1. IIPSGP PARLIAMENTARY WORK: The IIPSGP meetings in London will hopefully be restarted in the House of Lords this Autumn, 2006, and discussions are underway concerning the best way to take this forward. It is expected to hold a series of seminars on conflicts and conflict resolution in different parts of the world, perhaps starting with a meeting on the situation in Nepal and what we can do to help resolve the tragic conflict taking part in their society. Further details to IIPSGP members and associates once the date has been finalised.

2. SIR EDWARD HERBERT SYMPOSIUM – SEPTEMBER 30, 2006: This special event is being organised by IIPSGP to commemorate the life and work and influence of Sir Edward Herbert, one of the unsung heroes of the history of global philosophy and the early Enlightenment. The Symposium is taking place at a Welsh Country house in Montgomeryshire, near Welshpool. Researchers with an interest in Herbert as a historical figure are invited to attend to this historic event on the subject of his life and thought. Herbert was one of the great figures of the rise of rationalist philosophy and proposed a fold universal system of common notions which underpin all faiths and religions. His most famous work was De Veritate (On Truth) which almost single-handedly launched the European Enlightenment. He was esteemed by later figures such as Kant, Voltaire, Hegel etc., The current Earl of Powys is a direct descendent of Herbert, who was also a brother to George Herbert the famous metaphysical poet. There is also a famous portrait of Herbert in Powys Castle which is well worth seeing. Coincidentally, Herbert had a summer palace at Llanerfyl, in the small castle there (now ruined) close to the IIPSGP’s base. He was also a diplomat and friend to King Charles, Prince Rupert, but also Parliamentarian intellectuals such as John Selden. Above all he desired peace instead of the civil war then ravaging Britain, and his philosophy was intended as a contribution towards a philosophy of peace. Places at the Symposium will be limited due to space constraints so if you are interested in coming, please email the Institute

3. PUBLICATIONS OF IIPSGP: The publications of the IIPSGP Director are now being made available through LULU, an online publishing agency, and can be ordered by members and friends as either downloads (direct to their computer in electronic format) or as published books. Consult the website: www.lulu.com/iipsgp where members will find the required information. Thomas Daffern has recently published the following volumes via Lulu, which can be found as follows:

• Musings Volume 3, 1991-1992 - http://www.lulu.com/content/283511
• Musings Volume 2, 1981-1990 - http://www.lulu.com/content/283381
• Selected Poems 1971-2005, Volume 2 - http://www.lulu.com/content/286144
• Selected Poems 1971-2005, Volume 1 - http://www.lulu.com/content/285939
• Multilingual Dictionary for Multifaith and Multicultural Mediation, Peace and Global Philosophy - http://www.lulu.com/content/281249

4. ORDER OF WANDERING PEACE POETS, PHILOSOPHERS AND DRUIDS continues its gradual work, as a member of the Council of British Druid Orders, and works alongside other Druid groups, orders and associations, both in the UK and internationally. Thomas Daffern is being presented with the ceremonial regalia of the Peace Officer of the Council of British Druid Orders at Avebury, on Beltane, May 1st, noon, and anyone interested is welcome to attend this public ceremony. The Council of British Druid Orders continues to meet quarterly, and is currently being chaired by Denny Price of the Glastonbury Order of Druids, with its next meeting in Bath on June 4th with the Secular Order of Druids hosting (Tim Sebastian). In Macedonia the poet Katarina Jovcevska has recently published some more of her poems and has sent in details of a new discovery of an ancient Bronze age sacred site in the hills near Kokino. Interestingly, archaeologists are also exploring another spectacular find in the Balkan region, namely the huge pyramid at Visoko, in Bosnia, North West of the Capital city of Sarajevo. Visoko was the mediaeval capital of Bosnia. Archaeologist Semir Osmanagic who is in charge of the excavations, along with geologist Nadje Nukic, both of whom feel that the hill is not a natural formation; they have already found a paved entrance plateau, entrances to tunnels and large stone blocks. Ever since Marija Gimbutas drew attention to Old European Culture in her work on the early goddess cultures of the Vinca and related peoples of the Balkans, it has been obvious that ancient South East European culture was highly sophisticated religiously and spiritually. One can assume therefore that poetry, music, the Bardic arts and the Mysteries were a key part of these ancient cultures – which were largely peace loving and Goddess centred in their spiritual focus. Here then was the heartland that philosophy later grew out from, and the homeland of Dionysus…Balkan equivalent to the Druid deity Cernunnos.

Here’s a poem for Dionysus to celebrate these new discoveries:

326 FOR DIONYSOS

You’re the one who,
When you have to ride
Somewhere, would prefer
To go on a donkey.

You’re the one for whom
Your lovers would make
A garden and in the middle
Plant a special flower,
Amidst the souls and soils,
An unforgettable perfume.

Also, you’re the one
For whom poems
Come in dreams,
Unfurling like banners,
From a staff of waking sleepfullness.

You’re the one who can
Save the situation
Between all these religious quarrels,
With your actual ecstasy
Calling them all to remember.

You’re the one who lives inside us
And yet beyond us, into whom
Our souls die and then get
Gifted back, miraculously.

You’re the one who demands everything,
And gives nothing back in return.
And then demands nothing,
And gives everything.

You’re the one with the fruit,
And the wines,
And the wildness,
You’re the one hiding out in the vines;
You’re the one who harvests
The luscious liquid liquor of knowing…

You’re the One.

5. MAY BIRTHDAY PARTY AT RHOS GALLT: IIPSGP is hosting a May 6th Peace Party at Rhos Gallt, Llanerfyl this year, and all IIPSGP friends and members are welcome to attend. The party celebrations start with tea from 4pm onwards, and will last through to the early hours for those able to stay. We plan on having a bonfire, poetry, music, dancing, a peace meditation, a river walk (with swimming for the brave) plus storytelling and feasting. Ideally come in fancy dress (Dionysian robes), or something splendid to celebrate the occasion ! Please call 01938 820586 or 07951 600959 for details. The party is called especially to celebrate Thomas’s 50th birthday, having been born in 1956 in Montreal. There are plenty of hotels in the area for those wishing to stay overnight, especially recommended is the Royal Oak in Welshpool and the Cann Office in Llangadfan. Some limited space for friends wishing to stay overnight is also available at Rhos Gallt. Please bring a tent if possible as there is plenty of space for camping in the garden and hopefully the weather should be warm enough!

6. PATTERNS OF HARMONY: DRAWING ON THE ENNEAGRAM AND SPIRITUAL WISDOM SOURCES FOR COLLECTIVE PEACEMAKING and ENLIGHTENMENTS - June 9 -11, 2006, Lammas Barns, Near Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, A workshop exploration with Gayle Scott and Thomas Daffern.
Gayle Scott is a spiritual teacher from Boulder, Colorado, who has been teaching the sacred psychology of the Enneagram as an essential resource for understanding human behavior and motivation and dynamizing spiritual potential since 1990. She holds it to be one of the most profound and powerful tools for self-knowledge and personal development available today. She is also an experienced seeker in the Diamond Approach of the Ridhwan psychospiritual school, and has taught at the Naropa Mahayana Buddhist University in Boulder, Colorado, founded by Chogyam Trungpa.  Gayle draws eclectically from her work with the Enneagram, Sufi and Buddhist spiritual practices, as well as on her own combined Native American and Celtic heritage.  This is her first workshop in the UK. Gayle is currently serving as Director of The Enneagram Institute of Colorado, and as a Board Member of the International Enneagram Association  (IEA), and in her role of Conference Chair, helped to deliver the 2005 International Enneagram Conference  in San Francisco. She has been studying and training with two leading international Enneagram teachers, Don Riso and Russ Hudson, since 1993. She has also been served as a member of Claudio Naranjo's ongoing International SAT (Seekers After Truth) group.  Gayle was for many years involved in the development of West Coast Goddess and feminist spirituality teachings and was a friend and student of the late Dr. Marija Gimbutas, whose pioneering archaeological work publicized the ancient Goddess cultures of Old Europe in the Balkans.
Dr. Thomas Daffern is a philosopher, historian, transpersonal theorist, Druid and poet, who has been teaching comparative philosophy, religious studies and the history of ideas since 1985 and is Director of the International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy. He founded the Pagan Academic Network in 1996, and has lectured and travelled in over 30 countries worldwide. He has co-chaired some 33 meetings in the UK House of Lords aimed at encouraging parliamentarians and NGO’s to develop a culture of peace and global responsibility and has initiated the Global Green University as an ongoing conversation in planetary education aimed at solving the current crises in world affairs. He has published widely in comparative philosophy, transpersonal history, and educational theory. He is convening a new Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Britain and Ireland in August 2006 on Anglesey.
With current global and national events ever more full of conflict, violence and misunderstanding between different faiths and cultures, this workshop will focus on the positive traditions of different spiritual lineages, and ask whether a deep peace-making is possible between pagan and revealed religions, between feminine and masculine archetypes, and between secular and religious traditions. We will be working with the teachings of the Enneagram of esoteric tradition, and the Nine Muses of classical European philosophy. We hope to empower participants with potent tools of self-discovery, and inspire with the experience of the energy of peace. We will explore the potential of conflicts held in balance as a creative force enabling a movement towards liberation from suffering.
This workshop is being hosted at a private venue, Lammas Barns, a converted 17th tithe barn near Shrewsbury, Shropshire, and attendance is by donation, with a suggested figure somewhere about £70 pounds for the weekend, (those that can afford to give more are welcome to do so and those who cannot afford this figure are welcome to offer what they can). We will be sharing food and refreshments of healthy and nutritious cuisine during the weekend, which will be included in the event. We also hope to organise a bonfire on the Saturday night for a celebratory Eisteddfod of poetry, music and storytelling to share. For those wishing to stay overnight there is space for camping in the delightful grounds, and for the faint at heart there are also excellent bed and breakfast facilities nearby. For further details of camping and accommodation please contact Kate on 01952 770191. Contact EducationAid for further details on the work of IIPSGP, and visit www.enneagayle.com for more about the Enneagram work.
Spaces are being limited to ensure that all participants derive maximum benefit. To reserve your place at this unique event, please contact us asap. Prior booking will ensure we save your place. To confirm your attendance please write to: International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy (IIPSGP), Rhos y Gallt, Llanerfyl, Powys, Wales, SY21 0ER, 01938 820586 or 07951 600959, or email us.

7. ACADEMIC RESEARCH NETWORK ON HUMILIATION AND DIGNITY STUDIES: This work continues to hold meetings globally, with an event in New York. An interview with its founder Director, Even Lindner was published in the Muses Love Journal for 2005/6. The Director of IIPSGP serves on the International Advisory Board of the network and has teamed up with the work of Prof. Francisco Gomes de Matos of the Federal University of Pernambuco in Recife in North-Eastern Brazil, who is the author of a Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights (1984) and For Communicative Peace (1993). Prof. De Matos has pioneered the notion of a peace linguistics over recent decades. See www.humiliationstudies.org for details.

8. KEELE UNIVERSITY PAGAN MOOT is talking place on May 9th, at Keele University Campus, Staffordshire and features a talk by Thomas Daffern on Paganism and Education: Does History Have a Future? taking place at the Postgraduate Centre on campus, from 7pm onwards. Contact IIPSGP International Secretary, Ruth Kempe for precise details.

9. THE SUNRISE SUMMER SOLSTICE CELEBRATION is taking place from 16-21st June, in South Somerset; Thomas Daffern has been invited to give a talk on the afternoon of June 21st, on the theme of Cosmic Philosophy and Sustainable Peace. He will be accompanied by Gayle Scott from Colorado, who is visiting the UK at that time. Contact www.sunrisecelebration.como for details. Tickets cost £50 / £65 for all 6 days. IIPSGP member Jeffrey Gayle is helping to organise the permaculture field.

10. DERBY FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE is holding a discussion circle on the evening of Wednesday May 17 featuring a talk by Thomas Daffern on Druidry and the Philosophy of Peace, starting at 7pm, at the Quaker Meeting House, St Helens Street, Derby. All are welcome to attend this talk.

11. HISTORIES AND MYSTERIES STUDY GROUP meeting is taking place on June 5th, 2005, in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, featuring a talk by Thomas Daffern on Re-searching for the Lost Peace: That Most Occult af all Hidden Mysteries. Contact IIPSGP International Secretary, Ruth Kempe for precise details.

12. NEW ZEALAND is a country with many exciting new spiritual developments and developing links with IIPSGP. Jenny Wheatcroft, the treasurer of IIPSGP, has recently moved to New Zealand, and can be contacted at 176 Tutere Street, Waikenae, Kapiti Coast, Nr. Wellington, North Island, New Zealand, or 00 64 4 2932987. She has recently been on pilgrimage to the Mountains of North Island and reports that their beauty is outstanding. OBOD members in New Zealand organise occasional events including a Summer camp: contact Pamela Meekings-Stewart, The Woolshed, Pukera Bay, New Zealand.

