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Peace Alliance, Citizens Lobby Congress to Create US Department of Peace

After three days of intensive workshops and presentations from leading peace-building and conflict-resolution experts, The Peace Alliance wrapped up its national 2007 conference by sending more than 600 citizens representing 47 states to lobby more than 250 members of Congress on Capitol Hill earlier this week to create a US Department of Peace. The visits included meetings with 12 US Senators, four Democrats and eight Republicans.

"We came together in a non-partisan spirit of peace and successfully shared our message with our members of Congress: that Americans from all political parties and walks of life, people of every political persuasion, want a US Department of Peace and are willing to work for it," said Peace Alliance Executive Director Dot Maver. "We're excited that we've taken this opportunity to share with our elected officials the commitment the American people have to creating a structure in our government that gives us a partner to research, fund, and coordinate programs to deal with conflict before it escalates into violence."

The legislation, House Bill 808, is currently supported by 52 Congressional co-sponsors, including Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas. "The goal is to build a new politics of peace in the world," said Johnson. "When we promote peace we do away with child abuse and domestic abuse, but we also save a lot of money that we can put into the future of this country through our children.... I don't believe there's anyone in this country who could object to a Department of Peace."

Another co-sponsor of House Bill 808 is Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota. "We need a new politics of generosity, a new politics of love; we need a new politics of understanding, we need a new politics of compassion," said Ellison. "We need a Department of Peace so we can have a world that negotiates differences with real diplomacy instead of brute force."

Rep. Barbara Lee, California, had this to say: "We're turning peace into a political force... We have to remind elected officials of all parties that peace is patriotic... If we had a Department of Peace we'd be dealing in a real way with gun violence, and domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse, and all the awful violence that's taking place because of the cutbacks of funding and disinvestment in the American people. In the words of the great warrior for peace Dr. Martin Luther King, peace is not just the absence of tension, it is the presence of justice. A Department of Peace would embody that ideal."

A Department of Peace would address crime and violence issues both here and abroad. Domestically, the Department would develop new policies addressing issues such as child abuse, domestic abuse, gang violence, and cultural and racial violence. Existing programs proven to reduce crime and violence would be funded, replicated and disseminated where needed within the country. Curricula would be developed to train students in grades K-12 how to resolve conflict peacefully.

Internationally, the Department would research and analyze foreign policy and recommend to the President ways to address the root causes of war. The Department would also provide expert advice to the President when diffusing or dealing with international crises and conflict. A Peace Academy, on par with the Military Service Academies, would train civilian peacekeepers and the military in the latest nonviolent conflict resolution techniques and approaches. The estimated cost for such a Department is $8 billion per year, or about the equivalent of 2% of the Defense Department's current $400+ billion per year.

For more information about the Conference, the legislation or The Peace Alliance, please visit www.thepeacealliance.org.

National contacts:
Matt Harris 206.331.9728 and Patty Kuderer 206.910.2422,
press@thepeacealliance.org
PO Box 70095
Rochester Hills, Michigan 48307