Living Gandhi Today 2010

Living Gandhi Today
A publication of
The 18th Annual
Suggested Donation
$5.00
GANDHI PEACE FESTIVAL

Hamilton, ON, Canada
Ahimsa
Graphics by Parker David Martin (parkerdavidmartin.tumblr.com)
Towards a culture of nonviolence, peace and justice 2010 Theme: The Power of Nonviolence Saturday, October 2, 2010
Sponsored by Centre for Peace Studies, McMaster University The India-Canada Society, Hamilton
www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi
The 18th Annual Gandhi Peace Festival Saturday, October 2, 2010

A Word of Welcome ................................................................................................................................................................ 3 Mahatma Gandhi Peace Festival Sponsors............................................................................................................................ 4 Message from Mayor Fred Eisenberger ................................................................................................................................. 5 Mahatma Gandhi Lectures on Nonviolence ............................................................................................................................ 6 Keynote Speaker: Dr. Yaser M. Haddara ............................................................................................................................... 7 Themes of past Gandhi Peace Festivals and annual publications ......................................................................................... 7 The Gandhi Peace Festival Community Service Award 2010 ................................................................................................ 8 Nonviolence Quotes ................................................................................................................................................................ 9 Can nonviolence break out in the Middle East?.................................................................................................................... 10 Thomas Merton on Gandhi and Nonviolence ....................................................................................................................... 12 International networks of nonviolence: the key to keeping civil society out of lockdown ...................................................... 15 The Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) McMaster ........................................................................................ 16 Understanding Nonviolence .................................................................................................................................................. 17 Nonviolence: From Gandhi to Martin Luther King ................................................................................................................. 20 From Tilak to Gandhi The Power of Nonviolence ............................................................................................................ 21 Professor Wangari Maathai:.................................................................................................................................................. 23 Professor Wangari Maathai:.................................................................................................................................................. 23 A life of Peace through Traditions and Trees........................................................................................................................ 23 Professor Wangari Maathai................................................................................................................................................... 23 A Tribute to Acharya Ramamurti (1913-2010) ...................................................................................................................... 25 Dr. Rama Singh awarded World Citizenship Award ............................................................................................................. 27 Mac Peace Week .................................................................................................................................................................. 28 Mac Peace Week .................................................................................................................................................................. 28 Peace Poems ........................................................................................................................................................................ 31 Violence Against Minorities ............................................................................................................................................... 33on PEACE, SOCIAL JUSTICE and COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS .................................................................................... 34
Centre for Peace Studies ..................................................................................................................................................................... 34 Culture of Peace Hamilton.................................................................................................................................................................... 35 Peace Caf........................................................................................................................................................................................... 36 Hamilton Conscious Communities Conference .................................................................................................................................... 36 The Hamilton Dialogue Group .............................................................................................................................................................. 37 Peace Medal Breakfast ........................................................................................................................................................................ 37 Physicians for Global Survival .............................................................................................................................................................. 38 International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons .......................................................................................................................... 38 Project Ploughshares ........................................................................................................................................................................... 39 The Anti-Violence Network ................................................................................................................................................................... 39 The Childrens International Learning Centre (CILC) ........................................................................................................................... 40 Peace and Conflict Studies Society (PACSS) ...................................................................................................................................... 40 Amnesty International ........................................................................................................................................................................... 41 Environment Hamilton .......................................................................................................................................................................... 41 KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives ............................................................................................................................... 42 The United Nations Association in Canada .......................................................................................................................................... 43 The Malhar Group Music Circle of Ontario ........................................................................................................................................... 43 Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW)....................................................................................................................................... 44 Act Locally Local Events Information ................................................................................................................................................. 44 Community-based Interfaith, Peace and Cultural Groups .................................................................................................................... 45 The India-Canada Society of Hamilton and Region .............................................................................................................................. 47 South Asian Heritage Association ........................................................................................................................................................ 48 Hamilton Malayalee Samajam .............................................................................................................................................................. 49 Women for Women .............................................................................................................................................................................. 49
Friends of the Festival ........................................................................................................................................................... 50 2010 Gandhi Peace Festival Committees and Volunteers ................................................................................................... 51 For more information please contact: Dr. Rama Shankar Singh Gandhi Peace Festival Committee E-mail: singh@mcmaster.ca Phone: 905-525-9140 Ext. 24378 Gandhi Peace Festival 2010 2
Helena Collins Centre for Peace Studies, McMaster University E-mail: collinsh@mcmaster.ca Phone: 905-525-9140 Ext. 23112 www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi
A Word of Welcome
Dear Friends: We welcome you to the 18th Annual Gandhi Peace Festival. In our troubled world, it seems that the only way to resolve conflicts is through violence. We therefore need to review the Power of Nonviolence, which is far more effective than wars that only perpetuate the cycle of violence. It is heartening to know that many individuals and groups around the globe understand the effectiveness of Gandhian approach and are carrying out their struggles through peaceful means. The theme of the Gandhi Peace Festival this year is The Power of Nonviolence. The purpose of the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Festival is: To promote nonviolence, peace and justice; 2) To provide an avenue for various peace and human rights organizations within the local community to become collectively visible, and exchange dialogues and resources; 3) To build on local interest and dialogue in peace and human rights issues that develop around the world.
1)
The peace festival was started in 1993, a year before the celebration of the 125th anniversary of Gandhi's birthday and it has been held annually on a weekend closest to Gandhi's birthday (October 2). This annual event is co-sponsored by the India-Canada Society of Hamilton and the Centre for Peace Studies, McMaster University. The festival is twinned with the Annual Mahatma Gandhi Lectures on Nonviolence sponsored by the Centre for Peace Studies. The lecture series was established by the India-Canada Society and endowed from public donations. MAC Peace Week (October 2 - 9) will include several peace-related events at McMaster University. The Thirteenth Annual Gandhi Lecture will be delivered at McMaster University in the spring of 2011. We shall inform you if you are on our mailing list. If you would like to get on our mailing list, please send us a message. On behalf of the Gandhi Peace Festival Committee, we wish to thank the City of Hamilton, McMaster University, India-Canada Society and numerous other organizations, writers, poets, students and other individuals and peace groups in the city that make this festival a success. They contribute enormously for creating a culture of peace in Hamilton. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of Gandhi Peace Festival Committee.
Khursheed Ahmed
Editor, Living Gandhi Today
Rama Singh
Chair, Gandhi Peace Festival
ahmed@mcmaster.ca
singh@mcmaster.ca
Gandhi Peace Festival 2010
Mahatma Gandhi Peace Festival Sponsors

Centre for Peace Studies, McMaster University The India-Canada Society, Hamilton
Co-Sponsors
Amnesty International Antiviolence Network Black History Committee Canadian Indo Caribbean Association Canadian Voice of Women for Peace Canadian Department of Peace Initiative Childrens International Learning Centre Council of Canadians Culture of Peace Network - Hamilton Dundas Independent Video Activists Hamilton Action for Social Change Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion (HCCI) Interfaith Development Education Association Interfaith Council for Human Rights and Refugees McMaster Students Union McMaster Peace and Conflict Studies Society Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) Peace Brigades International
Physicians for Global Survival (Hamilton Chapter) Poets for Peace Project Ploughshares - Hamilton Chapter
SACHA - Sexual Assault Centre of Hamilton and Area
Settlement and Integration Services Organization (SISO) Strengthening Hamiltons Community The Immigrant Culture and Art Association The Malhar Group Music Circle of Ontario The Mundialization Committee, City of Hamilton UNICEF United Nations Assoc. of Canada Hamilton United Way Unity Church and Retreat Centre World Federalists of Canada YMCA Hamilton/Burlington YWCA of Hamilton/Burlington 93.3 CFMU
Financial Supporters
The City of Hamilton Centre for Peace Studies, McMaster University The India-Canada Society, Hamilton Hamilton Culture of Peace Canadian Indo-Caribbean Association, Hamilton Hamilton Malayalee Samajan McMaster Students Union McMaster Ontario Public Interest Research Group Physicians for Global Survival West End Physiotherapy Clinic, Hamilton Mississauga Vision Centre Optometrists Population Health Research Institute (Hamilton General Hospital) and a number of individual supporters list on page 49.
Message from Mayor Fred Eisenberger
Dear Friends Once again, another year has gone by as you celebrate the 18th Annual Mahatma Gandhi Peace Festival & Peace Walk. Your theme this year is the Power of nonviolence. Mahatma Gandhis ideas are timeless and are very relevant here in Hamilton. Many of you may be aware of incident in the past year when an isolated individual threw a fire bomb into a local Hamilton mosque. Myself and Chief of Police Glenn De Caire, as well as community leaders and neighbours visited with the mosque leaders, expressed our dismay at the incident and made the local Muslim community feel valued in our community. This brought a sense of understanding in the community and diverted a potentially tense situation into a community building activity. That, to me, is the power of nonviolence. It resolves problems and is good for the long term health of the community. We have many programs at the City of Hamilton that promote peace and understanding. Our Access and Equity office has been providing anti-racism training to all our staff, right from Managerial level to entry level staff. This training is aimed at improving even further our service delivery. We are also carrying out a diversity census for our workforce. We believe that people of diverse backgrounds make valuable contributions to our work community leading to better understanding and cohesion in society. I would like to welcome all participants to the revitalized City Hall and thank the organizers, participants and sponsors of the Gandhi Peace Festival for this wonderful booklet. Welcome to the 2010 Gandhi Peace festival. Sincerely,
Fred Eisenberger Mayor
Mahatma Gandhi Lectures on Nonviolence

Centre for Peace Studies, McMaster University
The Mahatma Gandhi Lecture series was established at McMaster University under the direction of the Centre for Peace Studies, to make the value and strategies on nonviolence widely known, and to develop the concept and practice of nonviolence through intellectual analysis and criticism, dialogue, debate and experimentation. Each year a respected analyst or practitioner of nonviolence, chosen by a subcommittee of the Centre for Peace Studies, is invited to McMaster to deliver one or more lectures or workshops on nonviolence. The series is named after Mahatma Gandhi to honour his role in the revitalization and development of nonviolence. Gandhi brought together East and West, spirituality and practical politics, the ancient and the contemporary, and in so doing he helped rescue nonviolence from sectarianism and irrelevance. Our aim is not to put Gandhi on a pedestal, but rather to take seriously the tradition for which he gave his life. The inaugural lecture was given by Ovide Mercredi in 1996. The Mahatma Gandhi lectures series was initiated by India-Canada Society of Hamilton and is funded through private donations. Our goal is to raise $150,000 to provide a sustained yearly income of $6,000 to adequately fund the Lecture series. We have already reached 60% of our target and need your support to bridge the gap. We urge you to make a tax-deductible donation to support this worthy cause. Past Gandhi Lectures: 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2005 2007 2008 2009 Ovide Mercredi, National Chief of the assembly of First Nations, Canada Dr. Gene Sharp, Director, The Albert Einstein Institution, Cambridge, Mass., USA Dr. Adam Curle, Founding Chair, Dept. of Peace Studies, Bradford University, UK Douglas Roche, OC, Senator, Ottawa, Canada Medha Patkar, Human Rights Activist and Social Worker, Mumbai, India Professor Fatima Meer, University of Natal, South Africa Dr. Lowitija ODonoghue Elder of Australian Aboriginal Nation Acharya Ramamurti Social Activist, India Sulak Sivaraksa, Peace Activist, Thailand Satish Kumar, Ecologist/Activist, UK Narayan Desai, Gandhian Scholar, India Rajmohan Gandhi, a professor, biographer and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi
Full text of these lectures has been published in previous issues of the Gandhi Peace Festival booklet. These are available on-line through the Gandhi website at McMaster University: www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi Donations to Gandhi Trust Fund are tax-deductible. Please make cheques payable to: McMaster University (Gandhi Trust Fund) and mail it along with your name, address and contact information to: McMaster University (Gandhi Trust Fund) The Centre for Peace Studies, McMaster University, TSH-313 Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4M2 Phone: 905-525-9140 x23112 E-Mail: peace@mcmaster.ca
The organizers of the Gandhi Peace Festival wish to express their gratitude to all those who have contributed so generously over the years to the Mahatma Gandhi Trust Fund, in particular the following major donors: Dr. Suboth Jain, University of California, Davis Dr. Shobha and Ravi Wahi, Burlington Dr. McCormack Smyth, Senior Scholar, York University Mr. Devindar and Mrs. Uma Sud, Brampton Dr. Douglas and Mrs. Sheila Davies, Hamilton Dr. Naresh and Mrs. Meena Sinha Mr. Kiran and Mrs. Rupa Jani Drs. Raj and Sudesh Sood Drs. Khursheed and Maroussia Ahmed Dr. Rama Shankar and Mrs. Rekha Singh, Hamilton Dr. Sri Gopal and Mrs. Shanti Mohanty, Hamilton Mr. Subhash & Mrs. Jayashree Dighe, Hamilton Dr. Salim and Mrs. Waheeda Yusuf Dr. Ashok and Mrs. Nirmala Dalvi
18th Annual Gandhi Peace Festival 2010
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Yaser M. Haddara

Dr. Yaser M. Haddara is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at McMaster University. He received his Bachelor of Engineering from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and a Masters and Ph.D. from Stanford University. Dr. Haddara is a member of the Board of Directors of the Muslim Association of Canada, Board of Directors of SISO (Settlement and Integration Services Organization), Chair of the Board of Islamic Relief USA, and Secretary/Treasurer of Islamic Relief Canada. He sits on the Advisory Committee for Diversity to the Hamilton Chief of Police and is a member of the Hamilton Dialogue Group and the Hamilton Anti-Violence Network. At McMaster University, Dr. Haddara acts as academic advisor to several student groups including the McMaster Muslim Students Association, the McMaster Muslims for Peace and Justice, and the McMaster chapter of the Golden Key International Honour Society. He is on the Presidents Advisory Committee on Building an Inclusive Community and chairs its Human Rights Audit working group. Dr. Haddara has twice been the recipient of the McMaster Students Union Engineering Faculty Teaching Award. His research interests are in microelectronic fabrication and engineering education. He lives in Oakville with his wife Hebba and two boys Mustafa and Mahmood.
Themes of past Gandhi Peace Festivals and annual publications

2010 The Power of Nonviolence 2009 Swadeshi: Gandhi's Economics of Self Reliance 2008 Living Gandhi and King Today 2007 Building Sustainable Communities 2006 First Nations Peacemakers: Building Inclusive Communities 2005 Breaking the CycleOf Violence: An Eye for An Eye Makes the Whole World Blind 2004 Creating True Security: Freedom from Fear 2003 Power to the People: The Agenda of the Peace Movement. 2002 Peace and Human Security 2001 The Problem of Racism 1993-2000 Towards A Culture of Peace, Nonviolence and Social Justice
PDF version of this publication and previous Gandhi Festival publications are available to download online from: http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi/festival/booklets.html
Gandhi Peace Festival 2010 7 www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi
The Gandhi Peace Festival Community Service Award 2010

The Organizing Committee of Gandhi Peace festival is pleased to announce the 2010 Gandhi Peace Festival Community Service Award to
Christopher Cutler
Christopher has for the greater part of his life taken the entreaty of thinking globally and acting locally to heart. His perspective on what peace can look like has encompassed a wide range of activities from the environment to the fight against poverty to literacy. A former missionary and minister in France where he, among other things, worked with street involved youth and immigrant children, Chris returned to Canada where he entered politics. Elected a municipal counselor in the former Town of Flamborough he was a key political supporter of the local citizens group GASP in the successful fight against the then proposed Steetley landfill site in Greensville. Chris went on to serve as a board member of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities where he served as Vice Chair of the International Relations Standing Committee promoting , in partnership with CIDA, the building of vital municipal infrastructure and the alleviation of poverty in Central America and Africa. In 2008, Chris was awarded the YMCA Peace Medal for his years of work in organizing the successful annual peace medal breakfast recognizing peace makers in our community and abroad. During his time as Manager of International Programs with the YMCA of Hamilton, Burlington, Brantford he managed successful YMCA and CIDA funded projects working with street involved children and indigenous tribes in Costa Rica and child care programs for children with HIV/Aids in Sorocaba Brazil. His passion for working with young people led to his serving as both Board Chair and eventually as Executive Director of Serve Canada, an experiential learning program working with at-risk youth in inner city neighbourhoods in the Jane/Finch corridor, Flemingdon Park and in Riverdale here in Hamilton. Working with KaBOOM!, he has organized or been involved in building community playground in at risk communities from Toronto and Hamilton to the westside of Chicago. Here in Hamilton he works closely with the Wever Hub, out of Cathy Wever School, in support of the Rotary Summer Literacy Program serving over 2,000 children every summer. Christopher currently serves as the Director for World Services with the Rotary Club of Hamilton. He was recently recognized for his local and international work by Rotary International with the Four Avenues of Service Citation. Chris, an Ambassador with the Shelter Box organization, which distributes essential shelter to disaster zones around the world, raised tens of thousands of dollars for Haiti alone in the spring of 2010. While Christopher is an active member of the local Quaker community, interfaith understanding and education has been a long held passion. He is a member of the Hamilton Interfaith Working Group and is actively engaged in the campaign to establish a public art interfaith project in the midst of the new Peace Garden on the Hamilton City Hall grounds Christopher is the Program Manger at PATH Employment Services where he has the privilege of assisting persons with disabilities and multi-barriered clients in reentering the workforce. The Gandhi Peace Festival Community Service Award is given to an individual for making outstanding contribution to peace, nonviolence and living in harmony with the planet. Nominations for future awards can be sent via e-mail to Rama Singh <singh@mcmaster.ca>.
Previous recipients of Gandhi Peace Festival Community Service Award are: 2007- Jack Santa Barbara 2008 - Ray Cunnington 2009 - Robert Stewart
Nonviolence Quotes
Mahatma Gandhi Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong We may never be strong enough to be entirely nonviolent in thought, word and deed. But we must keep nonviolence as our goal and make strong progress towards it. Nonviolence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our being. Anger is the enemy of nonviolence and pride is a monster that swallows it up. My religion is based on truth and nonviolence. Truth is my God. Nonviolence is the means of realising Him. I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and Nonviolence are as old as the hills. All I have done is to try experiments in both on as vast a scale as I could. Nonviolence and truth are inseparable and presuppose one another. Courtesy towards opponents and eagerness to understand their view-point is the ABC of nonviolence. I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent. Hatred can be overcome only by love. Martin Luther King, Jr. Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals. Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him. Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. James Douglass The first thing to be disrupted by our commitment to nonviolence will be not the system but our own lives. Ralph Waldo Emerson Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding. Bishop Desmond Tutu Stability and peace in our land will not come from the barrel of a gun, because peace without justice is an impossibility. Buddah "Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule." At the center of nonviolence stands the principle of love. Cesar Chavez Nonviolence is not inaction. It is not discussion. It is not for the timid or weak... Nonviolence is hard work. It is the willingness to sacrifice. It is the patience to win. There is no such thing as defeat in nonviolence. Indian Proverb Nonviolence is the supreme law of life. Swami Sahajanand Nonviolence is the greatest of all religions. Joan Baez That's all nonviolence is - organized love. Bernard Haring It belongs to the very substance of nonviolence never to destroy or damage another person's feeling of self worth, even an opponent's. We all need, constantly, an advance of trust and affirmation. Thomas A. Edison Nonviolence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. Nelson Mandela Of all the observations I have made on the strike, none has brought forth so much heat and emotion as the stress and emphasis we put on nonviolence.
Can nonviolence break out in the Middle East?