13. THE MULTIFAITH AND MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION AND MEDIATION SERVICE (MMEMS) remains active in its work of multifaith peace building and is hoping to extend its activities on a more global basis, and to achieve a long-term secure source of funding. MMEMS has recently exchanged correspondence with the office of the Prime Ministers of both Britain and Ireland over the launch of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Britain and Ireland. MMEMS proposed some years ago the formation of an International Peace Museum in Northern Ireland and remains pleased at the announcement that the Maze prison is to be turned into a permanent Peace Museum to commemorate the time of troubles, as well as to host an International Centre for Conflict Transformation. We remain also most concerned about the situation in Iran/USA – and have heard from an old Zoroastrian IIPSGP friend recently returned to London from Iran, who was kept there under house arrest for 2 years and had his passport stolen! We still hope to organise a Peace Poetry Symposium in honour of Hafiz in Shiraz when conditions allow. The situation in Israel/Palestine is also of concern with continuing killings on both sides; our proposal to launch a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Israel/Palestine is till on the table and will be launched in Bethlehem/Galilee when conditions permit. Finally, the situation in Iraq is a matter of continuing tragedy, and the achievement of a lasting peace based on sustainable and just political structures in the country is a high priority. The release of Norman Kember is a great relief to peace activists all over the world, butt the tragic death of so many others in that conflict is a sad consequence, it would seem, of adopting a military strategy in the beginning, to solve what was essentially a political and diplomatic problem. Meanwhile all those interested in helping with peacemaking in these areas can at least help with distant prayer and mediation work. Those who would like to assist the further work and development of the MMEMS in these and other regions (including Nepal) please get in touch. We remain convinced that, no matter how tragic the conflict, and how deep the pain on both sides, genuine dialogue and spiritual diplomacy, conducted from the standpoint of searching out the common absolute good (CAG) of all parties in a conflict, can lead to alternative solutions than violence for all sides.

14. A.R. WALLACE SYMPOSIUM, which IIPSGP organised in February 2005, will hopefully be revived as an annual event, starting in 2007, taking place in Poole, Dorset, where Wallace died and is buried, commemorating the creative relationship between Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace, the co-discoverers of the theory of natural selection underlying the evolutionary transformation of living species.

15. HOLY ISLAND (Scotland) remains an important base for Buddhist and interfaith peacemaking, plus a Tibetan Buddhist spiritual retreat centre. Shirley Tourret, a longstanding friend and member of IIPSGP, is living and working at the South End Retreat Centre as she has been doing for the last seven years, during which period she has undertaken a two-year solitary spiritual retreat. Natalie McCall, another good friend to IIPSGP, is also staying and working on Holy Island this summer. If any IIPSGP members and friends are able to get to Arran, do go over to Holy Island and visit Shirley, Natalie and the rest of the community, and preferably write to them in advance: Natalie McCall, Holy Island, Lamlash, Isle of Arran, Scotland, KA27 8RS, Tel. 01770601100.

16. THE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION FOR BRITAIN AND IRELAND (TRCBI) is being launched this Summer on August 5/6 at Holyhead, Mona (Anglesey), during a BRITISH-IRISH PEACE SYMPOSIUM ON Ending The Wars, Making The Peace, which will also see the formation of an ECOCOUNCIL OF THE ISLES. This gathering is open to all whom have the long term interests of peacemaking in Britain and Ireland, and particularly the ending of the long conflicts in Ireland at heart. It is being held in Anglesey to make it possible for participants to come both from Ireland as well as through the British Isles. Mona was sacred to the ancient Druid orders, who formed the educated intelligentsia of both Britain and Ireland in former times, and whose work was specifically involved with mediation, peacemaking and the giving of justice. Among other participants we hope a number of Druids from contemporary Druid orders in both Ireland and Britain will be in attendance. With the peace process in Ireland having moved so far, it is the hope of this symposium to encourage a healthy debate between both Irish and British peace thinkers, activists and spiritual leaders, so as to vision together a long future for both Britain and Ireland. We also intend to launch at this gathering a new body, an Eco-Council for the Isles, which will serve as a forum for representation of all those interested in the ecology of the British Isles: with seabirds dying off our shores, fishes depleted, and global warming effecting our weather patterns, we have an increasing ecological responsibility to end our conflicts and feuds, and pursue ways of peace, justice and harmony. All those who have thought for the long term sustainability of our environment, who love and care for this magical part of the world, and who have the protection of our sacred sites at heart, and who have specific news of environmental issues and campaigns in their part of the world, are invited to attend or send representatives. We are also launching at this meeting a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Britain and Ireland (TRCBI) which will examine testimony concerning all aspects of the conflict in Ireland, and allow persons who have perpetrated acts of cruelty and injustice to come forward and apologise to those whom they have wronged, whether in Britain or in Ireland, and also empower those working for peace and reconciliation to come forward and tell their own stories. The TRCBI might also examine Britain’s role in the wider world of international relations, and its nuclear weapons policies, for example, or its involvement in the Middle East, or the Cold War, especially where they relate to British-Irish affairs. We are keen to hear testimony geared towards reinvigorating Britain and Ireland’s ethical wellbeing.
The formal meeting is taking place on Saturday August 5th and Sunday August 6th in Holyhead Town Hall, with those attending being encouraged to camp with us at a special camp site on Holy Island itself, (a small island off the far North West of Angelsey where Holyhead itself is also located). The camp site is just near an ancient set of standing stones, besides the sea, with wonderful views across to Snowdonia. On Saturday night there will be an Eisteddfod at the camp site for those coming from afar, in which we can hopefully share poetry, music, dance and storytelling into the early hours… To book your place at the Symposium please contact the host. The cost for the event, consisting of the hire of the Town Hall, will be met by donations, to which people are invited to contribute according to their capacity. The cost of the camping will be approximately £8 per night (you need to bring your own tent!) Hosting the meeting is Dr Thomas Daffern, Peace Officer of the Council of British Druids, and Governor of the Saor Ollscoil na h’Eireann (Free University of Ireland); Director of the International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy and founder of the Global Green University (GGU). For those wishing to camp with us overnight, space on a camp site has been reserved which is just close to Holyhead itself, on Holy Island, and close to an ancient stone megalithic site, with stupendous sea views. We plan to have a bonfire and Eisteddfod there on the Saturday night. Attendees at the Symposium are welcome to phone directly and book, (mention you are coming to the Peace Symposium) to: Gayle Parry, Blackthorn Camping and Caravan Site, Holy Island, Anglesey, 01407 765262. If you are able to attend, or send a representative, please contact: IIPSGP, Rhos y Gallt, Llanerfyl, Nr. Welshpool, Powys, Wales, SY21 OER, Tel/Fax. 01938 820586 (m) 07951 600959.

17. Saor Ollscoil Na h'eireann / Free University of IRELAND remains in place as an alternative higher education institution in Ireland, and one is able to undertake both BA, MA and Ph.D. degrees via their good offices, as a recognised qualification in peace studies. The BA is a taught degree so one needs to be within commuting distance from Dublin, built up with credits of classes attended over time, but the MA and PhD degrees can be undertaken at a distance. Please contact Thomas Daffern for further details, who serves as a member of the Soar Ollscoil’s Governing Board. More details from the website: www.saor-ollscoil.ie

18. STONEHENGE SUMMER SOLSTICE CELEBRATION will again take place on the dawn of Wednesday June 21, at Stonehenge. The Institute Director hopes to be present along with other friends and IIPSGP members and friends are welcome to come along and join us. Although there will not be a formal peace stewards team this year, we can help to hold the energies peacefully anyway. Nora Morris, who organised this scheme last year, has sadly passed away during the year. The car park behind Stonehenge itself opens to the public on the evening of Tuesday 20st June at 20.00 hrs. The stones will be open for public access from 22.00 on June 20th to 09.00 on 21st June.

19. THE GLOBAL GREEN UNIVERSITY continues to develop as an international initiative for educators and world citizens seeking 3rd millennium paradigms for an educational process which makes a difference to the real issues affecting peoples' quality of life and the social and environmental challenges affecting us all such as global warming, urbanisation, poverty, war, human rights, educational choices, interfaith spirituality and theology. Contacts are developing in Greece, Israel/Palestine, India, Russia, USA, England, Scotland, Macedonia etc. The Institute remains the lead organisation in this new initiative. Dr S.L. Gandhi has become co-ordinator for the GGU in India and has agreed to supervise the higher research degrees which can be undertaken by students through the GGU in South Asia. In India, contact him directly on: anuvibha@datainfosys.net or slgandhi@hotmail.com Tel. 141-270 7347, Fax 141 2710118, B-19 Anita Colony, Bajaj Nagar, Jaipur, 302 015, Rajasthan, India.

20. THE INSTITUTE LIBRARY, ARCHIVES AND SCHOOL comprise approximately 10,000 monographs and about 80 ft of archival papers and documents connected with peace education and comparative philosophy. It is a reference library available to serious visiting scholars who may come on study retreat. IIPSGP keeps a detailed documentation archive of documents received in the office, including correspondence from peace educators worldwide, philosopher and general educational institutions; these document have been catalogued in two sequences, the new sequence of which started in September 2001. This sequence has now reached 5000 documents long which are indexed on disc and can be subject searched in word, on all aspects of global peace and spirituality. This list is available only to full members of the Institute as it contains some sensitive material. The library also includes tapes and videos of interest. People with archival knowledge and library science are always welcome to come and assist the work.

21. PAGAN ACADEMIC NETWORK (P.A.N.) continues to develop as a project of IIPSGP. PAN is interested to work on research and development projects concerning all aspects of the overlaps between paganism and education. Academia began as an impulse cultivated under the guidance of classical pagan teachings; the Academy in Athens, the Lyceum established by Aristotle, and the Mouseion (Museum) of Alexandria were all conceived as places of learning based on spirituality, religious idealism and practical education and research. Anyone interested in this aspect of our work please get in touch. Interestingly, IIPSGP has recently been in touch wit a Greek pagan organisation, mentioned in a short article in the Times newspaper in March 2006, which is campaigning for religious freedom under the Greek constitution as the legal successor to the ancient Greek pagan priesthood, and requesting freedom of access for religious worship at the ancient Greek shrines and temples scattered throughout the land. Visit their website www.ysee.gr for details or write to them at: YSEE (Supreme Council of Pagan Hellenes), PO Box 78211, Athens, GR 17400, Greece.

22. IIPSGP TRANSLATION AND LANGUAGES FACULTY: the ongoing work of IIPSGP in facilitating inter-cultural discourse through linguistic communication continues. We are keen to network with other translators with expertise in different languages that may not yet be included in our Multilingual Peace Dictionary, and so are looking for volunteer translators with expertise particularly in African, Polynesian and Amerindian languages who can translate a basic word list of some 30 core words in philosophical and peace terminology. Please consult the existing extent of the IIPSGP Peace Dictionary which is available via www.lulu.com/iipsgp

23. INTERNATIONAL PEACE RESEARCH ASSOCIATION is holding its biannual conference June 29-July 3, 2006 in Calgary; IIPSGP Director is co-convenor of the Peace Theories Commission meetings along with Dr Sean English of the Saor Ollscoil na h’Eireann, and is also a member of the European Peace Research Association Governing Board (which will be meeting in Calgary likewise). IPRA was founded in 1964, and since then it has vigorously promoted peace research and peace education. With over 1300 members from some 90 countries, IPRA is the most respected scholarly association in this field. IPRA has links with more than 200 research institutions and is a member of the International Social Science Council. In 1989, IPRA received the UNESCO prize for Peace Education. IPRA has five regional associations: Asia-Pacific Peace Research Association (APRA), Africa Peace Research and Education Association (AFPREA), European Peace Research Association (EUPRA), Latin American Peace Research Association (CLAIP) and Peace and Justice Association (North America). Anyone interested in peace research, or who can come to Calgary, please get in touch with Larry J. Fisk, Chair, Organizing Committee, IPRA 2006 Conference, Calgary, Canada T/F: (403)210-3184) Mail: 2 1640-20th Avenue N.W.Calgary, Alberta Canada TZM 148 E-mail: fisklarry@hotmail.com or via the main IPRA website on www.ipra2006.com or http://soc.kuleuven.be/pol/ipra and to present a paper to the Peace Theories / Peace Philosophy Commission contact Thomas Daffern (we will accept late proposals).

24. BALKANS IIPSGP NEWS: for details of events and unfolding relating to peace and conflict resolution and philosophical and spiritual developments in the Balkan region, please contact our regional secretary, based in Skopje, Ms Gordana Netkovska. She has recently updated their website, which is now an excellent resource for all aspects of Macedonian culture and tourism.

25. THE BIG GREEN GATHERING takes place again this year in Somerset from August 2 – August 6th on the Mendip Hills. IIPSGP will be represented in the ESP Field again and Thomas Daffern will be doing some workshops – please come along for a day at least. The convenor of the ESP field is Maxwell Steer, a musician and composer, who has an interesting website http://colourmuse.org about a new ColourMuse system of teaching musical intelligence to pupils, and which is based on the Muses (origin of the word music of course). Details about the event as a whole from www.big-green-gathering.com

26. FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE CONFERENCE UK is taking place in Stoke on Trent on Saturday July 1st, from 9.30am to midnight, at Kings Hall, Kingsway, Stoke on Trent, featuring talks from Philip Gardiner, Andrew Collins, Nick Popoe, Paul Devereux, Lionel Fanthorpe and many others. Details from www.philipgardiner.net or from IIPSGP International Secretary Ruth Kempe.

27. WITCHFEST WALES is taking place at the University of Cardiff Student Union on June 24th from 10-2am, hosted by the Children of Artemis, and includes talks and loads of stall on Wicca, Druidry, paganism, philosophy etc. Details from www.witchfest.net.

