ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE
In Memory of Paul Smoker
Dr. Ada Aharoni, Pres. PAVE PEACE
Conflict Resolution, Dept. of General Studies, Technion,
57 Horev Street, Haifa, Israel 34343
Tel: 972-4-8243230
Fax: 972-4-8261288
Email: ada@iflac.com
PAVE PEACE Homepage: http://www.iflac.com
HORIZON is a cultural, literary and educational magazine providing information on paving a culture of peace and creating bridges of understanding among people and nations. The subject of the present issue is on CREATING THE GLOBAL CULTURE OF PEACE. It is dedicated to the memory of Paul Smoker, the late technical editor of PTCL, who believed with all his heart and mind in the vehicle of "Culture," and in the creating of cultural bridges among people and nations, as a means to build a world beyond war and violence.
Dried Cuttlefish on a Persimmon Tree (Nishimori Shigeo)
For Ken Canning (Burraga Gutya) (Roger Horton)
Poems in memory of Yitzhak Rabin:
From the Israeli IFLAC Anthology: Waves of Peace: GALIM8
We Will Continue Your Vision
Dear Linda,
I was so shocked and grieved to hear the sad news that dear Paul is not with us anymore, he seemed to be one of those vital people who could live forever, and indeed his spirit and his peace vision will always be in my heart and mind.
It was such a privilege and a stimulating experience to be invited by Paul to lecture and present Peace Poetry at the "International Peace Institute at Antioch College" this summer, together with Arun Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi's grandson. Paul's kindness, generosity, cheerfulness and enlightening presence enriched all of us. His gentle and loving attitude at your side, brought stars to the eyes of both of you, which shed a precious light of love, peace and hope on all of us. It was a special, warm and harmonious experience which I will always cherish.
I remember when we were invited to your cosy home for dinner on that last night of the Peace Institute program, Paul told me wistfully: "We will work together on the PAVE PEACE THROUGH CULTURE AND LITERATURE Electronic Magazine for many years to come, and it will usher a new HORIZON into our global village..." In Paul's memory, we have decided to call the PTCL magazine, starting from No. 3, HORIZON. In a deep sense his words were true, for his noble spirit and peace vision envelopes the whole innovative conception, ideals and values of our horizon. It gave me deep pleasure and a great sense of accomplishment to work together with Paul on the founding and development of the conception and theory of the paving of peace through literature and culture, and on producing the first two numbers of the PTCL magazine, which got such good feedback and he was so proud of.
Though I feel lost without his invaluable help, I promise you dear Linda, we will go on with our innovative peace project. The PTCL HORIZON will live, and it will continue to pave a world beyond war and violence. Paul understood so well that in the humanizing of technology and the development of a peace culture through the internet, lies the secret of the unification of our global village. We will continue his illuminating vision and his golden peace quest.
Be strong, energetic and vital as usual dear Linda, for this is what Paul would have liked you to be.
We love you and are with you,
Ada and Haim
Paul,
Somehow I doubt that you will get this message, but not knowing much about what happens after death I cannot be sure that you won't. Perhaps this is more of a prayer and an internal conversation, but if so, so be it.
Your death leaves a great gap in the peace community, on the order, I think, of a black hole or a dead star in a nearby galaxy. Your wonderful spirit, of course, will be long with us, as will the extraordinary contributions you have made to the human community and to the planet.
I remember resolving after our last conversation -- last summer in Washington -- that the next time I have the opportunity I want to be sure to spend more time with you. You are one of those people with whom I have had all too little contact, but could never get enough.
Thank you so much for your life, your spirit, your energy, and your good will, which lives on in ways that we can see tangibly in our community and in ways that are beyond our meager understanding.
Please know that we will carry on your work.
Love,
Les
(Les Kurtz)
On Paul Smoker
After Vivienne, Paul's first wife of 33 years died, he wrote me, "As we deal with the terrible grief, I know that it will be the quality of Viv's life that will be remembered. We tried to celebrate that at the funeral service."
Today we celebrate the quality of Paul's life. I will always remember him as a caring friend with that twinkle in his eyes. I will remember his utter devotion to peace, his vibrant enthusiasm, the inspiration he was for his students, how he was a man of monumental kindness and generosity, of abundant energy and vitality.
The last time I saw Paul was heartbreaking for me, standing at his bedside in the hospital when he was in his coma, seeing my friend of such vitality lying there unmoving, unresponsive, inert.
