Read a Peace Report- America’s Nobel Peace Laureates: They Need To Be Recognized

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America’s Nobel Peace Laureates: They Need To Be Recognized
an article by John Attig

Twenty-four Americans have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, yet most of their countrymen have trouble naming even one. In contrast the same persons usually are able to name at least five American generals from the nation’s many wars. That is why the Nobel Peace Laureate Project in Eugene, Oregon, is determined to raise the public’s awareness of their accomplishments. U.S. Peace Laureates have ended wars. prevented others, aided the victims of war, and created conditions that reduce the causes of conflicts

This is the Best of Parade entry at the September, 2010 Eugene Celebration Parade. The sayings on the signs were original statements by chlldren in various European nations.

click on photo to enlarge
These Americans have not been recognized as a group in their native land. The Eugene group came up with the Nobel Project, which has two tracks. One is a curriculum and teaching materials about the Peace Laureates written for elementary schools, middle schools and high schools respectively. Available on the Project’s website, these teaching materials are being used in every state and over thirty foreign countries. The materials are the first ever to describe what the Laureates have done.

The other aspect of the Project is a planned Peace Park. The city of Eugene is providing a site with over two acres for the first ever site honoring as a group these American peacemakers. Space is allocated for future winners. The Peace Park will feature a winding path that will display plaques describing what each Laureate did to merit the Peace Prize. 25 new trees and hundreds of new flowering plants will provide a gorgeous setting. It is hoped to begin creating the Peace Park in 2012.

The Peace Park has received many in-kind donations, including thirty-four tons of rock for a wall, and stone masons volunteering their labor. A 2010 fundraiser provided a needed surge of cash donations and pledges. Many civic, religious, and political organizations have endorsed these efforts.

1997 Peace Laureate Jody Williams, a woman who began working for the International Treaty to Ban Land Mines by using the internet from her own apartment, told a conference in 2010, “You have a cause for humanity. Get off your [butt] and do it!” The Nobel Project endorses her spirit and seeks to spread it to other Americans.

For more information about the Nobel Peace Laureate Project, its teaching materials, and how persons can assist bringing the Peace Park to life, visit the Project’s website: www.nobelpeacelaureates.org.

DISCUSSION

Question(s) related to this article:

How can culture of peace be developed at the municipal level?

Thematic forum(s) in which this article is being discussed:

CULTURE OF PEACE CITIES - VILLES CULTURE DE PAIX

Latest reader comment:

Brazil in general and São Paulo in particular are leading the way in showing how a culture of peace can be developed at the municipal level.

As described in an earlier CPNN report, Culture of Peace Advances in Brazil, culture of peace commissions have been or are being established in the Brazilian cities of São Paulo, Itepecirica da Serra, São José dos Campos, Diadema, Curitiba, Ribeirão Pires and Cotia. More recently a commission is being established in the city of Londrina.

Based largely on the Brazilian leadership, several of us have proposed a project to mobilize a network of cities that would measure progress toward a culture of peace. The project proposal may be found on the Internet at the strategy site of the International Decade for a Culture of Peace.

This report was posted on August 10, 2011 .

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