |
"Nonkilling art explores the spirit and practice of how to prevent, respond to, and to improve individual, social, and global well-being beyond killing." —Glenn D. Paige Dear NKARC members and friends,
With this last NKARC Letter of the year, we are into a period of Remembrance, recalling the innocents who succumb in wars and conflicts, reminding us of the futility of senseless wars driven generally by greed and desire for more power.
Thank you for your thoughtful contributions on the Nonkilling arts. As always, these are eclectic and inspirational, awakening our passion to protect the living and connect with life. |
1. Nonkilling Poetry
Below are four evocative poems by colleagues who strive for Nonkilling peace: “Champion the Enemy’s Need” by Oregon State poet laureate, Kim Stafford from his 2019 collection, ‘Wild Honey, Tough Salt’; “Veterans Day Again” by David Krieger, founder Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Santa Barbara, USA; “Creativity and Descartes” by Ada Aharoni, founder International Forum for Literature and Culture of Peace, Nesher, Israel; and “On World Day of Nonviolence” by Francisco Gomes De Matos, Founder ABA Global Education, Recife, Brazil. Champion the Enemy’s Need
by Kim Stafford
Ask about your enemy's wounds and scars.
Seek his hidden cause of trouble.
Feed your enemy's children.
Learn their word for home.
Repair their well.
Learn their sorrow's history.
Trace their lineage of the good.
Ask them for a song.
Make tea. Break bread. *** Veterans Day Again
By David Krieger
The one thing I never want to see again
is a military parade. -- Ulysses S. Grant
We’ve seen far too many military parades
with their missiles, marching bands
and mechanized young men.
We’ve witnessed enough high-stepping
soldiers in their polished black boots
marching to the sounds of brass.
Spare us the old men dressed in uniforms
with their sorrowful hats and sewn-on patches.
Spare us the slippery words of politicians.
Let’s return to basics: On Armistice Day
the soldiers laid down their arms on the 11th hour
of the 11th day of the 11th month.
A generation was lost.
The survivors had had enough of war.
The 11th hour is here again, the sky clear blue. *** “To live is to let time to go by. What else?”
wrote a friend to Ada Aharoni, Ada replied:
“To Live is to create!” That provided her inspiration for the poem below.
Creativity and Descartes
By Ada Aharoni
Dear Descartes,
Not only "I think, therefore I am,"
but mostly
I create, therefore I am.
I am me for having given birth
to my beautiful children,
to my ‘poetas’
my books, my stories, my poems
I gaze intently at my offspring
my tantalizing new oeuvre
palpitating like a baby's throbbing heart
on the humid surf
launched for life, for death?
Vibrating sharp soft sparks
of magnetic reviving birth
that marvelously quench
my thirst – my existence
pure essence of life
well of fresh vitality
Dear Descartes,
I create
therefore
I am. *** On Day Of Nonviolence
By Francisco Gomes de Matos
World Day of Nonviolence: How to celebrate?
A reminder to personal/ community/global conscience
That living is embedded in Nonkilling
Nonkilling is embedded in Nonviolence
And Nonviolence is embedded in Peace
May Education for Nonviolence never cease!