28. HEALING FEST 2006 is talking place at Badger Farm, Asterby, near Louth, in Lincolnshire from 12-13 August, organised by Druid colleague Kevin Guy, details from 01283 221764 or 01283 224170 or www.grove-of-mercia.co.uk

29. CHRISTIANS AGAINST TORTURE is a member of the International Federation against Torture (FiACAT) and includes Desmond Tutu and Archbishop Rowan Williams among its patrons. Members help support campaigning work worldwide to prevent torture in all its forms, which is still tragically widely practiced. Details from Terry and Eleanor Newland, 32 St Stephens Road, Saltash, Cornwall, PL12 4BQ, 01752 210389.

30. THE MOVEMENT FOR THE ABOLITION OF WAR is a campaign run by IIPSGP friend Bruce Kent which campaigns for the ending of war as an instrument of diplomacy worldwide. Details from 11 Venetia Road, London N4 1EJ, Tel. 020 8347 6162 - visit www.abolishwar.org.uk

31. THE PEACE TAX SEVEN are a group campaigning for the right to withold one’s taxes from going to military purposes. They can be contacted via: Woodlands, Ledge Hill, Market Lavington, Wiltshire, SN10 4NW - vist www.peacetaxseven.com or email info@peacetaxseven.com

32. STOKE ON TRENT PAGAN MOOT, 25 July 2006, Kidsgrove, The Blue Bell, 7pm onwards, Hardingswood Lane, www.blubellkidsgrove.co.uk, a talk by Thomas Daffern on Pagan Ethics And Metaphysics: On Being And Doing The Good

33. INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS/ UN PEACE COMMISSION are holding their biannual meeting at the UN Headquarters on Tuesday May 2nd from 10am to 2.15 pm. We are hoping someone can attend to represent IIPSGP at this gathering, which will feature several USA based presenters, including: Prof. Cristiane Carneiro of Arcadia University, Dr Carl Mirra of SUNY College at Old Westbury and Ms Ann Wright former US Ambassador. The meeting will be chaired by Sister Onley, Chair, and President of Holy Family University, Philadelphia. The IAUP / UN Commission organised an educational conference in the Philippines in 2004 to which IIPSGP Director was invited to make a presentation about Education Aid.

34. SHROPSHIRE ART EXHIBITION: June 2006 sees a joint exhibition between painter Mary Napper and potter Rose Perry in Ellesmere, featuring their latest artistic creations respectively. Any IIPSGP members travelling in the Marches at that time are urged to go along and look. Contact Mary on 01939 233834 for details.

35. SHREWSBURY MUSEUM SERVICE is hosting an exhibition on the History of Shropshire Churches and Chapels from 21 Nov to 22 Dec 2006, plus hosting a parallel exhibition on the 150th anniversary of the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Shrewsbury. The Museum Service itself runs not only Rowleys House Museum but also Shrewsbury Castle and the Pumping Station. Rowleys House Museum itself is under threat of permanent closure and sale, and act of cultural vandalism in the eyes of the IIPSGP Director, since it is a unique Tudor building in the heart of Shrewsbury. The Liberal Democrat Party recently organised a protest against the closure, which is been pushed through on the assumption of relocating the Museum to the Music Hall, in the long run. Mary Napper, is the Manager of the Shrewsbury Museum Service, and we have held several joint events between IIPSGP and the Museum Service on education for peace, including a successful exhibition on the Art of War and the Arts of Peace in 2003 commemorating the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. Shrewsbury is also a town of great culture and beauty, and has been the home of many famous writers, poets artists and thinkers, not least Sir Philip Sidney, and Charles Darwin. The town surely deserves a world class museum, and therefore more investment and an expansion of its existing excellent services. Letters of support urging that Rowleys House Museum should remain open can be sent to the Chief Executive, Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council, The Guildhall, Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

36. DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR: IIPSGP member Olga Skerry, originally from Russia, is keen to see that IIPSGP’s work is further advanced both in the London and the global context. Originally from Ryazan, in Central Russia, Olga spent years living in Nizhny Novgorod and then Moscow, and ended up working with a group of travelling Soviet rock musicians, organising their concerts around the former Soviet bloc. Since coming to live in the UK, she has been involved in the film industry as well in as science, healing, spirituality, beauty therapy and clinical hypnosis. She is hoping to assist with the reconvening of meetings in the House of Lords in London aimed at conflict reoslution and peace-making in specific conflict areas and to support the overall development of IIPSGP’s projects in this area, including the MMEMS in particular. Her role as Development Coordinator also includes helping to revive the IIPSGP fundraising committee, so if you have suggestions and contacts you feel ought to be in touch with us, please contact her on: Ms. Olga Skerry, Development Coordinator, London 0207 341 7632 Mobile 0798 5590052

37. RURAL PEACE STUDY RETREATS: Serious students of peace, comparative philosophy, spirituality, education and the arts are invited to apply for a study retreat at Rhos y Gallt, Mid Wales. The location provides an excellent atmosphere and ambience conducive to reflection and meditation. The River Banwy is nearby, and there are beautiful walks in the neighbouring Cambrian Mountains. The beautiful landscape of Lake Vyrnwy, which provides the water supply for Liverpool, is within a short travelling distance. The farmhouse is surrounded by a rich wildlife: rabbits, foxes, hens, sheep, cattle, blue tits, house martins, crows, dragonflies, kingfishers, trout, a herd of white cattle with a bull, badgers, and magnificent trees such as ash, oaks, rowan trees, hawthorn, damsons, elderberries, apple trees. Just a 10 minute drive away up the lanes is a stupendous view from the Cambrian Mountains of Cadair Idris and up towards Snowdonia, (you can see for miles and miles in all directions) and there is a magical lake of fresh water with trout jumping in it just a little further on the track. Lakes were of course sacred to the Goddess of the land in the ancient Cymric cultural worldview. From Rhos y Gallt, it is also a short drive into Snowdonia proper, to Bettws Coed and Mount Snowdon, and also to Angelsey, sacred island of the Ancient Druids, as well as to Holyhead and frequent boats to Dublin. In Dublin, Trinity College Library and the Chester Beatty Library are among the world’s great cultural treasure houses. The large reference library of the Institute is available for study. Divided into 9 sections, each named after a different Muse, the library has a comprehensive coverage of all aspects of peace research, history, comparative philosophy, world religions, social sciences, politics, biography, fiction, literature, poetry, philology, Druid and pagan studies, Welsh history and folklore, world mythology and esoteric philosophy. There are also computers available for writing projects, plus a large garden for sitting in the sunshine, or for after dark bonfires, weather permitting. Please note that any breakages must be paid for, and that there is a strict ban on leaving naked flames unattended (i.e candles). During the Summer months it is also possible to swim in the local river.
Priority for retreats is given to Institute members. Non members may, however, also apply. There is normally no charge to undertake a study retreat at the Institute; retreatants are however expected to join in the Institute daily meditations, and to contribute a minimum of four hours voluntary work for the Institute per day, plus to cover the costs of their own keep during their stay, and also to contribute a payment for energy costs (electricity etc.) as well as to pay for own transportation costs. If retreatants would rather not undertake the 4 hours work for the Institute they are expected instead to donate a minimum of £30 for bed and breakfast per night during their stay. Welshpool Railway station is nearby with excellent communication links to all parts of the UK and abroad. A small airport is even available nearby for private aircraft. Please apply in writing to the Retreat Manager, Sheena McDonagh or phone/text: 07779851739.

38. SCIENTISTS FOR GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY: IIPSGP remains a member (through Thomas) of this important network of scientists working for peace and social justice and ecological responsibility; they sponsor lectures and meetings and have several members who belong to the Royal Society in London; the late Prof. Cedric Smith, a founder of IIPSGP, was a member, as if Prof. Tom Kibble. Contact them via their excellent member email forum, which carries useful news of developments in the technological and scientific aspects of peace and peace studies. The main challenge, probably, lies in assuring that scientists have the economic structures in place to devote their technical intelligence to working on projects for human well being rather than military and defence related projects. Details from sgrforum@gn.apc.org.

39. MINISTRY OF DEFENCE LINKS TO ACADEMIA: One member of Scientists for Global Responsibility has recently drawn our attention to the new website of the Ministry of Defence, which lists the various research projects underway in British academia concerning military technology, and which are listed at www.science.mod.uk. The tragedy of our current situation both in Britain and around the world is that major funds are largely reserved for military related research, while peace research, the technology and intelligence to prevent or solve conflicts, like Cinderella, lurks in the basement, too poor to go to the ball….Perhaps the Peace Tax Seven and similar campaigns should ask that their taxes specifically be channelled to peace and conflict prevention work, rather than military, and perhaps the Treasury should set up a special team to investigate how this might be done. This relates to the important project to set up a Ministry of Peace in the UK Government, co-ordinated by Diana Basterfield, since voters could then opt to have their “security” taxes specifically channelled to ways of resolving conflicts non-violently. Perhaps a national petition is needed to effect this policy, whatever governing party is in charge.

40. MINISTRY OF PEACE: Diana Basterfield continues with MP’s to run this important campaign to see a Ministry of Peace set up in the UK, and they organise am ongoing series of meetings in Parliament to this end. See www.ministryofpeace.org for further details.

41. ORDER OF BARDS OVATES AND DRUIDS (OBOD) continues to develop its work, and its chosen chief, Philip Carr-Gomm, has recently set up an interesting forum concerned with saving trees from imminent destruction, based on his experience in Lewes. A new governor of Lewes prison wantonly cut down the superb ring of ancient beech and other trees surrounding the prison, notwithstanding Philip’s attempt to effect a citizen’s arrest on the said governor. The website is designed to be an alert system for anyone who knows of trees in imminent danger of destruction, and also suggests places to go for legal and other forms of remedy. Contact: http://www.saveourtrees.info/index.php. For information about OBOD in general contact the OBOD Office, at PO Box 1333, Lewes, Sussex, BN7 1DX, office@druidry.org, Tel/Fax 01273 470888, www.druidry.org

42. WORLD RUSSIAN PEOPLE'S COUNCIL – this body has recently issued a DECLARATION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIGNITY which is well worth quoting in full since it presents a profound theology of human rights not normally heard in the West, based on Christian Orthodoxy: “Aware that the world, passing through a crucial point in its history, is facing a threat of conflict between the civilizations with their different understanding of the human being and the human being's calling, - the World Russian People's Council, on behalf of the unique Russian civilization, adopts this declaration: Each person as image of God has singular unalienable worth, which must be respected by every one of us, the society and state. It is by doing good that the human being gains dignity. Thus we distinguish between human worth and dignity. Worth is given, while dignity is acquired. The eternal moral law has a solid foundation in the human soul, independent of one's culture, ethnic origin or life circumstances. This foundation is laid down by the Creator in human nature and manifested in human conscience. The voice of conscience however can be muffled by sin. Precisely for this reason the religious tradition that has God as its Origin is called to help discern between good and evil. We discern two kinds of freedom: inner freedom from evil and freedom of moral choice. Freedom from evil is valuable per se, while the freedom of choice becomes valuable and the person gains dignity inasmuch as the chosen alternative is good. Conversely, the freedom of choice leads to self-destruction and loss of human dignity when the choice is evil. Human rights are based on the worth of the person and should have as their goal the realization of the person's human dignity. Therefore, human rights essentially involve morality. Any separation of these rights from morality means their profanation, for there is no such thing as immoral dignity. We are for the right to life and against the "right" to death; for the right to creation and against the "right" to destruction. Human rights and liberties are effective inasmuch as they help the individual to grow in good, defend the individual from evil within and without, promote the individual's positive role in society. It is in this perspective that we respect not only civil and political rights and liberties, but also social, economical and cultural rights. Rights and liberties are inseparable from human obligations and responsibilities. The individual in pursuit of personal interests is called to relate them to those of the neighbour, family, community, nation and all humanity. There are values no smaller than human rights. These are faith, morality, the sacred, motherland. Whenever these values come into conflict with the implementation of human rights, the task of the society, state and law is to bring both to harmony. It is unacceptable, in pursuit of human rights, to oppress faith and moral tradition, insult religious and national feelings, cause harm to revered holy objects and sites, jeopardize the motherland. Likewise we see as dangerous the "invention" of such "rights" as to legitimize a behaviour condemned by both the traditional morality and historical religions. We reject the policy of double standards with regard to human rights, as well as attempts to use them for political, ideological, military and economical purposes, for imposition of a particular socio-political system. We are willing to cooperate with the state and all benevolent forces in ensuring human rights. Particularly important for this cooperation are such endeavours as preserving the rights of nations and ethnic groups to their religion, language and culture, defending the freedom of conscience and the right of believers to their own way of life, combating ethnically and religiously motivated crime, protecting against arbitrary actions by the authorities and employers, concern for the rights of servicemen, defending the children's rights, taking care of inmates and other persons in state custody, protecting the victims of destructive sects, opposing total control over private life and personal convictions, preventing people from being involved in crime, corruption, slave trade, prostitution, drug addiction, compulsive gambling. We seek dialogue with people of diverse faiths and views on human rights and their place in the hierarchy of values. Like nothing else, this dialogue today will help avoid the conflict of civilizations and attain a peaceful diversity of worldviews, cultures, legal and political systems on the globe. The future of people depends on their success in this endeavour”. See www.mospat.ru for further details.

