WantToKnow.info: Inspiring: Healing the War Machine News

Torn by war, Israelis and Palestinians tie their fortunes together

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Salah Hussein was 11 years old when he was woken up in the middle of the night by Israeli soldiers. It left him traumatized and terrified for years. It was "triggering" to see any Israeli in uniform, he says. "For me, all of them were a threat." But decades later, Hussein, now a 33-year-old entrepreneur, has willingly and purposefully tied his fortune to his co-founder, who is an Israeli Jew. Hussein is one of about 35 entrepreneurs taking part in a start-up accelerator program called 50:50 Startups, where mixed teams of Palestinians, Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews spend six months in a kind of business bootcamp. Program leaders take pains to say that 50:50 is not a political organization. That's what allows it to create an environment where each side can see the other as people, not enemies. In one stark example, a Palestinian man who grew up in a refugee camp near Hebron was sharing how he felt humiliated and harangued by IDF soldiers at checkpoints. Then he found out one of the Israelis he had come to know in the program was actually one of the soldiers stationed near his home. It was striking, he says, to hear that former Israeli soldier share how terrified he and others were of Palestinians. "They feel [the Palestinians] will attack them, or maybe shoot them, so they always stand by, [with] nerves tense," the Palestinian man said. "At the end of the day [the soldier is] a human being. He's someone like me who just wants to get back home safe and have dinner with [his] family."

Note: War destroys, yet these powerful real-life stories show that we can heal, reimagine better alternatives, and plant the seeds of a global shift in consciousness to transform our world. Explore more positive stories like this on healing the war machine.

- NPR

The man who made peace with his brother’s terrorist killers, and other journeys of forgiveness

Tue, 31 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Marina Cantacuzino is the founder of The Forgiveness Project. The non-profit uses storytelling to explore individual journeys towards forgiveness, particularly by those who have faced some of life’s hardest trials –the murder of a loved one, the injustice of abuse, the degradation of torture. The project also hosts restorative justice programs in prisons, helping inmates to come to terms with their crimes. "I think of Andrew Rice, whose brother was killed in the Twin Towers," [said Cantacuzino]. "Rice says, you know, “those people calling loudest for retribution, are those people least affected.” And I think there’s something about having been there, gone there, to the darkest places that very often connect you to humanity. Accountability becomes really important, and you do find that this is where restorative justice comes in, that many victims will tell you that the most healing thing of all isn’t the ten-year prison sentence, but it is the acknowledgment from the offender, that they did wrong. That they want to create a better life and make sure that it’s never repeated. But I think it’s important to say that forgiveness doesn’t preclude or exclude justice." The [definition] I use is ‘Forgiveness is making peace with something or someone that you cannot change.’ I heard Fred Luskin, who’s a great expert on forgiveness, say recently that ... now he’s come down to freedom. Forgiveness is freedom, he says. First, you have to have compassion for yourself in order to have compassion for others, and you have to have ... emotional awareness. And that requires humility. I think it also requires courage. Because very often it’s an isolating position. It’s easy to judge and criticize and hold a grudge, and very often your friends and family and society want you to do that. And so it does require courage in facing your fears. It also requires a willingness to be vulnerable ... to feel the pain. There’s one of the stories Camilla Carr, where she put it rather beautifully: “First you have to deal with the anger, then with tears, and only once you reach the tears are you on the road to finding peace of mind.”

Note: Watch WantToKnow.info Director Amber Yang's powerful 38-minute interview with Marina Cantacuzino. In the face of the brutal war machine, these powerful real-life stories show that we can heal, reimagine better alternatives, and plant the seeds of a global shift in consciousness to transform our world. Explore more positive stories like this on healing social division.

- Washington Post

The Nationwide Movement Turning Guns into Garden Tools

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The first time Mike Martin held an AK-47 was after the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. “My faith tradition is rooted in peace and non-violence,” he says. Martin took the AK-47 to a nearby blacksmith in Colorado Springs, dismantled it and forged the metal into a shovel and a rake. This moment sparked the beginning of RAWtools (War spelled backwards), a nonprofit Martin now runs full-time, and a movement spanning four states with affiliates in Buffalo, NY; Philadelphia, PA; and Asheville, North Carolina. Since its humble beginnings 14 years ago, RAWtools has destroyed and repurposed more than 6,000 guns, forging them into garden tools and art. Martin now carries the trigger of the first Kalashnikovs he destroyed on a keyring. For Martin, the physical act of destroying a gun can be healing, but often it’s just the beginning of a bigger conversation. “The dominant culture often tells us that we can’t escape the violence, so we should therefore join the violence,” he says. “Instead, this counter-story of turning swords into plows insists that violence is the problem, not the solution.” Anybody can fill out a form on the RAWtools website, or respond to the buyback program “Guns to Gardens,” and arrange to donate their gun. Donors often want to be involved in transforming the weapon into a force for good. RAWtools regularly holds events, especially in front of churches and synagogues, not only to collect and transform guns, but to start conversations.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on healing social division and healing the war machine.

- Reasons to be Cheerful

The Social Service for the Peace we dream of: An alternative to militarism in Colombia

Thu, 20 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In Colombia, compulsory military service has been a burden that generations of young men have had to face for more than 200 years. Since 1991, the Mennonite Christian Association for Justice, Peace and Nonviolent Action – Justapaz - has walked another path. We are a team that has been telling the country for more than three decades that young people were not born for war. That compulsory military service is not a patriotic duty, but an injustice. And, most importantly, that there is another way to serve the ‘homeland’. At first, we campaigned for young people to have the right to conscientious objection. In 2016, we decided to go further: to work together with other social, youth and political organisations for the creation of the Social Service for Peace – an alternative service that trades weapons for tools and military discipline for social projects that transform lives. In 2024, our campaign was successful, and the service will be gradually implemented from 2025. Imagine this: instead of an 18-year-old learning to shoot a rifle, you see him teaching reading in a rural school. Instead of long days in barracks, you see him helping to build houses in a conflict-affected community. Instead of preparing his mind for war, you see him learning about human rights, about reconciliation, about how to heal wounds that are not just physical. That's Social Service for Peace. This programme is now codified in law.

