Maximizing Effectiveness of a Community Group Dedicated to Peace

The peace movement: What is it? 

Answer:

1.  not merely a protest against the heinousness of war, but the persistent effort to replace the militaristic mindset embedded in the culture with one encompassing the benefits, both practical and transcendental, of systemic peace. 

2.  the active pursuit of such strategies as will cause the overwhelming advantages of peace in all its revolutionary harmony to prevail.

Those of us committed to these aims work in a variety of groups in our communities. We are indefatigable, trudging good soldiers, the word “soldier” here turned inside out for its transmogrification—startling in its conception—of troops lovingly disposed toward their fellow bipeds.  We relentlessly focus on the search for the truth beneath appearances to educate our memberships, and devote ourselves to reforms designed to bring the common weal around to the good sense it was born with.  It is a reasonable assumption, our goals being finally the same from one enclave to another, that we will do well to share what we learn, thereby increasing the general effectiveness of peace’s mission exponentially.

I am cofounder of the Peace Pyramid, a group that has flourished in the environs of the capital of California for over five years.  Like all who strive for peace (which, after all, is best viewed as a quest eternal), we cultivate humility through frustration.  Yet perhaps our longevity bespeaks a certain claim to success in its example as a working model.  What are our outstanding features? 

What accentuates our format that might be usefully practiced by other groups?

·        A non-membership organization. 

No one joins; anyone is welcome to attend without dues or even token commitment.

·        A venue and agenda friendly to attendees both new and returning.

Rather than frequent meetings that would put stress on busy lives, we put emphasis on quarterly convocations, inviting spontaneous volunteer activities in the interims.  These convocations are always on a Saturday, and convened not in sterile halls but in the warmth of a comfortable home.  The first hour is devoted to potluck and socializing. At times we’re afforded the pleasure of musicians and singers whose repertory will include protest lyrics.

·        A clearly defined sense of the exact mission the group actively pursues. 

In our case this has meant we focus each meeting upon matters pertinent to such life-and-death issues as war, nuclear threat, depleted uranium, an imperialist foreign policy, as impacted by the present administration in Washington, and by reforms of these excesses, as exemplified by Congressman Dennis Kucinich’s initiative to form a cabinet-level Department of Peace.  (Another group may well undertake such matters as global warming, immigration, consumerism, etc.)

·        Booking of speakers eminently qualified to speak on the topics of our central concern. 

For instance, we have enjoyed presentations by Cindy Sheehan (whose credentials need no listing); David Dionisi, author of American Hiroshima and creator of the international organization Teach Peace; Dwayne Hunn, founder of the American World Service Corps; Nadia McCaffrey, creator of  Veterans Villages, a shelter for soldiers returning from Iraq; Leuren Moret, whistleblower to the forces proliferating radiation poisoning over the earth.

·        Diligent promotion of each gathering via free news calendar, email updates to an address book list, and word of mouth.

We describe the specific features of an impending convocation in materials that we pass out where we table in an open air market.

·        A format that gently coaxes rather than insists on militant activism.

We pursue specific goals with vigor, the one most persistently embraced being the promotion of a Department of Peace.  In contradistinction to most groups in the peace movement, however, our activism to bring about change represents only half of our energies, the other half being dedicated to giving peaceminded citizens a voice in an environment of sympathy and support.  (See next item discussing the open forum segment.)

·        An open forum providing the opportunity for all in attendance to speak.

This is the signature feature of our organization.  We enjoy the skills of an excellent facilitator who is able to elicit participation by most who are present, yet “prevent runaways.”  If we have a speaker the Q & A after his/her talk is absorbed in the follow-up forum segment; attendees’ contributions, however, may be directed to other issues having nothing to do with the evening’s speaker and presentation.  The result is that each convocation is afforded a fascination of the unpredictable.  Those who come unfailingly welcome the rare opportunity to vent their hearts and share their insights, and as we listen to one another, we realize how continually we underestimate the unique individual who is our fellow man.

Tom King

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