1. Peace: Piece by piece.
- Author
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Henes, Donna and Mazeaud, Dominique
- Abstract
In the 1960s it was called the antiwar movement. The pervasive tone was righteous indignation at a wrongful war. Sometimes anger took over and the demonstrations of that day became violent, destructive, and negative, very much like the war we were protesting. The 1970s were called the “me decade.” After the intense activism of the sixties, people felt a need to pull back and examine their personal lives. The social protest movements begun in that period—the women's movement, the gay rights’ movement, the gray panthers’ movement—were reflections of the reassessment of power and exploitation on the home front. There is a general feeling that the 1970s and early 1980s were a time of mass apathy and hopelessness. But, in fact, wasn't it really a case of people being genuinely overwhelmed by the enormity of the social, economic, and ecological consequences of greed? By the mid‐1980s the immediate imperative to deal with the environmental and nuclear dangers surrounding the planet and humankind became clear. It was obvious that new ways of problem solving were called for. Individuals and groups of people started to experiment with a creative and innovative approach to protest. Protest, after all, means to speak for (pro = in favor of, test = speak). Today, we call it the peace movement. An ever growing, diverse, and international grassroots movement toward peace flourishes. We are looking for new ways to express ourselves and new forms for future living—starting now. We are not out to “smash imperialism” or “overthrow the military industrial complex,” slogans of the 1960s; rather, we are searching and experimenting to find ways for people to live together on a living earth in peace. This phenomenon reflects the findings of the most current quantum physics that observers, by the very fact of observation, affect events. We are realizing that we live in a participatory universe. The ramifications of our response‐ability toward each other and our planet have become real, In other words, that by doing something positive, even just thinking positive thoughts, the negative trends can be altered and transformed. This is quite an empowering concept. We call it Peace: Piece By Piece. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]
- Published
- 1993
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