- Peace Direct

Israel-Palestine: the bereaved parents bringing hope to a divided land

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

There are two people on the Zoom screen in front of me. One, a Palestinian man in the ancient city of Jericho in the West Bank. The other, an Israeli woman in Tel Aviv. They’re separated, literally and metaphorically, by a wall. And they’re united in loss: specifically, the loss of a child. Something else unites them: a determination to build bridges of shared understanding at a time when the gulf between their peoples seems deeper than ever. They’re both part of the Parents Circle – Families Forum (PCFF), membership of which has the grimmest of qualifications: that your child has been killed in the conflict. Their backgrounds could not be more different, and yet, partly because of their loss, they’ve arrived in the same place. The fighting has to end, and bereaved parents are better placed than most to achieve that. “Before you start to talk [in those meetings],” says [parent Bassam] Aramin, “you can see in their eyes the fear – even hatred – for this Arab, this ‘terrorist’. And after you finish your human story, suddenly there is no fear. Suddenly there is empathy. Some of them cry. Some of them want to shake your hand. This is, as Robi always calls it, our ‘emotional breakthrough’.” ‘Robi’ is Robi Damelin, now director of international relations for the PCFF. Born and raised in a comfortable home in South Africa, she followed in a family tradition – her uncle had helped defend Mandela in his first treason trial – by speaking out against apartheid.

- Positive.News

Sixth Tiny Home Village is Ending Homelessness for Veterans Across the US: ‘This place saved me’

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This week, the nonprofit Veterans Community Project (VCP) broke ground on its sixth tiny home village, this time in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to offer more military veterans a fresh start with housing and individualized care. Each 240-square-foot home is part of a larger community designed to help residents regain stability and independence. Since its founding in 2018 when they welcomed their first residents in Kansas City, VCP has helped hundreds of vets transition out of homelessness. VCP has set a new standard for how cities can address veteran homelessness, with its 85% success rate for vets who complete the program successfully and transition to sustainable permanent housing—all in an average of 335 days. Army combat veteran Dave Myers ... had never heard of VCP when his life was spinning out of control three years ago, addicted to drugs after returning home from war. He now smiles recalling a judge’s words ordering him to become a volunteer after he got clean in prison: “He told me, ‘You’re going to spend so much time with these guys that they’re either going to love you or hate you ... I hope it’s the former, and that they offer you a job after.’” Dave is now a full-time operations employee at VCP and is fulfilling his dream to help Veterans. “I was able to connect with our residents in some ways that not a lot of other people can. I’ve been in their shoes.” “This place saved me,” he said proudly.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on healing the war machine and reimagining the economy.

- Good News Network

Veterans, Military Spouses Cultivate a New Mission on the Farm: ‘This is the place that relaxes me’

Thu, 04 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food figured that veterans were perfectly cut out for farming, as the average vet is 45% more likely to start their own business, and aside from being physically fit, are used to enduring discomfort, waking up early, and being both self-reliant and a team player. Looking to connect their need to perform a service for their communities with the needs of thousands of retiring military who reenter society every year, Arcadia created the Veteran Farmers Training Program. Just a few miles from the Pentagon in Arlington, Arcadia trains veterans in the fundamentals of agriculture both in the field and in the class room. Ephesia Sutton was in the US Army for 20 years, and now trains veterans like herself how to grow nutritious produce for their families and communities. “I left the military with PTSD, depression, and anxiety, and I would rather be anywhere else when dealing with those symptoms. This is the place that relaxes me,” said Sutton told Stars and Stripes from the fields of collard greens, cucumbers, bitter melon, peppers, spinach, kale, and tomatoes. “Knowing the work that I’m doing every time I put my hands in the soil is going to provide for a family, for somebody in this community, that just gives me the push to be out here,” Sutton said. Military spouses ... often have to put their own lives on hold whilst their partners deploy. These too are finding new purpose and fulfillment among the rows of fruits and vegetables.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on healing our bodies and healing the war machine.

- Good News Network

How a Near-Death Experience Changed Rais Bhuiyan's Life

Fri, 29 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Ten days after 9/11, Rais Bhuiyan was shot at point blank range by a white supremacist. The near-death experience inspired him to set up World Without Hate, dedicated to breaking the cycles of violence. "As a result of the shooting, I ... lost my home, my job, my sense of security and my fiance," [said Bhuiyan]. "I focused on rebuilding my life slowly getting into restaurant working as a waiter. Many kind and caring Americans came forward to help redo my life. Forgiving my attacker was a multiple-step process. I realized by executing him we were simply losing human life without dealing with the root cause. I began to see him as a human being like me, not just as a killer. And I remember what it feels like to be on the brink the death, begging to God for a second chance. I learned about the verse in the Holy Koran chapter 5, verse 32 where it says that saving a life is like saving the entire mankind and taking a life is like taking the life of entire mankind. I was extremely convinced I needed to go the extra mile to save the life of the man. When we launched our global campaign to save the life of my attacker he heard from his lawyer that’s one of his victims was running a campaign to save his life. And he told his lawyer, I do not believe it, I never said sorry, I never apologized and destroyed their lives, especially his life, and now he forgave me and is running a campaign to save my life, he was released to tears, he said I don’t deserve that, I’m someone unforgivable. He wrote a letter to me from death row and in one paragraph this is what he said, that my stepfather taught me some lessons that I should have never learned. So when he learned about our campaign he went to tremendous transformation and talked about world peace, mercy, justice, peace, hate crimes and how he was wrong, what went wrong in his life, and how he ended up killing people. He was in peace before he was executed."

