An EMERGENCY PLAN: A New Global Peace Movement LED by WOMEN
An OPPORTUNITY to UNITE the WORLD via A Global Movement of Nonviolence, For the Children
Greetings! Salaam, Shalom, Peace, Solh, Mir!
The world’s crises are getting worse and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza are disasters! They have changed the world in the wrong direction – towards militarism and division. The COP climate meetings have “failed,” the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT) conference “failed,” efforts to renew the Start Treaty were canceled, and authoritarianism is derailing peace and humanitarian efforts.
Everywhere, the people’s hearts have been hardened, on both sides of conflicts, and it is going to get worse! It is almost impossible to change anything now with people’s emotions at a peak.
However, the wars have opened a door -- the people of the world do not want war and abhor violence! This is the perfect opportunity for the whole world to unite – before the next disaster!
An EMERGENCY PLAN IS READY – a new global peace movement! I have set up the parameters to unite the people everywhere, unite the movements - the climate and peace movements first, then other movements (ex: the youth, labor, indigenous), all the religions and spiritual organizations, and unite all the mayors and community leaders in every village, town, and city in every country under one umbrella – NONVIOLENCE.
We need something different and special!
The plan is to begin and operate a Global Movement of Nonviolence, For the Children (GMofNV) led by women, but not exclusive to women. One step remains to begin! Research shows that the welfare of the children and “no” violence are the uniting elements for the people in every country to participate.
Grassroots organizations and initiatives are everywhere! The last step needed to begin the movement is leadership. Non-governmental women leaders will issue a CALL to WOMEN, a World-Wide Unity Campaign and ask women everywhere to be the first to rise-up and unite as the peacemakers, and then invite the men, creating the largest people movement the world has ever seen! It is for everyone as the Civil Rights movement in the U.S. was for everyone.
In 2020, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a call for a Global Cease-Fire. I am planning to meet with Guterres to ask him to re-issue the call for a Cease-Fire -- this time with a people movement backing it up!
I presented a GMofNV to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ staff and am planning to return to meet Guterres personally to set the last step in motion with a strategy to create a “chain reaction” of leaders joining together to begin the movement.
IN ONE ACTION all the elements fall into place! The Secretary-General will be asked to assemble an “Emergency Peace Meeting” of non-governmental women leaders, philanthropists, the media, and civil society experts. A complete strategy is prepared to present to the attendees that illustrates that the full plan, with all its parts, together with the attendees participation, creates success! The attendees will be asked to commit to participating, subject to the women joining, within one week of the meeting to illustrate to the women leaders that the means for them to operate and be successful (funding and experts) are provided and prepared.
Based on a positive response, the last element is for the women leaders to have a meeting to determine if they accept the leadership position, and if so, prepare the details and make final plans to announce the movement is coming! A GLOBAL MARKETING PLAN is planned around the world for the announcement that includes a special CATALYST and is followed by an awareness campaign to capture and keep the attention of the media and the people!
The plan includes a multi-million dollar business plan to fund and sustain: the anti-war segments, a new grant making Global Philanthropic Foundation (the “constructive” segment), the lobbying, plans for new Global Peace Negotiations, and a segment for local application. There are special tactics and campaigns to illustrate that every part of society is involved.
A new narrative will be promoted asking the people in every country to commit to nonviolence and to commit to working together for humanity – helping others. Without a people movement, war and militarism will continually derail all the amazing efforts that already exist – especially the work for climate change.
A GMofNV is an anti-war movement but also a movement of goodwill. It is different than any other movement because there is no other plan to unite the people in every country and coordinate a continuous global action plan to change our cultures of violence, change ourselves, and socialize the children through both activism, education, and our actions. Forgiveness, compassion, kindness, generosity, empathy, and genuine caring are all included.
A GMofNV answers the question that people ask – what can I do? A GMofNV includes nonviolent direct action because as George Lakey wrote, “In order to build the kind of power that creates change you need a direct action campaign that harnesses a series of actions into an escalating sequence.” The actions require courage and fortitude.
A coordinated outreach and promotional campaign with a cohesive, coordinated, continuous plan of nonviolent direct action is planned. The climate, anti-nuke, and peace movements will lead the strategies, tactics, and lobbying in conjunction with the women leaders. A GMofNV has 24 major events planned in advance so that everyone knows what to expect and actions planned every day in the first two years, the first segment of a 10 to 30 year plan. The objective is to perpetuate the movement throughout time!
Once the movement begins, it opens the door for all the Peace Initiatives, all the Climate Initiatives, the Charter for Compassion, Global Security Systems, the Oasis Plan, Warheads to Windmills, and humanitarian initiatives to come into the mainstream and add their expertise.
My function is to coordinate all the components to get the movement started, to help provide the means for the leaders to operate, and help direct the administration in behalf of the leaders!
This is an emergency! Once we are united, it will give political clout to the issues we espouse to. We cannot miss this opportunity. The political goal is to ask the people in every country to demand (command) that their own government RENOUNCE WAR! We must go further than just adhering to nonviolence, we must make it the goal! There will be risks.
