Creating the Book “Strategies for Peace”
REVIEWS <https://www.transcend.org/tms/category/reviews/>, 5 September 2016
*Bruce L. Cook, Ph.D. | The Shift Network – TRANSCEND Media Service*
[image: photo-BruceCook]
<https://www.transcend.org/tms/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/photo-BruceCook.jpg>*26
Aug 2016 – *Last month I was privileged to publish a trade book
entitled *Strategies
for Peace*[i]
<https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/09/creating-the-book-strategies-for-peace/#_edn1>
(see www.strategiesforpeace.com). I joined Maria Cristina Azcona as
co-editor and the book emerged as a collection of new ideas about
peacebuilding.
At the time I had no knowledge of the Benobo Monkey colony in D.R. Congo.
Since then I learned on the CBS Program 60 Minutes
<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bonobos-what-we-can-learn-from-our-primate-cousin/>
*[ii]*
<https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/09/creating-the-book-strategies-for-peace/#_edn2>
that
Benobo Monkeys have a brain one-third the size of humans, but they don’t
kill each other. One has to wonder where we, with much larger brains, have
gone wrong. Further, female monkeys there are seen to squelch conflict
without major injuries. Which makes these monkeys superior to humans in
terms of important ways. If I had known that, I might have consulted these
primates instead!
As it happened, I started the book as an essay on leadership, thinking that
too little attention has been given to rogue leaders who are fighting
against world peace. I wrote a chapter and expected it to keep growing
until I had a book-length publication. After all, I was one of the first to
suggest that the world situation is caused by a leadership problem and to
suggest that social media and journalists could help solve it.
After writing this, I pondered the situation as a member of several
peacemaking groups: Worldwide Peace Organization, World International
Educators for World Peace, Global Harmony Association, World Mediation
organization, etc. In light of these discussions, it was clear to me that
my “new look” at peacemaking was not comprehensive. In fact, many
approaches to peace were already known and deserved further exploration.
So I decided to collect these ideas and present them in the best possible
light.
For example, religion. Clearly, anyone studying world conflict must be
appalled to see that so many people feel that it’s all caused by religion.
How illogical is that? In my mind, religion is of utmost importance in
life, but it’s unfair to restrict it to one particular dogma. For
traditional people it was God on the mountain. For today’s cultures it is
still a product of location. If born in China, the chances are you aren’t
going to be a Christian. But it would be so unfair to use your
geographical origin to judge the validity and vitality of your belief. So I
turned to Kurt Johnson of the interspirituality movement and he and Phillip
Hellmich wrote an impressive original essay on this –Sacred and Secular
Activists are Now Joining their Strategies for Peacebuilding
<http://wwpo.org/articles/sacred.htm>.[iii]
<https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/09/creating-the-book-strategies-for-peace/#_edn3>
So, that had to be included, along with my essay.
And, further, anyone studying the situation will be startled to notice that
women have usually been denied any active role in leadership. (Remember,
that could also be something to learn from Benobo Monkeys!) In my article I
had addressed this anomaly:
… to a large extent today’s problem may well be attributed to the lack of
women in high leadership positions. Had women been included – for example,
on a 50-50 basis as in the population – the world might not be suffering
the disaster we now face. But no, with few exceptions, across the ages men
have failed to respect women and include them in major decisions. Now we
are left to suffer the outcome.
With my co-editor’s help, I approached Prof. Ada Aharoni of The
International Forum for the Literature and Culture of Peace (IFLAC) of
Israel and she wrote an exceptional piece entitledWomen Building a World
beyond War <http://wwpo.org/articles/women.htm>*[iv]*
<https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/09/creating-the-book-strategies-for-peace/#_edn4>
.
Now it was clear that the book would be an anthology of articles on peace.
So I scanned my sources to see what was left.
For example, world citizenship seemed important. After all, a competitive
country-by-country or region by region view of peacemaking seems futile and
doomed to failure. If any nation becomes a world leader in peacemaking, the
country will undoubtedly be despised by other countries wanting this
distinction. This kind of thing just seems to be wired into our brains. The
alternative is to consider everyone part of one-world citizenship. And the
current scholar in that field is Glen T. Martin of Radford University, who
had given me a copy of his new publication, One World Renaissance
<http://www.radford.edu/gmartin/>*[v]*
<https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/09/creating-the-book-strategies-for-peace/#_edn5>.
He supplied a helpful article on the subject.
Then it was necessary to consider more personal, psychological approaches,
such as the article “How to Achieve Peace through Family Relations” by
co-editor Maria Cristina Azcona, who has since written Vivamos en Paz
<http://reservebooks.com/mobilecategories/peace.html>*[vi]*
<https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/09/creating-the-book-strategies-for-peace/#_edn6>
(Living
in Peace). After all, problems in attaining world harmony have certain
roots in personal relationships, parenting, and other psychological
problems.
