The Raising Peace Podcast
The Marrickville Declaration
We agree that the AUKUS agreement has grave significance for Australia because:
- it leads the nation away from peace by preparing it for war;
- it creates enemies, where Australia should have none;
- its exorbitant cost takes funds away from much-needed social programs;
- it has opened the way for an arms race in the Asian region;
- much of its detail that should be in the public domain remains secret and unavailable to the public;
- it endangers Australia and jeopardises our security through making us a nuclear target, positioning us as an enemy of countries with which we should be maintaining good working relations, and through the risk of nuclear contamination;
- it makes Australia complicit in the deployment of weapons of mass destruction, both nuclear and conventional, the use of which will be inevitably directed largely at civilian populations and infrastructure;
- it is an affront to Australia’s Pacific neighbours and our commitment to a nuclear free Pacific under the Treaty of Rarotonga (the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty);
- it critically detracts from the need for climate action, global warming being our real security threat, and
- it would impose high level nuclear waste dumping on the lands of First Nations Peoples.
We conclude that AUKUS is entirely contrary to the interests of the Australian nation and its people.
We therefore resolve to:
- oppose AUKUS through all non-violent means available;
- initiate a concerted campaign with the objective of stopping the whole AUKUS agreement;
- open this campaign to all individuals and organisations sharing this objective, and
- promote peace, instead of encouraging preparation for war.
We call on the Australian government to:
- provide to the public full details of the AUKUS agreement, as it stands, including its scope, ramifications, timing and cost, and
- initiate a thorough investigation into appropriate ways for ensuring national security, including through the development of a truly independent foreign and military policy.
Let us see what Peace can do.
A shared statement by peacebuilding organizations – International Day of Peace, 21 September 2021
Without peace, development will falter
Without justice, hope will wither
Without inclusion, we will all be left behind.
Click here to read the 2021 International Day of Peace Statement
Message from the Raising Peace First Nations presenters
Short video: The World Peace Flame
Costa Rica’s Strategy for Peace
Text of the Keynote address to the Raising Peace festival, by Armando Vargas Araya, Costa Rica’s Ambassador to Australia and New Zealand, International Day of Peace, 21 September 2021
Peace-Meal Peacebuilding
Peace-Meal initiatives shine light on the inspiring work of peacebuilders through food and stories
Exploring the contributions of Arts and Culture to Peace
Welcome to Peacebuilding and the Arts, a program of the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life at Brandeis.
Launch of 'Our Uluru Response' trust building project
As part of Our Uluru Response, Initiatives of Change Australia is hosting forums for truth telling and truth hearing around Australia. To find out how you can get involved, head to www.au.iofc.org
Women For Peace: Banners From Greenham Common by Charlotte Dew
In the late summer of 1981, a group of women walked from Cardiff for over a hundred miles carrying a hand-made banner proclaiming their protest against nuclear missiles. This march to the military base at Greenham Common led to the establishment of camps that, for nearly two decades, drew women from all over the world to make their voices heard in the name of peace.
Emerging from the Nuclear Shadow: Treasuring the Dignity of Life
A video from SGI Australia
Devoted to value creation through Peace, Culture and Education based on the life affirming Buddhist philosophy of Nichiren Daishonin.
Watch the U.S. – Australian alliance
webinar series
Mabo Oration 2021 – Professor Megan Davis, Balnaves Chair in Constitutional Law
Confronting History: Myall Creek Massacre
SBS On Demand – The Feed
Quakers Australia
Quakers Peace and Legislation Committee
Aims to monitor international and national legislation and government policies and actions regarding matters of particular interest to Friends.
Please click on image to be taken to the website
Purpose
The Quaker Peace & Legislation Committee aims to monitor international and national legislation and government policies and actions regarding matters of particular interest to Friends. The purpose is to keep Quakers informed of issues by circulating briefing sheets indicating basic details and possible action by Friends locally and beyond. The committee can also make representations to government or parliament on behalf of Friends, or propose such action to the Presiding Clerk, Standing Committee or Yearly Meeting. The committee may initiate particular peace projects, including in cooperation with Regional Meetings, to enhance the involvement of Friends in peace concerns.
Quakers became established in the UK in 1652 and adopted the “Peace Testimony” in 1661:
“We utterly deny all outward wars and strife, and fighting with outward weapons, for any end, or under any pretence whatever; this is our testimony to the whole world… The Spirit of Christ by which we are guided, is not changeable, so as once to command us from a thing as evil, and again as to move us unto it; and we certainly know, and to testify to the world, that the Spirit of Christ, which leads us unto all truth, will never move us to fight and war against any man with outward weapons, neither for the Kingdom of Christ, nor for the Kingdoms of this world… Therefore we cannot learn war any more.”