43. WORLD SUMMIT OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS: This conference has been called for July to take place in Moscow, at the invitation of Patriarch Alexy 2nd, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Vatican has stated, through the person of Archbishop Antonio Mennini, that it will be sending a high ranking representative on behalf of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. Russian President Vladimir Putin, expressed his support for this initiative of His Holiness Alexy II, in the following words: 'in today's times I consider it important to strengthen moral and spiritual values common to all confessions. Faith in good and justice, mercy and love of peace are basic affirmations of all the world religions'. The aim of the World Summit of Religious Leaders will be to “strengthen considerably the cooperation between traditional religions and express their position on urgent issues facing the world today. “The Catholic Church leaders have always appreciated proposals for dialogue and cooperation in overcoming the major problems of humanity today and have normally taken a direct and active part in realising such initiatives” said Archbishop Mennini. Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking of his support for the initiative of His Holiness Alexy II, said that 'in today's times I consider it important to strengthen moral and spiritual values common to all confessions. Faith in good and justice, mercy and love of peace are basic affirmations of all the world religions'. Archbishop Antonio Mennini added in an interview about the forthcoming Summit that “For me it remains only to join the opinion expressed by the Russian leader. It is also noteworthy that in recent months there have been repeated statements by high-ranking representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church speaking positively of closeness in Orthodox and Catholic positions on most of the challenges brought by modern times. These statements give a special hope for fruitful cooperation during the forthcoming forum.”. See the Bulletin of the Russian Orthodox Churches to European Institutions, for further details

44. THE EMERGENCE TO THE FUTURE FIFTH WORLD HAS BEGUN, MAY 5-16, 2006, is a conference, symposium and pilgrimage taking place in the USA with the Hopi nation elders and the Prophets Conference. It represents the last of the Crossing Into Medicine Country Pilgrimages into the stunning and spiritual North American Southwest. “Today we, Hopi and white man, come face to face at the crossroads of our respective life….It was foretold it would be at the most critical time in the history of mankind. Everywhere people are confused. What we decide now and do, we are all talking about the judgement day….In the light of our Hopi prophecy it is going to take place here and will be completed in the Hopi Empire….” – The Hopi – Full details on: www.greatmystery.org/events/sw06.html

45. SHROPSHIRE PAGANS is a useful local information network on all forthcoming pagan events in and around Shropshire in England; the group was set up by Elaine Lawson, a pagan scholar and friend to IIPSGP, who lives in Telford, Shropshire, near where Thomas used to teach; see http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/shropshirepagans/ or email: shropshirepagans@yahoogroups.co.uk

46. ORDER OF WANDERING PEACE POETS WOMEN POETS LIBRARY: This poetry library remains in Wem and can be visited by IIPSGP members and friends and OWPP members; it consists of a collection of poetry books by women poets donated to IIPSGP by a local Shropshire collector, and Mary Napper has given it sanctuary. Mary herself is an active poet, this is one of her recent poems:

A SENSE OF PLACE
Between form and no-form
The rain falls
Between here and there
Is a landscape of clouds
Between being and becoming
The wind assails our ears
As we lean over the brow of the hill

Between sleeping and waking
We abandon Time
Past, present and future merge
Into narratives of infinite possibility
To be realised between birth and death

Consciousness
Is a conversation with the universe
Between many voices:
The chattering television
The love song of Prufrock
The still, small voice in the void
Creating Matter from Word

We are all strung out on this line.
Footprints trailing across the shifting sands
Dancers flickering under the strobing light
Small birds darting
Between one dark door and another

April 2006

47. LAMMAS BARNS WORKSHOP PROGRAMME 2006-2007. As well as hosting Thomas and Gayle Scott’s workshop in June (see No. 6 above) a fascinating series of other events are taking place at the same venue over the Summer months, as follows:

• May 6th ‘Magical Herbalism’ led by Anna Franklin, visit www.annafranklin.co.uk. A ‘hands-on’ day of learning, gathering and ‘brewing’ in the kitchen! Includes an exploration of the Barns grounds for herbs and plants you can use in your workings. £28.00 per person includes lunch and most materials.
• May 7th ’Sigils, Talismans, Key of Solomon’ exploring planetary squares, sigils, talismans and some of the pentacles from the Medieval grimiore the Key of Solomon. Middle Pillar exercise. Led by Shropshire occultist & author Gary Nottingham. £14.00 per person including lunch.
• June 10 – 11th Enneagram & Peace Study weekend workshop with Gayle Scott and Thomas Daffern. Gayle flies from Colorado to lead a weekend of experiential workshops using the Enneagram system in conjunction with a peace study by Thomas Daffern. FFI visit: http://www.enneagraminstitute.com or www.educationaid.net. £70 including meals.
• July 1st ‘Familiars’ led by Anna Franklin. A day of learning and exploration into the magical world of familiars, what they are, how they find us, and how to work with them. £22.00 per person including lunch.
• July 2nd ‘Herbalism, medicinal, magical, astrological configurations and preparations’ led by Gary Nottingham. £14.00 including lunch.
• June 24th ‘British Folk Traditions & Pathworking’ led by Pete Jennings, ffi visit http://www.gippeswic.demon.co.uk. AM: Traditional songs, customs and dances illustrated with song & dance forms. Plus hands on experiential use of masks. PM: How to construct a pathworking, practical considerations. Experience a pathworking & visualisations provided by Pete. £25.00 includes lunch and materials.
• June 25th ‘Ritual Movement, & Runes’ - two practical ‘hands-on’ workshops with Pete Jennings. AM: Learn graceful movements for use in ritual and ceremony, PM: a hands-on ‘Introduction to Runes’ workshop. £25.00 includes lunch and materials.
• August 19-20th Two Day Rune Workshop: - a practical, in-depth workshop with Rig Svenson (http://www.runewebvitki.com/about_me.html) Includes their origins, consecration, divination, creating a heathen sacred space, rune staining, divination. Suitable for those who want to learn hands-on about the runes in depth. £50 per person for the weekend including lunch and materials.
• September 10th ‘Astrology, 17thC astrologer William Lilly, methods & some charts’. Horary astrology is a complex subject therefore more suited to those with some astrological comprehension. Also of interested to the occult mind as we will explore several charts from individuals present to determine the outcome of events in their own lives if they wish. Led by Gary Nottingham. £14.00 including lunch.
• November 5th ‘Kabbala & it’s mysteries’ Using the traditional methods of exploring the sephera ending with a celebration of the Mass of On-Nophris, which is a ritual to endeavour to balance one's own elemental nature. Led by Gary Nottingham. £14.00 including lunch.
• January 7th 2007 ‘Alchemy & Spagyrics’ A study of mercury, sulphur, salt of the vegetable kingdom. Also several alchemical techniques such as pelicanisation, cohabitation & the black crow's head. Magical fluid condensers and their birthing according to alchemical praxis. Led by Gary Nottingham. £14.00 including lunch.
• March 4th 2007 ‘John Dee & the Enochian System’ - A complex day examining this occult modus, with a look at the energies of the Sigillium Ameth Dei and the elemental watchtowers with a working with one of its angelic beings, which is not to be confused with new age approaches to the angelic realms. Led by Gary Nottingham. £14.00 including lunch.

48. COUNTDOWN TO PEACE: This event is taking place at St James’ Church in London on May 6, 2006, 10.30 –4.00, and is being organised by long time IIPSGP friend and member, Dorothy Forster, and features a number of speakers including: Rt. Hon. Tony Benn, Dr. Scilla Elworthy, Rev. Donald Reeves, Sarida Brown (editor of Caduceus and focaliser of the Sufi Healing Order), and Jeremy Gilley. The event is free, and there will be a peace scroll for signing made available on the day. Dorothy is reviver of the Big Ben Silent Minute Prayer for Peace and Director of the Silent Minute Trust (of which Thomas Daffern is a Trustee) and is very active on all kinds of peace work; contact her at: Dorothy Forster, 16 Crastock Court, 7-9 Queens Gardens, London, W2 3BG, Tel 0207 262 9625. People attending this service are welcome to come on to Thomas Daffern’s 50th birthday party which is taking place in Wales later that same day (only 3 hours drive from West London!)

49. 2ND INTERNATIONAL PEACE SALON IN PARIS: UNESCO is helping to organise the 2nd salon for peace, which comprises exhibitions and presentations by numerous NGO’s and international actors working to deliver a peaceful and non-violent world. This event is part of the celebrations of the Word Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence. If you’re in Paris between June 2 and 4th check it out. Le deuxième Salon international des Initiatives de Paix s'inscrit dans le cadre de la « Décennie internationale de la promotion d'une culture de la non-violence et de la paix au profit des enfants du monde » proclamée par l'ONU en 1998. Organisé par la Coordination française pour la Décennie, il se tiendra à Paris les 2, 3 et 4 juin 2006, au Centre des Congrès de la Villette, à la Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie. Ce Salon permettra à un large public de se familiariser avec la culture de non-violence et de paix. Des exposants français et internationaux présenteront leurs initiatives de non-violence et de paix et de nombreuses animations seront proposées. Le Salon déclinera la culture de non-violence et de paix dans ses différentes dimensions : justice, résolution non-violente des conflits, médiation, défense des droits humains, développement et respect de l'environnement, désarmement, égalité hommes-femmes, etc. More details from the website: http://www.decennie.org/ or Salon international des Initiatives de Paix Coordination Francaise pour la Décennie, 148, rue du Faubourg, Saint-Denis F - 75010 Paris Tel: +33 (0)1 46 33 41 56 Fax: +33 (0)1 40 51 70 02

50. UNITED NATIONS OF RELIGIONS: Rabbi Yona Metzger, Chief Rabbi of Israel, has joined the Dalai Lama and other religious leaders to call for a religious United Nations, and suggested it might be headquartered in Jerusalem. The proposal was presented during his visit to Israel by the Dalai Lama in February 2006, and also in Seville, Spain at the International Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace. Metzger has been interested in religious dispute resolution since trying to help solve a conflict in Jerusalem between different religious groups, specifically between Jews and Armenian Christians. The idea has also had the backing of Dr Frederico Major, former Secretary Geneal of UNESCO, and now the co-president of the Alliance for Civilisations, a Spanish lobby group for international conflict resolution. IIPSGP has also been in touch with Rabi Metzger to express support and solidarity with the proposal, and to inform him of the work of our Multifaith and Multicultural Mediation Service, which would certainly like to work in tandem with any such United Nations of Religions omnce it is established. Metzger has gone on record as saying that: "Instead of planning for nuclear war and buying tanks and fighter jets, it will invest in peace... Religious leaders will get the opportunity to meet one another and discover that they have more in common than they may have realized...". IIPSGP members and friends can write and express support and encouragement for this project at: Rabbi Yona Metzger, c/o rabbia@rabbinate.gov.il or write to: Harbanuth Harashith,  80 Jeramia St, PO Box 7525 Jerusalem 91360, Tel: 972 2 5313131. Rabbi Metzger is the Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Israel.

51. THE FIRST WORLD CONGRESS OF IMAMS AND RABBIS FOR PEACE took place in Brussels, Belgium in January 2006. 150 Rabbis and Imams participated. The focus of the conference was: “Islam and Judaism as instruments of peace - recognition and respect of others”. The program was intended to be a forum for planning concrete actions and setting up of frameworks for cooperation. The goals of the meeting included 1) condemning violence perpetrated in the name of religion 2) creation of a dialogue and partnership between the two religions 3) facilitating development of peaceful solutions to conflict by influential religious leaders 4) gather these leaders before the media to promote a message of peace. A final declaration, posted on the Hommes de Parole Web site, was made as follows: "We, leaders, representatives, Rabbis and Imams of Muslim and Jewish religious communities who have assembled from all over the world for the first world congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace affirm our commitment to strive to end all bloodshed and attacks against innocent human beings that offend the right to life and dignity given by the Almighty to all human beings. We call upon all people to combat hate, ignorance and their causes and to build together a world of peace, rich in diversity, in which all faiths and their practices are respected and protected. We call upon the political leaders of all peoples to work for righteous and peaceful durable solutions around the world and in particular in the Holy Land for the benefit of all peoples and faith-communities who live in the land and hold it dear. We pledge ourselves to pursue a shared goal of respect for human rights for all people and peoples, without which no peace can be possible. We call upon all religious leaders in Jewish and Muslim congregations around the world to devote regular sermons and addresses to their communities on the importance of inter-religious respect and reverence for all human life under all circumstances. We announce the establishment of a permanent joint committee to help implement these commitments and propose programmatic initiatives on a regular basis, in keeping with the proposals presented during the congress and in its spirit for the wellbeing of all peoples." The SECOND WORLD CONGRESS OF IMAMS AND RABBIS FOR PEACE took place in Seville, Spain from 19 to 22 March 2006. The Second Congress focused on building trust and confidence necessary for joint projects, creating a forum in which religious leaders can use their influence in conflict resolution, help religious leaders to challange the misuse of religion in fanaticism, and to create strucutres to facilitate practical day to day work in prioritized areas. A final declaration, posted on the Hommes de Parole Web site, was made as follows:" In the name of the One Creator and Master of the Universe, the Compassionate and All Merciful, we Muslim and Jewish leaders and representatives, gathered for the Second World Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace organized by Hommes de Parole in Seville, in the region of Andalusia - recalling the past era in which Jews and Muslims lived together here in harmony and mutual enrichment - and aspiring for such relations today and in the future. We accordingly affirm that contrary to widespread misrepresentation, thre is no inherent conflict between Islam and Judaism, on the contrary. While modern politics has regrettably impacted negatively upon the relationship, our two religions share the most fundamental values of faith in the One Almighty whose name is Peace, who is merciful, compassionate and just; and who calls on us human beings to manifest these values in our lives and to advance them in relation to all persons whose lives and dignity are sacred. Therefore we reiterate the message we sent from our first congress, that we deplore bloodshed or violence in the name of any ideology everywhere. Especially when such is perpetrated in the name of religion it is a desecration of religion, itself and the gravest offense against the Holy Name of the Creator. Thus, in addition to calling upon all our co-religionists to respect all human life, dignity and rights, to promote peace and justice; we call upon them and the governments of the world and international institutions to show respect for the attachments and symbols of all religions, as well as their holy sites, houses of worship and cemeteries, particularly in the Holy Land, due to its special sensitivity. Accordingly, we condemn any negative representation of these, let alone any desecration, Heaven forbid. Similarly, we condemn any incitement against a faith or people, let alone any call for their elimination, and we urge authorities to do likewise. We recognize that there is widespread misrepresentation of our religions, - one in the other's community as well as in the world at large. We affirm therefore the urgent need for truthful and respectful education about each other's faith and tradition in our respective communities and schools; and call upon those responsible to promote such essential education for peaceful co-existence. Solemnly we pledge ourselves to the abovementioned continue to seek out one another to build bridges of respect, hope and friendship, to combat incitement and hostility, to overcome all barriers and obstacles, to reinforce mutual trust, serving the noble goal of universal peace especially in the land that is holy to us all."

