PEACE for LIFE - A people's forum and movement for global justice and peace

The World without Empire Conference and Peace Festival being organised by Peace for Life and its U.S.-based partners is happening on April 23-24 at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City. The two-day event features a day of dialogue between movements of the North and South, a public fishbowl forum, and a youth-led Peace Festival. Read on to know more about what's being planned for this international gathering.

PfL 2nd People’s Forum links Colombia’s ‘bleeding’ to U.S. Empire, commits to ‘counter-imperial faith’

Peace for Life Second People’s Forum -
Opening Ritual and Celebration with
international participants and Colombian
hosts (Photo credit: Proyecto Justicia y Vida)

April 7, 2009 – The U.S. Empire is making a desperate and brutal assault on the Colombian people to secure its traditional hold over the Americas and over the globe, declare participants representing various faiths at an international forum held March 20-23 in Bogotá, Colombia.

But a new spirituality is rising from the people’s shared pain and struggle, noted delegates of Peace for Life’s Second People’s Forum as they celebrated the “emergence of life in the throes of U.S. imperial power” upon hearing powerful and inspiring testimonies from Colombia’s women, displaced indigenous people, mothers of the disappeared, Afro-Colombians, labor organizers, social activists and human rights defenders. More »

BOGOTÁ DECLARATION 2009

Faith and Resistance for Peace and Life in the Age of U.S./Global Empire

With the powers of dance, music, testimonies and prayers, and enriched by multiple analyses, we Colombian peoples’ movements, and international delegates in solidarity, issue this joint call to the international community. In March 2009 at Bogotá, Colombians through Proyecto Justicia y Vida, joined with the Second People’s Forum of Peace for Life to focus Colombia’s armed conflict and struggle within a larger global context, under the theme, “Without Fear of Empire: Global People’s Resistance.” More »

Sri Lanka: A Humanitarian Catastrophe –
Links to news, information and resources on the rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka, brought on by the Sri Lankan government intensified military campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)

Jan 2009 displacement in the Vanni. Civilians are being displaced from parts of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu Districts as a result of the Sri Lanka Army's military offensive. There are 350,000 displaced persons in the Vanni. The Govt of SL ordered the UN & international NGOs to leave the area in Sept 2008. (Courtesy: TRO Kilinochchi. This photo may be used under a Creative Commons license.)

NEWS & RESOURCES

WCC Demands Release of Sri Lankan Ecumenical Official (22 Apr 2009) – WCC general secretary’s letter to the Sri Lankan president urging the release of Shanta Fernando of NCC Sri Lanka, under detention since March 27, 2009

Day of Reckoning in Sri Lanka (20 Apr 2009) – analysis on the imminent “mass slaughter of civilians” as the government-set deadline for the LTTE’s surrender ends at noon Tuesday, April 21st

A slaughter of Tamils (13 Apr 2009) – statement by concerned South Asian citizens appealing to the international community, the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE to avert the escalation of violence and mass deaths among Tamil civilians

Sri Lanka, a “humanitarian crisis exceeding all imaginable proportions” (9 Apr 2009) – on the statement by the international ecumenical consultation on peace in South Asia, expressing concern over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka

The silent horror of the war in Sri Lanka (30 Mar 2009) – Arundhati Roy blames utter lack of media reporting for the “colossal human tragedy” in Sri Lanka

Prayers for Sri Lanka – appeal from the Christian Conference of Asia for the international community’s intervention and solidarity, 20 Feb 2009

Religious leaders ask Secretary Clinton to assert U.S. influence in Sri Lanka – letter to the US Secretary of State for immediate US intervention, 16 Feb 2009

PUCL Statement: Humanitarian Crisis in northern Sri Lanka – appeal from the People’s Union for Civil Liberties for the UN to invoke the doctrine of ‘Responsibility to Protect’

More »