Published on Initiatives of Change International website (http://www.iofc.org). (Reproduced with permission)
Rajmohan Gandhi
President, Initiatives of Change International
Rajmohan Gandhi was born in New Delhi in 1935 and is a professor, a former Indian politician and journalist who has written books on Hindu-Muslim relations, on figures from the Indian subcontinent, and South Asian history. Mr. Rajmohan Gandhi is the President of Initiatives of Change International[1] - a diverse, global network committed to building trust across the world's divides. This article was written in May 2010 after a world tour that included Palestine and Israel. Prof. Gandhi gave the Annual Gandhi Lecture on Nonviolence at McMaster University in 2009 and attended the Gandhi Peace Festival.
Not until I was recently shown around the Palestinian West Bank, including several villages west of Ramallah at the forefront of resistance to Israeli seizure of land, did I realize how the settlements, walls, roadblocks and separating roads intrude everywhere and dominate the landscape. I now find it hard to believe that the government of Israel is serious when it talks of wanting an independent Palestinian state. These physical barriers will obstruct the very creation of a Palestinian state. But if the instruments of Israeli domination and expansion were more oppressive than expected, so too I found the range of Palestinian nonviolent activity against that occupation to be larger, and richer in creativity than I had imagined. As Ethan Bronner wrote in the New York Times [2] (April 6, 2010): Something is stirring in the West Bank. With both diplomacy and armed struggle out of favour for having failed, the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, joined by the business community, is trying to forge a third way: to build a virtual state and body politic through acts of popular resistance while avoiding violence. My host in the West Bank, Dr Mustafa Barghouthi, is at the forefront of such efforts as Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative [3] and as one who has spent years strengthening Palestinian civil society through educational and public health programs. Like Dr Barghouthi, many Palestinians I met seem to hold two weapons in their hands in one hand the
Gandhi Peace Festival 2010 10
weapon of nonviolent resistance and in the other the weapon of constructive work. But equally, as we know, there are many Israeli peace-activists and campaigners again, more than we imagine who have embraced nonviolent resistance, even risking imprisonment for the cause of peace, and in support of Palestinian selfdetermination. On Easter Sunday I prayed silently in two sacred places the grave of Abraham and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem for the liberation of Palestine and for the well-being of my Jewish friends in Israel and around the world, especially in the USA.
Rajmohan Gandhi touring the West Bank city of Hebron with Dr Mustafa Barghouthi, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative. (Photo: Lazar Simeonov)
As I told President Shimon Peres, when he graciously received me in his home in West Jerusalem, the recovery after the Holocaust of the Jewish people is one of the most stirring chapters in
the story of humankind. Yet (I added) I pray for another chapter in that story: a chapter where justice is provided to the Palestinians. Justice is at the very heart of Judaism. International pressure on the Israeli government to move towards a peace settlement is, by itself, not enough. The international community must go further, to rouse Judaisms conscience in pursuit of that justice which is etched in the very character of being Jewish forged not only from their two millennia experience of being victims of injustice, but from their ancient roots in the Jewish faith. Let justice flow like a mighty river, thundered the Jewish prophet, Amos, 2800 years ago, on the same patch of dirt where Palestinians and Israelis exchange bombs and bullets for justice today. But then Amos added, and righteousness as a neverending stream. No river exists without streams which feed it. Justice today, as in Amos time, needs streams of the right honest response of self-examination to sustain it. Turning the searchlight inwards, as my grandfather the Mahatma would say, and as Initiatives of Change seeks to underline. When given primacy in our hearts, the inner voice of truth prompts within our innermost motives whether we are Hindu, Jew, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, of another faith or simply human the virtue of mercy. Millions of Muslims pray many times a day in the name of Allah the most merciful. Very simply, it is the only cure for hatred without which the tide of violence cannot be turned within this
ancient conflict. It is the intelligent statesmanship, demonstrated within our living memories, through the non-hating leadership of Gandhi and Mandela. And it is surely no less possible in the Middle East than it was for India or South Africa. I came to the Middle East from South Africa, with Mandelas words ringing in my ears: that the liberation of South Africa is incomplete without the liberation of Palestine. I would say the same about the liberation of India and Pakistan. The Soviet Union crumbled, apartheid in South Africa crumbled. So too will crumble the occupation of Palestine, as also the threat to Israels peaceful existence but not without this intelligent statesmanship which can transcend hatreds and fear, and which, cutting through self-righteousness, turns the searchlight on our own motives, behaviours and political intrigues, bringing that unique quality of mercy. Could nonviolence yet provide a third way between Israel and Palestine? Mahatma Gandhi held that nonviolent satyagraha (truth force) seeks to liquidate antagonisms but not the antagonists. He often claimed that nonviolence took courage, a willingness to suffer. Those prepared to kill a man or to die for their cause, he maintained, could become practitioners of nonviolence. Whether in passionate youths of the intifada or Israeli veterans of multiple wars or in mothers stoically sacrificing their sons for a greater cause or in young men in body armour at checkpoints, the Middle East perhaps has a greater accumulation of suffering and courage than anywhere else on earth. My yearning is for that capacity to produce a new outbreak of nonviolence in the Middle East and a pathway to durable peace.
NOTE: Individuals of many religions, and beliefs are actively of Change. These commentaries the writer and not necessarily Change as a whole. cultures, nationalities, involved with Initiatives represent the views of those of Initiatives of
Source URL: http://www.iofc.org/node/48205 During his visit to Palestine, Rajmohan Gandhi saw many of the walls that Israel has erected to separate the Palestinians of the West Bank from Israel and Israeli (Photo: Lazar Simeonov) settlements.. Gandhi Peace Festival 2010 11
Links: [1] http://www.iofc.org/ [2] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/world/middleeast/ 07westbank.html?hp [3] http://www.almubadara.org/new/english.php [4] http://www.iofc.org/gandhi-tour
Thomas Merton on Gandhi and Nonviolence

Paul R. Dekar
Paul R. Dekar lives in Dundas. He has taught for 34 years, primarily at McMaster University, where he was one of the founders of Centre for Peace Studies and Memphis Theological Seminary, where he developed a curriculum for the study of the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. Currently, he serves as chairperson of the governing body of the North American chapter of Fellowship of Reconciliation, an interfaith organization that, since 1915, has carried on programs and educational projects concerned with domestic and international peace and justice, nonviolent alternatives to conflict, and the rights of conscience around the world. Paul's most recent book is Building a Culture of Peace.
Before my generation of activists knew anything about Gandhi, many of us were reading Thomas Merton who in 1965 published Gandhi on Nonviolence, an entry-level source book of Gandhis life and legacy. Mertons interest in Gandhi went back to the London Round Table Conference in November and December 1931. At the time, Merton was a high school student in England. Someone stated that British rule was a purely benevolent, civilizing enterprise for which the Indians were not suitably grateful. Infuriated at the complacent idiocy of this line of reasoning, Merton insisted Gandhi was right in championing Indias independence from Britain. On February 9, 1933, students at Oxford University adopted 275 votes to 153, the following: That this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country. The Oxford Union debate reflected a growing interest in nonviolence, manifested in the Oxford Peace Pledge, which Merton signed in early 1934, and in organizations Merton joined, including the Fellowship of Reconciliation. In poetry, novels and a journal, Merton decried genocide and warmadness. On June 16, 1940, Merton observed, I dont pretend, like other people, to understand the war, I do know this much: that the knowledge of what is going on only makes it seem desperately important to be voluntarily poor, to get rid of all possessions this instant. I am scared, sometimes, to own anything, even a name, let alone a coin, or shares in the oil, the munitions, the airplane factories. I am scared to take a proprietary interest in anything, for fear that my love of what I own may be killing somebody somewhere. (Run to the Mountain, 231-2). In December 1941, Merton became a Trappist monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky. Late in the
1950s, he returned to an active interest in Gandhi. In addition to his Gandhi anthology, Merton wrote two essays on Gandhi and books on Asian religion: The Way of Chuang Tzu (1965); Mystics and Zen Masters(1967); Zen and the Birds of Appetite (1968). Mertons first essay, A Tribute to Gandhi, recalled Gandhis visit to London. Merton looked back over the subsequent period of conflict and war. Merton argued that Gandhi was radically different from all other world leaders of his time, an extraordinary leader who remains in our time as a sign of the genuine union of spiritual fervor and social action in the midst of a hundred pseudo-spiritual cryptofascist, or communist movements in which the capacity for creative and spontaneous dedication is captured, debased and exploited by false prophets. Seeds of Destruction, 229; Passion for Peace, 206). For Merton, Gandhian nonviolence was a way of life, not merely a strategy. Gandhi knew the value of solitude. He fasted, observed days of silence, did retreats and was generous in listening to and communicating with others. Gandhi recognized the impossibility of being a peaceful, nonviolent person if one submits passively to the insatiable requirements of a society maddened by overstimulation and violent because it is greedy, lustful and cruel. Mertons second essay, Gandhi and the One-Eyed Giant, introduced his anthology on Gandhian nonviolence. For Merton, one of the significant aspects of the life of Gandhi was his discovery of the east through the west. Through his acquaintance with writers like Jesus, Tolstoy and Thoreau, Gandhi made connections with his own Hindu tradition and with concepts that had universal significance such as dharma (duty) and Satyagraha (truth-force). Gandhi offered Jesus as the model of nonviolent resistance. Jesus lived and died in vain if He did not
teach us to regulate the whole of life by the eternal law of love. Jesus was the most active resister known perhaps to history. This was nonviolence par excellence. (Gandhi on Nonviolence, 26, 40). Gandhi came to believe that the central issue of the time was acceptance or rejection of the basic law of love. Traditional religions made the truth of this law known to the world. For Merton, Gandhi committed his whole life to seeking to build a more peaceful and just world struggling through love in action. If love or nonviolence be not the law of our being, the whole of my argument falls to pieces. (Gandhi on Nonviolence, 3-4, 25). Mertons selections from Gandhis writings highlighted how ahimsa (nonviolence) transforms relationships and serves as a model. People could recognize the need for change in their lives and in social relations by the model of others living a nonviolent lifestyle. The satyagrahi exercises power through love and the strength of truth. Refuting those who saw nonviolent action only as a means by which the weak come to power, Gandhi saw nonviolence as not passive but a noble and effective way to express love and defend ones rights. Not merely a private affair, ahimsa required that the means of all political action be consistent with desired results. Gandhi did not expect everyone to practice nonviolence perfectly, but, given the proper training and proper generalship, nonviolence can be practiced by the masses of mankind. Nonviolence is the supreme law. During my half a century of experience I have not yet come across a situation when I had to say that I was helpless, that I had no remedy in terms of nonviolence. (Gandhi on Nonviolence, 25). With Gandhi, Merton stressed the extraordinary difficulty by which activists must sustain nonviolent life ways. Such supernatural valor is available only through spiritual practices such as prayer. Courage demands nothing short of the ability to face death with complete fearlessness and to suffer without retaliation. Nonviolence is meaningless without spiritual practice. Exploring the political scope of nonviolence, Merton stressed that Gandhian nonviolence embraced all of life in a consistent and logical network of obligations. Writing amidst the context of the early 1960s, Merton addressed the threat of nuclear annihilation and the need to build a world at peace on a basis other than exclusivism, absolutism or intolerance. There is no escape for any of us save through truth
and nonviolence. I know that war is wrong, is an unmitigated evil. I know too that it has got to go. I firmly believe that freedom won through bloodshed or fraud is no freedom. (Gandhi on Nonviolence, 52). Merton noted the situation in the United States of young men facing conscription for service in the armed forces at a time the United States was expanding its involvement in Vietnam. Merton argued for a consistent pacifist position: merely to refuse military service was not enough. One must work for positive peace, that is, for a world characterized by elimination of the causes of war, and for disarmament. Peace will never come until the great powers courageously decide to disarm themselves. (Gandhi on Nonviolence, 53). In the final section of the anthology of Gandhi quotes, The Purity of Nonviolence, Merton summarized five essential elements of how to act nonviolently: 1. It implies not wishing ill. 2. It includes total refusal to cooperate with or participate in activities of the unjust group, even to eating food that comes from them [for example, Gandhi's 1930 salt campaign]: 3. It requires a living faith in the God of love and acting in love for the good of all persons. 4. Who practices nonviolence must be ready to sacrifice everything except honor. 5. It must pervade everything and not be applied merely isolated acts only. (Gandhi on Nonviolence, 64). Merton noted Gandhis call for the formation of nonviolent peace brigades that would interpose in situations of violent conflict. Volunteers could not carry any weapons. Members of a peace brigade must be easily recognizable. They must know the essentials of first aid, be acquainted with all the residents of the locality and pray. Mertons Gandhian writings had wide influence. Many activists visited or corresponded with Merton. He sent his Gandhi book to such diverse individuals as the musician Joan Baez; James Douglass, a young Catholic in the anti-nuclear movement and later the author of several books that drew on Merton and Gandhis writings; members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; a Catholic Sister M. Emmanuel de Souza e Silva, who worked in the slums of Rio de Janeiro; and college students.
Today, people confront an environmental crisis, a growing gap between rich and poor, war, and other issues. The legacies of Gandhi and Merton still can contribute to building communities engaged in nonviolent action. In an essay, Blessed Are the Meek, The Christian Roots of Nonviolence, Merton summarizes why nonviolence remains a powerful way to live.
References
1. Nonviolence must be aimed above all at the transformation of the present state of the world. However, people must live nonviolently ethic of Christ as a way of life without becoming too political, which happens when one is drawn into a power struggle and identifies too much with one side or another in the struggle. 2. The nonviolent resistance of the Christian who belongs to one of the powerful nations and who is himself in some sense a privileged member of world society will have to be clearly not for himself but for others, that is, for the poor and underprivileged. Merton cited the struggle of African Americans as an example of resistance through Satyagraha. 3. In the case of nonviolent struggle for peacethe threat of nuclear war abolishes all privileges. Merton consistently wrote against nuclear weaponry. 4. Perhaps the most insidious temptation to be avoided is one which is characteristic of the power structure itself: this fetishism of immediate visible results. As a spiritual director
to activists, Merton cautioned against depending on the hope of results. The work of the peacemaker is essentially an expression of humility. 5. Christian nonviolence is convinced that the manner in which the conflict for truth is waged will itself manifest or obscure the truth. To fight for truth by dishonest, violent, inhuman, or unreasonable means would simply betray the truth one is trying to vindicate. Merton did not support some measures of anti-war activists, such as self-immolation or burning draft records. 6. A test of our sincerity is this: are we willing to learn something from the adversary? Nonviolence has great power, provided that it really witnesses to truth and not just to self-righteousness. Merton saw adversaries as human persons with rights. He insisted that it is important to be ready to see some good in adversaries and to agree with some of their ideas. One who is engaged in nonviolent resistance can discover ones own truth in a new light by being open-minded towards the views of others. 7. An attitude of simplicity and openness can break down barriers of suspicion that have divided people for centuries. (Passion for Peace, 248-59) Understanding Gandhi as committed to dialogue; Merton traveled to India in 1968 and met disciples of Gandhi. Published posthumously, The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton (1973) reflected Mertons deep engagement with the living spiritualities of Asia. Having come to believe that the contemplative life is not a mere turning of ones back on the world, Merton assumed a new calling, that of a prophet for not only an earlier generation of activists, but also people seeking today to bring into being a world free of weapons, racism and other evils.
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International networks of nonviolence: the key to keeping civil society out of lockdown
Peace Brigades International Canada
While PBIs most visible work is carried out in our field projects, PBI-Canada and other PBI Country Groups play a significant role in supporting the protection of human rights defenders. PBI-Canada provides support for PBIs field projects and serve as anchors for PBIs international political and educational work. The work done by PBI-Canada is a necessary complement to the work done in the field. This is where volunteers are recruited, support networks built, political support developed, and funds raised to pay for this work. revealed that more than 120 cases of aggression against human rights defenders in Mexico between January 2006 and August 2009. This report, entitled Defending Human Rights: Caught Between Commitment and Risk, revealed that 20 per cent of cases involved criminal prosecution of human rights defenders. While this phenomenon continues to pose a threat to the effectiveness of human rights work in Mexico, global networks of nonviolent action have had success undoing the damage and maintaining morale amongst Mexican civil society. For instance, the efforts of Peace Brigades International, a grassroots NGO founded on the premise of Gandhis shanti sena or peace army, helped bring about a recent victory for a civil society organisation that has been leading the charge against human rights abuses in Mexicos southern state of Guerrero. Something to celebrate All around the world, members of the Peace Brigades rejoiced on Aug. 27 as our field volunteers accompanied the fifth and final member of an indigenous Mexican organisation being held for bogus criminal charges as he emerged from confinement, his name completely cleared at last.
Canadian volunteer Maude Chalvin accompanying members of the Tlachinollan Center and the OPIM during a military incursion in the OPIM communities.
More than six decades since Gandhis death and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, human rights defenders continue to come under attack all around the world for their work upholding justice and confronting impunity. Governments have found one particularly effective way to crush the efforts of civil society groups who call attention to their human rights violations thats to lock up as many members as possible. The criminalisation of peaceful dissent has become an increasing global trend, especially in Mexico, which has a history of authorities trampling on the rights of local activists. A recent report released by the Mexico Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Ral Hernndez Abundio was imprisoned in April 2008 along with four others from the Organisation of Indigenous Mephaa People (OPIM), a group wellknown for documenting human rights abuses in Mexicos Guerrero region. They had been charged with the murder of a man who was reportedly linked to the army and the police. Peace Brigades has been on the ground supporting threatened members of OPIM since their request for our protective accompaniment in 2005. Throughout Abundios wrongful imprisonment, the organisation also accompanied his lawyers from the Tlachinollan Human Rights Centre. Our years of documenting the threats and abuses suffered by indigenous rights defenders in Guerrero provided substantive and crucial information for groups like Amnesty International who declared the
five OPIM members Prisoners of Conscience following their wrongful arrest in 2008. In March 2009, Abundios four colleagues were let go but authorities kept him locked up despite a lack of evidence connecting him to the murder. For more than two years Abundio languished behind bars until a judge finally threw out his case after conceding that he had not been at the scene of the crime. His detention had been entirely politically motivated and directly related to his legitimate activities in defence of the rights of indigenous communities in Mexico. Abundio has returned to work, pushing for better infrastructure, schools and medical clinics for indigenous people in southern Mexico. Unfortunately he and his fellow human rights defenders and their families continue to experience death threats and violent attacks. More about the Peace Brigades Since our creation three decades ago here in Canada, we have walked alongside hundreds of human rights defenders in areas of civil conflict around the world, allowing them to carry out their work without fearing for their safety. Inspired by Gandhi, our methods work because those who harm human rights defenders usually dont want the world to know about their crimes. Our presence sends a powerful message: the world is watching.
In addition to providing this physical accompaniment, we have built local and global networks to support our nonviolent protection efforts, provided peace building and education opportunities, raised the profiles of defenders we accompany and supplied political analysis as well as on-the-ground information to the international community. Once invited by local activists, our volunteers act as eyes and ears to Canada and the world. Currently our volunteers are in Colombia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Mexico and Nepal providing international presence to over 45 organisations including clergy, union leaders, campesino leaders, internally displaced communities and exiles returning home. In the past, we have accompanied such defenders as Nobel Prize winner Rigoberta Mench. Peace Brigades presence in places like Mexico discourages violence against human rights workers because our field volunteers are the symbolic representation of a global movement. This movement includes individuals, organisations and governments who care about what happens to those who work in favour of human rights and will respond to any threats against the personal safety and security of those activists. We, all together, are what allow the Peace Brigades to protect human rights defenders. For more information visit www.pbicanada.org.
The Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) McMaster