Note: Watch Bhuiyan's powerful 17-min PBS interview. For more, watch our latest 20-min video on what can transform a divided world, where you’ll hear the powerful words and stories from those at the edge of death, leaders who reached across deep divides, and even a former neo-Nazi who left hate. Explore more positive stories like this on human interest stories and near-death experiences.

- PBS

Meet the man saving Yazidi slaves from ISIS

Thu, 02 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000

The bidding opens at $9,000. For sale? A Yazidi girl. She is said to be beautiful, hardworking, and a virgin. She’s also just 11 years old. This advertisement – a screengrab from an online marketplace used by ISIS fighters to barter for sex slaves – is one of many Abdullah Shrem keeps in his phone. Each offers vital clues – photographs, locations – that he hopes will help him save Yazidi girls and young women like this girl from the militants holding them captive. Shrem was a successful businessman ... when ISIS came and kidnapped more than 50 members of his family from Iraq’s Sinjar province. Tens of thousands of Yazidis fled their homes ... while thousands of women and girls were abducted and sold into slavery. Desperate – and angered at what he saw as a lack of support from the international community – he began plotting to save them himself, recruiting cigarette smugglers used to sneaking illicit produce in and out of ISIS territory to help his efforts. So far, he says, his network has freed 240 Yazidis; it hasn’t been easy, or cheap – he’s almost broke, having spent his savings paying smuggling fees. A number of the smugglers have been captured and executed by ISIS while trying to track down Yazidi slaves. But Shrem insists the risks are worth it: “Whenever I save someone, it gives me strength and it gives me faith to keep going until I have been able to save them all.” Once they manage to make contact ... it can take days or even weeks to get safely out of ISIS territory.

Note: A 2021 news article by the CBC about his heroic work reported that he has saved about 400 individuals from ISIS forces. Explore more positive stories like this on healing the war machine and ending human trafficking.

- CNN News

The Beekeeper of Sinjar by Dunya Mikhail review – the Iraqi Oskar Schindler

Fri, 10 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Until 2014, Abdullah Shrem was a beekeeper in Iraq. Then Islamic State forces arrived, announcing their terror in symbols daubed on the doorways of the homes they raided: “They wrote the letter Y on our homes and on our stores and built a barrier like the Berlin Wall – N for the Christians, and Y for the Yazidis. S for the Sunnis, and Sh for the Shi’ites,” Shrem recalls. The Yazidis met the worst fate: men were marched into mass graves and shot, while women were separated – young from old, mothers from children, wives from virgins. The younger were taken to a “marketplace” to be sold as sex slaves or sabaya; the older were killed or sold as domestic slaves. Shrem’s response was extraordinary: he left beekeeping to create a network of rescuers – modelled on the female-led fortress of the beehive – who would return the kidnapped women to their families. “I cultivated a hive of transporters and smugglers from both sexes to save our queens,” he tells Dunya Mikhail, an American-Iraqi journalist, whose book is centred on the women Shrem rescues. The women form the book’s heart. Their stories, however courageous, read like a litany of horrors, some painfully detailed. What is striking is the unaugmented record of experiences, transcribed in first-person testimonies and knitted together with Shrem’s words. The multiplicity of voices creates a verbatim record – a chorus of experience – rather than following the ... narrative arc of heroic exceptionalism.

- The Guardian (One of the UK's Leading Newspapers)

These Robots Are Recovering Dumped Explosives From the Baltic Sea

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Within sight of northern Germany’s windswept beaches, specialized clearance teams have been trawling the seafloor for the kind of catch that fishermen in these parts usually avoid—discarded naval mines, torpedoes, stacks of artillery shells, and heavy aerial bombs, all of which have been rusting away for nearly 80 years. For much of September and October 2024, underwater vehicles, fitted with cameras, powerful lights, and sensors, have been hunting for World War II–era explosives purposefully sunk in this region of the Baltic Sea. Tons upon tons of German munitions were hastily dumped at sea under orders from the Allied powers at the end of World War II, who sought to dispose of the Nazis’ arsenal. The clearance work last year was part of a first-of-its-kind project to explore ways to clear up this toxic legacy of war. “Conventional munitions are carcinogenic, and the chemical munitions are mutagenic, and also they disrupt enzymes and whatnot—so they are definitely affecting organisms,” says Jacek Bedowski, a leading expert on underwater munitions dumps. The next stage of the pilot project, also now underway, is building a floating munitions-disposal facility that could incinerate the aging explosives near the dump sites. That would eliminate the need to bring the ordnance above water ... and ship it overland. Longer term, the dream is to have unmanned underwater vehicles map, scan, and magnetically image the seabed to get a sense of what lies where.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on healing the war machine and technology for good.

