Department of Peace Bill
Last Modified: Saturday, February 14, 2009 at 12:10 a.m.
The legislation to establish a U.S. Department of Peace was reintroduced into the U.S. House of Representatives Feb. 3 by Congressman Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and 62 congressional co-sponsors. Two additional co-sponsors signed on after introduction, bringing the total number of supporters to 65. It was assigned the same bill number as in the previous Congress: HR 808.
This bill has some small-but-exciting changes. For example, it calls for $10 billion to fund the department, with 85 percent of funds designated to reduce and prevent violence here in the United States.
This landmark measure will increase our ability to strategically develop and apply practical, cost-effective and proven means of resolving conflict before it erupts into violence.
Domestically, the Department of Peace will develop policies and allocate resources to support local communities in finding, funding and replicating effective violence-reduction and prevention programs.
Internationally, it will expand our focus on addressing the root causes of violence, providing the president and Congress with expert resources for nonviolently defusing international crises and conflicts.
The Web site to read the entire bill and learn more about this is: www.thepeacealliance.org and the Web site of the local group who is helping to promote and support this bill is: www.polkpeace.org.
You can meet up with the local group today for a "Love Peace" bigil in front of Southgate Shopping Center on South Florida Avenue in Lakeland from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
PEGGY CAMPBELL
Lakeland
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A Department of Peace will work to:
http://www.thepeacealliance.org/content/view/76/68/
===-- Provide much-needed assistance to efforts by city, county, and state governments in coordinating existing programs; as well as develop new programs based on best practices nationally
-- Teach violence prevention and mediation to America's school children
-- Effectively treat and dismantle gang psychology
-- Rehabilitate the prison population
-- Build peace-making efforts among conflicting cultures both here and abroad
-- Support our military with complementary approaches to peace-building.
-- Create and administer a U.S. Peace Academy, acting as a sister organization to the U.S. Military Academy.
-- And more…
Published: Friday, February 6, 2009
Here is why we need a Department of Peace
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090206/OPINION02/302069953
Looking at current events in our nation and around the world, it is apparent that this is a very serious moment in history.
From school shootings and bullying to car bombings, from domestic violence and rape to gang violence, from terrorist attacks to more that 20 major armed conflicts currently raging around the globe, there is clearly a need for significant improvement in our ability to live and work and thrive together.
The time has come to implement a national, global peace-building strategy.
A recent World Health Organization report estimated the cost of interpersonal violence in the U.S. at $300 billion a year. This is excluding war-related costs.
In the U.S., youth homicide rates are more than 10 times that of other leading industrialized nations, on par with the rates in developing countries and those experiencing rapid social and economic changes.
The U.S. Department of Peace would give those with peace-building expertise an institutional platform and provide them the necessary resources to maximize their effectiveness.
The Department of Peace legislation calls for a secretary of peace, who would advise the president on peace-building needs, strategies and tactics for use domestically and internationally.
Funding would be used to create and expand proven domestic peace-building programs in our communities, such as mediation training for police, firefighters and other emergency service personnel; alternative dispute resolution techniques, peer mediation and nonviolent communication programs in public programs in public schools, etc.
The goal would be to provide ways to meaningfully prevent conditions of conflict before violence erupts.
We can teach our children positive socialization skills and tendencies - "pre-emptive education" - in how to both manage and prevent conflict. Imagine a K-12 core school curriculum integrating peer mediation and conflict prevention education.
I believe this would help with our violence problem if taught early enough. It is the best chance we have to help overcome the problem.
The Unitarian Universalist Church in Nashua is holding a workshop on nonviolent communication on March 28 from 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
The workshop offers support for parenting and teaching from your heart and a nonviolent approach to promoting peace and social change.
Come and join in the workshop. For more information e-mail me at janie andolsun@verizon.net or call 880-8916.
Janie Andolsun
Hudson
http://maplight.org/map/us/bill/80289/default
H.R.808 - Department of Peace Act Sponsor: Dennis Kucinich / 111th Congress
Latest Comments
- Title
- 111th Congress - To establish a Department of Peace.
- Summary
- To establish a Department of Peace. (by CRS)
- Status
- The bill has been introduced.
Why Not? by Karen Chung, Feb 12, 2009 (8:06am)
H.R. 808 would create a Department of Peace and Nonviolence to promote non-violent conflict resolution at an international and domestic level. The Department of Peace would address international violence and nuclear proliferation and promote the de-escalation of armed conflict. It would also develop policies to address domestic issues such as gang violence, domestic abuse, hate violence, violence toward animals, and gun-related violence. The bill would establish a Peace Academy (à la military service academies) and create programs to teach conflict resolution and mediation to children, promote non-violence in the media, and rehabilitate the prison population.
The creation of a Department of Peace seems logical and almost obvious. Benjamin Rush, a Founding Father, proposed a Peace Department in 1792. After all, if we have a Defense Department (formerly the Department of War,) why not a Peace Department? Should we not be putting our efforts into maintaining and promoting peace? It is becoming increasingly apparent that we cannot come by peace inactively. We must work to secure it. ... The adoption of non-violent conflict resolution as official national policy ... H.R. 808 (111th) ... the ideal as ... possible, we will ... achieve it.
- Bill status:
- Referred to House Education and Labor
- Introduced:
- 2/03/2009
- Sponsor:
- Dennis Kucinich
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