The universal thirst for knowledge - and peace

Some years ago, I met Ken Hannaford-Ricardi in Chicago when we were participating in a 10-day fast to try and bring more attention to the effects of the economic sanctions on the people of Iraq.  Ken has been active with Voices for Creative Nonviolence and has traveled to countries where the US has been at war in order to witness firsthand the effects of US policies on ordinary people.  Now, he is in Afghanistan and is writing about his experiences on Waging Nonviolence.  Here is his post from December 27 about meeting with young people in Kabul.

It’s early evening near Pole Sorkh (po-lay sork) Square in western Kabul. Although it’s barely 6:00, winter’s cold bare feet have already started their walk across our apartment. Ali, Abdulai, Roz Mohammend, and Faiz have joined Maya and me on the floor of a small room that later will double as a bedroom for a quiet evening of reading and studying. Like most of the others, I’ve cocooned myself in a thick quilt and I’ve begun reading Ha Jin’s novel of the Korean War, War Trash.


Not five minutes into the Prologue, I sensed Faiz edging his way over to me. His voice quiet, almost a whisper, slips out into the room; “Will you study with me?” Over the next fifteen minutes, we worked our way through three short lessons in a workbook written for first graders. Each consists of a simple, one page story followed by a series of questions based on the text. They are extraordinarily simple; they seem almost humiliating for a twenty year old young man. As we study, nineteen-year-old Roz Mohammed shyly carried his blanket and English language dictionary to our corner and settled in. Every so often, he’d shyly interrupt Faiz as he read and say, “Teacher, what does this word mean?”

Across the room, Maya and Ali worked on the meanings of basic words culled from a middle school dictionary. Ali studied intently, pronouncing each word carefully, as if it were an egg that might easily be broken. “Basket. Bully. Bundle,” he would say, repeating each word until he got it right.

A half hour after we began, still only a few sentences into Ha Jin’s prologue, I looked across at Maya and asked, “Where in America can you find anything like this? A cold room, nothing but quilts and a kettle for tea on the floor, and four boys asking us question after question about a language they’re trying to learn.” In truth, this type of thing happens all the time in our small apartment. The five young Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers who live here with their friend and mentor, Hakim, never go anywhere without a workbook or dictionary. After breakfast, one pulls a sheet of paper from his jacket pocket and begins to study. Waiting for a ride, another asks, “What does this mean?”

Across the hall from us live four university students. One is studying electricity; one aspires to be a pharmacist. Two days after our arrival, one of them, a young man named Said, knocked on our door and asked if one of us would like to help them learn English. Maya and I settled on meeting them in their apartment at 7 pm that night. The first class had three students; the second, five; now there are six. We work from copied pages and a white board. Each student actively participates.

Each of these young men, all symbols of the “new Afghanistan,” possesses a thirst that won’t be quenched. In our conversational practice, we talk of how they will shape their country in the years ahead. According to some figures, 68 percent of Afghanistan’s thirty one million people are under eighteen years old. No matter what the old guard wants to believe, the future of Afghanistan belongs to the young. We can only hope they won’t be co-opted by the temptations dangled before them by western “leadership.” We can only hope they’ll grab the reins of power and gallop off in a new direction, one of peace and reconciliation.

If the world you and I inhabit really wants to help these young people, and I doubt very much it does, it will do all it can to slake their thirst for knowledge. It will provide all the help they ask for, and nothing more. It will respect their intelligence and desire to find their own way. These students deserve our respect. They know, no matter what we say, they don’t have it now. It’s about time they do.   -- by Ken Hannaford-Ricardi

photo of Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers from Voices for Creative Nonviolence 

Arts and letters at Bowie HS

Tami, George and I had a great day at Bowie HS today during their lunch sessions.  More students than at any school so far - about 50 - took us up on the offer to stencil their own file folders, and, as always, their creativity with the materials was wonderful: each one unique, even when using the same stencils.  Students also liked the Peace Wheel, and checked out the literature, including copies of Addicted to War.   Thanks to students and staff for taking part in our "make art, not war" theme, and for talking with us about issues regarding military enlistment, peace, Occupy, school classes and plans for the future.  We liked being situated in the hallway in front of the student banner shown in the photos above about healthy relationships, which relates to what we are talking about, too.

Building Peace for the Next Generation

A story for Armistice Day.  Thanks to Ray for sending this via Christian Peacemaker Teams:

CPTnet


7 November 2011

SULEIMANIYA/CHICAGO: Building peace for the next generation.

Mohammad Salah Mahdi came to Chicago from Suleimaniya in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to give a keynote address at the CPT Congress 13-16 October 2011. Besides working as the translator, advisor, and driver for the CPT Iraq team, Mahdi teaches English to sixth and seventh grade teachers at Seventh Azar Basic School in Suleimaniya. Before he left Suleimaniya, he asked his students to write letters to students in Chicago and videotaped them singing songs of greeting and friendship in English.