- Wired

How child soldiers heal after the trauma of war

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

For more than two decades, Theresa S. Betancourt has followed the lives of children (now adults) who returned home after being forced to fight in the civil war that ravaged Sierra Leone from 1991 to 2002. Thousands of children unwillingly participated in the violent conflict as soldiers, spies and laborers. Many took part in attacks on their own neighbors and relatives, many faced sexual violence, many witnessed unspeakable atrocities. Sahr ... was kidnapped as a toddler and spent four years with rebel fighters, returned to rejection and isolation. Then there is Isatu, age 12 when rebels attacked her village, capturing her and her sister. Isatu’s experience upon her return was much different. Initial support from her family and community, combined with her own motivation, led to more help from an extended network. “Isatu’s perseverance generated additional ripples of support, soon to become a self-fulfilling virtuous cycle,” Betancourt writes. Isatu is now a doctor. In her new book, Betancourt ... shares what she has learned about the factors that have helped some of these people recover and even thrive. Shadows into Light is both heart-wrenching and heartening. It tells the stories of the trauma these children faced, their reunion with family, their reintegration into their communities, and their ongoing struggles and healing. One research finding is the importance of family, community, and societal and cultural influences on a person’s trajectory - what psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner described as “social ecology.”

Note: About 160,000 former child soldiers and their families have been “reintegrated” into Nigerian society, according to estimates by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Explore more positive stories like this on healing the war machine.

- ScienceNews

The role model for Syria’s unity

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Since their liberation from a dictatorship Dec. 8, Syrians have been in a cheering mood. People in the capital gave a hero’s welcome to a grassroots rescue organization widely seen as the country’s most selfless, trusted, and impartial group: the Syrian Civil Defense, otherwise known as The White Helmets. This band of some 3,000 unarmed and local volunteers, who wear white headgear, has saved more than 129,000 people during 13 years of civil war. They have rushed to bombed-out buildings to search for survivors – whether they be children, terrorists, or soldiers of the regime. After they served as first responders, they would then clear rubble, rebuild homes, and restore communities. Even though some 10% of them have been killed, the volunteers hold fast to their motto (a verse in the Quran): “Whoever saves one life, it is as if they have saved all of humanity.” Its leader, Raed Al Saleh, says the group’s neutrality and independence have been an important shield. “We existed before all these armed groups and we continue to exist based on the power of the people,” he told Berkeley News in October. Now The White Helmets wants to help Syrians “shake off the dust of war,” he said in a video on the social platform X. That effort includes their help in freeing political prisoners, clearing land mines, and preserving documents of the regime’s abuses. “The Syria of peace and civilization will return to you,” said Mr. Saleh.

Note: Check out our video on transforming the war machine, highlighting the stories of courageous individuals and groups who channel their skills into service and solidarity. Explore more positive stories like this in our comprehensive healing the war machine.

- Christian Science Monitor

9 Organizations Promoting Peace That Are Worth Watching In 2025

Tue, 19 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

While praying for world peace and an end to national, ethnic, and religious conflicts is a good start, as Emmanuel Acho and Noa Tishby remind us in their recent book, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew, actions are more important than words. Getting involved with and supporting organizations that fight discrimination and promote peaceful dialogue can do more to change the world. The Carter Center in Atlanta is guided by the principles and its founders, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, and it has a commitment to human rights as well as preventing and resolving conflicts, enhancing freedom and democracy, and improving health. One of the ways, the Carter Center advances its mission is by observing elections (125 elections in 40 countries so far), and working in countries such as Ethiopia, South Sudan, Uganda, Haiti, and the Middle East. While The Carter Center is primarily focused outside the United States, during the recent polarized presidential election, it created a series of pro-democracy, sports-themed ads that were centered on the idea that we may not like the same teams, but we love the game and believe that everyone should adhere to its rules. The campaign sought to push the message of American unity into unexpected places where audiences might be more open to it, such as in Sports Illustrated, and professional baseball and football programs.

- Forbes

'Circle of blood': The club no Israeli or Palestinian wants to be in. Yet, they urge peace.

Fri, 03 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

They are both bereaved fathers, of young daughters. Somehow, against the odds, both have resisted the urge for vengeance. Rami Elhanan, an Israeli, and Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian, were once united by their anger and grief. Elhanan lost his 14-year-old daughter Smadar when she was killed in a Palestinian suicide bombing in Jerusalem in 1997. Aramin's daughter Abir was 10 when she was shot in the head and killed in 2007 by a bullet fired by an Israeli soldier as she stood outside her school with some classmates. Now they are close friends, refer to one another as "my brother" and share the belief that no amount of fighting between Israelis and Palestinians will lead to peace, just more killing in a "circle of blood." With Israel embroiled in a war with Hamas ... "We have the moral authority to tell people this is not the way," said Elhanan, 74, a former solider in the Israeli army whose father was an Auschwitz survivor. Elhanan has said he still struggles to explain his conversion to a "peace warrior." It coincided with a meeting of bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families he was invited to by Yitzhak Frankenthal, one of the co-founders of the Parents Circle. "I saw an amazing spectacle. Something completely new to me," Elhanan said. "I saw Arabs getting off the buses, bereaved Palestinian families: men, women and children, coming towards me, greeting me for peace, hugging me and crying with me. ... From that day on ... I got a reason to get out of bed in the morning." For Aramin, the journey to nonviolence began as he was being beaten by Israeli prison guards. One day ... he was stripped naked and beaten until he could hardly stand. "As I was being beaten, I remembered a movie I’d seen the year before about the Holocaust. At the time I’d been happy that Hitler had killed 6 million Jews," Aramin has previously recalled. "But some minutes into the movie, I found myself crying and feeling angry that the Jews were being herded into gas chambers without fighting back," he said. "It was the first time I felt empathy."

Note: War destroys, yet these powerful real-life stories show that we can heal, reimagine better alternatives, and plant the seeds of a global shift in consciousness to transform our world.

