Peace Talks Radio

“Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.” When President Eisenhower warned of the power of the military industrial complex in January 1961, he probably wouldn’t have guessed that the 2012 budget request for defense-related expenditures would be one trillion dollars. While conventional wisdom asserts that war and military spending are good for the economy, a 2007 report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research showed that military spending diverts resources from productive uses, such as consumption and investment, and ultimately slows economic growth and reduces employment. Today on Peace Talks, we’ll explore the relationship between economic development and peace. We’ll talk with two representatives from the Institute for Economics and Peace. Steve Killelea is the founder of the Institute and the creative force behind both the Global Peace Index and the United States Peace Index. Clyde McConaghy, a Board Director for the Institute, has been involved with the development of the Global Peace Index since its inception in 2007. Their annual rankings hope to identify the positive economic impacts of increased levels of peacefulness on a global and regional level. We’ll also talk with Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, the New York Times bestselling author of The Dressmaker of Khair Khana --- the true story of the “breadwinners in burqas,” five Afghani sisters who become successful entrepreneurs during the Taliban years. They started a dressmaking business in their living room that offered work to 100 women in the neighborhood. Gayle is also the deputy director of the Women and Foreign Policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Since 1975, a program called the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) has been going into prisons to offer non-violence workshops to prisoners with the intent of reducing violence in prisons and steering inmates toward nonviolent practices when they return to society after completing their sentences. Carol Boss talks with two former inmates who each served extended sentences for second degree murder charges. Both feel their lives were transformed with the help of AVP.

Martti Ahtisaari is a former Finnish President who also has over 30 years of international mediation experience, negotiating agreements of various kinds in Namibia, Indonesia, Northern Ireland and Kosovo. He talks with host Paul Ingles about his mediation style.

Also, a rebroadcast of our 2002 interview with former U.S. President and Nobel Prize Winner Jimmy Carter. The hour winds up with a fascinating interview with a former Skinhead White Supremist, Frank Meeink, who now preaches diversity and compassion.

Host Paul Ingles tells the story of losing a friend to a domestic homicide and explores efforts to help young people learn the building blocks for experiencing healthy relationships as adults. Researchers say those who turn into stalkers and jealous, violent lovers

often experience abuse as children and have limited positive role models for good relationships. Paul talks with two people involved in developing programs for schools that help youngsters learn how relationship conflict can be handled and how relationship breakups can be managed and survived

without turning to violence. David Wolfe developed a program called "The Fourth R" in which "Relationship" joins the traditional "reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic" in middle and high school training. Alexandra Smith

oversees a program called "Start Strong Bronx" in New York that makes use of

"The Fourth R" curriculum in middle schools.

For those interested in peacemaking, an ideal conference might include dozens of peace workers throughout the world, gathered together for a week of panels and conversations. In 2010, such a gathering took place. Not in a physical space but in the virtual world of the internet. Using teleconference technology, The Shift Network and The Peace Alliance teamed up to bring 75 peace luminaries to the web, allowing anyone with a computer or a smart phone to listen in live and even interact with the guests. The resulting archive of conversations is also available free online. On this edition of Peace Talks Radio, one of the architechts of Peace Week, Stephen Dinan of The Shift Network, guides host Paul Ingles through samples of 8 of the more compelling conversations of Peace Week. You'll hear youth peace building experts like Aqeela Sherrills, Kimmie Weeks, Ocean Robbins, and Rich Dutra-St.John. Also Nobel Peace Laureate Betty Williams, peace economics expert Steve Killelea, peace walker Audri Scott Williams, and U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich.

In 2010, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese literary critic, writer, professor, and human rights activist who called for political reforms in China. Currently incarcerated as a political prisoner in China, he was unable to attend the peace award ceremony. We talk with poet Jeffrey Yang who is editing a collection of Xiaobo's poetry to learn more about the prize winner's life and commitment to peace. Also Chinese writer Tienchi Liao, a literary colleague of Xiaobo, talks about his story. Pau Ingles hosts.

It's been a great year at Peace Talks Radio. We looked at peace endeavors in U.S. prisons, highlighted the “Peace Through Music” project, and examined international efforts to protect human rights defenders in global conflict hot spots. We also talked with leading thinkers in conflict resolution, like William Ury, Daniel Goleman and Rick Hanson, and asked a panel how we can make peace with Mother Nature in the wake of 2010’s many environmental disasters. We explored the story of Massosoit's peace pact with the pilgrims and learned tips for a peaceful divorce. And in one absorbing episode, we gave our microphone over to school children to hear their thoughts on peacemaking. Listen in to this one-hour year-end special to hear highlights from all of these programs.

When you visualize the National Mall in Washington, DC, what do you see? Perhaps stately buildings like the US Capitol or the Smithsonian castle. Or, perhaps you see some of the monuments and memorials that remind us of conflict and war, for example, the World War II, Korean, and Vietnam war memorials. Even the majestic monuments to Washington and Lincoln are reminiscent of wars that our country fought for freedom. On the next Peace Talks Radio, we explore a new memorial on the National Mall: The United States Institute of Peace. The USIP is an independent, nonpartisan, national institution established in 1984 and funded by Congress to increase the nation's capacity to manage international conflict without violence. The new 150,000 square-foot, five-story USIP building on the northwest corner of the Mall will house staff offices, a library, conference center, classrooms, and a public education center designed to heighten understanding of the challenges of international conflict management. Host Suzanne Kryder talks with several staff members about the history of USIP, their national and international programs, and the new building that recently opened. By virtue of its purpose and location--it faces the Lincoln and Vietnam Memorials--the headquarters of the United States Institute of Peace will serve as a symbol of the country's efforts for peace.

Massasoit was the leader of the Wampanoag Confederacy when English settlers landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. He and his people kept the Pilgrims from starving in the early years of their settlement, attended the first Thanksgiving and forged a peace treaty with the English that lasted 40 years until his death. We'll talk with American Indian scholars Darius Coombs and Bob Charlesbois who'll fill in the details of this Native American leader's attempt to make peace for his people and with the new strangers. Also, Native American film director Chris Eyre on his portrayal of Massasoit for the 2009 PBS television series We Shall Remain.

PEACEMAKING AFTER A DIVORCE - In the U.S., about 50% of all marriages end in divorce. Divorce is often described in the language of war. The ex-spouses battle over possessions and children. Attorneys look for ammunition. The warring partners burn bridges, plunder bank accounts, and drop bombshells. In a sense, the script is already written for us. Divorce is a civil war in a family. But does it have to be that way? What happens when both parties want to write the ending a different way and divorce peacefully? Can they? On this edition of our series, you'll hear the divorce story of the couple who created Peace Talks Radio and still work together to produce it: Paul Ingles and Suzanne Kryder. Guest reporter Sasha Aslanian tells how the couple managed to steer around divisive divorce troubles and stay friendly, civil and even helpful to each other in the post-divorce years. Also, a conversation with therapist Samuel Roll who offers ideas about managing divorces that don't go so smoothly and may involve children. Read about it and hear it right now by clicking here.