Tag Archives: peace

Children Worldwide Call For Promises Of Universal Education

New York – Through an innovative, children-led campaign delivered by the UN’s global fund for education in emergencies, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), crisis-impacted girls and boys worldwide are sharing “Postcards from the Edge” to call on world leaders and public and private sector donors to make good on promises to ensure education for all by 2030 as outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals.

These first-person accounts and drawings offer inspiring and thought-provoking portraits of the challenges facing girls and boys caught in conflict and protracted crises around the world.

“They are inspiring and compelling stories of hope and an incredible resilience in the face of adversity and testaments to the amazing power of education to transform lives. We must listen to the world’s children. They deserve their human right to an education. Their voice must speak to our decency, they deserve to be heard,” said Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait.

To date, more than 50 letters, drawings and videos have been received from crisis-affected girls and boys supported through ECW-funded programmes across more than 20 of the world’s toughest country-contexts.

ECW’s strategic partners – including Educo, Plan International, Save the Children, Street Child, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNICEF, World Vision and many others – continue to collect these first-person accounts to highlight the singular power of education to end violence, hunger and poverty, and build a more peaceful world for generations to come.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lucas*, a 14-year-old refugee from the Central African Republic recounts the story of seeing his mother murdered and his village burnt to the ground.

Through a multi-year resilience programme delivered by UNHCR with funding from ECW, the boy is now back in school and dreams one day of becoming a doctor.

In his postcard, Lucas makes an impassioned plea for world leaders “to think of us refugee children and provide funding to let us finish our studies.”

Worldwide 222 million girls and boys like Lucas are having their futures ripped from them by the converging impacts of conflict, climate change, forced displacement and other protracted crises. Girls and children with disabilities are especially at risk.

Several letters were submitted from girls and boys in Afghanistan. With new rules banning girls from education and denying women their human rights, it is not clear if Zehab* from the Uruzgan Province will be able to continue her education. But for now, with the support of ECW and Street Child, she is still able to attend a non-formal community-based learning programme.

“I want to get education and become a well-known doctor. But I am wondering that I might not achieve my dreams, as girls are not allowed to attend schools in Afghanistan,” she says in her postcard. “I call on the world leaders to help us and give us the opportunity to learn and lead our future.”

Leaders across the globe will come together at the Education Cannot Wait High-Level Financing Conference on February 16 and 17 in Geneva, Switzerland, to make good on commitments to ensure every child, everywhere, is offered a quality education.

Throughout the event, youth advocates and global champions will read the Postcards from the Edge to ensure the voice of the world’s most vulnerable children are heard.

Education Cannot Wait is calling on donors, foundations and high-net-worth individuals to mobilize US$1.5 billion over the next four years. With this funding, ECW and its strategic partners will reach 20 million children and adolescents with the safety, hope and opportunity that only quality education can provide.

*Names have been changed for privacy purposes.

#PostcardsFromTheEdge  – Letters from Children

POSTCARDS
“For me, #education is the only hope I have left to achieve my dream of becoming a doctor.”~Lucas, 14, 🇨🇫 refugee in #DRCongo.
Read how @EduCannotWait+@UNHCR_DRC help children like Lucas achieve their dreams!👉bit.ly/3XTpzEf#PostcardsFromTheEdge
Darline, 14, from #Haiti🇭🇹 demands change & an #education!
@EduCannotWait’s #PostcardsFromTheEdge Campaign amplifies the voices of girls & boys like Darline ahead of #HLFC2023.Read Darline’s powerful letter📨http://bit.ly/3ixhKoX @UNICEFHaiti#222MillionDreams✨📚
“I want to be an architect in the future to help build & reconstruct my country #Syria🇸🇾 & all the countries that are affected by war & destruction.” ~Kamil, 12, refugee in #Iraq.
Read @EduCannotWait’s #PostcardsFromTheEdge delivered w/@SavetheChildren.📨 http://bit.ly/3kui6Nt 
“I aspire to be a #teacher because I feel I have a heart to care, ears to listen, time to give & ideas to share” ~Huma, #Pakistan🇵🇰.
Read her #PostcardsFromTheEdge to hear how @EduCannotWait+@UNICEF_Pakistan is making #222MillionDreams✨📚 come true.📨bit.ly/3R7l4UE
11-year-old Zawad, a refugee in #Bangladesh🇧🇩, wants his community and family to prioritize education. With support from @UNICEFBD+@EduCannotWait his dreams are coming true. 
Learn more in his inspiring #PostcardsFromTheEdge 👉bit.ly/3DcFl5s
“I call on the world leaders to help us and give us the opportunity to learn and lead our future.” ~Zehab, #Afghanistan🇦🇫. Read Zehab’s @EduCannotWait’s #PostcardsFromTheEdge 📨https://bit.ly/3CTEpmh
Like & retweet if you agree #EducationCannotWait for #Afghan girls!


