http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ Discussion board for young people passionate about peace & social justice... en Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:21:07 +0000 http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=52#post-63 Thu, 13 May 2010 20:07:59 +0000 Trent 63@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p>This forum topic will be used LIVE on Wednesday 19th May 2010 for student questions in the video conference "Laughing at Racism". Questions and comments will be relayed to the comedians/guest speakers throughout the conference as they appear here.</p> <p>Students can also text their questions (number will provided on the day), or pass their questions for a teacher or student to ask during question time.</p> <p>Pre-prepared questions can be emailed to:<br /> <a href="mailto:ypi@arts.usyd.edu.au">ypi@arts.usyd.edu.au</a> </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=29#post-40 Sat, 20 Feb 2010 19:50:41 +0000 ciagrossi857 40@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p>No bad community, very no bad </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=28#post-39 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:30:57 +0000 jocks 39@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p>i realised through this year that peace starts from yourself. if you love then people will know that you represent peace. At school, i don't do much but because i love everyone... they see in me as a 'peace' person. even though sometimes i don't think i am. Also, having the ability to care and empathise. i use to think that peace has to start by bringing people out of poverty.... true, but if you think again... why start outside the square when you haven't strengthened the core. look around you, there are people at your school that don't even have food to bring to school.... start at where you are. love the person sitting next to you. love the lonely, the disadvantaged, the hungry, the angry. since i experienced major trauma last year... i started hanging out with people whom i would not dare to hang out before... like the support unit kids... and man.. do they bless me! i just think you gotta start with yourself ... love yourself...and those around you... and create a ripple effect! Love is peace and it is contagious! =] </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=27#post-38 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:02:44 +0000 catherine.dix 38@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p>Last week I heard Amanda from the AYCC, Australian Youth Climate Coalition speak about creative ways for young people to get their voice and opinion heard on climate change. </p> <p>Do you think visual/creative/flashmob dancing spectacles have the power to change or affect climate change issues?</p> <p>Check out the AYCC's video blogs from the Copenhagen Conference and see how its going on the ground.....</p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv0LRwoZ9JE&amp;feature=player_embedded#" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv0LRwoZ9JE&amp;feature=player_embedded#</a> </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=26#post-36 Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:45:48 +0000 Trent 36@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p>Please post your feedback on YPI's 2nd "Peace Connections" video conference. What worked best for you? What would you like to see more of? What would you like to see less of? Which topic and/or speaker would you like to see at a future Peace Connections VC? </p> <p>...also feel free to start your own topics for follow-up discussion here: what questions do you still have unanswered from the discussion? </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=25#post-34 Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:38:21 +0000 ZoeZee 34@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p>The greatest peace is(Practicable) Instant World-Wide Total Democracy. Ranked Ballot will put an end to war &amp; all other forms of violence, “past” &amp; present. Because it always elects the candidate most exactly in the middle of all voting, “RB” is top-dead-center counter extremist, &amp; thus more anti-terrorist than all the many recent retrenchments combined. Because it gives an equal chance of winning to not just all parties, but all combinations of programs, &amp; thus provides real-time alternatives to all proposals, from wherever: market coop or social, tribal theological or universal, RB is the only thing that’s truly just. By the power of its example alone, RB will give us practicable instant world-wide true democracy. Virtually no democracy has ever been attacked by another. In a world of only democracies, there would no longer be need of the counter-productive wastefulness of armies, war or the preparation for war. Ranked Ballot (voters ranking candidates in order of preference) will bring us this &amp; all else: a real solution to terror, a perfect marriage of Freedom &amp; Justice, Tradition &amp; Modernity, Palestinian &amp; Jew, Free Market &amp; Communitarianism, all the fairness, payback &amp; make-up one could wish for, ecologically sustainable politics, what’s best for all workers, instant global women’s liberation, world-wide luxury, a rationalization of the drug wars, human unity, even integrity, what have you. RB is to the horse &amp; buggy two-party system as shopping in the Mall of America is to shopping in Soviet Russia. (The “additive” form of RB is to count the first choices &amp; if noone has 50%, to add in the next choices, &amp; so on until someone finally does.)