OPIRG links research with action on a broad range of social justice and environmental issues, both locally and globally. Through research, proactive education, community networking and volunteer action groups OPIRG empowers individuals and groups to become active participants in the decisions which affect their lives. OPIRG's core values support antioppression, conflict resolution and consensus decision making. The energy and imagination of student and community volunteers is the driving force powering the work of OPIRG. Drop by the office and talk to one of our three permanent staff about how to get involved in one of the many exciting facets of OPIRG McMaster. The Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) McMaster McMaster University Student Centre Room 229 P.O. Box 1013, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton ON, L8S 1C0 Phone: 905-525-9140 ext. 27289 Web: www.opirg.ca E-Mail: opirg@mcmaster.ca Blog: opirgmcmaster.blogspot.com
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Understanding Nonviolence
Sri Gopal Mohanty
Sri Gopal Mohanty is a Professor Emeritus at McMaster University. He is a Founding Member of India Canada Society of Hamilton and Region and is associated with Gandhi Peace Festival and Mahila Shanti Sena(MSS) from the beginning. He is the Secretary of SEEDS and is involved in Odishas development projects.
Pastor Terry Jones of Dove World Outreach Center, Gainesville, Florida, ignited a firestorm when he recently announced plans to burn copies of Koran, the Muslim holy book to mark the anniversary of 9/11 terrorist attacks. This was one type of response. There was another. On the same day, Susan Retik, a Jewish woman who lost her husband in the 9/11 attacks was planning to speak at a mosque in Boston. She intended to recruit members of the mosque to join her battle against poverty and illiteracy in Afghanistan. Ms. Retik lived near another woman, Patti Quigley, whose husband had also died in the attack. Both were pregnant with babies who would never see their fathers. Devastated themselves and yet realizing that more than half a million Afghani widows were highly vulnerable and trapped in an ever-deepening cycle of extreme poverty and helplessness, they started a non-profit organization Beyond the 11th1 - to provide support to widows in Afghanistan who have been afflicted by war, terrorism, and oppression. Beyond the 11th funds programs that help widows gain the skills necessary to generate their own income and become selfsufficient. Susan and Patti strongly believe that education and empowerment are the keys to creating lasting social change and peace. Education and employment are not the answer to everything. But the record suggests that these do tend to reduce fundamentalism. Besides, the cost for the work done by Beyond the 11th in Afghanistan over nine years is less than keeping a single American soldier in Afghanistan for eight months.
Nicholas Kristof, a journalist, co-author of Half the Sky and winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, ends his article The Healer of 9/11 in NY Times, September 8, 10 with these words: Her work is an invigorating struggle to unite all faiths against those common enemies of humanity, ignorance and poverty reflecting the moral and mental toughness that truly can chip away at terrorism. Ms. Retik was awarded 2010 Citizens Medal by President Obama. There has been yet another similar response initiated long back by Greg Mortenson. While the main Susan Retik with President Obama thrust of winning over the Taliban insurgency has been by military force, Mortensons motto on the other hand is to promote peace with education and books not bombs, by building relationship not propagating hate. His aim has been to build schools especially for girls in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan and founded the nonprofit Central Asia Institute2 to meet the areas need. Between the two countries, the Central Asia Institute has built more than 130 schools to educate 58,000 children. Mortensons effort runs directly counter to the gender war waged by the Taliban who have done everything to keep girls out of school. They venture into well-known Taliban strongholds to build schools that are welcomed by many in their communities. Without efforts like his, the void would be filled by the madrassas, the religious schools often run by
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fanatics who preach jihad and breed new adherents to the Taliban cause. Mortensons message to the US military for enhancing security is to foster relationships and build a sense of trust at the grassroots level instead of ignoring the victims by calling them collateral damage and thus denying that they ever existed. Among the proponents of this approach were a number of officers who stumbled his earlier book Three Cups of Tea3 mostly being recommended by their spouses. Lately, the book is adopted as part of required reading for officers enrolled in counterinsurgency.
Let us try to understand the concept of nonviolence. In his book Nonviolence: History of a Dangerous Idea, Mark Kurlansky4, a playwright, journalist, author and winner of the 2007 Dayton Literary Peace Prize, points out that nonviolence is understood as negation of violence (in Sanskrit, the negation of himsa meaning harm is ahimsa). It has been viewed not as an authentic concept but a marginal one because it is a rare revolutionary idea that seeks to completely change the nature of society, a threat to the established order. And it has always been treated as profoundly dangerous. Kurlansky notes that the widely held and seldom expressed but implicit viewpoint of most cultures is that violence is real and nonviolence is unreal. But when nonviolence becomes a reality it is a powerful force. Yet it is not the same thing as pacifism. Pacifism is passive but nonviolence is active. When Jesus Christ said that a victim should turn the other cheek, he was preaching pacifism. But when he said that an enemy should be won over through the power of love, he was preaching nonviolence. Nonviolent means require a great deal more imagination than to use force.
Greg Mortenson with some of the children he is helping to educate in Pakistan and Afghanistan
In his new book Stones into Schools, Mortenson narrates his meeting in 2009 with Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff. To Admirals enquiry about anything good happening in Afghanistan, he replied that while during Talibans power less than 8000 children were enrolled in school, student enrollment today (2009) was approaching 8 million of which 2.4 million were girls. And the Admiral exclaimed: These are amazing numbers. Every stray U.S. bomb commits untold collateral damage on Afghan families and communities, earning the U.S. a lifetime of resentment and hatred. But every school that Mortenson opens does the opposite, giving Afghans a bond with ordinary Americans and, more important, giving the countrys children a future to build on. These are no doubt, inspiring stories on nonviolent approaches to build peace against aggression.
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In the book, nonviolence is discussed, not as a mere state of mind but as a distinct technique for overcoming social injustice and ending wars. Moving from ancient China to the American war in Iraq, Kurlansky shows that violence has never been very successful, while nonviolence has a remarkable record. Discussing on religious points of view on nonviolence, Kurlansky observes that all religions mention the power of nonviolence and the evil of violence. In Hinduism, nonviolence is the highest law (Ahimsa paramo dharmah) and yet it is not an unshakable principle of the religion and complete ahimsa is unattainable. On this point he quotes Gandhi: Nonviolence is a perfect stage. It is a goal towards which all mankind moves naturally, though unconsciously. From this point of view, the often repeated argument against nonviolence that we by nature are violent lacks the validity in light of the ubiquitous moral argument that it is our obligation to try to be better than we are. On nonviolence Gandhi insists that it does not come from weakness but from strength. Those who are
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incapable of defending themselves either due to their own weakness or due to the adversarys brutality are obligated to use physical violence for defense. John Armstrong, a reviewer of Kurlanskys book remarks at the end: The difficulty, for the thesis, is that nonviolence (as vigorous and organised) requires an extraordinary degree of co-operation and collective patience. Above all, it requires a willingness to suffer. For example, the US could have responded to hostile noises from Iraq by vastly reducing oil imports. This non-violent response might have been successful but would obviously have required absorbing a great deal of economic pain on the part of the American public. Still, one might reasonably hold that would have been better than the carnage we have seen. He concludes admiring the book that it is more suggestive in enlarging our imaginative horizon. Let us examine widely accepted viewpoint that violence is real and nonviolence is not and that nonviolence requires extraordinary degree of cooperation. By studying social behaviors in animals, such as bonding, the herd instinct, the forming of trusting alliances, expressions of consolation, and conflict resolution, Frans de Waal, a Dutch Psychologist and Primatologist demonstrates in his book The Age of Empathy5 that animals and humans are preprogrammed to reach out. He argues that similar to other animals human biology offers a giant helping hand to those striving for a just society, and that every human is destined to be humane. De Waal's theory runs counter to the assumption that humans are inherently selfish, which can be seen in the fields of politics, law, and finance, and which seems to be evidenced by the current greed-driven stock market collapse. But he cites the public's outrage at the U.S. government's lack of empathy in the wake of Hurricane Katrina as a significant shift in perspective - one that helped Barack Obama get elected and ushered in what may well become an Age of
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Empathy. Through a better understanding of empathy's survival value in evolution, de Waal suggests, we can work together toward a more just society based on a more generous and accurate view of human nature. Empathy, de Waal explains, is the social glue that holds communities together, and if humans are empathetic animals it is because we have "the backing of a long evolutionary history". "Bonding... is what makes us happiest," he writes, and rapidly accumulating evidence from the behavioural and neural sciences supports the claim. If violence is real, it often erupts due to abject poverty witnessed throughout the world, mostly in third world countries notably in African countries. But it is controllable by reducing the poverty level. We live in a unique moment. The proportion of people unable to meet their basic physical needs is smaller today than it has been at any time in recent history. Most important, rich and poor are now linked in ways they never were before. In these days poor can be helped in many ways provided we have the will to see them out of poverty so as to seize the opportunity of not going back again. We see rich people like Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates giving a large sum for the cause. In his book The Life You Can Save6, Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University pleads many more to join the effort. He challenges one to think differently about what it is to live a good life and argues persuasively to do more than what one is doing at present. Retik and Mortenson possess moral fibre with physical and mental discipline to follow the path of nonviolence that Gandhi needs from an individual. There are others as well. Kurlanskys unflinching faith in eventual success of nonviolence is supported by de Waals study of primates. We are not wired to be violent. Gandhis belief that we are moving naturally towards a nonviolence society has meaningful evidence at least in reducing violence due to poverty, as Singer observes. We are capable of doing more. Gandhi Peace Festival is an event aimed to move in that direction.
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Nonviolence: From Gandhi to Martin Luther King

http://academicearth.org/courses/nonviolence-from-gandhi-to-martin-luther-king This is a 26 lectures recorded course from University of California, Berkeley, available online free of charge. Each lecture is about an hour long. The instructor is Professor Michael Nagler. Michael Nagler is a Professor Emeritus of Classics and Comparative Literature at University of California, Berkeley, where he co-founded the Peace and Conflict Studies Program, and the founder of the Metta Center for Nonviolence. Course Description An introduction to the science of nonviolence, mainly as seen through the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi. Historical overview of nonviolence East and the West up to the American Civil Rights movement and Martin Luther King, Jr., with emphasis on the ideal of principled nonviolence and the reality of mixed or strategic nonviolence in practice, especially as applied to problems of social justice and defense. Course Index
1. Overview: Strategic and Principled Nonviolence I 2. Overview: Strategic and Principled Nonviolence II 3. How Science and History Weigh in on the Possibility of the Nonviolence Effect I 4. How Science and History Weigh in on the Possibility of the Nonviolence Effect II 5. The Gita on Human Action and Life's Purpose I 6. The Gita on Human Action and Life's Purpose II 7. Arrival in South Africa to the Birth of Satyagraha (1893-1906); Constructive Program I 8. Arrival in South Africa to the Birth of Satyagraha (1893-1906); Constructive Program II 9. Success in South Africa: Return to India and the Year of Silence I 10. Success in South Africa: Return to India and the Year of Silence II 11. Tragedy at Amritsar: Rebellion Heats Up I 12. Tragedy at Amritsar: Rebellion Heats Up II 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. The Final Phase: Legacy of Triumph and Tragedy I The Final Phase: Legacy of Triumph and Tragedy II Nonviolence Midterm Review Nonviolence in the West: Judeo-Christian & Islamic Sources Medieval and Modern Nonviolence Christian Sects; the Society of Friends (Quakers) I Early Pacifism and Non Violence (low audio starting at 1hr 2minutes) The American Civil Rights Movement, I: Montgomery, Guest Lecture II King's Last Years I King's Last Years II The Wheel of Nonviolence; Gandhian Economics Aspects of Nonviolence Since Gandhi and King I Aspects of Nonviolence Since Gandhi and King II Nonviolence Course Review I Nonviolence Course Review II
On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Hindu Samaj of Hamilton & Region and the entire Hindu Community of Hamilton & Region, I wish to congratulate the members of the Gandhi Peace Festival team and the India-Canada Society of Hamilton on the eve of the celebrations of Gandhi Jayanthi and other related activities including the annual Gandhi Peace walk. We appreciate your tireless efforts to celebrate the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi who is the Father of the great nation of India and an inspiration to the entire world. Nithy Ananth President Board of Directors of Hindu Samaj of Hamilton & Region
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From Tilak to Gandhi The Power of Nonviolence

