Peace Talks Radio

SEEKING PEACE ON EARTH: A PEACE TALKS RADIO SPECIAL (2012). It's our annual compendium of compelling moments from shows of the past year. You'll hear: Young women from opposing sides in the Middle East conflict come together to work for peace. A former West Point grad and Army captain puts the 'warrior ethos' to use in his post-service peace work. A Republican and a Democrat agree on what to do to improve our political discourse. A West Oakland neighborhood coming together over an effort to bring better food to its residents. A former Afghan ambassador talking about essentials of diplomacy. Practical and heart-felt ideas about finding peace around death and dying. The story of how the famous peace symbol was created How to become a Peace Ambassador. ... and more.

Two Harvard scholars with recent books are featured in this edition of Peace Talks Radio. Steven Pinker, author of The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, says we seem to be living in one of the most peaceful eras in human history, despite the level of violence still at play in the world. He talks about his research. Then Donna Hicks talks about her book Dignity: The Essential Role It Plays in Conflict Resolution. She spells out 10 essentials for showing each other dignity and the 10 most common pitfalls. Two engaging interviews. Paul Ingles hosts.

On this special election season edition of Peace Talks Radio, an assessment of the degree of the problem, and some ideas on how to address it, from a number people. We’ll hear from current Democratic congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio, former long-term Republican congresswoman Connie Morella from Maryland – both of whom actually agree on several things they think will help. We’ll also talk with two media analysts - Western Washington University's Michael Karlberg and Hakim Bellamy of the Media Literacy Project, who’ll comment on the media’s role in heightening incivility in political discourse. And we’ll hear from a woman who’s launched an online project she thinks may help things a bit, by taking a kitchen table around the country. Paul Ingles hosts

On this episode of Peace Talks Radio, we revisit the story of a non-profit program called Creativity for Peace which includes a camp experience in the high desert of New Mexico for adolescent girls from all sides in the Middle East conflict. At the annual camp, t he girls speak their minds and hearts about their own suffering due to the hostilities. Despite being taught to see the other as the enemy, they learn to get along and even be friends. More importantly perhaps, they learn important lessons in conflict resolution. On this program, host Carol Boss talks with two former campers, now young women, who have stayed with the Creativity for Peace organization as young leaders both at the camp and actively working for peace in their homelands. Palestinian Jwana Ghaleb and Israeli Jew May Freed were back in New Mexico to help at the summer camp in 2012 when Carol talked with them.

In the spring of 2012 - PEACE TALKS RADIO attended a training exercise put on by the US Institute of Peace in Washington DC. It's called SENSE - which stands for Strategic, Economic Needs and Security exercise. Forty to sixty people participate by taking on roles of business leaders, govt officials, security officers, non-governmental representatives and the like and, in three days, they work in a fictional world Akrona- a struggling state emerging from years of war and still vulnerable to violence. ( as some of the paraticipants have said, not unlike Afghanistan in the early 2000's.) A sophisticated computer program sets up the parameters of resources and circumstances. When one player makes one move in the game, it effects others. Parties have to negotiate to bring economies and quality of life into balance. Suzanne Kryder talked with some of the players to learn how it works and what they hope to learn and apply to their regular lives when they return from the exercise. She also has a conversation

Draw the well-known peace symbol almost anywhere in the world, and show it to almost anyone over the age of 4, and you're likely to hear them tell you that the symbol means "peace." Walk through the halls of any elementary or junior high school and you'll see the peace sign all over in kids' fashion, young girls especially - t-shirts, shorts, shoes, backpacks, earings, pendants. People know the symbol means peace but not so many know where the symbol came from. On this edition of Peace Talks Radio, we'll talk with author Ken Kolsbun who co-wrote the book Peace: The Biography of a Symbol. He'll tell us the tale of British graphic designer Gerald Holtem, who came up with the design for a 1958 Ban the Bomb protest march. Since then the sign has been used to mean "peace" in all kinds of causes from stopping war to saving the planet's environment. We also talk with Leigh Golterman who created a peace apparel and accessories company called "Peace Please," which has donated its profits to peace organizations.

