A Government Ministry for Peace

This blog is dedicated to Stella Cornelius who died on the 20th December, 2010, just after my return from my world trip.  She was on my mind recently so I contacted her daughter Helena and she gave me the news.   

Back in 2004 I made contact with Stella and we had a long conversation about peace.  She was the one who informed me that between 1984 to 1986 she was a Director of a Government Committee to advocate for a Ministry of Peace in celebration of the United Nations International Year of Peace.  A book entitled ‘Ministry of Peace’ was written by Dr. Keith Suter and Stella was acknowleged.  I was inspired by her tireless efforts for peace making.  She was a Conflict Resolution Practitioner and she supplied free resources and materials to encourage conflict resolution.  You can visit her site http://www.crnhq.org/  She was a really lovely lady in her 90’s when I met her and still very active and mentally alert.   I interviewed her on radio in 2005 and we did a role play on how to deal with conflict.  She had a shaky voice but a clear mind. She had an unquestionable commitment to peace her whole life.  I sent her my ideas for an International Peace Award for Children, she was very happy.  I don’t often get to meet people who actually work for peace in the true sense of harmony.  She was not against anyone, just wanted to see happiness and peace in the world.  So I feel priviledged to have met her.    I will look for the poem I wrote for her and publish it, it is called con-stella-ation.  She was truly a great woman and I loved her a great deal.

Anyway, I have provided for you some information about this Ministry for Peace concept and how it is also advocated in the United States by Senator Dennis J. Kucinich.  It is a crucially important initiative and works on the theory that we should focus on bridge building rather than tearing them down through violence.  If you want to stop terrorism you have to teach peace and solve social grievances, I have no doubt about that.  Violence teaches violence, I think that is obvious.   It is important to note that 1 million dollars a minute is spent on the military, probably more today, if we spent 10% of that budget on social problems such as sanitation, health, education, disease control and other important social issues arising across the world, peace would be assured.  Can you believe 10% of the military budget is the price of peace or in other words choosing love or nonviolence over fear or violence.  Very cheap actually, but do we want it?  Do we care about others enough to change policies that create division.  It is certainly in our interests.

We are at a point in history where we can destroy the earth 4 times over through nuclear weapons and all the other weapons of mass destruction that exist today.  Do we wait until this happens? or do we prevent it by solving the problem at the source?  The source is the belief that government sanctioned violence maintains power and stability.  How about a new Security paradigm, harmony as community is the real power and will ensure the survival of the planet.   This will only happen when we learn to live in harmony with each other, ourselves and the planet. There needs to be commitment in the education system to teach people how to work together, to respect each other, to solve problems in the interest of community harmony and happiness.  This is how we stop bullying in adults and chldren.  Bullying is a dysfunctional behaviour that seeks to hurt as it is either learned or a projection of pain.  Many people exhibiting bullying behaviour were bullied in childhood, so that is where the change must start and adults are the ones to model new behaviours, if we want a world that survives.  

Violence at the international level is abuse, it is not a panacea or solution that will create peace and communicate trust, democracy and problem solving.  It simply sends fear into others, destroys the environment and infrastructure, and this is viewed as justifiable as a deterrent.  I recommend we think again. 

The new world paradigm will be the promoton of harmony, peace, truth and love.  Sound like a sermon, I can assure you it isn’t, it is what we all benefit from and enjoy.  It is practical in truth. We have choices to make at the present time as we are at the precipice today.   Real hope will move us towards global unity, doubt and cynicism will take the spoils.  That is what the cross road looks like.   Many peoples are starting to agitate for freedom, the signs of real change have arrived.   This is not idealism or pie in the sky, it is achieveable, it is grounded and it is who we really are.  We will no longer use diplomacy (the art of being seen to be), we will now start to inspire trust and to develop unifying values in order to work together towards a harmonious future.  A Ministry (Department) of Peace is definitely one of the ways.  There is ‘hope’ as the US President Obama states, I completely agree with him.  We are the change folks!  I wrote REAL HOPE (see website) because I have it.  Enjoy reading about the future, here it comes …

Ministry of Peace

Australia first called for a Ministry for Peace in 1937 through the voice of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. This call was sounded again in 1982 when Dr. Stella Cornelius, for the United Nations Association of Australia (UNAA), launched a vigorous campaign for a Ministry for Peace at an Australian Federal Government level.

