Peace. If the world ever needed it, it’s now on tomorrow’s 19th anniversary of 9-11.
That said, for many people the terms “Positive Peace” and “Negative Peace” are probably new. They were coined by a Norwegian sociologist, Johan Galtung, 89, who still today dedicates his life to researching peace and its various forms.
Here are his definitions of each term:
- Positive Peace creates an optimum environment in which human potential can flourish.
- Negative Peace is the absence of war and violence.
Jim Roxlo
Yesterday, the Rotary Club of Farragut was introduced to these concepts by former Rotary District 6780 Gov. Jim Roxlo of Chattanooga. Roxlo, one of 26 Rotary Positive Peace Activators nationwide, is explaining these concepts to Rotarians and hoping to get them involved in the process.
A major part of this is an online course entitled the Rotary Positive Peace Academy developed by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP), an international think tank. Roxlo says the free short course introduces the framework of Positive Peace and is available in 50 languages. The course includes over 12 lessons of on-demand video, exercises, and interactive content.
“This course can be used by countries for peace, but its principles are also applicable in your local community, in our schools and organizations and even for families.”
You can learn more about this initiative and the course by clicking on this link at www.RotaryPeaceAcademy.org
In 2017 Rotary became partners with IEP to enable both organizations to work together on an online learning platform with webinars and interactive tools to teach Rotary members and Rotary Peace Fellows to apply new peace-building methods to their communities while addressing underlying causes of conflicts. In addition, the partnership allows for the development of local workshops hosted by Rotary clubs to educate communities about Positive Peace.
Rotary entered the peace business back in 1921 at its international conference in Edinburgh when “Peace and World Understanding” became one of its primary focus areas. Today, Rotary has six Peace Centers and since 2002 the centers have trained more than 1,300 Peace Fellows at work in 115 countries.
And 99 years later, Rotary is still in the business of peace!
To explore membership in the Rotary Club of Farragut, email tking535@gmail.com or call 865-659-3562. Tom King has served at newspapers in Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and California and has been the editor of two newspapers.