A GMoNV is designed to defuse conflicts and “reduce” the threat of war and violence. At the same time, the leaders of the climate movement will attain the political clout to demand the phase-out of all fossil fuels and change to regenerative agriculture!
A GMofNV is about creating a new power! Women have already been uniting and have practiced mobilizing as evidenced by the Women’s March on Washington, Women marched in Jerusalem, Women Crossed the DMZ in Korea, Women in India, the #MeToo movement,
Belarus, IRAN, the U.S., FEMME Q in Strasburg, Peace Women Partners International in Southeast Asia, the Founding Mothers Movement in the U.S., and more!
Women have risen in the climate movement as evidenced by: Women’s Earth and Climate Network (WECAN), Mothers Out Front, Connected Women Leaders, and many more initiatives.
A GMofNV is designed to “harness the power” of women and nonviolence to create trust and respect between nations and people and create the atmosphere to re-allocate major portions of military spending to humanitarian spending.
Without the people in every country participating, there will be no peace. Without trust and respect, there will be no peace. Without a constructive segment, there will be no peace! Without women leading the way, there will be no change!
Over the past two years, I met with the executive directors of the Charter for Compassion, the International Peace Bureau, communicated with the former CEO of PBS, Pat Mitchell, who is the founder of Connected Women Leaders, met with many other women and men leaders, and the leaders from Women Wage Peace in Jerusalem – all in an attempt to be proactive and unite women around the world before a disaster struck.
I was unable to bring the groups together to act. Now, the disaster is here! The current Peace Plan in Gaza is a step but fragile and may not last. People were jubilant when the Cease-Fire began because they do not want war! However, the likelihood that more violence is coming is high. We must begin now!
War, Militarism, and Authoritarianism are expanding. The slogan “Might makes right” must be reversed because violence begets violence.
The wars are tearing apart our civility!
With adversity comes opportunity. The movements and protests around the world, for example: in Italy for Gaza, In the U.S. for Venezuela or against ICE in Minnesota are essential and now it is time to bring them all together!
This is the moment in time to be proactive and the movement is designed to begin very quickly! It is time to begin the largest movement of nonviolence possible! Nonviolence is the answer to uniting the world -- to “Save Lives!” We must unite "For the Children, For the Climate, For the Future!"
People are waiting for something good to happen. Ms. Pia Figueroa, the Director of the International News Agency, Pressenza, wrote in her response to my introductory letter that the letter was like “fresh water for a thirsty person.”
Please see the support statements, quotes, and additional information below!
This is just the beginning! Let’s change the world!
WRITTEN by Andre Sheldon
Founder and Director, Global Strategy of Nonviolence, For the Children
Facilitator, CALL to WOMEN, a World-Wide Unity Campaign
Email: Andre@GlobalStrategyofNonviolence.org
Website: www.GlobalStrategyofNonviolence.org (A new website is planned)
Facebook: Global Movement of Nonviolence
SUPPORT STATEMENTS
Federico Mayor, (May-yore), the former Director-General of UNESCO and creator of the UN Culture of Peace, wrote, “Dear Andre, Your movement and voice are now more important than ever….” Mr. Mayor promoted me to UN Secretary-General Guterres that led to my first meeting with his staff. Mr. Mayor also wrote to me: “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.”
Helen Caldicott – Author, World Peace Activist, Nuclear Abolitionist wrote, "I think this is a very good idea." (The plan is based on her original idea of uniting women)
Lisa Clark – Co-President of the International Peace Bureau (IPB) wrote, “Dear Andre, Wow! Count me in!!! You have put together a list of the most wonderful people I have ever met or heard about, and I want to be part of your project!”
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.
Gila Svirsky - Co-founder of Coalition for Women for Peace and Women in Black wrote, “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.”
Riane Eisler – Author of The Chalice and the Blade: “I was moved by your deep understanding of my work, your quotes from Chalice, and your commitment to empowering women. Your initiative is great...”
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 GMofNV/Call to Women can enliven the spirit of peace that we so desperately need on the planet in these days.”
Howard Zinn - Author, Activist, Historian - (Howard was my confidant) – “Your ‘Call to Women’ is excellent. Well written, clear, strong. No doubt women represent nonviolence best.”
Noam Chomsky – Author, Activist: “I hope your effort achieves the resonance it should.”
Ms. Pia Figueroa, the Director of the International News Agency, Pressenza, has offered her services and wrote in her response to my introductory letter that the letter was like “fresh water for a thirsty person.”
Ela Gandhi wrote to me on 9-26-23, “Dear Andre, I fully support your initiative.”
QUOTES
Naomi Klein, author, activist, and authority on the environment wrote, “… strengthening the threads tying together our various issues and movements – is, I would argue, the most pressing task of anyone concerned with social and economic justice.” Klein also wrote: “Sensible people are always telling us that change needs to come in small increments, that politics is the art of the possible, and that we can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Well, we rejected all of that.”
