Comments for Dan Smith's blog

Comment on Take note of every casualty by Every Casualty | qceablog

Every Casualty | qceablog — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:02:32 +0000

[...] and direct victims whose violent deaths and identities are often lost to the public record. As Dan Smith says: ‘the charter is not just to count but to recognise every [...]

Comment on Peacebuilding IN Europe? by SK MUKESH MAHAMMAD

SK MUKESH MAHAMMAD — Wed, 02 May 2012 08:17:12 +0000

!!! MAY PEACE SHOWER UPON YOU & EVERY ONE !!!
Thank you for your cordial endeavor for peace building. I feel pang with every vision/sound of human sufferings due to inhuman activities across the world. Sir, with all my humane feeling for universal brotherhood I am compelled to prepare a “String Theory on Global Peace and Global Economy” that can pacify the whole world and uplift the global economy. The theory has the potency to eradicate most of the social maladies e.g. corruption, terrorism, intercontinental war, cyber crime, kidnapping, murder/killing, robbery, theft, educational discrepancies, poverty, religious tussle, provincialism, untouchability, false advertising and all activities what we know as illegal in our society. The theory is based on few mathematical formulae. It can drive the Globe into the orbit of lasting peace and reinforce Global Economy in no doubt. I am in search of publisher as I wish to publish the theory at the earliest for the sake of humanity.
Mukesh, India

Comment on Gaza, criticising Israel and Howard Jacobson by roGER

roGER — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:23:14 +0000

An excellent and very thoughtful post. Personally I feel Howard Jacobson is so emotionally tangled up in Israel he feels obliged to defend the indefensible.

Comment on About the author by Global Peace Index

Global Peace Index — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:08:01 +0000

I am getting touch with you on behalf of the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) to let you know that this year’s Global Peace Index (GPI) will be launched on June 12th. Having covered the GPI previously, we thought you might be interested in receiving this year’s ranking.

We will be in touch closer to the launch with GPI results, interactive maps, videos and charts; however if you have any question or would like to speak to someone from the IEP about the GPI, feel free to get in touch before then.

If, for whatever reason, you are not interested in this year’s GPI and do not wish to be contacted on the subject do please let us know and we will remove you from our contact list.

Thanks!

Comment on Peacebuilding IN Europe? by Tilman Evers

Tilman Evers — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 12:56:24 +0000

Dear Dan,

Thank you for clarifying: We don’t live in peaceful societies, and much work needs to be done “back home”.

Of course, dear Judy, conflicts in our (relatively) rich and old-established societies differ from armed conflicts elsewhere. Yet all the ingredients of conflict you enumerate for turmoil within Europe are also to be found “out there”. So, that’s where our peacebuilding tools of conflict transformation come in. We have some experience to offer, starting with our non-partisan systemic approach.

Two examples from the European Network for Civil Peace Services EN.CPS: PATRIR in Romania started in 2001 working within Romania and went international only in subsequent years. As to Forum Civil Peace Service in German (of which I have been a co-founder), we maintained since our earliest years around 1995 that Civil Peace Service (CPS) should also be applied within Germany. In 2006, once we had international projects going with some experience flowing back, we started a first internal project in Oranienburg, a town on the northern edge of Berlin agglomeration. By now, we work in five German cities, focusing on conflicts related to the issue of integration and social cohesion, with funding mainly from respective municipalities, the European Integration Fund and the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. We call it “Communal Conflict Counseling” (for your reasons, Judy) but design and define it as genuine CPS work. With due respect for the host of other inner-German organizations and institutions working in the same direction, but with other tools.

Best greetings from Tilman Evers, Forum Civil Peace Service, Cologne

Comment on Peacebuilding IN Europe? by Geovany

Geovany — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 07:43:04 +0000

Interesting post. However I think you incorrectly emphasise the role of resentment and social unrest at the expense of much more serious threats.Small wars and skirmishes are terrible, but they are nothing compared to the terror and devastation of world wars, or escalated wars fuelled and perpetuated by outside interests.Get this: States will soon realise that the magical rise in demand they’re all hoping for to kick-start the global perpetual growth’ economy isn’t going to be forthcoming. They might be able to boost investor confidence, and increase the money supply, but they can’t make up a glut in demand and prop up a whole economy. It wasn’t building the Hoover dam that launch the USA out of depression, it was the second world war.Industry loves nothing more than a war. The demand for bombs, bullets, fabric, fuel, food, energy, aircrafts, computers, the unemployed, technology is insatiable. As industries feel the pinch and contract (or collapse), the positive outcomes of war for industries and States will only rise, and rise, and rise.What will stop this happening. Sustainability is a solution to the world’s incipient woes, but why will those who control the direction of the State listen to academics when they’ve got crony industry reps hammering down the door, crying for support.

Comment on Looking at some peacebuilding assumptions by Patricio

Patricio — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 02:46:07 +0000

This is just one strand of the convergence of a number of areas. Conflict + peacebuilding, humanitarian issues + development issues, the effects of climate change, and trade/the economy and economic measures are all coming together. We want to develop and stimulate the economy of a country to raise the standard of living for everyone in that country, but we only want to encourage the “good” industries – eg green energy and not guns. But if you need to stimulate the economy of a country in the first place, the chances are that it is a poor country that?s insecure, which means there is already an innate desire of individuals and groups in that country wanting to arm themselves, to feel more secure. And climate change will ultimately affect poor people more, but in that country they?ve already chosen guns .

Comment on Peacebuilding IN Europe? by Dan Smith

Dan Smith — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:59:42 +0000

Not redefining, just reapplying.

Comment on Peacebuilding IN Europe? by Judy Cheng-Hopkns

Judy Cheng-Hopkns — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:28:24 +0000

Dan, if you wish to redefine Peacebuilding then by all means, go ahead. But in my view the key words to consider in the case of angry young immigrants to cities like London and Paris are: ghettos, racism and marginalization, unpreparedness for multiculturalism, lack of social and economic integration, potential for religious extremism. So instead of Peacebuilding as a strategy we need in many parts of Europe, social and economic as a strategy.

Comment on A scorecard for Busan: did the High Level Forum help conflict-affected countries? by Donata Garrasi

Donata Garrasi — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:54:47 +0000

Thank you for your comments about the honest collaboration in relation to the New Deal. We indeed think that the New Deal is new and different because it is based on real interests and commitments by the members of the International Dialogue, the g7+ group of fragile states being a leading force within the Dialogue. Clearly what will make the difference, besides a document that is broadly owned and selectively championed, is the implementation of its provisions at country level, and support for using the peacebuilding and statebuilding goals as a frameowkr for action at the global and country level, and to inform the post-MDGs development context. Civil society has an importantrole to play in ensuring that the New Deal is implementaed in a way that will make a difference for people. Donata Garrasi, Coordinator, International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding