#peacebuilding — Public Fediverse posts

🚨 New projects alert! 🚨

Join our mission to map vital areas for peacekeeping in the West African region. 🌍🇨🇲🇳🇬

📍 https://tasks.hotosm.org/explore?location=Nigeria&omitMapResults=1&organisation=UN%20Mappers
🗺 Features to map: Roads and Places
👩‍💻 Open to beginner and expert mappers
⏳ Target completion date: 20 September

Become a #UNMapper! 💙

#UNMappers #UNMaps #MappingforPeace #OpenStreetMap #UNOWAS #volunteering #UNvolunteering #UNvolunteers #peacebuilding

I love the rainbow flag. It's such a strong and magical symbol. There are (at least) two versions often confused.

I'm privileged to travel for my work doing what I love. About a week ago, I went to Cascia in Italy, to hold a workshop on sensitising young minds to the challenges of equitable inclusion and participation. It was a mixture of the 10th-anniversary Social Hackathon and Peace Village. Symbolically, we carried a 25-metre "PACE" (peace) flag. It's a rainbow flag with the white letters of the word placed on it - sometimes it's even without the word. You can see how easy it is to confuse it with the pride flag. I sent the image to all my friends and acquaintances, because I felt this was a special walk, where a common appeal to peace beyond ideologies was delivered through poetry, by the youth.

Several asked what I was doing at the parade. Some ignored my message. To me, the peace flag, which Umbria has been carrying since 1961, represents camaraderie, or at least constructive acceptance among all. We're all children of the Sun's rays, after all.

That's what the event got right - prosperity built through difference, not despite it. The Hackathon part involved 8 young teams mentored by experts to compete in delivering tech solutions to build peace and tackle other Sustainable Development Goals, and twice as many smaller junior teams building applicable solutions for local communities. The Peace Village side was subtler: mindfulness, and responsibility for building and maintaining peace. With 46 nationalities in attendance, it was an enchanting 3-day event, giving hope when, at least to me, it was very much needed.

Anyone working with youth, pay attention to Umbria's Social Hackathons and C.R.E.A. Cultura Festivals. Challenging models to replicate (you need a highly driven team), but worth stealing from.

#SHU #SHU2026 #Education #PeaceBuilding #YouthWork #Cascia #Umbria

Builder

For Nelson (May 16, 1944-July 13, 2005)

If I would have my life to live over again,
I would find an old stone wall in disrepair
and I would spend my days seeking the tumbled
down stones hidden in the grass.

By day I would rebuild the wall. At night I
would lie in its lee. I would not be afraid
of the snakes and rodents disturbed from
their dark places in the cracks between the
stones where they sleep.

And when my life came to an end and the wall
was as yet unfinished, I would not moan. I
would lay myself down against the rocks and
let my body fade away into a place of rest in
the cracks between the stones.

March 11, 2005

(Reposted on the anniversary of my dear friend’s passing)

Builder

For Nelson (May 16, 1944-July 13, 2005)

If I would have my life to live over again,
I would find an old stone wall in disrepair
and I would spend my days seeking the tumbled
down stones hidden in the grass.

By day I would rebuild the wall. At night I
would lie in its lee. I would not be afraid
of the snakes and rodents disturbed from
their dark places in the cracks between the
stones where they sleep.

And when my life came to an end and the wall
was as yet unfinished, I would not moan. I
would lay myself down against the rocks and
let my body fade away into a place of rest in
the cracks between the stones.

March 11, 2005

(Reposted on the anniversary of my dear friend’s passing)

Storm Surge

In the end,
will you be faithful?
That is question.

When the storm has come and gone,
when what you thought was precious has been stripped away,
when you sleep in darkness wondering if the lights will ever come back on,
when your life in the flash of lightning reverts back to the everyday of your sisters and brothers in the warzone,
when your plane to those destinations is grounded by the thunder’s roar?

Will you awake to new resolve for justice?
Will you spend less time before the screen and more time present to loved ones and those in need of it?
Will you leave the ground to alight among the troubled?
Will you listen to them?

Will the power that comes on be in you,
through you,
glowing out through your eyes,
electrifying,
filling you with a compassion so compelling
you become a wire
among many
channeling
love and peace
to the world?

June 2, 2015

How Government #FusionCenters Violate Americans’ Rights — and How to Stop It

The Biden administration and Congress must impose oversight and accountability on the state-run centers.

by Mike German
December 15, 2022

"A federal jury awarded $300,000 this month to a #MaineStatePolice trooper who was demoted after blowing the whistle on privacy violations at the state’s intelligence #FusionCenter. The federal government spurred the development of fusion centers after 9/11 as a means for sharing counterterrorism intelligence among state and local governments, as well as select private entities. The facts revealed during this trial adds to a mountain of evidence that fusion centers require greater regulation and oversight.

"The trooper alleged that the Maine Intelligence and Analysis Center, 1 in a network of 80 fusion centers operating across the country, was illegally collecting and sharing information about Maine residents who weren’t suspected of criminal activity. They included gun purchasers, people #protesting the construction of a new power transmission line, the employees of a #peacebuilding #SummerCamp for teenagers, and even people who travelled to New York City frequently. The whistleblower also claimed that fusion center supervisors pressured him to illegally share sensitive FBI information he had access to because of his position on the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

[...]

"Shortly after the Maine trooper filed his lawsuit in May 2020, a hack of a fusion center contractor exposed 296 gigabytes of intelligence records from more than 200 law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and DHS. The records substantiated the trooper’s complaints about privacy and #CivilRights violations at the #Maine fusion center and showed similar abuse occurring throughout the network, particularly in tracking #BlackLivesMatter #protests. The documents also showed that fusion centers had regularly spread misinformation sourced from dubious social media posts, including false reports alleging that #antifascists were starting wildfires or planning acts of violence. These specious reports distracted law enforcement during public safety emergencies."

Read more:
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/how-government-fusion-centers-violate-americans-rights-and-how-stop-it

#FTPFriday #ACAB #SLAPPs #Fascism #CivilLiberties #ClimateActivists #QuebecHydro #CMP #CMPCorridor #ForestDefenders #WaterProtectors #CorporateColonialism