PRO-PEACE INSPIRATION 2011-12

Here we highlight stories, facts, individual acts, initiatives, trends, events that convey the idea that a better world is possible.


Retired top U.S. general backs nuclear reduction.
Pity he needed to retire before he said so!

World poverty is decreasing fast and one major reason is that China has lifted 660 million people out of poverty in just 30 years - says TFF Associate Jonathan Power
World poverty is decreasing

Oscar Arias' moving and deeply convincing plea for reduction of world military expenditures
The Power of Demilitarization

Israeli citizens reach out to the Iranian people!
Iranians, we will never bomb you!

AIDS appears to have stabilized
The spread of HIV appears to have stabilized in most regions, and more people are surviving longer
Explication: The UN Development Goal for AIDS is: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Situation: The number of people newly infected with HIV increased rapidly from 1990 to 1996 but has since fallen by more than one fourth. In 2004 the number of people who died from AIDS peaked and has since then begun to fall.
This is a most remarkable achievement. We have not developed a vaccine against AIDS, we have not found a cure. Still, education about the disease, how it is spread and how to avoid infection through the use of condoms and other measures, has been successful in many regions.
To proceed further in the fight against AIDS, the most important killer among infectious diseases, education and general access to medical treatment in every region is necessary. Sexual violence is an important cause behind infections in young women and must be decreased by education of all men.
The number of children orphaned when the parents have died from AIDS remains appalling. Fourteen million children in sub-Saharan Africa alone have lost both parents in AIDS.

Breaking - positive - news about Nigeria. And why did we never hear that?
TFF Associate Jonathan Power has just returned from the country with a series of good news

New pro-peace magazine from the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society
Positive stories and experiences from peace-making around the world

12,000 fewer children die each day
The number of deaths of children under the age of five declined from 12.4 million in 1990 to 8.1 million in 2009.
This means that nearly 12,000 fewer children are dying each day. Between 2000 and 2008, the combination of improved immunization coverage and the opportunity for second-dose immunizations led to a 78 percent drop in measles deaths worldwide. These averted deaths represent one quarter of the decline in mortality from all causes among children under five.
The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011, p 4

Hopefully a Burmese spring
Critical voices may be right that it is the result of big power games, the US getting a foothold in a Chinese-allied country. But whatever the reasons, if millions of people get more freedom and opportunities for a better life, if parties to decades of killings agree on a cease-fire, it should fill us with joy and hope - as much as the next war will fill us with sadness, anger or despair.
Here a link to a balanced discussion of causes from Yale University

Charlie Chaplin in 1940
Still one of the most succinct statements on world affairs and ethics. Of the greatest relevance today, more than 70 years later.
Final speech in "The Great Dictator"