OMNI NEWSLETTER: EVENTS, ACTIONS, COMMENT
JULY 30, 2005 BUILDING A CULTURE OF PEACE


If you wish to read OMNI’s Newsletter without receiving it directly, you can read it on our web site: www.omnicenter.org


JULY 31, SUNDAY, BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS.

PROTEST THE WAR AT DICKSON AND COLLEGE (contact Chris elvis_4_peace@yahoo.com) or Maple at University Baptist Church (contact Coralie livanlern2002@yahoo.com or Don therapydon@aol.com). The main demonstration is 10 to 11, but because the churches have 2 and one even 3 services, you might carry your placard any time between 8 and 12:30.


AUGUST 1, MONDAY WA Cty Rural LAND Use task force "Listening Meeting"
http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2005/07/30/news/fayetteville/03fzwashcozoning.txt


August 4, Veterans for Peace national conference in Dallas. Contact Lyell Thompson.


August 6, 1945, US nuclear bombed Hiroshima


AUGUST 6, SATURDAY, 11:30, Ozark Mountain Smokehouse, RAPID RESPONSE WRITERS Contact Larry Woodall.


AUGUST 7, SUNDAY, REMEMBERING THE VICTIMS, CELEBRATING PEACEMAKERS FULBRIGHT PEACE FOUNTAIN, UA CAMPUS, 6:30 to 9:00.

SPEAKER: MEDEA BENJAMIN.


August 9, 1945, US nuclear bombed Nagasaki


SEPTEMBER 10-12, WASHINGTON, DC, DEPARTMENT OF PEACE CONFERENCE

Department of Peace Conference sponsored by The Peace Alliance. Featured guests include Walter Kronkite, Patch Adams, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Jonathan Schell, and Marianne Williamson.


OMNI’S NEW UA CHAPTER

OMNI’s new chapter already has 17 members and many plans. They will participate in Razorbash, will paint peace poles, and will hold a big Festival in the Greek Amphitheatre Sept. 24 with lots of entertainment and activities, watch for future announcements. Officers are: Stephen Coger, Pres., Kristen Blanch, VP, Katie Shingleur, Treas., Nasheana Mitchell, Secretary.

ECOLOGY: INCLUDE INVERTEBRATES?

Does our concern for the massive assault on species by pesticides and developers include invertebrates? See the excellent article in TMN 7-23 on Ruud Kleinpaste, whose mission is to reduce people’s desire to kill bugs (though the article talks only about pesticides and not bulldozers). “Bugs are never our enemies.” See his “Buggin’ With Ruud” on Animal Planet. http://animal.discovery.com/fansites/buggin/buggin/html and Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation www.xerces.org


TOLERATION IN MONOTHEISTIC RELIGION?

Some (many?) of us oppose the exclusiveness of monotheism, just as we reject exclusivity in other aspects of thought and life. The religions writer for TMN, Tammy Stamps-Heise, 7-23 discusses a new approach to Biblical monotheistic language apparently put forth by Judith Plaskow—that the claim that God is One means other than a rejection of polytheism but is in fact “grounded in the unity of multiple images of God.” Unfortunately, the brief article needs much more explanation. In the same no. of TMN is a small note on India as “home of many festivals” of diverse religions (www.festivals.iloveindia.com), and I recall reading that Hinduism has 48,000 deities. Maybe we’ll have a forum on this. Want to help?


OMNI’S MISSION: PEACE, JUSTICE, ECOLOGY

What do we mean, politically speaking? World Peace. Includes Human Rights and Animal (vertebrate and invertebrate) Stewardship: justice and mercy for humans and animals. Social and Economic Justice: inclusive defense of diversity, fair and equitable gender, religious, and ethnic relationships. How do we glimpse what these terms mean? Read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Earth Charter. OMNI has endorsed both, although individual members would revise the language of certain sections.


OMNI AND THE JONES CENTER FOR FAMILIES

The Walton Family Foundation gave almost half-a-million dollars to the Jones Center to “spread its welcoming message…throughout Northwest Arkansas” for its project “All Are Welcome—Building an Inclusive [Diverse] Community.” “The project will privide a model for Northwest Arkansas, encouraging inclusiveness through the community, region, and state.” Two new positions will be created, a Director of Diversity and an out-reach coordinator for Diversity. (TMN 7-26). It is good to know that OMNI, the Jones Center, and the Walton Foundation share the social justice goal of Affirming Inclusive Diversity, whereby world peace can be achieved.


FREE SPEECH TV on CAT Channel 18 (mornings 3 to 9 a.m., brought to you by OMNI)

A few recent programs: documentary on rise of US Christian right-wing nationalism and theocracy during the past 3 decades; documentary on Israeli peacemakers—Judith Keshet of Women at the Checkpoints, Gershon Baskin and Zacharia al Qac of IPCRI, Uri Avnery of Gush Shalom, Major Gen. (ret.) Danny Rothschild, et al.; doc. on Arab hip hop and rap in Israel and Palestine; hardships for children in Haiti and some relief efforts, www.littlevoices.org; several docs. on Chinese Americans challenging stereotypes: “More to the Chinese Side,” “A Chink in the Armour,” etc.; Fair Housing ad, www.fairhousing.org; “We’re All Just People” ad; “Gay TV”; and every morning at 7:00 Amy Goodman’s “Democracy Now.”


TRANSCEND Peace University – TPU On-Line
The world’s on-line university for peace and development studies

Announcing Registration for semester starting October 2005

The following is an announcement for the TRANSCEND Peace University (TPU), the world's first ever global peace university for policy makers, practitioners, scholars, students, UN staff and others working in peacebuilding, conflict transformation, post-war reconstruction, rehabilitation and reconciliation, development, human rights, and other related fields.

Please forward this announcement to individuals, organisations, UN agencies and governments which you believe may be interested in participating in the TPU ’s October Semester 2005. For more information or to apply on-line, please visit www.transcend.org/tpu.

Please note, the deadline for applications for the October Semester is September 15, 2005.

http://www.transcend.org/tpu

TRANSCEND PEACE UNIVERSITY (TPU)October Semester 2005

Johan Galtung, the Rector of TPU and one of the founders of peace studies, invites you to join practitioners and students from around the world on-line.


OMNI SEEKS A WORLD FREE OF WAR AND THE THREAT OF WAR, A SOCIETY WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, A COMMUNITY WHERE EVERY PERSON’S POTENTIAL MAY BE FULFILLED, AN EARTH RESTORED. WORLD PEACE, HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL and ECONOMIC JUSTICE, ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP.