some sources, resources, tools, and groups

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books and things

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Here  are some pieces I turn to often, offered in no particular order.

You Are Where You Sit: Uncovering the Lessons of Classroom Furniture

Why Schools Don't Teach: John Taylor Gatto

Bill Ayers Website and Blog: Worth regular visits, I promise.

The Quiet Peacemakers: A Tribute to Teachers, from UNESCO (This scanned copy from UNESCO is the best available. Treasure it.)

Building A Community of Love: bell hooks and Thich Nhat Hanh in Conversation

Teaching Social Imagination, by Bill Bigelow and Linda Christensen

Mathematics and Peace: Our Responsibilities, by Ubiratan D’Ambrosio, São Paulo

Giving Up The Grade, by David F. Noble

I've been asked often for a core set of texts I turn to as a teacher. I can think of no more provocative places to start than these:

Pema Chodron: Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves of Old Habits and Fears

Colman McCarthy: I'd Rather Teach Peace

William and Rick Ayers: Teaching the Taboo: Courage and Imagination in the Classroom.

Thich Nhat Hanh: Peace is Every Step

I also have several books I keep near me and consult often:

Donna Quesada: Buddha in the Classroom

William Ayers: Teaching Towards Freedom

Herbert Kohl:     Growing Minds - On Becoming A Teacher
                          The Herbert Kohl Reader: Awakening The Heart Of Teaching

bell hooks:   teaching to transgress: teaching as the practice of freedom
                    teaching community: a pedagogy of hope
                    teaching critical thinking: practical wisdom

Kirsten Olson: Wounded by School: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up to Old School Culture

Derrick Jensen:    Walking On Water: Reading, Writing, and Revolution

Thomas Merton: The Non-violent Alternative

Thomas Merton (editor): Gandhi On Non-violence

Wendell Berry: Life is a Miracle - An Essay Against Modern Superstition

Wes Jackson: Nature As Measure - The Selected Essays of Wes Jackson

Howard Zinn [ed/]: The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace

Peter Ackerman and Jack Duval: A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict

Stephanie Walters:     The New Teacher Book - Finding Purpose, Balance, and Hope During Your
                                  First Years in the Classroom

Gene Clark: Exploring Non-violent Alternatives

David P. Barash: Approaches to Peace - A Reader in Peace Studies

Thich Nhat Hanh: Peace Is Every Step

Pema Chodron: Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living

John Taylor Gatto: Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher's Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling

Paolo Freire:     Pedagogy of the Oppressed
                        Pedagogy of Hope

Pierre Bourdieu and Jean Claude Passeron: Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture

Colman McCarthy's Short Peace Bibliography  -- This is a PDF of the short peace bibliography in Colman McCarthy's I'd Rather Teach Peace.

Howard Zinn's Suggested Readings

Publications

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There are a wealth of publications -- journals, broadsheets, pamphlets -- on peace and non-violence. They arise from multiple perspectives, out of multiple histories, and multiple locations.

I've tried to come up with some that I find powerful and filled with help, but this is by no means an exhaustive list. If you know of any, let me know and I will add them.




The Catholic Worker Journal  - Notes, reports, ideas and resources on faith based peace activism

Canadian Centre For Policy Alternatives  -  A wealth of analysis, news, ideas, and challenges from a think tank that actually thinks. Most online reports are free to download.

Peacework -  "Peacework is AFSC's peace and justice magazine. Quaker Action, a sister publication, focuses specifically on powerful stories about the work of AFSC. Peacework seeks to serve as an incubator for social transformation, a source for pacifist analysis of problems and issues, a fount of hope. Our founding editor, Pat Farren, described what Peacework does as "empowerment journalism." We continue to strive to live up to this ideal."

Rethinking Schools - "There is a Zulu expression: "If the future doesn't come toward you, you have to go fetch it." We believe teachers, parents, and students are essential to building a movement to go fetch a better future: in our classrooms, in our schools, and in the larger society. There are lots of us out there. Let's make our voices heard."

Peace Magazine - This Canadian magazine offers insightful analysis, peace news from around the world, book reviews and other tools. They have a detailed set of peace resource and group links HERE.

Orion -  Orion publishes some of the finest writing on nature, politics, spirituality, and the concerns for a peaceful future. Their statement of mission and values reads:  "The first issue of the Orion Nature Quarterly was published in June 1982, and in its editorial George Russell, the publication’s first Editor-in-Chief, boldly stated Orion’s values:  “It is Orion’s fundamental conviction that humans are morally responsible for the world in which we live, and that the individual comes to sense this responsibility as he or she develops a personal bond with nature.”  In the intervening twenty-eight years, Orion has become a focal point in an extraordinarily rich period of nature writing, and it has remained true to that core conviction, though the magazine has evolved into a bimonthly and the range of its interests has broadened to include not only environmental but cultural concerns."