His legacy for Antioch was his vision for the Antioch Peace Studies Program. Paul's dream was for a Global Peace Studies University. He pioneered peace studies in England at the University of Lancaster, but the administration was not supportive, and Peace Studies was considered marginal. So when I sent Paul the announcement for the Lloyd Professorship after meeting him in London at the International Studies Association in 1989, he wrote me, "I must admit the description of the position looks exciting and challenging and very much in accord with my own inclinations." And he applied.
When he came to campus for the interview in March 1990, Paul liked what he found, and he was especially impressed by the students in the class he taught, as all applicants did. He wrote later, "In terms of verbal interaction, participation, question and answer two ways and exploration of ideas, it was clear to me that was no ordinary group of students."
Paul was appointed in April, spent two weeks here in September, in which he visited with all faculty members and everyone else with whom he might be involved, and in October sent out a most remarkable document, setting forth a proposed structure for Peace Studies at Antioch College, including suggestions for establishing Antioch as an important Peace Studies Center.
He wrote of the "terrific opportunities Antioch offers." These include an educational philosophy that is superbly compatible with Peace Studies and an educational community that has deep roots in peace, participation and freedom. His proposal was based upon a union of "intellectual understanding of facts and theories about peace and conflict" with "an experiential, participatory and democratic approach." His students were to secure the scholarly fundamentals while at the same time to experience world citizenship through their co-op jobs and local community participation, Antioch Education Abroad, and training in using Global electronic communication systems, in which Paul was also a pioneer.
Paul's contributions to Antioch were many and will be mentioned by other speakers. I will just refer to my own experiences. I watched him in action at the IPRA conference in Malta, to which he brought a group of Antioch theatre students along with the strong delegation of Antioch faculty. In working with Paul on the Chatterjee Scholarship committee, I became well aware of his influence with students. I was a part of the very successful Peace Institute he organized here last summer. And I've helped with the Boulding Library of Kenneth's and Elise's books, which Paul brought to Antioch.
But Paul's greatest legacy here, along with the many students whose lives he has touched, has been his vision of what Peace Studies at Antioch College could become. Perhaps not the Global University of Peace Studies of which he dreamed. And not the list of requirements he formulated. But rather, his vision of an outstanding Peace Studies Program, based on Antioch's traditions and its experience-based education, We will honor Paul by seeking to realize that vision.
Read by Irwin Abrams, Professor of History Emeritus, Antioch College, and Distinguished University Professor Emeritus, Antioch University, at the Memorial Service for Paul Smoker, January 18, 1998, at Antioch College.
To Paul,
The new HORIZON is just finished. Knowing how proud you were of the electronic magazine you helped bring into life, I think you are smiling broadly in your heaven on seeing us carry on your work. Thank you Paul, my unknown friend, for looking over my shoulder to see that things become right.
Editorial:
Research of the theory and practice of the building of a global and regional cultural climate of peace, counteracting violence and war, should be a top priority in peace research today, as it has become evident that conflicts and wars are caused not only by territorial claims, but also have a cultural and ethnic basis.
In September 21, 1995, I had the pleasure to be part of a "Middle East Panel," at a United Nations NGO Committee Conference on "Arms Control, Disarmament and Peace in the Middle East" (September 21, 1995). I was glad to find out on that occasion, that some of the Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian scholars who were on the panel, not only lectured and suggested new initiatives for peace in the Middle East, but moreover, presented some moving peace poetry and stories, which had a powerful impact on the audience. This sharing of the fruits of each delegations' culture with the other delegations and with the audience, created a warm bridge of harmony, understanding and respect among us.
Throughout this illuminating panel and indeed the entire conference, I realized again as I had often done in the past, how important it is to use peace culture and literature, including not only creative works by poets, writers, playwrights and movie script writers, but also that of peace-literature researchers and literary critics. These latter could help through their scholarship and their research and analysis of creative works and art, dealing with the various themes of peace and the condemnation of violence and warfare. Together with the writers and artists dealing with the themes of non-violence and peace, they could contribute a major and crucial contribution to the creating and promotion of a global cultural climate of harmony and peace - which are so needed for ushering a world beyond war.
After this important conference and experience, and on seeing the powerful impact of the sharing of peace works by "delegations from conflicting sides," upon the mixed audience of Moslems, Jews and Christians - we at "IFLAC: The International Friends of Literature," decided to start a homepage dedicated to the PAVING OF PEACE THROUGH CULTURE AND LITERATURE.