Public Statements and Letters of Concern
Public Statements and Letters of Concern by Quakers in Australia are at this link:
A Public Statement:
- is made on behalf of Quakers in Australia and signed by the Presiding Clerk
- is a formal position that Friends take on contemporary issues that reflect or intersect with our concerns
- is done in consultation with the AYM Secretary, who normally has received a draft statement from either a Yearly Meeting session, an AYM committee or a Regional Meeting
A Letter of Concern:
- is made on behalf of Quakers in Australia and signed by the Presiding Clerk
- is sent to government official/s to voice a concern that Australian Friends have regarding a public policy, government action (or inaction) or a matter of urgency that Friends believe needs to be addressed
Nuclear Submarines
Click for statement by Rev Dr Chris Walker
The New Defence Aliance
Click for Letter to the PM by Quakers Australia
Memories, Memorials and Museums for Peace
Independent and Peaceful Australia Network
IPAN PRESS RELEASE 22/7/2021
Annette Brownlie, Chairperson of IPAN: “These military exercises alienate Australia from our neighbours and friends in the Pacific region. We should be looking to work productively as part of the Pacific region to face climate change, combat COVID-19 and maintain peace, Talisman Sabre goes against all of these.
Dr Vince Scappatura, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Macquarie University: “The Talisman Sabre military exercises are depicted as a benign effort to improve defence readiness and ‘interoperability’ between the armed forces of the US, Australia and other regional partners. In fact, they send a clear signal that Australia is committed to integrating its armed forces into a US-led warfighting strategy to encircle China and preserve American primacy. The weapons systems and operational concepts being tested during the exercises are explicitly aimed at ‘penetrating and disintegrating’ China’s defence systems around its territories and near territories. These are not exercises to secure the defence of Australia but rather of America’s ability to project its military power wherever and whenever it desires across the Indo-Pacific and indeed the world.”
What is IVP and what does it do?
IVP philosophically, and historically, approaches peace from the perspective of a conscientious objection to war, and its concomitants – the industries promoting or supporting wars; ideologies that derive succour from instilling fear or loathing in others; the institutional barriers to understanding between people – such as racism or sexism; and the enshrining of privilege in one powerful caste condemning segments of society to misery or subservient or undignified existence.
Peace movement for us is the active bringing together of people from different parts of the world, different backgrounds and abilities to complete a common task for, and at the initiative of, a local community, and in circumstances that can be sustained by that community.
This gathering to undertake a defined task encapsulates our values and provides opportunities to learn collaboration across difference. It is a simple concept, not framed by a credo, or part of an ulterior programme.
The peace we adhere to is a constructive one, built by the group for the purpose of undertaking the task – it is constructed within the group itself (who have a priori no other common ground) and between the volunteers and the community in an act of solidarity.
For volunteers the experience of a camp may (but need not) be life changing; their motivation may be entirely personal; they may be most affected by the place or the project; or the people they meet; It might be their first (and last) encounter with our movement, but we believe that the understanding – of self, of others – applied further in life will add to a more peaceful world, without relying on one or another line of conviction. It comes down to ‘acts not words’.
Volunteering with IVP
Our philosophy
Volunteering is a great way to broaden your outlook on the world, whether you do it in your home country or overseas. There are lots of ways in which you can give your time, energy and skills. We make volunteering easy.
What makes volunteering through IVP special?
At IVP we see volunteering as a way of achieving social change.
Bringing people from around the world together to do something practical and learn about each other is a great start. As an IVP volunteer you should be ready to ask and be asked; to question and explain your values and those of your society; to share information and to teach and be taught.
Our activities encourage understanding and promote discussion and an appreciation of the problems that different communities face in their struggles for social justice and environmental harmony.
Why do we have peace in our name?
Conflict, struggle, injustice, discrimination, isolation, environmental degradation and destruction threaten peace between peoples. Responding to these problems is vital to our shared global future.
International Volunteers for Peace believes that it is the everyday actions of ordinary people of different backgrounds living and working together that make peace possible.
International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR)
Mission
Founded in response to the horrors of war in Europe, the IFOR has taken a consistent stance against war and its preparation throughout its history.
Perceiving the need for healing and reconciliation in the world, the founders of IFOR formulated a vision of the human community based upon the belief that love in action has the power to transform unjust political, social, and economic structures.
Today IFOR has branches, groups, and affiliates in over 40 countries on all continents. Although organized on a national and regional basis, IFOR seeks to overcome the division of nation-states which are often the source of conflict and violence. Its membership includes adherents of all the major spiritual traditions as well as those who have other spiritual sources for their commitment to nonviolence.
The Power of Nonviolence
IFOR members share a vision of a world where conflicts are resolved through nonviolent means, where systems that foster fear and hatred are dismantled, and where justice is sought as a basis for peace. While coming from diverse religious backgrounds, we have a common belief in the transforming power of nonviolence and reconciliation.