- USA Today

To Sow Seeds of Peace, One Camp Puts Teens Face-to-Face With Their 'Enemy'

Thu, 04 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

In a remote part of Maine shrouded by trees, 14- and 15-year-olds from the Middle East, Asia, Europe and the U.S, many of whom have long considered one another "the enemy," spend three weeks side-by-side united by one goal: to open their minds and their ears. At the Seeds of Peace camp, the teens eat, interact and engage in dialogue with people from countries some of them are banned from visiting. Seeds of Peace campers are identified by only their first names because, for some, the release of their full identity could put them in danger. Broken up into groups of about 15, campers aren't only asked to share their own narrative. It's also time spent listening and engaging in conversations with people whose opinions are often contrasting and even offensive. They're also placed together for a physical group challenge. Habeeba [a 22-year-old Egyptian] found herself paired with the Israeli, who in dialogue group was so vocal and resolute, she couldn't establish one piece of common ground. Blindfolded, she had a single choice: to depend on someone she couldn't trust or risk falling. As he guided her through each step of the course, she felt a shift in herself, finding an ability to care about a person she never imagined was possible. "He is just as human as me. He's also 14 or 15. I am him and he is me," she realized. "Up on the high ropes, I didn't care that he was Israeli; I cared that we wouldn't fall." What Seeds of Peace does have are the tools needed for these teenagers to break out of a world that wants to force people into one ideological box. "I connected it to the culture that seems to be growing in the United States in universities today of needing a safe space and being triggered very easily," Adaya [22-year-old Israeli] said. "If you're not able to engage someone that you disagree with, how are you going to grow? You have to challenge yourself from different directions in order to know that your opinion stands."

Note: War destroys, yet these powerful real-life stories show that we can heal, reimagine better alternatives, and plant the seeds of a global shift in consciousness to transform our world.

- Newsweek

This U.S. Minister Is Training Rebels in a Civil War

Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A former U.S. Special Forces officer and ordained Christian minister, [Dave Eubank] ... is a diehard humanitarian who has risked his life time and again to help the most vulnerable in a forsaken place that most Americans can’t find on a map. [He] started the Free Burma Rangers (FBR) in the late 1990s to provide medical care and aid to people resisting the Southeast Asian nation’s military junta, a brutal dictatorship that has crushed dissent and oppressed ethnic minorities for seven decades in what is the world’s longest-running civil war. Eubank [leads] an all-volunteer staff of ethnic minorities and foreigners — many of them ex-military, teachers, students, engineers, poets, and shopkeepers — working on the front line. On missions, the Rangers bring gifts and entertainment to brighten the lives of the children living in harm’s way. With his own wife and kids in tow, Eubank set FBR apart with a relentless commitment to go places other humanitarian groups would not. And that’s built FBR into a movement that fields teams and tracks human-rights abuses across Burma’s front lines and beyond, from northern Syria to Sudan. “You could be a murderer. You only have to say ‘I don’t think that’s the best behavior, and I’m trying not to do those things,’ and then you can join us,” [Eubank] says, adding that FBR includes atheists, agnostics, and spirit worshipers. Eubank insists that love is the force that drives him to take extreme risks, and also what makes FBR so effective. “[You will] run forward through the bullets, even if you don’t know the person you’re trying to save,” he says. “If I’m shot and I’m bleeding out on the trail and dying and I can’t see my wife and kids again — if I’m not doing that for love, what a disaster.”

Note: Check out their powerful work in action on their Youtube channel. The Free Burma Rangers are featured in our latest video on healing the war machine.

- Rolling Stone

The Israeli and Palestinian Women Working for Peace

Fri, 02 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

As war rages between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, it is hard to envision an end to the conflict. For decades, though, a growing movement of Palestinian and Israeli women has not only envisioned a peaceful coexistence, but also demanded it. Just three days before Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack, thousands of women from two peacebuilding groups gathered at Jerusalem’s Tolerance Monument. Israelis from Women Wage Peace carried blue flags, and Palestinians from Women of the Sun flew yellow ones. Members of the two groups traveled to the Dead Sea—believed since ancient times to have healing qualities—and set a table. Women from both sides pulled up chairs as a symbol of a good-faith resumption of negotiations to reach a political solution.“We, Palestinian and Israeli mothers, are determined to stop the vicious cycle of bloodshed,” reads the preamble to their campaign, the Mother’s Call. This campaign ... involved aligning around a single agenda that demands a political solution within a limited time frame. They set the table to show the importance of dialogue and women’s involvement in decision-making. Ensuring women’s participation isn’t about equity or fairness. It’s about winning the peace. A quantitative analysis of 156 peace agreements over time ... found that when women are decision-makers—serving as negotiators and mediators—the probability of an agreement lasting at least two years increased by 20 percent.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on healing the war machine.

- Foreign Policy

Giving Blood to the Enemy: When Your Enemy Surrenders What Do you Do?

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Since the coup in Burma three years ago, over 3 million people have been displaced and thousands have been killed. Not only was there heavy fighting between resistance forces and the Burma Army, but the Burma military regularly attacked civilian populations. Local pro-democracy resistance groups, the Karenni National Defense Force (KNDF) and Karenni Army, asked us to provide medical support as they tried to push the Burma Army out of the town of Shadaw in Karenni State. We went to help treat any wounded from the battle. 33 Burma Army soldiers were brought out of the camp. We told them, “Don’t be afraid, we’re not going to hurt you. See, this is what the people of Burma have been facing these last three years. For the ethnic people it’s been over 70 years! The cause of the dictators is lost. Please give up on that idea, rooted in force, control, greed, and hate. We are not better than you. God has made us to love each other and help each other. We’ll take care of you, but we first have to survive this attack together.“ As the jetfighters came in, screaming over us and releasing their bombs just over our heads, I gathered the couple to me with both of my arms and shielded them with my body the best I could. Our team followed my example, shielding their former enemies with their own bodies. One of the wounded had lost a lot of blood so one of Rangers, named Barnya, volunteered to give his blood to the Burma Army soldier. He lay down and looked straight at his former enemy as he gave the blood. The medics ... administered the transfusion, saving the soldier’s life. This was blood given for the enemy out of love, not spilled by the enemy in hate.

