Larchmonter Promotes U.S. Department of Peace
by Todd Stone

(June 15, 2006) A 1998 graduate of Mamaroneck High School, Marianne Perez, is now a part of a national effort to create a U.S. Department of Peace. According to The Peace Alliance, a grass-roots organization that is lobbying for this development, the U.S. Department of Peace would promote nonmilitary conflict resolutions as well as domestic violence prevention.

Recently, The Peace Alliance found money in its budget to hire Ms. Perez because they were intrigued by ideas she put forth in her recent Masters thesis, “Moving Mainstream Media toward a Culture of Peace.” In the thesis, she wrote about how the media might interact with a U.S. Department of Peace.

The thesis was part of a one-year Masters program at the European University Center for Peace Studies (EPU), a small graduate school in rural Austria. There, in a thirteenth century castle, a diverse group of students study conflict management at the local, national and international level.

“I first heard of this peace approach after taking a conflict resolution class [at Georgetown University],” said Ms. Perez, “and the principles made sense to me.”

The Peace Alliance was founded by internationally known author and lecturer, Marianne Williamson, and has received support from disparate public figures such as retired news anchor Walter Cronkite and film actor Joaquin Phoenix. Its leading political figure is the Democratic congressman from Ohio, Dennis Kucinich, who introduced the bill to Congress in September of 2005.

“Most people don’t know where to go to get some training and some guidance in how to alleviate anger, rage, and hatred,” said Kevin Fagan, who first got involved with the Peace Alliance in 2003 and is now an advocate/representative for the Department of Peace in Brooklyn. “A federally funded Department of Peace would be the clearinghouse for this kind of information, easily locatable and accessible for anyone who needs it. When there is a problem this big in our society there needs to be an organized plan of action to solve it. Right now there is no plan; the Department of Peace is at least a start.”

In addition to providing resources for conflict-resolution, the ideology behind the initiative for the U.S Department of Peace contains some pretty radical departures from current practices in our justice system. According to a concept called “restorative justice,” Ms. Perez explained that if someone steals from another person, you don’t just put the person in jail. You try to change the behavior by involving the thief in the community so both the thief and the community become part of the solution. She said this has proven to be more effective and less costly than incarceration.

As of now, there are two Senate co-sponsors of the bill and 64 Congressional co-sponsors. However, there are active Peace Alliance groups in every state. New York has Peace Alliance team leaders in 21 of its 29 congressional districts.

Part of the The Peace Alliance initiative includes identifying some towns as role models for others. Now that Ms. Perez will be working for the group, she would like to present her hometown of Larchmont as a model, citing the Interfaith Council and the Local Summit as examples of positive and peaceful community groups.

Ms. Perez has spoken with some community leaders, including Rabbi Jeffrey Sirkman of Larchmont Temple. “Certainly the idea of a U.S. Department of Peace sounds compelling,” said Rabbi Sirkman. “Marianne Perez, attuned to the nature of negotiation between peoples and mindful of the many unceasing areas of conflict that plague our world, is a keen and committed ‘pursuer of peace.’"

Ms. Perez would like to organize a group of Larchmont residents to represent the town for The Peace Alliance. (Anyone interested in this can contact her via the website: www.thepeacealliance.org

One event that Larchmonters could easily participate in is the New Yorkers for a Department of Peace (NY-DOP) upcoming September 11 event. To honor the memory of those killed on September 11, 2001 and those who have suffered from violence around the world, NY-DOP is inviting people to view the movie Gandhi. They have chosen that movie because this year, September 11 also coincides with the 100 year anniversary of Mohandas K. Gandhi’s decision to use non-violence in his pursuit of justice. Ms. Perez is also participating in the production of a short film to be shown on that day featuring Arun Gandhi, Gandhi’s grandson, which will dispel common myths about non-violence. More information is available at: www.nyc-dop.com/gandhi.

“What’s encouraging is that there’s a lot of momentum,” said Ms. Perez. “Since January 2005, people in every state are working [on the campaign] and I think 2006 will be a very active and dynamic year for The Peace Alliance.”