For myself personally, the Pacific Youth Festival was a chance to reflect on my own culture and identity, and to think about my place both in the Pacific and in Aotearoa.
Peace & Conflict / Rangimārie me te Papā
DRUGS: NOBODY’S WINNING THE WAR
While thrillseekers in the west demand the drugs, and their governments react by trying to stop the supply, farmers will continue to grow the illicit crops unless they are offered a real alternative way to make a living.
TASER DANGER
Our law currently states that it is illegal for an individual to inflict an electrical shock into another person. However recently police throughout NZ have been given taser guns which do exactly that. It is obvious in this instance, that the law doesn’t apply to those whose job it is to uphold it….
PARTYING UP AT PARIHAKA
The first Parihaka Pace Festival was held in March 2006. Rose Lawson and two friends went along to volunteer - and party…
WILL BUSH GO TO WAR WITH IRAN?
And if so, what impact will this have on the state of the world? Are there any peaceful alternatives? In the wake of 9/11, the world has become a much more terrorism-aware place.
WHAT WE CAN DO FOR PEACE
Despite all the negative issues there are also increasingly positive steps that people the world over that are beginning to take to make changes for Peace, to live in harmony with the Earth and amongst all peoples.
TERRORISM… ARE WE BENG PLAYED?
Have you ever stopped to think what this word “terrorist” actually means? And who it can be applied to? The word itself is thrown around so often these days; it gives us the feeling that terrorism is on some kind of rise. You could even be forgiven for thinking that pre-September 11, terrorism hardly existed the way it is being talked about now.
WAR ON LIBERTIES
The world, since September 11 is a different place. The media permanently talks about the latest ‘terrorist threat’ and we have a whole new vocabulary: ‘war on terrorism’ and WMD. There is a lot of fear, and in this state of fear we are quietly allowing our freedoms to slip away.
Do You Speak English?
Racial prejudice is founded on a lack of awareness; we fear what we do not understand. It occurs in varying degrees, from throwaway remarks, to the increasing number of brutal attacks on ethnic people in New Zealand.
No more Hiroshimas! No more Nagasakis!
By Annie Boanas
“No more Hiroshimas! No more Nagasakis!”
This message was repeated over and over again during my recent two week trip to Japan. Julia Johnstone and I travelled to Nagasaki and Hiroshima for the World Conference against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs. We attended as representatives of the Peace Foundation and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, during the 60th Anniversary of the bombings.
