I want to thank all who made comments and suggestions regarding “Peace,” the
Peace Museum, and Stonewalk. Unfortunately, constraints of time and need to
prepare for the six-week walk preclude a personal response to your posts. I
have saved the posts, however, and will respond to them individually in
September. A few general points:

1)      We see Peace as a wider term than just the absence of war. Peace
does not mean an absence of disagreements or conflicts but a non-violent way
of resolving these situations. Peace operates on an individual,
interpersonal, family, neighborhood, national and international levels.
Interpersonal violence in our view is a failure of personal skill, and war
is a failure of policy. We do not subscribe to von Clausewitz’s idea that
“war is politics by other means.” We see war as a policy failure, if one
does rigorous accounting no one really wins a war.
2)    Peace is not passive. Ghandi took on the mighty British Empire to win
India’s freedom. Nelson Mandela fought for the dignity of prisoners while
incarcerated on Robbin Island. Member’s of Slolidarnosc actively and
successfully opposed their Communist oppressors. American Civil Rights
protesters peacefully overturned a century of legal discrimination and
oppression of our African-American brothers and sisters.
3)    Collections in a Peace Museum. The one Peace Museum currently in the
US is an art museum. The range of peace collections can be varied and span a
long time. For example artifacts that represent peace religions such as
Buddhism and denominations such as Quakers, Brethren, and Mennonites could
be part of a peace museum. Artifacts connected to recognized and
little-known peace activist such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Desmond
Tutu, Granny D., etc. could be part of a peace museum. Artifacts and
documents that deal with various peace movements and peace parties would be
part of a collection. Every culture has symbols that express peace—these
could be part of the collection. Collection based on material related to
Nobel Peace Prize winners could make an excellent exhibit. While we are
currently developing our collections policies our basic approach is somewhat
unusual in that our collections will reflect the fundamental goal of the
museum which is: “To create an environment in which a peace activist can
find spiritual support and inspiration, a skeptic will find a persuasive
statement of the reality of peace, and anyone who visits will depart filled
with serenity, joy, and hope for the future.” My own hope for the museum is
to have a collection of peace bells and gongs representing all the countries
in the UN.

Cheers, --PeaceNick





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