david The years I visited and worked in the Soviet Union and later Russia gave me a useful view of the laws of historical change. I watched from within as an empire crashed. The crash of the Soviet empire, foreseen a decade before by Johan Galtung, was first an economic crash, and then secondarily to that, … Read more
We know all too well the failures of the United Nations. At this moment of history, its failures include the wars and potential wars everywhere in the world, including the potential of a catastrophic nuclear war. As we have stated previously, as long as the United Nations is run by the Member States, it will not … Read more
History does not progress at an even rate, but by long periods of slow development punctuated by sudden revolutionary changes, as described by dialectical philosophy. The news in CPNN this month illustrate the slowness of the development of the culture of peace. The development of the peace process which led to this month’s signing of a peace … Read more
We are seeing progress towards a culture of peace on several fronts: In this month’s CPNN bulletin, we feature progress in peace education around the world. In the bulletin of May, it was progress in the practice of nonviolence. As described by the Brazilian pedagogue, Paulo Freire, there is a development of consciousness in the … Read more
Now that there is a ceasefire in Colombia, as described in this month’s bulletin of CPNN, the question arises whether a culture of peace can be maintained afterwards. When I was working on the culture of peace in UNESCO, I experienced a similar situation in two countries, El Salvador and Mozambique. Both of them emerged … Read more
As it is structured now, the United Nations is controlled by national governments, with their military institutions and military budgets. Over the course of history, national governments have come to monopolize war. As a result, if we are to make the transition from a culture of war to a culture of peace, we need a … Read more
The various initiatives at the level of the city described in this month’s CPNN bulletin are devoted to these four different goals: peace, nonviolence, compassion and culture of peace. Certainly the initiatives are complementary and they have the potential to join in a unified struggle to change the world. But their unity remains to be achieved. What … Read more
Africa is featured again this month on the CPNN bulletin, as it has been numerous times before, because of its leadership for a culture of peace. The recent articles illustrate what I wrote recently in the article Africa’s Contribution to the Global Movement for a Culture of Peace for the African journal, The Thinker. Culture of Peace Consciousness “Africa … Read more
This month’s bulletin gives us an idea of where progress is being made (or not being made) towards a culture of peace if we compare it to the CPNN bulletins of 2015. On the good side Progress is being made at a grass-roots level by social movements for sustainable development and food sovereignty, often led or inspired … Read more
Kumi Naidoo of Greenpeace and the indigenous elders who came to Paris for the Climate Negotiations are correct in their assessment. As the elders say, “We have misplaced our trust in governmental leaders and the leaders of industry. They failed us by trying to maintain their profits, economies and their power over the people . . . … Read more