May Nonviolence conscience grow and
become sustainable Nonviolence sapience! |
2. Nonkilling Sculptures
Subtle and affecting are the creative miniature pieces of NKARC sculptor colleague Marcia Massa. On the notion of the miniature, Gaston Bachelard writes that the small-scaled works enchant us because we imagine a quiet monumentality locked within them. One of Massa’s reviewers Anna Carlevaris describes her creations as a “reminder that our knowledge of the world is bound to our perceptual relationship to it, and that we may develop this understanding through discrete, but profound encounters with unassuming objects. Her art willfully recreates primal phenomenological experiences that shape our consciousness and inner lives, particularly those that suggest fundamental qualities like inside and outside, roundness, and smallness.” A browse through Marcia Massa’s website is a journey in itself to the meditative tranquility and a hidden universe within. |
3. Nonkilling Painting and Peace Activism
Kathrin Winkler's painting as a source of dialogue: On the eve of Gandhiji's 150th birth anniversary, October 02, Kathrin mentioned a dialogue on non-violence, an interactive discussion she and her husband Paul Schwartzenruber carried out using Kathrin’s art. Enclosed is an image of one of her art pieces, entitled, “Nonviolence is a quality of the heart”, taking “the big ideas” and hopefully having conversations around what they mean for us here and now. The event was used to share news of Jai Jagat 2020 and start a 'virtual solidarity march' for the action beginning October 2 - making it a global peace march. |
(As an act of solidarity, Kathrin through Canada’s Nova Scotia Voice of Women for Peace collected data for a ‘virtual march’ noting how many kilometres one walked in a week. She planned to total the km and compared the 'virtual march' with the km walked en route from New Delhi to Geneva by Jai Jagat marchers). For more on Jai Jagat 2020 campaign, see item 5 below. |
4. Nonkilling Song
Margaret Gaffney pointed to a poignant Scottish/Irish/Australian ballad - “The Green Fields of France”. Also known as "No Man's Land" or "Willie McBride", this song was written in 1976 by a Scottish Australian folk singer-songwriter Eric Bogle, reflecting on the grave of a Willie McBride who died in World War I. The poet raises the persistent question:
“Well Will Mc Bride I can't help wonder why
Do those that lie here know why did they die
And did they believe when they answered the call
Did they really believe that this war would end war
Well the sorrow the suffering the glory the pain
The killing the dying was all done in vain
For young Willy Mc Bride it all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again”
This soulful song sung by the Fureys is available on the Youtube.
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5. Nonkilling Activism
Why the work of CGNK at the UN’s Human Rights Council is vital?
CGNK Director Joam Evans Pim writes: “The work at the UNITED NATIONS raises many key issues needed for Nonkilling, for the progress of life and of the right to life, for the creation of a culture of life. As we are the only organization having a comprehensive approach of life issues, we are able to attract attention on a central theme, life in a central position where all countries are present. By pinpointing small and big life issues, we raise awareness on possible progress…”
Jai Jagat (Victory to the World) 14,000 km March to Geneva going through 10 countries was launched at the Mahatma Gandhi Samadhi memorial, New Delhi on October 02. For Jai Jagat updates with video clips of the March, click: https://www.jaijagat2020.org/globalpeacemarch and
www.facebook.com/JaiJagat2020
What are we doing for the “Mother Earth?” asks Pierre Jasmin, the classic musician activist colleague who sent the following reports about Greta Thunberg who was at the UN and visited Montreal in September. Reports also include a strong message to UN Sec General on behalf of a vast number of Canadian activists.
• Greta at UN.
• La terre mère.
• Que faire pour la Terre-Mère?
• Message respectueux à Antonio Guterres.
Also a related report via Koozma Tarasoff by poet-essayist Henri Beissel who was on climate walk with youth warning them about the duplicity of politicians who talk about climate change but do nothing to prevent ultimate environmental disaster.
Project Save the World platform: Peace Magazine editor Professor Metta Spencer has created a platform entitled, “Project Save the World” where she and her readers are trying to save the world from something awful and discuss their projects. Metta does that by sitting at her webcam on the last Sunday evening of each month from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern Canada Time and hosts a video conversation. Her project has identified 25 policy issue areas. You can join the video conversation by entering the following number on your browser: https://zoom.us/j/9108970203 (It will install Zoom on your computer and bring you into video conference.)
2019 Ottawa Peace Festival: To mark the World Days of Peace (Sept 21) and Nonviolence (Oct.02), the 13th Ottawa Peace Festival, the world’s longest peace festival, was held from Sept. 5 to Oct. 5. In total, 30 events were hosted by 28 peace groups. Theme of this year’s fest was “Peace, Unity, and Harmony".
Message of the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the 2019 World Day of Peace, it reads:
“Today peace faces a new danger: the climate emergency, which threatens our security, our livelihoods and our lives. That is why it is the focus of this year’s International Day of Peace. And it’s why I am convening a Climate Action Summit.
This is a global crisis. Only by working together can we make our only home peaceful, prosperous and safe for us and future generations.
On this International Day of Peace, I urge all of you to take concrete climate action and demand it of your leaders.
This is a race we can and must win.”
