Peace + Justice

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Welcome to the Weave Peace + Justice topic group! We are very glad you are here. The vision for this online peer learning community is to deepen our individual & collective healing, growth and impact as we weave for peace and justice.

Ways to Contribute to this Online Space

We are growing this group together and we invite you to share about what you're up to and how we can support each other’s peace + justice weaving work. Here are some ways to engage:

1. Introduce Yourself: We have a discussion page dedicated to getting a little glimpse into one another's stories, which helps weave us together for peace + justice. Tell us about yourself on this page.

2. Join Upcoming peace +  justice centered Gatherings and Events. Head to the calendar and you are also welcome to add/share other relevant happenings here.  We meet virtually on the first Wednesday of each month.

3. Add to the Discussion(s): Share and respond to questions, ideas, musings, comments and more via our general discussions forum.  Check back here regularly.

4. Exchange Resources:

5. Know of any peace + justice centered weaving organizations? We're starting a directory and you can add ones you know to this list.

6. How do YOU want to connect and use this space? Reply in the comments and also know that we will also create opportunities to gather your feedback and input.

Video Tutorial
If a video tutorial about posting and navigating in the group would be helpful for you, please review!

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If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at any time!
Weave Peace + Justice Co-Leads

@Julie Lillie @Kate Towle  @Lyndon Rego @Caren Stelson  @darlene

Our Peace & Justice healing session on Relational Grounding: Hearing Each Other's Stories on Wed., July 3rd built upon our listening theme from our June session with weaver @Orly Israel. Orly has created The Listening Table, a movement that invites us to set up listening tables in community spaces with the agreements: No judgment. No advice. No charge.

For our July session, co-facilitator Elaheh Pooyandeh led us in an exercise of deep listening that leads to what she calls a Shared Pool of Meaning.  Elaheh invited participants to be storytellers, responding to one of the following two prompts:

• How have you been healed by having someone listen to you?
• What you might be able to heal by listening?

We then moved into breakout groups of three people. For the first five minutes, the storyteller responded to one of the prompts. The 1st listener then shared what they heard from the storyteller in three minutes, while the 2nd listener described in three minutes what they heard from the first two speakers.  In the remaining ten minutes, the three talked about what surfaced for them in their listening.

Following the breakouts, every participant had an opportunity to share what this experience of deeper listening was like for them. Comments included:

• This brought back a lot of memories.
• It was a very valuable experience and expanded my identity to include parts of me from my 20s and 30s.
• This was very powerful. I got more out of this than I thought I would.
• Enjoyed this experience. It brought me to a place of gratitude, reminding me why I'm doing what I am.
• We all gained something, whether telling or listening.
• You feel very listened to and realize you can step back from the story you're telling and find your way into another person's story.
• A wonderful exercise that maps to one of our goals which is to seek peace within.
• I have been a lifelong listener, but haven't always listened to myself. It's important to share your story.

One person pointed out that each person in her group was from another country, which had its own value.

Another member advised us of the  organization The Human Library that began in Denmark and invites us to conversations of deep listening as we challenge stigma and stereotypes by approaching one another as "open books."

In our next session, Peace & Justice Open Mic: What's Calling to You? on Wed., Aug. 7th (11:00am to 12:30pm Central; 9-10:30am Pacific; 12:00-1:30pm Eastern), participants will have the virtual "floor" to talk about what's emerging for you in your work for peace and justice.

Mark Your Calendars! For Gandhi's birthday, on Oct. 2nd, we will join again with the Euphrates Institute to hear from international peace educator Paul K. Chappell, beginning at 10:00am Central. More to come!

Yours in peace and weaving,

@Kate Towle, Co-Facilitator

Let's see how many ideas we can generate and share ...

How can (do) we promote peace and justice in our virtual and/or local communities?

I am Trent Batson, a retired professor and environmental advocate, Vice President of Groundwork RI, and interested in the Weavers organization.  I have admired David Brooks for decades, even if I don't always agree, so am very happy he has started this organization that seems to me is spot on in its mission.

Hi all,

Excited to see this group getting started! Thanks to the organizers for the work you've already put into it, and will continue to do so.

