NOV 2001

Why Peace is Power
by William Copeland and Mary Libby

Peace is constructive, not reactive

We have decided to spend our time and energies searching for solutions, building networks, providing for others’ needs, and alleviating suffering.

Peace is always appropriate

Peace moves, but it is not a movement. The call for peace is not a reaction to any specific event. Although this call for peace was born from a specific national crisis, it is applicable to any and all events. Peace is a commitment to a life style not a campaign for or against a "social problem."

Peace searches; it does not convert

Peace is inclusive of all viewpoints that want to be included, building from common ground & affirming each person’s deep-seated desire for happiness and recognition. We move in peace to invite all community members to come as we are, deconstruct and lay down our pretenses and appearances. We invite all people to share the issues, concerns, and goals that are most important to us. We search for solutions in others’ comments.

Peace believes

Peace is the choice to take a step beyond today’s events. Admittedly, these are hectic, disordered days. Peace goes past what has already occurred, beyond the status quo. Peace fulfills and commits to the visions and actions that will realize our deepest desires. Peace looks past what is going on now to visualize what can and will occur. The seeds of a happier day are here right now amidst conflict, violence, and decay.

Peace is liberating

The deeper one moves into peace, the less one’s peace depends on external circumstances. Peace moves to create circumstances in which more people feel freedom, liberation, and happiness. Peace recognizes that freedom without responsibility is a license for foolishness, and a life without freedom is a mere compromise. Peace doesn’t trample anyone’s liberties and doesn’t call upon others to trade theirs away.

Peace is power

Develop the power to defy convention and trends. Nurture your relationships with others to build lasting communities. Look past six-month and yearly planning to the only secure basis that can remain for millennia. Peace is connecting to other people and to the earth. We all have pain and traumas. Peace is a commitment to joining the healing process. Peace brings people together in more levels than we can currently understand.

Peace strengthens individuals families groups and communities.

Therefore we do not claim to be an anti-war movement.

We do not fight the U.S. government or any other government.

We create a vision and then create our future.

Peace is not passive.

Peace is proactive, creative.

We move with peace towards peace

to bring fundamental change

to individuals and society.

Peace is Power.


We gather with the intent

l To call for peace in all our dealings with others regardless of ethnicity, religion, race, gender, sexuality or citizenship.

l To call for our leaders and community to reconsider our policies of aggression, retaliation, violence, and vengeance.

l To recognize the fears, sufferings, and pains of Americans at the hands of Americans, non-Americans, and unknown agents. We also recognize the fears, sufferings and pains of all human beings and of the earth at the hands of Americans, non-Americans, and unknown agents.

l To recognize that violence is harmful to all involved. It is not the only way to express grief and anger. The creation of more suffering is the least respectful way to honor those who have passed.

l To publicly acknowledge the fact that peace is eternal and infinitely powerful. The power of peace, love, and faith is more effective and more secure than any effects that violence can create.

All are welcome to participate
If you have any questions email us at
peaceispower@hotmail.com
or call Mary Libby at 930-9522


Peace

I am a reciprocal for love and for peace
For knowledge and for experience
I will voice my anguish in an attempt to create my peace.

Hate

It’s the same hate that made the snake give the grape to
Adam and Eve when they were out on a date
It’s the hate behind a rape
It’s the fate of KKK
It’s the way of CIA
It’s the bashing of a gay;
when the cover of the night meets the passion of the day

And the same hate incarcerates,
locks a kid away
It’s what makes a ho a ho
and what earns a pimp his pay
It’s what fills up all the lakes
with pollution that we make
It’s what makes a girl ashamed
of the fullness of her waist
Or the darkness of her face,
Or the fact her mother can’t speak
the language of the state
It’s what makes a holiday,
When we used to celebrate a holy day
In sacred space,
Now we boldly desecrate
What the Most High did create,
As we gamble with our fate
Did you see the Golden State
Pass a law to designate
In attempts to make it "safe"
Now the future’s caged in place.
Nowadays it’s kinda strange
They say our youth are all in gangs
And we destroy a block a day
As our sons get locked away
But yet we wait for clocks to say
That it’s too late to plot the way.


And the same hate blinds a face
Binds and separates
When we’d rather look to race,
Than our own humanity
Use this hate to motivate;
We can make a plan a day
Instead of screaming "keep it real!"
Really keep your family.
If a man abandons hate,
Then his situation ain’t a mountainful
it’s nothing more
Than a ripple on a lake—
And the power he relates
Is like a nipple to a babe
Whether cripple or a slave
Presidential or a knave
Incremental in the change
When you rearrange
your brain
Mental frame
Win the game
Lend your name
It remains
simply plain
When to
change
End the hate.

Peace

When I scream, I love
When I stumble, I think
When I re-create the peace I once had,
I think of the anguish —
The confusion that followed the anguish that followed confused me,
Blocked me
Because I could not scream

I scream
I love
I create my peace
I create peace.

Peace is Power


Photos by Linda Wan

Area residents have been bravely speaking out against Bush’s horrible response to the horrible events of Sepember 11. They’ve reached out to media, representatives, and the public giving voice to those of us who are uneasy about the war in Afghanistan. Join these friends and neighbors and be a witness for a more peaceful and just world.

"We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. Every person of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his or her convictions, but we all must protest." Martin Luther King, from "Beyond Vietnam", 4/4/67

prev page upper left: Ann Arbor Federal Bldg, 10/10. Participants in weekly "Call to Peace" march and gathering listen during community speak-out. March begins every Wednesday at 5:15pm at Trotter House, Washtenaw and Hill. Mary Libby 930-9522 or peaceispower@hotmail.com for info.

prev page center right: Ann Arbor Federal Bldg, 10/17. This week’s "Call for Peace" was a special invitation to the young at heart and young in age. Bundled up in a peace flag, brand new friends Ami Fall (left) and Maura Farrell beautifully share their understanding of peace and cooperation.

lower left: Ann Arbor Federal Bldg, 10/9. A separate weekly vigil concludes with a "Song for Peace". Tuesdays at noon. Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, 663-1870 for info.

above: UM Diag, 10/27. A group of about 50 braved the cold to gather with Ann Arbor Families for Peace, for speeches about the recent history of Afghanistan and concerns about the worsening humanitarian crisis there, and for a march through downtown carrying signs and chanting peace slogans. a2families4peace@excite.com for info.


Another active group, perhaps more "militant" in spirit--The Coalition to Stop Scapegoating and the War--can be reached at stopthewar@umich.edu.

 

NOV 2001

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