After serving proudly in the US Armed Forces, what motivates a person to later work passionately for peace? On this edition of Peace Talks Radio, we’ll learn how two war veterans were changed by their military experience and about the peace work they now do. Our guests talked with host Suzanne Kryder about the role of the US military in peace building, their views on defense spending, and what all of us can do to bring an end to war. Paul K. Chappell is a West Point graduate who served in the army for seven years including a deployment to Baghdad in 2006; he retired as a Captain. Paul now serves as the Peace Leadership Director for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. He is the author of three books including Peaceful Revolution: How We Can Create the Future Needed for Humanity’s Survival. We’ll also speak with Erik K. Gustafson who served in the 1991 Gulf War. Witnessing the consequences of the war fueled Erik’s passion for human rights and peace building. He’ll describe why and how he founded the Education for

When American psychologist Abraham Maslow introduced the Hierarchy of Needs in his seminal work A Theory of Human Motivation, he presented a pyramid that listed the most important, fundamental needs of humans toward the bottom. Food, Water, Breathing, and Sleep were among the needs supporting the base of the pyramid. Only one level up was "Safety" including security of body, health, resources and family. If one's safety is threatened by war, disaster or family violence - a peaceful life is not possible. Anxiety, PTSD and trauma passed down through generations can follow. There are communities around the world that don't have their basic physiological and safety needs adequately met. Nearly a billion people on the planet are undernourished according to 2010 figures- roughly 14% of the worlds population. And some of these communities in deficit are here in the U.S., in places you normally wouldn't think of as being at risk, neighborhoods in or near large urban centers where access to nutritious affordable

If the inevitability of death - our own death or the death of our loved ones - or anyone for that matter - was something we could all handle with more calm, with more inner peace, how might the world change? What manner of thinking or perspective can one who is facing his or her own death adopt to create a more peaceful place to live out their days? What can a relative, friend or caregiver do to promote a more peaceful passage for one who is dying? What manner of thinking or perspective can one who is facing the death of a loved one or friend adopt to nurture a more peaceful place for themselves during the transition and afterwards? We talk with three women - two nurses and a physician - who have worked closely in the hospice community for some suggestions, including Camille Adair who also produced the film "Solace: Wisdom of the Dying." Host Paul Ingles, who lost both his mother and an aunt in a two week stretch in 2011, also shares his own story.

In this program, we explore an online training opportunity called Becoming a Peace Ambassador. James O’Dea, the facilitator of the Peace Ambassador training, is the guest. He’s a former official with both Amnesty International and the Institute of Noetic Sciences…and author of books like Creative Stress and Cultivating Peace. We also talk with two graduates of the online program. Paul Ingles hosts.

For that time of year when everyone is wishing for more "Peace on Earth," share some hope with the latest in the annual Peace Talks Radio year-end specials. This one highlights programs aired in the series in 2011. Hear compelling conversation excerpts from programs on: The U.S. Institute ofPeace; Nobel Peace Prize winners Martti Ahtisaari and Liu Xiaobo; Heading off domestic and dating violence; Vietnam veterans finding peace by traveling back to Vietnam; Alternatives to Violence program in prisons; The Global Peace Index and Imagining a Peace Economy; A conference on religious tolerance; Peace messages in classical music.

We spotlight two instances when peace broke out – right on the field of battle. First, the impromptu but widespread unofficial Christmas Truce of 1914 in the early months of fighting in Europe in World War 1. Soldiers from both sides essentially said, war is hell – let’s not do it near Christmas Day. To tell us that story, we have Stanley Weintraub, historian, professor emeritus from PennState University, biographer and author of many books including “Silent Night- The Christmas Truce of 1914.” Also the story of the National Jubilee of Peace – the first major gathering of Civil War veterans from the North and South in 1911 - 50 years after the Battle of Bull Run at Manassas. Steve Pendlebury has our story – from the place where it happened in 1911 – and was re-enacted in the summer of 2011, Manassas, Virginia. Paul Ingles hosts.