<br /> RB lessens the power of the extremes, whether authoritarian, economic or sectarian, except through what they can gain by persuasion, which is only what’s just. While it would be equally useful for all else, RB’s real power is perhaps most clearly shown in the case of potential civil war in Iraq. Unless its Parliament comes to select the Prime Minister by means of RB, it may not hold &amp; the country, region &amp; world will be in danger of going to war over some ancient grudge, oil well, multi-ethnic city, or sabotaged pipeline. While the new constitution does call for the selection of the President by a 2/3 vote (even if only among the parliament &amp; not by the people) in the first round (who then decides who will be asked to form the new government) &amp; then by a run-off between the top two vote getters in the second round, if that fails to move all three tribes to nominate centrists, then the resulting handful of old men in a back room will fall far short of RB’s ultimate retail politics. RB would be equally useful for all electoral systems (parliamentary or presidential, the parliaments by RB from among the members) coops, collective leaderships, tribal groupings, religious confessions, political parties, associations or even cabals. Whoever gets there first wins. (“Jump right ahead in my web”.) For leaders to best represent their whole country (or district) whether chosen at large or by a representative body, they must be the perfect compromise, most exactly in the middle, as is given by RB. Because it gives minorities a real say in which member of the plurality/majority gets chosen, RB is the only thing that will lead Iraqis, or anyone else, to support any plan more than inadequate confederation. It will result in “phantasmagoric subtlefaction”, answering many questions more at a time than the two party system’s “who is least bad”. Both more Liberty &amp; Justice can be found in RB than in any ideology. With brakes &amp; reverse comes no more need to suppress popular movements around the world! RB will give us subtlety, responsivity, lightfootedness, long-sightedness, objectivity, economy, unity, accountability, even integrity &amp; possibly the only way to victory over extremism. Palestinians &amp; Jews could give up fighting over a sliver of desert &amp; become members of global cooperatives, all the various forms of hegemonism would be given up, whether up front, subterranean or unconscious, in exchange for leading the world to the light, &amp; America could finally realize the need for an adequate safety net as the price &amp; foundation of a free market.<br /> Help put this idea, in time, to as many as possible, before “Clockwork Orange” (overpopulation), “1984” (high-tech dictatorship), cosmic collision, tectonic, economic or environmental collapse, or literalist contretemps. The cost of a full page national ad (sufficient to put RB to all the world) would be repaid in no time, once all that money gets put to actual productive use, at pre-9/11 US annual defense spending of $10,000 per family. We imagine running on the single issue of RB, promising a citizens’ advisory board based on Organized Communications (“OC”, small randomly assigned discussion groups electing reps to higher &amp; higher random group levels, by means of RB, until one small group, exactly in the middle of all voting, remains at the top) to guide us in the rest. You do the same, wherever you are from the most local on up. Ten to the power of ten (ten levels of groups of ten) would be sufficient to organize &amp; unite all mankind. RB is the sole unchangeable plank &amp; bylaw of the Preferential Ballot Party, the only practicable third party.<br /> RB is very freeing. Because it always chooses the candidate in the middle, all those who support it are perfectly top-dead-center, with no more need to fear others. Politics will become like a family discussion around the kitchen table, with no more jumping back &amp; forth between extremes, nor absence of the economists’ requirement of predictability for growth. All that’s needed is to let go of the nut, to free yourself, as in the story of “The Monkey &amp; His Nut”, &amp; to rest in the knowledge that RB will give us perfect Freedom &amp; perfect Justice, at one &amp; the same time, even if not necessarily in the form imagined, as if anyone would then care. Good enough for New Zealand, Australia, Kerala India, Iraq, London, Ireland, Cambridge Mass, Burlington &amp; 95% of the townships of Vermont, Pierce County Washington, Minneapolis Minnesota, whichever party is the majority in the House of Representatives for the selection of the majority leader, &amp; hence the speaker (if only by runoff &amp; not instantaneously), the Utah Republican Party for the selection of statewide candidates, &amp; the platforms of both the Green &amp; Libertarian Parties, with more places coming every year, but not good enough for the rest of us? It must be in somebody’s interest! How can we wish it of others if we do not have it ourselves? Having spent every spare moment from the invasion, to the vote on the constitution emailing every Iraqi I could find about RB, I would like to claim some little credit for the reforms they did adopt. No woman ever got pregnant just to have an abortion. The only imaginable definition of Freedom (&amp;morality!) is “Do as you wish, but harm no other”. The maker &amp; sustainer of this world &amp; cosmos could have no need of one bit of it. The fiercer the history of the planet, the sooner it would have been blissed out behind ethnic homogeneity, &amp; thus democracy. Tax consumption, not investment, &amp; spread the productivity around. All powers to their lowest appropriate level. All human evil is due to the out of phase fluctuations of population &amp; food supply. Noone alive is responsible for the mess we find ourselves in, except regarding what they do now. Justice is the redress of past violence, Freedom the state of nonviolence in the present &amp; nonviolence the only basis of all other principles.<br /> “Zoe” Z, Founder, Preferential Ballot Party, <a href="mailto:realzoe@hotmail.com">realzoe@hotmail.com</a>, preferentialballotparty.org, USA </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=24#post-33 Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:10:14 +0000 Trent 33@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p>Please post your feedback on YPI's first video conference. What worked best for you? What would you like to see more of? What would you like to see less of? Which topic and/or speaker would you like to see at a future Peace Connections VC? </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=20#post-24 Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:45:04 +0000 Davo 24@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p>I was just curious to see what people thought about hip hop today. Is it being used to reflect society? Is society being bent and molded by the lyrics used in hip hop? Originally hip hop was intended to be a tool to bring political views to light through the expression of music, but it has turned into something far more complex since its genesis. Do you see differences between different rappers? Do their personal narratives affect what they talk about or do they try to maintain a certain constructed "hip hop image" and fail to speak honestly? Thoughts? Particular artists that you enjoy?