I'm a movement organizer, circle keeper, and peacebuilding trainer based in Minneapolis, MN, but also working internationally. I came into peacebuilding through religious work. Through years of working in vulnerable and disenfranchised urban communities, often with people with very different backgrounds and experiences than my own, my priorities and beliefs shifted from telling people about the heaven that might be waiting for them, to working with them to experience "heaven"—shalom, peace, and reconciliation—in our communities. That shifted my focus to community development, interfaith and intercultural dialogue, community organizing, and social justice activism.

In the wake of George Floyd's murder in 2020 and the subsequent uprising in the Twin Cities, my local peacebuilding has focused on different aspects of racial healing and justice work. In my work with Peace Catalyst, I also spend time training people in peace and conflict skills while helping to cultivate a peacebuilding movement in faith communities and neighborhoods.

I'm attracted to the positive, constructive possibilities of conflict—leaning into conflict, welcoming conflict, sometimes even escalating conflict, because we believe there is something better on the other side of it. Conflict is not a problem but an opportunity.

Many traditions embrace this. Peace studies talks about positive and negative peace, the construction of good versus simply ending hostilities. Kingian Nonviolence talks about the Beloved Community, where conflict is present but is handled with love. My peace church traditions understand shalom, peace, as the creation of good in community. Other nonviolence traditions teach the embodied model of "two hands", with one hand extended in invitation, and the other hand held up to stop the harm.

This, I think, is the place where justice intersects with peace. Peace is not peace unless it is a just peace. The work of growing and building peace, of healing hearts and communities and societies, means struggling for justice, equity, and inclusion for everyone, even as we mend relationships and cultivate reconciliation.

Looking forward to connecting more!

Who are the young peacemakers in your communities?

Peace Catalyst is accepting nominations for the 2024 Young Innovators award, celebrating peacebuilders under 30 who are experimenting and trying new ideas to transform their communities, build bridges across divides, and create just and equitable social change.

Young peacebuilders can be nominated by someone else, or they can nominate themselves, and can live anywhere in the world. Winners receive a $1000 award to use as they see fit. Winners will be announced at the Alliance for Peacebuilding's 2024 PeaceCon, September 10-12.

Nominations close June 30.

Learn more and submit nominations here: https://www.peacecatalyst.org/2024-rick-love-awards

We are seeking new co-leads for this Peace + Justice topic group! The primary role of co-leads is to plan, communicate about and facilitate gatherings.  Currently we meet the first Wednesday of the month for the gathering, but there is flexibility in the model based on your interest, availability and the needs of our community.

Please contact Julie and/or Kate to help out; share your ideas, expertise and/or hold space for others in this community.

Julie Lillie: thepeacepad.julie@gmail.com

Kate Towle: kteemuse@gmail.com

Dear Peacebuilders,

We began our May 1st session with the song First of May by James Taylor.

Our co-facilitator, Tom Kotlarek, led us through a process that he calls casting a circle so that we simultaneously become grounded and visualize a deeper connection to one another. We were joining positive energy from Tehran and Sénégal to Philadelphia and Arizona!

Using the "open mic" process, members were invited to share challenges with peacemaking they wanted to explore in more detail in breakouts. Our first prompt from Elaheh Pooyandeh was: How can we better accept the truth and the reality of things that we are facing?  The second from Marion Transetti was: How can we better balance the demands of our peace activities with our lives, our families and work?

Following twenty minutes of dialogue in our breakouts, Elaheh and Marion shared what they heard and learned from others in the small groups. Elaheh talked about how we are creating something together - and the challenges of dislodging conflict over centuries. She talked about the importance of taking small steps and having clarity on what is ours to do, our unique role. While it is hard to accept that we don't have to do everything ourselves, we can internalize that each of us is a piece to the puzzle.  Marion learned that each of us must periodically give ourselves time for a "reset" to review our priorities and honor what we really need. We must let go of what we can't control and find support through a network of people we trust.

