| Posted: April 01 2005,08:13 |
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PROGRESS: Has your organization seen
progress toward a culture of peace and nonviolence in your domain of
action and in your constituency during the first half of the Decade? |
I
am the Coordinator of the undergraduate Peace and Conflict Studies
program at MSVU. I have made a concerted effort to use the UNESCO
principles to shape our program. I have succeeded in getting 13 more
courses added to the list of courses called Peace Emphasis.
http://www.msvu.ca/pax
We use the logo on our advertising
information (student booklet for course offerings in the program). I
use the UNESCO principles as the framework for all peace related
undergraduate and graduate courses I teach.
We implemented a new
Education Graduate Peace Cohort (three groups of about 20 students
each) in 2002 and now have a peace and justice issues stream within the
Foundations program in the Educ Faculty.
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OBSTACLES: What are the most important obstacles that have prevented progress?
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Without
a doubt, the most glaring obstacle is that members sitting on the
University Curriculum Committee define peace as lack of war. It seemed
to me that they struggled with seeing any need for courses on
structural violence, eco peace, inner peace or relational/feminist
peace, as defined by Linda Groff and Paul Smoker. Thankfully, this
year, the Committee approved 13 more courses for the peace emphasis
list. I am very grateful for this decision and the students are very
pleased with the expansion of how the Mount understands peace. I
developed a philosophy of peace and posted it at the website for the
program. Usual obstacles: little money, no course relief, only 5% of a
great secretary's time
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ACTIONS: What actions have been
undertaken by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence during the first half of the Decade?
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As
Coordinator of the program, I arranged for a sign on my door to that
effect, have a table with UNESCO and other promo material, made
bookmarks, etc to promote the program. This type of promotion was never
done before at MSVU. I tried to use the UNESCO logo on the bookmark but
was told that it implied that MSVU had an affiliation with the UN. I
have a distribution list of all of the 50+ peace students and
communicate with them daily about a culture of peace news and
initiatives. We have the peace website, with links to UNESCO and other
culture of peace sites. Our webmaster (mistress) has been very
cooperative in posting things in a timely manner.
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ADVICE: What advice would you like to
give to the Secretary-General and the General Assembly to promote a
culture of peace and nonviolence during the second half of the Decade? |
1.
Make a concerted effort to link the culture of peace initiative with
sustainable consumption. Building a culture of peace in a consumer
society is a profound challenge!
2. Make a concerted effort to
ensure that a declaration of human responsibilities is adopted at the
UN, because lack of consumer responsibility and consumerism as
structural violence needs a UN framework of responsible humans!
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PARTNERSHIPS: What partnerships and
networks does your organization participate in, thus strengthening the
global movement for a culture of peace? |
We
do not partipate as an institution, per se, very often (yet)but I do
keep students up to date on peace related initiatives via the
distribution list, daily. The students then take personal social
action, as they are so moved. There is a Peace Student Association that
does liaise with other university and NGO peace related organizations
in Halifax. I do include the International Student Affairs advisor on
the list serve so she can send my peace news to the cohort of
international students on campus. I have to send a report about the
program each year to the president and I share this with interested
faculty so they are aware of what is happening. I know this is not
global in nature but it is crucial in bringing the peace program to the
forefront of campus life.
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PLANS: What new engagements are
planned by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence in the second half of the Decade (2005-2010)? |
We
are in the planning stages of creating more graduate peace cohorts (for
teachers getting their MED). The undergraduate program will come under
external review next year for the first time (became a degree in 1996)
and I hope to use the UNESCO principles to shape the review.
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Postal address of organization
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166 Bedford Highway, Halifax NS B3M 2J6 Canada
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E-mail address of organization
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Website address of organization
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http://www.msvu.ca/pax
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Highest priority action domain of a culture of peace
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education for a culture of peace
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Second priority action domain of a culture of peace
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culture of peace domains
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Highest priority country of action (or international)
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canada
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Second priority country of action (or international)
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international
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