Religious liberty and tolerance are complex issues, impacted by a variety of factors including education, politics, and the media. On this edition, conversations with participants in a 2011 conference called, "Liberty and Tolerance in an Age of Religious Conflict." Guests include Dr. Kelly James Clark, a Professor of Philosophy at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who co-chaired the conference and has written a book exploring the issue. Also Dr. Hedieh Mirahmadi, an attorney, author, and founder and president of the World Organization for Resource Development & Education (WORDE), which works to improve communication between Muslim and non-Muslim communities in order to reduce social conflict and political instability; Dr. Nurit Peled-Elhanan, the Jewish educator who lost her 13-year old daughter to a Palestinian suicide bombing in Jerusalem but who is still working to promote dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians; and Dr. Nick Wolterstorff who is the Noah Porter Professor of Philosophy Emeri

Jane Ellen, a composer, performer and music historian tells stories about how classical composers have been influenced by the threat of war and the hope for peace in their works. Music by Beethoven, Vaughan Williams, Britten, Crumb and others is featured. Paul Ingles hosts.

On this edition of Peace Talks Radio, stories about former enemies in war, reconciling between each other to achieve peace within themselves and, they hope, delivering a message about the futility of war. We talk with Dr. Edward Tick first, psychologist and author of book "War and the Soul" and founder of Soldier's Heart, an organization that promotes innovative approaches to healing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) -among them sponsoring trips for US citizens, veterans and non-vets, back to Vietnam where the US was involved in bloody war for over a decade in the 1960's and early 70's. We also hear from 2 American soldiers, Al Plapp and Tommy Laughlin, who made such a trip back to Vietnam. Carol Boss hosts.

“Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.” When President Eisenhower warned of the power of the military industrial complex in January 1961, he probably wouldn’t have guessed that the 2012 budget request for defense-related expenditures would be one trillion dollars. While conventional wisdom asserts that war and military spending are good for the economy, a 2007 report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research showed that military spending diverts resources from productive uses, such as consumption and investment, and ultimately slows economic growth and reduces employment. Today on Peace Talks, we’ll explore the relationship between economic development and peace. We’ll talk with two representatives from the Institute for Economics and Peace. Steve Killelea is the founder of the Institute and the creative force behind both the Gl

Since 1975, a program called the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) has been going into prisons to offer non-violence workshops to prisoners with the intent of reducing violence in prisons and steering inmates toward nonviolent practices when they return to society after completing their sentences. Carol Boss talks with two former inmates who each served extended sentences for second degree murder charges. Both feel their lives were transformed with the help of AVP.

Martti Ahtisaari is a former Finnish President who also has over 30 years of international mediation experience, negotiating agreements of various kinds in Namibia, Indonesia, Northern Ireland and Kosovo. He talks with host Paul Ingles about his mediation style. Also, a rebroadcast of our 2002 interview with former U.S. President and Nobel Prize Winner Jimmy Carter. The hour winds up with a fascinating interview with a former Skinhead White Supremist, Frank Meeink, who now preaches diversity and compassion.

Host Paul Ingles tells the story of losing a friend to a domestic homicide and explores efforts to help young people learn the building blocks for experiencing healthy relationships as adults. Researchers say those who turn into stalkers and jealous, violent lovers often experience abuse as children and have limited positive role models for good relationships. Paul talks with two people involved in developing programs for schools that help youngsters learn how relationship conflict can be handled and how relationship breakups can be managed and survived without turning to violence. David Wolfe developed a program called "The Fourth R" in which "Relationship" joins the traditional "reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic" in middle and high school training. Alexandra Smith oversees a program called "Start Strong Bronx" in New York that makes use of "The Fourth R" curriculum in middle schools.

For those interested in peacemaking, an ideal conference might include dozens of peace workers throughout the world, gathered together for a week of panels and conversations. In 2010, such a gathering took place. Not in a physical space but in the virtual world of the internet. Using teleconference technology, The Shift Network and The Peace Alliance teamed up to bring 75 peace luminaries to the web, allowing anyone with a computer or a smart phone to listen in live and even interact with the guests. The resulting archive of conversations is also available free online. On this edition of Peace Talks Radio, one of the architechts of Peace Week, Stephen Dinan of The Shift Network, guides host Paul Ingles through samples of 8 of the more compelling conversations of Peace Week. You'll hear youth peace building experts like Aqeela Sherrills, Kimmie Weeks, Ocean Robbins, and Rich Dutra-St.John. Also Nobel Peace Laureate Betty Williams, peace economics expert Steve Killelea, peace walker Audri Scott Williams,