</p> <p>My favorites:<br /> Brother Ali<br /> Atmosphere<br /> Mos Def<br /> Blue Scholars </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=23#post-29 Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:55:19 +0000 leahc 29@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p>Hey guys, I thought the hip hop topic was really interesting and produced a very articulate reply, but why not broaden it a little? </p> <p>Music and musicians can be an incredibly influential medium for spreading messages, both positive and negative. I don't believe however, that music/musicians can only be either one or the other. For example, while Dancehall music is often criticised for promoting violence against women and homosexuals, in 2007, several top Dancehall artists signed The Reggae Compassionate Act pledging that "our music will continue to contribute positively to the world dialogue on peace, respect and justice for all." (read it here <a href="http://www.soulrebels.org/dancehall/w_compassionate_001.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.soulrebels.org/dancehall/w_compassionate_001.htm</a>) </p> <p>Seeing as YPI now has a DJ station over on <a href="http://www.blip.fm" rel="nofollow">http://www.blip.fm</a>, I thought I'd ask everyone to suggest some songs that they think address and contribute to the peace with justice agenda. Then maybe Trent could add these to the Blip playlist on the YPI homepage. </p> <p>These are some of my picks:</p> <p>White Lion - When the Children Cry (power ballad)<br /> ~ a song about the suffering of children as a consequence of war.</p> <p>Scorpions - Wind of Change (power ballad)<br /> ~ celebrates the political changes in Eastern Europe and increasing freedoms in the communist bloc just before the end of the Cold War.</p> <p>Tanya Stephans - Sound of my Tears (dancehall)<br /> ~ addresses issues of poverty and structural violence in Jamaica and it's effects on the country's youth. </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=22#post-28 Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:41:10 +0000 Travis 28@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p>Not sure how cool it is to have games about serious issues like war and poverty and genocide. "Free Rice" is one thing but another game featured here on the YPI site - "Ayiti: The Cost of Life" (http://ayiti.newzcrew.org/ayitiunicef/) is INTENSE...not to mention basically impossible to win (maybe that's the point?). What do people think? Are games like this really educational or are they desensitising and/or depressing?? </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=21#post-25 Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:16:14 +0000 Davo 25@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p>With the rapid rise in technology worldwide, the internet has become one of the most convenient ways of getting the word out for peace initiatives.</p> <p>The problem I have with it is that it's very disconnected in terms of people to people. It gets thoughts flowing quickly, but there's no human connection. Communicating through chats and forums via the internet creates separation between people and this is problematic because part of the power in mobilization and activism is being able to put faces and names to people. The power of the Civil Rights Movement came with the spirited protests and marches that demonstrated to the world that there are PEOPLE out there who demand justice. Signing one's name on an online petition, although potentially effective on some levels, fails to illustrate the human aspect of the movement.</p> <p>Clearly, it can be very effective, as the Zapatista movement in 1994 showed in it's campaign against neo-liberalist globalization. But we've begun to use the internet as a crutch to get the word out and have lost faith in the beauty of the grassroots connection. </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=12#post-15 Tue, 26 May 2009 16:00:40 +0000 Trent 15@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p><strong>Racism, prejudice and discrimination are all forms of violence and can also lead to physical violence. In moving towards peace, which do you think is more difficult: for the attacker/oppressor to understand and truly realise that their action is wrong or for the victim/oppressed to understand and forgive? What do you think it takes to shift from mutual hatred to mutual understanding and respect?</strong><br /> (To view youth projects that address this issue, go to: <a href="http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/category/project/overcoming-hatred-and-violence/" rel="nofollow">http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/category/project/overcoming-hatred-and-violence/</a>) </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=19#post-22 Tue, 26 May 2009 16:36:03 +0000 Trent 22@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p><strong>How do you get the message out about peace?</strong><br /> As an individual, how do you exercise your voice for peace with justice?<br /> And if you're in a group, how do you-</p> <li> <ul>keep the people in your group on the same page? </ul> <ul>keep the people you're working with involved &amp; engaged? </ul> <ul>keep the message clear that you're sending out to the public about your work? </ul> </li> <p><strong>...And what kinds of problems have you had with all these sides to getting the word out?</strong> </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=18#post-21 Tue, 26 May 2009 16:26:46 +0000 Trent 21@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p><strong>Got an idea for a project or activity or event that you want to run but you're not sure about the details or you need some help? Post your ideas here and see what responses you get, or keep checking back to see what other people are getting into that you might be up for too...</strong> </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=17#post-20 Tue, 26 May 2009 16:21:14 +0000 Trent 20@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p><strong>How do you stay informed about the issues that you care about?