Here's another action leading up to a deadline I didn't know anything about: September 23, 2006 is the deadline for Congress to announce an exit strategy from Iraq. This is two days after International Peace Day, and Pace e Bene wants to use the day to put Congress on notice and start a 48-hour count-down. Read more about the Declaration of Peace Campaign and stand by for the text of the Declaration.

Editor, propeace.net

We had our planning meeting last night, and we are creating activities that address multiple curriculum areas and grade levels. My violence in the media piece will be an animated episode and a live episode - mainstream, one sitting, and supposedly age-appropriate. For middle school math/science, we're going to teach the students how to time sample and graph the results. The younger ones will just identify, and the older ones will analyze as well. You see, if an activity is too much fun, the powers that be will not allow it. We have to show that we're addressing the syllabus - in other words, teaching to the standardized tests.

We are indeed planning a display, though - the Peace Tree. Students will cut out two-dimensional doves and put their poetry, collage material, etc. on them. We're doing a unit on "random acts of kindness," so whenever a student notices one, whether (s)he gave it or received it, (s)he can record it on a dove and hang it on the tree. Then on that Friday, we'll pick up the displays from each school and have an outdoor "gallery" on Saturday in a public square.

We're also going to do "peaceful lives" studies on peacebuilders past and present, and research studies about peace initiatives and organizations to address the language arts and social sciences domains. We want to balance our violence awareness activities with Culture of Peace activities, so we'll spend our sparse budget on books about and by peacebuilders for the school library rather than promoting sweatshop labor and the violent images on the tee-shirts. However, the scarecrow idea has already been picked up by CodePINK for the Mothers Day MONTH action in DC; the scarecrows will be the dead children and babies - the civilian casualties of war - and the women will carry them to the Wailing Wall and grieve their loss.

We do have some students participating in DC, and I like the idea of not making up the scarecrows in advance but rather having the young people make them on the spot as their contribution to the MONTH. Thanks for the idea, Rainbow Brain. I hope you and the rest of the community here will continue to suggest innovative ideas for nonviolent demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience. I think the media and the powers that be are bored with signs, marches, sit-ins, lie-ins, and candlelight vigils; we need some new ways to get their attention!

Editor, propeace.net

hey Susan*,

If your looking for an idea, how about going to a second hand store, or an online store where you can find any number of T-Shirts which display graphic images that market movies, (example "Star Wars" etc.), have the students write a poem, comment or short note which they feel deals with their feelings about violence, use and abuse of individuals etc. in the media.

The object is to make cardboard scarecrows wearing the shirts on which to stick the students writing, if your doing this in a park, you can put a wood 2x2 in the ground and nail a scarecrow to each side of the stake. This is a very good way to get a message noticed and kids love the activity, bring tempera paint to do faces and paper from an office shredded for hair. I call it "Dimensional Impact Poetry", and it can be used for any number of events, as the supply of graphic images for just about everything is out there on a T-shirt.

have*fun

BL*M

Love*Rulz - (Available on DVD ;) - @
Timeless-ink-Press.com

The International Day of Peace is a global call for truce by the UN that is observed by maintaining 60 seconds of silence at local noon. No planning is required. Wherever you happen to be that morning, simply STOP at 11:59:30 and take 30 seconds to explain the event to whoever happens to be with you at that time and invite them to participate with you.

I urge you to also participate in the YWCA's Week Without Violence from October 16th to October 22nd. This will require a bit more planning, so start now with your local peace groups before people start to scatter for summer vacations. We will build a Peace Tree in a public square, and I hope to also engage students in an activity designed to build awareness of violence in the media.

May 24th is International Women's Day for Peace, and that's just five weeks away. Page 18 of the .pdf download will give you ideas for activities you can undertake to observe this day.

In the end, if we spend some time surfing the web, I'm guessing that we'd find that EVERY day is peace day somewhere. Let's celebrate them all!

Editor, propeace.net