Radical Teacher - Radical Teacher is an independent magazine for educational workers at all levels and in every kind of institution. The magazine focuses on critical teaching practice, the political economy of education, and
institutional struggles.

Yes! Magazine - YES! Magazine reframes the biggest problems of our time in terms of their solutions. Online and in print, we outline a path forward with in-depth analysis, tools for citizen engagement, and stories about real people working for a better world.

Tricycle - Established in 1990 as an educational organization, The Tricycle Foundation is dedicated to making Buddhist views, values, and practices broadly available. In 1991 the Foundation launched Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, the first magazine intended to present Buddhist perspectives to a Western readership.  Our readership includes longtime practitioners, those who are curious about Buddhism or meditation, and those who do not identify as Buddhist but value the teachings of wisdom and compassion Buddhism has to offer.

Briarpatch - Briarpatch is a contemporary issues magazine with a chip on its shoulder and a fire in its belly. Fiercely independent and frequently irreverent, Briarpatch tackles today’s most pressing problems from a radical, grassroots perspective. Publishing bimonthly, Briarpatch conspires to provoke, inspire and empower its readers in their efforts to build a better world.

Shambhala Sun - The Shambhala Sun Foundation promotes the growth and development of genuine buddhadharma as Buddhism takes root in the West. Through the publication of magazines and other media, conferences and educational forums, we will support all traditions of dharma that teach the three marks of existence and nontheism, and are based on meditation practice and cutting through spiritual materialism. In these endeavors, the Shambhala Sun Foundation will work with and support all those who share the values of wisdom, sacredness and compassion.

Organizations and Communities

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I have included here some organizations which have resources for all of us. These are groups whose efforts and ideas I have drawn on throughout my life, in all the work I do. Each of these has its own list of additional groups and resources which I encourage you to explore.






Nuclear Age Peace Foundation - The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation initiates and supports worldwide efforts to abolish nuclear weapons, to strengthen international law and institutions, and to inspire and empower a new generation of peace leaders. Founded in 1982, the Foundation is comprised of individuals and organizations worldwide who realize the imperative for peace in the Nuclear Age. The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan international education and advocacy organization. It has consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council and is recognized by the UN as a Peace Messenger Organization.

War Resisters International - Teaching for peace requires we teach against war, against violence and oppression in all its forms. War Resisters International provides resources, information, news, and mutual support for non-violent anti-war and anti-oppression workers around the world. Available in multiple languages. The WRI Handbook Of Non-Violent Campaigns is not only an invaluable practical resource for activists and their allies, it contains compelling exercises and techniques for classroom practice.

Food Not Bombs - Food Not Bombs works in coalition with groups like Earth First!, The Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, Anarchist Black Cross, the IWW, Homes Not Jails, Anti Racist Action, Farm Animal Rights Movement, In Defense of Animals, the Free Radio Movement and other organizations on the cutting edge of positive social change and resistance to the new global austerity program. Food Not Bombs is now preparing for the economic crash organizing Food Not Lawns community gardens, housing the homeless with Homes Not Jails, organizing additional meals each week while starting new Food Not Bombs chapters in as many communities as possible.

Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan - RAWA is the oldest political/social organization of Afghan women struggling for peace, freedom, democracy and women's rights in fundamentalism-blighted Afghanistan since 1977.

War Resisters Canada - "During the period of 1965-1973, more than 50,000 Americans made their way to Canada, refusing to participate in an immoral war. At the time, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau said: "Those who make a conscientious judgment that they must not participate in this war... have my complete sympathy, and indeed our political approach has been to give them access to Canada. Canada should be a refuge from militarism." Thirty years later, Canada is faced with the same moral choice – to give refuge to those who refuse to be complicit in the US-led war on Iraq, which many legal opinions have deemed illegal under international law."

The Catholic Worker Movement -  On May 1, 1933, in the depths of the Great Depression, The Catholic Worker newspaper made its debut with a first issue of twenty-five hundred copies. Dorothy Day and a few others hawked the paper in Union Square for a penny a copy (still the price) to passersby.  Today 213 Catholic Worker communities remain committed to nonviolence, voluntary poverty, prayer, and hospitality for the homeless, exiled, hungry, and foresaken. Catholic Workers continue to protest injustice, war, racism, and violence of all forms. Explore the life and writings of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin as well as sample contemporary Catholic Worker thought and action.

