http://www.dopcampaign.org/ [Excerpts from website]

Participate in an historic citizen lobbying effort to create a U.S. Department of Peace (HR 1673), sponsored in the House of Representatives by Congressman Dennis Kucinich. This bill establishes nonviolence as an organizing principle of American society, providing the U.S. President with an array of peace-building policy options for domestic and international use. [snip]

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE HISTORIC DEPARTMENT OF PEACE LEGISLATION (HR1673)

- Hold peace as an organizing principle in our society;
- Endeavor to promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights;
- Strengthen non-military means of peacemaking; [snip]

http://www.dopcampaign.org/read_bill.htm 

TITLE I--ESTABLISHMENT OF DEPARTMENT OF PEACE SEC. 101. ESTABLISHMENT OF DEPARTMENT OF PEACE.

(a) ESTABLISHMENT- There is hereby established a Department of Peace (hereinafter in this Act referred to as the `Department'), which shall-- (1) be a cabinet-level department in the executive branch of the Federal Government; and (2) be dedicated to peacemaking and the study of conditions that are conducive to both domestic and international peace.

(b) SECRETARY OF PEACE- There shall be at the head of the Department a Secretary of Peace (hereinafter in this Act referred to as the `Secretary'), who shall be appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate.

(c) MISSION- The Department shall-- (1) hold peace as an organizing principle, coordinating service to every level of American society; (2) endeavor to promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights; (3) strengthen nonmilitary means of peacemaking; (4) promote the development of human potential; (5) work to create peace, prevent violence, divert from armed conflict, use field-tested programs, and develop new structures in nonviolent dispute resolution; (6) take a proactive, strategic approach in the development of policies that promote national and international conflict prevention, nonviolent intervention, mediation, peaceful resolution of conflict, and structured mediation of conflict; (7) address matters both domestic and international in scope; and (8) encourage the development of initiatives from local communities, religious groups, and nongovernmental organizations.

SEC. 102. RESPONSIBILITIES AND POWERS.

(a) IN GENERAL- The Secretary shall-- (1) work proactively and interactively with each branch of the Federal Government on all policy matters relating to conditions of peace; (2) serve as a delegate to the National Security Council; (3) call on the intellectual and spiritual wealth of the people of the United States and seek participation in its administration and in its development of policy from private, public, and nongovernmental organizations; and (4) monitor and analyze causative principles of conflict and make policy recommendations for developing and maintaining peaceful conduct.

[Click http://www.dopcampaign.org/read_bill.htm to read entire bill.]

http://www.positivenews.org.uk/ 

We must wage peace with sophistication and commitment just as we now wage war.
~ Marianne Williamson, US Department of Peace Initiative.

A Bill has been presented to Parliament to pave the way for the formation of a Ministry for Peace.

Introducing his Bill, Labour MP John McDonnell called for a new Government Department whose sole purpose would be to focus the resources of government on the promotion of peace and the eventual abolition of war.

The Bill was initiated by Diana Basterfield, who chairs the steering committee promoting the Ministry of Peace. "We came into being to be a voice for the millions who marched for peace through the United Kingdom in 2003", she explains. "The British people in all their diversity clearly showed that we have evolved to a point where violence is morally unacceptable as a tool of foreign policy."

A Minister for Peace would be a voice at the Cabinet table to speak up for non-violent conflict resolution and alternatives to war.

John McDonnell told the House, "The Ministry would provide within Government an expertise in non-violent conflict resolution, through which Government could be advised on how policies can be developed across government to reduce the potential for conflict. Secondly, it would provide and co-ordinate Government resources to foster greater understanding in Britain and the world of how war can be avoided and peace achieved".

In the last thousand years, England has been at war for 56 years out of every hundred.

"Violence of all kind permeates our society - in the home, in the playground, on housing estates, at football matches, between communities, between generations", says Diana Basterfield.

"What is needed is a cultural shift - from infants to foreign policy, the culture must be permeated with the tools of non-violence and conflict resolution."

