International Activists Assemble in Kabul, March 17 – 24, to Join Afghan Youth in Solidarity Delegation and Tree Planting

CHICAGO, Ill.,- From March 17 to 24, 2011, a group of international peace activists will meet with Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers in Kabul, Afghanistan to learn about their experiences and support an AYPV campaign called “I Wish to Live Without Wars,” www.livewithoutwars.org.

Elizabeth Deligio, justice and peace coordinator for the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, is a member of the delegation. Deligio works for the FSPA community at the 8th Day Center for Justice in Chicago. She has worked for peace in partnership with FSPA and the 8th Day Center for the past five years.

On March 19, several dozen Afghan youth from all ethnicities will celebrate a widespread wish to live without wars by walking hand-in-hand through the streets of Kabul to a garden plot where they will plant trees of peace. March 21, marks the Afghan New Year’s Day and the first day of spring. The AYPVs have invited the international delegation to join them that evening for a candle light vigil commemorating the youth and children of Afghanistan and the world who have been killed in wars.

During 2010, Voices for Creative Nonviolence members spent three weeks in October and again in December as guests of the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers, first in Bamiyan and then in Kabul. Together, they met with representatives of various NGOs and with leaders of civil society. They also met with Afghans who have been displaced by the war and now endure wretched conditions in a Kabul refugee camp. The Afghan youngsters recalled their own harsh refugee experiences as ‘days of misfortune.’ In December, they presented to Afghan media their own “December Review” as an alternative to that which was issued by the Obama administration. They call for an end to war. They are determined not to exacerbate spiraling violence based on desires for revenge. They encourage wide-scale friendships of love and truth that will cross all borders towards nonviolent and conciliatory relations. They ask,' Why not love?'

To learn more about Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers, visit www.ourjourneytosmile.com.

Voices for Creative Nonviolence has deep, long-standing roots in active nonviolent resistance to U.S. war-making. Begun in the summer of 2005, Voices draws upon the experiences of those who challenged the brutal economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and U.N. against the Iraqi people between 1990 and 2003.

 

Join in via the Global Day of Listening

Please join in the next Global Day of Listening March 19 through 20, 2011. This call, inspired by our friends the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers, but involving people from all over the globe, is a great chance to connect with peacemakers in other countries, hear about their experiences, and build friendships for peace. This mega-call starts Saturday afternoon and goes all the way until Sunday afternoon (U.S. time) and you can join in at any time to the ongoing conversation (land line, cell phone or Skype)!

You might want to sign yourself or your group up for a short speaking slot in order to ask Iraqis or Afghans a question, share a reflection/poem/song, or just listen in and learn!

For all the details visit http://globaldayoflistening.org/