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7. Nonkilling Non-fiction
(a) Social Defense by Jørgen Johansen and Brian Martin
The new book Social Defense is a timely work. With nonviolent social protests gone global, especially with younger folks, it mirrors the zeitgeist and how to organize and draw inspiration from similar social movements of past and present. The authors point out that with no grand foreign invasions possible in the near future, the focus has to be more on finding inspired new ways of public scrutiny and accountability of those with power in our societies, The book is available as a free download and also printed copies. { Read a review of book by fellow peace activist David Swanson }
(b) A book about children in our world was pointed out by Dr. Vinay Jindal from the Physicians for Global Survival (Vinay Jindal vinay@live.ca). Vinay writes: "Children in our world - Helping our younger generation navigate a complex and confusing world with understanding and compassion, this set of 4 illustrated books addresses critical & current global issues of Poverty and Hunger, Refugees and Migrants, Racism and Intolerance & Global Conflict at a primary school level with sensitive definitions and explanations to inspire young minds toward solutions. The books, thoughtfully written by Louise Spilsbury & Ceri Roberts with illustrations by Hanane Kai, were originally published in the U.K. and brought to North America by B.E.S. Publishing." For further information: see poster.
(c) Poetry Contest Winners Announced
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation has announced the winners of its Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry and Swackhamer video contest. Winners and Honorable Mentions were selected in three age categories: adult, youth (13-18); and youth (12 and under). { Read the winning poems, videos and to learn more about the contest. } |
8. Nonkilling Reflections
(i) Pathways to Peace by Nobel Laureate Activist Mairead Maguire – TRANSCEND Media Service (a keynote delivered at the World Beyond War demonstration conference in Limerick, Ireland). Maguire spoke: “I am very hopeful for the future as I believe if we can reject militarism in its entirety as the aberration/dysfunction it is in human history, and all of us who no matter what area of change we work in, can unite and agree we want to see a demilitarized unarmed world. We can do this together. Let us remember in human history, people abolished slavery, piracy, we can abolish militarism and war, and relegate these barbaric ways into the dustbin of history...”
(ii) A Strategy for the Ministry of Peace by Antonio Drago - TRANSCEND Media Service
Scholar and activist Drago writes: “How to build Peace anew? Peace is a principle on which the same constitutional Charter may be founded, since it is a more important principle than those expressed by individualistic notions, like happiness (as in USA case) or freedom (as in France) or even social notions (like work in Italy) since peace concerns directly the most perilous situations in social life, i.e. conflicts...”. |
9. Nonkilling Journalism
(i) Why Washington and the Vatican Don't See Eye to Eye? https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2019-09-05/pope-francis-holy-diplomacy-ukraine
(ii) The Silence is the Loudest Sound (in Kashmir) by Arundhati Roy - A perceptive human rights piece on situation in Kashmir, Roy writes: “Amid these vulgar celebrations the loudest sound, however, is the deathly silence from Kashmir’s patrolled, barricaded streets and its approximately seven million caged, humiliated people, stitched down by razor wire, spied on by drones, living under a complete communications blackout...”
(iii) I’m Afraid You Have Humans by Robert C. Koehler
Koehler writes: “The irony of this old New Yorker cartoon by Eric Lewis is so precise I haven’t been able to get it out of my head for two years. The speaker is the planet Saturn, clad in doctor’s garb — a stethoscope circling his forehead — giving the bad news to a sick and miserable-looking Earth: “I’m afraid you have humans.”
What more can you say? But of course the dystopian irony is intensified by the fact that the artist is human, the reader (me) is human, and the drawing itself portrays Planet Earth with a human face..”
Also related article on “extinction rebellion” movement. |
10. CGNK Updates
(i) Give Nonkilling a Chance book launch
Give Nonkilling a Chance: Are Nonkilling Societies Possible? The new book edited by CGNK Governing Council Chair Anoop Swarup and dedicated to late Prof. Glenn D. Paige, is a scholarly treatise on Nonkilling with expert contributions from across the world, was released at Gandhi Smriti, Tees January Marg, Delhi. This 400-pages collection of essays was presented by Prof. Swarup during a discussion and release that gathered 250 participants.