On 12 October, Mahdi visited CICS West Belden School on the west side of Chicago accompanied by CPT Iraq team reservist and Chicago area resident David Hovde. Military recruiters come to the school and Tim Doran, one of the teachers, feels the students may not think they have many alternatives to what the military offers them. Doran’s class of mainly Latino students sat on the floor in the gym to view Hovde’s slides of his time on the CPT Iraq team. Then Mahdi showed the video of his students singing. “The leaders of our countries talk to each other, but the common people don’t. Making friendships between the common people of our countries is a way to make peace,” Mahdi told the students.

One of the students asked what kind of music people liked in Kurdistan. Mahdi mentioned a popular Kurdish musician. A teacher immediately looked the musician up on the web and played a music video on YouTube for the class. While the music played, Hovde suggested that Mahdi teach them Kurdish dancing. Mahdi led a line of students and teachers holding hands and danced with them around the gym as he waved a colorful piece of fabric with his free hand. The demonstration ended with a showdown between Mahdi and one of the male students, with each showing new moves that the other tried to copy. The student won by moving himself along the floor with his hands like a caterpillar, which Mahdi did not try doing.

Mahdi then gave his students’ letters to Doran, explaining to the class that since he is from a Muslim context, his female students wanted their letters to go to female students and his male students wanted their letters to go to male students. As Mahdi and Hovde left the school, the security guard, a veteran of the Iraq war, mentioned he was sorry he could not hear Mahdi’s presentation.

On 19 October, Mahdi and Hovde returned to the school. This time Mahdi spoke to fifth, sixth and seventh graders, giving some of his students’ letters to each class. Mahdi expressed his hopes to the classes that, besides letter writing, the students could also exchange artwork to put on display at the schools. Perhaps in time students could even visit each other’s schools. When asked what his biggest accomplishment was, Mahdi said, “I’m doing it at this moment, building peace between our countries for the next generation.”

photo: students at MLK march, Austin 2011

Going solar for job training

A friend who lives in the new Mueller development just got a solar panel installed on her roof, and she said that about a third of the home owners in that neighborhood have signed up to have the panels installed through a rebate program with the city.  The solar industry is a good place to look for job training.  See the CoolAustinJobs site for info about this and other green jobs. 

Austin Community College offers programs and scholarships in the renewable energy field.  And there are other ideas in the Texas Green Jobs Guidebook.  Check them out!

Local Marine recruiter charged in sexual assault of high school student

[Update: according to the Austin American-Statesman, in August, 2012, charges against Timothy Craig were dismissed]

The following article about a Marine recruiter sexually assaulting a local 16 year-old high school student was published in today's issue of the Austin American-Statesman.  As the article notes, this is the second time within a year that a military recruiter has been charged with a sexual assault of an AISD student, and in both cases, the recruiters made the initial contacts with the students during high school recruitment visits.

I hope that AISD administrators think about this.  If the recruiters had been affiliated with an organization other than the US military, would that group still be allowed onto high school campuses? 

When this kind of recruiter abuse occurs, the perpetrators are usually deemed "bad apples" whose behavior is not representative of military values.  However, if one takes an honest look at the rates of sexual assault within the military and behaviors that are accepted and often even promoted within the armed forces, such as the use of misogynous cadences, pornography and the solicitation of prostitutes - many of whom, overseas, are underage - then it's not surprising that "military values" could lead to recruiter abuse.

Unfortunately, the US military is a male-dominated institution in which a culture of gender discrimination still prevails, and sexual assault is committed at higher rates than in the civilian world.  This is a serious issue.  It's among the most important reasons that I think high schools should not be used by the US military for recruitment purposes.

Here is the article:

Marine recruiter charged with sexual assault of high school student

by Claudia Grisales  Austin American Statesman   November 5, 2011

Following a weeks-long police and military investigation, a Marine Corps recruiter has been charged and jailed in a sexual assault case involving a 16-year-old female McCallum High student, officials said Friday.

Sgt. Timothy Lamont Craig, 26 , has been charged with sexual assault of a child following a Sept. 22 football game at House Park Athletics Facility, near Lamar Boulevard and Enfield Road, court records and police said Friday.

The case has drawn investigators from the Austin Police Department, the Marine Corps and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which tracked Craig's movements in a government-issued vehicle and cellphone used in contacting the victim, officials said.

"The Marine Corps holds its members to the highest standards," said Marine Corps Capt. Abraham Sipe, a district public affairs officer. "We take these allegations very seriously, and we will ensure the appropriate actions are taken throughout the course of this process."

Craig had been a campus senior recruiter for the branch's North Austin recruiting substation since April 2010 , Sipe said. He recruited at McCallum, Anderson and LBJ high schools and the Liberal Arts and Science Academy in the Austin district and at Round Rock's Westwood High, he said.