Barry spoke to the importance of having an identity and invited us to be part of the Peace Brook network he is spearheading with Chicago residents. Julie pointed out that we can list our "weaving organizations" on the Weave Peace and Justice Group page under "Resources," at Weaving Organizations.

We wrapped up with a quote by  Sister Joan Chittister: Perseverance with hard things can be the source of the greatest pleasure, the deepest satisfaction. What we work hard to achieve, we value most.

Our next session, a skill-building session will be on Wed., June 5th, 11:00am to 12:30pm Central: Empathic Fluency: The Art of Listening.

Yours in peacebuilding,

@Kate Towle, Co-Facilitator

World BEYOND War is a global nonviolent movement to end war and establish a just and sustainable peace.

https://worldbeyondwar.org/

We are inviting you to our third and final online session of How We Make Peace with Kawtar and David. It will take place at 3pm EDT on Sunday April 7—six months after October 7. We hope you can join us.

REGISTER for April 7 on Zoom

Once again, Kawtar and David will plumb the depths of their own experience of this war. Then they will hold each other through it.

We’re also pleased to announce, as promised, our first in-person event. It will take place in New York City at NeueHouse on April 9 at 6pm. At our last gathering we set the intention to do a live event in New York City. We remain committed to the purpose of making visible and accessible a narrative of healing as the path to peace. We are extremely grateful for your support and donations, which has made this possible.

It’s free. You just have to to register below and please share with those in your network who you think would be allies of this work:

REGISTER for April 9 at NeueHouse in New York City

Dear Peacebuilders,

Our session to reflect together on bringing our most noble self to peacebuilding slowed us down to reflect with one another on deep questions that inform our practice.

Elehah centered us with a breathing exercise that asked us to imagine the efforts of peacebuilding through our senses. Where does peace sit within our bodies? How does the idea of peace and justice engage our sense of touch? What does it taste, smell or sound like? How does it look?

In 1:1 dialogue, we explored this, as well as what is working in our practices and where we are feeling stretched. Spiritual guide and facilitator Tom Kotlarek, who came to us from the Euphrates Institute, led us through a series of reflections and questions.

Our co-facilitator Elaheh Pooyandeh is from Iran, and Tom had us hold in our hearts the airstrike that struck the Iranian embassy in Syria, killing two generals and five guard members. He also asked us to think about the divisions we experience in our own countries and how we find peace amidst them. He asked, "What do we need to do to get at peace with what is happening?" He had us scan our bodies again to understand how we're doing and how we want to feel as we approach challenging situations. Our goal, as he described, is to have our own sense of calm act as a benchmark so that we can bring light, kindness and constructive action to difficult situations.

@Barry Koren invited us to think about the type of energy we are exchanging with people and if it is giving us the results we're seeking.

Elaheh closed our session with a slide from the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People that had us look closely at the "Circles of Influence" in our lives and the "Circles of Concern." The more we focus on our "concerns," the more we shrink our good energy that builds what we can influence. Elaheh invited us to put our focus on what we can do to create peace in our world.

We're excited for our May Day Peace & Justice Open Mic Session on Wed., May 1st (11:00 am to 12:30pm Central; 12:00pm to 1:30pm Eastern; 9-10:30am Pacific). This will be a free-flowing session for you to discuss peace issues weighing on your mind.

I look forward to seeing you again on May 1st!

@Kate Towle

Hi all 🙂

Long time, no talk. I was in the field, building Peace!

Today, I would like to inform you of two upcoming actions within our campaign in order to close military bases in Djibouti :

1 - April 10: a webinar to explain in more detail why the Djibouti bases should be closed.

During this webinar, you can also become a "messenger of peace" by signing up to drop off petitions and thousands of signatures at an embassy near you.

2 - May 29 & 30: first "delivery" of signatures to the embassies of the 8 countries with a base in Djibouti.

This is a GLOBAL action! We'll be delivering the signed petitions to the embassies of these 8 countries EVERYWHERE in the world, (almost) at the same time.

We already have peace ‘’messengers’’ in Africa, Canada and Japan. Become a messenger for your country or city. Simply reply to this message and tell us this is what you'd like to do.