-A Brief Historical Perspective
Subhash G. Dighe, PT, BPT, MHA, MCPA, CHE
Subhash Dighe is a long time supporter of Gandhi Peace Festival. He has been active in a number of community organizations in Hamilton. He is a physiotherapist and runs a physiotherapy clinic in Hamilton.
Swarajya (Self rule) is my birthright and I shall have it were the famous words first uttered by Lokmanya (admired or revered by the people) Bal Gangadhar Tilak (23 July1856 1 August 1920). Lokmanya Tilak is considered to be the father of Indian uprising. This brief note is a reminder for us all of how the struggles for the Indian Independence movement rooted in the militant faction were converted and used in the nonviolent fashion to gain Indias Independence. These same concepts are applicable today to fight against the social injustices perpetrated in many parts of the world.
languages respectively to communicate his political thought to the masses. (Later Tilak established Indias first Press Institute in Pune which is considered to this day the premier institute of this type). Tilak aroused his nationalistic notions of Swarajya; not just among the intellectuals of the day but to all rural areas of Bombay Presidency by establishing the Sarvajanic Ganesh Utsav (Public Ganesh Elephant headed hindu deity of wisdom and wealth, celebrations) and Shiv Jayanti (to celebrate the birth of Maratha King Shivaji who fought against the tyranny of the invading Moghal powers in the 17th century).
Around 1890, Tilak came up with a four prong strategy to free India of the British Rule: After graduating from Deccan College, Pune in 1. Swadeshi or Self Reliance 1877, Tilak began teaching mathematics in a private 2. National Education school. Later due to some ideological differences 3. Boycott of foreign goods with his colleagues he decided to withdraw from that 4. Swarajya Self government activity. He became a journalist about this time. He was a strong critique of the Western education Briefly, Tilak understood the value of system which he believed demeaned self reliance and to produce and use the Indian students and disrespected goods locally created or made. He Indias heritage. Tilak established the encouraged the use of cotton milled in Deccan Education Society with help India giving rise to Khadi movement. and participation of his college friends Through Deccan Education Society he Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Mahadeo promoted the National Education Ballal Namjoshi and Vishnu Krishna system and he aggressively promoted Chiplunkar. The goal of Deccan giving up of use of the foreign made Education Society was to improve the goods. Lastly, Tilak was obsessed with quality of education for Indias youth throwing the tyrannical British out and and to create a new system that taught he was sympathetic to the militants young Indians nationalist ideas through for achieving the independence by an emphasis on Indian culture. The Lokmanya Tilak force if necessary. Deccan Education Society established several High Schools and Fergusson Tilak had joined the Indian National Congress where College in Pune. Lokmanya Tilak taught he stated his views forcefully and he was considered mathematics at the Fergusson College. to be a militant. Tilak was supported by fellow Indian nationalists Bipin Chandra Pal in Bengal, Lala Tilak began a mass movement towards Lajpat Rai in Punjab (they were referred to as the independence that was camouflaged by an Lal-Bal-Pal triumvirate) and also by Subhash emphasis on a cultural and religious revival. He Chandra Bose. Tilak opposed the moderate views of established the Kesari (Lion in Sanskrit) and Gopal Krishna Gokhale (the mentor of Mahatma Maratha newspapers in Marathi and English
Gandhi). In 1907, the annual session of the Congress Party was held at Surat (Gujarat). Trouble broke out between the moderate and the extremist factions of the party over the selection of the new president of the Congress. The party split into the Jahal matavadi (Hot Faction or extremists), led by Tilak, Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai and the Maval matavadi (Soft Faction or moderates) controlled by Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866 1915) and his followers. In his career Tilak was charged for Sedition and tried on three separate occasions. He served prison terms for 16 months and 6 years for these charges (On April 30, 1908 two Bengali youths Prafulla Chaki and Kudiram Bose, threw a bomb on a carriage at Muzzafurpur in order to kill Chief Presidency Magistrate Douglas Kingsford of Calcutta, but erroneously killed some women traveling in it. While Chaki committed suicide when caught, Bose was tried and hanged. Tilak in his paper Kesari defended the revolutionaries and called for immediate Swaraj or Self Rule. The government swiftly arrested Tilak for sedition. At trial Muhammad Ali Jinnah represented Tilak. However, Tilak was imprisoned from 1908 to 1914 in the Mandalay Prison, Burma. While imprisoned Tilak wrote the famous Shrimad Bhagwad Gita Rahasya discourse and treatise on Gita extolling the virtues of Karma Yoga doing your duty and taking action without expectation of any reward. Tilak had far reaching ideals and plans in place to create Hindu Muslim unity, and he was a proponent of Hindi as the Indian National language but written in Devnagari script. In April 1916 Tilak founded the All India Home Rule League (which was based on the similar movement undertaken in Ireland). Tilak was actively supported in this effort by
Annie Besant, Joseph Baptista, G. S. Khaparde and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Following the death of Gopal Krishna Gokhale on February 19, 1915 and Bal Gangadhar Tilak on August 1, 1920, Gandhi took on the leadership role. During their political life Tilak and Gandhi had significant ideological differences and did not see eye to eye. However, Gandhi practically followed the four prong strategy developed by Tilak to fight for Indias Independence. Gandhi also followed the concepts of home spun cotton Khadi to create micro industry, and boycotting the imported goods especially the British made woolens and cottons. Gandhi used all the concepts developed by Tilak; the only difference was that Gandhi gained much success through his nonviolence ways. Gandhi did part with his mentor Gokhales teaching when in 1942 he aggressively followed the Quit India movement. Where Tilak developed the strategy and followed its implementation with aggressive militant ways without much success, Gandhi was successful in the end implementing Tilaks strategy in non-violent fashion. This is the true Power of Nonviolence in securing Indias independence.
References: 1. Mandalecha Rajbandi (Marathi Mandalays Prisoner), Author Arvind V. Gokhale, Editor Anand Hardikar, Rajhans Prakashan, Pune 2nd Ed. April 2009. ISBN - 978-81-7434-436-6 2. Google Internet searches (including 1. Bal Gangadhar Tilak - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2. Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Nation First, 3. Max Ab, 4. A Daniels info site.
Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love. Martin Luther King Jr., December 11, 1964 US black civil rights leader and clergyman (1929 - 1968)
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Professor Wangari Maathai: A life of Peace through Traditions and Trees

Sofia Mavumba
Sofia Mavumba, Communications & Media Relations Officer at the City of Hamilton, has experience in International Public Affairs, having worked for Canada in Eastern Africa and the Horn on regional political and diplomatic issues. Sofia enjoys serving her community through her work and personal life and has a keen interest in International Relations/Politics.
In time, the tree also became a symbol for peace and conflict resolution, especially during ethnic conflicts in Kenya when the Green Belt Movement used peace trees to reconcile disputing communities. ..Using trees as a symbol of peace is in keeping with a widespread African tradition. ..
Prof. Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize speech, Oslo 2004
male dominated patriarchal society where she was scorned as a divorcee and a failure she knew that only through alternative means would she achieve her objectives of using peaceful means to bring change. While she is better known internationally for her Nobel Peace Prize that she won in 2004, long before that, Wangari was a strong supporter of the environment and a strong advocate for peace. In 1977 she formed the Green Belt movement.
Mahatma Gandhi methods have influenced numerous protestors the world over. Gandhi stressed fighting by using moral grounds and tradition. By using the peaceful mental weapon of Satyagraha which means insistence on truth using non-violent and noncooperation means he managed to unite the Indian people using their own traditions. This term came from the roots of Ahimsa which basically means that a civilian could intentionally break an unjust law but must be willing and able to pay for it peacefully.
Maathai always believed that tree planting, in addition to greening the environment and bringing sustainability, was a strong symbol of peace making. In the 1970s, through the Green Belt Movement, the idealistic Maathai started planting trees to help women in rural Kenya use their environment to improve their lives. She, however, found it difficult to maintain this nave approach as she came to realize that natural resources were a Professor Wangari Maathai Growing up following the colourful real target for corrupt government life of Kenyas Professor Wangari officials. She watched as trees were Maathai, I have found that the principles of cut without any consideration for sustainability so Satyagraha and even Ahimsa applied in her that corrupt government officials could make extra approach towards an oppressive leadership in money on the side. She couldnt sit and watch these Kenya during the dark days of a one-party rule in injustices unfold without doing something about it. Kenya in the 1980s and 1990s. In October 2002, She realized early on in her career the connection when Prof. Maathai received the Nehru Award in between peace and the environment and the India, she said she had always been inspired by the importance of correcting bad governance so as to ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal get good environment. Nehru. She said "Instead of using their position to enrich themselves, these leaders used their power In the 1980s, The Kenyan government, led by to promote the cause of justice, equity and peace," dictator President Daniel Arap Moi came down hard against the Green Belt Movement. At this time, the Professor Maathai has always advocated for Movement moved away from merely conserving the nonviolence as a way of achieving peace. She has environment to registering people to vote. Professor rooted this in her African traditions. As a woman in a Maathai had by now realized that the political
environment around her was getting toxic, there were a lot of detentions and political arrests and she found that she could not continue operating in a vacuum. She became more vocal and showed her dissatisfaction by planting even more trees. One incident that is well known is the Freedom Corner protests at Nairobis biggest public Park. For a country with some congested neighbourhoods, it was important for citizens to be able to find an untouched place. At this time, in 1989, Maathai learned of a plan to construct a 60 storey tower in the middle of the Park, this tower was to be known as the Times Tower. What was alarming is that the tower was going to include shopping malls, an auditorium, galleries and a parking lot for two thousand cars in addition to a statue of the then Kenyan President, Daniel Moi. All this was done with total disregard of the protected status of the park. The Kenya Times was the ruling party Kenya African National Union (KANUs) newspaper and it was very well connected to the ruling elite. Professor Maathai wrote letters of protest and contacted various newspapers, went to court and appealed to the international community to stop this development. She was threatened with imprisonment but her efforts eventually paid of as foreign investors involved in the project pulled out leading to the death of the project. That was the birth of Freedom Corner. Why is Freedom Corner so significant to Kenyans? It symbolizes a place where the environmental conservation won over modern development. It also symbolizes a place where Kenyans won their power back. It was with this in mind that the Professor went back to Freedom Corner in 1992 to protest the detention of political
prisoners. The mothers of these prisoners laid siege at the corner. These were elderly, helpless and defenceless women. The significance of their presence was that they threatened one thing. If they were to be forcefully removed by Police, they would strip naked in front of the young, mainly male security officers. This is significant in one sense. In African traditions if an older woman, a mother, strips naked in front of her son, he will be cursed forever. This strategy worried the security officers who had strong traditional beliefs. They were concerned that if this threat was met, they would be cursed. What is interesting about this incident is the use of tradition as a means of advocating for non-violent protest. Gandhi himself dressed in traditional Indian dress to fit in with the people he was representing. He became one with these people through dress. Maathai has always believed that tree planting was an important element of African tradition. The Green Belt movement started the tradition of planting trees every time they wanted to send a message of protest to the government. The same methods were used as recently as the post-election violence in Kenya in 2007 when the Professor continued to plant trees for peace. Like Gandhi she understood that culture and tradition are unifying forces and it is a means where the oppressor and the oppressed can find a meeting ground in this case. It also unites the oppressed and gives them the moral obligation to continue based on their traditional values. For me, while Professor Maathai and Mahatma Gandhi lived in different continents, they both proved that use of non violence and the inclusion of traditions, can lead to changing injustice without force.
24-hour Support Line: 905-525-4162 YOU ARE NOT ALONE

We are a feminist organization that believes all women have a human right to live without violence. To achieve this, women must have equal power in their personal lives and in society. We will work for womens equality by challenging discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, ability, sexual orientation, religion, class and other forms of oppression. For further information, please contact us: 75 MacNab St. South, 3rd floor Hamilton, ON, L8P 3C1 Phone 905.525.4573 Fax 905.525.7085 www.sacha.ca
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A Tribute to Acharya Ramamurti (1913-2010)

Rama Singh
Acharya Ramamurti, a revered, senior social activist and leader in the best of Gandhian tradition, was the Director of Shrambharati a non-government organization based in Khadigram, Jamui (Bihar). After the independence, heeding the call of Gandhi to serve the poor of the villages, on May 10, 1954 Ramamurti resigned from his comfortable professorial job as a Lecturer in Queens College at Varanasi and joined Khadigram Ashram with his young family. He served the people of India through his personal services in Bihar as well as through his involvement in and guidance to various peace movements that swept Bihar and the rest of India during 19601970s. In Khadigram, started by Dhirendra Mazumdar, Ramamurti helped to build a Gandhian Service Institution for the rural villages and the place became a centre for the development of social leadership. no discrimination against women; experiment in productive education along Gandhian line; elementary education from class I to VIII. Students were exposed to three hours of productive minor labour in farming and cloth making, 3 hours of formal teaching, and 2 hours of games, music, etc. In late 1957s Ramamurti became engaged in Vinobas Land Gift Movement and walked from village to village collecting land for the landless. This followed being away from the walls of the Institution, directing work in villages, educating people in collective, non-violent ways of living., and the values of sharing. During 1970-1980, with Jaya Prakash Narayan, he led the Bihar Andolan and worked for participatory democracy, building up peoples power as against organized power of the State. During 19801990 he carried out intensive education work in his own Earn and Learn Centre and in thirty neighbouring villages. From 1990-2001 he worked for preventive peace action besides regular institutional activities. Acharya Ramamurti played a major role in Jaya Prakash Narayans Total Revolution Movement. He was JPs right hand and a spiritual advisor to late Prime Minister V.P. Singh. He shunned political position and power and worked for social change. Jaya Prakash Narayans death and the following political climate left him withdrawn inward without a clear goal. He used to call it the decade of the wilderness. I visited him for the rst time in 1998 at Khadigram. Since I was looking for a way to get involved in some peace-related work in India, I asked him (keeping his age in mind-he was 85 then) what his future plans were, what he wanted to do? His answer was that one can help in many ways such as by way of making donations, etc. However, if one wants to make a major change, India is ready for a new peace movement through empowering women. Referring to the legislative changes involving panchayatiraj and 30% reservations for women in elected bodies in India, he said if someone could teach women about their rights and responsibilities, they would take their rights and build a peaceful and just society, a peaceful neighbourhood.
25 www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi
Acharya Ramamurti
The Shrambharati Ashram is located in the district of Jamui in Bihar, about 160 km east of the historic city of Patna, the capital of Bihar. In April 1951, Vinobas Land Gift movement was launched, making it necessary for a workers training centre to be started. On February 26, 1952 Shri Dhirendra Mazumdar, a close associate of Gandhi, came with ve workers and started Workers Training Centre. One time the Ashram had a staff of over 70 and a residential training facility for over 250. The life style at the Ashram was rigorous: an eight hour work day (4 hrs of bread labour and 4 hrs of intellectual work); equal wages for equal work, and
Obviously he had done lot of thinking and had read Gandhi and Vinobas writings on the power of women in peace building. We agreed to make a new beginning and I offered my help to hold an International Conference on Peace, Nonviolence and participatory democracy. The conference was co-organized by Shrambharati (NGO, Khadigram) and McMaster University and held at the site of the legendary city of Vaishali (Bihar) from Feb 23-25, 2002 and it was there that the Mahila Shanti Sena was founded and the rst batch of 108 Mahila Shanti Sainiks were trained. After the conference Acharyaji remarked that the wilderness was over. The rst few years MSS movement spread rapidly and starting from Bihar it spread to Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura and Orissa. Mahila Shanti Sena had annual conferences and based on the availability of funds there were regular MSS training camps. While we all felt that we could have done more had we had funds to support MSS activities, Acharyaji was pleased with the progress and he had built a strong team. MSS is a movement, not an NGO and as such all its programs are available to any group that wants to help womens cause. A high point in my association with Acharyaji was his visit to Canada in September 2003. He delivered the Eighth Annual Mahatma Gandhi Lecture at the Centre for Peace Studies, McMaster University and spent three weeks touring Canada. Mahila Shanti Sena peace movement is Acharya Ramamurtis special contribution to the people of India and to the world. I saw him last in December
2009 in Patna. He said he was pleased with the progress of Mahila Shanti Sena and was sure of its success. Making the Mahila Shanti Sena peace movement a success and helping women to realize their true potential for constructive peace building would be the true homage to Acharya Ramamurti. Acharya Ramamurti was born on January 22, 1913 in the village of Ardhpur in District Jaunpur (UP). He came from an upper-class, farming family. He used to tell the story that in view of his pursuing higher education the expectation in the family was that he would grow up to get the honorary title of Chhote Laat (Deputy Lord), customarily known as Laat Shaheb, in British India. Ramamurti had different plans. He received a MA degree in history from Lucknow and quit his comfortable professorial position to become a freedom ghter, an educationist, a Gandhian thinker, and a social activist. He held several honorary positions. He was President of the national Gandhian organization Servseva Sangh; Chairman, National Education Commission; Director, Gandhian Studies Institute (Varanasi), and lately Chairman of a committee to decide on the process and the procedure how to honour the soldiers of JPs movement in Bihar. Acharya Ramamurti was a witness to Gandhis India and he lamented to have survived long enough to see the demise of Gandhis dream. He was the last link of Gandhi-JP socialism. Acharayaji passed away on May 20, 2010 in Patna (India).
Acknowledgement: This article was prepared with the kind assistance of Ramchandra Rahi, Krishna Kumar, Ram Gulam, Dipak Malik and Rajnarain Singh.
"It is the first 2nd october that we are observing without Acharya Rammurti who passed away last summer. We miss his presence and guidance in continuing the Gandhian task of rebuilding the world and civilization on more humane note.Yet Acharya's half a century's work on self reliance a la Gandhi as practiced in Gandhi's early days in Phoenix farm in South Africa, was repeated in his Khadigram Ashram in district Jamui in province of Bihar; his initiative and leadership in building Mahila Shanti Sena will continue to give clue to many a malaise of our epoch". From Dr. Dipal Malik, Director, Gandhian Institute of Studies, Varanasi (an institution formed and led by Acharya Rammurti )
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Dr. Rama Singh awarded World Citizenship Award