“An Australian Campaign for a Ministry for Peace- A Worldpeace Initiative,” published in 1984 (ISBN 0 9499652 02 4) was written by Dr. Keith D. Suter as a result of Stella’s campaign for a Ministry for Peace. In the book’s  acknowledgements Dr Suter says:

“The inspiration behind this book came initially from Stella Cornelius. It was through the work of the UNAA Peace Program, that the Ministry proposal first arose and Stella, more than any other person, has been responsible for maintaining the momentum behind the campaign.
This is a fitting opportunity to thank Stella for her work generally in the cause of peace as well as congratulating her specifically on the Ministry for Peace campaign.”

Dr. Stella Cornelius is the founder of the Conflict Resolution Network (CRN) in Australia of which she is still a co-director. One of CRN’s major achievements is to give free access (through their website) to a wide range of training materials thereby establishing an invaluable resource for the world wide Conflict Resolution movement. From 1984 -1986 Stella served the Australian Government as Director of the UN International Year of Peace 1986.

Stella Cornelius (in 1983) proposed that a Ministry for Peace be established in order to administer an Australian World Peace program and, in 1984, the Department of Foreign Affairs established a Peace and Disarmament section under the leadership of Tonia Shand. Since this time the Conflict Resolution Network has maintained the initiative and never lost sight of the vision of a Ministry for Peace.

In 1983 our Department of Foreign Affairs appointed Mr. Richard Butler as the first Ambassador for Disarmament. This initiative was to improve government/community communications by the regular publication of a Disarmament Newsletter. The Department of Foreign Affairs made an initial grant toward the establishment of Australian peace research. Together with the Department of Education it made a commitment to Peace Education. This was largely influenced by the work of Professor Frank Hutchinson and his wife Lyn Waddell, both of whom continue to be engaged in innovative initiatives in this field. (Professor Hutchinson author of “Educating Beyond Violent Futures” Routledge London 1996)

Department of Peace Campaign  USA- 2001

World wide interest has been revived with the dynamic campaign of the Hon. Dennis J. Kucinich Democrat Congressman for Cleveland Ohio, USA. On 11 July, 2001 Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich introduced H.R.2459 a bill to create a Cabinet-level Department of Peace which would embody a broad-based approach to peaceful, non-violent conflict resolution at both domestic and international levels.

The Department of Peace would serve to promote non-violence as an organizing principle in our society, and help to create the conditions for a more peaceful world.

Ministry for Peace Campaign Australia – 2003

Biannca Pace took the role of Chairperson for the Ministry of Peace Australia in March 2005. She first heard of Congressman Kucinich in March of 2002 and contacted him to congratulate him on his work for peace. He responded and when the Share the Spirit of Peace – Peace Summit (held at the University of Sydney on 1 March 2003) was being planned in late 2002, suggested to the organisers that he be invited. At this Sydney Summit co-hosted by the Australian Democrats, Australia’s four major political parties were invited to attend and “share a platform for Peace.”

In November 2004  Biannca, then State President of the Australian Democrats, (Aug 2004-Dec 2005) initiated and co-chaired two meetings of the Ministry for Peace- Australia with Dr Stella Cornelius.

Creation of a Global Alliance

In May, 2005 Biannca was invited to attend the First People’s Summit for Departments of Peace , held in London UK. Forty delegates from 12 countries attended and another step towards peace was taken. Australia was represented by two delegates.

The two day summit held on the 18th and 19th October was preceded by two days of training (16-17 Oct) in the latest developments in the area of peacebuilding and conflict transformation worldwide.The training was facilitated by Kai Brand-Jacobsen, co-founder of TRANSCEND.

The Australian Democrats sent letters of support for an Australian Department of Peace and indeed for DOP’s worldwide. These were sent by the Leader of the Australian Democrats- Senator Lyn Allison, Foreign Affairs Spokesperson- Senator Natasha Stott-Despoja and the Hon. Dr Arthur Chesterfield-Evans MLC.

The countries that participated included Australia, Canada, Israel, Palestine, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Romania, United Kingdom, Jordan and USA. Written support was received from Nepal, Nigeria and Uganda.

Article found at http://mfpa.org.au/?page_id=28