Around the world people are taking to the streets in nonviolent demonstrations to demand justice and democracy.
In some cases (Hong Kong, Russia and Algeria), the mass demonstrations have already led to some changes, while those in Kazakhstan, the Czech Republic, Sudan and Brazil have not yet achieved the desired results.
In a time of bad news and confusion, we seek those who can lead us towards a future of hope and stability. Here are some good examples of leadership that we have cited recently in CPNN.
A GLOBAL YOUTH MOVEMENT ?
Millions of students went on strike from school on March 15 to pressure their governments to address seriously the problem of global warming. Photos from that day on CPNN show their demonstrations around the world: in the UK, Australia, Philippines, Sweden, Italy, Uganda, Belgium, USA, Canada, Portugal, Ukraine, Spain, Chile, Nigeria, France and Bangladesh.
The commercial media almost without exception continues to support the United States and dozens of its allies in its attacks on Venezuela. Hardly a culture of peace!
In order to present an alternative to this “war propaganda,” we review here a series of articles that give the other side.
We begin with critiques of the commercial media coverage.
Several years ago we updated the rules for CPNN articles to say that “unlike in the commercial media they do not have to be ‘breaking news.’ Instead, they may reflect the ‘slow news’ of processes that develop slowly over long periods of time.” The reasoning for this was expressed in an article about CPNN in the Journal of Peace Education: “The commercial media emphasize ‘fast news’ or what they often call ‘breaking news.’ This tends to ignore or mask the fundamental processes that make for deep historical change. The processes of historical change accumulate slowly over time. Only rarely do the contradictions arrive at a point of rupture or revolution, at which time events may take place very rapidly.”
Meetings and demonstrations for peace have been taking place throughout Western Europe in the last month or so. Here are those with articles in CPNN:
It was an important step forward that the recipients of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize were recognized for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict. The history of the culture of war tells us that: “Rape and other violence against women has been fundamental to the culture of war over the course of history.”
Using the same methodology this year as last, we see even more events than ever around the world for the International Day of Peace. The number of events we could find was almost doubled in North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America, from 126 to 233, from 96 to 177, from 67 to 158, and from 58 to 95 respectively.
This month we look at progress toward peace (or lack of progress) in five major wars and military confrontations: Philippines; Colombia; Ethiopia and Eritrea/North and South Korea; and Israel/Palestine.