John Burman, The Hamilton Spectator, Apr 29, 2010
The founder of the city's Gandhi Peace Festival has been chosen as the winner of the Hamilton Mundialization Committee's 2010 World Citizenship Award. Dr. Rama Shankar Singh -- who also founded the annual Gandhi Lecture series through the Centre for Peace Studies at McMaster University -- was presented with a bronze medallion designed by the late Hamilton artist Elizabeth Holbrook in a ceremony at city hall last night. Joan Browning, chairperson of the 2010 World Citizenship Award, said in a statement the honour recognizes the "extraordinary contribution Rama Singh has made to the cause of peace, nonviolence and international solidarity for more than three decades, both here in Hamilton and abroad." Singh founded the annual Gandhi Peace Festival 16 years ago, focusing public attention on Gandhi's message of peace. As a long-standing member of the Centre for Peace Studies at McMaster University, Singh was the founder and driving force behind the annual Gandhi Lecture series which, since 1996, has brought many distinguished speakers from around the world to Hamilton. He also co-founded a program for women in India called Mahila Shanti Sena (Women's Peace Brigade). The program has led to training in leadership, harmony, community building and participatory democracy for several thousands of women across several states in India. In addition, several McMaster students have been able to participate in the program in India through internships funded by the Canadian government. Two years ago, Singh, who is also a recognized scientist and Fellow of the American Association for the advancement of Science in 2006 for his work in genetics was instrumental in starting the Gandhi King Day in Hamilton for the promotion of peace and universal solidarity. Rama Singh is currently acting chairperson and professor in McMaster University's department of biology.
The International Day of Peace (also known as the World Peace Day) occurs annually on September 21st. It is dedicated to peace, or specifically the absence of war, such as might be occasioned by a temporary ceasefire in a combat zone. It is observed by many nations, political groups, military groups, and peoples since 1981. This year's theme was Peace = Future. In Hamilton, the International Day of Peace was celebrated by members of the Hamilton Culture of Peace with a gathering at the site of future Hamilton Peace Garden at the north west corner of Hamilton City Hall.
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Mac Peace Week

Mac Peace Week is a week-long celebration of some of Hamilton's finest grassroots peace movements. With hundreds of human rights and social justice initiatives present and active on McMaster University campus, what better place to celebrate? Join us as we pay tribute to Hamilton's culture of peace beginning on Monday, October the 4th at 11 AM at McMaster University's Student Centre. All are welcome, entry is free. Wednesday September 29 - Dr. Graeme MacQueen: 'The Fictional Basis of the War on Terror'. Thursday September 30 - Students Resisting War & Occupation's 'Canada Out of Afghanistan: A Panel on the Occupation'. October 4 - Mac Peace Garden launch - Helping Hands workshop. - Open Circle Stress Management & Inner Peace open house. - Save the Children workshop, Engineers without Borders workshop - 'Saving Green Spaces' workshop moderated by Dr. Graeme MacQueen. - Creative Working Class play 'Salt' & workshop 'Creating Art, Making Peace', and Independent Jewish Voices workshop - Campus Association for Baha'i Students workshop - Mac Amnesty workshop - Students Resisting War & Occupation workshop.
Monday
Tuesday
October 5
Wednesday October 6
Thursday
October 7
Friday
October 8
For more information about workshop times and locations, or for information on how your organization can participate, please visit: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=128696897178673&ref=ts Or contact Chelsea Rothwell at HamiltonGPF@gmail.com
Nelson Mandela on Nonviolence

The Gandhian influence dominated freedom struggles on the African continent right up to the 1960s because of the power it generated and the unity it forged among the apparently powerless. Nonviolence was the official stance of all major African coalitions, and the South African A.N.C. remained implacably opposed to violence for most of its existence. Gandhi remained committed to nonviolence; I followed the Gandhian strategy for as long as I could, but then there came a point in our struggle when the brute force of the oppressor could no longer be countered through passive resistance alone. We founded Unkhonto we Sizwe and added a military dimension to our struggle. Even then, we chose sabotage because it did not involve the loss of life, and it offered the best hope for future race relations.
Gandhi Peace Festival 2010 Nelson Mandela, January 3, 2000 issue of TIME magazine. 28 www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi
Badshah Khan An Unsung Hero

Jahan Zeb
Jahan Zeb Khan is a resident of Hamilton and is currently working with a team on Children Peace Education Project a partnership between Canada and Pakistan.
As the western nations invest money and blood in the violence-stricken Afghanistan and Pakistan, a question arises - how to win the support of the Pashtun population?
Over 50 million Pashtuns who are Muslims by religion form the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and the second biggest in Pakistan. They are also known as Pathans or ethnic Afghans. They are commonly known for their warrior nature and martial history. However, they also produced one of the most successful non-violent movements of the 20th Century, which resisted British colonialism in what is now Pakistan's Pakhtunkhwa province and tribal areas located on the porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
free education to the children. When the schools became popular among the poor people, the British government closed the schools. However, the schools were reopened under the Baacha Khan Trust Education Foundation7 in 2004, which is providing liberal education to children. In 1929, Ghaffar Khan founded the Khudai Khidmatgar (KK or Servants of God) movement to free the Pashtuns and the rest of British India from colonialism through education, social awareness, political rallies and non-violent opposition.
Badshah Khan with Mahatma Gandhi
The story of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (also known as Badshah (King) Khan, Pride of the Afghans and the Frontier Gandhi), the founder of the little-known pacifist movement, has not been told to the people through media, the successive governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as the international community. Servants of God Badshah Khan emerged as a social reformer in the early 1920s with the aim to unite, educate and reform his fellow Pashtuns who were ruled by the British Empire. Pashtuns (also known as Pathans or ethnic Afghans) form the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and the second biggest in Pakistan. Khan also established Azad (free) schools under the leadership of one of the Islamic scholar and freedom fighter Haji Shaheb Turangzai to provide
The KK volunteers, who also included children and women, were known as the Red Shirts because of the red uniform they wore. The red uniform was dubbed by the British as the uniform of communist Bolsheviks, but Khan writes in his autobiography My Life and Struggle that the colour of the uniform was white initially but it was hard to keep it clean in the villages and mountainous land, therefore, KK chose red colour. He further writes, he did not read or know about the Bolsheviks at that time. The KK movement is estimated to have had 300,000 dedicated members - and was described as the first non-violent army in the world. It endured some of the worst suffering of the Indian independence movement on the hands of British
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www.bkefoundation.org www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi
first then by the State of Pakistan for bringing democracy in Pakistan. The KK members were sworn in with the following oath: I promise to refrain from violence and from taking revenge. I promise to forgive those who oppress me or treat me with cruelty. I promise to refrain from taking part in feuds and quarrels and from creating enmity. I promise to treat every Pashtun as my brother and friend. I promise to refrain from antisocial customs and practices. I promise to live a simple life, to practice virtue and to refrain from evil. I promise to practice good manners and good behavior and not to lead a life of idleness. I promise to devote at least two hours a day to social work. The movement later became an affiliate of the Indian National Congress and Ghaffar Khan became a close associate and friend of Mahatma Gandhi where they struggled together to free India. Eknath Easwaran in his book Nonviolent Soldier of Islam: Badshah Khan: a Man to Match His Mountains is telling an international audience about an Islamic practitioner of pacifism at a moment when few in the West understand its effectiveness. Some of the quotes of Badshah Khan mentioned in Easwaran and Badshah Khan books: The Holy Prophet Mohammed came into this world and taught us that A man is a Muslim who never hurts anyone by word or deed, but who works for the benefit and happiness of God. There is nothing surprising in a Muslim or a Pashtun like me subscribing to the creed of nonviolence. It is not a new creed. It was followed fourteen hundred years ago by the Prophet Mohammed. Islam is amal, yakeen, muhabbat (selfless service, faith, and love). Yakeen, faith, is an unwavering belief in the spiritual life. Todays world is traveling in some strange direction. You see that the world is going toward destruction and violence. And the specialty of
violence is to create hatred among people and to create fear. I am a believer in nonviolence and I say that no peace or tranquility will descend upon the people of the world until nonviolence is practiced, because nonviolence is love and it stirs courage in people. There is advantage only in construction. I want to tell you categorically I will not support anybody in destruction. Rediscovery of Peace and Harmony Badshah Khan has paid huge price to abide by his principles, spending around 30 years in British and Pakistani jails. He was nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize. Badshah Khan died in the Pakistan city of Peshawar in 1988 at the age of 98. According to his last wish, he was buried in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, hoping that one day Pashtuns of Afghanistan and Pakistan will be united and live a peaceful life. Although his movement and followers were suppressed, by both the British and Pakistani authorities, Badshah Khan's legacy has survived. His legacy lives on by means of of majority of Pahstuns in Afghanistan and the Awami National Party, a Pashtun-centric political democratic party heading the provincial government in the Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. They are in the local government but they have encountered with the worst violence on Pashtun land which has exported to them. Schools and mosques have constantly bombed. Hundreds and thousands of Pashtuns including elected members, innocent children and elders have been killed. There is no end to this destruction. The Pashtuns do not have the resources to counter the violent idea of destruction and global Jihad (holy war) alone. Therefore, it is very important that we read and understand this undiscovered chapter of history and learn about this visionary, a warrior of peace who, despite all the hardships, continued to preach the gospel of peace. The world needs to discover Badshah Khan from a new perspective when one tends to associate the Islamic world and Pashtuns with violence; it is refreshing to read the life of a great nonviolent Muslim to bring peace and prosperity through the power of nonviolence not only to Pashtuns but to our own streets in the west.
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Peace Poems
A Tribute to Gandhi
Asif M. Khan (Raleigh, North Carolina) Saroj D. Ram (Anand) (sarojdram.wordpress.com)
Gandhi Ji
A saintly man with iron will With worldly means of nothing to nil He won the hearts and minds of a nation And led a struggle against imperial occupation Defeated the greatest empire of the day His weapons but a few words to say He challenged the biggest evil of the society Your caste determines your rank and piety This seemingly unfair and unjust of a system Has exploited the masses and oppressed them He taught the world, resist with nonviolence A concept alien in a world full of violence What an inspiration is he to humanity He taught us all the power of dignity Messiah of peace and advocate of justice Fairness and equality was his practice Every soul is equal in the eyes of God Was the preaching and his lightening rod Firmness of purpose and an unshakable belief From tyranny and slavery a recipe of relief Truth over falsehood said Gandhi, will always win Virtues will be victorious over vice and sin
A savoir had come, we knew it not A saint was born, we knew it not Apostle of peace, captivated us all We were smitten as never before O my country men be strong Gently, he guided us along He had us in full gear Fortitude without fear Bravely we marched along To the tune of his victory song Each set back was a fresh spur Winning freedom was the only cure Nonviolence was the moral armour Jail-going became a badge of honour Spinning-wheel was the only weapon Wearing home-spun was in fashion Knight-hoods and fake honours Were returned to the imperial donors India, blessed with a fearless leader Blend of a saint and seer. A man of peace and truth Who lived that truth Till the man became truth And, Truth they say is next to GOD.
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South Asian Indian Seniors Congregate Dining

The South Asian Indian Seniors Congregate Dining Service offers an opportunity for senior adults to gather and enjoy a delicious Indian style meal, to share pertinent information and social recreation, and participate in VON SMART Seniors Exercises, as they continue to live independently within the community. Events are held once a week from 10:30 a.m. 2:30 p.m.
Locations: Hindu Samaj Temple Hall 6297 Twenty Rd E, Mount Hope Chedoke Twin Pads Hockey Arena 91 Chedmac Dr, Hamilton St. Charles Adult Learning Centre 60 Barlake Ave, Hamilton To volunteer or learn more, please call VON Hamilton Volunteer Services at
905-522-0053
A partnership between VON Hamilton and Seniors Seva Mandal of Hamilton
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Book Review
Violence Against Minorities

by Dr. Binoy Shanker Prasad
(Excerpts from Foreword by Paul Wallace, Professor Emeritus University of Missouri-Columbia, USA) Political violence is everywhere. As we enter the second decade of the 21st century, terrorism has become the contemporary term for events and movements that are marked by religious, ethnic, and ideological characteristics. Terrorism also encompasses groups and splinters that also are motivated basically for power and resources. Often, two or more of these "markers" combine so as to occasion increased intensity. Innocent civilians tend to be the major recipients of human rights violations as indiscriminate violence and threat of violence by movement and state forces become involved in a spiral of violence. Comparative studies of past conflicts inform us as to policy requisites needed for the present and future. In doing so, Dr. Binoy Shanker Prasad examines the origin of political terrorism within a theoretical framework that emphasizes collective behavior and violence. Binoy explains and analyses two movements in opposite sides of the world. One focuses on the Afro-American or Korean American community in the United States and the other on Sikhs in India. Neither of these movements involved the post 9/11 obsessions with radical Islam. Thus, they can be particularly instructive as to our comprehension and policy formulations in regard to political violence stemming from these two concrete case studies as well as the broader comparative examples that he provides. Violence as explained in the two case studies is complex and multi-dimensional. Riots in both the U.S. and India are mixtures of political and criminal motives. They can have all the features of a political protest or movement in earlier stages and involve more criminal activities if the situations deteriorate as in these two case studies. Societal cleavages such as religion and race as well as economic factors become part of the mosaic, which also includes demographic factors such as migration and intergroup frustrations. Scholarly examination of cataclysmic events needs revisiting so as to provide new insights. This book, therefore, should be of immense interest to general readers, researchers and specialists. Paul Wallace, Professor Emeritus University of Missouri-Columbia, U.S.A.
About the Author

Binoy Shanker Prasad holds a PhD from University of Missouri-Columbia, USA. A former Fulbright Scholar in the United States, he has lectured on politics at Delhi University, Mithila University (India), University of Missouri-Columbia, USA, and Ryerson University (Canada). He has also been an invited speaker at many institutions including School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Washington, D.C., George Mason University and Redeemer University. Binoy's areas of specialization are International Studies, Comparative Politics, American and South Asian Studies, Globalization, Race and Ethnicity, Political Violence, Electoral Studies, Political Culture and Behavior. Published (2010) by Bright Scholars Publications, 64, Grant Boulevard, Dundas Ontario, Canada L9H 4MI www.bspublicationsonline.com Phone: 905-627-4084
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Peace, Social Justice and Cmmunity Organizations in Hamilton and Area
PEACE, SOCIAL JUSTICE and COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

