About
An Appeal toJoin URI Cooperation Circle for
Peace andNonviolence Education
Dear friends,
The world ispassing through the worst period of its history marked by not only increasing trendsof violence in our day-today interactions and attitudes towards others, in ourrelationship with other humans as well as with non-humans that include birds,animals, plants and small creatures and violence in our thoughts and emotions.Our self-centredness has increased to so great an extent that we now hardlythink of others who as a matter of fact have an equal right to share theearth’s resources and survive. All life forms on the planet, whether they aresmall or big, are interconnected, interdependent and are able to co-existthrough mutual assistance and cooperation. Unfortunately this thread that bindsall together is slowly dissipating. We find that our increasingself-centredness is causing disruption in our harmonious relationships. Ouractions are threatening our survival into the third millennium.
Today Gaia – theplanet earth, according to the eminent scientist James Lovelock, is criticallyill. It is our irresponsible behavior, our lust for wealth and our tendency tograb maximum material resources that is responsible for this despicable state. Inaddition the basic ethical values in today’s socio-political world order aredegenerating fast. Some of the problems that humanity faces today are :
Extreme poverty Non-sustainability Starvation Religious intolerance giving rise to violence in the name of religion Economic disparity and exploitation of the weaker sections Environmental and ecological degradation – rapidly disappearing forests and rivers Deteriorating global health Climate change Proliferation of nuclear arms and attempts by fanatics and terrorists to get nuclear weapons Violence towards children and the aged Complete lack of a feeling of togetherness Narrow nationalism
You will agreethat these problems are man-made and can be solved by man only. All the aboveproblems can be solved if we volunteer to take just one small vow ‘I willrefrain from unnecessary violence and will never attempt to kill an innocenthuman being’. Perhaps you know that UNESCO convened a conference of eminentscientists, socio-political thinkers, anthropologists and biologists in 1985 – theInternational Year of Peace to consider the widely prevalent belief that humanbrain is biologically so constructed and designed that it is bound to beviolent innately and there is no scope for its transformation. The elite of thescientific and political world debated this issue and issued a statement calledSeville Statement which rejects the theory that human brain is innatelyviolent. It says that the human mind that invented violence can invent peacetoo. The seeds of both violence and nonviolence lie in it. We need to exposethe human brain to a culture of peace and nonviolence if we want that the seedsof nonviolence which are lying dormant in human brain should be activated. Forthat peace and nonviolence education is imperative.
URI has alwaysbeen in the forefront to bring various religious groups together and share one another’svisions. It has played an important role in fostering ties of friendship andmutual respect among different faiths. URI is pledged to a culture of peace andnonviolence. When I put forward a proposal that a special URI CooperationCircle for Peace and Nonviolence Education be created, URI Leadership accededto my request as a result we have this CC for Peace and Nonviolence Educationnow. It will strive to deepen URI Members’ understanding of nonviolence andenhance their awareness of nonviolence so that we can create a nonkilling andharmonious society. Needless to say that charity begins at home. First of all everyonewho joins this CC should express his or her faith in a culture of peace andhealing power of nonviolence. Then he or she should pledge that he or she willtry to gradually reduce his / her needs, control his / her consumption ofmaterial resources, fix a limit to his / her wealth, curtail unnecessarytravelling, refrain from unnecessary violence and from killing at leastinnocent human beings. He or she will try to be vegetarian. I may add that itis not binding for a person who volunteers to sign up the membership form totake a vow that he will be vegetarian. Instead we only expect that he willgradually try to switch over to vegetarianism. For example a person who takes avow that he would not eat meat, eggs etc. on two days of a week or three days ofa week is also qualified to sign up.
If you areinclined to a lifestyle embedded in the above principles so that others canalso survive, kindly email your consent to be a member or supporter of thisextremely significant CC of URI.
As a contactperson I will send you periodical write ups by eminent persons reflecting onthe problems that we face today from a nonviolence perspective and suggesting theway we can combat them. Come and join the CC to save the planet from extinctionand save the life on it so that we may live. Come, live and let live. I amwriting this to invite you to endorse this CC and join it by sending thefollowing information about yourself :
Name (First Name) ___________________________________________
Surname or last name __________________________________________
Title if any__________________________________________________
Male / Female _______________________________________________
Age _______________________________________________________
Complete Postal Address ______________________________________
House No.___________________________________________________
Street ______________________________________________________
City, State___________________________________________________
Country withPost Code _______________________________________
Email ID ___________________________________________________
Mobile No. ___________________________________________________
Fax if any ___________________________________________________
Do you pledge that you will gradually switch over to a restrained and disciplined life embedded in ethics ? YES / NO ____________________
Do you enroll yourself as a member or supporter _____________________
I hope you willrespond positively and join this CC to create a global nonviolence network.
Looking forwardto hearing from you,
Yours sincerely,
Dr. S.L. Gandhi
Contact Person – URI CC for Peaceand
NonviolenceEducation
B-402, Nagar Residency, CalgaryRoad
Malviya Nagar, Jaipur – 302 017(Raj.) INDIA
Ph : +91-141-4030698
(M) : +91-98280 16989
e-mail : slgandhi@hotmail.com
Ten years ago Ibtisam Mahameed decided to run for public office. It was a perilous decision for the 41-year-old, modestly dressed, Arab Muslim woman, married with three children. Traditionally, women did not play any role in politics in her village or any other Israeli Arab village. Knowing her decision invited controversy did not dissuade her.