The Global Department and Ministry for Peace movement is about creating a new cabinet level position in every national government on earth. This position would be responsible for leading and coordinating peace building activities inside countries, with neighbouring countries and all the way around our fragile globe.
As a species, we now have enough research and enough practical experience with building peace, even in the midst of awful conflict, to say, with certainty, that if you do this, you will get war—but if you do that, you will get peace. Real peace and not just a bandage. Barb and I think that peace is better. We strongly support the Global Alliance.
We were most fortunate to be invited to attend the second Global Summit on the Creation of Ministries and Departments of Peace and then attend the World Peace Forum in Vancouver to present our report .
Barb has also supported this proposal with art. She painted Japanese Lady Delegate for Peace, Dancing in the Street . We are donating approximately 50% of our profit on sales of this painting to raise funds for airfare for third world delegates to attend future global summits.
Barb also painted a version of the logo for the Canadian Working Group for a Federal Department of Peace, which she gave to the group’s co-founder Dr. Saul Arbess.
Note: This painting is not in the collection.
Support for Ministers for Peace
In this interview, Archbishop Desmond Tutu supports it strongly.
For the 2005 Global Summit, HH Dalai Lama issued this message of support.
Moving towards Peace
The Department and Ministry for Peace movement needs you!
Here are some links to groups around the world:
Canadian Working Group for a Federal Department of Peace
US Peace Alliance Very strong, very well put together initiative.
The Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace
Air Fare
Are you willing to buy a ticket? Do you have airmiles just piling up? We are asking you to consider purchasing a ticket for a person from the third world to fly to Japan for the third global summit.
If so, please contact us. We would really like to hear from you.
»»Yes, I will send a delegate for peace to the next global summit.
If not, please consider purchasing a copy of Japanese Lady Delegate for Peace Dancing in the Street and you will be helping to send a delegate to Japan.
Statements of Support for Ministers for Peace
Interview of Archbishop Desmond Tutu on a Ministry for Peace
What are your thoughts on the movement to establish Ministries and Departments of Peace in governments worldwide?
TUTU: It’s an extraordinary idea and, it fills one with a great deal of excitement and exhilaration, and it sounds crazy, but then I think it was crazy when Gandhi said we’re going to work so that eventually India is free. It must have been crazy when Martin Luther King Jr. also said we’re going to make civil rights a real issue in the United States, and maybe when Nelson Mandela and others said one day apartheid will be no more, that we need those like yourselves who dream dreams and say, “It is possible. It is possible for people to know that war is not natural.”
People have been able to live peacefully together, but if they live peacefully together after war, why should they have war first before they can realize that it is a great deal better. War is not nice to children, it’s not nice to people, it’s not nice to the environment.
And so I say go for it. This is marvellous. Go for it and really be crazy and say, one day we’ll ask, “Why were we so stupid for so long because of something so obvious?” Saying let us put our massive investment that we are putting right now in instruments of death and destruction, let us put them into something that is creative, that is life-enhancing teaching kids that there are ways of resolving differences that don’t need to be violent. You can sit down and ultimately say, “You know, actually, an enemy is a friend waiting to be made.”
Note: Interview by Mark Tompkins
For the Peace Alliance
At the Quest for Global Healing
May, 2006, Bali, Indonesia
Note: This is the same Mark Tompkins who photographed the global summit and who hosted the Interfaith Dialogue on Peace in different faith paths.
A Message to Ministry for Peace UK, 2005, from HH Dalai Lama
This message was sent to the first Global Summit for the Creation of Ministries and Departments of Peace
Until very recently, many people felt that disagreements and conflicts between nations and communities could only be resolved through war or the threat of force. Although everyone wishes to live in peace, we are often confused about how it can be achieved. Violence inevitably leads to more violence. It is not the solution – certainly not in the long term. Today, more and more people realise that the proper way of resolving differences is through dialogue, compromise and discussions, through human understanding and humility. There is a growing appreciation that genuine peace comes about through mutual understanding, respect and trust.
Nevertheless, I have no doubt that problems will continue to occur within human society. When they do, they should be solved in a humanitarian way, for which non-violence provides the proper approach. Terrorism, for example, cannot be overcome by the use of force because it does not address the complex underlying problems that give rise to it. In fact the use of force may not only fail to solve our problems, it may exacerbate them and frequently leaves destruction and suffering in its wake. Human conflicts should be resolved with compassion. The key, I repeat, is non-violence.
In the present global situation we need a well-thought-out, coordinated long-term strategy. It has never been more urgent, for example, that we seek a genuine determination to achieve global demilitarisation. However, I believe that in order to have the confidence to eliminate physical weapons, some kind of inner disarmament is necessary. To begin with we need to embark on the difficult task of developing love and compassion within ourselves. Peace is not merely the absence of war, but a state of tranquillity founded on the deep sense of security that arises from mutual understanding, tolerance of others’ points of view, and respect for their rights. Peace is not something which exists independently of us, nor is war. The political leaders, policymakers and army generals who have responsibilities with respect to peace are members of our own human family, the society that we as individuals have helped create.
In this context, the proposal that there should be a Ministry of Peace within governments is not merely admirable, but if implemented would represent a serious indication of actual intent. I am happy to give my support to such a body whose responsibilities would include being a consistent voice for non-violent means of settling disputes.
I would like to offer what encouragement I may to everyone involved in this project with the caution that whenever we pursue noble goals, obstacles and difficulties are bound to occur. As human beings, we may lose hope. But as there is nothing to be gained from discouragement, our determination must be very firm. According to my own limited experience, we can transform ourselves and so make a difference by transforming the societies we belong to. I am convinced that if we all were to spend a few minutes every day trying to develop a sense of inner peace, eventually it will become part of our lives and then everything we do will contribute to peace in the world.
Signed HH Dalai Lama