Department of Peace

[cooolandrew]

I have been reading a lot about the department of peace campaign and I think its a real fantastic idea. Their aim is to reach for diplomacy before weapons.

Kucinich " A department of peace would be an interantionally self promoting thing, the news would say the department of peace did this, the department of peace did that."

Promote this idea wherever possible.

http://www.peacevideos.org/cronkite_kucinich/edited/quick_broadband.html

[knowbody0]

1. imagine, diplomacy not bombs!

[fooj]

2. Thanks for the link! Welcome to DU!

Peace.

[phusion]

3. It's such a good idea

that I'm going to nominate it...

Thanks for the link and welcome to DU! :) :hi:

[SouthernDem2004]

4. Needs a better name. Rednecks and the like are not going to go with

Department of Peace. To wimpy sounding. How about Department of Nonagression or Department of Diplomacy...

[cooolandrew]

6. erm

Peace is a very strong word to my mind our location planet earth we are the caretakers, its a tough job but somebody has got to do it.

Thanks for the welcome also, to the other poster. :)

[cooolandrew]

8. rednecks

Pleasing rednecks is a dangerous pastime, we need to aim left and leave them at the sidewalk.

[Dark]

15. Right leaning moderates too. What about Department of Global Brotherhood?

[jayctravis]

22. Department of Peace does have an obstinately Orwellian

feel to it. What about "Peace Council"?

[lildreamer316]

5. Wonderful idea. Thanks. n/t

[Aristus]

7. We used to HAVE a Department of Peace. It was called

the State Department.

This was before the Secretary of State decided it'd be fun to shill lies and disinformation to the U.N. in order to shore up support for a Fascist war of aggression.

Two years later he says, "Gee, that was kind of a low point for me."

YOU F*****G THINK!?!?!?

Too late smart, man.

[Sandpiper]

9. "Department of Peace" sounds like Orwellian hogwash

The "Department of Peace" has little to do with Peace, unless one believes in the mantra that "War is Peace."

At least when it was called the Department of War we were being honest about its purpose. Department of Defense? When was our last truly defensive war. Most all of our military actions of the past 50 years have been the aggressive variety.

[cooolandrew]

11. not quite

No, its alongside department of defence, even if the department is neglected under a republcan administration. It promotes the ideal of peace. Remember mantras work for them, they can work for us too.

[phusion]

12. That's the spirit

have you ever actually heard Kucinich talk about his vision of the DoP?

wow.

[Sandpiper]

23. Apparently not

My remarks were more about the suggestion that's been made in the past that the Department of Defense should be called the Department of Peace.

[ContraBass Black]

20. I"d have to agree.

The Ministry of Peace is the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the words.

[Cults4Bush]

25. I agree with you but I don't care. I want a dept that focuses on peace and

has a budget comparable to the "War" dept. I want oversight ten different ways to Sunday on it as well to protect it form Orwellian interests... and I want it now! (sorry, feeling a bit Veruca-ish this morning).

[MuseRider]

10. I am so with you.

Welcome to DU!

This would be my fondest dream for this world.

K and R

[Selatius]

13. I'm sorry, but I'm against such a department

You could do the same thing by withdrawing from Iraq and transferring funds from the military to health care, education, AIDs research, humanitarian assistance to third world peoples, debt forgiveness, and a whole host of other things without establishing a whole new department. The only question is whether the people and the government have the will and the discipline to see it through.

[G_j]

21. if you haven't looked into Kucinich's idea

this dept. would also study and develop non-violent methods of dealing with conflict. I don't think that is covered in what you mention here.

[Selatius]

24. But there are already ways to do such things without the dept.

For example, the UN has been researching "smart sanctions" as opposed to the traditional sanctions levied against nations because traditional sanctions have invariably hurt people more than the regime they were originally aimed at. (See Iraq) That's just one example. There are no doubt several more out there.

[G_j]

26. also see post #19

he is talking about violence and conflict on all levels. Yes I suppose these problems can be addressed by civilian revue boards etc. But I agree with many that the overall mindset and acceptance of violence and force is a serious problem that is not being resolved in the present construct.

I have also always felt that the Native American approach of having a 'Peace Chief' besides a 'War Chief' was practical and balanced.
If you note my other post above, George Washington also felt that a balance was important.

[Selatius]

33. I am aware of your post, but...

the frank truth of the matter is that a Dept. of Peace won't mean much in the face of regimes with the aim of war for profit or control. Trust me when I say there will be more regimes that will gain power and use fear and patriotism to lure the nation into another war. They will keep coming. As long as decisions are made out of the reach of the people in this country, this much is certain.

[Name removed]

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[G_j]

14. George Washington wanted A DEPARTMENT OF PEACE

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_emily_ho_050902_george_washington_wa.htm

George Washington wanted A DEPARTMENT OF PEACE

by Emily Horswill

http://www.opednews.com

WITH A SIGH,THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES dipped his pen in the ink well.