Craig, who joined the Marines from California in 2004, visited one or two campuses a week during lunch periods or at other times allowed by the schools, Sipe said.

The teen told police she had met Craig at a recruiting booth at school, the affidavit said, though it did not say when. The pair exchanged hundreds of text messages starting in July and at least a half-dozen phone calls in September, according to court records.

Austin school officials said Craig visited McCallum twice, in September 2010 and 2011.

The Austin district "had no knowledge of any concerns with this recruiter prior to this incident," the district said in a statement. "As soon as the district was made aware of the situation, AISD police took immediate action to prevent this particular individual from entering our campuses."

The district did not have additional information about Craig's visits to other campuses. A call to the Round Rock district was not answered Friday afternoon.

According to the affidavit, the teen had made plans to meet Craig during the game, where she thought she was going to do a workout for the Marines. After she was dropped off, she met Craig in his government-issued vehicle, and he drove her to a nearby alley, the affidavit said.

There, Craig made a sexual gesture toward her before they engaged in sexual intercourse, the affidavit said.

The teen's guardian contacted police in late September after overhearing her discussing the incident, an arrest affidavit said, and Craig was contacted about the allegations Oct. 11.

Craig was booked into the Travis County Jail late Thursday night on $100,000 bail, jail records show. He was in jail records Friday night.

He has been removed from his position pending the outcome of the investigation, said Sipe, the Marine district public affairs officer.

"This is a joint civil and military investigation," Sipe said. "We will continue to cooperate, and once it is completed, we will decide whether there will be additional adjudication within the Marine Corps."

This is the second time this year that a local military recruiter has been charged in connection with a sexual assault of a high school recruit. In April, Staff Sgt. Roland Benavides was charged with sexual assault in a 2009 incident involving an Akins High School student. Benavides is awaiting trial.

 

          

Youth video artists! Second Annual "If I Had a Trillion Dollars" Video Contest

Calling all video artists ages 23 and younger!  This just in from the good folks at the National Priorities Project:

It seems that these days, everyone has an opinion about how our federal budget should be spent, cut or balanced. Youth are disproportionately affected by budget cuts, but often don't have a voice in the debate -- until now.

The American Friends Service Committee and National Priorities Project are pleased to announce the second annual If I Had a Trillion Dollars (IHTD) national youth video contest.

The IHTD Youth Film Festival asks young people to speak out on the federal budget and to consider how our nation prioritizes spending and revenue generation.

Who? The contest is open to individuals and groups of youth age 23 or younger; actress and activist Susan Sarandon heads up an esteemed panel of judges

What? Videos must be 3 minutes or less in length and chronicle how the video maker(s) would spending $1 trillion

When? Videos must be received by January 15, 2012

Where? April 7 to April 10 -- AFSC and NPP will hold a youth leadership conference, film festival and screening for members of Congress in Washington, DC. Those whose videos are curated into the festival are invited to attend.

What else?

AFSC and NPP offer a host of resource materials available on the federal budget and critical issues often missing from the debate such as tax cuts for the wealthiest and war spending.

Travel scholarships are available.

To see last year's winners, visit the IHTD 2010 winners page.

For more information about If I Had a Trillion Dollars, click here.

The U.S. federal budget is not just a bunch of numbers. It's a blueprint of what we value as a nation. If I Had a Trillion Dollars asks young people to understand their budget and tell us if it represents what they believe is most important -- most needed -- at this critical moment in history.

What would the next generation do with $1 trillion dollars?

Please join us and help us spread the word about this important project!

The GI Rights Hotline: a great resource for soldiers and their families

Yesterday, during our school visit at LBJ High School, a student made a beeline for our table and told me that her brother was in the Marines and that he was having trouble.  I told her about the GI Rights Hotline, which can be reached online or by phone at 877-447-4487.  The calls are free and confidential, answered by non-military volunteers who are trained in military regulations and can answer questions about many kinds of problems GIs face in the armed forces.

The kinds of trouble reported by enlistees include sexual trauma, hazing, racial discrimination, physical injuries from training exercises, psychological injuries, family problems and changes in core beliefs about killing in war.   

As we tell students, after bootcamp, it's usually very difficult to get a discharge from any branch of the military, but the counselors who answer the GI Rights hotline can help by listening, presenting options and describing the possible consequences.

For students who have signed a DEP contract, but who have not yet begun bootcamp, it's important to know that you CAN CHANGE YOUR MIND.  At any point before your report date, you can decide to not go. It is legal and there is no punishment.  You can just not go.  You can call the GI Rights Hotline to speak with a counselor if you wish, who can help explain this crucial aspect of the Delayed Entry Program.  

