♪ Global Alliance for Departments/Ministries of Peace Emerging ♪ - 41 min 02 sec - 9.5MB

I am writing this at my old friends house (Janis Levine) in Seattle where I am spending a night before leaving for Japan after the four day Summit for an International Intiative for Departments of Peace. This time, unlike the first time in London last October, we had delegates from the 3rd world countries like Uganda, the Solomon Islands, Nepal, the Phlippines and India, (Palestine and Israel were there, too, but they were in London at the first Summit). Having all these 3rd world countries join us made our experience so much richer.

All the International delegates In the school bus to Royal Roads University, where the Summit was held on June 21-22, 2006

The US movement continues to be the leader of our campaign, with Dot Maver who has been doing amazing organizing and supporting for the whole movement along with the wonderful staff members at Peace Alliance. We are very fortunate we have such a strong movement in the USA, because the decisions of the US affect all of us in the world.

On the way to here from Victoria, I met several people on the Victoria Clipper (The name of the boat we took.) who were interested in learning more about the DoP initiative. I gave them my contact info and the URL of the Peace Alliance:
http://www.thepeacealliance.org

You can lobby anywhere, any time, with anyone! It's fun!

I already miss my new global family with whom I know I will work for a long time. In the podcast you can listen to what some of the delegates say about the Departments/Ministries of Peace. I wish I could have recorded all the voices of the delegates, at least one from each country (about 17 countries participated), but due to time restraints, I could only include some. Still, by listening to them you can get some idea of their thinking and of our work.

Japanese delegates in front of Royal Roads University

At the end of the Summit, Japan was selected to be the host of the next Summit in 2007 by a majority vote... Other countries that were nominated included Australia, India, Romania, the Philippines, England and Costa Rica. During the final stage of the selection, India and Japan were the last remaining countries. At that point, the Indian delegate, Krishuna, stood up and said, "I would like to support my Japanese friends who are struggling to preserve Article 9, the Peace Constitution of Japan, and if having the Summit in Japan helps the peace movement in Japan, I would like to drop out and maybe be the host next time."

As soon as he said that, every body recognized the importance of Article 9 for peace building around the world.

At the Eagle Feather First Nations Artist Gallery on Jun 21 after the conference

The process of choosing the next host country was so fair, open, caring and beautiful that I cried after Japan was chosen. The Summit in Japan will be held on or around Sep 21, 2007, The International Day of Peace. Everyone wants it to take place in Hiroshima. That would be another challenge as I live far away from Hiroshima. We have a lot of work ahead...

I mean to build a strong team in Japan to host the next Summit. This will be very challenging for me and my family, but I know I can get all kinds of support from the new friends I met in this conference.

Working for peace gives you a lot of joy and satisfaction indeed.

Our wonderful International team, now called the Global Alliance for Ministries/Departments of Peace. In the center is Dot Maver, Executive Director of the Peace Alliance USA