June 30, 2017
A Plan for the Largest Movement of Nonviolence the World has Ever Seen, Led by Women
Dear Ms. Dudney,
Your article Help End Inequality is superior. The question is how do we change people’s mindset? What can we do to “frame” a new plan differently than before that will have an affect? I humbly, but BOLDLY, would like to announce that the plans for a Gandhi / King like people movement are underway – a new global PEACE MOVEMENT called a Global Movement of Nonviolence, For the Children (GMofNV) with an initiative to “Reach into Every Household” – a CALL to WOMEN, a World-Wide Unity Campaign.
This is a formal request for you to join as an advisor. Non-governmental women leaders will ask women to unite to be the first to promote and commit to nonviolence. When women as the peacemakers rise-up as the peacemakers, the act alone will create gender equality!
A GMofNV and a CALL to WOMEN are designed with steps for women to promote working together for humanity – helping others through a new Global Philanthropic Foundation which is designed to be the vanguard for economic paradigm change!
A GMofNV and a CALL to WOMEN are designed to unite all the movements, religions, mayors and community leaders in every village, town, and city in every country under one umbrella movement
A GMofNV includes new Global Peace Negotiations, demands to “Renounce War” and “Promote Disarmament,” and a Local Plan for people everywhere to participate.
Nonviolence and the children are the uniting elements and women can make it happen. A special “strategy” is prepared to begin the movement. The mechanisms are in place, the catalyst to implement the plan is prepared, and is one step away from beginning.
Please contact me to discuss the steps planned to begin the movement and how your participation is vital. The plan is for PEACE to DOMINATE the NEWS! A GMofNV will be the largest movement of nonviolence the world has ever seen and will lead the way to social, political, and economic paradigm change.
I look forward to hearing from you. There is much more to tell you. Thank you very much.
Peace and Love,
Andre Sheldon
Andre Sheldon
Director, Global Strategy of Nonviolence
Facilitator, CALL to WOMEN, a World-Wide Unity Campaign
Cell number: +1-617-413-9064, Home number: +1-617- 964-5267
Email: Andre (at) GlobalStrategyofNonviolence.org
Website: www.GlobalStrategyofNonviolence.org
Facebook: Global Movement of Nonviolence
P.S. I am a man, a person, 66 years old, who believes society can change from a male-dominated society to a partnership society (cultural transformation theory from the Chalice and the Blade by Riane Eisler) and am dedicated to help bring it to fruition.
Riane Eisler wrote to me: “I was moved by your deep understanding of my work, your quotes from Chalice, and your commitment to empowering women. Your initiative is great...”
Swanee Hunt, Director of Institute for Inclusive Security, wrote when promoting her seminar about women and violence, “This isn't an incidental conversation; it's a matter of life and death as we search for a new way to stop the spread of terrible conflict.
SUPPORT STATEMENTS
Louise Diamond - Author, Activist
“Andre, Thanks for sending the information on your wonderful project. The children are indeed a unifying force, and women are indeed the active agents of a most great peace. Your GSofNV/Call to Women can enliven the spirit of peace that we so desperately need on the planet in these days.”
Gila Svirsky - Co-founder of Coalition for Women for Peace and Women in Black
“I completely agree with your vision and overall approach – to mobilize women to lead the way to peace. This has been core to our peace activism in Israel for almost 20 years.”
Howard Zinn - author, activist - (Howard was my confidante)
“Your ‘Call to Women’ is excellent. Well written, clear, strong. No doubt women represent non-violence best.”
Margarita Papandreou - Former 1st lady of Greece, Co-founder of WINPEACE
"This sounds like a positive initiative." (See letter below)
Marianne Williamson – Author, Activist, and Spiritual Leader
“What you have created is so remarkably relevant to everything that's going on in the world. I join with you in hoping that the women of the world unite, and unite in time, to lead humanity back to its heart.
Helen Caldicott – Author, World Peace Activist
"I think this is a very good idea."
Noam Chomsky – Author, Activist
“I hope your effort achieves the resonance it should.”
Michael Nagler – Founder of the Metta Center for Nonviolence
“Let me know if you see ways that Roadmap and Metta should be involved.”
Robert Koehler – Columnist at Huffington Post wrote to me,
“I couldn't agree more, regarding women as peace leaders.”
Rabbi Michael Lerner – “I agree that the patriarchal world needs to change.”
Federico Mayor (May-yore) – Former Director General of UNESCO
“The world needs a peace movement now!”. Yes, right now. Otherwise, it can be too late. We are facing challenges that are potentially irreversible and therefore humanity can reach points of no return.
I fully support your initiative.
Tell me please how I can effectively assist you.”
Letter from Margarita Papandreou
1-6-08
Dear Andre Sheldon, this sounds like a positive initiative and especially if you line up a group of women who have experience with working for a culture of peace, that is, for non-violent solutions to conflict. I am interested in participating, but I would like to hear more about your plans and strategy. It is not an easy mission. We had one of the largest anti-war movements ever seen prior to the war in Iraq which included not only non-governmental organizations, but many governments and outstanding personalities throughout the world. Despite this, the US Administration went ahead with a war on the Iraqi people. We have to think carefully as to how we can be effective.
I will be waiting eagerly for more information from you. By the way, I am heartened that you are a man. After all, it is still true that men make the decisions on the use of violence to resolve a conflict. Either women’s perspectives get injected into the decision making process, or we have to change the mentality of men. Probably both.
Yours in peace and love, Margarita Papandreou, founder of the Center of Research and Action on Peace (KEDE) and co-founder along with Zeynep Oral of WINPEACE, a Greek-Turkish-Cyprus women’s peace initiative for peace among our countries.
