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Student Peace Alliance National Conference
Friday October 19th – Sunday October
21st
Brandeis University
Waltham, MA
National Conference Report
The first ever Student Peace Alliance National Conference: Our Generation
Calls for Peace brought together 300 student and youth leaders from around the
country to build and define the national youth movement for a U.S. Department
of Peace. Over 80 colleges and high
schools were represented and youth from over 30 different states attended the
conference. The conference also welcomed
a large contingent of high school and middle school students!
The conference began Friday afternoon with a powerful introduction by Aaron
Voldman, the Executive Director of Student Peace Alliance (SPA). Voldman spoke passionately about the need for
a Department of Peace, specifically the needs of youth facing violence daily in
our country. He shared the commitment
and passion of SPA in working not only to create a Department of Peace, but to
begin meeting the needs of the people on a grassroots level through community
engagement. He explained the timely and
powerful role that youth can have at this very opportune moment as we work for
necessary changes in our society.
Voldman's introduction was followed by a moving keynote address by Arun
Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and co-founder of the M.K. Gandhi Institute
for Nonviolence. Mr. Gandhi spoke to the
need for a shift in personal thought processes, social interactions, and
approaches to lifestyle if young activists truly hope to engage in effective
community-based and political activism in the name of nonviolence. To start his address Mr. Gandhi had every
student try and open the closed fist of the student sitting next to them, only
to point out afterwards that not a single student asked for the hand to
open, instead they all attempted to use force.
The program continued with an overview of the Department of Peace by Aaron
Voldman, Dot Maver, Executive Director of The Peace Alliance, and Julia
Simon-Mishel, Managing Director of Student Peace Alliance. The overview explained the specific aspects
of a Department of Peace and what the cabinet level department would do on both
a domestic and international scale. This
overview was followed by another keynote address by Trish Jones, a professor at
Temple University and the former president of
the International Association of Conflict Management. Ms. Jones shared her
experience with educational systems that teach cooperation and peacebuilding
strategies in to young children. Such
systems have proven effective at reducing interpersonal violence from a young
age. Ms. Jones’ dynamic presentation also explained how a U.S. Department of
Peace will empower her work and extend its positive effects.
Ms. Jones' keynote was followed by breakout sessions on the types of
domestic violence issues that a Department of Peace would address. These breakouts gave the attendees a concrete
vision for the work that a Department of Peace would support. Attendees had the option of three sessions:
Gang and Youth Violence Prevention, From Idealism to Action: Creating True
Peace, PeaceJam-style, and Prisoner Rehabilitation. In the Gang Prevention breakout attendees
were moved by the presentations of Juan Pacheco and Kevin Sanchez,
representatives from Barrios Unidos, who spoke of their personal experiences in
gangs and the need to reach out to youth in our communities. Their presentation was followed by an
eye-opening speech by Rodney Dailey, a youth empowerment leader and an
experienced gang violence prevention advocate in the Boston area. PeaceJam, a non-profit that works to
develop leadership among youth, led a successful session on the role of
leadership programs preventing youth violence and building sustainable
communities. Finally, the crowded
Prisoner Rehabilitation breakout session, led by two Peace Alliance State
Coordinators Pam Steager and Barbara Thorngren, put students through an
exercise that helped them understand the affect of personal connection on
prisoners. The session highlighted
successful strategies for working with inmates in prisoner rehabilitation and
the programs working around the country that are in need of funding and more
volunteers.
An understanding of the Department of Peace would not have been complete
without details about the international portion of its responsibilities. After the domestic issues breakouts the
conference featured a three person panel of practicioners and experts in
nonviolent international conflict resolution and negotiation. The first panelist was Mr. David Hartsough,
cofounder of the Nonviolent Peaceforce, who spoke about his experiences
mediating conflicts between both state agencies and non-state actors. Following
Mr. Hartsough was Ms. Susan Hackley, the Managing Director of the Program on
Negotiation at Harvard
Law School,
who informed students of the opportunities available through negotiation and on
the work she has done. Finally, Mr.
Michael Shank, a journalist with a focus on terrorism, filled the room with
energy during his presentation on the connection of poverty, terrorism and the
need for a Department of Peace.
This long day of inspiration and education concluded with an interactive
session with the conference attendees on the current activities of their SPA
chapters including their past successes, what has been effective, and the
possible future national actions of the Student Peace Alliance. The conference came to a close that night
with a musical open mic night which included performances by many of the
attendees.
Saturday morning began with an informative and historically grounded keynote
address by Will Spencer, a leader in the original U.S. Peace Academy campaign
which led to the creation of the United States Institute of Peace. Mr. Spencer shared his experiences working with
President Carter and the Peace
Academy campaign and
referenced these experiences to explain the necessary framework for discussing
practical and sustainable nonviolent solutions to violence. Mr. Spencer was the ideal example for the
attendees of an activist who successfully messaged both concrete political
ideas and peacebuilding.
Aaron Voldman then presented on the history and structure of the SPA
campaign since its creation in March 2006.
The presentation provided conference attendees with an understanding of
the principles and goals that have allowed SPA to quickly expand and the ways
in which the national structure is available to support the grassroots. Student Peace Alliance organizers from around
the country then presented on their successes working with the movement,
speaking about events such as teach-ins, state-wide walks, and call-in
actions. Will Spencer, Voldman, and Dot
Maver then trained conference attendees on effective messaging when speaking about
the movement for a Department of Peace and answered challenging questions that
the students had from their time working with Student Peace Alliance.