Tabling at LBJ/LASA HS

We had a table today at LBJ/LASA HS and student interest was strong among LBJ students.  Quite a few opted to take part in the stencil-your-own paper folders, and, as always, it was great to see how creative the students were.  We brought some Americorps brochures to the career counseling room because we are noticing that schools don't tend to have Americorps information available for students.  The brochures can be ordered from Americorps in bulk for no charge.
We added a new "Food Not Bombs" design to the stencil art.  The panda designs and "Peace Takes Courage" are still the most popular. 
Thanks for welcoming us to your school, Jaguars!

Job Training Resources in Austin

This is the info on our Job Training flier.  The info should be current as of this date, but let us know if we need to update phone numbers, etc.

JOB TRAINING … Be who YOU are in the world!



American Youthworks
1901 E. Ben White Blvd, Austin, TX 744-1900
http://www.americanyouthworks.org/

This non-profit charter high school serves ages 16-21 with high school or GED programs, health care, counseling services, social services, job training, and job placement. Helping 1,000 students per year, they also oversee three local Americorps programs: Casa Verde Builders, which teaches construction skills; Environmental Corps, which trains workers to restore and preserve parks and public lands; and Computer Corps, which has students teaching computer skills to children. Americorps provides a living allowance, health care, and (on successful completion) money to use for college or trade school.


Americorps for Community Engagement and Education (ACEE)
Charles A. Dana Center, 2901 N IH-35, Suite 2.200, 471-6764
www.utdanacenter.org/acee

Learn teaching skills by doing bilingual literacy tutoring in local elementary schools through this Americorps program. As with all Americorps programs, you learn valuable skills while earning a living stipend and an educational award to use toward college or college loan repayment. For more local and national Americorps programs: www.nationalservice.org


Assistive and Rehabilitative Services, Texas State Department of (DARS)
800-628-5115

Assists persons with physical or psychological barriers to employment, by providing services or equipment needed for them to get a job, including job training or college, as part of an agreed-upon plan. Call for referral to the nearest counselor office.


Austin Community College
http://www.austincc.edu/
 512-223-4222

ACC has more than 80 different job-skills programs that can be completed in a year or less, and also offers 2-year associate degrees and transfers to 4-year colleges. With campuses across Austin, including the new South Austin campus directly across from Crockett High School, ACC provides affordable, high-quality classes and financial aid toward tuition.

Austin Freenet provides free public computer labs and free or low-cost computer classes at neighborhood libraries, community centers, and public agencies. All Wired for Youth classes are free, including website design. See www.austinfree.net for class times and locations, or phone 236-8225.

Capital IDEA
504 Lavaca Street, Suite 1008, Austin, TX 78701, 457-8610
http://www.capitalidea.org/

Trains legally-resident adults, whose incomes qualify them, with training for careers in health care, high tech, or accounting. For full-time students who reside in Central Texas, it provides tuition, fees, books, and child care. Also provides free English, GED, and college prep classes. Has ties with local employers.


Goodwill Industries of Central Texas1015 Norwood Park Blvd., Austin, TX 78753, 637-7100
748-5574, Leah Winsberg, Eligibility Specialist, WIA Youth Services Program
http://www.austingoodwill.org/

This program serves persons 14-21 who are in or out of school, who have barriers to employment such as a physical or mental handicap, homelessness, runaway status, pregnancy or parenting, academic skills below grade level, having been through the juvenile justice system, and being or having been a foster child. Young people are receiving such services as GED, job readiness training, job placement, job coaching, tuition costs, child care, and emergency housing, rent, or utilities. Goodwill also runs the City-County Summer Employment Program for youth.


Internships are unpaid or low-paid jobs in which the employer teaches the worker job skills. Ask a school counselor, teacher, Workforce Center employee, or employers who appear at job fairs. Non-profit agencies may be willing to offer worthwhile internships, too, if asked.


Job Corps (inquire at Texas Workforce Center, 6505 Airport Blvd, Austin) For ages 16-24, free self-paced training in 27 different occupations, including medical assistant, CNA, auto body work or mechanics, culinary arts, welding, computer repair, and corrections. Training takes place at a residential center in San Marcos and lasts 8-12 months. On successful completion, graduates receive $1,200 to use toward college. The Job Corps is a certified Texas high school offering a diploma or GED; its college program busses students to ACC (San Marcos) or St. Phillips in San Antonio. Must be a legal U.S. resident, drug-free, not on probation, and with no outstanding fines, warrants, or court dates.

Job Fairs are of two kinds: one-employer and multi-employer. Employers may be hiring right away or may take part to gain community visibility and a list of interested people. Many offer on-the-job training, sometimes with college credit or professional certificates. Multi-employer job fairs include the quarterly fair held at the Workforce Center, 6505 Airport Boulevard, and the annual Goodwill-American Statesman Job Fair in May. Dress for an interview and take a current resume; you may be interviewed on the spot. Fairs are announced in classified ads, at employers’ premises, on billboards, on Public Access TV, on websites, and at Workforce Centers.