Centre for Peace Studies
www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~peace/
Peace Studies is a discipline that seeks to understand war and peace, violence and nonviolence, conflict and conflict transformation, and it looks for ways to promote human well-being through this understanding. Peace Studies is distinguished from other disciplines by its focus, its integration of approaches from varied disciplines, its explicit values and its engaged scholarship. Focus: While many academic disciplines regard war and peace, violence and nonviolence, conflict and conflict transformation as important aspects of human social life, Peace Studies is the only one that puts them at the centre of its study. Integration: While Peace Studies is committed to drawing on the contributions of existing disciplines and disciplinary approaches, it insists on integrating these within its distinctive values and approaches. Values: Peace Studies is one of a number of emerging disciplines that explicitly regards certain conditions as problematic and commits itself both to understanding and to changing these conditions. Just as Women's Studies regards male domination as problematic, and Environmental Studies regards some kinds of environmental destruction as problematic, Peace Studies regards war and certain kinds of violence as problematic. This does not mean one must be a pacifist to enter this discipline and it does not mean one must condemn all violence or every call to arms; but it does mean that Peace Studies as a discipline seeks the diminishment of war and large-scale violence and does not pretend to be neutral on the issue of whether these will dominate the human future. Engagement: Peace Studies is an engaged discipline. This means that the student of Peace Studies will be encouraged to become engaged in practical action in society and to relate this action to what is learned in the classroom. Practical action is crucial to the student's learning (theory and practice are intricately related) and to the empowerment of the student as an agent of change. The Centre for Peace Studies at McMaster University was established by the Board of Governors in 1989. In 1999 Peace Studies became part of the Faculty of Humanities, and in July 2000 the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies was created to provide administrative support and form a home base for students in the three interdisciplinary areas based in Humanities; Comparative Literature, Women's Studies and Peace Studies. As well as offering academic programs, the Centre for Peace Studies annually sponsors the independently endowed Bertrand Russell Peace Lectures and Mahatma Gandhi Lectures on Nonviolence. It has organized several international conferences including the recent second McMaster/Lancet conference on Peace through Health, initiated a number of scholarly publications, and undertaken international projects dealing with peace and justice. The centre has a wide range of international contacts, especially in Central America, Europe, India, Afghanistan and the Middle East. Teaching and research at McMasters Centre for Peace Studies currently focuses on four main themes: Peace Through Health, Human Rights, Peace Education and Peace Activism/Advocacy If you would like to find out more about the Centre's activities, please contact: Dr. Nibaldo Galleguillos, Director Centre for Peace Studies McMaster University, TSH-313 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, Canada, L8S 4K1 Gandhi Peace Festival 2010 34 Tel: 905-525-9140 ext. 24729 Fax: 905-570-1167 E-mail: peace@mcmaster.ca Website: www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~peace/ www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi
Culture of Peace Hamilton

www.cultureofpeacehamilton.com The Hamilton Culture of Peace Network is an active group that welcomes individuals and local groups willing to follow and promote the six principles of UNESCOs Manifesto 2000 During the last ten years, we have held public meetings, received a Millennium Medal, worked to promote the peace initiatives of other groups, and distributed copies of the Manifesto. As an offshoot of the United Nations Association in Canada (Hamilton Branch), we responded to the racial violence that erupted in Hamilton following the 9/11 terrorist attacks by proposing to City council a way to provide safety for those who felt vulnerable because of ethnic, racial, or religious differences. Obtaining funds from the Federal government we created The Citizen Protection Project, and worked with City Council and the Police for several years. During that time we also introduced Peace Dollars as a means of raising funds to support our own work and that of other groups. Each Peace Dollar has the text of Manifesto printed on its back. Since then Peace Dollars have helped to support many charitable efforts. What our Social Geography Project is about While acknowledging the valuable work of existing Round Tables and other collaborative initiatives in the city, Culture of Peace Hamilton is conducting research to assess the size and social attitudes of hundreds of individuals and groups in Hamilton whose voices of concern and compassion are often overlooked or discounted when important decisions are made. The missing link that binds so many smaller groups together is their common passion for social justice and the desire to be heard. This is the bond that links faith groups with environmentalists; those who support food banks with youth gyms; disaster relief workers with womens shelters; and antibullying programs with health promotion or poverty reduction. A possible outcome of this research may be the establishment of a Culture of Peace Commission in Hamilton, based on the six principles of a culture of peace sponsored by the UN. These principles are guidelines which are applicable for individuals and small groups as well as powerful institutions like corporations, city councils, school boards, or even the police. A Culture of Peace Commission could use research of this kind to audit the citys progress towards a more equitable, less violent, society As a result of last years National Symposium about future directions for the Culture of Peace, the Hamilton Culture of Peace Network is presently working actively with members of City Council, the Canadian Dept. of Peace Initiative, the Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace, the Peace Caf at the SkyDragon Cooperative, and other groups. To join the Network, or for information about Peace Dollars and ways to use them for your own groups needs, please contact us at 905-628-4976 or by email at ray.c@cogeco.ca. Gandhi Peace Festival 2010 35
Manifesto 2000 for a culture of Peace and Nonviolence

www.unesco.org/manifesto2000
Six Simple Rules for a better society, drafted by Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.
1. RESPECT ALL LIFE - Respect the life and dignity of each human being without discrimination or prejudice. 2. REJECT VIOLENCE - Practice active nonviolence, rejecting violence in all its forms: physical, sexual, psychological, economical and social, in particular towards the most deprived and vulnerable such as children and adolescents. 3. SHARE WITH OTHERS - Share my time and material resources in a spirit of generosity to put an end to exclusion, injustice and political and economic oppression. 4. LISTEN TO UNDERSTAND - Defend freedom of expression and cultural diversity, giving preference always to dialogue and listening without engaging in fanaticism, defamation and the rejection of others. 5. PRESERVE THE PLANET - Promote consumer behaviour that is responsible and development practices that respect all forms of life and preserve the balance of nature on the planet. 6. REDISCOVER SOLIDARITY - Contribute to the development of my community, with the full participation of women and respect for democratic principles, in order to create together new forms of solidarity.
Local Activities Supported:

The Gandhi Peace Festivals. The Martin Luther King celebrations at Stewart Memorial Church. The Peace and Conflict Studies Student film festivals at McMaster University. The annual McMaster Peace Education Conferences. The Citizen Protection Project for people harassed because of ethnic, racial, or religious differences. The annual Hiroshima/Nagasaki Observance and other events.
Hamilton Centre for Teaching Peace Peace Caf

inside the Sky Dragon Community Co-Op Centre 27 King William Street, Hamilton, ON
Hamilton Centre for Teaching Peace (HCTP) is a local organization that facilitates the development of community-based peace education projects. Its major projects are local workshops, networking events, and the development of a network of "peace cafs". We are the first of a growing number of locally-guided organizations started from Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace, based out of the Sky Dragon Community Centre -- the home of the first peace caf in Canada. This November 11-13 we are hosting the "Conscious Communities Conference", where we will be focusing on the sharing of local knowledge from innovators within the Southern Ontario region, in addition to a youth-focused conference. We are currently working hard on a major expansion of peace cafs in Southern Ontario. By the end of 2010, we will be inviting about a dozen community-based socially-conscious cafs into a new Southern Ontario Peace Caf Network. If you know of any spaces that should be nominated into this network, please feel free to contact us. Currently, peace cafs are operating in Hamilton, Walkerton (Ontario), Nelson (BC), San Francisco, and are opening soon in Victoria (BC) and Moncton (NB). Web: http://www.peacecafe.ca/ Phone: 905-523-0111 Email: info@peacecafe.ca
Hamilton Conscious Communities Conference

Hamilton Centre for Teaching Peace is proud to announce Conscious Communities, a three-night series of local community organizers sharing ideas with short, free and open public presentations to be held November 11-13, 2010 at a number of locations in downtown Hamilton. Nominate a Presenter! We are lining up a schedule of engaging and inspirational presentations, but we could use the communitys help! Were seeking nominations for presentations from people we might not yet know, but would love to celebrate and recognize their contributions while giving them a space to share. Each speaker will be given a strict 15 minute time limit (like TED.com talks) but is free to present however they like: speaking, singing, video, audio, performance art, interactively - whatever! If you or someone you know is a community organizer with great ideas on how to make Hamilton, communities within Hamilton, or wider communities of interest (online, cross-community networks, etc.) thrive as sustainable, safe, and peaceable spaces, were interested! Please email us at conference@peace-education.ca with a name, contact info, and a paragraph about their work towards cultivating conscious communities. (Or, drop us a voice mail at 905-523-0111.)
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The Hamilton Dialogue Group

Who we are: The Hamilton Dialogue Group is a network of individuals and organizations of different belief systems and backgrounds who work to transcend their differences in pursuit of their shared goals. Its focus is on promoting productive relationships in our richly diverse local community it does not take positions on international issues. Our values are: Culture of peace; inclusion; respect; seeing the human in others; acknowledging difference; conflict transformation; willingness to learn Our Strategic objectives are:
1. Addressing inter-group and intra-group relations through facilitated dialogue and workshops 2. Strengthening awareness of Hamilton's religious and ethno-cultural diversity 3. Building relationships and modeling a welcoming, inclusive Hamilton Our membership includes representation from SISO, HCCI, the Muslim Association of Hamilton, Hamilton Council of Canadian Arabs, India-Canada Society of Hamilton, Immigration Partnership Council, North American Spiritual Revival, Muslim Association of Canada. Hindu Samaj, Culture of Peace Hamilton, Hamilton Interfaith Committee, United Church, Anglican Church, Hamilton Regional Indian Centre, Independent Jewish Voices, Stewart Memorial Church, Hamilton Media Advisory Council. Contact: Gary Warner <warner@mcmaster.ca> Anne Pearson <pearsonam@sympatico.ca>
Ashok Kumar <ashokk@sympatico.ca> Yaser Haddara <yaser@mcmaster.ca>
YMCA of Hamilton/Burlington/Brantford
Peace Medal Breakfast

Tuesday, November 23, 2010 Hamilton Convention Centre 7:30am to 9:30am For tickets please visit www.ymcahbb.ca or Call 905-681-1140 x233
Peace has many dimensions. It is not only a state of relationship among nations. We cannot expect to live in a world of peace if we are unable to live in peace with those close to us even those who differ from us. The responsibility for peace begins with each person, in relationship with family and friends, and extends to community life and national activities. ~ YMCA Statement on Peace There are two categories of Peace Medal Awards, the Adult and the Youth: Adult: The YMCA Canada Peace Medal is presented to a member (or group) of the community who has made a significant contribution to peace from a personal, community and/or international perspective. Youth: A second medal is awarded to a young person 25 years of age or younger who has made a significant contribution to peace in their home, school, neighbourhood or community. For details and how to nominate someone for the YMCA Peace Medal, please visit www.ymcahbb.ca Gandhi Peace Festival 2010 37 www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi
Physicians for Global Survival
We are physicians and colleagues (both health workers and others) who work together to be an informed and responsible voice for healing our planet. We collaborate with other health workers across the planet to bring information to people about the continuing threats posed by nuclear weapons; about the devastating effects on population health, and on the environment, of militarism, war and arms acquisitions; and about non-violent alternatives in conflict management. We conduct dialogues with decision makers in our national government and other bodies.
Our mission statement is: Because of our concern for global health, we are committed to: the abolition of nuclear weapons, the prevention of war, the promotion of nonviolent means of conflict resolution, and, social justice in a sustainable world
We feel we played a significant role in bringing the issue of legality of nuclear weapons to the World Court, and in generating action on banning landmines, which culminated in the Ottawa Process. In Canada we have worked particularly to support our colleagues in the Indian and Pakistani communities in educating the public about the effects of nuclear bombs. We have published positions on aspects of violence in culture - media violence, war toys and hand-guns. We oppose low-level military flights over Innu territory in Labrador and have researched the health effects of these. We worked energetically on advocating changes to Canada's nuclear policy, and, with physicians from other countries, changes to NATO's nuclear policy. We worked to dissuade the Canadian Government from joining the US in the highly expensive and questionably effective 'Missile Defence' project and related weaponization of space. We are opposed to current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are part of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. In Hamilton we have a very active group, often enlivened by students and by peace-oriented physicians visiting from other countries. We meet every second Wednesday night at a home near McMaster University and welcome new members. To contact PGS (Hamilton), call 905-979-9696 or send e-mail to: ahmed@mcmaster.ca Visit PGS website for current projects, background papers and links to related sites at: www.pgs.ca
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

ICAN Demands for a Nuclear Weapon Free World
A Treaty to Eliminate the present 25,000 weapons No New Weapons or upgrading of old Threat Reduction: Off high alert & No First Use Nuclear Free Defence Policy: dismantling of NATO nuclear weapons; no nuclear armed vessels in Canadian ports No Fuel for Weapons: no export of uranium to nuclear weapons states or those not signatory to Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty
www.icanw.org
Ignoring the message of Gandhi that violence only breeds violence has left the world to-day with the clock of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists at five minutes to mid-night. The powerful peaceful protests and actions of Gandhi and King brought hope in their day, and bring still in ours, for non-violent solutions. Today many voices are calling for nuclear abolition and are heeding the words of warning of Hans Blix and even Henry Kissinger. ICAN, the Mayors for Peace Campaign, the Ten Steps of the Federation of American Scientists all demonstrate practical and urgent steps to achieve a world without nuclear weapons.
Sign the petition: www.icanw.org/take-action

ICAN is an international campaign to eliminate nuclear weapons organized by International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (www.ippnw.org) Gandhi Peace Festival 2010 38 www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi
Project Ploughshares
Founded in 1976 as the ecumenical peace centre of The Canadian Council of Churches, Project Ploughshares works with churches and related organizations, as well as governments and nongovernmental organizations, in Canada and internationally, to identify, develop, and advance approaches that build peace and prevent war, and promote the peaceful resolution of political conflict.
The policy research, analysis, dialogue, and public education programs promote: the elimination of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction; progressive reduction of the resort to military force in response to political and social conflict; controls on the supply of arms; and positive measures to build conditions of sustainable peace. Project Ploughshares 57 Erb Street West, Waterloo ON N2L 6C2 Tel: (519) 888-6541 Fax: (519) 888-0018 www.ploughshares.ca
The Hamilton Chapter of Project Ploughshares commemorates Hiroshima Nagasaki Peace Day each year with a solemn ceremony at Hamilton City Hall on August the 6th or 9th. This is a tradition well imbedded in the hearts of the citizens of Hamilton and surrounding cities. On Memorial Week, a Peace Concert is often held at one of the churches. An ANNUAL PEACE LUNCHEON will be hosted by our chapter early in the Fall. Representatives from various peace and social justice groups will meet to share ideas and make connections. The Hamilton Ploughshares steering committee usually meets on the first Monday of each month. Please call if you wish to join us at these meetings. For further information please contact: Leonor Sorger <lsorger@hamiltondiocese.com>
Tel: 905-528-7988
The Anti-Violence Network

The AVN, established in March 1997, is a group of McMaster University students, staff and faculty who have met to share concerns, offer support and coordinate efforts against violence on campus. The goal of the AVN is to actively engage students, staff and faculty in working together to create a more respectful campus. Our focus is providing education and support on a number of issues, including racism, LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) diversity, human rights, ability and access, diversity of religion while fostering a commitment to respect, freedom of expression and nonviolence. We also strive to be a positive connection to the greater Hamilton community through collaboration with community services and resources. In addition, the AVN provides volunteer and academic learning opportunities for interested students, as well as student employment. New members to the Anti-Violence Network are always welcome. For information on upcoming events, please visit our website at http://www.mcmaster.ca/avn. Feel free to contact us via email at: avnmcmaster@gmail.com. To speak with members of our executive team, please contact Carol Wood, AVN Facilitator (Chaplaincy Office), 905-5259140 x24127 or Pearl Mendonca, AVN Membership and Communications (Health and Wellness Centre), 905=525-9140 x28675. We look forward to your participation and support! Gandhi Peace Festival 2010 39 www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi
The Childrens International Learning Centre (CILC)

OUR MISSION: With international resources and input from community and global experts, we develop dynamic handson programmes which encourage attitudes of respect for all people and for our common environment. WHO WE ARE: The CILC was established on Oct. 24, 1970, as a volunteer project of UNICEF. In 1988 the Centre was incorporated as a not-for-profit organization with its own board of directors. The Centre is supported by admissions, memberships, donations, grants and volunteers. PROGRAMMES AVAILABLE: Festivals of Light (November 4, 2010 - January 31, 2011). Experience traditions celebrated in the community and around the world which use light in many forms. Observances such as: Christmas, Hannukkah, Diwali, Lunar New Year and many more. Once upon our Nation (Spring and Summer 2011) O Canada! This country is regularly declared to be one of the very best places to live. What makes it that way? Students at every age level and people of evey age should learn stories of the many cultures which combine to make Canada unique and wonderful. Orbit the Earth (January to October). A fun hands-on planetarium-like programme that enables participants to learn about the moon, planets and the stars. Emphasis on earths rare and special qualities which we need to nurture and preserve. The Global Playroom (January to October) A programme for ages 3-5. Through play acting children will begin to understand that people far and near share the same basic needs. OPEN TO: School classes, home schools, community groups, day camps, guiding and scouting units, adult groups and religious groups are welcome to book for a 2 hour programme. We also do FUN-educational birthday parties. The CILC sponsors the International Peace Choir. Their music reflects their mission to promote peace, love, respect, unity and understanding among people. For more information about the Centre, to book a 2 hour programme, or are interested in volunteering please contact us: The Childrens International Learning Centre 189 King William St., (across from Theatre Aquarius), Hamilton, ON L8R 1A7 Tel: 905-529-8813 Fax: 905-529-8911 E-mail: cilc1970@295.ca
Visit: www.cilc.ca
Peace and Conflict Studies Society (PACSS)