Report: Regulations on U.S. arms exports often skirted, rarely enforced

SOMERVILLE, Mass.—While the United States likes to claim it has the gold standard of arms export control measures, in practice the measures offer few restrictions on U.S. presidents’ ability to ship arms wherever they like, according to a new report from the World Peace Foundation (WPF) at Tufts University’s The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

The Arms Export Control Act (AECE) of 1976, as well as the United States’ international obligations, are meant to ensure decisions to export arms take into account the potential to escalate conflict or fall into the hands of U.S. enemies. The AECA sets up Congress as a check on presidential decisions.

“The potential for arms sales to exacerbate a conflict rarely stops a sale,” said report author Jennifer Erickson, associate professor of political science and international studies at Boston College. “When we do restrain exports, more often than not, political calculations are at work, rather than the legal checks and balances Congress put in place.”

Among the key findings of On the Front Lines: Conflict Zones and U.S. Arms Exports:

  • Conflict is not a consistent deterrent for U.S. arms exports. The United States usually prioritizes diplomatic and economic ties in export decision making—regardless of the conflict status of the recipient.
  • Presidents face few restrictions on using arms sales to meet policy goals. U.S. law sets an almost unreachable vote threshold for Congress to block or modify arms sales.
  • Even when the U.S. chooses not to supply weapons to conflict zones, it can and does use alternative means, such as common allies, to get arms to combatants.
  • There is no realistic way for the U.S. government to guarantee the weapons it sells are used only by the buyer, in ways that conform with U.S. interests. We cannot ensure weapons are only used defensively, for instance. And arms have staying power. Years after initial sales, they may be used instead for priorities the U.S. opposes.
  • Interpretation of regulations may become looser still as the U.S. enters a “New Cold War” with China or Russia.

In coming to these conclusions, the report examines U.S. arms sales, and restraint, connected to recent conflicts in Libya, Nigeria, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The World Peace Foundation commissioned similar studies on arms sales by the governments of the United Kingdom and France.

These studies follow earlier research by the WPF on which nations send arms into conflict zones, available on the website, Who Arms War? 

“The United States has all the regulations and policy tools it needs to ensure we do not make already dangerous places even more deadly,” said Alex de Waal, World Peace Foundation executive director and research professor at The Fletcher School. “We have mechanisms that can minimize the risk of America arming deadly actors. What we don’t seem to have is the political will to actually use those mechanisms. On numerous occasions American arms have made the world a more dangerous place, including for Americans.”

ABOUT THE WORLD PEACE FOUNDATION

Established by the publisher Edwin Ginn in 1910, the World Peace Foundation aims to “educate the people of all nations to a full knowledge of the waste and destructiveness of war and of preparation for war, its evil effects on present social conditions and on the wellbeing of future generations, and to promote international justice and the brotherhood of man, and generally by every practical means to promote peace and goodwill among all mankind.”

Yoga Legend Offers 7 Ways To Make Morning Time Your Favorite

Most people dread the moment the alarm clock goes off having to fight their way out of bed to start the day.  But what if you could turn morning time into your favorite time of the day, where waking up is actually easy and more enjoyable?

Aadil Palkhivala
Aadil Palkhivala

Yoga legend Aadil Palkhivala, known across the world as the “Godfather of yoga in the west,” and author of Fire of Love: For Students of Life and Teachers of Yoga, offers these tips that will make it easier to get going in the morning:

1. Wake up to something pleasant: The very first thing most people think about when they wake up are all the things they have to get done that day.  It quickly makes them feel overwhelmed, frustrated and stressed out. Instead, start your day thinking about the things you are grateful for, and focus on the fun activities you have planned for the day. Do some Heartfull TM Meditation that focuses on deep breathing that will wake you up peacefully and put you in the mood to create throughout the day.