Texas State Technical Colleges offer certificate and associate degree programs in technical or applied subjects. The nearest TSTC to Austin is at 3801 Campus Drive, Waco, TX 76705 and offers programs in 31 different fields of study. Most of the 4,500 students live in dorms or apartments. Phone 800-792-8784 or ask your school counselor.


The University of Texas at Austin
Professional Development Center, 471-4622
www.utexas.edu/cee/pdc

Professional development classes for certificates (no college credit) in public relations, marketing, leadership, human resources, project management, and process management. Courses given at the Thompson Center at U.T. or at the Jake Pickle Research Center on Burnet Road.

The Urban League
8011 Cameron Rd., Bldg. A-100, 478-7176

Free GED, job-seeking skills, and specific training: typing, keyboarding, computer use.

Central Texas Workforce Centers teach job-seeking skills, offer keyboarding practice, and administer keyboarding and spelling tests required by some employers. Under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), some job-seekers are eligible for free career testing, transportation costs, skills training, work uniforms, and clothes for job interviews. The 6505 Airport Blvd. Workforce Center coordinates several services for younger job-seekers, such as work internship programs, paid summer jobs, and support services such as child care. For other locations see www.twc.state.tx.us, where TWC also offers links to training resources, actual job vacancies, forecasts of ‘hot’ occupations, and typical pay rates for various occupations.



This is only a sampling of training resources. You have many options; to explore them, first think about your interests, personal strengths, and skills. Find out which agencies or programs might work for you, and make an appointment to talk with them. Even if one appointment doesn’t work out, you can probably get referred to another agency or program that can help you. Talk with others—your friends, relatives, school counselors, librarians, and adults who do jobs you think you might enjoy. Ask about internships, apprenticeships, and community service projects as well as regular jobs. Sometimes, the best training is on-the-job with a good employer. The number-one best way to get a well-paid, enjoyable job is through personal contacts!

Israeli Arab and Jewish student dialogue, November 1, 5:30 pm

Looks like a good event, sponsored by Interfaith Action of Central Texas:

On Tuesday evening, November 1, Two students, Haneen Kinani (Arab/Muslim, 12th grade) and Yael Keinan (Jewish, 11th grade), both from Hand in Hand's Jerusalem school will participate in a public forum and dialogue at Congregation Beth Israel's Smith Auditorium, 3901 Shoal Creek Blvd. from 5:30 to 7 PM. The event, will include a presentation and dialogue centering on Hand in Hand, education and interfaith/ethnic relations in Israel and the United States. Light refreshments will be served. The event is free and open to the public.


Founded in 1997, Hand in Hand: Center for Jewish-Arab Education, is a unique network of integrated, bilingual schools for Arab and Jewish children in Israel. Hand in Hand students are taught by Jews and Arabs in both Hebrew and Arabic. Learning each other's language, culture and religion is critical to breaking down stereotypes and fostering mutual respect. Students develop pride in their own heritage while acquiring the skills and experiences needed to live peacefully in a diverse, often conflicted, society. These are skills that are needed in every culture, including our own.

Hand in Hand is a living model of collaboration to create a more peaceful, pluralistic and democratic society. As one mom from the Wadi Ara community put it, "The school that we have started together as Arabs and Jews, parents, educators, and community members, is making peace, building it every day, every hour."

Haneen and Yael, who will be accompanied by Lee Gordon, Hand in Hand co-founder, are dynamic speakers and tremendous representatives for Jewish-Arab coexistence and peace.

For more information, contact Robert Ozer at 512-913-3953 or at bozer@grandecom.net.

This event is free and open to the public

SOY table at Crockett HS

Tami and I had a good visit today at Crockett HS in South Austin, where we enjoyed talking with many students who stopped by the table to spin the peace wheel, take literature and try out the stenciling.  Thanks, Cougars! 

#OccupyWallStreet: the process is the goal

The coverage of the #OccupyWallStreet movement provided by the Waging Nonviolence blog has been great.  Also, here is an article by Tim King on the Sojourners blog with his take on it:

Like many of my contemporaries, I found the non-violent protests in Egypt that led to regime change earlier this year terribly inspiring. But, also like many in my generation, I never thought such a movement could happen here.


I had seen people my age start successful businesses, become pop-stars and even play a key role in partisan political campaigns, but I had never seen them develop and sustain a social movement.

Sure there have been more focused shifts around issues like educational equity, LGBT rights or global poverty that my generation has had a hand in shaping, but nothing that quite had the look or the feel of what I imagined the anti-War or Civil Rights movements of the 1960s to have been. I assumed we — my contemporaries ( I’m 27) — simply didn’t possess the interest or the will-power to accomplish something that big.

I was wrong.

