Peace Talks Radio

A popular program for the holiday season, Seeking Peace on Earth: The Peace Talks Radio Special reminds listeners that there ARE people who are actually pursuing peace and offering ideas how to reduce conflict in our lives. The program is a compendium of compelling moments from recent episodes of Peace Talks Radio, the series on peacemaking and nonviolent conflict resolution. On this show. listeners will hear from recent guests who talked about the connection between climate change and peace, making peace with money, video game violence, creative street peace actions, the neuroscience of compassion, JFK's turn towards peace, and showing compassion to animals. The full episodes, from which these excerpts were taken, can be heard at www.peacetalksradio.com.

In an in-depth conversation, James Douglass, author of "JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters", spells out his theory that the 35th President was the victim of a murder conspiracy and that he died because of his peacemaking policies. He tracks Kennedy's transformation from a hawkish anti-Communist to someone who helped save the world from nuclear war by establishing back-channel conversations with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev. Listeners will also hear much of Kennedy's 1963 speech at American University during which he laid out his vision for world peace, less than 6 months before his murder. Paul Ingles hosts.

Whenever election season rolls around, conflict between political camps really heats up. Differences over whom to support can even put friends and family members at odds with each other. Undecided voters may authentically be at odds with themselves. And it's often those undecided voters who swing close elections. In the month's leading up to election day, each candidate's campaign workers are trying their best to bring those conflicted voters their way, maybe even change the minds of some voters, whose support for a candidate might be soft. On this edition of PEACE TALKS RADIO, some insight into that mind-changing process that targets the undecided or conflicted voter. Host Suzanne Kryder talks with two people who have written extensively on changing minds, and a political media specialist whose job it is to change some minds. Guests include political media strategist Rachel Gorlin, also Howard Gardner, Harvard professor and author of the book Changing Minds, and Dave Straker, author of the website, changin

On a recent episode of our program, we explored the debate over violence in video games and asked what impact violent video gaming might have on our notions of conflict resolution and on levels of aggression in society. Some say it's a significant problem, that effects are real and anti social, and that violent video games should be more tightly regulated. Others think the concern over the negative effects of violence in video games is overstated and that the games have problem-solving and role-playing benefits for players. This time on Peace Talks Radio, we talk with the co-creator of a video game, called A Force More Powerful, that is explicitly about nonviolence. To win this game, you have to craft a strategy against an opressor that will bring about change without resorting to violence. Our guest, the game's co-creator, Ivan Marovic, has some first-hand experience at this. He was one of the founders of the Serb student resistance movement that helped remove Serbian president Slobodon Milosovic from

Almost 3 out of 4 Americans consider it a worthy goal to do something to temper the violence in our media, yet violent movies, television and video games are extremely popular. Do violent games, like the recently updated Grand Theft Auto series, along with other violent entertainment, chip away at our sensitivities about violence and impact our notions about conflict resolution? This time on Peace Talks Radio, the video game violence debate. And it is a debate. While no one is FOR letting very young kids play the most violent games, there ARE authors and academics who defend the presence of violence in the games rated for adults, and question the strength of the research studies that suggest that exposure to violent entertainment correlates with aggression and desensitization toward violence. On the other side, there are those who decry the violence, believe the negative effects research to be true and call for tighter restrictions on violent game sales and content. We hear both sides of the conversation on

By awarding the prize to Gore and the IPCC, the Nobel committee seemed interested in promoting the link between climate change and the threat to peace. Could the unchecked effects of climate change lead to conflicts and civil war within nations, or war between nations? Could a collective effort to save the planet from the harmful consequences of climate change actually promote peaceful cooperation within and between nations? We talk with two scholars who have studied the possible links between climate change and conflict. First we visit with Dan Smith, Secretary General of International-Alert, an independent peace building organization that works in over 20 countries to promote lasting peace and security in communities affected by violent conflict. He’s the author of the report “A Climate of Conflict: The Links Between Climate Change, Peace and War." Later in the program we hear from Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon (Ph.D.) He's written extensively on the links between environmental stress and security. He ove

Host Suzanne Kryder talks with Lynne Twist, author of The Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Life and financial advisor and author Brent Kessel who wrote It's Not About The Money: Unlock your Money Type to Achieve Spiritual and Financial Abundance. Lynne Twist has had a long career as a global activist, fundraiser, speaker, and mentor. She works to end world hunger, empower women, nurture children and youth, promote economic integrity and spiritual authenticity, and preserve the earth's natural heritage through the Hunger Project, Pachamama Alliance, Institute of Noetic Sciences, and State of the World Forum. She has raised hundreds of millions of dollars and trained thousands of fundraisers to be more effective in their work. In the second part of our program, we talk with Brent Kessel, one of the top 250 financial advisors in the U.S. according to Worth Magazine. If you go to his website www.Brent Kessel.com, you can take a quiz to determine your money type. There are eight typ