52. HOMMMES DE PAROLE is based in Seville, Spain, as an interfaith peace organistion dedicated to bringing together the representatives of the great faiths who share a common belief in the sacredness of scripture and Holy Texts; it reinvokes the era when Muslims, Christians and Jews lived in cltural symbiosis and harmony in Spain’s golden age. It has many imporant ongoing projects, such as organising the ongoing World Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace; developing an International Interreligious Monitoring Center, directed by Galitt Kenan, the objective of which is to denounce and condemn anti-religious acts in the world and whose web site will be providing in each country, key information relating to Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and Christianophobia. The Committee for the Protection of the Holy Places, directed by the Chief Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen, Chief Rabbi of Haifa and President of the Rabbinic High Court and the Imam Imad al Falouji, Imam of Gaza, former Minister of Transport and Telecommunications of the Palestinian Authority. The primary objective of this committee is the application of United Nations resolution ‘Protection of Religious Sites’ of 2001, calling on all member states and international organisations to prevent acts or threats of violence and destruction of all religious sites. This resolution and those related to the culture of peace and dialogue between civilizations could serve as the base for national legislation in Israel and for the Palestinian Authority. The very first action by this committee in the coming months will consist of reviewing the 26 synagogues in Gaza, synagogues more than 3,000 years old in Gaza City, and in parallel the 26 or 27 Mosques in Israel. Founding a French branch of the Institute for Global Ethics, coordinated by Rabbi Michel Serfaty. The objective of the Institute is to provide students in religious seminaries (Jews, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs etc) with the tools necessary to become leaders capable of guiding their communities along the path towards peace and respect for all persons and all faiths. The students would receive practical instruction by courses, but also through the Web-University. Course would also be provided throughout Europe in cooperation with numerous universities and United Nations agencies.
EDUCATION is one of three key areas of work and at the recent Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace, in Seville in March 2006, a total of 12 proposals and recommendations were made, which were aimed at the setting up of teaching programmes to initiate the young generation in the knowledge of the different religions of the Book (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and their respective cultures. Thus the possibility was evoked for study programmes in comparative religion, exchanges between mosques, churches and synagogues, so as to facilitate an opening for knowledge and comprehension relative to religious differences, the specific training of teachers in these disciplines and the meeting of young people of different faiths. The participants underlined the absolute necessity to initiate dialogue and develop respective knowledge of the other from the most formative years of education, so that ignorance, the source of fear or hate, be eliminated.
TEXTUAL RESEARCH AND STUDY: AN ENLIGHTENED RE-READING OF SACRED TEXTS - at the recent Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace, in Seville in March 2006, a total of 8 propositions and recommendations were made, exhorting an enlightened and contextual re-reading of the Holy Books, and more particularly the passages used by fundamentalists to justify the rejection of the other and used as a recourse to violence. An important number of the participants extolled the creation of specialised structures susceptible to undertaking this work and to determine adequate reading methodologies that take into account the tools provided by the humanistic disciplines (archaeology, anthropology, history, literature, sociology and hermeneutics in general) and which are respectful of context (a text read out of context could give place to the freest and most literal interpretations). As certain participants observed, the texts could be read in a fundamentalist or evolutionary perspective, it is therefore crucial that all be equipped with the appropriate reading tools. (N.B. Philosophers for Peace and IIPSGP could certainly help with this work) Regarding the COMMITMENT OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS at the recent Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace, in Seville in March 2006, the following proposals were put forward:

• The cooperation between Imams and Rabbis in social and humanitarian action.
• The engagement of religious figures in the media and in their own communities by not only reacting against racist acts, commentaries, intolerance, bearers of hate and violence, but also to promoting their message of peace.
• The creation of a joint committee to protect holy places.
• Setting up of exchanges between communities: imams inviting rabbis to speak in their communities and vice-versa.
• The engagement of religious leaders to provide information relative to their respective religions that goes beyond stereotypes and wrong interpretations of the texts (the engagement of Imams to spread Islam’s face of peace, countering images given by the media or by extremists).

53. WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES through its member churches is organising special events worldwide during the World Decade for a Culture of Peace. The WCC basically includes all world Christian churches apart from the Roman Catholic Church, which however send observers to its meetings. See the website at: http://overcomingviolence.org

54. ALLIANCE FOR CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION is a major international network of specialists in conflict resolution and peacebuilding, based in the USA. It runs Training Classes including one coming up on Spirituality and Peacebuilding on May 21, 2006 from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm at Arlington Campus of George Mason University. ($75 for students, $115 for professionals) with Trainers: Danielle Brand-LeMond & Sariel Ende. Call ACT at 703-461-3650 to register. This is an experiential workshop based on the interconnections between "being peace" and working in the wider arena of peace and conflict resolution. We believe that, as human beings, all our realms of experience—physical, mental, emotional, spiritual—are so vitally and wholly connected that to ignore the role of spirituality in peacebuilding is to implicitly limit its possibilities. The trajectory of the workshop is from the personal, outward. It is infused at every stage with experiential practices of yoga and movement, mindfulness, visualization, meditation, and self-reflection. There will also be ample time for partner and group activities.
We will introduce spiritual teachings and practices for becoming more centered individually and as peacebuilders. We draw on the spiritual — not religious — aspects of both of these traditions and believe that people of all backgrounds and faiths can enjoy the practices we will share. Participants will have the opportunity to: reflect on their own attitudes towards conflict at the innermost level, the interpersonal realm, and the community and work realms; define and discuss spirituality and spiritual practices, different paths for practice, and how peacebuilders can benefit; explore examples of spiritual leaders who bring together spirituality and peacebuilding, spiritual themes that shed light on conflict, and practices to share in peacebuilding scenarios; plan peacebuilding activities with a spiritual grounding.
Danielle Brand-LeMond teaches yoga and meditation in the Washington D.C. area and is writing a non-fiction book on relationships and spirituality. She earned her MA in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University. She has worked at the United States Institute of Peace researching peace processes, constitution writing, peacebuilding and the role of the international community in conflict zones. Prior to that, she worked as a writing counselor at AU's Academic Support Center where she practiced training and facilitation skills while giving workshops on research and writing processes. Danielle has had a life-long interest in both Eastern and Western spirituality and spiritual practices.
Sariel Ende is a Domestic Violence Education Specialist with My Sister's Place, an interactive community organization dedicated to eradicating domestic violence. She conducts workshops throughout the DC area on the basics of domestic violence, healthy relationships, same-sex partner violence, the effects of domestic violence on children, and staff trainings geared toward supporting victims. Along with many years of group facilitation experience with Study Circles and Young Judaea, Sariel holds an MA in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University. Sariel also volunteers on the Outreach Committee of the Capital Kehillah, a community nurturing Jewish spirituality in the Nation's Capital. For more information on this and related courses, plus details of conflict transformation work underway worldwide, see the ACT website: http://conflicttransformation.org

55. THE WORLD COURT PROJECT UK, as part of Abolition 2000 Europe, invites you to to a conference to mark the 10th anniversary of the World Court’s advisory opinion on the threat or use of nuclear weapons. It will be on 6-7 July 2006 and the venue will be the European Parliament in Brussels. The two-day conference will invite academic lawyers, officials, parliamentarians, and peace activists as participants. The aim is to identify relevant aspects of International Law clarified by the Opinion and to make these available to activists in their dialogue with politicians and officials. The proceedings will result in a publication, one of them academic, the other designed as a guide for activists. Day 1 will concentrate on the legal implications of the Advisory and emphasise developments since 1996. After a review of how the Opinion was obtained, and an account of how nuclear weapons affect people, the day will comprise four legal topics addressed by distinguished speakers with varying viewpoints: 1. The International Humanitarian Law aspects of the Opinion, 2. The legality of initiating military action and the Advisory Opinion, 3. Nuclear Policy Concepts, 4. Negotiating in good faith towards disarmament. The second day will examine options for a another request to the World Court for a fresh ruling on how far the Nuclear Weapon States are showing good faith in honouring their obligation to achieve nuclear disarmament. The afternoon session will present civil society initiatives linked with a Return to the ICJ. There will be ample opportunity for participation from the floor on both days of the Conference. For details contact: Secretary: George Farebrother, 67, Summerheath Rd, Hailsham, Sussex, UK BN273DR, +44(0)1323 844269 geowcpuk@gn.apc.org http://www.gn.apc.org/wcp. The groups behind the conference include: Abolition 2000 Europe, International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, International Peace Bureau, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. IIPSGP is there in spirit, and in times with talk of conflict between Iran and the USA(a fools game if ever there was one) this legal dimension of nuclear weapons needs to be taken into account carefully by al policy makers with influence in the situation.

56. THE CHANGING FACES OF JIHADISM: PROFILES, BIOGRAPHIES, MOTIVATIONS is the title of a conference at Kings College, University of London, scheduled for April 26-27, 2006. The most recent wave of terrorist bombings – first Madrid, then in London – made it clear: Europe is faced with a sustained challenge from militant jihadism. Most worryingly, the emerging networks seem to defy everything we thought we knew about terrorism: their structures are loose, and the profiles of individual jihadists don’t seem to reveal any striking similarities. Are there no patterns to be discerned? Or does the absence of any shared characteristics indicate how little we understand the phenomenon? Across Europe, analysts have begun to establish some of the threads that will help to reach a better understanding of what motivates the actions of individual jihadists. This research is essential in developing effective methods of prevention. Producing accurate profiles of jihadist terrorists will enable security professionals to identify vulnerable sections of the community, and may even facilitate strategies of engagement. This two-day workshop is the first of its kind. Organised by the Centre for Defence Studies, King’s College London, in cooperation with the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, it aims to promote collaboration among the world’s leading researchers. Most importantly, though, its objective is to bring together the best researchers with senior security professionals from the UK and across Europe in order to facilitate constructive debate and exchange. Prof Michael Clarke, Director of the Centre for Defence Studies, is an old friend to IIPSGP and has spoken at one of our previous seminars in the House of Lords. A useful addition to the already strong programme however would be to focus on the intellectual goals behind jihadism, and to try to attempt to try to mediate (in absentia) in the clash of ideals and beliefs underway in this “conflict of civilisations”. Details from: +44 (0) 207 848 2748, Centre for Defence Studies, Strand Bridge House, 138-142 Strand, London WC2R 1HH, United Kingdom. valerie.arnould@kcl.ac.uk. The Workshop Director is Dr Peter R Neumann: peter.neumann@kcl.ac.uk. The Academic Director is Thomas Hegghammer: thomas.hegghammer@ffi.no.

57. MOVEON.ORG is a useful campaigning organisation based in the USA which is working for a change of policy direction in USA government circles on peace issues through mobilising mass public opinion. They have an online petition against pre-emptive nuclear war with Iran, for example, which states: Reports that the Bush administration may be planning a nuclear attack against Iran are alarming. A strong statement of opposition from the American public before that idea becomes credible is important. Please sign our petition and then alert your friends, family and colleagues by asking them to sign the petition. Thanks to Becca Klein for this information. Check it out at: http://moveon.org/

58. IIPSGP has a new coordinator for LATIN AMERICA, who lives, appropriately, in Costa Rica, namely Celina Garcia; Celina and Thomas took part in a UNESCO sponsored peace symposium together back in 1991 on the Cultural Symbiosis of Jews, Christians and Muslims in Al Andalus, which led to a fascinating conference in Cordoba and in Paris, involving experts from all fields studying these matters as a clue to possible peace between those cultures now. In a sense this work has now been taken over by Hommes de Parole (see above). Celina is an expert in the history of Peace Education and Conflict Resolution in Latin American. She can be contacted via her website at: http://www.ceppa.net/

59. WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW is an excellent movie in cinemas worldwide exploring he interface of modern quantum theory and physics and spirituality and healing, made largely in Canada. It has led to several spin off events, conferences etc. One of these took place recently in London and was attended by Olga Skerry, our Development Coordinator, another connected event will be taking place in St Petersburg in June 2006, and yet another is taking place in Bali in May 2006. This event is called the 2nd Quest for Global Healing conference and will be held May 3-8, 2006. Over 30 international speakers are scheduled, including three Nobel Peace Laureates, Desmond Tutu, Jody Williams and Betty Williams (not related), Walter Cronkite, Prince Tjokorda Gde Raka Sukawati of the Ubud Palace in Bali, His Excellency Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, pending president of Indonesia, James O'Dea, president of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and former President of Amnesty International, and Fatima Gailani, Director of Red Crescent Afghanistan, a national humanitarian organization. Other presenters include authors, health professionals, journalists and business advisors. See questforglobalhealing.org for full details or http://www.whatthebleep.com/herald10/articles-3.shtml. Fatima Gailani, a descendent of the Prophet Mohammad, and an Afghan who was educated partly in Iran, is also a longstanding Patron of IIPSGP and studied with Thomas Daffern at the Muslim College, and with the late Dr Zaki Badawi, arguably Britain’s leading Muslim scholar and intellectual, who has sadly died since the last issue of this newsletter was published. Typically, Zaki was on his way to a conference to set up a new campaign group to work for Christian-Muslim reconciliation and peace-making. Rest in peace, Zaki, we will all miss you – but we carry on your work in our separate ways!