  1. Lose the traditional alarm clock: Jarring the body from a deep sleep is unhealthy for the nervous system. Waking up to a softer noise that gradually increases in volume is a much better choice. Sounds from nature are soothing and naturally awake the body.

  1. Drink a glass of warm water right away: Before you head for the coffee, drink a glass of warm water. Warm water will open up the circulation in the throat and stomach. It helps the body naturally hydrate and feel awake and alive.  It also helps enhance circulation and removes toxins from the night and day before.  People who drink water right before bed and when waking up are also less prone to heart attacks.
  1. Have an organic smoothie: They say garbage in equals garbage out, so start your day with a powerful organic smoothie.  Anything that contains green fruits/veggies is a good choice, along with plant-based proteins. Avoid animal-based proteins which are more difficult to digest.
  1. Stretches: Just like you would warmup your car on a cold winter day, you need to break up the tension from the night before and get the body ready for action.  Do some simple stretches that focus on the neck, shoulders, hips and spine.

Warm Shower6. Take a warm shower: It’s as common as the chicken and egg debate: should you shower in the morning or at night?  The answer is actually both, but especially in the morning because a warm to hot shower will increase circulation in the skin, and help awake the nervous system.

  1. Clean air: When you sleep in a room that has clean air, you’re going to wake up feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day.  Use an air ionizer and purifier with HEPA filter that removes odors and fumes from cleaners, aerosols, carpet and paint. HEPA filters remove more than 99 percent of airborne irritants.

For nearly thirty years, Aadil has been regarded as a “teacher of teachers,” and many of the world’s top yoga instructors have studied with him. He has a unique teaching style, mixing melodious instructions with recitations of poetry, philosophical insights, and in-the-moment humor.

Alive and Shine Center LogoAadil and his wife, Savitri, are the founders of Purna Yoga, a holistic synthesis of yogic traditions based on the work of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. Discover more about Aadil  and the Alive and Shine Center.  For the Silo, Alex Smith.

Supplemental- A short history of Yoga http://swamij.com/history-yoga.htm

Sony’s Nature Sounds Alarm Clock- now discontinued but still available via Amazon and Ebay.

ISIS Goal Splits Family And Divides Muslims

History is made in moments, often of crisis and uncertainty, and the wisdom with which we meet them. This is one of those moments.

ISIS goal is to split the human family. To divide the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims from everyone else. Those in our societies who sow fear, suspicion and hatred of Muslims  are the best allies the extremists who attacked Paris and Beirut could ask for.

Muslims are almost one quarter of humanity, and 99% are as horrified by the ISIS attacks as everyone else. They have been the greatest victims of ISIS, and have the greatest power to help defeat it. So let’s answer hate with humanity, and seize this chance for transformative change. For all of us – Muslims and Non-Muslims everywhere – to fiercely welcome each other into our one human family like never before.

We Are All One

Sign the global “Undivided” message, add your own, and share the page with everyone – If enough us join now, we can start a global wave of solidarity, and make the pain of these attacks the birth pangs of a more beautiful world. When we get to 500,000 signatures Avaaz will run ads in Muslim community papers and online, as well as key right wing papers that spread fear and division: 

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/loving_transformation_loc/?bsOTIab&v=69561&cl=8992696952

The real front line of this war is not just in the dusty towns of Syria and Iraq, but in the media and social media forums where the stories we tell ourselves compete. There is a fraternity of ignorance and hatred and it stretches across borders, in which extremists on all sides work together to drag the rest of us down into their backward world of spiraling brutality.

Our governments will need to increase their vigilance in preventing attacks, and support military efforts to defeat ISIS. But our job as people, and our leaders’ jobs as moral leaders, is to ensure that love, the transformational antidote to ISIS’ hate, blooms between Muslims and everyone else everywhere. THAT would be ISIS’ worst nightmare – it might even give some of the angry young men they recruit cause to hesitate – a chance to see an alternative as inspiring to them as the backward brand of faith that ISIS markets.