It isn’t clear yet what immediate or enduring effects the Occupy movement will have on our current economic or political situation. But, there are three things that I believe have the potential to significantly shape a whole generation — and perhaps the future of our nation.

First, a generation — my generation — is learning how to act. More importantly, we are learning how to act collectively. And what makes this of lasting significance is that we are seeing some results.

For much of its life, my generation has the ability to broadcast our thoughts and ideas around the globe, 24/7, but we hadn’t felt heard … until now. An epic shift has occurred in the last few weeks, a transition from wide-scale disconnection and disenchantment because of our perceived (at least) voicelessness with the powers that be, to seeing responses to our message calling for justice and transformation from around the country and the world.

Right now, across the nation high school students, college kids and legion twenty-somethings are watching their peers create something positive and powerful that has been amplified worldwide. Whether we start sleeping outside or not, a lot more dreams seem possible. The vision my friends and I have for our futures — and, more importantly, for the futures of the least of those among us — is catching on at home and abroad. It’s infectious, resonating deep in the hearts and minds of our contemporaries around the globe. They, too, want to act collectively and watch as their efforts bring about lasting, positive change.

Second, the members of my generation are invigorating democracy. The democratic processes in our country seemed like little more than so many lackluster reality TV shows. It had a veneer of authenticity but we couldn’t shake the feeling that somebody was standing just out of the camera shot, scripting the “real” dialogue and pulling all the strings.

Anyone who thinks that the Occupy demonstrations are, at their roots, about “socialism” or “communism” isn’t listening. It’s all about the democratic process. While the movement has not coalesced around a political party or a particular policy platform, it has radically embraced the idea that one person and one vote are supposed to count.

Going forward, that’s going to make things challenging. Democracy — especially direct democracy — isn’t easy. I have great hope that the Occupy movement’s current systems of decision-making will be rooted to the discipline of democracy as they continue to evolve.

Third, #OccupyWallStreet protesters believe that part of their responsibility is to model within their individual and diverse “Occupy” locations, a sort of alternative community. Such an idea has long existed in Christian and other religious traditions. Some faith communities live in the midst of society while trying to model a different way to live and relate, while others have separated themselves from society in order to, they believe, better live out their beliefs.

In either paradigm of engagement, the purpose of each faith community is similar: To lift up a mirror to society in general and model alternative ways of living that others may choose to follow or not.

The #OccupyWallStreet movement probably won’t look like it does right now next year or the year after that. The demands they are making right now might not be the same demands they will make in five or ten years. In order for this movement to have the same sort of impact that the Civil Rights Movement did, it will need to grow, develop and be sustained over decades, not months.

If the end result of “The Occupation” is tens of thousands of young people who believe it is our responsibility to:

1. Act with others for social change;

2. Invigorate democratic processes;

3. Model life-giving alternatives to the systems they are protesting;

then no matter what else it accomplishes, it will have been successful.

________________________________________

Making Art, Not War at McCallum High School

Tami and I had a good day tabling at McCallum High School, an arts magnet school.  We had stenciling supplies, and students were really creative in their use of the materials!  We added the "#OccupyWallStreet" action to our Peace Wheel of Fortune, and a number of students had heard about Occupy Austin.  One student said she'd spent the weekend there at City Hall Plaza and that her dad had spoken at the rally.

Thanks to McCallum students and staff for stopping by the table and checking out our wares!  Here is the current Peace Wheel lineup, along with some photos from today, including some of the awesome student stencil art and a copy of a new flier on Active Nonviolence.

  Waging Peace: winning freedom and justice through creative nonviolence


Egypt’s popular uprising began with a mass rally on January 25, 2011 as hundreds of thousands of Egyptians gathered in public squares calling for governmental, economic and social change. The overwhelmingly nonviolent crowds faced violent suppression by their president, but they succeeded in ousting him from power and inspired other Middle East freedom movements happening right now.

#OccupyWallStreet began on September 17, 2011 in New York City as a nonviolent public assembly led by young people who support human needs over corporate greed. Using First Amendment rights and democratic organizing, this movement has spread to many other US cities, including Austin!

Gidon is an award-winning hip hop and spoken word artist in Austin who was president of his class at Reagan High School. He has been active with The Cipher and the Texas Youth Word Collective and the band, Public Offender, whose CD, Drop Jewels, is a call to men to stop violence against women. He teaches performance poetry at the Texas Empowerment Academy.

Wangari Maathai (1940 – 2011) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for leading the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, a tree-planting effort undertaken mostly by women’s groups. Maathai earned a doctorate degree and stressed the connections between ecological conservation and human rights.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 – 1968) is perhaps the best known of all US Civil Rights leaders. Following methods used by Gandhi and the freedom movement in India, King’s oratory, writings and personal example directed the movement in using nonviolent strategies such as mass marches, boycotts, sit-ins and direct negotiations in achieving equal rights.

