PAVE PEACE THROUGH CULTURE
AND LITERATURE
ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE
Number 3, March 1998
"CREATING
THE GLOBAL CULTURE OF PEACE"
In Memory of Paul Smoker
Founder and Editor:
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: :
ada33@bezeqint.net
PAVE PEACE Homepage: http://tx.technion.ac.il/~ada/home.html
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.
CONTENTS:
· Paul Smoker: In Memorium - We Will Continue
Your Vision
· Editorial: The Culture of Peace
· International Congress on Conflict
Resolution Through Culture and Literature
· Poem: Teddy Bears for Guns (Ada Aharoni)
· Peace Rainbow in Haifa Skies
· The Ban-War Campaign And Petition
· Important Events and Peace Conferences
· Poem: Bridge of Peace (Ada Aharoni)
· PAVE PEACE Collaborating NGO's and
Organizations
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
Paul Smoker:
In Memorium
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:
THE CULTURE OF PEACE
By Ada Aharoni
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 CONGRESS ON
CONFLICT RESOLUTION THROUGH CULTURE AND LITERATURE
June 28 - 30, 1999
International Convention Center
Haifa, Israel
For details, see
PAVE PEACE Homepage at
http://tx.technion.ac.il/~ada/home.html
Ada Aharoni:
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.
PEACE RAINBOW IN HAIFA SKIES
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 in
June 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 BAN-WAR CAMPAIGN AND
PETITION
If you want to sign and circulate the
Petition - please see
http://tx.technion.ac.il/~ada/ban-war.html
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."
TWO NEW BOOKS BY ADA AHARONI
PEACE FLOWER: A SPACE
ADVENTURE
by 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 LIFE
by 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
IMPORTANT EVENTS AND PEACE
CONFERENCES
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.
PAVE PEACE GLOBAL BRANCHES
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://tx.technion.ac.il/~ada/home.html.
Haifa Israel IFLAC PAVE PEACE:
Ada Aharoni - International President - Email: adah@matav.net.il
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
PAVE PEACE COLLABORATING
NGO's AND ORGANIZATIONS
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:
Ada, thank you for the
invitation to be mentioned as collaborator with HORIZON, and PAVE. The
title of our company is "Peacemaking Associates", founded in 1974,
which provides training and consulting on the topic of peace in families,
classrooms, communities, and business. We also have a small resource library
called the Milwaukee Peace Education Resource Center. It houses a peace related
curriculum for pre-school through adult ed, and is open by appointment. I also
do a lot of writing, and some of my work is published through "Peace Talks
Publications".
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.
With warm PAVE PEACE wishes,
Ada
We also invite you to view and
sign our Guestbook dedicated to the PAVE PEACE
Project.
Previous Issue (2)
Next Issue (4)
If you want to be notified of the next issue of HORIZON
please send a message
To: solhanse@online.no
Subject: <Pave Peace>
subscribe HORIZON <your email here>