In his more recent public appearances, Tibetan Leader, the Dalai Lama, has been targeting his peace and compassion message to young people. To him, teaching compassion and peace to our young is the best hope for peace in the future. A look at efforts to teach peace in the schools, this time on Peace Talks Radio. First, a visit with Azim Khamisa, director of the Tariq Khamisa Foundation, a non-profit organization that takes programs on nonviolence and forgiveness into schools. The foundation memorializes Mr. Khamisa's son Tariq, who was delivering pizzas in San Diego in January 1995 when he was shot and killed by a 14-year-old gang member who had been challenged to prove himself to his gang by firing a gun into Tariq's car. Mr. Khamisa joined with Ples Felix, the grandfather and guardian of the shooter, to create the foundation and develop the school programs. Also on the program, a journalist-turned-teacher who has been on a one man crusade to bring peace curriculum to schools in the Washington, DC area. Fr

Listeners will hear about three Nobel Peace Laureates. The peacemaking diplomacy of 1950 Peace Prize winner Ralph Bunche is recalled. 1997 Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams talks about her campaign to ban landmines and speaks of personal repsonsibility in peacemaking. The microcredit work of 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus is explored. Also, a remarkable story of forgiveness leads to a program for teaching nonviolence in schools, author Byron Katie talks about the search for inner peace, young people of disparate faiths work together on community projects, and 9/11 Families turn their grief into action for peace.

With election cycles in constant motion, this time on Peace Talks Radio, we offer a conversation about the possible impact of electing mediators to public office. We'll talk with Dr. Dan Dana, a mediator and former candidate for the US House of Representatives in Kansas. After his failed, non-adversarial bid for office, Dan created the "Elect Mediators to Public Office" project. He believes that having more mediators in public office who use a non-adversarial approach to conflict resolution would result in better political processes and better government. Of the total U.S. work force, only 6 percent are lawyers. Yet 45 percent of the members of Congress are lawyers. Would more mediators in public office change political discourse? We'll talk with other mediators who have run for public office to learn how they hope to change public service including Texas Representative Henry Cuellar, 2006 Texas U.S. Senate candidate Barbara Ann Rodnofsky, and former mayor of Manzanita, Oregon, Hugh McIssac. Suzanne Kryder is

This time, what is religious tolerance and how can it be promoted? Many of the world’s religions believe they are the one true faith, and they encourage members to convert others to their faith. How, then, do people from different faiths find common ground and make peace? Our guests will discuss the definitions and limits of religious tolerance. Should we tolerate all religions, even those whose members are intolerant of other faiths? What steps can we take to make peace with people of other spiritual beliefs and non-beliefs? Is there anything we can learn from someone who believes differently from us? Suzanne Kryder hosts the discussion which includes Dr. Eboo Patel, executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core, headquartered in Chicago.

This time, we check in with "9/11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows," an organization founded by family members of those killed on September 11th who have united to turn their grief into action for peace. By developing and advocating nonviolent options and actions in the pursuit of justice, the organization hopes to break the cycles of violence engendered by war and terrorism. By acknowledging their common experience with all people affected by violence throughout the world, these survivors of tragedy work to create a safer and more peaceful world for everyone. Carol Boss will hosts a discussion with Terry Rockefeller, Bruce Wallace and Anne Mulderry, all members of "9/11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows." All lost loved ones on that fateful day.

This time on Peace Talks Radio, Nonviolent Communication (NVC) with Marshall Rosenberg. NVC is a verbal technology for exchanging information and resolving differences peacefully. Marshall Rosenberg, who founded the NVC technique, is captured before a live Albuquerque audience talking about how this communication style helps to resolve conflict. He also helps members of the studio audience develop solutions to conflict scenarios using the principles of Nonviolent Communication. Co hosts: Paul Ingles and Suzanne Kryder. The program was taped at the First Church of Religious Science Auditorium on February 7, 2005.

