March 2005 LOBBY OF PARLIAMENT
We organised our first lobby of Parliament on 8th March when about twenty people filled in a green card in Central Lobby requesting a meeting with their MP and asking them to support the concept of a government Ministry for Peace.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING – hosted by John McDonnell, MP
Grand Committee Room
This was held after the lobby of parliament. Eddy Canfor-Dumas, Chair of ministry for peace presented some of the key ideas from our Manifesto and John McDonnell MP told us about activities in Parliament for mfp.
April 2005 GENERAL ELECTION We participated in the
General Election campaign by launching our own Manifesto – in two versions:
- A very attractive and well-written four page Manifesto entitled “A less violent Britain in a less violent world”
- A 48 page version going into greater depth
Both versions are available at
www.ministryforpeace.org June 2005 PUBLIC MEETING – hosted by John McDonnell, MP
Grand Committee Room Kai Frithof Brand-Jacobsen spoke again at our first meeting of the new Parliament on 15th June. His theme was:
Transforming Violent Conflicts, Preventing war, Building Peace: What can be done by people and governments today
Kai also gave five Transcend training programmes in London for us:
- Peacebuilding, War Prevention and Conflict Transformation for Governments and Diplomats
- Building Peace within and between Religions and Faiths
- Training of Peaceworkers
- Dealing with Conflicts and Violence in Schools and the Community
- Globalisation and People’s Struggles to Overcome Direct, Structural and Cultural Violence
July 2005 PUBLIC MEETING – hosted by Elfyn Llwyd, MP
Portcullis House
To mark the mid point of the UN Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World we looked at what had been achieved so far, what remained to be done and what impact the UN Secretary-General's new report on children and violence would have.
In the second part of the evening we looked at an innovative approach to illiteracy - with speakers looking at visual perceptual problems, who it affects and how, the cost to society and the UK and how Government could address the problem by testing all children entering primary school and providing those with the problem with spectacles with coloured lenses.
October 2005 SUMMIT
Together with the US Peace Alliance for a Department of Peace and the Canadian Working Group for a Federal Department of Peace, mfp organised the first People's Summit for Departments of Peace in London on 18th and 19th October. This was preceded by two days Transcend training with Kai Brand-Jacobsen.
40 people from eleven countries attended and at the end it was agreed to create an international People’s Initiative for Departments of Peace. It was a most uplifting experience working so constructively and harmoniously with people from different parts of the world.
PUBLIC MEETING – hosted by John McDonnell, MP
Grand Committee Room
On the final day of the Summit we held an open meeting in Parliament and launched the new People’s Initiative for Departments of Peace to a standing ovation in a packed Grand Committee Room.
November 2005 PUBLIC MEETING – hosted by John McDonnell, MP Grand Committee Room The theme was:
PEACE JOURNALISM? - A debate on the pros and cons
Speakers: Jake Lynch, John Lloyd, Jane Corbin and Gabrielle Rifkind.
February 2006 PUBLIC MEETING – hosted by Hugh Irranca-Davies, MP
Portcullis House
Robi Damelin and Nadwa Sarandah, from Israeli-Palestine Bereaved Families for Peace, spoke about their vision, their work and the challenges they face to bring about peace in their divided land.
March 2006 PUBLIC MEETING Portcullis House The situation regarding US/Iran
Speakers Dr. Elaheh Povey (SOAS), Paul Ingram (British American Security Information Council (BASIC) and Roya Kashefi, ACI London.
Eddy Canfor-Dumas then described a Transcend peace process that could be used.
At the same meeting
mfp launched a new campaign –
Negotiate Peace - in response to the call for action from the People’s Initiative for Departments of Peace – with a new website:
www.negotiate-peace.org.
This campaign calls on governments to use conflict transformation methods to resolve the crisis between US/Iran.
18th MARCH STOP THE WAR DEMONSTRATION Members of
mfp went on the march with the Negotiate Peace banner and placards.
April 2006 WASHINGTON DC TRIP With the continued tension over a possible military intervention in Iran, Diana travelled to Washington to meet with US members of the People’s Initiative for Departments of Peace to explore the possibility of sending a high level delegation to Teheran and Washington on behalf of civil society to defuse the crisis. During three hectic days there were meetings with former US Ambassadors to Iran, academics, people working for peace and reconciliation and people from think tanks.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING – 19TH April – hosted by John McDonnell, MP Portcullis House Report of year’s work and election of National Co-ordinating Committee for 2006/7:
Ahlam Akram, Diana Basterfield, Eddy Canfor-Dumas, Trish Dickenson, Elizabeth Dowse, Vince Dowse, James Eckhardt, Eirwen Harbottle, John Hunt, Ruth Ludgate, Jim McCluskey, Irving Rappaport
RESOLUTIONS PASSED 1.That the membership fee for individual Members is increased to £15 a year
2.That a new category of membership be created – for organisations
Membership fee per annum
Under 50 members £30
50 – 499 members £40
500 – 999 members £60
1,000 – 4,999 members £100
Over 5,000 members £350
Iran: How did we get here?
Speaker: Neil Crompton
Head of Iran Co-ordination Group, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Can Conflict Transformation Tools avert a military intervention?
Speaker: Kai Brand-Jacobsen
Co-Director, Transcend, Director PATRIR
June 2006 Second
People’s Summit for Ministries and Departments of Peace, Victoria, Canada (June 21, 22), preceded by two days Transcend training with Kai Brand-Jacobsen. 70 participants from 25 countries.
June 25, participation at the
World Peace Forum -Vancouver
mfp was also asked to send a speaker to a number of events organised by others. Diana spoke at the AGM of WILPF (Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom), the February House of Lords Arms Reduction Coalition in association with World Disarmament Campaign meeting, LAW’s AGM, (Labour Against War) and the Bath United Nations Association meeting in May.
