The Peace Alliance, a citizen action group supporting a culture of peace, will host a conference to raise awareness and lobby for the creation of a cabinet level Department of Peace, Maggie Lada, an intern for The Peace Alliance and senior in the School of International Service, said. The conference will be held in Arlington, Va., Feb. 3-5.
A Department of Peace would "develop policies and allocate resources to effectively reduce the levels of domestic and gang violence, child abuse and various other forms of societal discord," according to The Peace Alliance's Web site,
On an international level, The Peace Alliance's Web site said the Department of Peace could work with Congress and President Bush to build more peaceful dealings between nations and prevent future wars by studying their causes.
Bert Kauffmann, a retired psychologist who has been working with The Peace Alliance to promote public awareness of the legislation, said the Department of Peace is "particularly appropriate in lieu of the horrors of the war in Iraq."
"There is a great yearning in the country for peace in Iraq," Kauffmann said.
In the 109th Congress, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, sponsored the Department of Peace and Nonviolence Bill, H.R. 3760, in the House, while Sen. Mark Dayton, D-MN, sponsored its sister bill, S. 1756, in the Senate. The bills will be reintroduced in the 110th Congress in February, according to The Peace Alliance's Web site.
"Everyone in Congress and the American public is really thirsty for a new approach to conflict resolution," Lada said of the bill.
Kucinich is one of multiple candidates who will be running for president, Kauffmann said.
"Dennis Kucinich is one of them and the Department of Peace was his idea initially," Kauffmann said. "What a coup it would be for one of the major candidates to embrace peace by advocating for the Department of Peace now while the war is still raging."
According to Lada, the Department of Peace conference will feature speakers such as Dennis Kucinich and writer Deepak Chopra, as well as a performance by Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and actor Joaquin Phoenix. The concert will take place Feb. 5 at George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium and is open to the public. Tickets for students cost $10.
The conference will also mark the first national meeting of the Student Peace Alliance chapters. The Student Peace Alliance currently has groups on 15 different campuses, which work to promote cultures of peace at their schools, according to the Student Peace Alliance Director Aaron Voldman. American University does not currently have a chapter of the Student Peace Alliance.
The Student Peace Alliance has organized a number of letter-writing campaigns and peace walks in more than 80 locations.
"I think that this is a very vibrant moment currently in the U.S. and people are calling for a change ... which will hopefully bring about the creation of a Department of Peace," Voldman said. "As a generation, we believe that now is the time for peace"