At the darkest times, our light as humanity can shine brightest. Human rights were not recognized until after the second world war. The world got it wrong after 9/11, when leaders play into Al Qaeda’s hands by stoking Islamaphobia. This time, let’s be wiser, come together as Muslims and non-Muslims more closely than ever before, and brightly shine the light of the world we’re building:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/loving_transformation_loc/?bsOTIab&v=69561&cl=8992696952

From a place of love, we might begin to listen to our brothers and sisters among Muslims that have lent ISIS some support. First and foremost those Sunnis from Syria and Iraq, who have been treated unjustly by Iraq’s government, and incredibly brutally oppressed by Syria’s dictator Al Assad. We might begin to understand that when we failed to offer their families protection and relief from the horrors they faced, ISIS offered that protection, and some accepted it. We might focus on learning from this, and offering them a better deal.

With that lesson, we might see the stories of the peoples around the world that ISIS fighters come from. From Chechnya, where generations of Muslim families were horrifically murdered while the world looked away. Or from Egypt, or Algeria, or dozens of other countries, where sickeningly brutal state security police have tortured and murdered countless Muslims who dared to stand up to their venal corruption – something that is a religious responsibility for Muslims.

And maybe then we will understand that while ISIS is a monster that we must defeat, the monster is more than just the group itself. It’s the desperation of millions of people suffering under horrific conditions, and looking for a way out. And the rest of us in the human family, Muslims and non-Muslims, have either looked away, failed to effectively address, or often, backed and supported these horrors.

So let’s seize this moment with wisdom, to bring down the monster we face, the one we all have lines of responsibility for. Let’s see the human family united like never before to defeat ISIS – not just on the battlefield, but in our own societies, in the media and social media, and most of all in the thousands of Muslim communities that live today around the world in fear.  Let’s encourage Muslim and Non-Muslim communities everywhere to embrace each other, welcome refugees with compassion, escalate our pressure on Egypt and other brutal governments to stop brutalizing opponents and creating the ISIS’ of the future, redouble our efforts to achieve a peace deal in Syria, protect at-risk communities like the Rohingya, stop constant terrifying drone attacks on communities, and ensure that the military actions we support are scrupulously careful to avoid traumatizing the civilians who are suffering enough already under ISIS’ boot. If we do these things, we’ll do far more than defeat ISIS, we’ll defeat the misery that has given rise to them, and in a way that takes the human family one wiser step further on our journey together.

With love and gratitude for this amazing community,

Ricken, Luis, Ben, Alice, Rewan, Elana, Mohammed, Steve, Emma and the whole Avaaz team.

Bravo TV Star Asa Soltan Rahmati Launches Sacred Rituals For Women Book

Asa Soltan Rahmati has had many lives. From fleeing Iran as a child and living as a refugee in Germany and then the U.S. to becoming a celebrated reality television star on Bravo TV’s Shahs of Sunset; from launching a successful designer line of women’s kaftans to becoming a brand new parent with beau Jermaine Jackson Jr. – she is a master of reinvention and personal-betterment. In her newest life – as a published author – she sets out to empower other women to truly love themselves and take control of their own destinies.

Her book GOLDEN: Empowering Rituals to Conjure Your Inner Priestess is hitting bookstore shelves now. In it she shares seven sacred rituals that she developed throughout her life as she went from refugee (twice) to “artsy” to the Persian Pop Priestess that fans of Shahs of Sunset have grown to admire. I’d love to send you a copy of the new book for consideration of coverage in an upcoming story.

Asa’s life has been a filled with great challenges and deep loss, but through it – and through her outsider status – she learned to face life fearlessly and with her own style. From her self-love ritual to her chapter on confidence (“Radiate Beauty from the Inside Out”), Asa provides readers with the ultimate “green juice, master cleanse and z pack” for life. It all starts with her Priestess Detox, the total mind, body, soul cleanse to get the reader in touch with her own Inner Priestess. Asa’s ability to translate her rituals have helped hundreds of thousands of her fans become more empowered. GOLDEN is her gift to them and to anybody who is ready to take control, learn to love themselves, and face the future with confidence and strength.