Positive Peace Warrior Network - The mission of the Positive Peace Warriors Network is to make the Nonviolence teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King available to all youth of the world. We are committed to building  an intergenerational Kingian nonviolence training movement, linking existing training centers and trainers with grassroots organizations, high schools, colleges/universities, and community leaders interested in studying Dr. King’s philosophy and the history of nonviolent direct action.  Our purpose is to equip today’s student and community leaders with the “Skill” and “Will” of Kingian Nonviolence as a strategy to heal communities, build collective strength and generate an environment of hope and opportunity.

Human Rights Watch - The website for Human Rights Watch which is filled with downloadable reports and documents about conditions related to social justice throughout the world. This is a wonderful resource for students to understand the  more complex relationship of countries and governments than they are often offered by the media or their class work studies.

Grandmothers For Peace - "In most cultures around the world, grandmothers are revered as the “keepers of the peace.” We are inspired and motivated by that fact, but realize that in today's dangerous world we can no longer keep or promote peace by sitting in our rocking chairs!" Their website includes back issues of their newsletter, which is always inspiring and challenging.

350.org - 350.org is building a global grassroots movement to solve the climate crisis. Our online campaigns, grassroots organizing, and mass public actions are led from the bottom up by thousands of volunteer organizers in over 188 countries.

Taking IT Global -  TakingITGlobal's mission is to empower youth to understand and act on the world's greatest challenges. We use the power of online community to facilitate global education, social entrepreneurship, and civic engagement for millions of youth worldwide. Founded in 1999, our award-winning www.tigweb.org is the leading social network for global citizenship, bringing together over 340,000 members with more than 22,000 non-profit organizations across 13 languages. Our TIGed program -- an education community program -- serves over 2,400 schools in 118 countries with professional development, engaging lesson plans, and collaborative global projects.

Culture of Peace Initiative -- Since 1983, the Culture of Peace Initiative (CPI) has served as a vehicle for bringing forward the previously unseen and unheard voices working towards Peace. It also serves to unite the strengths of existing individuals and organizations building Cultures of Peace for succeeding generations.

Center for Food and Justice - The CFJ engages in collaborative action strategies, community capacity-building, and research and education, in order to improve access to fresh and healthy foods in all communities, particularly those where access is most limited and to facilitate environmental, health promotion, community development, social justice, and land use strategies that empower local communities and strengthen the capacity of small family farmers.

Mennonite Central Committee -  The MCC shares God's love and compassion for all in the name of Christ  by responding to basic human needs and working for peace and justice. MCC has workers or financial commitments in 65 countries around the world. MCC addresses basic human needs such as water, food and shelter and works alongside churches and communities in a variety of efforts to build peace. You can take part in the work of MCC, whether by serving in your home country or abroad, by donating time or money or by canning meat, sewing blankets, assembling kits for humanitarian aid, volunteering in thrift shops or for relief sales or participating in advocacy campaigns.

The Land Institute - The Land Institute has worked for over 30 years on the problem of agriculture. Our purpose is to develop an agricultural system with the ecological stability of the prairie and a grain yield comparable to that from annual crops.

Cooperative Catalyst  -  An independent collaboration between teachers, students, and community members with the simplest goal imaginable:
    Vision: Passionate educators challenge one another to propose sustainable solutions and structures for                 re-imagining schools and education, supporting one another to enact and refine the ideas.

    Mission: To educate and push ALL community members to:
  • Acknowledge, accept and embrace contemporary ways of self-directed learning both in and out of school,
  • Ask new, reformative questions and
  • Offer new, workable proposals for both formal and non-formal learning communities in lean fiscal times.

Project Ploughshares - Project Ploughshares takes its name and its vision from the ancient biblical vision in the Book of Isaiah in which the material and human wealth consumed by military preparations are transformed into resources for human development, thereby removing the roots of war itself. Project Ploughshares was established as an agency of The Canadian Council of Churches to give practical expression to the fulfillment of God's call to bear witness to peace, reconciliation and non-violence and to contribute to the building of a national and international order that will serve the goals of peace with justice, freedom and security for all.

Jewish Voice For Peace - Jewish Voice for Peace is the only national Jewish organization that provides a voice for Jews and allies who believe that peace in the Middle East will be achieved through justice and full equality for both Palestinians and Israelis. With offices in New York and California, 100,000 online activists, chapters across the country and an Advisory Board comprised of numerous prominent Jewish thinkers and artists, JVP supports nonviolent efforts here and in Israel-Palestine to end Israel’s Occupation, expand human and civil rights, and implement a policy based on international law and democracy.