Link to register for the webinar and to follow the progress of the campaign:

https://actionnetwork.org/even...close-bases-djibouti

Link to the petition to be shared widely :

https://worldbeyondwar.org/fr/djibouti/

Link to the Peace Messengers Map :

https://www.google.com/maps/d/...476699999996&z=4

Thank you for your support!

Marion Transetti

Chapter co-coordinator

Senegal for a World BEYOND War

In today's session, we explored together the concept and actions of surpassing our fear as community peacebuilders. For future sessions, we will follow a pattern, alternating between sessions for learning and growth; gathering for healing; and improvisational exploration to address emerging peace and justice issues.

Elehah Pooyandeh, a peace educator and mediator in Iran, anchored our session in a reflection on the source of our life force and love. She asked us to reflect on someone that we love dearly, observe responses to that love in our bodies, and direct our attention and feelings to that loving energy. We explored how to approach our activism from this center of love within us and how to return to it as needed.

In 1:1 dialogues, we shared our names, delving into their origins and how they contribute to our identity and our work for peace and justice.

Tom Kotlarek, our co-facilitator incorporates meditation to transcend fear with love, helped us identify fears that "activate" us: the fear of failure and the fear of social abandonment. Tom emphasized the importance of recognizing these fears and where they reside in us, using them to gain clarity in our approach and stretch with love towards justice. Just as we lift the amount of weight that will strengthen, not tear, our muscles, so can we stretch our limits to build capacity and growth as activists for social change.

For our breakout groups, we discussed the question, "How would you like to stretch beyond fear as a community peacebuilder?" Thoughtful responses included: working collaboratively with others; being mindful of what we absorb; challenging social perceptions, embodying courage for future generations; and accessing God - or what is holy and sacred in our lives.

Our next opportunity is the workshop, Trauma Aware Peacelearning, a 90-minute virtual workshop on Wed., March 13th from 6:30-7:45pm Central.

At our next monthly virtual Weave Peace & Justice meeting on Shifting Peace Within Yourself, scheduled Wed., April 2nd from 11:00am to 12:30pm Central, Tom Kotlarek will lead a guided meditation healing session.

If you'd like to join us as a co-facilitator, please reach out to me at: kteemuse@gmail.com.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who attended and to those reading this summary!

@Kate Towle

What a powerful gathering today in partnership with Euphrates Institute! Thank you to everyone who joined to listen, share, process and harvest.

Here are the resources that were shared:

1. Regulate (relate, reason): PBNA Strategy
2. Feelings/ Emotions list
3. "Too much on our plate gives us indigestion. But sometimes the way we handle our overcrowded schedules is like trying to cure indigestion by eating even more. .. In written Chinese the characters for "busy" are "heart" plus"killing." Besides the physical diseases stress is known to cause strokes, heart attacks, diabetes, and ulcers, among others- it also closes our heart spiritually and emotionally." ~ From Baraz, James, and Shoshana Alexander. Awakening Joy: 10 Steps That Will Put You on the Road to Real Happiness. Bantam Books, 2010
4. Setting Boundaries & Center for Nonviolent Communication:
   • Messages within Anger (regulate)
   • I Feel...
   • Because I need/value...
   • Would you be willing to...
   • Are you feeling... because you need...?

5. Discussions: Where is your struggle/challenge with nonviolent communication, boundary setting and voices/advocating for your needs?  How can you develop that?

   Set an intention: What do you want to set free?

6. "To assume the best about people is an inherently selfish act, because the life you change first is your own. Nothing is sustainable without boundaries. "   ~Dr. Brene Brown (video)

We are seeking new co-leads for Peace + Justice!

Consider joining Euphrates Global Connection calls (first Wednesday of the month ), sign up for their newsletter for more information.

Equipping, connecting, and uplifting peacebuilders worldwide

https://www.euphrates.org/

Thank you to all who joined for our New Year's session on January 3rd. @Caren Stelson centered us with a body scan meditation so that we could notice what we are holding in our bodies and send loving attention to the areas in need of transformation.