60. CHERNOBYL 20 YEARS ON: April 25 1986 was the date on which the Chernobyl nuclear disaster happened. Commemoration vents are taking place worldwide, including Chernobyl itself. An event is taking place also in Nottingham Roman Catholic Cathedral, which Thomas attended. Such an event must never again happen, anyway. We have to find an alternative to nuclear power for generating the power needs of the next millennium. This is where the Global Green University and the possibility of zero sum energy or gravitational waves technology is so important – further news on this frontier work in our next issue. Meanwhile check out http://freeenergynews.com/Directory/Organizations/index.html for possibilities in this direction.

61. INTEGRAL THEORY AND PEACE THEORY: There are some really interesting websites developing which attempt to explain all and everything, in the same way that we at IIPSGP are concerned to do; they go under the general name of integral theory, and are related to Ken Wilber’s transpersonal theories. Check out www.spiraldynamics.net - this is a website associated with Dr. Don Beck, who has developed the field he calls Spiral Dynamics, which “reveals the hidden complexity codes that shape human nature, create global diversities, and drive evolutionary change. These dynamic Spiral forces attract and repel individuals, form the webs and meshes that connect people within groups, communities and organizations, and forge the rise and fall of nations and cultures. Spiral Dynamics meshes the new science of memetics with Gravesian value systems to form “value memes” or ”vMemes” to craft a model of transformational change. By exploring and describing the core intelligences and deep values that flow beneath what we believe and do, the model offers a profoundly incisive, dynamic perspective on complex matters such as: HOW people think about things (as opposed to “what” they think) WHY people make decisions in different ways WHY people respond to different motivators WHY and HOW values arise and spread - The nature of CHANGE This powerful conceptual system has been field-tested in some of the most complex environments on the planet, from inner-city Chicago to racially plagued South Africa. Since the focus is on the deeper vMemetic foundations, Spiral Dynamics suggests ways to move more quickly in the direction of deep dialogue and comprehensive, integral solutions.” He has also teamed up with Andrew Cohen to work on the nature of enlightenment. Then there is USA thinker Ken Wilber, who is involved in numerous integral projects, including: http://integralinstitute.org – which in turns runs several interconnected projects, including the Ingtegral University (http://integralinstitute.org/iu.html) This later is running A 36 week stand-alone certificate program that consists of three online courses taught by faculty who are experts in Integral Studies from Integral Institute and who are trained in online facilitation by Fielding Graduate University., as well as a 20 month Master’s program in Organizational Management and Development, which includes the above certificate as a concentration in Integral Studies. (For details about Fielding see: www.fielding.edu/about/index.htm). Interestingly, Ken Wilber has also gone public with his views on the Iraq war, in two interviews which are on: http//wilber.shambhala.com/html/misc/iraq.cfm. In these he states, with his own unique terminological specificity, the following: if you are green, you are against the war. but if you are against the war, you are not necessarily green. there are second-tier reasons not to go to war. but there are also second-tier reasons to go to war. green doesn't have a choice--it won't go. second tier has a choice, so weigh the evidence carefully. second tier might indeed recommend war, it might not. but you can check and see if you are "merely" green by asking under what conditions you would recommend war. if you can't think of any, ahem, welcome to green. still, the issue is enormously complicated, even through integral lens, so again, weigh the evidence carefully. the problem with this discussion at large is that it is entirely first-tier. blue says bomb the hell out of the evil ones; orange says, okay, but hurry, because it's hurting the stock market; green says, no way, let's be loving. first tier has such a hard time seeing big pictures, so it moves around within the partial value structures that define it. this is a discussion that i have stayed out of since doing WTC essay. it's just a big first-tier food fight. unfortunately, the world needs integral action. unfortunately, it will not get it, whether we go to war or not. still, better to light one candle than curse the darkness. so we work on ourselves and attempt to increase our own integral consciousness to some degree each day, so that in the end we leave the world just a little bit more whole than we found it... Subsequently he has updated his statement as follows: As I often do, I used the terms from Don Beck's Spiral Dynamics Integral to make a few points. As students of my work know, in my opinion Spiral Dynamics focuses on one developmental line—that of values (vMemes)—among at least two dozen other developmental lines (cognitive, interpersonal, psychosexual, mathematical, kinesthetic, etc.). But it is such an important line, and one that is easily grasped, that it makes a terrific introductory view. Don has also situated this stream in an AQAL framework (which he also calls 4Q/8L, "four quadrants, 8 levels in the line"), to produce Spiral Dynamics Integral, a wonderful version of an integral psychology. Of course, I am here speaking neither for Don nor Spiral Dynamics, but for my own integral psychology, but happily using a few SDi terms to get the points across. As a Utopian point of departure in response to Tami's question, I therefore suggested a few things about what a world governance system operating at yellow might look like. "Yellow" is the level of consciousness at which "second tier" or truly integral awareness begins to emerge. It is thus contrasted with the previous 6 levels or vMemes—which are called first tier, each of which believes that its value system is the only true, correct, or deeply worthwhile value system in existence. Those first-tier waves are, very briefly: beige: instinctual; purple: magical-animistic, tribal; red: egocentric, power, feudalistic; blue: mythic-membership, conformist, fundamentalist, ethnocentric, traditional; orange: excellence, achievement, progress, modern; green: postmodern, multicultural, sensitive, pluralistic. Those first-tier waves of development are followed by what Clare Graves called "the momentous leap of meaning" to second tier, which has, as of today, two major levels or waves of awareness: yellow: systemic, flexible, flowing; turquoise: cosmic unity, integrative, nested hierarchies of interrelationships, one-in-many holism. The point of the Utopian discussion was simply: what might a world be like whose center of gravity was second tier? In the following I will often use the terms "second tier," "integral," "yellow," and "turquoise" interchangeably; the points I want to make are very general. The reason that Graves called second tier a "momentous leap" is that unlike all first-tier waves (which imagine their values are the only correct values), second tier has an understanding of the crucial if relative importance of all previous values—including red, blue, orange, and green. Orange thinks green is mindless; green despises orange; blue thinks both of them are going to burn in hell forever. Yellow, on the other hand, finds all of them necessary and acceptable, as long as none of them gets the upper hand and starts repressing the others. This, needless to say, would have a profound influence on any World Federation operating from yellow or second tier values (as we will see). There are two basic points to keep in mind about any future world governance system. The first is that laws, to be laws, are enacted from the highest average expectable level of development in the governance system. In today's world, for example, most of the laws in Western democracies stem from the orange level, which is worldcentric, postconventional, and modern (or, as our French friends first expressed the orange meme 300 years ago: equality, fraternity, liberty). Many countries continue to operate basically at a blue level: conformist, non-democratic (dictatorial or totalitarian), grounded not in evidence but in dogma (Marxist, Muslim, or otherwise), and ethnocentric (believe the Book or burn). Some terrorist cells (not to mention street gangs) remain at red: hierarchies of raw power and physical strength, implemented often by torture, rape, or any means necessary to keep a particular warlord in power. Although structures such as red and blue might sound rather brutal, and often are, they have to be seen in context: they are usually the best that can be arranged under the given circumstances and conditions. So we are asking, what would a world governance system—a World Federation—look like if it operated from second tier, and implemented its basic laws from a yellow (or higher) center of gravity? But before we address that, there is the second basic item to keep in mind, namely: no matter how highly developed a society might be—including one whose center of gravity is yellow—nonetheless everybody in that (or any) society is still born at square one. Just because a society is "yellow" does not mean everybody in that society will be yellow; on the contrary, very few will be, at least at first, just as today in our "orange" societies, not everybody is at orange; in fact, at least half of the adult population pre-orange (purple, red, blue). It is simply that our laws stem mostly from orange. That means that, even in an "integral society" (yellow or higher), there will still be pockets or subcultures of individuals at purple, red, blue, orange, and green. This is not only unavoidable; it is healthy, normal, and desirable. What is not desirable, however, is that any of those waves dominate the governance system and therefore attempt to force their values on others—whether those are red values, blue values, or green values. A yellow society, in short, would have laws that basically stem from that second-tier level of consciousness. And the basic defining characteristic of yellow is that it accepts all previous values without letting any of them repress or dominate others. A second-tier, integral, World Federation—in my Utopian view—would therefore prevent any first-tier memes from dominating, attacking, or exploiting any other populations. If necessary, a World Federation would do so by using force, just as all democracies today have an internal police force to curtail murder, rape, robbery, extortion, and so on. Somebody whose center of gravity is green will not commit murder, rape, or robbery. However, somebody whose center of gravity is red will do any or all of those, sometimes happily. And because everybody is born at square one, and must progress through purple, red, blue, and so on, some sort of police will always be necessary to protect others from those who do not evolve to a worldcentric level of care and compassion. So any World Federation would have some sort of police force, of necessity. Call them the World Cops. Needless to say, the World Cops would be regulated by the World Federation, not by any country (and certainly not by America, Britain, France, Germany, etc.). This police force is NOT allowed to tell people what level of consciousness they should be at; it is NOT allowed to govern what individuals do in the privacy of their own homes or dwellings; it is NOT allowed to coerce or intimidate people who are not at the average level of social development. It is, however, allowed to prevent (or punish) those whose public behaviour stems from a less-than-worldcentric stance. For example, in the privacy of my own home, if I wish to think about burning at the stake all people who do not accept Jesus as their personal savoir, that is my right. However, if I actually shoot you because you do not believe in Jesus, then the State—in this case, the World Federation—can arrest and incarcerate me. The simple rule, which is already implicitly used by all worldcentric governance systems (i.e., at orange or higher, including Germany, France, America, Britain, Japan, etc.), is this: in the Left-Hand domain, think what you like; but in the Right-Hand domain, physically behave according to worldcentric law or you can be removed from the public sphere.
He goes on to state that: I long for a discussion where integral openness can flourish. I long for a group of world leaders who can see a bigger picture, a bigger picture that really does allow all value systems to arise, but only worldcentric behaviour to be tolerated. I long for this silly Utopian view of a World Federation, where "everybody is right" but only if some are more right than others (e.g., worldcentric is more right than ethnocentric; see excerpt B, "Three Principles Helpful for Any Integrative Approach" I long for the freedom and fullness of integral awareness shared by as many sentient beings as possible. I long for a time when an integral approach is not vehemently hated by green and blue alike. But, alas, I am doomed to long largely in isolation, it seems. Until that time, I harbour the pain of vision unrequited. Until that time, the loneliness of integral heavily weighs on any who yearn for wholeness in action. Until that time, the bright promise of a tomorrow that coheres is no consolation but source of torment, for those of you who are so cursed.   Until that time—and given that today no government, no protest movement, and no national or international policy is yet integral—one is forced to ask: what can I personally do in the face of today's dire circumstances? Here I can only repeat what I said in my earlier comment, and I do mean this with deep conviction:  unfortunately, the world needs integral action. Unfortunately, it will not get it, whether we go to war or not. Still, better to light one candle than curse the darkness. so we work on ourselves and attempt to increase our own integral consciousness to some degree each day, so that in the end we leave the world just a little bit more whole than we found it... Please see the website http//wilber.shambhala.com/html/misc/iraq.cfm for the full discussion, and of which the above is an extract; the point however is that IIPSGP stands precisely for the kind of holistic peace approach that he is calling for, and has done so consistently since the launching of its founding organisation, Philosophers for Peace, back in the 1980’s. However, rather seeing a tragic isolation, IIPSGP sees everywhere voices reaching out across the planet, weaving webs of inter-connectedness, and rather than seeing the heroic Olympian detachment of the sage who sees al and can do nothing, and the masses, who see nothing and do everything – IIPSGP sees everywhere shards and pockets of dark and light and rainbows; and recognises that we are all made up of patchworks of colours, all operate across the full spectrum, potentially, and that peace, the full rainbow, is situated within and between us, if we did but realise it. And above all that we need to work together, sages, saints and sinners alike, all of us human (and perhaps a few transhuman Bodhisattvas) to clear up the mess left on this planet by centuries or millennia of accumulated negative karma and misunderstandings. IIPSGP is founded on the vision that such work is not only necessary, but possible and indeed pleasurable, and that with the power of the 9 Muses (symbols if you like for Bodhisattvic deities of wisdom and creativity) accomplishment in this task is indeed possible. Perhaps Ken might even care to join us in Calgary at the IPRA conference and speak at the Peace Theories Commission - where we could have this discussion in more detail.