Click to read the whole Editorial
International Convention Center
Haifa, Israel
http://www.iflac.com
TEDDY BEARS FOR GUNS
My man of the year
Is the wonderful, wise one
Who sat himself in the midst
Of the West with a huge box
Of chubby Teddy Bears
On New Year's Day,
Attracting an endless
Queue of cheering kids -
Holding guns
He playfully showed
With a smile and a wink
And a Teddy Bear hug -
It could be the beginning
Of a honey-laden decade
In a brave new world
By wisely trading
Guns
For Teddy Bears.
Fred Stern is an artist and a rainbow maker. He creates rainbows for organizations and events in support of global unity and peace. With assistance from the Haifa Municipality, his rainbow over Haifa next year will mark the opening of the International Congress on Conflict Resolution Through Culture and Literature. It will be called "Keshet Sheket" and stand as a tribute to the first reconciliation between God and humankind. This is not the first time a "Keshet Sheket" appears in the skies over a city. In 1995 he presented his rainbow work, "Keshet Sheket," a Holocaust Memorial, as the opening piece for the Eutopia Festival in Potsdam, Germany.
The rainbow is created when the sun's light breaks through an artificial rainfall from water pumped into the air by fire trucks of fire boats. The optimal position of the trucks or boats and time for the event is determined by a computer program created by Fred himself. The rainbows can be as large as 2000 feet across.
Fred has created rainbows all over the United States, in Europe and South America. He has long wanted to make rainbows at the borders between Israel and Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Gaza. Then people on each side of the borders would be able to watch their neighbors through a rainbow. What would be more appropriate, "the rainbow, in the story of Noah, symbolizes reconciliation for peoples of the Jewish, Islamic and Christian faiths," Fred says. In that story God makes a promise to Man never to destroy the Earth by flooding again. In many myths the rainbow is seen as a "gateway to Heaven" because it looks like a giant bridge between Heaven and Earth. Some say the rainbow is a ray of light falling to Earth whenever Saint Peter opens the gates of Heaven to let another soul in. In a German creation myth the rainbow is the bowl God used to hold his paints while coloring the birds.
In 1996 Fred created a rainbow over the United Nations Building in conjunction with the Japanese National Television. In this piece, which he dedicated as a visual metaphor for Global Unity and World Peace, the rainbow, or the planet's flag, was flown above the flags of all the nations of the world (see picture below). The rainbow was viewed by 15 million television viewers in Japan. In the fall the same year he created a rainbow in Las Cruces, New Mexico, for the opening of the Court Youth Center. The children could then run through the rainbow.
Learn more about rainbows, rainbow myths and his many projects at the Rainbow Maker's website http://www.zianet.com/rainbow).
---Solveig Hansen
Rainbow over the UN building
The worst waste of resources in the world is the vast sums that governments spend maintaining an ability to destroy all people on Earth. Less than a quarter of those immense sums of money, if spent on promoting a global peace culture could pave a world beyond war toward the new millenia.
Nearly 53.000 citizens of our global village, including leaders from throughout the world have signed the BAN-WAR PETITION.
This PAVE PEACE Petition is a major step forward for Abolition of War 2000. It is a citizens' campaign for a treaty by year 2000 for the total elimination of war by state against state, or by part of a nation against another one.
The BAN-WAR PETITION has been translated into 21 languages, including Hebrew, French, Arabic, Korean, Chinese, Russian, Spanish and Greek.
Related campaign:
IFOR and the UN suggest Year 2000 to 2010 for the building of a world of non violence. HORIZON acclaims their decision and efforts, but adds a query: WHY NOT START NOW? If we give all our impetus to the building of a global peace culture starting 1998, perhaps we can BAN WAR by the year 2000. This is one of the major goals of HORIZON: PAVE PEACE. Please refer to our BAN-WAR CAMPAIGN above and sign our BAN-WAR PETITION.
The UN Decade for a Culture of Non-Violence campaign was launched on July 1, 1997 by Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, IFOR, Partage avec les Enfants du Monde/Share with the Children of the World, and other organizations. Their goal is to have the governments of all of the world countries at the United Nations to adopt a resolution declaring
1. The year 2000 "Year of Education for Non-Violence"
2. The years 2000 to 2010 "Decade for a Culture of Non-Violence"
because there is only one way to fight violence with nonviolence: education.
"Our mentality is archaic. Often we continue to raise our children using ideas developed in times of war and conquest. We need to reject these outmoded principles and teach children that the 'other' is not the enemy. We must dare to tell young people, even in history classes, that they will contribute more to the world by living in dignity than by dying heroically, that it is conscience, rather than obedience, which is the basis of human life."