Note: Don't miss the powerful pictures of those providing medical care in the jungle to victims of this conflict at the link above. This article was written by the director of Free Ranger Burma and former US Army Special Forces officer David Eubank. Free Burma Rangers is a humanitarian service movement for oppressed ethnic minorities of all races and religions in the Burma, Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria and Sudan war zones. Explore more positive stories like this on healing the war machine.

- Free Ranger Burma

How Do You Forgive the People Who Killed Your Family?

Fri, 04 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

By the early 1990s, extremist Hutu propaganda had started to spread in newspapers and on the radio, radicalizing Rwandans. Over the course of just 100 days [in 1994], about 800,000 Rwandans, primarily Tutsi, were killed. On April 22, 1994, [Hussein] Longolongo recounted, he and an armed group of men entered a chapel where dozens of Tutsi were hiding. “We killed about 70 people,” he said. “I was brainwashed.” Eventually, more than 120,000 Hutu were arrested on charges of participating in the genocide. In prison, [Longolongo] was forced to take part in a government-sanctioned reeducation program. He initially dismissed much of what he heard. “But as time went on, I became convinced that what I did was not right,” he told me. Longolongo also participated in more than 100 of what were known as gacaca trials. Gacaca—which roughly translates to “justice on the grass”—had historically been used in Rwandan villages and communities to settle interpersonal and intercommunal conflicts. Now the government transformed the role of the gacaca court to handle allegations of genocide. Many survivors were initially reluctant. “They would say, ‘How can you forgive those people?’” [Albert] Rutikanga told them that these conversations weren’t something they should do for the perpetrators. “Forgiveness is a choice of healing yourself,” he would say. “You cannot keep the anger and bitterness inside, because it will destroy you.”

Note: Read how a Rwandan woman forgave the man who killed her husband during the 1994 genocide and allowed his daughter to marry her son. Explore more positive stories like this on healing social division.

- The Atlantic

Messages of kindness and peace from students around the world stretch 18 miles

Sun, 21 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Each link of that paper trail carries a handwritten message of love and kindness. These 360,000 chain links were created with used paper — homework assignments, old tests, artwork, paper bags, cereal boxes — by students from schools in all 50 U.S. states and on all continents. You get the gist of this colossal undertaking by Kids for Peace, a global nonprofit based in Carlsbad. Instead of stretching the paper chain from Carlsbad’s Pacific Rim Elementary School to Westfield UTC, however, they arranged the strands into a giant heart on the football field. This paper chain project, more than 18 months in the making, came to fruition on Nov. 13, World Kindness Day. “It was started because of the pandemic,” explains Jill McManigal ... who co-founded and heads Kids for Peace. Students, isolated for months at home, needed to find ways to connect and to remain optimistic during this uncertain time, she says. “By doing this paper chain, they were symbolically connected.” The recycled paper “love links” were written in several languages, including Chinese, Farsi, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Swahili and Tagalog. One message read “love” in Braille. Messages sent from other states and from abroad were stapled and assembled into chains by local student volunteers. Among thoughts shared were: “You’re loved,” “Kindness matters,” “Have faith,” Care for each other,” “Have a good day,” “All we need is hope,” “Stay Strong!,” “Be the source of someone’s joy” and “Learn to dance in the rain.”

Note: Don't miss the pictures of this incredible event at the link above. Explore more positive stories like this on healing social division.

- Los Angeles Times

Ex-FARC members aim to restore 1 million native trees in the Colombian Amazon

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Duberney López Martinéz was only 13 when he joined the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2003. Today, Duberney, 33, lives with his wife and young son after spending more than a decade fighting in the FARC 32nd Front and two years in jail. As part of his reintegration into society ... Duberney got involved in the ecological restoration of the Colombian Amazon. He and another 23 ex-FARC members are promoting the ecological restoration of the Colombian Amazon. The Communitarian Multiactive Cooperative of the Common (Comuccom) ... aims to plant and care for 1 million native trees in order to counteract deforestation from illegal gold mining, cattle ranching, coca-growing and illegal logging. Despite the peace agreement, the conflict is still present in daily lives and memories, according to Kristina Lyons, professor of anthropology ... who has been working in the region. “In Putumayo, armed conflict and antidrug policies heavily impacted bonds among people, communities and their relations with the region’s ecosystems,” Lyons [said]. “The ecological restoration of the Amazon has deep significance for healing relations between humans ruptured by the conflict and among people and their territories. It can be understood as a form of reparation for war crimes and other kinds of violence in the wake of the peace agreements.” “To me, restoring the Amazon is the same process needed for healing the heart of a person,” [said Aroca Sanchez with Comuccom].

Note: Read how tourists in Colombia can now take jungle hikes with ex-FARC guerilla guides. Explore more positive stories like this about healing the war machine.

