Various NCN members are working on peace related projects. If any of you want to participate in more concerted cooperation, write to some of them. For example: Burt Wilson futurecon@earthlink.net, Ed Elkin edelkin@aol.com, Steve Diamond ommm7@rain.org, Joanie Misrack jmisrack@igc.apc.org, Barbara Marx Hubbard fce@peaceroom.org, and others. - Flemming
Below is a message from Burt Wilson futurecon@earthlink.net:
Wrong.
Peace is not a negative ideal, thus peace is not the absence of something, it is the presence of something. In other words, just as it takes acts of war to make war, so must it take acts of peace to make peace. If planes, tanks and guns are the instruments of war, what are the instruments of peace? If the government collects taxes from us to run a department to conduct war, shouldn't it also use that money for a department to conduct peace? It takes an act of Congress to declare war, but would Congress know what to do if it were asked to declare peace?
Peace does not arrive in a vaccuum yet even though peace is the most sacred goal of humanity, our government has no plan for it. That's right; even though the US Constitution was established to "promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity," a provision which implies a state of peace, our own government can't come up with a plan for peace. There is only one word for this omission: madness.
But wait! Something is happening in America. Something is happening today that has never happened before in the history of humankind. That something is: the consciousness of the people has outgrown that of their leaders.
There is a grassroots groundswell springing to life at this very moment in the United States and all over the world. People want peace. And that means people want their governments to want peace. In fact, people are demanding peace as a basic human right. And it doesn't end there. People are taking action to bring about a state of peace with or without government cooperation. In short, people are engaging in random acts of peace. In fact, several website have Proclamations, Resolutions, Declarations and Peace Plans where you can get involved simply by writing or e-mailing your national and state representative. These are concrete actions you can participate in to bring pressure on government to recognize that peace, like war, has certain logistics to it and can only be brought about through acts of peace. The Peace sites which offer you the opportunity to make a random act of peace follow:
http://www.people4peace.com
http://www.peaceplan.com
http://www.worldpeace2000.com
http://www.cybernaute.com/earthconcert2000
http://www.peaceday.org
To explore what other peace organizations are doing, go to http://www.people4peace.com/links/