[Shift Catalyst #8] "Be The Peace" < special issue on peacebuilding actions and heroes
Welcome to the first of two special peace issues of the Catalyst, as we celebrate the eventful concluding days of the Summer of Peace. Please see our many recommended peace actions listed below!
This inspiring one-minute video introduces the largest globally synchronized meditation and prayer for peace ever, to be held on September 21. The organizer of "BeThePeace" is David Nicol, who is profiled in this issue of the Catalyst. The Shift Network is a proud cosponsor of this historic event.
This coming Friday, on September 21, we observe the thirtieth anniversary of the International Day of Peace, a.k.a. "Peace Day." It's also the culmination of the extraordinary Summer of Peace that was created by The Shift Network and is now supported by hundreds of peacebuilding organizations around the world.
To commemorate this historic day, the Catalyst interviewed Avon Mattison, founder of Pathways to Peace and the Culture of Peace Initiative, and one of the pioneers who worked at the United Nations to create the International Day of Peace. Her decades of work in the peace movement offer an inspiring story of someone who had an idea, took action on it, and is having a tremendous impact on peacebuilding today . . . [read more]
The Catalyst Recommends: Seven Actions for Peace
Find out more about each of these peace actions here.
Take the Peace Pledge
Meditate with Thousands Worldwide on September 21
Lobby Congress to Make September 21 a "Cease-fire" Day
Join the Call for a Total Ban on Nuclear Weapons
Help Convert the SOP Youth Telesummit to an Educational Resource
Host a Movie Party for Phil Donahue's Body of War
Take advantage of the SOP Full Lifetime Access Pass or related offers
An extravaganza of video coverage of events related to the International Day of Peace goes live on Sept. 20-23, thanks to Peace Day TV and its founder Stephen Fantl. The broadcast starts on Thursday, September 20, at 5:00 pm (Pacific time/midnight GMT) and will cover peace concerts, events, films, interviews, festivals, and a noontime peace ritual in each of the 24 time zones of the world. The coverage spans the International Day of Peace and the launch of "Push4Peace," a ninety-day global peace initiative that culminates on December 22, 2012.
Producer Stephen Fantl told the Catalyst, "I saw that nobody was using broadcast media in the peacebuilding community . . . [read more]
Forging a Link Between Peacebuilding and the Military
Hosted by Dr. Charles "Chip" Hauss of George Mason University, next week's unique "Peace and the Military" conference will bring together military, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding experts in pursuit of innovative policy recommendations. Officially a part of the Summer of Peace, this event (to be held on Sept. 19-20 at the U.S. Institute for Peace in Washington, D.C.) is jointly sponsored by The Shift Network, the Alliance for Peacebuilding, and 3P Human Security (an initiative of Eastern Mennonite University). "By working with the Summer of Peace, these organizations are also recognizing the importance of the inner dimension and the scientific dimension to peacebuilding," said Philip Hellmich, director of the Summer of Peace. Colonel Mark "Puck" Mykleby, U.S. Marine Corps (retired), will keynote about a "Grand Strategy for the Nation." In addition, Stephen Dinan, Philip Hellmich, and James O'Dea of the Shift Network will participate. The conference will be livestreamed by Peace Day TV at 6:30-9:00 pm (EDT) on Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012.
David Nicol, cofounder of Gaiafield Project and the Center for Subtle Activism, is the visionary behind the Global Attunement for Peace—one of the closing activities of the Shift Network's Summer of Peace program. Primarily through a highly synergistic partnership with the organization MedMob, that vision has now flourished into BeThePeace, one of the largest global prayer and meditation events in history, to be held on International Peace Day, Saturday, September 21. The Catalyst honors David's journey with this brief profile. —Ed.
When David Nicol realized he was ready to let go of his work as an environmental lawyer in Sydney, Australia, he began a deeply personal quest to unite political engagement with his commitment to spiritual awakening. In the year 2000 he found himself emigrating to the U.S. to study at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). "This visionary program and its rich community," David tells us, "became the matrix out of which the path of subtle activism emerged as my life work."
His first big step was a series of global meditations David helped to organize—along with Stephen Dinan . . . [read more]
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David Nicol, cofounder of Gaiafield Project and the Center for Subtle Activism, is the visionary behind the Global Attunement for Peace—one of the closing activities of the Shift Network's Summer of Peace program. Primarily through a highly synergistic partnership with the organization 