Also, in view of terrorist initiatives to indoctrinate youth in warped
political education, one could never ignore the role of education. So I
turned to Nina Meyerhof of Children of the Earth, who penned an original
essay on education entitled “Authentic Education – Inner and Outer Peace.”
[vii]
<https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/09/creating-the-book-strategies-for-peace/#_edn7>
Also, I was reminded by cover art provider Celia Altschuler that the arts
have a major role in peacebuilding, I was pleased to include her poem
“Peace on Earth” and two articles by her, plus original thoughts on art in
peacebuilding by Lida Sherefatmand.
Dr. Ernesto Kahan of Israel provided his original essay on medical actions
in building trust among nations. That opened the door to the traditional,
now university-based approaches called peace and conflict studies. For this
I was privileged to present an original essay on therapy strategy in
African conflict resolution. The article was based on actual conflict
resolution experience of Rais Boneza, who I had published in my booklist’s
first poetry book, Nomad <http://www.cookcom.net/Nomad.htm>*[viii]*
<https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/09/creating-the-book-strategies-for-peace/#_edn8>,
in 2003 while he and his family were still living as refugees
<http://www.author-me.com/nonfiction/plightofarefugeepoet.htm>*[ix]*
<https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/09/creating-the-book-strategies-for-peace/#_edn9>
from
D.R. Congo in Uganda.
The cast was set. Never again would I presume to write my own definitive
solution to world peace. Further, I am freshly renewed in my suspicion of
any single peace theory which claims to completely solve the problems.
However, I must also recognize that a definitive solution might someday
emerge. And, based upon my experience, it would likely emerge from a
primate colony in D.R. Congo – and be written by a female Benobo Monkey!
*NOTES:*
[i]
<https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/09/creating-the-book-strategies-for-peace/#_ednref1>
Bruce
L. Cook and Maria Cristina Azcona (eds.), *Strategies for Peace* (Elgin,
IL: Cook Communication, 2016).
[ii]
<https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/09/creating-the-book-strategies-for-peace/#_ednref2>
See
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bonobos-what-we-can-learn-from-our-primate-cousin/
[iii]
<https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/09/creating-the-book-strategies-for-peace/#_ednref3>
Kurt
Johnson and Phillip Hellmich, “Sacred and Secular Activists are Now Joining
their Strategies for Peacebuilding,” *Strategies for Peace* (Elgin, IL:
Cook Communication, 2016), pp. 27-41.
[iv]
<https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/09/creating-the-book-strategies-for-peace/#_ednref4>
Ada
Aharoni, “Women Building a World beyond War,” *Strategies for Peace* (Elgin,
IL: Cook Communication, 2016), pp. 97-110.
[v]
<https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/09/creating-the-book-strategies-for-peace/#_ednref5>
Glen
T. Martin, One World Renaissance (Appomattox, VA: Institute for Economic
Democracy, 2015).
[vi]
<https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/09/creating-the-book-strategies-for-peace/#_ednref6>
Maria
Cristina Azcona, Vivamos en Paz (Elgin, IL: Cook Communication, 2016)
[vii]
<https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/09/creating-the-book-strategies-for-peace/#_ednref7>
Nina
Meyerhof, “Authentic Education – Inner and Outer Peace,” (Elgin, IL: Cook
Communication, 2016), pp. 113-123.
[viii]
<https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/09/creating-the-book-strategies-for-peace/#_ednref8>
Rais
Neza Boneza, *Nomad: A Refugee Poet* (Elgin, IL: Cook Communication,
2003).
[ix]
<https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/09/creating-the-book-strategies-for-peace/#_ednref9>
Rais
Neza Boneza, “The Plight of a Refugee Poet,” see
http://www.author-me.com/nonfiction/plightofarefugeepoet.htm
_________________________________________
*Bruce L. Cook, Ph.D.**is the Vice President, Worldwide Peace Organization
(WWPO); Executive Vice President for Publicity at International Association
of Educators for World Peace (IAEWP); President of World Writers Resources,
Inc.; and Author of **Harmony of Nations: 1943 – 2020, Just Fiction
Editions, 2012. *
<https://www.amazon.com/Harmony-Nations-Bruce-L-Cook/dp/3845445904>To learn
more about Bruce, click here <http://www.wwpo.org/assets/bios/cook.html>.
Go to Original – theshiftnetwork.com
<http://theshiftnetwork.com/blog/2016-08-26/creating-book-strategies-peace>
*María Cristina Azcona*
*Bilingualism is the most direct path towards peace *
*El **bilingüismo es el camino más directo hacia la paz mundial*
*IFLAC Latin America Director *
*WWPO Founder President <http://www.wwpo%2Corg/> **www.wwpo.org
<http://www.wwpo.org/>*
*GHA Global Harmony Association Founder Vice president*