San Antonio Peace Center - The peaceCENTER's mission is to nurture the ever-growing circles of peacemakers and resources in a unifying approach to end violence in San Antonio and beyond by partnering individuals and organizations, addressing all issues of violence, providing creative opportunities for all people, and building community and relationships focused on a vision of peace in this time and place and for future generations.

J. Krishnamurti Online -  The site provides a large text collection of all of Krishnamurti’s published works from 1933 to 1986, the equivalent of 200 average-sized books, all site content being searchable and freely downloadable in text format. After Krishnamurti left the Theosophical Society, he began to travel extensively giving public talks and holding discussions in several places, from important cities like London, Paris and New York to small rural towns in India. These were published every year as 'Verbatim Reports', starting from July 1933 and going on till 1967. Later, in 1992, the Krishnamurti Foundation of America put them all together in 17 volumes and republished them under the title The Collected Works of J. Krishnamurti. Those are also included in this site. A selection of video and audio is also available in streaming format, and future plans include adding previously unpublished work to the online text collection, and expanding the video and audio capacity.

Fellowship of Reconciliation - The Fellowship of Reconciliation seeks to replace violence, war, racism and economic injustice with nonviolence, peace, and justice. We are an interfaith organization committed to active nonviolence as a transforming way of life and as a means of radical change. We educate, train, build coalitions, and engage in nonviolent and compassionate actions locally, nationally, and globally.

American Friends Service Committee - A Quaker web site has an extensive listing of links to AFSC programs, articles and reports on peacebuilding, and conflict resolution, among numerous other issues. Other resources include books, publications, periodicals, and links to related organizations.

Canadian School of Peacebuilding - The Canadian School of Peacebuilding (CSOP), an institute of Canadian Mennonite University (CMU), offers a selection of 5-day courses each June. Courses can be taken for professional or personal development or for academic credit. The CSOP is a learning community of diverse peacebuilders who come together to learn, network and engage in peacebuilding. This requires respect, curiosity and a broad range of connecting points for both students and faculty. Drawing from this area of strength, and from a deep commitment, rooted in Christian-Mennonite history and theology, to respectfully practice peace in difficult places in the world, the Canadian School of Peacebuilding offers opportunity for dissimilarly rooted peacebuilders from around the world to come together to learn, to share and to practice peace. The CSOP is an institute of CMU, a Christian university that is rooted in the historic Anabaptist tradition of peace, justice and service. Drawing on our 480 year faith-based peace tradition, we want to create a space where people from different backgrounds and perspectives can connect in positive and respectful ways—learning together, supporting each other and creating networks of engaged peacebuilders. The CSOP is for peacebuilders from all faiths, countries and identity groups. The CSOP community is shaped by this ethic of respect and collaboration.

Teaching For Peace  - If our schools today are to produce truly global citizens, then that puts a heavy burden on educators to stimulate critical thinking about the critical issues of the day – war and peace, global conflict and inequality, issues of gender, race, class, and so on. It’s a long list. Teaching for Peace is a new web resource where we bring it all together, and provide easy-to-use, practical classroom lessons as well as comprehensive links to resources for peace education. They have a very comprehensive list of peace groups, educator resources, news sources and many other useful tools and ideas.

Canadian Peace Alliance - The Canadian Peace Alliance (CPA) is Canada's largest umbrella peace organization. Since its foundation in 1985 the organization has been helping member groups to act as a broad network, in order to provide a strong, coordinated voice for peace issues at the national level. CPA member groups range from grassroots community groups to major pan-Canadian organizations. Our goals include redirecting funds from military spending to human needs; working toward global nuclear disarmament; making Canada a consistent leader for world peace; strengthening world institutions for the peaceful resolution of conflict; and protecting the rights of all people to work for peace, social & economic justice.

Peacebuild Canada - Peacebuild, the Canadian Peacebuilding Network, is a member-based network of Canadian-based organizations and individuals actively involved in peacebuilding practice and policy development. Our goal is to engender greater coherence and effectiveness in building peace through fostering collaboration and coordination among diverse stakeholders in Canada, and partners overseas.

Voices for Creative Non-Violence - Voices is committed to strategic campaigns and experiments in truth engaging in active nonviolent resistance. Such resistance must take into account that war-making is both military and economic. Physicians For Global Survival -- Physicians for Global Survival (PGS), a charitable organization formed in 1980, is the Canadian affiliate of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW). We are committed to the abolition of nuclear weapons, the prevention of war, the promotion of nonviolent means of conflict resolution and social justice in a sustainable world.