Greensboro sit-in On Feb. 1, 1960, four black college students in Greensboro, North Carolina, sat down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter where they were refused service, but they did not leave, even when harassed. The next day, more students continued the protest, and the movement grew throughout the south (including Austin) with widespread sit-ins at segregated restaurants, department stores, movie theatres, swimming pools and churches.

Cesar Chavez (1927 – 1993) led worker strikes, boycotts and marches for higher wages and better working conditions for agricultural workers in the US, including South Texas. He and Dolores Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers, led the successful California grape boycott and helped organize other labor organizations in Texas and the Midwest. A statue of Cesar Chavez stands on the UT campus.

Julia Butterfly Hill is a poet, speaker and environmental activist who lived for two years on a platform 18 stories high in a 1,000 year-old redwood tree in California as a protest against clear-cutting. Her book about that experience, The Legacy of Luna, was published in 2000.

Flobots is a rock/hip-hop band based in Denver. Lyrics of their release, Fight With Tools, promote nonviolent methods as the tools for social change.

Mohandas Gandhi (1869 – 1948) was one of the most influential nonviolent activists in history. He helped lead India to independence from British Colonial Rule and his nonviolent methods inspired MLK and others in the US Civil Rights Movement.

Helen Keller (1880 –1968) was the first deafblind person to graduate from college. She learned to speak and became a world traveler and author who was outspoken in her advocacy for peace, women’s voting rights and labor rights.

Wangari Maathai, presente

Today, when Tami picked me up to go to Lanier High School to do our tabling, she told me she had just learned that Wangari Maathai had died of cancer.  We have included Ms. Maathai on our Peace Wheel for the past couple of years.  Today, on the Peace Wheel we had added the Occupy Wall Street action that is going on right now in NYC.  Somehow, I think Ms. Maathai would have been supportive of the young people using democratic people power to nonviolently challenge corporate power.  Here is a good article about the remarkable life of Wangari Maathai as published in the Washington Post:

Wangari Maathai, 71, Nobelist and advocate for Kenyan women, environment, dies



By Emily Langer, Published: September 26


Wangari Maathai, 71, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who sparked an international movement for women’s rights and environmental preservation by teaching poor Kenyan women to plant trees, died Sept. 25 in a Nairobi hospital.


She had cancer, the Associated Press reported.


Dr. Maathai became the first African woman to receive the award when the Nobel committee honored her in 2004 “for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.”


In 1977, she founded the Green Belt Movement, a nongovernmental organization that married the two causes at the center of her work: women’s equality and stewardship of the land in her native Kenya.


By training rural women to plant trees, she hoped to give them greater control over their lives. Among other uses, the wood would serve as fuel for cooking fires. For each tree that survived outside the nursery, planters earned a few cents and a measure of economic independence.


At the same time, the women would help halt the deforestation and resulting erosion that was stripping bare entire swaths of Africa. More trees would lead to better soil, which in turn would allow greater crop cultivation and better nutrition.


Few people took her and her collaborators seriously.


“Well, that is typical,” Dr. Maathai told the Los Angeles Times in 1989. “First of all, we are women.”


To date, 40 million trees — figs, cedars, acacias, baobabs and more — have been planted across Africa, according to the Green Belt Movement Web site. Dr. Maathai’s work inspired the United Nations Billion Tree Campaign, which has planted more than 11 billion trees since 2006.


“The work of the Green Belt Movement stands as a testament to the power of grassroots organizing, proof that one person’s simple idea — that a community should come together to plant trees — can make a difference, first in one village, then in one nation, and now across Africa,” President Obama said Monday in a statement.


Known as “Kenya’s green militant,” Dr. Maathai pursued peace in a roundabout way.


“When our resources become scarce, we fight over them,” she told a Norwegian television station near the time of her award. “In managing our resources and in sustainable development, we plant the seeds of peace.”


She was jailed and severely beaten numerous times for her outspoken defense of her causes. Former Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi called her a “mad woman” and “a threat to the order and security of the country.” She challenged him, and won, in a high-profile battle over a proposed skyscraper and statue of the autocratic leader in a Nairobi park.


After Moi stepped down, Dr. Maathai served for several years in the Kenyan parliament, including as deputy minister for the environment, before losing her seat.


She survived over the years, she once told The Washington Post, by having “the thick skin of an elephant.”


Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, a village in the highlands of Kenya, on April 1, 1940. She often spoke about the brook where she drew water as a girl. Over the years, that stream dried up, forcing women to walk long distances for water.


“Throughout Africa,” Dr. Maathai said in her Nobel lecture, “women are the primary caretakers, holding significant responsibility for tilling the land and feeding their families. As a result, they are often the first to become aware of environmental damage as resources become scarce and incapable of sustaining their families.”


