Peace X Peace Forums: Women and the Arab Spring
Welcome to the first Peace X Peace Forum! These forums, which we hope to host regularly, will take on pressing issues in the world of peacebuilding and gender. This time, we have gathered women from around the Middle East – from Egypt to Tunisia and beyond – to discuss how women have influenced the Arab Spring and the impact it has had on them. We hope you enjoy this discussion and add your own thoughts in the comments!
Pro-change Women of the Arab …

Hi all.  As peacebuilders we often work beyond our own communities, states, provinces, and countries.  Some of us don’t of course, and find enough to do in our own neighborhoods.  But is that the only place you can legitimately work?  Could I go to a different Ward in Washington DC to make a difference?  To another country?  Where is peacebuilding legitimate, and for whom?  These are some of the questions our links grapple with this week.

Kony 2012 controversy – the criticisms of this film seem like something Peace X Peace …

-Louise Diamond
In her 2000 book The Courage for Peace (Conari Press, Berkeley, CA, 2000, pages 36-38), our 2011 Patricia Smith Peacebuilder Award winner describes a challenge she undertook at a transition point in her career. This account registers with me as a personal challenge. How do you feel when you read it? Please share your comments below.
“It’s time,” I heard from deep within, “to take what you know about healing at the individual, family, group, organizational, and community levels
to the international arena. It’s time to bring the lessons of peace …

By Caroline Anderson
Blog and Social Media Manager
“There is work to be done in every community to understand our neighbors better, and to create a more cohesive and peaceful existence. Peace starts at home, and home can be a model for peace around the world.”
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Our honoree for the Community Peacebuilding award (thank you to everyone who submitted nominations!), is an organization that was born in Southern California, but that seeks to tap broadly into the power of women to find “new solutions to old problems.” It is an …