Peace Brigades International - PBI envisions a world in which people address conflicts non violently, where human rights are universally upheld and social justice and intercultural respect have become a reality.

Mahatma Gandhi Foundation for World Peace - The objective of the Mahatma Gandhi Canadian Foundation for World Peace is to share, in a universal and cross-cultural way, knowledge of Mahatma Gandhi's beliefs and philosophies. The Foundation initiates, conducts and supports research, studies, writings, teaching, education and scholarship in international understanding based on the teachings, philosophies, activities and ideals of Mahatma Gandhi.

Peace Pledge Union - The Peace Pledge Union is the oldest secular pacifist organisation in Britain. Since 1934 it has been campaigning for a warless world.  Their education focused microsite is called Learn Peace.

Stop War Canada - StopWar.ca is a broad-based peace coalition based in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, endorsed by over 160 organizations and prominent individuals. As a member of the Canadian Peace Alliance (CPA), we are part of a cross-Canada effort to oppose the foreign policy of the Harper government.

The Catholic Worker Movement -  On May 1, 1933, in the depths of the Great Depression, The Catholic Worker newspaper made its debut with a first issue of twenty-five hundred copies. Dorothy Day and a few others hawked the paper in Union Square for a penny a copy (still the price) to passersby.  Today 213 Catholic Worker communities remain committed to nonviolence, voluntary poverty, prayer, and hospitality for the homeless, exiled, hungry, and foresaken. Catholic Workers continue to protest injustice, war, racism, and violence of all forms. Explore the life and writings of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin as well as sample contemporary Catholic Worker thought and action.

Positive Peace Warrior Network - The mission of the Positive Peace Warriors Network is to make the Nonviolence teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King available to all youth of the world. We are committed to building  an intergenerational Kingian nonviolence training movement, linking existing training centers and trainers with grassroots organizations, high schools, colleges/universities, and community leaders interested in studying Dr. King’s philosophy and the history of nonviolent direct action.  Our purpose is to equip today’s student and community leaders with the “Skill” and “Will” of Kingian Nonviolence as a strategy to heal communities, build collective strength and generate an environment of hope and opportunity.

religious and faith based groups

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this list was compiled by
the United States Institute of Peace.







Faith-Based Non-Governmental Organizations

Building Peace through Development


Interfaith Dialogue and Reconciliation


Mediation


Peace Education in the U.S.

        The Bahá’í Chair for World Peace at the University of Maryland is an academic institution dedicated to                     developing and applying material and spiritual knowledge in cooperative pursuits of global peace, social and         economic justice, and human security. This is accomplished through a disciplined program focused on a                 limited number of compelling concerns with strategic objectives applied in an operational forum.

Training



Islamic Area Studies
  • Columbia University - Area Studies, Middle East Studies: Islam
    Substantial links from Columbia University to all aspects of Islam, including prayer times and calendars, Islamic texts, dictionaries and encyclopedias, organizations, and Islamic law.
  • Islamic Studies, Islam, Arabic, Religion
    Comprehensive information and links compiled by Professor Godlas at the University of Georgia, including history, culture, images, Muslim women, and a glossary of Islamic terms.
  • Islamic Studies Pathways
    A listing of Islamic studies' resources on the Internet compiled by Dr. Bary R. Bunt, from the University of Wales in Lampeter including annotated links to Qur'an texts, multi-media sites, media sources, and political organizations.


Religious Peace Organizations

Bahá’í
  • The Association for Bahá’í Studies
    The Association for Bahá’í Studies was founded in Canada, in 1975, to promote the systematic study of the Bahá’í Faith and its application to the needs of humanity. Soon afterward, the Association expanded to serve the United States and Canada. Since that time, a network of affiliated Associations has emerged in other regions around the world.

Baptist

  • Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America
    Web site includes information on news and events, on-going programs and sections on conflict transformation, restorative justice, a resource catalog of publications, and links to related web sites.

Buddhist


Catholic


Church of the Brethren

  • On Earth Peace Assembly
    Web site of a "non-profit organization grounded in the Church of the Brethren" with information on the vision and mission of the organization, current news, a OEPA newsletter and descriptions of programs, such as a Peace Academy and Ministry of Reconciliation.

Episcopal


Interfaith


Jewish

  • Jewish Peace Fellowship
    Web site has news and information, articles, reports and sections on specific activities and areas of concern, such as the Middle East or social justice. Also includes a newsletter, other publications and links to related web sites.

Lutheran


Mennonite


Muslim


Orthodox


Quaker



University-based Centers for the study of Religion and Conflict Resolution