Global Peacemakers in the News

Sweden honors centenary of WWII hero Wallenberg, Newsday, December 20, 2011

By the Associated Press. Sweden will commemorate the centenary of the birth of Raoul Wallenberg in 2012 with a series of postage stamps and a touring exhibition about the World War II hero credited with rescuing tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews. Organizers have launched a photo exhibition about Wallenberg in Stockholm, and two new stamps that will go on sale in May. The exhibition will tour Hungary, Germany, Russia, Israel, the United States and Canada next year . . . Read the article.

Statistics indicate global violence is in decline, Huff Post World, October 22, 2011

By Seth Borenstein. Statistics indicate that despite global conflicts, violence is in steady decline. That's the thesis of three new books, including one by prominent Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker. Statistics reveal dramatic reductions in war deaths, family violence, racism, rape, murder and all sorts of mayhem . . . Read the article.

International Day of Peace Events, Universal Peace Federation, September 21, 2011

September 21, 2011 is the United Nations sponsored International Day of Peace. For this year the UN has chosen the theme of "Make Your Voice Heard," under the overall idea of peace and democracy . . . Read the article.

Christian, Muslim, Jewish Leaders Unite to Support China’s Uyghurs, Beliefnetnews.com, June 30, 2011

By Rob Kerby. China’s persecution of the Uyghurs, nine million Turkic-speaking Muslims, will be the focus of an inter-faith conference in Toronto on July 5. Most of the Uyghurs live in Xinjiang, a vast desert region of Western China. Speakers will include members of the Canadian Parliament and leaders from the Christian, Muslim and Jewish communities . . . Read the article.

Moderate Muslims get vocal in Indonesia, BBC, June 17, 2011

Fahira Idris recalls the day she visited the headquarters of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), a group known for its violent acts and vocal support for Sharia law. When Fahira visited their headquarters, she took with her hundreds of petitions and emails, demanding the group to drop their violent dogma . . . Read the article.

Russia's upper house approves new START treaty, Washington Post, January 26, 2011

By Vladimir Isachenkov. Russia's upper house of parliament unanimously ratified the new START nuclear arms pact with the United States, the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's efforts to "reset" ties with Moscow. The treaty limits each country to 1,550 strategic warheads, down from the current ceiling of 2,200, and also re-establishes a system for monitoring that ended in December 2009 with the expiration of a previous arms deal . . . Read the article.

Remembering Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, Time, December 14, 2010

By Michael Elliott. Richard Holbrooke, America's diplomat extraordinaire, died at age 69, on the evening of Dec. 13. He served the nation and the international community for nearly fifty years and took charge of the process which brought peace to Bosnia . . . Read the article.

Difficult issues face Myanmar pro-democracy leader, The New York Times, November 16, 2010

By Seth Mydans. The jubilant throngs that greeted Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate, this past weekend upon her release from confinement in Myanmar confirmed that her popularity remains intact. But as she steps back into the swirl of political combat, she confronts difficult realities that will limit her ability to translate that popularity into fundamental change . . . Read the article.

Fidel Castro accuses Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of antisemitism, Guardian.co.uk, September 8, 2010

By Rory Carroll. Fidel Castro has accused Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, of antisemitism, in a passionate defence of Israel's right to exist. Cuba's retired president, a longtime critic of Israeli government policy, said Jews had been slandered and slaughtered for centuries . . . Read the article.

US boy returns from outreach visit to North Korea, The Associated Press hosted by Google, August 19, 2010

By Christopher Bodeen. A 13-year-old American boy who made a rare visit to Pyongyang says officials there welcomed his idea for a "children's peace forest" in the demilitarized zone dividing North and South Korea, although they said it would only happen if the countries signed a peace treaty first . . . Read the article.

Darfur rebels sign deal with the UN to protect children, CNN.com, July 22, 2010

By Faith Karimi. A Sudanese rebel group has signed a deal allowing access to its bases to ensure children are not being used as soldiers and to protect them from sexual violence, the United Nations said. As part of the agreement, the rebels pledged to release and hand over to the United Nations anyone under age 18 caught up in the Darfur conflict . . . Read the article.

Turkey reopening an ancient Armenian Church, Reuters, July 16, 2010

By Ibon Villelabeitia. Turkey is reopening the ancient Armenian Church of the Holy Cross in Eastern Anatolia to heal wounds. The church, which is now a state museum, has become a symbol of a torturous reconciliation process as Turkey prepares to open the site on September 19th for a one-day religious service that could become an annual event . . . Read the article.

PTSD Nation. Truthout, March 19, 2010

By John Omaha. Can a nation have PTSD? Can a diagnosis created to understand the dysregulated behavior of individuals be applied to an entire nation? . . . Read the article.

US just doesn't get it about motivation for suicide attacks. The Irish Times. January 13, 2010

By Lara Marlowe. IN AMERICA, 2010 has been dominated so far by the aftermath of the failed Christmas Day bombing of Northwest Airlines flight 253 . . . Read the article.

The Jew from Kuwait, Aish.com, December 2009  

By Mark Halawa. Kuwaiti Mark Halawa, who grew up in a Muslim household, was shocked to discover as a young man that his grandmother on his maternal side was Jewish. This meant that according to Jewish law, he is Jewish. His courageous and ongoing voyage of navigating his dual identity is inspiration for everyone seeking to bridge the divides in the Abrahamic Family . . . Read the article.

Fayyad’s two-year plan, The Jordan Times, August 27, 2009  

By Daoud Kuttab. Palestinian foreign minister Salam Fayyad has launched a bold strategic plan to build the organs of a Palestinian state. “We have decided to be proactive, to expedite the end of the occupation by working very hard to build positive facts on the ground, consistent with having our state emerge as a fact that cannot be ignored. This is our agenda, and we want to pursue it doggedly,” declared Fayyad . . . Read the article.

Tutu to Haaretz: Arabs paying the price of the Holocaust, Haaretz, August 28, 2009  

By Akiva Elder. Commenting on the situation in Israel/Palestine, Nobel Prize laureate Desmond Tutu notes that sanctions and international pressure helped bring about an end to Apartheid in South Africa . . . Read the article.

Why Religion is Part of the Solution to the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Common Ground News Service, May 21, 2009  

By Dr. Ben Mollov. Both Jews and Arabs are on the path of a reawakening of former glory steeped in religious and historical symbolism. These themes need to be incorporated into the quest for peace, says the author . . . Read the article.

London Celebrations Dedicated to Peace, Irish Times, March 16, 2009  

OneVoice Executive Director Darya Shaikh discusses the results of a recent poll that highlights both opportunities for agreement and areas of disagreement. The poll shows that the two-state solution is the only framework acceptable to a majority of both Israelis and Palestinians. Read the article.
Read the full poll results here for detailed analysis.

London Celebrations Dedicated to Peace, Irish Times, March 16, 2009

By Isabel Conway. Following a pair of violent attacks by two Irish splinter groups, a massive St. Patrick’s Day outpouring of support for peace and reconciliation swept the UK and mainland Europe. . . Read the article.

American revolutionary.Wall Street Journal, Sept 13, 2008.

By Philip Shishkin. Gene Sharp, an 80-year old scholar working out of his home in East Boston, is well known both to despotic governments who ban his books and to resistance activists who study his writings on nonviolent resistance. . . Read the article.

Holocaust heroine's survival tale. BBC News, March 3, 2005.

By Adam Easton. She is a Polish Catholic woman who risked her life to save over 2,500 Jews during the Holocaust. Read the article. (Learn more about this amazing woman and the lives she touched.)