[Anoop Swarup, Give Nonkilling a Chance: Are Nonkilling Societies Possible (2019), N-ewDelhi: Konark Publishers Ltd. pp. 345 [Also Konark Publishers International, Seattle USA -us@konarkpublishers.com, ISBN 978-93-220-0894-9]
(ii) Nonkilling Main theme of the 10th International conference on peace and nonviolent action
The 10th edition of the International Conference on Peace and Nonviolent Action organized by Anuvrat Vishva Bharati (ANUVIBHA) will be held on December 17-20, 2019 in New Delhi, India under the theme “Educating and Training Children in Nonviolence and Nonkilling”. The Center for Global Nonkilling will be the academic co-organizer of the event. The conference will include the special panels “Are Nonkilling Societies Possible?” and “The Concept of Nonkilling as Visualized by Late Prof. Glenn D. Paige” as well as a thematic track on “The De-militarization of Global Youth for a Nonkilling Global Future”.
(iii) CGNK India declares August 23 as Shanti Sena Day
It was on 23 August 1957 the late Vinoba Bhave started Shanti Sena (Nonviolent Peace Brigade/Civil Peace Service) in Manjeswaram, a town on the border of India’s southern provinces of Kerala and Karnataka. One of its pioneering champions Dr. N. Radhakrishnan, is now planning to revive the movement, declaring 23 August as Shanti Sena Day.
On 23 and 24 August a two-day National Conference was held at Manjeswaram attended by over three hundred delegates from different parts of India. On this occasion, Dr. Radhakrishnan together with Dr. Anoop Swarup, Chair of the Center for Global Nonkilling launched a major initiative, introduction of regular Shanti Sena training to be given from nine centres across India in association with Shobhit University and Jagaran University. Also at Manjeswaram on 23 August, Dr Anoop Swarup's new book, Give Nonkilling a Chance was released. |
Additionally, Nonkilling India is planning to launch a 150 Gandhi assessment volume on 30 January 2020 wherein reflections on Mahatma Gandhi's legacy from 150 nonviolent peace builders from across the globe will be recorded. |
Last Word The Peace-Nonviolence-Nonkilling Continuum
A bold challenge to us all in two thoughtful poetic reflections below from colleague Professor Francisco Gomes de Matos:
Dear Peace researchers:
You say Humanity seeks Peace,
a quest that will never cease
How will Peace be achieved?
By integrating what is diversely believed?
What initiatives will help Peace globalize?
Will they help peacebuilders effective actions to concretize? How?
About psychological components of Peace what is known?
What inter-religion/ spirituality components of Peace are being sown?
Have effective educational actions for Peace
globally grown?
What have political/diplomatic /economic actions for Peace shown?
The Peace-Nonviolence-Nonkilling
Continuum will you accept and apply?
By doing that ,Humanity 's Need for Peace will you satisfy? How?
May this be a global plea
for all Peace researchers to sail that Continuum ship in
same sea of Serenity
AND
The noun Nonkilling may not be in dictionaries but it can be found in
the heart of all those who
help ensure the right to live peacefully,
cooperatively,solidarily,harmoniously,dignifyingly ,interreligiously-spiritually
May Nonkilling be globally adopted as
the ultimate concrete component of
the Peace - Nonviolence Continuum. |
My deep gratitude to all who contributed and pointed to the material for
the Letter. Also to colleagues CGNK webmaster Manuel Casal and Director Joam Evans Pim for their continued support throughout 2019 in producing NKARC Letter. Looking forward to your inspirations and comments as always. Nonkillling regards,
Bill
Bill (Balwant) Bhaneja
Coordinator
NonKilling Arts Research Committee (NKARC)
Center for Global Nonkilling (CGNK)
www.nonkilling.org
"Nonkilling Culture crosses all the lines." —Glenn D. Paige
Nonkilling is THE measure of Human progress
[THIS IS AN INTERNAL NEWSLETTER OF THE NKARC. COPYRIGHT FOR ALL MATERIAL IN THE NEWSLETTER REMAINS PROPERTY OF THE SOURCES/WRITERS/ART CREATORS.]
{ Copies of previous NKARC Letters are available
on Nonkilling Arts page of CGNK site } |
Stay in contact also on Social Networks
• Please feel free to contact NKARC Letter's coordinator at billbhaneja@nonkilling.org.
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