A Ministry of Peace would support and promote a renaissance of research in this country into the causes and impacts of conflict, monitoring potential areas of conflict and advancing practical techniques to avoid outbreaks of violence before they arise. That includes identifying the potential for conflict over the scarcity or maldistribution of natural resources, the impact of human rights abuses as a cause of conflict, the potential for reducing and eliminating the arms trade and demonstrating the potential of a variety of techniques for conflict resolution and effective community peace-building activities.

The idea for a Ministry of Peace originated in the United States where Dennis Kucinich introduced a Bill for a Department of Peace in Congress. Congressman Kucinich is seeking the Democratic nomination for President advocating the elimination of all America's weapons of mass destruction the American Initiative for a Department for Peace has been working closely with its British counterpart.

The idea has also been taken up by the General Assembly of the European Women's Lobby which recently called on the European Union Commission to create the post of Commissioner for Peace.

The British steering committee also want to see a Commission for Peace established in the UK outside Parliament which would bring together all the elements of civil society engaged in building a culture of peace who could advise the government.

They would like to hear from anyone wishing to get involved and urge people to encourage their MP's to support the call for Ministry for Peace.

Contact: John McDonnell MP, House of Commons, London SW1.
Tel: 07870 852639

Email: mail@ministryforpeace.org.uk 
Website: www.ministryforpeace.org.uk 

Quote:

At first people refuse to believe that A strange new thing can be done. Then they begin to hope it can be done. Then they see it can be done. Then it is done and the world wonders why it was not done Centuries ago. ~ Frances Hodgson Burnett

http://www.pepeace.org/tmpl/gandhi.html 

The Gandhi Peace Award is a certificate, calligraphed with an inscription summing up the work for peace of a distinguished citizen of the world. It is a medallion featuring the profile of Mohandas K. Gandhi, with his words "Love Ever Suffers/Never Revenges Itself" cast in bronze. It is a nameplate on a weighty carved statue of the Mahatma. It is a ceremony held approximately once a year, at which a distinguished peacemaker is recognized and given the opportunity to present a message of challenge and hope. It is to be awarded "for contributions made in the promotion of international peace and good will."

Like all of the perennial activities of Promoting Enduring Peace (PEP), the Gandhi Peace Award was conceived by the organization's founder, Dr. Jerome Davis, in the late nineteen forties. At the Board of Director's meeting on March 13, 1959, he formally proposed that a yearly award be given to persons outstanding in their work for world peace.

http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2003/09/65480.php 

2003 Ghandi Peace Award goes to Dennis Kucinich -

Acceptance Speech by Dennis Kucinich
Sunday September 07, 2003 at 02:32 PM

Dennis is the exception to corporate owned politicians, including all other Democratic candidates His campaign is funded by personal donations from the common folk. Get the word out! Dennis Kucinich for President

There are some who think that peace is somehow a static activity. Far from it. It's a dynamic expression of the possibilities of human aspiration. So we are called upon at this moment, to be witnesses for peace, for truth, for light, for love, for compassion, and for the potential of humanity to evolve from a condition where some believe that war is inevitable, to a condition where our knowledge that peace is inevitable becomes the defining paradigm of a new century and a new world.

Dennis Kucinich's Acceptance Speech for the 2003 Gandhi Peace Award:

"I'm glad to have this moment to be with you and to express first of all my gratitude for being the recipient of the 2003 Gandhi Peace Award. It's very humbling to have my name associated with the name of a true visionary, of someone whose life was a gift to the world, and whose life many of us in public careers try to emulate. And I want to thank all of you who work to keep this fine organization going. When I first arrived, I had the opportunity to speak to many of you about your own commitments, about your work. And it's especially humbling to have the opportunity to share this evening with you, because this is your life's work too. Your life's work is dedicated to the active work on behalf of peace. There are some who think that peace is somehow a static activity. Far from it. It's a dynamic expression of the possibilities of human aspiration."

[Click link above to read Dennis' entire acceptance speech.]

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