Metta’s Opinion

School COCs: Integrating Restorative Practices

Posted on October 13, 2015

School systems use standardized “codes of conducts” (COCs) to govern student behavior and conduct as well as what responses should follow these behaviors. These codes must formally comply with federal, state, and local laws, and are often informally amenable to student, teacher, staff, and parent needs.

Present example justifications from two districts’ COCs include: “Educated citizenry is essential to good government and can be attained only in an atmosphere conducive to learning, the Orange County Board of Education requires the maintenance of good order in the schools” and “The Rochester City School District is committed to ensuring that our schools are safe, secure, and orderly environments in which teaching and learning can take place each day.” (more…)

Nobel Peace Prize 2015: Awarding the Collective

Posted on October 9, 2015

by Kimberlyn David

Today the Nobel Committee awarded the 2015 Peace Prize to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet, a coalition of four civil society organizations:

• Tunisian General Labour Union
• Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts
• Tunisian Human Rights League
• Tunisian Order of Lawyers

The Committee credits the Quartet with fostering peace during a rocky moment in Tunisia’s transition to a constitutional democracy following the country’s Jasmine Revolution, which kicked off the Arab Spring.

Noting the difficulties Tunisians have yet to overcome, the Nobel Committee awarded the Quartet “as an encouragement to the Tunisian people, who despite major challenges have laid the groundwork for a national fraternity which the Committee hopes will serve as an example to be followed by other countries.”
(more…)

When We Talk About Healing

Posted on October 7, 2015

by Kimberlyn David

What comes to mind when you think of the word “healing”? What opens in your heart as a result?

Inspired by the tropical greenery outside my window (I live in Panama), I envision a lushly regenerating Earth. I’m also seeing subtle waves of compassion awaking the leaders of our military, prison, banking, media, and electoral institutions.

I’m mostly thinking about healing from a systems standpoint, because our widespread culture of violence, be it the physical or financial kind, is perpetuated through our institutional structures.

We often pin violence on individuals, as if a few bad apples always ruin our peace, and then fail to look at how the system itself has long rotted. Healthy fruit can only grow from healthy trees.
(more…)

A Week in Kos: Pathways to Peace

Posted on September 22, 2015

by Kimberlyn David

Deflated refugee boat and abandoned life jackets on a Kos beach. Photo by Kimberlyn David.

If you’ve regularly been following news about asylum-seeking refugees, you’ve likely heard about the Greek island Kos, a major passageway into Europe for people fleeing war-ravaged places like Syria and Afghanistan.

I’ve just spent a week in Kos—my partner is producing refugee stories for a Dutch public broadcaster (we parted ways in Kos; he’s now on the last leg of following an Iraqi woman we met in Kos from Greece to Western Europe. He told me it was incredible to see the outburst of triumph and pride among refugees as they reached the Austria-Germany border. “They said they feel free, and it’s amazing to watch that change come over them.”). He invited me to join him in Kos, so I followed in his journalistic shoes, speaking with refugees, border agents, and local residents. (more…)

Michael Nagler speaks at UN-Podcast

Posted on September 17, 2015

by Stephanie Van Hook

If you had ten minutes to stand before the United Nations to talk about the role of the media in building a peaceful world, how would you begin? What would you say? What concrete recommendations would you make?

Well, our very own Michael Nagler was there on September 9, 2015 to speak at the High Level Forum for the Culture of Peace, and well, he took 15…

He began with this powerful fact: radiation and the mass media were born on the same day. Two powerful forces that could have been or still could be used toward violence and degradation or prosperity and collective dignity.

And he used that time to discuss the effects of media on the human image and the duty, and really, the promise of the media to raise that image.

Listen to a recording of this talk here

or click the arrow below beneath the bio box to download or listen directly from our site.

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Metta’s Opinion

Today the Nobel Committee awarded the 2015 Peace Prize to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet, a coalition of four civil society organizations:

• Tunisian General Labour Union • Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts • Tunisian Human Rights League • Tunisian Order of Lawyers

Time for Some Creativity

What comes to mind when you think of the word “healing”? What opens in your heart as a result?

Inspired by the tropical greenery outside my window (I live in Panama), I envision a lushly regenerating Earth. I’m also seeing subtle waves of compassion awaking the leaders of our military, prison, banking, media, and electoral institutions.

Educating Our Whole Selves

If you’ve regularly been following news about asylum-seeking refugees, you’ve likely heard about the Greek island Kos, a major passageway into Europe for people fleeing war-ravaged places like Syria and Afghanistan.

If you had ten minutes to stand before the United Nations to talk about the role of the media in building a peaceful world, how would you begin? What would you say? What concrete recommendations would you make?

or click the arrow below beneath the bio box to download or listen directly from our site.

Giving Peace a Chance

• Tunisian General Labour Union
• Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts
• Tunisian Human Rights League
• Tunisian Order of Lawyers