The Peace and Conflict Studies Society (PACSS) is a student peace group at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Our aims are to use discussion, events, and constructive action to promote a culture of peace both on campus and around the world. Our mission: Inspire, Inform, Incite ...to use the power and appeal of film and the stories they tell to promote reflection on issues of social justice and responsible change; Our intent is to present a selection of films that appeal to the diverse communities found at McMaster University and in the greater Hamilton area. Our plans for Projecting Peace by showing peace films on the campus are well under way (www.projectingpeace.ca) For further information visit www.pacss.ca or email pacss@pacss.ca
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Amnesty International
Group 1 (Hamilton) and Group 8 (McMaster University)
Amnesty International is a worldwide voluntary movement that works to prevent some of the gravest violations by governments and non-state actors of peoples fundamental human rights. The main focus of its campaigning is to free all prisoners of conscience - those who have been detained because of their beliefs, ethnic origin, sex, colour, or language, and have not used or advocated violence. Amnesty International also works to ensure fair and prompt trials for political prisoners, to end extrajudicial executions and disappearances, and to abolish the death penalty, torture, and other forms of cruel and inhumane treatment or punishment. The organization has received the Noble Peace Prize. Amnesty has always been very happy to co-sponsor the Peace Festival Amnesty Canada Website: www.amnesty.ca To get involved, please contact: Group 1 (Hamilton): Lead Contact: Jeanne Mayo Group 8 (McMaster): Co-Presidents: Avni Mehta & Jesleen Rana
E-mail: amnestygroup1@yahoo.ca Email: mac.amnesty@gmail.com
Environment Hamilton
Environment Hamilton (EH) was incorporated as a not-for-profit organization in 2001 to help Hamiltonians to develop the knowledge and skills they need to protect and enhance the environment around them. The organization emerged out of the efforts of a small group of citizens from east Hamilton who launched an investigation to ensure the City of Hamilton's old Rennie Street Landfill was properly cleaned up. Environment Hamilton has worked on dozens of projects and activities in collaboration with a variety of funders and many local partners to build a sustainable future for Hamilton. We also work alongside residents to deal with pressing environmental issues, making frequent use of the Environmental Bill of Rights and other legal tools. Environment Hamilton is led by executive director Lynda Lukasik and a volunteer board of eight directors, and each project has one or more full or part-time staff. Our current projects include
Dundas Eco-Motion Project Our Local Economy Passport to Hamilton How to reach us:
Eat Local Greening Sacred Spaces Hamilton Rural Routes
Good Neighbour CampaignGreening Moving is NOT an Option Past Projects
Web: www.environmenthamilton.org Email: contactus@environmenthamilton.org Address: 22 Wilson Street, Suite 8 , Hamilton ON L8R 1C5
Phone: 905-549-0900
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KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives
KAIROS: CANADIAN ECUMENICAL JUSTICE INITIATIVES is a web of people and partnerships dedicated to a faithful and decisive response to Gods call for respect for the earth and justice for its people. A faith-based ecumenical organization, inspired by a vision of Gods compassionate justice, KAIROS effects social change through advocacy, education and research programs in: Ecological Justice, Economic Justice, Energy and Extraction, Human Rights, Just and Sustainable Livelihoods, and Indigenous Peoples. KAIROS Campaign 20102011 The Land, Our Life: Indigenous Rights and Our Common Future Indigenous peoples all over the world face unique challenges in terms of poverty, access to education, and other measures of social well-being. A child waking up this morning in an Indigenous community in northern Canada or Ecuador faces a much different, less certain future than the average non-Indigenous child in North America or Europe. Why? Because, historically, European and North American cultures have been in a position to control their own development whereas Indigenous cultures have not. In 2007, Canadian churches celebrated as the United Nations took a step forward in correcting this injustice by adopting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration enshrines the right of Indigenous peoples to make decisions about the use of their lands and the resources within them. Canada and the United States, alone in the international community, have failed to endorse the Declaration. With its recent Statement of Apology to former students of Indian residential schools and the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Canada has taken steps forward in rebuilding its relationship with Indigenous peoples to one based on mutual respect, responsibility, and sharing. Inspired by our faiths tradition of covenant and the Indigenous principles of right relations, KAIROS and its member churches invite you to join us in calling on the government of Canada to endorse and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Campaign Materials Download or order the following educational materials through our website, and use them to hold an event in your church or community. You can also order print materials by phone at 1-877-403-8933, x221, or by email: orders@kairoscanada.org. KAIROS Week of Action booklet: Resources for the KAIROS Week of Action, October 1017, 2010. Includes background information on Indigenous rights and resource extraction, a calendar of events, a bulletin insert for the Week of Action, and a petition calling on the Government of Canada to endorse and implement the UN Declaration. The Land, Our Life campaign booklet: Background information, stories, activities, and prayers for KAIROS 20102011 campaign. 20 pages, price TBD. KAIROS invites you to attend its annual regional meeting. Whatever your background, join the KAIROS network for a weekend of discussion, community, and learning. Well look back at the past year and plan for a new year of grassroots action for social and ecological justice. Email your local contact below for more information or to register. Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Region, October 13, 2010 Mount Mary Retreat Centre 437 Wilson St E, Ancaster ON Contact: Tom Sagar glslKAIROS@gmail.com
The Hamilton Burlington KAIROS Group welcomes new members. Please Email jw4peace@cogeco.ca for information.
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The United Nations Association in Canada

Canadians working for a better UN
Our Mission Statement: The United Nations Association in Canada builds bridges of knowledge and understanding that link all Canadians with the people and nations of the world. Through the United Nations system, we share in the quest for peace, human rights, equitable and sustainable development and the elimination of poverty. The United Nations Association in Canada (UNA - Canada) is a not- for- profit charitable organization that helps inform and educate Canadians concerning United Nations (UN) activities and programmes. UNA- Canada offers Canadians a unique window into the work of the UN, as well as a way to become engaged in the critical international issues that affect us all - human rights, poverty, sustainable development, peace, disarmament and many others. United Nations Association, Hamilton & District Bursary Award Fund The UNAC Hamilton Branch awards an annual Bursary with a value of $500 to a McMaster University graduate student (Master or PhD). The student may be in any department within the University, but the area of research must be an area of interest and importance to the United Nations. The application deadline is May 1 annually. Coordination of the bursary occurs via the Hamilton Community Foundation. Further information and application instructions in PDF format or Word format can be downloaded from their website. For further information contact: UNA-Canada Hamilton, Brian Reid, President, 25 Lynndale Drive, Dundas ON L9H 3L4 Tel: 866-436-UNAC (8622) www.hamilton.unac.org info@hamilton.unac.org
The Malhar Group Music Circle of Ontario

Operating since 2001, the Malhar Group Music Circle of Ontario is an incorporated not-for-profit arts organization based in Hamilton and dedicated to the sole mission of presenting and promoting Indian classical music and musicians. The Malhar Group operates in Southern Ontario and holds musical events of excellent standards. The group is focused to create opportunity for all to listen to and to learn about this great musical heritage in its traditional forms. Our activities include: Annual music festival (Springfest) every year in the month of May in Hamilton to celebrate South Asian Heritage Month in Ontario. This is our signature event. This festival is partly funded by Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario. In-school Lecture-Demonstrations on Indian classical Instrumental music in Ontario schools which for the last two years have reached about 6500 school children of 26 schools in Hamilton school Boards. This project has been funded fully by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, an agency of the Government of Ontario. Free informal Listening Sessions on specific musical themes, such as a Raga, to cater to the needs of highly motivated and dedicated members of the group. Community Outreach activities such as participating in Hamilton Mustard Festival, Asian Heritage Month, Culture Days in Canada and others. Contacts: Email: tmg@themalhargroup.org twitter.com/themalhargroup Gandhi Peace Festival 2010 http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=22467878504 Telephone: 905-627-7496 43 www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi
Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW)

Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW) is a womens grassroots, non-partisan, non-governmental organization (NGO) that works locally and internationally on the linkages of peace, social justice, human rights, and sustainable development issues. We maintain a focus on womens full inclusion in decision-making related to peace and security at all levels, and advocate for the implementation of the unanimously adopted 2000 UN Security Council Resolution 1325, on Women, Peace and Security. Founded in 1960 in an effort to stop nuclear weapons testing, VOW also continues to advocate for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the peaceful settlement of conflict. We join with those who tirelessly struggle to create a lasting culture of peace. Pictured on the left are panels from our newest project, the VOWcoordinated peace exhibit, BUILDING PEACE MAKING HISTORY, 100 Years of Women's Peace-Building in Canada. This distinctive, five-panel, bilingual exhibit features an exquisite photo gallery of women's persistent struggles for peace, equality and justice across Canada and around the world spanning the last century. This rare opportunity is available to organizations, institutions and galleries on a pay-as-you-can basis. To showcase this PEACE EXHIBIT in your area or at your local event, please contact us at 416-603-6534 or Email: vow@ca.inter.net. Ontario VOW Chapter activities include hosting peace related events in local communities; encouraging diplomatic and civil society dialogue and respect amongst all people; calling on governments to find peaceful solutions to violent conflict while working to end all war; helping to raise funds to assist women, girls, and communities in need around the globe, especially in areas ravaged by war and conflict; and working toward our unwavering vision of steady conversion of the pervasive culture of violence to a culture of peace. We welcome women who support our values and goals to join with us. Call VOW at 416-603-7915 to join or visit us online at VOWPEACE.ORG to donate. Internationally, VOW is one of the NGOs cited by UNESCO's standing committee in the working group report entitled "The Contribution of Women to the Culture of Peace". An accredited NGO to the United Nations, affiliated to the Department of Public Information (DPI) and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), VOW has been influential in working with other NGOs at the United Nations in bringing about the historic UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. Currently, we are planning a VOW National Public Awareness Campaign to bring this crucial resolution to the forefront and to advocate for its systematic implementation. Please visit VOW online at VOWPEACE.ORG to find out more about SC Res. 1325 and other VOW peace, security and human rights initiatives. Together, as Canadians, we can draw on our unique strengths and wisdom to re-direct the world from its current path of failing globalist economic agreements and aggressive militarism to a world where social justice, participation, sustainability and peaceful negotiation provide hope for a secure and viable future. We welcome new members and donations. Contact VOW at 416-603-7915, Email: vow@ca.inter.net, or Visit Online: VOWPEACE.ORG
Act Locally Local Events Information
actlocally.info provides a place for environmental, peace, social justice, anti-racism groups and other community organizations in the Halton, Hamilton and Niagara regions of Southern Ontario to promote their activities and share information. Non-profit groups can post upcoming events directly to the website, and individuals can receive a list of these events every week by email. The website was initiated by the Western Lake Ontario Environmental Coalition and is now managed by the Hamilton Area Eco-Network. Find the details at: www.actlocally.info Gandhi Peace Festival 2010 44 www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi
Community-based Interfaith, Peace and Cultural Groups Hamilton Quakers

Hamilton Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. Proclaiming a testimony of peace since its founding 355 years ago, the Quaker faith is one of the officially recognized "peace churches" in Canada. Meeting for Worship is every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Children's Religious Education is provided most weeks -- call to confirm. Anyone who feels called by the Spirit to speak may offer ministry during this time of worship. All are welcome. Friends in Hamilton Meeting are involved in a wide variety of peace, social justice, and environmental activities. We invite you to join us. Hamilton Quaker Meeting, 7 Butty Place, Hamilton, ON, L8S 2R5. Phone: 905-523-8383. Website: www.hamiltonquakers.ca E-Mail: info@hamiltonquakers.ca
BAND (Burlington Association for Nuclear Disarmament)

The Burlington Association for Nuclear Disarmament, (BAND), is a community organization established in 1983 to educate its members and the public on the dangers of nuclear weapons and to promote peace and disarmament. Although BAND is a small group (about 60 members) from a small city, our members believe strongly in the importance of raising public awareness at a community level. We follow the motto "think globally - act locally". Our local actions have been mostly educational by organizing public talks by prominent peace advocates such as Joseph Rotblat, Rob Green, Barrie Zwicker, Jim Loney and Rosalie Bertell. We also lobby the Canadian government in peace and disarmament issues through a letter-writing committee. BAND is a member of several regional, national, and international coalitions working for peace and nuclear disarmament including the November 16 Coalition and the Culture of Peace Coalition in the Hamilton; the Canadian Peace Alliance; and Abolition 2000. If you would like more information on BAND - or would like to become a member please contact us at band@cogeco.ca or at 905-632-4774.
IDEA Burlington (Interfaith Development Education Association)

IDEA Burlington (est. 1985) is an association of people from many faiths. It strives, through study, spiritual reflection and resultant action, to empower us and others to promote peace and justice, locally and globally. For information, resources and speakers, or to connect with other organizations, call 905-521-0017, idea@cogeco.ca
Hamilton Action for Social Change

Committed to social change through nonviolent direct action, Hamilton Action for Social Change is involved in activating and encouraging creative responses to the issues facing our communities. Box 19, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton E-Mail: hamiltonaction@gmail.com Web: www.hwcn.org/link/hasc/
Sky Dragon Community Development Co-operative

The Sky Dragon Community Development Cooperative is a grassroots non-profit organization committed to the goals of progressive social and environmental change. Sky Dragon operates a number of projects out of its Community Development Centre (CDC), located at 27 King William Street in downtown Hamilton. The CDC houses studio and meeting spaces for wellness and arts classes and includes an art gallery space. The Bread and Roses Caf operates on the ground floor of the centre, and serves fair trade and locally grown organic food at affordable prices. Bread and Roses also hosts a packed series of evening events including teach-ins, open-mics, jams, drum circles and live music. Sky Dragon also publishes Mayday Magazine, a monthly print forum for progressive thought. For more information about Sky Dragon, the organization's mandate and how you can get involved, drop by the CDC; check out www.skydragon.org, email kevin@skydragon.org or phone: 905-777-8102. Located at 27 King William Street, Hamilton. Gandhi Peace Festival 2010 45 www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi
Hamilton Mundialization
The Hamilton Mundialization Committee is a council mandated advisory committee which responsibility is to facilitate and support peace initiatives and the twinning relationships between Hamilton and its nine twin-cities around the world. Its purpose is to assist City Council in implementing its Mundialization resolution. The main functions are: To promote Hamilton as a "Mundialized City" dedicated to global awareness, international cooperation and world law. To further the work of the United Nations through publicity and education and to have the United Nations flag flown with the Canadian flag from the City Hall at all times. To undertake twinning programs in international cooperation with like-minded municipalities around the world. To involve Hamilton citizens of different cultures, especially those from the countries of our twinned communities, to share in our multi-cultural programs. The Hamilton Mundialization Committee welcomes any individual or organization to join its membership and, to participate in any of the mundialization programs and special events through out the year. Any inquiry may be forwarded to: The Hamilton Mundialization Committee, c/o The Corporate Services, 71 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8P 4Y5, Tel: 905-541-3456, e-mail: info@mundialization.ca, website: www.mundialization.ca
Free the Children

Free The Children at McMaster is part of the international Free The Children organization, the world's largest network of children helping children through education. At McMaster, the Free The Children club is devoted to raising money to build schools in Sierra Leone, and to raise awareness among McMaster students of the poverty and exploitation faced by children in other parts of the world. Though the club is still quite young, over the last few years, it has raised enough money to pay for its first school. For further information or to join the Free The Children e-mail list, please contact ftcatmac@gmail.com.
Open Circle
A diverse and consensus-based community for McMaster students where we value, respect, and learn from each other Creating forums to discuss life, spiritual and societal issues Linking McMaster students to volunteer together in weekly groups throughout Hamilton http://www.opencircle.mcmaster.ca/ Contact: Sonika Kainth at sonikainth@hotmail,com or call 905-528-1221 ext. 4
Hamilton Eat Local

In a Gandhian spirit, Hamilton Eat Local works to promote a sustainable food system in the City of Hamilton. Our objectives are to: Create a more supportive environment for local farmers and urban growers; Assist and encourage Hamiltonians to eat more locally produced food; Improve food knowledge and skills in our community; and Empower people to utilize neglected food sources. For more information on any of the projects: www.environmenthamilton.org/eatlocal E-Mail: contactus@environmenthamilton.org), Phone: 905-549-0900
46
The India-Canada Society of Hamilton and Region
Founded in November 1973, the India-Canada Society is a secular non-profit organization devoted to upholding the rich social and cultural heritage of Indians of South Asian origin, contribute to the enrichment of Canadian life and culture and championing the social and cultural interests of the Indo-Canadian community. Engagement in universal social causes India-Canada Society has a rich history of engaging actively both in policy making and public education, to promote such universal causes such as cultural diversity, community harmony, human rights, and nonviolence. For example, the Society played an active part in the establishment of a human rights committee during the mid-1970s, which was the first of its kind in the country and it included representatives from the regional police, the church, community leaders and government. The committee's work and interest in the fight against racism generated significant awareness on the issue, and led to the formation the Mayor's Race Relations Committee. Community engagement With an explicit intention to contribute to the variety of Canadian life and experience, the Society has actively sought to facilitate mainstream dialogue around the rich Indian philosophy and culture. Over the last twenty-five years for example, the Society has cooperatively hosted major national and international speakers and has helped celebrate the work and life of such pre-eminent Indian figures in arts, culture and philosophy as Gandhi, Tagore, Radhakrishnan, Vinoba Bhave, Ramanujan, Nehru, Aurobindo, Ravi Shankar, and Rukmini Devi Arundale. For this it has worked very closely with various departments at McMaster University (History, Music, Religion, Philosophy, Political Science, Women's Study, Peace Centre etc.). The Society continually strives to remain engaged in issues of specific interest to the Indo-Canadian community by undertaking and supporting initiatives such as creating workgroups that focus on the special needs of community women, and youths. More recently the Society is actively participating in a grassroots effort to shape provincial health policy aimed at seniors aging at home. The Society is in active communication with other organizations in the city, like Dialogue Group, SISO, Hindu Samaj, HCCI and Seniors Seva Mandal to name a few, and is always prepared to lend a helping hand. We try to help new comers from India to this community to integrate and feel comfertable here. Please contact us if you need such help. Member mobilization The Society holds a number of events for its members. Among these are annual picnics, formal dinners and informal social gettogethers. It has also organized Indian language classes for children and cultural functions spanning music programs to major drama productions of such classics from Indian literature as "Meghadutam" (Cloud Messenger) written by Kalidasa. India-Canada Society and the Gandhi Peace Festival India-Canada Society started the Annual Mahatma Gandhi Peace Festival in 1993, a year before Gandhis 125th birth anniversary. It is now a co-sponsor of the Festival with the Centre for Peace Studies, McMaster University. Over the years the Gandhi Peace Festival has grown to become a cultural icon of the city, drawing participants from various cultural backgrounds and walks of life. To further advance the causes of human rights, nonviolence, and peace, the India-Canada Society launched a fund-raising drive to establish a Gandhi Nonviolence Lectureship/ Chair at McMaster University. The Gandhi Lectureship was inaugurated in 1996. The Society hopes to facilitate the establishment an Endowed Chair at the Centre for Peace studies to promote research and teaching on Nonviolence, Peace and Social Justice, specifically drawing from the philosophy and teachings of Gandhi. Some activities we are planning for the near future (a) An evening of Ghazals with renowned visiting Ghazal singers from India sometimes in the middle of November. (b) Multi-Lingual Music Medley: an evening showcasing the music of India in many Indian languages, aiming for about 10 to 12 languages from all parts of India. We are planning to make it a real gala affair and will include dinner as well.
India-Canada Society launches a new Childrens Program: ICS Little Mnds

In view of the dual facts that the current ICS Board Members and its larger membership comprise a balance of young families with little children,the ICS is launching a new monthly program for children starting October 2010. The goal of ICS Little Minds is to develop among the children and youth of Indian origin a sense of identity and connectedness with their roots, literature and popular arts. If you are interested in the work the Society is engaged in and would like to join as a member or volunteer, please contact us: Ashok Kumar, President, Phone: 905-575-7795 E-mail: indiacanadasociety@gmail.com Jay Parekh, Treasurer, Phone: 905-388-5791 Web: www.indiacanadasociety.org Monolina Ray, Direector, Phone: 905-648-4496 (specially for childrens program) Ravi Selvaganapathy, Director, Phone:905-627-0999 ((specially for childrens program)
47
South Asian Heritage Association
On December 14, 2001 the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario passed MPP Raminder Gills Private Members Bill, Bill 98, proclaiming May as South Asian Heritage Month in Ontario. Raminder Gill was the second South Asian elected to the Ontario Provincial Legislature in 1999. The South Asian Heritage Act, 2001 also marks May 5th as South Asian Arrival Day, commemorating the first arrivals from the Indian subcontinent to the Americas, beginning May 5, 1838. South Asian immigrants began arriving in Ontario at the start of the 20th century. South Asians came to Canada from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Afghanistan. Six years ago, a number of community leaders representing various countries and sectors of the South Asian community in Hamilton came together to form a committee to celebrate and promote South Asian Heritage Month in Hamilton in the month of May. To give spirit to the Legislation we host our annual event on second Saturday in the month of May. Every year we have different themes such as: Brides of South Asia, Folk Dances of South Asia, and Tribute to Slumdog Millionaire, and A Tribute to Bollywood. Our events are free of charge; the next event is on Saturday, May 13, 2011. Please contact us If you want to join our Committee: E-Mail: celebrate_southasian_month_08@yahoo.com Indu Singh 905-807-4638, Jesmin Haq 905-304-3350 Noshi Gulati 905-692 5596, Zafar Pasha Siddiqui 905-296 6636
Mayor Fred Eisenberger receiving a traditional Nepalese welcome at the South Asian Heritage Festival of Hamilton, May 2010
An Indian Classical Dancer
South Asians from different nations under one banner in Hamilton Indian Classical Dancers
A Bangldeshi Dancer
48
Hamilton Malayalee Samajam

A cultural, non profit Community Organization for the people of Kerala For Hamilton Malayalees (People of Kerala India, who speak the language Malayalam) it is once again festival time. We have just celebrated Kerala's most celebrated festival called THIRU ONAM. In Kerala it is the harvest festival and the most joyous season. People of Kerala showcase many forms of stage presentation unique to its cultural heritage. This year we have invited a local group of Professional Kerala drummers called Chenda Adi performers wearing authentic Kerala custumes who have mesmerized a crowd of over 500 guests. It was followed by the arrival of King Mahabali and his entourage, an imitation snake boat race, breathtaking classical dancers of all ages and style, highly acclaimed Villadichan Pattu were all presented on stage in our community centre at Woodburn Kerala Canadian Centre in the east mountain. This year's event was on Saturday August 30, 2008.The most celebrated part of this festival is the traditional 'Onam Sadhya' (Dinner) the elaborate meal served on banana leaf ; all authentically home-made by the chefs from our own community every year. HMS is always proud to be an active participant each year at the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Festival, which has become an icon of Hamilton's most celebrated all inclusive Festival of Peace. On this joyous occasion of the 16th Annual Mahatma Gandhi Peace Festival; HMS brings greetings from all Kerala people from Hamilton and Region to all participants and guests. Our organization genuinely appreciates the initiative taken by the India-Canada Society of Hamilton and Region. The Peace Walk through the streets of Hamilton every year provides a particular inner feeling for all the peace lovers who participates in this wonderful annual event of our city. Congratulations to all the organizers. HMS believes that we all have to play an active role in Giving back to the Community also. We participate in the 'Ride and Stride' event for the Canadian Cancer Society and raise sizable amount of money every year. At the community centre we have plenty of programs for the seniors, women and the youth. On the cultural front, HMS organizes the Malayalam School and Bharatha Natyam classical Indian dance classes. The major annual programs are Talent Show, Cancer Walk, Thattu Kada, Picnic, Onam Celebration, Christmas Dinner and New Year celebration. Once again, Congratulations to India-Canada Society and McMaster University Centre for Peace Studies for all your efforts to highlight the message of peace in our City. In a world of turmoil and unrest, we can be truly proud of setting an example. May the message of PEACE prevail in our hearts always. Jacob Joseph, Chairman, HMS Board of Directors: e-mail: jacobjoseph@cogeco.ca Binu Baby, President, HMS Executive Committee: e-mail: babybinu@hotmail.com
Women for Women

Who are we? Women for Women of India, a Non-Profit, Non-Political Association of Women dedicated to promoting a good quality of life through community partnerships for women of diverse cultural, linguistic and religious backgrounds of Indian origin. Calendar of Events include: Circles Of Support Social Activities Information Sessions
Goals To achieve full settlement and integration into Canadian Society while maintaining the Objectives culture and heritage of India. To create a forum for exchange of ideas, issues and To celebrate and showcase the leadership and common concerns and resolve challenges and tensions contribution of Indian Women to Canadian Society. encountered while living in Canadian Society. To work towards the recognition and establishment of To create opportunities for socialization to address the culturally sensitive / appropriate programmes, services isolation experienced by Canadian Indian Women. to support, counsel and mentor Women of Indian origin. Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month. For futher information call 905-389-0017. Gandhi Peace Festival 2010 49 www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi
Friends of the Festival

The Gandhi Peace Festival Committee has launched a drive to establish an endowment fund in support of the Gandhi Peace Festival at the Centre of Peace Studies, McMaster University. The Gandhi Peace Festival was started in 1993, a year before the 125th anniversary of Gandhis birthday, and has been held annually in the City of Hamilton. To our knowledge, this is the first Gandhi Peace Festival of its kind and we would like to do everything possible to make it a permanent part of Canadian cultural heritage. We encourage individuals as well as organizations to support it. Donations to Gandhi Peace Festival are tax-deductible. Cheques should be made out to: McMaster University (Memo: Gandhi Peace Festival) and mailed to: The Centre for Peace Studies McMaster University, TSH-313 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4M2. For information, please contact: Dr. Rama Singh, 905-525-9140 x24378 E-Mail: singh@mcmaster.ca www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi
As a token of our appreciation, the names of all doors to Gandhi Peace Festival Fund, with their consent, will be listed in this publication to serve as an encouragement to others.
WE THANK THE FOLLOWING FRIENDS OF THE FESTIVAL FOR THEIR DONATIONS

Anthony and Philo Vayalumkal Ashok and Nirmala Dalvi Bhawani and Rama Pathak Binoy and Reeta Prasad Canadian Afro-Carobbean Assoc. Douglas and Sheila Davies Douglas Scott East Plains United Church Girija and V S Ananthanarayanan George and Leonor Sorger Hamilton Malayali Samajam Harish and Connie Jain Hemant and Abha Gosain Hirsch and Indra Rastogi Jay and Rekha Parekh Jose and Anita Kudiyate Kanwal Shankardass Khursheed and Maroussia Ahmed Kiran and Rupa Jani Lakshman and Saras Das Mahendra and Jyoti Joshi Mani and Sujatha Subramanian Monolina and Saurav Ray Narendar and Chitra Passi Naresh and Meena Sinha Naresh and Munmuni Singh Naresh and Saroj Agarwal Nawal and Veena Chopra Nidhi and Mukesh Jain Nikhil and Bharati Adhya O.P. Bhargava Om and Anjana Modi P.L. Kannappan Prakash and Sunita Abad Prem and Nisha Lal Radhey and Rajni Gupta Raj and Sudesh Sood Rajat and Manju Bhaduri Rama Shankar and Rekha Singh Ray cunnington Salim Yusuf Sanatan Mandir (Toronto) Satindar and Rita Varma Shobha and Ravi Wahi Sri Gopal and Shanti Mohanty Subhash and Jayashree Dighe Sushil and Shashi Sharma T. Biswas Tilak and Krishna Mehan Uma Sud V.K. Sehgal Vishal and Shivani Sud
A Very Special Thank You to Our Supporting Organizations

The West End Physiotherapy Clinic, 10 Ewen Rd., Hamilton
Physicians for Global Survival (Hamilton Chapter) Population Health Research Institute
SACHA - Sexual Assault Centre of Hamilton and Area Gandhi Peace Festival 2010 50 www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi
2010 Gandhi Peace Festival Committees and Volunteers

Chair: Editor: Rama Shankar Singh Khursheed Ahmed Festival Coordinator: Chelsea C. Rothwell Philosophy and Communication Studies McMaster University Joy Warner - Kairos, Voice of Women Khursheed Ahmed - Physicians for Global Survival Leonor Sorger - Interfaith Council for Human Rights/ Project Ploughshares Mahendra Joshi Hindu Samaj Temple Mani Subramanian Hindu Samaj Temple Mark Vorobej - Department of Philosophy Nancy Doubleday Centre for Peace Studies Nikhil Adhya - India-Canada Society Ray Cunnington Hamilton Culture of Peace Richard Preston Canadian Dept. of Peace Initiative Sri Gopal Mohanty India-Canada Society Sofia Mayumba, Hamilton Mayors Office Subhash Dighe - West End Physiotherapy Clinic Advisory Committee: Anne Pearson - Hamilton Interfaith Council Anupam Bagchi The Malhar Music Group Ashok Kumar - India-Canada Society Binoy Prasad - India-Canada Society Nibaldo Galleguillos Director, Ctr for Peace Studies Gary Warner (Emeritus) McMaster University George Sorger - (Emeritus) McMaster University Graeme MacQueen (Emeritus) McMaster University Harish Jain, India-Canada Society Helena Collins - Centre for Peace Studies Jahan Zeb- Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion Janice Lukas - Hamilton Media Advisory Committee Jay Parekh - India-Canada Society Jose Kudiyate - Hamilton Malayalee Samajam Organizing Committee: Ashok Kumar Binoy Prasad Chelsea C. Rothwell (Coord) George and Leonor Sorger Jay Parekh
Khursheed Ahmed (Editor) Mark Vorobej Nikhil Adhya (Coordinator) Raj Sood Reeta Prasad
Rama Singh (Chair) Ray Cunnington Sofia Mayumba Sri Gopal Mohanty Subhash Dighe
Panel Discussion: Protecting Green Spaces: The Question of Tactics Moderator: Prof. Graeme MacQueen (Emeritus) McMaster University Mac Peace Week: Nancy Doubleday (Chair) Chelsea C. Rothwell (Coordinator) Food: Provided by Friends of the Festival: Prakash and Sunita Abad Nikhil and Bharati Adhya Ashok and Nirmala Dalvi Sri Gopal and Shanti Mohanty Rama and Rekha Singh Food Supplied by: India Village Restaurant, Ancaster 905-304-1213 Coffee provided by : Jeffrey & Maria Bell (Time Hortons - Behind the Scenes Management Inc. www.btsmgmt.com) Multimedia: Photography: Khursheed Ahmed, Subhash Dighe Videography: Jenna Bihun Graphic Design: Rachael Sloat, Parker D. Martin
Publicity: McMaster Student Union (MSU) Radio CFMU 93.3 The Silhouette (MSU Newspaper) The Hamilton Spectator Hamilton Radio 900 CHML, Y95.3 FM Bhajanawali Webcast (www.bhajanawali.com) CJMR 1320 AM (6:30 - 7:30 pm) CHML Radio - Hamilton Eye on Asia (TV) - (Phone 905-274-4000)
Sound System: Jordan Abraham Studio J. (Phone: 905-522-7322) Facilities Arrangements: Hamilton City Hall staff members
Volunteers: Each year dozens of people from the community help us organize the Peace Festival. We are indebted to them for their services but are unable to list their names due to lack of space.
THANK YOU
Memories of 2009 Gandhi Peace Festival

(Theme: Swadeshi: Gandhi's Economics of Self Reliance)
The Round Dance by Six Nations children
The Raging Grannies of Hamilton
Leading the Gandhi Peace March
Women for Women of India and McMaster Students
Prof. Rajmohan Gandhi Guest Speaker (Photos by Khursheed Ahmed) Gandhi Peace Festival 2010 52
Mrs. Preeti Saran Consul General of India, Toronto www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi
The 18th Annual Gandhi Peace Festival

Hamilton City Hall, 71 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, Canada
2010 Theme: The Power of Nonviolence

Saturday, October 2, 2010
Programme
10:00 - 10:30 am 10:30 - 11:00 am Refreshment, Information Tables, Music Entertainment: - Anita Hiripi (Violin) and Mate Szigeti (Flute) - Terra Lightfoot (Live band) Master of Ceremonies - Joy Warner Greetings - Dr. Rama Singh, Chair, Gandhi Peace Festival - Dr. Nibaldo Galleguillos, Director, Centre for Peace Studies - Mr. Ashok Kumar, President India-Canada Society Welcome - Mayor Fred Eisenberger Peace Prayer Mrs. Chitra Mathur Cultural Program - Margaret Bordos and Krista Rhodes (vocal) - Women for Women of India (dance) - Raging Grannies - International Peace Choir - Globe Youth Centre of SISO "On Expressions of Peace: voices from the Globe." Keynote speaker Dr. Yaser M. Haddara "Nonviolence, Fear, and the Politics of Oppression" Award for Community Service Canadian Department of Peace Initiative Mr. Bert Wreford Thanks and Announcements Dr. Rama Singh PEACE WALK Free Hot Indian Vegetarian Lunch Terra Lightfoot (Live band)
11:00 - 12:00 am
12:00 - 1:00 pm 1:00 - 3:00 pm
Keynote Speaker Gandhi Peace Festival 2010 Haddara Dr. Yaser M.
53
Community Service Award Winner www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi Christopher Cutler
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Living Gandhi Today 2010

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GANDHI PEACE FESTIVAL

Graphics by Parker David Martin (parkerdavidmartin.tumblr.com)

The 18th Annual Gandhi Peace Festival Saturday, October 2, 2010

Gandhi Peace Festival 2010

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24-hour Support Line: 905-525-4162 YOU ARE NOT ALONE

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Dr. Rama Singh awarded World Citizenship Award

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About the Author

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Peace, Social Justice and Cmmunity Organizations in Hamilton and Area

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Gandhi Peace Festival 2010

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Ashok Kumar <ashokk@sympatico.ca> Yaser Haddara <yaser@mcmaster.ca>

Peace Medal Breakfast

Peace, Social Justice and Cmmunity Organizations in Hamilton and Area

Physicians for Global Survival