Rosie
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Joined: 28 Jun 2007
Posts: 509
Location: Wisconsin, USA
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| Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 2:04 am Post subject: Trouble Making Peace |
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WPR: Is Peace A Dirty Word?
On April 23, 2007 Wisconsin Public Radio's Jean Feraca aired a program, "Is Peace a Dirty Word?" with Daniel Zwerdling and more.
On March 24th, NPR reporter Daniel Zwerdling did a report for Weekend Edition (see below) on the backlash caused by the Fairmont, Minnesota, City Council’s decision to support the creation of a Department of Peace.
A month later, Wisconson Public Radio's Jean Feraca, host of "Here On Earth, Radio Without Borders," and her guests discussed that program and "Peace" as concept and action. Why do we fear peace? Is what happened in Fairmont typical of the country as a whole?
Guests:
Daniel Zwerdling, NPR Weekend Edition commentator
Judi Poulson, Chair of the Women's Peace Club in Fairmont, Minnesota
Neal Breitbarth, Republican leader in Fairmont, Minnesota
Morton Perlmutter, professor emeritus in the School of Social Work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Link: Is Peace A Dirty Word?
Source: http://www.thepeacealliance.org/content/view/340/1/
NPR: Peace Department Proposal Rattles Small Town
NPR aired a 10 minute program on the Department of Peace campaign -- with a particular focus on on Fairmont, MN. The program was broadcast Saturday March 24th on Weekend Edition with Scott Simon. It was produced by award-winning journalist Daniel Zwerdling.
You can listen to the program here.
Excerpt:
Weekend Edition Saturday, March 24, 2007 ·
To the members of a women's group in Fairmont, Minn., it seemed like a simple idea: The United States has a Department of State, which promotes America's interests overseas. And it also has a Department of Defense, which fights for them. So why not create a Department of Peace, to promote creative ways to avoid conflicts?
A national coalition of human rights groups has been campaigning for the idea, which has been around in some form since the days of America's founding fathers. There's currently a bill before Congress that would create such an agency. When the Fairmont Peace Club learned of the campaign last year, they decided to help. Instead, they triggered fears in their community about the very survival of America.
Fairmont, surrounded by farm fields and red barns, is the government seat of Martin County, population 10,000; it's among the top 10 pork-producing counties in America. The area is 97 percent white, and a large majority of residents usually vote Republican.
Fairmont has also been home, since the early 1960s, to the Peace Club.
Last November, the club persuaded the five members of Fairmont's city council that the Department of Peace was a good idea; the council unanimously passed a resolution endorsing it, without any debate.
"I didn't think it was controversial," said club member Ruth Draut. "I thought everybody wanted peace."
The backlash started the next morning. When Vietnam veteran Jerome Kortuem read about the resolution in the newspaper, he was dumbfounded.
more
Source: http://www.thepeacealliance.org/content/view/310/1/
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U.S. Department of Peace, 3 - 5pm CST Sundays, and available for download.
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