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)
Beatrice Fihn, the Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the recipient of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize, wrote: “It is time to counter the old vision of the world with a new one based on reason and cooperation; it is time for a truly feminist foreign policy. The fate of the earth depends on it.”
Vandana Shiva said in this short video, “Nonviolence, in my view, is stronger than violence. Stronger because it builds the resilience of the spirit. And no power on earth, no force on earth can crush the spirit!”
Martin Luther King wrote, “Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”
Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and High Commissioner of Human Rights said in a TED TALK that we need “momentum from people around the world to say we want action now, we want to change course, we want a safe world for future generations, a safe world for our children and our grandchildren, and we’re all in this together.”
Oprah Winfrey wrote in People Magazine, “What I’m looking for is some kind of leadership to come out of this to say, ‘This is what we want. This is what has to change, and these are the steps that we need to take to make these changes, and this is what we’re willing to do to get it.’ ”
David Krieger, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation wrote, “…the people united are a superpower that can take charge of our planet.”
Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee said at the DMZ, “We have to do something—to turn the world upside down for permanent peace.”
A GMofNV is the plan to: TURN THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN
Network of leaders informed of a GMofNV
Mairead MaGuire Woman recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
Leymah Gbowee Woman recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
Beatrice Fihn Executive Director of ICAN (Nobel Peace Prize organization)
Lisa Clark Co-President of the International Peace Bureau
Arundhati Roy Author and activist from India
Anita Vargas Former Director, World March of Women, from Bolivia
Ela Gandhi Granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi
Margarita Papandreou Former first lady of Greece
Dr. Helen Caldicott Author and activist from Australia
Kim Campbell The Right Honourable Former Primer Minister of Canada
Rev. Joan B. Campbell Chair of Global Peace Initiative of Women (GPIW)
Sister Joan Chittister Co-chair of GPIW
Eve Ensler Author and founder of V/Day
Kathe Schaaf Founder of Gather the Women
Gila Svirsky Co-founder of Women in Black and Coalition of Women for Peace (CWP)
Regina Birchem Former International President of Women’s International
League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
Susan Shaer Former Executive Director of Women’s Actions for New
Directions (WAND)
Sharon McErlane Founder of Grandmothers Speak
Wendy Silvers Founder of Million Mamas Movement
Gloria Hammond-White Pediatrician, Minister and Anti-Slavery Activist
Swanee Hunt Director of Women Waging Peace
Medea Benjamin Co-founder of CODEPINK and Global Exchange
Joan Baez Activist and entertainer – was recently sent information
Ann Smith Founder of Circle Connections
Dr. Judith Hand Peace Activist, Visionary
Kavita Ramdas Global Fund for Women
Phyllis Bennis, Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies
Cora Weiss Hague Appeal for Peace
Neyleen Heyzer, Former Director of UNIFEM
Lois Herman Women’s United Nations Reporting Network (WUNRN)
Riane Eisler Author and founder of Partnership
Jehan Sadat From Egypt
Lucy Nusseibeh From Jerusalem
Arun Gandhi Grandson of Mahatma Gandhi
Rabbi Michael Lerner Network of Spiritual Progressives
Archbishop Desmond Tutu Religious leader from South Africa
Dr. Mark Johnson Former Director, Fellowship of Reconciliation, US
Dr. Noam Chomsky Professor Emeritus, MIT, Author, Activist
Plus many more!
Global Movement of Nonviolence, For the Children
PROCLAMATION
With respect, we, the women of the world, ask all men to join us to proclaim that we will not allow war in the world and we will intervene with every NONVIOLENT means possible to prevent it or stop it!
We do this “For the Children.”
DECLARATION
We come in peace, we offer the olive branch, we are not a threat, we are all part of the family of the human race, we are not enemies, we have common bonds, we apologize for our misdeeds, we forgive your misdeeds, we need to heal the wounds, we can work together, and we need to start a GLOBAL ACTION to “break down borders.”
VISION
Create a common bond between people and a mandate for peace, to include social and economic changes to transform the world.
MISSION STATEMENT
Respond to the urgency of the world situation, specifically in preventing war and climate change, by globally enlisting the actions of millions of women and men committed to nonviolence.
PREPARE FOR, PRACTICE, &TEACH
Nonviolent techniques on a local and global level.
OATH
I pledge my life to nonviolence,
With CALM PERSISTENCE, SILENT but BOISTROUS,
I resist violence, to set an example of nonviolence,
I will not kill. If I die, do not avenge my death, for I do this willingly,
For the Children.
I accept the sacrifice that is required to accomplish my goal.
I understand there will be risks.
HIGHLIGHTS
Global Movement of Nonviolence, For the Children
CALL to WOMEN, a World-Wide Unity Campaign
GLOBAL PEACE NEGOTIATIONS, led by Women
GLOBAL PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATION
GLOBAL FUNDING PLAN
LOCAL PLAN
Every Mayor / Community Leader
LOCAL SPONSORS
WHITE RIBBON CAMPAIGN – Men Rising
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!