When I was in college at UCLA, I worked part-time at an African art store in Santa Monica. One day Maya Angelou came into the store. I have always been a huge fan of hers and I was completely starstruck. She walked straight toward me, took my hand in hers, looked me directly in the eyes, and said, “stay golden, my child.”

– Asa Soltan, from GOLDEN

GOLDEN by Asa Soltan

Empowering Rituals to Conjure
Your Inner Priestess

Available Now

Asa Soltan Rahmati – Persian Pop Priestess, Spiritual Gangsta, and beloved star of Bravo TV’s hit reality show, Shahs of Sunset – shares seven sacred rituals that she has developed throughout her life in GOLDEN: Empowering Rituals to Conjure Your Inner Priestess (North Star Way; May 9, 2017; $25.99 USD).

Asa was eight years old when her family fled their war-torn country of Iran to seek refuge in Germany. To say she experienced culture shock after arriving is an understatement. She had never seen anyone that looked and acted so different from her, and she didn’t speak a word of German or English. She felt completely cast off from her land, her culture, and her people.

Feeling a need to connect to her culture and herself, she created rituals that she practiced every day. At first they were a simple way to create a sacred space for herself so she could go within and remember who she really was. But when she became a refugee for the second time moving from Germany to Los Angeles, those rituals — on beauty, love, career, family, and friendships–kept her deeply connected to her Inner Priestess, the authentic version of herself that existed without ego, baggage, or attachments to material things.

Asa’s own personal journey to find peace and self-acceptance helped her marry her artistic side with her business acumen and led her to launch a highly successful kaftan business, create a line of jewelry for Home Shopping Network and, of course, the television show. GOLDEN will help readers find their own power with inspirational quotes, stories and photos from her childhood to illustrate the impact her rituals can have. Whether you choose to focus on one ritual separately or all of them at once, GOLDEN can guide you to a state of glamorous, gorgeous mindfulness and a chance to live the life of your dreams.

Since the first season of Shahs aired, Asa has gained a loyal legion of fans who refer to her as the Spiritual Gangsta. Many of them write her to seek answers to their most personal questions. They often ask how to feel confident and feel good about their bodies in a world that’s hyper critical of women’s looks, how to gain the courage to follow their dreams, and how to stay true to their culture and traditions yet remain a modern woman. Asa’s ability to translate her rituals have helped hundreds of thousands of her fans become more empowered. GOLDEN is her gift to them.

Golden by Asa Soltan

About Asa Soltan Rahmati
Asa Soltan Rahmati, also known as the Persian Pop Priestess and Spiritual Gangsta, is the star of Bravo’s hit realty show, Shahs of Sunset. Asa lived on three continents and spoke four languages by the time she moved to the United States at fifteen. The Islamic revolution and decade-long war were the backdrop of her early childhood, and paved the way for her own personal revolution to build confidence, spirituality, and remain at peace among life’s daily trials and tribulations. Known for her glamour and down-to-earth spirituality, Asa is also an internationally recognized multimedia artist, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. In 2014 Asa launched her highly anticipated luxury kaftan line, Asa Kaftans, which celebrities and her international fan-base adore. Asa is committed to using her unique blend of high-art, pop-culture, glamour, and spirituality to make the world a more beautiful and positive place. For the Silo, Jason Southerland.

About North Star Way
North Star Way is an imprint dedicated to publishing “information to make your life better.”  With a non-fiction editorial focus in the areas of motivation, inspiration and books that advise and inform, North Star Way aims to connect readers with thought leaders through a variety of new media formats including books and e-books, on-line courses and subscriptions, speaking engagements, mobile applications, original video and audio books, sponsorships and business partnerships, podcasts. North Star Way authors include John O’Leary, Maya Penn, Amanda Steinberg, JJ Virgin, and Keke Palmer.


Words A Spoken Word Poem

“Words”. Thoughtful contemporary poetry from Allen Minor.

 

Allen Minor is From Utica, New York and lives in Daytona Beach, Florida

@allen_minor (Twitter)

allen minor (YouTube)

allen-minor (Tumblr)

allen_minor (Instagram)

Website  http://Amazon.com/author/asminor