He looked at the draft for a Department of War lying before him. “No,” he said, “First we need a Department of Peace. If we are going to develop expertise only in War, that is what we will have.” But the Congress of 1776 had a new nation to set up. The DOP, although resurrected occasionally, has largely rested in the shadows for 300 years.

Instead, we have fought war following on the heels of wars. We have "improved" on horrible weapons, napalm, poison gas, the cancer producing DU nuclear weapons, cluster bombs, declared illegal and immoral by our own courts, and are using allot destroy a civilization with the utmost brutality in the horror war of horrors.

But in September 2005, at the Department of Peace Convention, Congressman Dennis Kucinich will lay HB1673, requesting a Department of Peace before Congress.
He is asking for 2 per cent of the military budget. Under it, our Peace Academy will offer four years of education. Graduates will be sent to work with
communities here and abroad with the focus on rooting out causes of violence.

At home, The Academy also intends to pioneer teaching alternatives to hitting Johnnie over the head with a pencil box starting in pre-school.
..more..

[Name removed]

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[G_j]

16. two chiefs

a wise approach and an old one...

http://www.mosaicvoices.org/Page.cfm?Id=51

Going on the Peace Path
by Michael Meade

<snip>
While the super-charged atmosphere of war spreads quickly and widely, paths of peace develop more slowly and require a specific attention for finding ideas and places of refuge. Each attempt at peace means creating a new sense of sanctuary. Just as the war path involves the fashioning of weapons, the paths of peace require the reinvention of sanctuary. Peace is a re-creation of refuge at the edges of conflict.

Either path can require a great sacrifice on the part of individuals. Whereas the call to war quickly becomes collective and general, the paths of peace involve a ‘calling’ to something uniquely individual in a person. War is a collective effort that can evoke heroic responses from individuals. The call to peace is heard in the deepest areas of the soul, where character is formed and the sense of culture as refuge originates.

It must have been a keen awareness of the differences between the war path and the paths of peace that caused tribal people like the Winnebago to elect two chiefs instead of one. Two chiefs could better represent the distinctly opposite paths that could open when threats to public safety occur. Being intimately connected to the ways of nature, they observed that most things appear two-sided, day and night, light and dark, upwards and down. People are two-handed, left and right; even the heart has internal oppositions pounding away moment to moment. And breath, the very vehicle of spirit goes in and out, out and in during moments of peace as well as when folks go on the war path.

Tribal people often made explicit what is primarily psychological for modern folks. So, two chiefs were established and each gave allegiance to one of the basic paths that open when trouble comes in its many forms. One chief would respond to any threat by going on the war path, the other would be just as dogged in responding to each problem by making a path of peace. In that way, it was structurally guaranteed that the basic opposition so evident in nature, in the interchanges of night and day, of life and death would also be reflected in human society.

<snip>

[phusion]

17. only one more nomination -- come on ppl!

Great video...

[Kralizec]

18. spread the word. nominated.

[eridani]

19. The mission would not just be international but also domestic

Police violence against minority communities is a serious problem, and people working for restorative justice and better police-community relations are very much behind the idea.

[goodhue]

27. The Cronkite Kucinich video is great.

http://www.thepeacealliance.org/events/conf/cronkite_transcript.htm

[Name removed]

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[YOY]

31. Someplace for the Peace Corps and other Volunteer based Govt. Initiatives

to go instead of under the DoD (as the "evil one" has deemed.)

I will never forgive the neocons for what they have done to my beloved Peace Corps.

A place that can provide a definite and solid alternative to military service for Americans who are willing to give up a few years of their lives to make the world a better place both home and abroad. I would cry from joy at the though of its instatement.

If only it had 10% the budget of the DoD the world would be a better place within 5 years...or maybe I'm a dreamer.

[Marleyb]

32. This is a great idea

at the wrong time. If introduced during a Bush Administration it would BE orwellian. Just imagine who Bush would nominate as secretary. I hope this begins under a kucinich presidency...and soon.

The department of peace seems to focus on a wholistic approach to society, that if we deal with violence in our own homes, we will change the outlook in our country to where we will not accept our participation in violence around the world.

Personally I cannot wait that long, and Walter Cronkite seemed to have the same question as me...but what about the war in Iraq!?

And I don't believe the war in Iraq is a result of our country being too violent as a whole. The Bush adminstration lied to everyone. This cabal hijacked our country, the airwaves, our military and it was what THEY wanted for their own greed and horrible purposes. It had nothing to do with the will of the people.

The video is really good though- good to have Walter Cronkite on board.

and the Kucinich Resolution of Inquiry
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2217977
is more along the lines of stopping this illegal immoral war now, and putting the criminals in jail. Besides a department of peace, some accountability and prison time might help deter the greedy madmen in our future.

[eridani]

34. How is that different from any of the other departments?

Our current Department of Labor is antilabor, and our Department of Education is anti-public education. Should those departments therefore not exist?