No space on earth for peace and conscience? Hearing the music in our Afghan thunder
May 2, 2010 by
Filed under Journey Updates
No space on earth for peace and conscience?
Hearing the music in our Afghan thunder
No space on earth !?
Since The US government has not allowed Abdulai to meet his friends in the States,
is there any one country on our earth in the year 2010 A.D.
that would host Abdulai and the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers
together with Palestinian, Israeli Jew, Iraqi, American and international peacemakers?
Abdulai had recently applied for a US visa upon being invited by Fellowship of Reconciliation USA for a State-side peace tour this summer. He was hoping to meet his new friends face-to-face, as human beings do.
Sadly, the most ‘powerful’ nation on earth rejected him for fear that he might not return to his widowed Afghan mother and to the only home he’s known in a mountain village in Bamiyan, Afghanistan.
“The world may have made you think that my mother, my brothers and I are bad people but, like yourself, we are tired of violence, corruption & selfish governments.”
Abdulai wants to talk about all these things but he has not been given the space.
Hear Abdulai at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLOH3LWAB5g
Abdulai hugging a stone-carving of a dove in Afghanistan
If you could help in any way to make such a journey possible for the ordinary people of the world, please contact us at journeytosmile@gmail.com or mjohnson@forusa.org or make a request to your peace-seeking governments to host Abdulai and his international friends, so we can have those warm conversations that give life meaning and love.
Or if time doesn’t allow you closer involvement, please just lend us your word of support by sending Yes! to youthpeacevolunteers@gmail.com. You would be saying Yes to indicate your support for our effort to find just ONE country in the world who would host our peacemaking team.
any space on earth for the thunder of peace and conscience?
Timeline
October 2009 Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers hold a peace vigil for President Obama to hear their peace message “Reconciliation of Civil Hearts”. The vigil ended with a visit by the US Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, who promised to deliver their message to President Obama.
Oct 2009 to March 2010 Tele-conversations and friendships grow between the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers and American, Israeli Jew, Palestinian, Iraqi and other peacemakers.
March 2010 Fellowship of Reconciliation USA invites Abdulai, Faiz Ahmad and Hakim for a peace exchange trip in the States in the summer of 2010. An Iraqi, an Israeli Jew, a few Palestinian and American peacemakers join the People’s Journey to a Peace Beyond Dismissal.
March 2010 Abdulai, Faiz Ahmad and Hakim apply for US visas at the US Embassy in Kabul Afghanistan and their visa applications are rejected.
May 2010 Question : Is there any space or place on earth who can host these ordinary, international peacemakers?
In the non-violent spirit of the Gandhi Salt March, we ordinary people from Afghanistan, Israel / Palestine, Iraq and America will tour in person to :
1. Raise the People’s Voice of Peace beyond dismissal
The everyday concerns of the people have been silenced.
We the people have borne enough, so we will unequivocally raise our Voice of Peace, knowing that this Voice is the thunder of conscience that everyone yearns to hear.
We cry : Listen to the People Again!
2. Educate to lift up the People’s Voice for Peace
We seek to make common the widespread human stories of war and make known the possibility of reconciliation.
We will strengthen our belief in the worth and dignity of each human being by talking with one another. Through our creative inquiry we can experience the breadth of human empathy.
We cry : Think about the People Again!
3. Reconcile through the People’s Voice to a lasting Peace
Create an independent, international body of appointed peace representatives dedicated to bringing an end to wars, through a 2010 People’s Resolution of Peace that cannot be dismissed.
Peacemakers build wide-scale conciliatory relations for an inter-dependant global community, and work towards ending wars and occupations.
All over the world people will stand together in our streets and valleys on International Day of Peace, the 21st of September 2010, to express the love and joy of the global community.
We cry : Love the People Again!
You may join in the journey with us…
The People’s Journey to a Peace Beyond Dismissal
http://www.thepeoplesjourney.org/
http://ourjourneytosmile.com/blog
http://contagiousloveexperiment.wordpress.com
http: other sites are planning to have connections as well
In just a year, their journey has widened to become The People’s Journey to a Peace Beyond Dismissal.
It grew out of their heart-felt connection to all Afghan people, especially the youth of Afghanistan. And now, through their conversations with youth in America, Palestine, Israel and Iraq it continues to grow; the People’s Journey includes them all. They have said if we can’t begin the tour – you start and we will be with you in spirit and we will lend our voices whenever we can.
Abdulai, Faiz and Hakim are still working to receive visas so they can visit the United States, or some other country, and speak person-to-person with youths about peace making through constructive non-violent dialogue. The Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers (AYPVs) have created about 100 short videos, all available on the internet, sharing their Gandhian messages about creating peace through reconciliation.
In a recent teleconference with about 100 people in over six locations in America :
Hakim shared this message:
Peace doesn’t just come from heaven. Peace doesn’t just come from what individuals say.
Peace comes when we ordinary people work hard to make the human-to-human connections;
to become friends – so that love may become possible.
That is what we have been trying to do in connecting with youth in Kabul, and as we’ve been doing iBamiyan going from village to village, as well in other provinces … And we hope that you will journey with us in making contact everywhere in the world.
Mohammed Jan talked about:
… the youth wish not just for peace in Bamiyan, but peace in other provinces in Afghanistan and in theworld, in America.
Nasrullah asked for forgiveness:
If the media, the mainstream media of the world, has given the you the impression that we ordinary Afghansare violent and rough people. You may not be believe this – but we are not violent people, and we arecertainly not suicide bombers…. We hope by making these connections, like we are now, that we will get toknow one another.
The Afghan Youth Peace Volunteer’s strength of character and their committment to peace-making has inspired and energized young and old alike all across America, in Palestine, and in Iraq. And this is why The People’s Journeymust go on – with, or with out, the Afghan youth – in person. It will begin June 1, 2010 in San Francisco, CA.
Gaza Youth Tour walking together with us!
Pam Bailey with a group of Palestinian peacemaking youth are hoping to do their Gaza Youth Tour in the States and as we in Afghanistan work together with them in this ordinary dream for peace, we ask that you’ll follow our journey.
http://gazafreedommarch.org/cms/en/Appeals/gaza-youth-tour.aspx
As you know, the Gaza Freedom March has worked hard to get peace activists from around the world into Gaza. However, it is equally important that we get Palestinians out of Gaza to speak to Americans and others in their own voices. To that end, we are cooperating with the Fellowship of Reconciliation to try to bring five young Gazan youth to the United States for a speaking tour. Our own Pam Bailey (Rasmussen), who got into Gaza after a month of persistence after the Freedom March, has identified the youth and will accompany them here.