61. SHARE THE WORLD'S RESOURCES is a useful website that brings together articles and news from across the world aiming at refocusing global economic priorities away from money and wealth for the elites and towards justice and sustainable wealth for everybody. One of the recent articles features a call from Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, who has recently “urged the world's biggest industrialized nations to set up a 50-billion-dollar (44-billion-euro) fund to support solar power, warning that oil or nuclear energy were not viable energy sources for the future. Gorbachev -- who chairs an environmental thinktank, Green Cross International -- called on leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations to invest in renewable energy sources, in a statement marking the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
As leader of the Soviet Union in 1986, Gorbachev led the immediate response to the world's worst nuclear disaster, which led to at least 4,000 deaths and sent a radioactive cloud over parts of Europe.
The Green Cross proposals were contained in a letter sent to the leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations who are due to meet in Russia in July.” See details on: http://www.stwr.net/ Thanks to Mohammed Mesbahi, Chair and Founder of Share the World’s Resources, who drew the site to IIPSGP’s attention. As the website says: Share The World’s Resources (STWR) is a non-partisan organisation campaigning for a restructuring of the global economy. The existing economic regime continues to fail the 50,000 people who die each day from poverty and the 2.5 billion people who continue to live in poverty, without the basic necessities for life. If global food supplies alone were distributed globally according to sound economic policy, each individual would have at least 4.3 pounds of food a day.

62. WORLD CONGRESS OF PHILOSOPHY / RUSSIAN PHILOSOPHY – The World Congress of Philosophy is next taking place in Seoul, South Korea, in July 2008. “The Russian Philosophical Society is planning a collective journey (of a kind that was made to Istanbul in 2003). They plan to plan to travel by air to Seoul, then charter a ship to Vladivostok and return to Moscow by train - through the whole of Russia, making stops at the Baikal Lake, Novosibirsk and other places for rest and conferences. Foreign philosophers are also invited to join the trip, if they find it of interest.” This information has been recently received from Prof. Nikolai Biryukov, of the Department of Philosophy, Moscow Institute for International Relations (MGIMO-University), and who is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Russian Philosophy Society Bulletin. He also kindly informs us and IIPSGP members that the full version of the RPhS Bulletin is only published in Russian. However, the digest is translated into English (usually by Dr. Biryukov himself) and is available at the RPhS website. The Bulletin's cost to foreign subscribers is $ 25; this covers the cost of the four issues, including mail expenses. This subscription fee also includes Russian Philosophy Society membership. He has also informed us that the long awaited Global Studies Dictionary will be printed in Russian in April in Moscow with the English version to be published in New York by Prometheus Books in July 2006. Prof Biryukov informs us that “The idea of bringing together philosophers from the USA, Iran, Israel and Iraq is great. However, serious preliminary work is required for its implementation. And the greatest problem is, of course, money. Let us consider what we can do and start looking for sources.” He goes on to say that “What philosophers should do about the present situation (Iraq, Mid East, Chechnya et al) is a question not easily answered. It would make a good topic for a symposium or a conference. We are ready to consider this possibility. On my own behalf I would think about something like a philosophical Internet forum on topical political issues.” Perhaps readers of this IIPSGP newsletter might like to get involved with such a project ? A useful source of on line details on philosophy in Russia can be found at http://www.philosophy.ru/, while http://www.philosophers-today.com/whats-going-on/land/russland.html gives another very useful overview of different developments in Russian intellectual life today.
Prof Epstein has published some of work on the web at http://old.russ.ru/antolog/intelnet/rus_thought_overview.html which give a visionary and extraordinary overview of Russian thought, provided by someone who began his intellectual career at the University of Moscow but has since moved to the USA where he is Professor at Emory University in Atlanta, and is working on the intellectual history of Russian philosophy, including cosmism and religious thought. But not content with merely studying the extraordinary history of modern Russian philosophy, he is also keen to continue in that tradition himself, by pioneering the creative use of cyberspace as a medium for the exchange of ideas, and by developing what he calls the Intelnet – ie the intelligent use of the internet and web, for intellectual purposes. His site includes, for example, the means to deposit good ideas in a kind of archive, where they can be examined and drawn on (very like the IIPSGP’s own Good Ideas project). For more details see http://old.russ.ru/antolog/intelnet/intelnet.html. Epstein has also written a useful summary of the recent history of Russian and Soviet thought, at http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Cont/ContEpst.htm

63. INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY IN OPPOSITION AND CONFLICT – TOWARDS AN INTERCULTURAL PHILOSOPHY, is taking place at the University of Cologne from 13-16 July 2006. It is being organised by the Gesellschaft für Interkulturelle Philosophie (GIP) and the Philosophischen Seminar der Universität zu Köln. The organiser is Prof. Dr. Claudia Bickmann. Information from http://www.philosophie.uni-koeln.de/kongress2/home.html, see also: Gesellschaft für interkulturelle Philosophie.

64. THE INTERNATIONAL HUME CONFERENCE is taking place on 7-10. August 2006 at the Universität Koblenz-Landau, Campus Koblenz, Germany, organised by the The Hume Society on the themes of Hume and Culture and Cultural Philosophy; Hume and German Philosophy; Hume’s Aesthetik theories; for details see www.humesociety.org.

65. GERMAN SOCIETY FOR PHILOSOPHY AND ASSOCIATED GERMAN PHILOSOPHICAL ORGANISATIONS: The German philosophical profession has established a number of bilateral societies for intellectual and philosophical diplomacy, so to speak, and these include: Deutsch-Ungarische Gesellschaft für Philosophie; Argentinisch-Deutsche Gesellschaft für Philosophie; Deutsch-Polnische Gesellschaft für Philosophie; Chilenisch-Deutsche Gesellschaft für Philosophie; details of these can be found on the website of the German Society for Philosophy. Other useful and important links carried on the website include details of the Germany journal for Philosophy, Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Philosophie.
Other websites of value which are linked to the Society’s website are:

• Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ästhetik
• Gesellschaft für Analytische Philosophie
• Max-Scheler-Gesellschaft
• Deutsche Gesellschaft für französischsprachige Philosophie
• Schopenhauer-Gesellschaft
• Gesellschaft für antike Philosophie

66. THE INTERNATIONAL SCHELLING SOCIETY / INTERNATIONALE SCHELLING GESELLSCHAFT has a useful website at http://www.schellingges.badw-muenchen.de/, which explains that tejh Sociey was founded in 1986 to advance research and scholarship in all aspects o Schelling’s life and thought. It organises conferences and also publishes the Journal "Schellingiana" edited by frommann-holzboog, of Stuttgart.  It is also helping provide a guiding input into aspects of the complete works being produced for the Historisch-Kritischen Ausgabe of Schelling’s work from the Schelling Commmission of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. The President is Prof. Dr. Jörg Jantzen, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Marstallplatz 8, D-80539 München,  Tel.: 089 / 23031-1232, Fax: 089 / 23031-100 while the Secretary is Prof. Dr. Peter L. Oesterreich, Lehrstuhl für Philosophie, Augustana-Hochschule, Waldstraße 11, 91564 Neuendettelsau, Tel. 098 74 / 509280.

67. THE ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR PHILOSOPHISCHE FORSCHUNG is a major German journal which deals with forefront ideas in philosophical research, see http://www.klostermann.de/zeitsch/zphf_hmp.htm.

68. JEAN GEBSER GESELLSCHAFT is an international philosophic society dedicated to the life and work of Gebser, Jean (1905-1973), who was born in Posen in 1905, descended from Melanchthon on his mother's side; in 1929 emigrated to Italy, and subsequently lived in Spain where he worked for the Ministry of Education of the Spanish Republic; from 1937-39 he lived in Paris and then in 1939 moved to Switzerland. His masterpiece, Ursprung und Gengenwart (1950), written in Switzerland in the post WW2 years, makes generous use of Jungian ideas, as well as drawing on the work of many other thinkers, and outlines an extraordinary tour-de-force linking the histories of science, art, religion and culture with a theoretic evolution of the history of consciousness, which pinions around the axis of the discover of perspective in the renaissance, which, whilst a technical breakthrough in art, led to a failure to appreciate the presentness of being, and led to the false superimposition of "history" onto consciousness, creating a false wall between awareness and reality. Eric Voegelin's work overlapped to an extent with Gebser's, as have many other creative thinkers working on aspects of transpersonal history in the past several decades. Gebser was widely travelled throughout Europe, and also in India, China, and Japan. He can be regarded a key theoretical founder of the notion of a transpersonal historiography, and in his own work attempts a kind of grand synthesis which points towards other future such works. Particularly interesting is the way that he makes use of art history, and religious symbolism, as well as language, to illustrate his central thesis regarding the interplay of seeing, and consciousness, in the dynamics of history. He was particularly interested in the way that different words, different languages and different sounds, can acquire archetypal qualities, and included an appendix to his work which included these studies. Naturally, however, his work was selective rather than comprehensive, and as such can be regarded as an uncompleted stimulus towards a mature transpersonal historiography rather than a finished product in itself.
Details from http://www.integraleweltsicht.de/ Jean Gebser Gesellschaft, Prof. Dr. Dr. Peter Gottwald, Ziegelhofstr. 23, 26121 Oldenburg. The Society is holding an international conference on 6-8 October 2006 in Augsburg, know as the "city of religious peace”.

69. INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR WOMEN PHILOSOPHERS / Internationale Assoziation von Philosophinnen is holding The XII Symposium of the International Association of Women Philosophers in Rome. It will provide an opportunity to highlight the geopolitical position of Italy — in the very heart of Mediterranean Europe, close to Africa and to the Eastern countries . It will thus transform the idea of Europe in a larger sense — and highlight the particular flavour of Italian feminism. In Italy women's politics and theorizing have not followed the direction “from the movement to the institutions” in the way this has happened in other countries where Women's or Gender Studies departments were established. Italian feminists have recognized the skill, sensitivity, and authority of women's thinking, as it is manifest in their activity in social spaces other than the academy: women in trade unions, associations, public administration, hospitals, media, business.When feminist discourses become mere cultural theories, they risk turning into abstract and artificial discourses. Thinking becomes an exercise of conceptualisation of, or affiliation with, dominant theories. We have broader expectations for this Symposium. We invite women who work in academic institutions to show how they literally “do” their work of thinking — in teaching, in theorizing, in all the relations and situations they deal with. More generally we welcome the surprises that experience — behaviours, actions and passions — has in store for established theories and systems of thought. Discourses embedded in experience often have transformative potential. We know that feminist words have had political effects and changed many important aspects of society and culture. How was this possible? How can experience have political force? A first answer is provided by the “practice of starting from oneself” (pratica del partire da sé ) in which words refer to one's own situation and relationships, but are not concerned only with subjective issues. The expression “starting from” has the double sense of providing a starting place, and departing from one's own situation, because words enable communication that goes beyond particular circumstances. In our times we are in need of embodied and transformative words: of restoring sense, undoing unjust orders of discourse and living, opening up new forms of relations. The political proposal of the Italian version of the IAPh Symposium is to foster the development of “thinking experience” toward innovative political practices and styles of behaviour. This call for papers is therefore addressed not only to academic philosophers but to “thinking women”, to those who are able to demonstrate the meaning of their activities and the thought that informs them, wherever they are. We invite to contribute to one of the following fields of experience that present themselves as also political challenges in the becoming of our civilization: 1) work: all the activities, recognized and remunerated or not 2) government: the public activity to which women are now called, sometimes welcomed, but often in startling or unexpected ways 3) education: traditionally acted by women more than men, necessary to social growth, but today considered as an unproductive expense 4) science and technologies: a political and ethical concern, differently debated among women too 5) art: all the expressions that can show other orders of living 6) daily life: the ordinary experiences we often miss to think of 7) history and memory: to fundamental aspects of human beings, today manipulated or cancelled 8) sexuality: the metamorphoses of subjects and desires 9) rules, laws and relations: an extremely urgent set of matters, especially when politics is reduced to claiming for rights 10) divine: because a free spiritual or religious experience can show ways out of this fundamentalist times.

70. COMPREHENSIVE PHILOSOPHICAL WEBSITES: three excellent German websites which give details of most previous and many living philosophers of note are as follows:

• http://www.philosophenlexikon.de
• http://buecherei.philo.at/phila.htm
• http://www.philosophers-today.com/who-is-who/stars.html

71. INTERNATIONAL PLATO SOCIETY is the main international body dedicated to honouring Plato’s memory, http://www.platon.org/ has further details.

72. INTERNATIONAL PEACE EDUCATION CONFERENCE: JUNE 25-27, 2006. The British Columbia Teachers' Federation is organizing an International Peace Education Conference from June 25-27 in Vancouver, Canada. This conference is part of the World Peace Forum which will be held in Vancouver from June 23-28, 2006. Educators working for peace from all over the world are encouraged to submit proposals to present at this international conference. It promises to be an outstanding opportunity to discuss and share peace education organizing strategies, teaching programs, activities and methodologies and to network for further action.  A request for proposals can be found at http://www.bctf.ca/social/WorldPeace/RFP.html. For information about the World Peace Forum go to: www.worldpeaceforum.ca.