PEACE FLOWER: A SPACE ADVENTUREby Ada Aharoni
"Peace Flower: A Space Adventure," is a story which will delight young and old. Lee and Roni, two young adults, go on a space quest to banish war and save the world from the clutches of Nuki - the mighty Nuclear Dragon. Their dangerous mission is to find the Peace Flower in the Land of the Future as it is not on Earth yet, and bring it to our "present", so that with the help of its nectar they can neutralize the Nuclear Giant and prevent him from destroying our planet.
They experience extraordinary adventures in space, and meet fantastic creatures which reflect our present life and illuminate our most crucial problems. Ada Aharoni's imaginative, moving and powerful books have spread far beyond the Middle East, and have won her many prestigious awards and prizes. This new wonderful and exciting book has been compared to "The Little Prince," and to "When the Wind Blows," and is taught in schools in Hebrew and Arabic in Israel, and in many parts of the Middle East. The skillful translation of the book into English, by the author herself, is an admirable feat and feast which will have an important and lasting impact on us and on future generations. "Peace Flower" is available as an audio book from Ladybug Press (see below).
NOT IN VAIN: AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFEby Ada Aharoni
Thea Wolf, then a young German-Jewish nurse, went to Alexandria, Egypt, in 1932 to work in the Hospital of the Jewish Community. A year later, Ada Aharoni was born in Cairo - one of the then 100.000 Egyptian-born Jews whose ancestors had been in Egypt for nearly 2.000 years. For 15 years, Thea and Ada lived in the Land of the Pharaohs, but they never met until 1978. When they did, it was in the land both had long since adopted as home: Israel.
"Not In Vain: An Extraordinary Life," is the fruit of their meeting. It is a biographical account of Thea's years in Egypt serving both Jews and Arabs. Along with Wolf's recollections as told to Ada during four years of interviewing and research, Ada puts into the mouths of hospital patients real stories and vignettes from her own experience, and from her research on the Jews of Egypt in the Twentieth Century, which she conducted at the Technion in Haifa. The book offers a unique and poignant glimpse into a fascinating world little known and, sadly, now gone - for in 1948, when Israel and the Arab nations first went to war, over Israel's gaining its independence, Egypt expelled part of its Jewish population, and the rest ran away. This led to a Second Exodus of the Jews from Egypt…
(W.D. Ehrhart)
"Not In Vain: An Extraordinary Life" will be published in March, 1997.
For both books above, call toll-free to order: 1-888-892-5000
Ladybug Press
751 Laurel Street #223
San Carlos, CA 94070, USA
(650)591-6212 / fax (650)591-1123
Email: Georgia@Ladybugbooks.com
URL: http://www.ladybugbooks.com
April 4: Santa Barbara, California:
Jody Williams, coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and 1997 Nobel Peace Laureate, will receive the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Distinguished Peace Leadership Award.
May 20-22: Haifa, Israel
The yearly Friends of Literature and Culture Conference. It will include "Conflict Resolution Through Culture and Literature" talks and discussions, peace stories, poems, plays and presentations, roundtable reports, exchanges and discussions, a tour of the city of Haifa, the further planning and organizing of the BAN-WAR CAMPAIGN AND PETITION, etc. On the last day we will have a Bedouin/Palestinian/Israeli Folklore and Cultural Festival in the PAVE PEACE TENT OF PEACE, in the Druze Village of Ussfiya.
June 22-26: Durban, South Africa
The 17th Biennial International Conference of IPRA: The International Peace Research Association. For details, please contact the Secretary General Bjoern Moeller (Email: bmoeller@copri.dk). Ada Aharoni is the Convener for the PTCL: Pave Peace Through Culture and Literature Commission at the 17th International, and summaries for suggested papers and presentations can be sent to her via email.
August: Bratislava, Slovakia
The 18th World Congress of WCP (World Congress of Poets). The congress will be chaired by poet Milan Richter. If you want to participate, please contact:
Dr. Milan Richter
President of the 18th WCP
c/o National Centre for Slovak Literature
Namestie SNP 12
SK-812 24 Bratislava
Slovakia
Tel: 004217-31026
Fax: 004217-364567
Ada Aharoni:
BRIDGE OF PEACE
"They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,
and none shall make them afraid." (Micah, 4, 4).
My Arab sister,
let us build a wonder bridge
from your fig tree and vine to mine,
above the boiling pain
of the Intefada
Tagrid, my Arab sister,
when will we laugh again
like two women
instead of weeping
on our sons' stones?
