Peacemaker News
Betty Bigombe, Uganda
Betty was one of several Ugandan government officials to be honored for their achievements in helping Uganda reach its UN Millennium Development goals.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201209130752.html
Additionally, as Uganda’s Director of Water and Resource Management, Betty has launched an unprecedented report on the health of the Nile River Basin. This report will hopefully set the stage for new policies to secure the healthy future of the water source.
http://www.bikyamasr.com/80083/nile-basin-initiative-launches-first-ever-nile-river-report/
In the same vein, Betty spoke at a conference on "Harnessing Research for Sustainable Development of the Lake Victoria Basin," which Bigombe opened with a speech encouraging “the free flow of ideas amongst experts on matters concerning the basin."
Ricardo Esquivia, Colombia
Ricardo recently spoke about his life and work at the University of Calgary. His speech was part of a "Peacetalk Speaker Series," sponsored by the Consortium for Peace Studies, Project Ploughshares, and the Latin American Research Centre.
http://www.ucalgary.ca/peacestudies/peacetalks
Rabbi Menachem Froman, West Bank
Rabbi Froman was featured in The Guardian for his work and his philosophy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the article, The Guardian commends his ability to build working relationships with leaders on both sides and his capacity to see religion as a jumping off point for peace.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/12/israeli-settlers-peace-activists
Additionally, Rabbi Froman has publically stated that the time has come to apologize for the murder of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, South Africa
Nozizwe has written an article on the film Roadmap to Apartheid, which compares the current status of Palestinians to that of non-white South Africans under apartheid. In this article, Nozizwe goes beyond the content of the film to describe her own understanding of the Palestinian experience, based upon her time in Israel with a delegation of South Africans. She concludes by calling upon her readers' "common humanity to find the solution" to the situation in the Middle East.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/south-african-two-state-solution-sounds-apartheid/11726
Father Sava Janjic, Kosovo
Father Janjic met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her recent visit to the Balkans region. Father Janjic is pictured with Clinton here, in photographs eight and ten.
Father Alex Reid, Northern Ireland
Reverend Albert Ogle, a religious leader in San Diego, California, remembers learning from Father Reid when he studied peace in Ireland. Today, Ogle attempts to apply Reid's peacemaking philosophy to his own work reconciling the LGBTQ community with the Catholic Church, post-election America, and societies worldwide.
http://sdgln.com/social/2012/11/09/rgod2-after-election-pray-grace
Pastor James Wuye and Imam Muhammad Ashafa, Nigeria
USIP has partnered with FLT Films to expand the impact of the documentary “An African Answer,” which is based on Pastor James and Imam Ashafa’s work in Kenya. The new partnership with USIP will enable the film to be dubbed into Swahili and widely distributed in Kenya. FLT films will also facilitate training workshops on James and Ashafa’s peacebuilding and mediation techniques and help participants to create action plans for reducing tensions and violence. James and Ashafa will support the implementation of these plans, and FLT will document them in three short films.
Pastor Wuye and Imam Ashafa were also chosen to be the keynote speakers at a conference in Jerusalem in early November, called "Mediating Peace and Reconciliation through Art, Music, and Film.” The conference was hosted by the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
http://www.afhu.org/former-enemies-talk-peace-jerusalem-conference
Yehezkel Landau, U.S./Israel
Hartford Seminary recently established an endowed faculty chair in Abrahamic Partnerships. The first occupant of this chair will be our own Yehezkel Landau. The faculty chair will focus on the history and practice of Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations, and was made possible by a gift from the Prior Family Foundation. Congratulations, Yehezkel!
A Resource
The Outsider’s Guide to Supporting Nonviolent Resistance to Dictatorship
Linked below is a free online resource compiled by “nonviolent activists from around the world.” The guide is “designed to kick start a global conversation on how—and how not—to support democratic activists around the world,” and includes over one hundred nonviolent tactics to affect change in violent and politically oppressive societies. There are tactics for actors at all levels, and they span the quite the range from conventional to daring.