Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice - Newsletter -- Peace Conference in Santa Fe and Bumper Stickers

Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice 202 Harvard SE Albuquerque, NM 87106 505-268-9557		Updated: 1 October 2007
Newsletter October 2007

October 2007
Newsletter Contents

Peace Conference in Santa Fe and Bumper Stickers
Membership Application

It has been several months since the Peace Conference in Santa Fe that caused so much controversy among us. Although I did not take part in the comments that flew back and forth, I did have the same reactions of indignation at the great cost of the conference, its sponsorship by the Dept. of Tourism, and the "show" aspect of it that did not seem to involve serious follow up commitment on the part of the participants. Since then, Judith, Maria who attended the conference, and I have tried to think of how we might have dealt with the conflict in terms of more objective dialogue. We also asked Virginia Miller in Santa Fe, one of the authors of the NM Office of Peace legislation, who participated actively in the conference, for her reactions to it. We asked ourselves, are we not obligated to respect other people as persons who may be pursuing a path we disagree with and seek to dialogue with them about our differences? That would have been the legislator, Shannon Robinson, who obtained state money for the conference, and Louise Diamond, the person hired to organize the conference. First we would have listened to their goals for the conference. Then we would have tried to explain how the costs and seemingly highly staged event without apparent follow up on the part of participants conflicted with our low funded long term struggle to change the economic base of our state from weapons of mass destruction to socially productive endeavors. Would this have resulted in openings to understanding? Is it worth trying?

Virginia Miller said that Senator Robinson was genuinely moved and challenged by the World Peace Conference he attended in India. He wanted to provide a similar experience for people in New Mexico, thus he designated his Capital Outlay funds for two years for this purpose. He supports the NM Office of Peace legislation and sponsored Shannon Slit's Senate Joint Memorial 47 calling on the legislature to prohibit manufacture of any new nuclear weapons (or pits) in NM. We should encourage his interest in peace efforts and try to communicate with him our concerns and when we disagree. We need to learn how to work with all kinds of people and draw the best out in them. It's not easy! ... I experienced the peace conference as a wonderful opportunity ... I shared my NM Office of Peace table with a Spanish man from Geneva who was promoting peace as a human right through the UN. Two people from Colorado plan to use our work to create a NM Office of Peace to create a U.S. Dept. of Peace in Colorado ... Fifteen New Mexicans, most of whom I met for the first time, engaged in a dialogue on how we can create a viable, sustainable peace economy in New Mexico ... We closed our dialogue with each participant responding to the question "What are you able and willing to do to further the process of a peace economy in NM? ... .One woman works at LANL and is involving others at LANL interested in demilitarization." ... We welcome your views and reactions.

Dorie Bunting

... see also A Training in Peacemaking, in Noticias.

The Bumper Stickers Have Been Pouring In! Some Samples Below. . .

NO LONGER!! IMPEACH THE FEAR MONGERS
SHOW WAR THE DOOR
SCIENTIFIC FACT: SCUM ALWAYS RISES TO THE TOP
DRAFT SUV DRIVERS FIRST
WE NEED LESS CAPITAL AT THE CAPITOL
TAKE THE CONS OUT OF CONGRESS
AMERICA: ONE NATION UNDER SURVEILLANCE
ESCHEW OBFUSCATION

Thanks to Todd Tibbals and anonymous contributors.

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