War is Dying — Public Diplomacy is Living

08 August 2014

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a  descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth.  Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate...Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: Only love can do that."

     ~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

          "Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?"

          New York, Harper & Row, 1967

 "If we're not communicating,

we might as well live in the Stone Age."

     ~ 19-year-old student

          University of California

War is Dying
War doesn't work anymore.
Still we pursue it like reckless primitives.

Agonizing from crimes of militaries and militants—with fractured hearts and desecrated religions—we are witnessing that massive force applied to human conflicts is a relic of past centuries and predictable failure.
Violent methods diminish us while creating more victims, antagonists, and danger—not safety.
Only good relationships and communication mastery can safeguard us.

August 5, 2014 in the Boston Globe, author Winslow Myers announced "the declining utility of military force, as opposed to skills that will be required in the future, such as public diplomacy, cultural politics, and alliance-building."

"Public diplomacy requires citizens to connect with citizens in other nations, forge cultural politics based upon the shared understanding that military solutions are obsolete, and build alliances based upon the level of global cooperation required to solve our many transnational challenges," Myers concludes.

Public Diplomacy is Living
"The royal family will not save us."
These lyrics seized our attention during July in San Francisco with a Palestinian couple attending Sondheim's musical—Into The Woods
Governments alone will never lead us out of the woods.

Only we citizens can breathe life into today's poverty of statesmanship and vacuum of diplomacy.
To fulfill our destiny as citizen-diplomats—creators of our shared future—we must expand our activity beyond cursing the darkness and one another, even with very good reasons.

We must broadcast clarion calls to come home to one another.
Refusing to be enemies beneath the headlines become those who communicate, sustain relationships, stay creative, prepare civil society.

"Love creates trust," one correspondent wrote to us.
Lured to the war of weapons and words, let us be those who turn away and instead give life to public diplomacy—love.

Public Diplomacy Today
Hand in Hand: Standing Together—Jews and Arabs Refuse to be Enemies!
"It is precisely when such days of darkness envelope us, that the voice of Hand in Hand needs to stand out and draw to us those who are sane. It is a human instinct to choose life."
     ~ Jawad Boulus, Co-Chair of Hand in Hand:
http://www.handinhandk12.org/news/hand-hand-continues-respond-ongoing-violence-continual-updates

Combatants for Peace "There Is Another Way"
http://cfpeace.org

The Bereaved Parents Families Forum—"We Don't Want You Here"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmepq3WpyMM
More is at:
http://www.theparentscircle.com

Israeli and Palestinian Youth for Peace
http://us3.campaign-archive2.com/?u=7be342134b3d0f8dda9eaf3b2&id=39bd3e2074&e=d19cb1d7fb

Palestinian, Israeli teens come together to promote understanding
MSNBC-TV -- 06 August 2014
2-1/2 min video
http://www.msnbc.com/andrea-mitchell-reports/watch/seeds-of-peace-camp-promotes-dialogue-315661891901
This summer as each of the past 22 years, Israeli and Palestinian teenagers are coming together at the Seeds of Peace  conference grounds in Maine.
Rare among their peers back home, they are uniting to humanize each other, experience communication skills and discover each other in dialogue while growing familiarity, understanding, and trust.

As Mideast conflict rages back home, women learn to be leaders in peace
The New Mexican -- 19 July 2014
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/as-mideast-conflict-rages-back-home-young-women-learn-to/article_e2f0db33-de46-5b3a-87f5-b04317b0c328.html
You have to buy into the idea that in a conflict that has lasted this long, change is made one person at a time, said Dottie Indyke, executive director of Creativity for Peace.
I believe, bottom line, that these young women are already part of the change. We may not see the change until after my time, but it will last them for the rest of their lives.

More Prescriptions
for Citizen Engagement
Living as one, healing together
Friday, 08 August 2014
http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/72277/letters-08-08-14/

Listen in on a conversation between Bay Area Palestinians and Jews
KALW Radio -- 4-min NPR broadcast -- 22 July 2014
http://kalw.org/term/jewish-palestinian-dialogue


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These and hundreds of other success stories are preserved at http://traubman.igc.org/messages.htm