I shared a quote from the book, Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Happiness by James Baraz with Shoshana Alexander:

DOING YOUR PART (Awakening Joy by James Baraz)

Once you consciously set out on your pathway with a clear intention to be happy, it might look like something magical or mysterious is happening as you actually find more well-being in your life. It's like when you learn a new word, you suddenly notice it everywhere. Neuroscience tells us that setting an intention "primes" our nervous system to be on the lookout for whatever will support what we intend to create for ourselves.

In his book The Mindful Brain, Daniel Siegel talks about the effect paying "attention to intention" has on our brain and thus our experience of our surroundings. He writes: "Intentions create an integrated state of priming, a gearing up of our neural system to be in the mode of that specific intention: we can be readying to receive, to sense, to focus, to behave in a certain manner." This suggests that when we pay attention to the intention to bring more happiness into our lives, we are more likely to notice the actions, opportunities, people, and things that can bring that about for us. It's sort of like recognizing which piece of a jigsaw puzzle will fit the picture.

Life is always presenting us with unexpected circumstances-obstacles as well as opportunities. Remaining aware of your intention helps you to more readily recognize, from the multitude of options life offers, those that support your vision.

Applying the work of Robert Fritz on manifesting vision and leadership (https://www.robertfritz.com/wp/), I invited us to reflect on our current experience and three items we'd like to release from our lives. We reflected on how we could transform each of our three items in a vision of what we would like to bring into our lives.

In 1:1 conversations, we talked about what steps we would like to take to alchemize what we release into our "re-solution." In our 1:1's, we talked about our projects, how we might support one another, as well as how to transform our fears to positive, grassroots work, our need for certainty to a spirit of discovery and our continual adapting to a process of intentional investments of time in what brings peace and hope. We agreed that beginning with our reality and vulnerability - and working from there to seek transformation - was grounding.

We ended with a few quotes to inspire our new re-solutioning:

"Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes." Carl Jung

WALK SLOWLY

It only takes a reminder to breathe, a moment to be still, and just like that, something in me settles, softens, makes space for imperfection. The harsh voice of judgment drops to a whisper and I remember again that life isn't a relay race; that we will all cross the finish line; that waking up to life is what we were born for. As many times as I forget, catch myself charging forward without even knowing where I'm going, that many times I can make the choice to stop, to breathe, and be, and walk slowly into the mystery. Danna Faulds, from Go In and In

Our next online session is scheduled for Wed., Feb. 7th from 11:00am to 12:30pm Central.

Yours in weaving peace & justice,

@Kate Towle

Thanksgiving is a time when families connect and often feel more disconnected… because of the different perspectives that we can’t seem to bridge. The CoMetta gathering tomorrow offers us a chance to focus on gratitude and offers a practice for dialogue that can help us connect, listen, and understand more deeply. Join us and you might just bring your family closer this Thanksgiving!

A CoMetta Gathering for Gratitude

What is the role of gratitude in helping us face hardship? What is the role of community in dealing with isolation? What is the role of listening in a time of separation? At the next CoMetta convening, we’ll explore these themes not by way of theory but in practice. Join us as we use the practice of Conscious Dialogue developed by the Leadership Forum Community, the oldest in the US, to practice gratitude in this season of Thanksgiving.  Leadership coach, Sue Rose, will facilitate our session. All are welcome!  

November 21, 2023

Tuesday, 7 - 8:30 PM EST

Zoom

Register at: eventbrite.com/e/gratitude-a-cometta-convening-tickets-757385208547

I am beyond thrilled and honored to be a part of this incredible group of weavers. Reading everyone’s introduction was truly inspiring.  I am a relationship coach and actress and believe the five peace actions are as applicable to our personal relationships as they are to weaving in the world.  Our relationship with community and the world at large is after all a macrocosm of our experience in our personal relationships.  I am an ardent advocate of  a skills based approach both in my coaching and personal work and look forward to integrating The Five Peace Actions consciously into my practice.  

Though I have participated in several circles and led a few of them, my community weaving is lacking and that is one of the reasons I am here.  I want to learn how I can be more effective and impactful in a broader sense.

Thank you for inviting me, Kate!  And I look forward to connecting with and learning from all of you!

With gratitude,

Katya