You and me, Tagrid, my friend,
on this wonder bridge
from your culture to mine
from my culture to yours
in the fragrance of blossoming jasmine
holding hands
whispering secrets about our loves,
our children, our parents, our plans
and our deepest, deepest yearning
for a bright free sky
crowned by twinkling peace stars.
I do not want to be your oppressor
you do not want to be my oppressor,
or your jailer, or my jailer,
we do not want to make each other afraid
under our vines and under our fig trees
blossoming on a silvered horizon
above the bruising and the bleeding
of our children
by stones, bullets and scuds.
So, my Arab sister,
let us build a sturdy free bridge
where each shall sit with her baby
under her vine and under her fig tree
AND NONE SHALL MAKE THEM AFRAID.
More Poems on the Poetry Page
While the Israeli IFLAC (International Friends of Literature and Culture) was established in 1985, the international IFLAC was only started in 1997 and is now being organized through the registering of the international IFLAC as a non profit NGO in California.
Its goals are: 1) to bridge among people and nations through literature and culture, and 2) to ban war. It will likewise help organizing the International Congress on Conflict Resolution Through Culture and Literature. HORIZON is a collaborative effort between PAVE PEACE and IPRA: The International Peace Research Association.
For more information on IFLAC, visit the PAVE PEACE Homepage at http://www.iflac.com.
Haifa Israel IFLAC PAVE PEACE:
Ada Aharoni - International President - Email: ada@iflac.com
Daniel Goshen - National President
Judith Zilberstein - Director
George Farah - Publisher
Avraham Grinau - Accountant
Mike Scheidemann - Congress Coordinator
California IFLAC PAVE PEACE:
Georgia Jones - Director and Secretary - Email: georgia@ladybugbooks.com
Elizabeth Case - Correspondent
Yehuda and Vardina Berdugo - Liaisons
Sydney Australia IFLAC PAVE PEACE:
Catherine Johnson - Director
John Cheetham - Secretary - Email: j.cheetham@unsw.EDU.AU
Yvette Negrine - General Secretary
Stella Cornelius - Conflict Resolution
Oslo Norway IFLAC PAVE PEACE - URL: http://home.sol.no/~kmeyer/pave.html
Michael Holmboe Meyer - Director - Email: kanda@online.no
Lars Chr. Sande - Vice Director
Paris France IFLAC PAVE PEACE:
David Edwin Diday - Director
Etty Ferrier Diday - General Secretary - Email: 106727.115@compuserve.com
Ginette Lohier - Vice Director
Barthelemy Mari - Coordinator - Email: barthelemy.mari@matra-com.Fr
Isabelle Mari - Coordinator - Email: Cabinet@Kleingoddard.paris.barreau.Fr
Brazil IFLAC PAVE PEACE:
Massoud Yallouz - Director - Email: yallouz@rj.sol.com.br
Boston IFLAC PAVE PEACE:
Alberto and Maria Socolovsky - Directors
New York IFLAC PAVE PEACE:
Elizabeth Case - Director - Email: 103116.2703@compuserve.com
1) The Bridge: Jewish and Arab Women for Peace in the Middle East
2) IPRA: The International Peace Research Association
3) Ladybug: Books on Women and of Interest to Women
4) WAAC: The World Academy of Arts and Culture
5) WCP: The World Congress of Poets
6) Voices: Israel
7) LIRIT: Poetry in Israel in English Translation
8) The Bedouin Tent of Peace: El Badia
9) CR: The Conflict Resolution Network (Australia)
10) The Peace Museum: Kochi, Japan
11) Hangchon Culture Association: Seoul, South Korea
12) Sethu Bhaskara Matric, Madras: India
13) International Poets Academy: Madras, India
14) The Writers' Association: Tunis, Tunisia
15) Peacemaking Associates is our latest addition. Here is what Jacqueline Haessly wrote to us about it:
Peace, Jacqueline Haessly Image Peace!
INVITATION TO JOIN:
THE PAVE PEACE NETWORK invites NGO's and Peace Organizations to collaborate together with us toward the building of a Peace Culture that will usher a "World Beyond War," hopefully before the new millenia.
Please sign the BAN-WAR PETITION and circulate it among your friends and colleagues. Also, we would appreciate your help and initiatives, in the preparations of the International Congress on Conflict Resolution Through Culture and Literature, toward the creation of cultural bridges of understanding among people and nations.
Ada