Introducing Peace Museums About the Book This volume examines peace museums, a small and important (but often overlooked) series of museums whose numbers have multiplied world-wide in recent decades. They relate stories and display artifacts―banners, diaries, and posters for example about such themes as: art and peace, antiwar histories, protest, peacekeeping and social justice and promote cultures of peace. This book introduces their different approaches from Japan, which has the largest number of sites, to Bradford, UK and Guernica, Spain....
read moreThe We or Me Society By Siegrid Raible “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a More Perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, Provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” The Preamble to the United States Constitution In June 2015, America began its quadrennial quest to elect a president. This being the second week in February 2016, we...
read moreFJK Dance is proud to present “A Fusion of Culture and Dance.” A MESSAGE OF PEACE. Sponsored by the Consulate General of Lebanon in New York City, Pasos Peace Museum and the Arabic Studies Center at Hunter College, this program is an opportunity to communicate peace, diversity, tolerance, and harmony, to educate and share the endless possibilities in finding connections within our differences. At Hunter College, through a combination of a dance workshop, lecture demonstration and a performance, we aim to celebrate the Middle...
read moreML King Day 2016 By Siegrid Raible Today, January 18, 2016, we celebrate the life of an individual who campaigned for civil rights, world peace and social and economic justice – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1983 the United States Congress passed a bill signed by Ronald Reagan which designated the third Monday of January as a new federal holiday celebrating the life of a great reformer. How different is our twenty-first century from his era? The challenges we face – the continued enlargement of civil rights including the immigrant as well...
read moreThe Frayed Social Compact By Siegrid Raible What is a social compact? The New York Times’ front-page photo of September 3rd begs us to come up with a definition of what it means to enter into a compact with our fellow travelers. Captured in that particular frame are three innocent sleeping children who appear to be at most three or four years old; the caption: “A Syrian family slept Wednesday under Budapest’s Keleti train station, which remained closed to thousands of migrants. Page 14.” (The picture alone tells a far better story than the...
read moreClimate Change, Rising Sea Levels and A Tale of Two Islands By Siegrid Raible One of the consequences of climate change and global warming is the worldwide rise in sea levels and the effect these rising sea waters are having on island and coastal populations. To put a human face on the problem of rising sea levels I’d like to compare two island populations. First we have the 68,000+ residents who call the Marshall Islands home. These coral atolls which make up this island nation are located near the equator in the Pacific Ocean and lie six...
read moreYou are cordially invited to attend: Culture of Peace Distinguished Speaker Series. SGI-USA is honored to welcome three of the world’s leading peace builders. We hope that you will join us! A Dialogue on the Future: of UNSCR 1325 –Women, Peace and Security moderated by Anwarul K. Chowdhury Dr. Asha Hans and Dr. Betty Reardon explore the Peoples’ Action Plans implementing 1325 on the ground with women’s daily and local realities October 27, 2015 7:30pm 7 East 15 Street, NYC, NY Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury will moderate a conversation...
read moreIn Memory VIII Umpqua Community College, Roseburg, Oregon, October 1, 2015 Another mass shooting at a university Nine dead, nine wounded Remember the innocent lives lost Lucero Alvarez, age 19 Treven Taylor Anspach, age 20 Rebecca Ann Carnes, age 18 Quinn Glen Cooper, age 18 Kim Saltmarsh Dietz, age 59 Lucas Eibel, age 18 Jason Dale Johnson, age 33 Lawrence Levine, age 67 Serena Dawn More, age 44 When will it end? Honor the lives lost and injured – put an end to...
read moreThrough the Looking Glass By Siegrid Raible During the summer of 2015 two prominent New York City museums hosted exhibitions dealing with the fantastic or magical. The Metropolitan Museum of Art hosted “China: Through the Looking Glass” which closed on September 7th. The Morgan exhibition “Alice 150 Years of Wonderland” will be on view until October 11th. The beautifully curated show at the Met mixed ancient Chinese art with various modern couture designers’ take on fashion from Chinese court costumes to Mao’s every-day utilitarianism to...
read moreThe Golden Rule By Siegrid Raible When was the last time you were reminded to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you?” It’s a phrase I haven’t heard since I was a young girl. I was born six years after the end of WW II to immigrants from Germany. I am as the young folk today like to say, so last century. I heard the phrase again when Pope Francis while visiting the United States invoked what is known as The Golden Rule during a speech to a joint meeting of Congress. In the speech the Pope spoke of a world confronted with a refugee...
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