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06-06-2011 10:41 AM
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*May 2011*
*Doctrine Divides, Action Unites*
*Contents*
* ۩ Home Page * * ۩ *School of
Peace
* ۩ Faith and Peace Archives *
* ۩ *Photos and events * ۩ Who are
we
*
*e-mail : *
► *Waiting for Wisdom and Virtue in Burma*
*Aung San Suu Kyi*
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate and leader of the National League for
Democracy (NLD) in Burma shared her views about education in a videotaped
address via a live video link with a packed auditorium at the University of
Hong Kong on May 30 as part of the university’s activities to celebrate its
centenary this year. In her message, she not only congratulates the
university in Hong Kong but also reminisces about the former high quality of
education in her own country and its role in the country’s development
before Burma’s military rulers sought to neuter it. [*Read
more
*]
► *A New Tourism Model for Burma*
*National League for Democracy*
While Burma’s military government was busily promoting Visit Myanmar Year
1996, the National League for Democracy (NLD)—at the time the country’s main
opposition political party led by Aung San Suu Kyi—called for tourists to
boycott Burma and stay away from the country as a form of protest against
the abysmal human rights record of the military rulers leading the nation
and their authoritarian governance. Today, although people continue to be
deprived of their rights and democracy is a fantasy in the minds of Burma’s
generals masquerading as civilian leaders, the NLD, which is no longer a
political party but is still the primary organized movement for democracy in
the country, has issued a new statement on tourism that welcomes visitors to
return to Burma—but not all tourists. [*Read
more
*]
► *New Briefing Paper: Crisis in Shan State*
*Burma Campaign UK*
A London-based solidarity group has recently released a new report about
fighting in Shan State in eastern Burma after the Burmese government broke a
ceasefire that had been in place for 22 years. This brief article contains a
link to an online copy of the report. [*Read
more
*]
► *Pakistan’s Ahmadis Still Suffering a Year after Lahore Attacks*
*Nasim Malik*
The author reminds readers in this article, which was published by the Asian
Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in Hong Kong, about the massacre of Ahmadis
as they worshipped in a mosque in May 2010 in the Pakistani city of Lahore.
Today the victims and their families still await justice and an end to the
discrimination that has tormented them for more than 25 years. [*Read
more
*]
► *Saka Dawa Nyung Ne Prohibited at Drepung Monastery*
*Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy*
In this report, Chinese government authorities appear to be confused about
how to react to the observance of a traditional Buddhist festival at a
Tibetan monastery as they vacillate between halting, approving and
eventually prohibiting it. [*Read
more
*]
► *Thai and Cambodian Buddhists Walk for Peace*
On May 16, Buddhists in Thailand and Cambodia used a practice of their
faith, a Dhamma Yatra or march, to seek peace between these two
predominantly Buddhist societies that have been fighting periodically since
June 2008 over competing claims to land on their border near Preah Vihear
Temple, a Hindu temple built in the 11th century. Online media reports by
Thai journalists about the Dhamma Yatra can be read at <
http://www.mcot.net/cfcustom/cache_page/210346.html> and <
http://www.bangkokpost.com/multimedia/vdo/237650/walk-for-peace>.
► *Carried by Dialogue from Jerusalem to Gaza*
*Rabbi Gideon D. Sylvester*
Being an Orthodox rabbi living in Jerusalem, the author experiences every
day the tensions, fears and violence that engulf a land that is holy to
multiple faiths. He now believes though that the first step away from the
abyss of more violence is a conversation with those who are different. [*Read
more *]
► *How Is Peace a Religious or Spiritual Value in Your Faith?*
*Dennis R. Koehn*
Drawing on his experience for several decades as a person in the United
States promoting non-violent solutions to inevitable domestic and
international conflicts, the author explains the way in which religion is
often hijacked by political or even religious leaders to justify war as the
proper means to resolve disagreements. Many important questions are raised
by the author on which people of all faiths can reflect. [*Read
more
*]
► *Reflections of a Catholic American on bin Laden’s Death*
*Rebecca Cataldi*
The killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2 generated a
wide range of emotions in the author that she shares in this article. She
also explains the effect that prayer and forgiveness have had on her and
notes a variety of ways to overcome the mistrust, fear and violence of the
past decade between people of different faiths and nationalities in order to
be “one human family under God.” [*Read
more
*]
► *Understanding and Dialogue Key to Healing the World*
*Larry Hufford*
The killing of Osama bin Laden on May 2 in Pakistan prompted the author, a
professor of international relations in the United States, to reflect on his
memories of 9/11 and to call now for this day in his country and around the
world to become an annual occurrence when people of different faiths come
together to build mutual understanding through dialogue instead of being
remembered as a day associated with interfaith distrust and
divisiveness. [*Read
more *]
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