- Mongabay

Only love can stop war: a Northern Cheyenne chief's call to the world

Fri, 17 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

At the Battle of the Little Bighorn, 146 years ago, my ancestors defeated the US army’s Seventh Cavalry led by George Armstrong Custer, who had previously massacred Cheyenne people. I want to share with you the story of how my people and my family survived through generations – despite many attempts to exterminate us. We are peace chiefs – we never provoke war, our main role is to steward our people and way of life. My father’s grandmother, Quill Dress Woman ... witnessed Cheyenne matriarchs push sewing awls into Custer’s ears so that next lifetime he would listen. They did this because after the Washita massacre in 1868, where Custer had attacked a peaceful Cheyenne camp resulting in the killing of many women and children, our Cheyenne chiefs still made peace with him in a sacred pipe ceremony. The Creator wants us to love each other. Looking at the wars, mass shootings and genocides happening around the world right now, and reading about what has been done to my people above, you might ask: how can people do this to each other? In 1946, Albert Einstein made a call to “let the people know that a new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move to higher levels”. We will never end war and genocide unless we change the mindset that created it. War cannot defeat war, only love can stop war. My love and my forgiveness do not depend on you. I want to forgive you for what you have done to my people, the genocide and the eradication process. This might be our last chance to put an end to this genocidal and suicidal mindset. I love you, and there is nothing you can do about it.

Note: This article was written by Heove ve 'keso (Yellowbird), Chief Phillip Whiteman Jr, traditional Northern Cheyenne Chief. He is part of an organization, Yellowbird Lifeways, that organizes a run in which Cheyenne children follow the footsteps of their ancestors. During this event, they run 400 miles across four states, enduring the harsh conditions of winter. Explore more positive stories like this about healing the war machine.

- The Guardian (One of the UK's Leading Newspapers)

Latin America has two models for eradicating violent crime. One is rooted in dignity and forgiveness.

Mon, 29 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Latin America is the world’s most dangerous region due to cartel and gang violence. It has 9% of the global population but one-third of the world’s homicides. Kidnapping and extortion are on the rise. The trend is driving a turn toward increasingly militarized solutions. El Salvador, for example, has incarcerated some 75,000 people – nearly 2% of its population – in recent years on suspicion of being involved in gangs. In Colombia, by contrast, exchanging the threat of arrest for dialogue is a key part of the government’s painstaking strategy of negotiating peace simultaneously with some 20 armed factions to end 60 years of conflict. That process, known as Paz Total (“total peace”) and launched less than two years ago by President Gustavo Petro, has been marked by reversals and unintended effects. But a key distinction lies in its emphasis on both empathy and the rule of law. The strategy’s first example of “restorative incarceration,” launched earlier this month, shows how. In exchange for admitting guilt for violent acts and seeking forgiveness from victims and the families, 48 military and former guerrilla leaders are now serving “sentences” by planting trees and helping heal the communities they once dominated through fear. “We’re going to sow life to try to make amends and build peace,” [said] Henry Torres, a former army general. As Colombia’s new attorney general put it, “our mission will be ... a mission for the dignity and well-being of our people.” Peace requires patience, said Juan Manuel Santos, a former president who negotiated a 2016 peace accord with Colombia’s main guerrilla faction that still serves as a template for Mr. Petro’s broader peace plan. “You need to convince, to persuade, to change people’s sentiments, to teach them how to forgive, how to reconcile,” he told The Harvard Gazette.

Note: A prison in Brazil with low recidivism rates uses a humane approach, where there are no armed guards and inmates have the keys to their own cells. Explore more positive stories like this about repairing criminal justice.

- Christian Science Monitor

A prize for repairing riven societies

Fri, 07 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This year’s winner of the Templeton Prize, which highlights discoveries that yield "new insights about religion" ... was given to Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, a South African scholar who has explored ways to nurture deep empathy between victims and perpetrators of conflict. Her particular focus is on the power of forgiveness to expunge hatred and historical harms. Such an approach is now widely acknowledged as essential because of wars – from Ukraine and Gaza to Myanmar and Sudan – that have resulted in extensive harm to innocent civilians. Serving on South Africa’s post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the 1990s, Dr. Gobodo-Madikizela gained insights into both the needs of those who suffered under decades of apartheid and the motivations of those who upheld racial separation through violence. Her life work, she said following the award announcement Tuesday, involves understanding “the conditions necessary to restore the values of what it means to be human.” “There’s no better time to shove away prejudices, pull up a chair with a supporter of that party you can’t stand, and talk with them about how we can work together for a brighter future,” wrote Ian Siebörger, a senior lecturer of linguistics at Rhodes University. Dr. Gobodo-Madikizela offers ways to avoid “the passing on of grievance and a sense of victimhood from one generation to the next.” The “reparative quest,” she told Time magazine this week, is “a constant journey to repair and to heal” through atonement and forgiveness. It is not a singular moment. Victims and perpetrators move each other beyond the boundaries of their own experiences.

Note: To explore more stories of forgiveness and healing in the face of atrocities, check out our powerful interview with Marina Cantacuzino, journalist and founder of The Forgiveness Project. Explore more positive stories like this about healing the war machine.

- Christian Science Monitor

Boko Haram made them child soldiers. Will their communities take them back?

Tue, 27 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Abba Gana was only 10 years old when Boko Haram insurgents attacked his village in northern Nigeria in 2014. Along with the other boys his age, he was kidnapped. By the time he was 15, Mr. Gana had joined the ranks of the group’s fighters, carrying out raids like the one on his own village. “Growing up with them, I thought I was fighting for a greater cause,” he says of his time with the group, whose goal is to create a fundamentalist Islamic state. In 2022, he heard a government radio program urging Boko Haram members to surrender. “They said ... that we are welcome back [to our communities] if we repent,” he recalls. For the first time, Mr. Gana says, he allowed himself to imagine that he might be able to go home. Today, some 160,000 former fighters and their families have been “reintegrated” into Nigerian society, according to estimates by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The experiences of former child soldiers ... point to how complex those efforts can be. Many have struggled to find a place for themselves. But their supporters say it isn’t impossible. “Kindness always pays,” says Bulama Maina Audu, whose nephew was abducted by Boko Haram in 2014, and who now works with a group helping former child soldiers return home. “The fears and concerns of the communities they are returning to are completely legitimate, but they can only be addressed through dialogue,” says Oliver Stolpe, UNODC country representative for Nigeria.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this about healing the war machine.