</strong> </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=16#post-19 Tue, 26 May 2009 16:17:41 +0000 Trent 19@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p><strong>A cool website you've found? A movie that has inspired you? A DJ, some beats, a tune or some spoken word that is food for your soul...?</p> <p>Hope, faith, and trust are all essential to the peace movement but can all be too easy to lose. Share your passion and your inspiration here so that others can be inspired and motivated too...</strong> </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=15#post-18 Tue, 26 May 2009 16:08:16 +0000 Trent 18@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p><strong>What's inspiring you, worrying you, or simply grabbing your attention in the news headlines lately? What's the peace link?</strong> </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=14#post-17 Tue, 26 May 2009 16:04:09 +0000 Trent 17@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p><strong>Wars used to be fought between countries and governments but today we have the “War on Terror” and the “War on Tyranny,” and within our own country we have gang wars and drug wars. What do you think is the difference between a “war” and a “conflict”? Can either a war or a conflict be a good thing?</strong><br /> (To view youth projects that address this issue, go to: <a href="http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/category/project/ending-war/" rel="nofollow">http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/category/project/ending-war/</a>) </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=13#post-16 Tue, 26 May 2009 16:02:00 +0000 Trent 16@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p><strong>A ceasefire might be thought of an end to violence, even though when the fighting stops people may continue to suffer from discrimination, from emotional &amp; physical trauma, or as refugees who have had to leave their homes. So is peace without justice still peace?</strong><br /> (To view youth projects that address this issue, go to: <a href="http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/category/project/promoting-human-rights/" rel="nofollow">http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/category/project/promoting-human-rights/</a>) </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=11#post-14 Tue, 26 May 2009 15:57:58 +0000 Trent 14@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p><strong>Some say that words like "helping" and "empowering" suggest a patronising or top-down approach to dealing with the marginalisation of certain groups. They say that indigenous people, women, and children and youth need to be consulted and partnered with, rather than helped or empowered. What does the word "empowerment" mean to you? What do you think is the difference between "helping" and "supporting"?</strong><br /> (To view youth projects that address this issue, go to: <a href="http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/category/project/supporting-marginalised-groups/" rel="nofollow">http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/category/project/supporting-marginalised-groups/</a>) </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=10#post-13 Tue, 26 May 2009 15:47:46 +0000 Trent 13@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p>Muhammad Yunus, 1998 Sydney Peace Prize Winner, once said that “Poverty is unnecessary.” If it is unnecessary, why do so many people believe that it is inevitable? Considering how MASSIVE the gap is between the very rich and the very poor people in this world, why do you think people aren't more motivated to "Make Poverty History"? <strong>When BILLIONS of people live on less than $1 every single day, suffer from preventable diseases and lack access to basic healthcare and education, why aren't there more people doing something about it?</strong><br /> (To view youth projects that address this issue, go to: <a href="http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/category/project/eradicating-poverty-disease/" rel="nofollow">http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/category/project/eradicating-poverty-disease/</a>) </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=9#post-12 Tue, 26 May 2009 15:35:54 +0000 Trent 12@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p><strong>Some say that public celebrations of diversity – such as a “Multicultural Day” at a school or Australia’s National “Refugee Week” or Sydney’s “Gay &amp; Lesbian Mardi Gras” – are all about flag waving without making any real positive change. Do you agree? What contributions, if any, do you think celebrations of diversity make to peace? Why is UNITY in diversity important?</strong><br /> (To view youth projects that address this issue, go to: <a href="http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/category/project/celebrating-diversity/" rel="nofollow">http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/category/project/celebrating-diversity/</a>) </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=8#post-11 Tue, 26 May 2009 15:11:36 +0000 Trent 11@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p><strong>Although it is being seen more and more as a crucial part of a broader and more sustainable understanding of peace, “Protecting the Environment” is often given much less importance and attention than other issues. Why do you think this is? How important do you think the eco-sustainability and environmental well-being are compared with the other causes discussed here?</strong><br /> (To view youth projects that address this issue, go to: <a href="http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/category/project/protecting-the-environment/" rel="nofollow">http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/category/project/protecting-the-environment/</a>. </p> http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/topic.php?id=6#post-9 Tue, 26 May 2009 13:06:02 +0000 Trent 9@http://youthpeaceinitiative.org.au/bbpress/ <p>Answer however you like, sharing whatever thoughts you have on the definition of peace...</p> <p>...Or complete this sentence: "Peace is...and to make it happen we need...." </p>