The conference then shifted focus to campus and community organizing
training sessions. These sessions
provided established organizers in the movement, such as representatives from
the Student Peace Alliance State Organizer Network, to share organizing skills
and advice with the rest of the attendees.
These sessions included event planning, recruitment, media relations,
organizational development, fundraising and a special session for the high
school attendees. There were also two
extremely successful workshops on Nonviolent Communication Training led by
Matthew Blom, a trainer from BayNVC. The
attendees found these sessions helpful and informative and were excited that
the schedule allowed them to attend two different sessions. The sessions also allowed schools with
multiple organizers to have members of their organization trained in several
different areas.
The evening began with an eloquent speech by Julia Simon-Mishel on the
essential role of youth in the Department of Peace Movement and the need for
youth to support and initiate peacebuilding and violence prevention in their
communities. The attendees responded to
Ms. Simon-Mishel’s conviction that every person in the room had the opportunity
to effect positive change in this movement.
She then introduced an inspiring, heartening, and invigorating keynote
address by Nobel Peace Laureate Betty Williams. Ms. Williams is a perfect
example of how one person can launch an effective, large-scale nonviolent
movement and she showed attendees just how influential peace activism can be in
the world. Ms. Williams’ experience with
the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland highlighted the
deep structural and cultural issues behind many forms of violence and the inner
strength and perseverance that is needed to survive as an activist. Ms.
Williams’ shared her heart with the audience as she declared that “arms are for
hugging, not for fighting,” and proceeded to hug every attendee who approached
her after the speech.
Following Ms. Williams, Saturday evening concluded with performances by
musical guests Al Be Back and The Flobots, who provided the youth at the
conference with the opportunity to interact with one another, strengthening
bonds and friendships within the movement.
The artists gave incredible performances that were prime examples of
music which spoke to the true values of peace and justice.
Sunday morning opened with a report by Voldman and Simon-Mishel on the
status of the Global Alliance, the international movement for Departments and
Ministries of Peace. They shared their
experiences from the recent Global Alliance Summit in Kisarazu, Japan
where they worked with over 50 delegates from 24 different countries. Students were excited to learn that the
Department of Peace Campaign spanned the globe and that other youth were
working on similar campaigns to Student Peace Alliance in their own countries
through the Global Youth Alliance.
The next two sessions, Economics of Peace and Arts and Peace, gave the
attendees an opportunity to hear and discuss new and exciting aspects of
peacebuilding. Nadya Zhexembayeva,
Associate Director of the Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit at Case Western
University, explained why
a peaceful and nonviolent culture actually benefits businesses. The students were interested to hear about
successful companies that made peace and justice central aspects of their
missions. Next the attendees heard from
four inspiring panelists on the Arts and Peace panel. As peace becomes a mainstream issue it was
important to incorporate the ways in which peace can be communicated and built
through the arts. The panel was
moderated by Jojo Brim, an Executive Producer at Atlantic Records and a partner
in the new Eastwind Entertainment.
The first to speak was Mike
DiBenedetto, one of the producers of Hometown Baghdad, a documentary composed
of short clips featuring the lives and experiences of Iraqi youth. Mike spoke about the impact of the war on the
youth in Iraq
and the empowering nature of the arts as a means to give a voice to the
typically unheard. Next was James
Maynes, the president of the Real Hip Hop Network, who gave the youth insight
into the difficulties of promoting music that messages peace and not
violence. However the attendees were
glad to hear of the progress Mr. Maynes and his company had made in
highlighting the need for artists to be positive examples in their actions and
words to youth around the country.
Finally, Student Peace Alliance organizer Lauren Ferree, a student at Palos Verdes
High School, told the
attendees about her experiences working in the Gift of Peace play. The Gift of Peace play highlights the stories
of a diverse set of individuals’ experiences with violence, and the company
that performed it traveled around the country to highlight the need for a
Department of Peace. Mr. Brims summed up
the comments by the panelists with strong and motivating comments about the
importance of using the arts in peacebuilding. .
The Arts and Peace panel signaled
the end of programming for the conference, which then transitioned into a
discussion on organizational development and actions. Attendees broke into regions to discuss
regional actions with youth from nearby schools and states. Each group was led by a Student Peace
Alliance State Organizer. Following
these regional breakouts students gathered together to discuss and vote on the
next National Action of Student Peace Alliance.
An open forum was provided for students to raise ideas and concerns to
the group, which finally resulted in a list of ten different exciting and
innovative actions. After a first round
of voting the list was narrowed down to three, with the top two choices of a
national call in week and thanksgiving cards made of youth handprints. The students voted in a final round and chose
to organize a National Call-In Week as the follow up national action to the
conference. The National Call-In Week
has since been structured by a joint effort of the national coordinating
committee and grassroots organizers with a website that allows students to sign
up for a call-in time to call their Congressional Representative every 30
minutes for a week. The action is
planned for the week of December 3-7 and is shaping up to be a great success.
The Student Peace Alliance would
like to thank Seventh Generation for their generous financial donation, the
Brandeis Pluralism Alliance, the Brandeis
Ethics Center,
and the many individual donors that made this event possible.
Attendees left the conference
motivated to take the campaign back to their campuses and communities. There was a consensus among the students that
the conference had really solidified and legitimized Student Peace Alliance as
a national movement. The presence of
noted peacebuilders such as a Arun Gandhi and Betty Williams, and their strong
messaging for a Department of Peace, inspired students that they too could make
a difference. Since the end of the
conference Student Peace Alliance has seen incredible growth in its grassroots
movement, with the chapter count currently at 61.
The students and youth expressed a
strong desire for another national conference next year.
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