- Christian Science Monitor

Ending a war by embracing innocence

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In Sudan ... civilians have endured 16 months of a violent civil war. Last week, talks to end the war began in Switzerland, but only one of the two warring factions showed up. By the weekend, however, each side had taken a critical step. The armed group attending the talks agreed to enable the delivery of emergency aid to parts of the East African country where hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of starvation. About the same time, and seemingly independently, the other faction opened a vital border crossing for the same purpose. The mutual acknowledgment of the need to protect innocent life may have opened a door to solving one of the world’s gravest crises. “These constructive decisions by both parties will enable the entry of aid needed to stop the famine, address food insecurity and respond to immense humanitarian needs,” international mediators in Geneva said in a joint statement. Recent trends in conflict resolution, the International Committee of the Red Cross noted, have shown that protecting innocent civilians from harm “can have an impact on the success of peace negotiations and agreements, as well as on the chances for post-conflict reconciliation.” Humanitarian gestures, the ICRC observed, helped the Colombian government build trust with guerrilla factions and strengthen compliance with a 2016 peace accord. More recently, two armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a mutual pledge in March to respect and protect civilians caught in the vast African country’s fragmented wars.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this about healing the war machine.

- Christian Science Monitor

There was no medicine, so this Ukrainian nurse sang lullabies to wounded soldiers

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Not long after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Oksana Sokhan found herself in an evacuation minibus, wedged between two stricken soldiers in the dark, as the vehicle tried to safely get away from the front line. She began singing Ukrainian lullabies to the wounded fighters, and stroking them as a mother would. Their anxiety eased. If she stopped the soothing singing for a moment, she saw their anxiety surge again. “I was surprised myself that it worked – surely it worked on a subconscious level for both of them,” recalls the nurse. Ms. Sokhan still laughs about that moment of serendipitous support with the lullabies in the minibus, and about how – after they had all arrived safely at the hospital – a nurse came out to report that one of the men was convinced his mother had been with him during the evacuation. Ms. Sokhan may be just one senior nurse, but she is emblematic of the legions of Ukrainian military medics devoted to preserving the lives of the country’s outnumbered forces. For years a member of the 128th Separate Transcarpathian Mountain Assault Brigade, she has seen a whirlwind of casualties at different points along the front line since Russia’s all-out invasion. “We want to save everyone,” she says. “Of course, it’s very important to see the results of your work, because when they come here” the soldiers are traumatized, in pain, “and when they leave ... they are already waving sometimes.”

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on healing the war machine.

- Christian Science Monitor

5 Countries That Ditched Their Military Forces

Tue, 16 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Between 136.5 and 148.5 million people became casualties of war in the 20th century alone. The economics are equally staggering. For instance, U.S. spending on the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan could top $4 trillion. Despite the exorbitant human and financial costs, the vast majority of governments consider defense spending to be a necessity. A few renegade countries have opted to shed their militaries, however. The first country is the most recent one on our list to get rid of its armed forces. After Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected president [of Haiti] on Dec. 16, 1990, his government was overrun by a military coup. Aristide ... moved quickly to disband Haiti's armed forces before they could pose any further problems. What prompted Costa Rica to eliminate its armed forces? In 1948, after an unusual period of political upheaval ... the new government drafted a constitution that not only guaranteed free and open elections but also abolished the country's armed forces. The island nation of Mauritius is home to more than a million people and one of the strongest economies in Africa. What you won't find, however, are regular military forces. Thanks to the deep distrust Panamanians held for the military, the government adopted a constitutional amendment disbanding the military in 1994. In 1986, Micronesia entered into a Compact of Free Association with the United States.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on healing the war machine.

- Howstuffworks.com

‘Healing spaces’ in post-conflict societies

Fri, 01 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The Afghanistan Memory Home is a growing online archive of testimonies of endurance by ordinary Afghans during years of conflict and repressive rule under the Taliban. The virtual museum is an example of the kind of community-led initiatives that Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has described as “healing spaces” – local sites of nation-building where the traumas and resentments of war are salved through traditional forms of civic engagement based on cultural values, spirituality, and listening. These projects in reconciliation quietly persist almost everywhere people seek freedom from conflict or repression, from Afghanistan to Yemen. They often supplant the work of national transitional justice initiatives stalled by political disagreements or lack of cooperation. They also underscore that “justice isn’t just punishment or prosecution and presenting evidence against perpetrators,” said Ruben Carranza, an expert on post-conflict community healing. In South Sudan, for instance, a local peace and reconciliation process called Wunlit gave grassroots strength to a 2018 national peace agreement. Led by tribal chiefs and spiritual leaders, the “peace to peace” dialogue defused cattle raids and abductions between the Nuer and Dinka communities. In Iraq, the Ministry of Human Rights has relied on tribal, religious, and civil society leaders to help forge local support for a national dialogue on reconciliation. History has “taught us that relying solely on military force will not bring about lasting peace and stability,” Hodan Ali, a Somali presidential policy adviser, wrote. The more durable work of peace involves empowering individuals and communities to tell their own stories – and listen to each other.

Note: Explore more positive stories about healing the war machine.

- Christian Science Monitor