In all her work, Dr. Maathai fought the notion that underprivileged people must rely on outsiders for help. In her 2006 memoir “Unbowed,” she recalled repairing the walls of her mother’s hut with dung.


“It was important to share that experience,” she told National Public Radio, “because it’s very easy for people now to see the Nobel Peace Prize and to see the PhD and to see all the good things that are now with me and forget where I came from.”


When she won the Nobel, Dr. Maathai was reported to be the first woman in east and central Africa to earn a doctorate. She owed her education in part to her brother, who one day asked their parents why she didn’t go to class with the boys. Her parents then enrolled her in school.


She later studied in the United States through a leadership program for young Africans, earning two degrees in biology — a bachelor’s in 1964 from the school now known as Benedictine College, in Atchison, Kan., and a master’s from the University of Pittsburgh in 1965.


Her doctorate, in anatomy, came from the University of Nairobi, where she later chaired the department of veterinary anatomy.


Her marriage to Mwangi Maathai ended in divorce.


“I think my activism may have contributed to my being perceived as a woman who is not too conventional,” she said in a 2004 interview with The Post. “And that puts pressure on the man you live with, because he is then perceived as if he is not controlling you properly.”


Survivors include three children and a granddaughter, according to the Green Belt Movement Web site.


As a student in the United States, Dr. Maathai experienced such wonders as the Mississippi River, the winds that she said blew through Kansas “like violins” and an American autumn.


“Trees losing their leaves!” she told The Post. “They were of course very beautiful and different colors, and this doesn’t happen in Kenya. . . . And then they all fell, every one of them. And the tree literally went to sleep.”


© The Washington Post Company


________________________________________

Beginning the school year at Austin HS

Today, Tami and I launched the Fall semester with our table at Austin HS, and it went well.  We had positive feedback from school staff members, and students stopped by to check out the peace wheel and materials.
 
Some readers have asked about who is on the peace wheel, so here is the list that we hand out to students.  Because a student last year suggested that we add events as well as people to the wheel, we did that, so here is what we have going.  We often switch out the people on the wheel, so we ask students for suggestions as we go.

Peace Wheel of Fortune hand-out:

Waging Peace: winning freedom and justice through creative nonviolence


Egypt’s popular uprising began with a mass rally on January 25, 2011 as hundreds of thousands of Egyptians gathered in public squares calling for governmental, economic and social change. The overwhelmingly nonviolent crowds faced violent suppression by their president, but they succeeded in ousting him from power and inspired other Middle East freedom movements happening right now.


Gidon (Gator) is an award-winning hip hop and spoken word artist in Austin who was president of his class at Reagan High School. He has been active with The Cipher and the Texas Youth Word Collective and the band, Public Offender, whose CD, Drop Jewels, is a call to men to stop violence against women. He teaches performance poetry at the Texas Empowerment Academy.


Wangari Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for leading the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, a tree-planting effort undertaken mostly by women’s groups. Maathai earned a doctorate degree and has written and spoken extensively about conservation and human rights.


Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 – 1968) is perhaps the best known of all US Civil Rights leaders. Following methods used by Gandhi and the freedom movement in India, King’s oratory, writings and personal example directed the movement in using nonviolent strategies such as mass marches, boycotts, sit-ins and direct negotiations in achieving equal rights.


John Lennon (1940 – 1980) was a member of the British rock band, The Beatles, and also had a successful solo career. He and his spouse, Yoko Ono were outspoken peace advocates who expressed their views through music and performance art.


Greensboro sit-in On Feb. 1, 1960, four black college students in Greensboro, North Carolina, sat down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter where they were refused service, but they did not leave, even when harassed. The next day, more students continued the protest, and the movement grew throughout the south (including Austin) with widespread sit-ins at segregated restaurants, department stores, movie theatres, swimming pools and churches.


Cesar Chavez (1927 – 1993) led worker strikes, boycotts and marches for higher wages and better working conditions for agricultural workers in the US, including South Texas. He and Dolores Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers, led the successful California grape boycott and helped organize other labor organizations in Texas and the Midwest. A statue of Cesar Chavez stands on the UT campus.


Julia Butterfly Hill is a poet, speaker and environmental activist who lived for two years on a platform 18 stories high in a 1,000 year-old redwood tree in California as a protest against clear-cutting. Her book about that experience, The Legacy of Luna, was published in 2000.


Flobots is a rock/hip-hop band based in Denver. Lyrics of their release, Fight With Tools, promote nonviolent methods as the tools for social change.


Mohandas Gandhi (1869 – 1948) was one of the most influential nonviolent activists in history. He helped lead India to independence from British Colonial Rule and his nonviolent methods inspired MLK and others in the US Civil Rights Movement.


Helen Keller (1880 –1968) was the first deafblind person to graduate from college. She learned to speak and became a world traveler and author who was outspoken in her advocacy for peace, women’s voting rights and labor rights.