Announcing a NEW program for 2012

Nonviolent Leadership for Interfaith Peacebuilders 2012

The Promotional Material has finally arrived and applications are now open for this highly anticipated and incredible program that Pace e Bene Australia are offering in 2012.

You can find all the information at the website :
WWW.NONVIOLENTINTERFAITHLEADERSHIP.ORG

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ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Nonviolent Leadership for Interfaith Peacebuilders is a new 8-day residential program designed for young people aged 18-30 years from a variety of different faith backgrounds who hold a common passion to lead their generation towards the goal of a world without violence, intolerance and injustice.

The program involves two modules in 2012 and includes supporting participants to engage in a community project developed by each participant in his or her individual faith community.

 

PROGRAM DATES
Module 1: The Inner and Outer Journey of Nonviolent Leadership (5 day)
4.30pm Sunday 29th January  – 4pm Friday 3rd February 2012

Module 2: The Tool-Kit For Nonviolent Leadership (3 day)
9am Wednesday 11th April – 4pm Friday 13th April 2012

PROGRAM VENUE
The 8 day residential retreat will take place at the beautiful and idyllic surrounds of Amberley Retreat and Spirituality Centre on the Yarra River in MELBOURNE where participants will journey into the depths of learning the ways and skills of nonviolent living, leadership, interfaith work, community work, social change, developing one’s identity, purpose and sense of belonging and self-care.

The program highlights includes 8 days with highly experienced facilitators and a project team with a passion for cultivating the nonviolent leadership potential of each participant.

PROGRAM COSTS
Successful applicants will have all their expenses covered (excl. travel). Participants must be willing to fully commit to the course and come with readiness to engage in changing themselves in order to change the world.  This project is supported by funding from the Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department under its Building Community Resilience Grants Program.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE GO TO  :
WWW.NONVIOLENTINTERFAITHLEADERSHIP.ORG

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD INFORMATION PACK AND APPLICATION FORM

Or contact Simon Reeves on 0408 299 981 or email simon.reeves81@gmail.com

Kathy Kelly Tour

Pace e Bene Australia is proud to announce that Kathy Kelly as the 2011 Inspirator.  Kathy will be touring Australia speaking and leading retreats – for more information and tour dates, head to the tour website.

Melbourne Peace Events Coming Up

7am Sun 20th March – 10am Mon 21st March (Melb times)
Afghan New Year
Global Day of Listening
(Time for Australians to talk is 12midday Sun )
International Phone Link up
Join at http://globaldayoflistening.org/DayOfListening_Schedule_.html

Monday 21st March, 5-7pm (+8-9.30pm)
Solidarity Vigil with Afghanistan Action
On the 21st March, the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers, with international supporters, will be planting trees and holding a candlelight vigil in Kabul, Afghanistan.  They have asked people around the world to also hold vigils in support.
Venue: outside St Paul’s Cathedral, Cnr Flinders and Swanston Sts
Please bring your own candles

After this public vigil, people are invited to come to Coburg to continue the vigil into evening, to hear about Jessica’s recent trip to Afghanistan and link with the international delegation in Afghanistan (8-9.30pm).
Contact: Jessica 0431 519 577
For more about Afghanistan vigil: http://www.livewithoutwars.org/lwwarsproject.html

Sunday 17 April, 12.30-1.30pm
Palm Sunday Silent Vigil for Peace
State Library
Please bring any banners for a silent vigil then walk down to Peace Forum
Contact: Jessica 0431 519 577

Sunday 17 April, 2-4pm
Palm Sunday Peace Forum
Wesley Uniting Church, Lonsdale St, City
Speakers: Mariko Ishii (Peace Boat); Bill Williams (Medical Association for Prevention of War);
Jessica Morrison (recent visitor to Afghanistan and Palestine);
Michael Hamel-Green (Nuclear Disarmament academic)
Contact: Kaz 0413 849 984

Christians and Climate Change: Nonviolence in Action Practical Workshop

We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. (Martin Luther King Jr.)

Saturday 13th November, 1-4pm
Quaker Meeting House, Lower Hall
119 Devonshire St, Surry Hills
Gold coin entry

Learn about:

• Why nonviolent direct action in the tradition of Martin Luther King, Gandhi and Desmond Tutu is a legitimate response to the climate crisis
• The spirituality, theology and power of nonviolent direct action (NVDA)
• NVDA principles, skills and tactics
• How to get involved in potential actions, including the Climate Camp

With:

• Justin Whelan, Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service
• Simon Roz, World Vision
• Catherine Cresswell, Bluegreen Media

Climate Camp:

Ordinary people around the world are participating in nonviolent direct action, including civil disobedience, at coal infrastructure, government offices, carbon exchanges and more. In early December, people from all walks of life will come together in the Hunter Valley for the ‘Camp for Climate Action 2010‘ – five days of learning, planning and sustainable living, culminating in a peaceful mass action at Bayswater power station. Among those participating are Christians, who are moved by the urgency of climate change and the failures of the political process to address it, and by a long Christian legacy of nonviolence.