Taken Too Soon: The Cost of War is produced by Paul Ingles, who runs a non-profit media organization called Good Radio Shows, Inc. The program features some of the names and circumstances of the deaths of coalition forces, Iraqi and Afghan civilians, contractors and journalists killed since the fighting began in Afghanistan in October of 2001 and continuing up to the present day. "I don't think there's been a program like this that has acknowledged the loss of life among civilians, contractors and journalists along side of military casualties," says Ingles. "I just felt it was important that people marking Memorial Day in the U.S. take a moment to contemplate a roll call that goes beyond just our own country's loss. All most Americans have heard is that 15, 8, 30 Iraqis died in a certain incident on a given day. These people had names and families just like the men and women of our armed forces. It seems appropriate to me to read some of their names." The hour long program will contain about 135 names meant

Peace Talks Radio, the series on peacemaking and nonviolent conflict resolution returns this time to maybe the most challenging conflict terrain of all, our inner selves. How can we calm the turmoil within ourselves about who we are, how we are and how we relate to the rest of the world? On this edition of Peace Talks Radio, a conversation with a woman who offers one approach. Her name is Byron Katie who, in the mid 1980's, says she was in deep personal chaos trying to manage her life as a business woman and mother living in Southern California. More than miserable, she says she was deeply depressed, fearful, suicidal and living in a halfway house, unable to manage on her own. Some 20 years later, the woman everyone calls Katie has written three best-selling books "Loving What Is,""I Need Your Love - Is That True?", and "A Thousand Names for Joy" co-written with her husband Stephen Mitchell. As the book titles suggest, Byron Katie found a way of dealing with her stress that turned her life around. S

INFO: This time on Peace Talks, our host Carol Boss, talks with two former prison inmates who grew up in substance abusing families. Both began using at the age of 11 and progressed from alcohol to marijuana to cocaine to meth. We used first names only. Our first guest is Chris, who is now clean and about to start work as a matre dei in an Albuquerque restaurant. He was released from prison April 2006 after serving a 15 month sentence. Our second guest is Alisha who, like Chris, grew up in a home with drugs and alcohol. She started using at the age of 11. At 21, she was convicted of attempted first degree murder. She served a 5 year prison sentence, and is out now rearranging her life. She works at a Village Inn restaurant in Albuquerque and is back in college studying business communications. She has two young daughters who live with grandparents out of state.

In this Peace Talks Radio Episode, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Maguire recalls her peace work and talks with host Carol Boss about how the principles of nonviolence can be applied to conflicts around the world and in daily life. Info: Mairead Corrigan Maguire founded the Community of the Peace People in 1976 in war-torn Northern Ireland along with Betty Williams and Ciaran McKeown. Mairead was the aunt of the three Maguire children who were hit by a runaway car after its driver was shot by a soldier. The deaths prompted a series of marches throughout Northern Ireland and further afield, all demanding an end to the violence plaguing her country at the time. Mairead and Betty went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976.

Even if you only work the American average of 40 hours a week, that still means that almost 40% of your waking hours are spent at work. And we all know that workplaces can become workshops in conflict resolution. It's not always easy to get along with your boss, your fellow employees, your customers. Conflicts of all kinds can surface and frankly, a lot of us do our best to steer around them for as long as possible rather than face them head on. Suzanne Kryder, the original host of this program, Peace Talks, has been a leadership coach and trainer for many years and lately she's been focusing her attention on helping people stop putting off those dreaded conversations at work, make peace, and be more productive and happy in the workplace. She talked over the problem and potential solutions recently with Peace Talks host Carol Boss and some callers facing communication challenges at work.

A conversational profile of Ralph Bunche - a sometimes overlooked African-American who excelled in the world of diplomacy. INFO: In the middle part of the 20th century, if there was a news story about a peacemaking mission around the globe, chances are it contained the name of African-American diplomat Ralph Bunche. A scholar of world affairs and race relations, Bunche was recruited from academia first into the U.S. State Department, then into the fledgling United Nations. He stepped boldly onto the world stage as a peace negotiator and advocate for the liberation of peoples of color from colonial rule. Along the way, he was targeted and cleared of communist allegations, criticized as a pawn of the white establishment, and ultimately heralded as a role model for all in human relations. Today on Peace Talks, a profile in peace featuring Ralph Bunche. We'll highlight just a few chapters from this remarkable life, and try to take away some lessons about peacemaking as we talk with Bunche's UN colleague and bi

Compelling moments from the 2006 season of Peace Talks Radio episodes. Info: Listeners will hear -nonviolent communication expert Marshall Rosenberg; -Arun Gandhi, Mohandas K. Gandhi's grandson; -1976 Nobel Prize Laureate Mairead Maguire; -plus highlights from programs on peaceful parenting, the Peace Corps, workplace peacemaking, prison inmates finding their own peace and more.