73. THE HAGUE APPEAL FOR PEACE GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR PEACE EDUCATION WORLDWIDE ACTIVITIES BRIEF E-NEWSLETTER is a very useful source of information. Founded in 1999, the Hague Appeal for Peace Global Campaign for Peace Education (GCPE), is an international organized network which promotes peace education among schools, families and communities to transform the culture of violence into a culture of peace. Over 140 organizations worldwide have endorsed the GCPE.  Peace education is a holistic, participatory process that includes teaching for and about human rights, nonviolent responses to conflict, social and economic justice, gender equity, environmental sustainability, disarmament, traditional peace practices and human security. The methodology of peace education encourages reflection, critical thinking, cooperation, and responsible action.  It promotes multiculturalism, and is based on values of dignity, equality and respect. Peace education is intended to prepare students for democratic participation in schools and society. The Global Campaign for Peace Education has two goals: - To see peace education integrated into all curricula, community and family education worldwide to become a part of life - To promote the education of all teachers to teach for peace The Hague Appeal for Peace Global Campaign for Peace Education Worldwide Activities Brief e-newsletter highlights how and where the GCPE network is active and growing.  Submissions are encouraged! Please contribute how you are working for peace education including dates, locations, a brief description, and a website and/ or contact information and send it to helene@haguepeace.org. For more information on the Hague Appeal for Peace and to become an endorser of the GCPE visit www.haguepeace.org.

74. CULTIVATING WISDOM, HARVESTING PEACE: SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS - The International Symposium on Cultivating Wisdom, Harvesting Peace: Educating for a Culture of Peace through Values, Virtues, and Spirituality of Diverse Cultures, Faiths, and Civilizations was held on August 10-13, 2005 at the Multi-Faith Centre of Griffith University in Australia. This event was co-sponsored by UNESCO and the outcome document is described by Swee-Hin, Director of the Multi-Faith Centre, as: “Rather than a brief general list of selected ideas and recommendations, we have decided instead to prepare a rapporteur's summary that provides some detail on the recommendations, so that there is enough substantive content that can guide specific policy changes and actions.” The opening lines stipulate: “It is now widely acknowledged that education plays an indispensable role in a worldwide effort to build a more peaceful world. Communities, institutions, civil society organizations, and international or global agencies have organized educational projects and programs to address the root causes of violence and conflicts and build a world based on principles and values of active non-violence, justice, human rights, inter-cultural respect and reconciliation, sustainability, and inner peace.” For more details contact: Dr. Virginia F. Cawagas at v.cawagas@griffith.edu.au or vcawagas@hotmail.com.

75. BRITISH PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETIES – There are several major British Philosophical societies, links to some of which can be found in the IIPSGP acronyms pages; these include: British Society for Philosophy; Royal Institute of Philosophy; Society for the Advancement of Philosophical Education and Reflection in Education (SAPERE), Society for the Philosophy of Education; Society for Applied Philosophy; Hegel Society; Mind; British Society for the History of Philosophy – in the archipelago of such societies, IIPSGP remains the main body which take an interest in the philosophy of peace, and investigating how a more peaceful society and world might be brought into existence, and what are the blockages in the way of such an outcome. A new group has been set up by Prof Emeritus Nicholas Maxwell, a philosopher who has been based at University College London for many years, called the Friends of Wisdom group, which is campaigning for a radical shift in higher education in the UK, and a return to the notion that Universities ought to be about transmitting wisdom rather than merely delivering pieces of paper with degrees printed on them – they are at www.nick-maxwell.demon.co.uk and have kindly put a link to the IIPSGP website as Nicholas recognises that we are working to the same goals.

76. LAMA GANGCHEN WORLD PEACE FOUNDATION is continuing to organise an impressive series of international congresses linking the need for global healing, personal healing and planetary peace – check out their website at: www.worldpeacecongress.net

77. GLOBAL VILLAGE NEWS RESOURCES is an excellent email newsletter of positive news from around the world, and can be accessed by contacting: GVNR or for all past articles and resources at http://www.gvnr.com/archives. They are edited by Michael Lightweaver, Publisher, Network 2012 Asheville, NC., USA.

78. GREEN CROSS INTERNATIONAL is the body set up by former USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, which is campaigning and organising behind the scenes for a radical shift in the way that mankind organises its economic relationships with nature. It runs a busy programme of events and defines its mission as: “to help ensure a just, sustainable and secure future for all by fostering a value shift and cultivating a new sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility in humanity’s relationship with nature.” It also states that it: “Promotes legal, ethical and behavioral norms that ensure basic changes in the values, actions and attitudes of government, the private sector and civil society, necessary to build a sustainable global community. Prevents and resolves conflicts arising from environmental degradation. Provides assistance to people affected by the environmental consequences of wars and conflicts.” It defines its work in three main areas: Firstly, in PREVENTING AND RESOLVING CONFLICTS OVER NATURAL RESOURCES. For example, over WATER. Half the world’s population lives in river basins shared by two or more countries, and lack of cooperation between those sharing these precious water resources is causing reduced living standards, devastating environmental problems, and even potential conflicts. Through the Water for Peace project, Green Cross is working with governments, local authorities and civil society to remove the obstacles to integrated and cooperative water management, and resolve related conflicts, in six important international basins across the world: the Parana ­La Plata, the Jordan, the Volga, the Okavango, the Volta and the Danube. Green Cross is also leading an international public campaign aimed at convincing governments to agree to a Global Treaty on the Right to Water. It is also campaigning for governments to take seriously the need to find a source for SUSTAINABLE ENERGY: One of the greatest challenges facing humanity is the need to find radical new and clean energy solutions for sustainable development. Energy is the lifeblood of the global economy, and an essential prerequisite for human development. Yet the current energy model has proven incapable of satisfying the energy needs of 85% of the inhabitants of the planet. Almost 2 billion people in the word live without any energy supply and 3 billion have an insufficient supply. Its second major overall activity is in addressing the ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES OF WARS AND CONFLICTS. In support of world-wide disarmament and nonproliferation , Green Cross International (GCI) established its 'Environmental Consequences of Wars and Conflicts' Programme in 1993. The Environmental Consequences of Wars and Conflicts Programme is an international, collaborative effort among Green Cross national affiliates to promote the timely and environmentally-safe elimination of weapons and materials of mass destruction and to mitigate the social, health and environmental impacts of military-related activities and chemical and nuclear contamination. The Programme is divided into two initiatives: THE LEGACY OF THE COLD WAR, also known as the Legacy Programme, and the SOCIAL, MEDICAL CARE AND EDUCATION (SOCMED) Programme. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the testing, production and stocking of chemical weapons, and the use of defoliant Agent Orange in the Vietnam War have led to large ­scale contamination and millions of people still suffer from the effects of these man­made disasters. Green Cross helps people and communities afflicted by chemical and nuclear contamination, for example through our Kids­for­Kids health camps in Russia, the Ukraine and Belarus, which have already helped 10,000 children and their families to lead fuller and healthier lives. Operations have also begun in Vietnam to aid the thousands of children still being born with severe disabilities due to the impact of Agent Orange. The project provides the children with necessary orthopedic and prosthetic tools, and offers medical training to local specialists THE GREEN CROSS CHEMICAL WEAPONS CAMPAIGN seeks to contribute towards the goal of ridding the world of weapons of mass destruction by creating the public and political will needed to support the practical implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, with the objective to destroy all land based chemical weapons by 2015. Together, the United States and Russia have over 65,000 tons of chemical weapons stockpiled in sixteen sites ( 9 in the US , 7 in Russia ). Green Cross promotes greater awareness of the environmental damage caused by wars, and calls for environmental rehabilitation to be included within the umbrella of humanitarian assistance during and following conflicts. Green Cross International experts regularly take part in the field missions and continuously provide independent expertise and assessments. Recently, Green Cross has been active in analyzing the ecological impacts of the Gulf Wars, and the Balkans and Afghanistan conflicts. Green Cross promotes the clean­up and conversion of military bases to civilian use, the remediation of nuclear contamination, and the environmentally responsible destruction of conventional and chemical weapon stockpiles. This work, and public and political awareness, is enhanced through regular public hearings, policy workshops and publications on safe weapons destruction in Russia and the United States, and an annual Legacy Forum in the US. The third major way that Green Cross International works is by promoting VALUE CHANGES AND CHANGES IN BEHAVIOUR. One way it does this is by the Earth Dialogues. The Earth Dialogues were inspired by the belief in the need to generate new energy and impetus to drive the movement to place ethics and human values at the heart of the struggle to harmonize the globalization process with sustainable development. Green Cross strives to improve the law and governance systems which protect the environment, and was one of the key actors in the development of the Earth Charter, a document which embodies fundamental values and principles and is intended to serve as a universal code of conduct to guide people and nations towards a sustainable future. The Earth Charter is now endorsed by more than 8000 organizations representing approximately 100 million people around the world. All three of these projects are very similar to those being developed on the research front by the Global Green University, an initiative under IIPSGP’s aegis, and we look forward to future collaboration between the two organisations. Perhaps researchers involved might care to think through in exact detail what research is needed to implement the three policy goals of GCI, and to see how the contacts of the GGU can help them in this work ? GCI have the following Officers: Mikhail Gorbachev, Chairman of the Board , Raymond Barre , Alexander Likhotal, President and CEO (ex-officio), Ernst Mühlemann, Treasurer (ex-officio), Shimon Peres, Mario Soares, Horst Teltschik Mr. Chinghiz Aitmatov, Kirgyztan The following are also members of the International Advisory Board for GCI: Princess Basma Bint Talal, Jordan, Mr. Jean­Michel Cousteau, France, Mr. Victor Danilov-Danilyan, Russia, Prof. Istvan Lang, Hungary, Dr. Rita Levy Montalcini, Italy, Mr. Rudolphus Lubbers, The Netherlands , Ms. Diane Meyer Simon, USA, Ms. Wangari Maathai, Kenya, H. E. Javier Perez de Cuellar, Peru, Mr. Robert Redford, USA, Mr. Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp, The Netherlands, Dr. Karan Singh, India, Mr. David Suzuki, Canada, Dr. Monkombu S. Swaminathan, India, Mr. Ted Turner, USA, Mr. Evgeny Velikhov, Russia. GCI publishes a journal, called The Optimist. which focuses on sustainable development, particularly post-conflict assessment and clean- up, right to water issues, and related environmental matters. GCI are based at: Green Cross International 160a rte de Florissant, 1231 Genève/Conches Tel. 022 789 1662  Full details on these and others of Green Cross International important work from their website at http://www.greencrossinternational.net/. Please be aware there is currently a full time job opening at GCI for an assistant editor for their Journal, The Optimist.

79. ROOTS & SHOOTS FOR THE 2006 DAY OF PEACE SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 is being organised by Dr Jane Goodall, who writes as follows: Every year, the United Nations International Peace Day is held on 21 st September when people around the world express their desire for peace. So that the majority of Roots & Shoots groups and JGI friends can be involved, I have chosen the last Saturday in every September as Roots & Shoots Peace Day in support of the United Nation’s peace endeavours. This year our day for celebrating peace will be Saturday the 30th of September and I do hope that you and your friends and families will join groups around the world to fly Peace Doves and celebrate peace! The Giant Peace Dove puppets – flown by young people and the young at heart in cities, towns, and villages near and far – are a symbol and celebration of this yearning for peace. Last year, peace doves “flew” in 22 countries. Many were flown by our wonderfully active and creative Roots & Shoots groups. In past years, doves have flown in peace marches, on top of mountains and buildings, in parks, along waterways, at the Coliseum in Rome and in a refugee camp in Tanzania. Albanian and Kosovan children flew two peace doves on the bridge over the Ibar River that separates their two ethnic groups. Palestinian Arab and Israeli Jewish children flew a giant peace dove in Nazareth. A peace dove even served as a huppha at a wedding in California one year. This year we hope to see even more doves flying all around the globe. With these humble creations made out of recycled materials we remind everyone that peace is possible. We celebrate all that is free and noble in the human spirit. And we celebrate all that so many people have done throughout the year – and will do next year – to create a better world. Please join us on Saturday the 30th of September – your participation will mean so much to me. Together we will celebrate peace within ourselves, peace within our communities and peace around the world! More details from her website.

80. PATHWAYS is a useful website listing lots of different coming events, connected with all aspects of peace, ecology, spirituality, dance, music, arts etc. They have also kindly advertised the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Britain and Ireland opening event in August 2006. http://www.pathwaysnetwork.co.uk/workshops.htm

81. IIPSGP MEMBERSHIP: To renew your membership of IIPSGP, please write in or ring the office in Wales. Membership remains £15 (unwaged) or £25/£50 per annum and is normally a pre-requisite for being involved in any of the specific projects run by the Institute. It also brings access to the documentation index of the Index archives, priority in undergoing retreats, and information about all courses available, including those run by the Global Green University. At present, membership forms can only be processed via ordinary mail. Normally, a first degree is required for full membership of the Institute, or indication of an equivalent level of educational achievement. The Muses Journal is available for 2006 and all paid up full members should have received a copy. If not for some reason, please let us know. To join, please enclose a completed membership form, CV and covering letter plus cheque to the office: International Institute for Peace Studies and Global Philosophy, Rhos Gallt, Llanerfyl, Powys, Wales, SY21 0ER, Tel. 01938 820586, Email: iipsgp@educationaid.net