This week we see again that punishment is less for murdering four Iraqis than for refusing to participate in a war that many citizens, and many in the military, see as a crime against the peace – a war crime. http://www.truthout.org/article/when-refusing-kill-has-a-higher-sentence-than-murder

The amazing story of an Israeli who helped puncture the on-going Israeli blockade of Gaza–by bringing food to starving Gazans by sea – Barely mentioned in the Western media, but a major event in Israel/Palestine, a small group of peace activists rented a boat to bring food to the near-starving Gazans, prohibited from doing so […]

Few in this country have heard of Australian General Jim Molan, despite his direct command responsibility for the brutal Coalition assault on Fallujah and other Sunni cities in Iraq in late 2004…Fallujah is particularly notorious for the widespread and well documented allegations of serious atrocities, if not outright war crimes, committed by Coalition troops under […]

Jesus’ New Economy of Grace: The biblical vision of Sabbath economics by Ched Myers The Hebrew Bible’s vision of Sabbath economics contends that a theology of abundant grace and a communal ethic of redistribution is the only way out of our slavery to the debt system, with its theology of meritocracy and private ethic of […]

Every group has within it a structure for organizational leadership. This structure is called “polity.” A politician is someone who understands the polity of a group and is a “polity technician.” Both leaders and followers can be politicians…I learned more about politics in that church work than in the city council work. Furthermore, in the […]

As the Christian, Muslim, and Jewish contributors to this volume have discovered firsthand, religion is better at fostering peace than at fuelling war. Rarely, conclude the authors, is religion the principal cause of international conflict, even though some adversaries may argue differently. But religion can often be invaluable in promoting understanding and reconciliation-and the need […]

A major work from a seminal figure in the field of conflict resolution, Building Peace is John Paul Lederach’s definitive statement on peacebuilding. Marrying wisdom, insight, and passion, Lederach explains why we need to move beyond “traditional” diplomacy, which often emphasizes top-level leaders and short-term objectives, toward a holistic approach that stresses the multiplicity of […]

Business is likely to be the driver of global peace, according to the founder of a Global Peace Index released in London. The index, which saw Australia fall two places to 27th in the past year, identified issues affecting peace, finding education, per capita income, lack of corruption and regional relationships were the key drivers […]

To put it simply, Tom Sine’s The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time is an encyclopaedia of the new movement in the Evangelical church in Australia, Canada, Britain and the United States… Beyond the journalism of reporting on all these different initiatives, Sine also provides an overview of the new […]

The media leans toward negative reporting, and that rewards the perpetrators of violence. Peace initiatives seldom make headlines. Due to superficial reporting by Western newspapers and broadcasters, the public does not understand the context of many conflicts. These are the views of the peace researcher Johan Galtung as he spoke with freelance journalist Claudia Isabel […]

With Anzac Day over, and the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign just under a decade away, it’s time to re-examine, re-frame, and hopefully tame, the Anzac legend for the start of its next century. You don’t need to be an expert in every component of Anzac values to understand that the legend has a […]

If you recently saw the ABC Compass program about forgiveness and Xanana Gusmao, we also have powerful stories like that. You can now see some of the photos and short segments on: www.rwandanstories.org