Download the flyer here

And here is a short blurb for inserting into church notices and bulletins:

Christians and Climate Change: Nonviolence in Action Practical Workshop

Learn about nonviolent direct action (NVDA) in the tradition of Martin Luther King, Gandhi and Desmond Tutu, why NVDA is a legitimate response to the climate crisis, NVDA tactics, and how you can get involved in potential actions.  Saturday 13^th November, 1-4pm.  Quaker Meeting House, 119 Devonshire St, Surry Hills.  For more information see http://paceebene.wordpress.com/

Nonviolent Orthopraxis and Just War Theory

Via Waging Nonviolence (an awesome blog) comes this interview with Sant’Egidio leader Andrea Bartoli on peacemaking, nonviolence and just war theory. It’s a great read:

NS: Since Augustine, Catholic tradition has upheld just war theory. Does Sant’Egidio see itself, like the Catholic Worker movement in the United States, as a challenge to that tradition? Or does its approach to peacebuilding fit within the just war framework?

AB: Augustine discusses peace about 2,500 times and war a couple of dozen. Everybody discusses what Augustine said about just war, but they usually fail to recognize that he speaks about just peace much more. Sant’Egidio focuses on the parts of Augustine that focus on peace. War is a possibility. War is a human choice. But from our perspective, the Christian position cannot be but a peaceful one, both in terms of being peaceful ourselves and in terms of being peacemakers. We don’t begin with theories. We work for peace because, to the poor, war is the worst of all conditions—Andrea Riccardi called it “the mother of all poverty.” Rather than holding a theoretical argument in favor of, or against, war, we need to be bound to practice. We’re more concerned with orthopraxis than orthodoxy. We want to be orthodox, but we have an even greater desire to actually practice the gospel.

I love that last line!

The Waihopai Ploughshares take issue of New Zealand spy base to court

The jury trial of three Ploughshares peace activists, Adrian (Adi) Leason, Peter Murnane and Sam Land is being held in Wellington, New Zealand this week. People are coming from around New Zealand and Australia to support them and to give voice to the issue behind their trial—the need to close the Waihopai Spy Base and end New Zealand’s links with the US war machine. Waihopai is New Zealand’s most important contribution to that war machine, far more so than any Special Air Service presence in Afghanistan, and has been operating as an outpost of US intelligence 24/7.

Hat-tip: The Waihopai Ploughshares take issue of New Zealand spy base to court (at WagingNonviolence.org)

Interview with Gene Sharp

I am a huge fan of Gene Sharp, Director of the Albert Einstein Institution and the world’s leading scholar of the politics of nonviolent struggle. He literally wrote the book on the topic! How someone who’s books have been used as training manuals for democratic revolutions and other nonviolent campaigns of worldwide significance has been ignored by academic scholars remains one of life’s great mysteries to me.

Anyway, Dr Sharp recently gave a (rare) interview to Boston’s PBS radio on his take on nonviolent action, what’s going on in Iran, and far-left critics who think he’s a secret government agent (one of my favourite conspiracy theories). You can listen to the interview here.

Workshop: Nonviolence in the mainstream – the daily practice of peace

Perth
April 25-30 and Nov 28 – Dec 3

As individuals on a journey towards a sustainable practice of peace and nonviolence, we are seeking wholeness. We need to know who we are and how the dominant culture into which we were born shapes and conditions us. Sustainable spiritual growth requires the integration of the inner and outer journeys. Throughout the week, our conversation will move between the inner and outer concerns around developing a nonviolent foundation for living.

Download the brochure

Facilitiator Co-Learning Program in Victoria

March 26-28
Salesian Retreat Centre, Lysterfield VIC
$175/150 all incl.

An interactive, co-learning program offering participants the opportunity to gain familiarity with, and skills in, the facilitation of Pace e Bene’s study programs. Then ‘spread the peace…’

Download the flyer

Anzac Day Weekend 2010 Conference ‘Putting an End to War’

This conference will be held from 23-26 April, starting with Friday dinner and an evening session and ending probably soon after Monday lunch at the Australian Quaker Centre, “Silver Wattle” 1063 Lake Road Bungendore, NSW.

The conference is entitled “Putting an end to War” – a 3-day workshop on personal resistance to war and military action. We will consider the Beatitudes as a call to radical action, reflect on celebrations of ANZAC Day, and hear about individual witness such as being a human shield, intervening in armed conflict, entering prohibited military areas and refusing to pay war taxes. Recent actions in Pine Gap, Talisman Sabre, Iraq and Palestine will be some of our examples.

Speakers include: Gerry Guitton “Walking the Way of Peace”, Simon Moyle “Radical Action’, Helen Bayes “Getting in the Way – Christian Peacemakers”, Waratah Gillespie “Out of Love Courage Grows”, Helen Gould “War Tax Resistance”, Doug Hynd “Reflections on Anzac day”.

For full details of program, accommodation costs etc check the web site: http://www.aqc.quakers.org.au