“It’s time to get serious about peace. We have a Department of Defense (formerly Department of War). Why do we not have a Department of Peace?”
(Item circulating among peace activists)
This independent citizen’s initiative to create a United States Cabinet-level Department of Peace was launched in the United States of America on September 18, 2002.
It was initiated to help reduce ignorance and suffering and to expand knowledge and justice in our world.
Rationale: We are familiar with war. We are not very knowledgeable about peace, which is defined as the cessation or absence of war. That indicates what peace is not but not what peace is. Peace is something more than the cessation of hostilities. If we exist in a state of repressed fear, we cannot call that peace.
True peace, like war, is a symptom. While war is the culmination of our competitive excesses, peace is symptomatic of that which is constructive, cooperative, and nurturing. Whereas war is the most debilitating addiction by which we suffer, peace represents the most wholesome expression of the spirit by which we are sustained.
As a species, we are beginning to realize that we are each a part of a system of relationships that embrace our families, friends, neighbors, business associates, groups and organizations, community, nation, and whole family of nations. No single object in nature exists independently.
It is apparent that there is no constructive place for hostilities in this pattern. We simply do not have the time, resources, or energy to waste fighting with each other.
We have serious problems on this planet. There are now 6.2 billion of us. We are increasing at a rate of 80 million a year. Each week we have approximately 1,538,000 more of us to feed, clothe, house, educate, employ, transport, government, protect, and keep healthy.
It’s time to get serious about peace. We have a Department of Defense (formerly Department of War). Why do we not have a Department of Peace?
In fact, a bill was introduced on July 11, 2001 by U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich to create a Cabinet-level Department of Peace. This bill embodies a broad-based approach to peaceful, non-violent conflict resolution at both domestic and international levels. The Department of Peace would serve to promote non-violence as an organizing principle in our society, and help to create the conditions for a more peaceful and secure world.
A brief summary of the Department of Peace legislation follows.
A SUMMARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PEACE LEGISLATION:
1. Establish a cabinet-level department in the executive branch of the Federal Government dedicated to peacemaking and the study of conditions that are conducive to both domestic and international peace.
2. Headed by a Secretary of Peace, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.
3. The mission of the Department shall: hold peace as an organizing principle; endeavor to promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights; strengthen nonmilitary means of peacemaking; promote the development of human potential; work to create peace, prevent violence, divert from armed conflict and develop new structures in nonviolent dispute resolution; and take a proactive, strategic approach in the development of policies that promote national and international conflict prevention, nonviolent intervention, mediation, peaceful resolution of conflict and structured mediation of conflict.
4. The Department will create and establish a Peace Academy, modeled after the military service academies, which will provide a 4 year concentration in peace education. Graduates will be required to serve 5 years in public service in programs dedicated to domestic or international nonviolent conflict resolution.
5. The principal officers of the Department, in addition to the Secretary of Peace will include; the Under Secretary of Peace; the Assistant Secretary for Peace Education and Training; the Assistant Secretary for Domestic Peace Activities, the Assistant Secretary for International Peace Activities; the Assistant Secretary for Technology for Peace; the Assistant Secretary for Arms Control and Disarmament; the Assistant Secretary for Peaceful Coexistence and Nonviolent Conflict Resolution; the Assistant Secretary for Human and Economic Rights; and a General Counsel.
6. The first day of each year, January 1st will be designated as Peace Day in the United States and all citizens should be encouraged to observe and celebrate the blessings of peace and endeavor to create peace in the coming year.
(This might be an interesting topic for readers of famvin.org to express their opinion on. Click on your choice of responses available on the top right of this story.)
Contact Information: The coordinator for this project is Joseph (Joe) R. Simonetta, Senior Editor of the World Business Academy () and author of Seven Words That Can Change the World (Nov 2001, Hampton Roads Publishing). Mr. Simonetta’s diverse background includes having been a U.S. military officer (Army artillery, 1996-68). His web site is . His email address is <jrsimonetta@comcast.net>.
For further information see the web site of the sponsor of the legislation http://www.house.gov/kucinich/action/peace.htm