HIGHLIGHTS
Global Movement of Nonviolence,
For the Children
CALL to WOMEN,
World-Wide Unity Campaign
GLOBAL PEACE NEGOTIATIONS
GLOBAL PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATION
GLOBAL FUNDING PLAN
LOCAL PLAN –
Every Mayor / Community Leader
LOCAL SPONSORS
WHITE RIBBON CAMPAIGN
QUOTES
Sister Joan Chittister, September 11th, 2004, at the Omega / V Day conference “Women and Power, Our Time to Lead,” said: “The lives of our children, the protection of millions, the hopes of all humankind, wait again now for women, from opposite cultures, opposite tradition, to step over the line of political hatred to save them.” (I was there – 1,000 women and about 10 men)
Sister Joan Chittister, September 11th, 2004, at the Omega / V Day conference “Women and Power,” said: “Indeed, women must have a role, not only in the reconstruction of societies already ravaged by war, but more than that, they must take a voice until they are given a voice in the development of peaceful alternatives to war, as well!”
Martin Luther King wrote in Strength to Love, about nonviolence: “It gives them new self respect. It calls up resources of strength and courage that they did not know they had. Finally, it so stirs the conscience of the opponent that reconciliation becomes a reality.”
Martin Luther King's Acceptance Speech, on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, December 10, 1964:
Your Majesty, Your Royal Highness, Mr. President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I accept the Nobel Prize for Peace at a moment when 22 million Negroes of the United States of America are engaged in a creative battle to end the long night of racial injustice.
After contemplation, I conclude that this award which I receive on behalf of that movement is a profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time - the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression.
Sana Shtasel, Executive Director of Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP) wrote, “We must mount a strategic, sustained, global campaign that will support the grassroots peacebuilders in supporting the peace process.”
Marion Wright Edelman, Founder of the Children’s Defense Fund said, “But women have also always been the invisible backbone, unseen but strong, of transforming social movements and of all anchor institutions in society—our families, congregations, schools, and communities—employing behind the scenes quiet essential leadership and organizational, communication, and fundraising skills to get things done.”
Kofi Annan wrote,
“Women, who know the price of conflict so well, are also often better equipped than men to prevent or resolve it. For generations, women have served as peace educators, both in their families and in their societies. They have proved instrumental in building bridges rather than walls. They have been crucial in preserving social order when communities have collapsed.”
Adil Najam (from Pakistan), Boston University, International Relations said: “If a person with black hair sees a person with red hair, he or she sees someone different, but, if a person with black hair sees a child with red hair, he or she sees a child.”
Andre Sheldon says,
“Women and Nonviolence can change the world. The time has come for Nonviolence to be the Doctrine of all Societies!”
Ambassador Swanee Hunt, Director, Institute for Inclusive Security, Harvard University
“What difference does difference make? Researchers and policymakers say when women decision-makers are present in critical mass (around 30 percent) they build bridges across political and ethnic divides; provide fresh ideas and perspectives; add deeper understanding of ground-level reality; shift budgets away from guns to education, health, and environment; create a more civil political sphere; and govern with greater transparency and less corruption.”
Arundhati Roy, activist from India, stated, “Radical change cannot and will not be negotiated by governments; it can only be enforced by people. By the public. A public who can link hands across national borders.”
Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire said about peace in Ireland, “Without women it would not have happened. The men were so entrenched in their political parties”
"In Northern Ireland, when we had our war, women didn’t normally go out to work for peace, onto the streets and work and build a peace movement. But we knew for the sake of our children and their future, we had to act as well."
Mary Robinson, former UN Human Rights Director, said, "Women's leadership matters and must be at the heart of the peace process in the DRC."
A Future Without War (AFWW) mission statement: “Ending the practice of war will require: leaders who embrace the goal of ending war and are motivated to facilitate and guide the process of change, and a critical mass of citizens around the globe who staunchly support such leaders.” www.AFWW.org By Dr. Judith Hand
Andre Sheldon
After September 11, 2001, I began to work directly with the peace movement.
Before September 11th, I had been writing a book about my elderly parents Alzheimer’s,
and caretaking. It was boring. To enhance the story line, I attempted to spice it up by adding international intrigue. The main character would become motivated by all that she had learned from the sacrifice of caretaking and become dedicated to working with women in the women’s peace movement. Interestingly, I had no experience working in a peace movement, but was motivated because the ending of the plot was apparent to me. The women’s movement had strength! I kept writing to get to the end.
When September 11th occurred, my focus became clear because of a few elements. There
was a lot of introspection evident throughout the U.S. after September 11th. A very close woman friend stated to me that the way to find peace in the world is to first find peace within yourself. I knew she was right. Spirituality became a unifying quality. The questions I was asking myself were, what are the basic common denominators -- what are the commonalities between people and society? The answers I found were family and children. All societies want to procreate, raise children, and protect the family for the next generation. I realized, if societies were focused on the needs of the children, there could be peace. All my research pointed to women, the caretakers of family and society, to lead the way for peace.
My pathway became specific. I would dedicate myself to facilitating women being the catalyst for bringing the peace movement into the mainstream of politics. The attempt had to be proactive and bold. It needed to have leaders. It needed to have women leaders. One person couldn’t do it, but many influential “women” leaders could do it!
Boston has a plethora of women leaders and right from the start I had initial success communicating with Dr. Helen Caldicott and having her indicate interest. Immediately afterward, Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, chair of Global Peace Initiative of Women, stated if Dr. Caldicott is involved, I am involved, which proved my theory – women will follow other women. To my good fortune, Howard Zinn, author and activist, and Elise Boulding, author and activist (both now deceased) lived close to me and had become friends and confidantes.
Since 2001, I have conducted research and developed a comprehensive plan for a Global Movement of Nonviolence, For the Children. I may not see the fruits of my labor, but the road is the most important element.
The Children are Watching!
Peace and Love
