Kirsti Shields

United States

“Today’s young girls will teach the next generation about puberty, sexuality, and reproductive health. The conspiracy of silence will have been…

Elizabeth Barrett

United States

“On any given day, new people are born into varied circumstances all around the world. They may arrive into a poor family in Yemen or a wealthy one in Manhattan - through no intention of their own.”

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Bay Area writer Michael Lewis’s recent Princeton commencement address has…

Melanie Gould

Dominican Republic/United States

“To those feminists who struggle for a voice and power in the developed world, perhaps you may find liberation in experiencing the power these women inherently possess.”

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Imagine your home to be an 8 x 8 tin shack, shared with 6 people, with no windows or light. Imagine the…

Khawaja Abdullah Ahrar

Afghanistan

Editor's note: This month, we're celebrating men we love, and so we bring you this poem, from the father of one of our most popular contributors, Alaha Ahrar. Enjoy!

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If you call a human an animal:

He will be very upset, disturbed and distressed

If unwittingly a…

Libby and Len Traubman

United States/Nigeria

“Person-by-person, nothing replaces face-to-face relationships -- neither armies nor treaties, not intellectual analyses, diagnoses, theories, or peace education.”

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First Relationships

"How can we have peace if we don't build relationships?" The…

It’s June, the month of Fathers Day, and once again we’re featuring peacebuilding men we love.

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Ambassador John McDonald is a lawyer, diplomat, former international civil servant, development expert, peacebuilder, and professor of law and peace. He spent 20 years of his diplomatic career in Western Europe and the Middle East and worked for 16…

Yvette Nahmia-Messinas

Israel/Greece

“A new socioeconomic system could potentially emerge out of this crisis: a model of mutual responsibility and cooperation, stemming from the consciousness that unless we all succeed we have failed.”

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Greece has over the last year been in crisis mode. The old balance has been lost and the…

It's June, the month of Fathers Day, and once again we're featuring peacebuilding men we love.

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Sami Awad is Executive Director of Holy Land Trust, the nonprofit he founded in Bethlehem in 1998. He also directs the…

Peace X Peace, the international organization that lifts and multiplies women’s voices, strengthens women’s capacity to connect across divides, promotes leadership and gender equity, and nurtures a global network of peacebuilders in 120 countries, is looking for contributors!  Please send us your story today…

Meghan Johnson

Russia/United States


“The war still casts an enormous shadow on the country. How could it not? As many as 20 million lives were lost.
Twenty million people. That was
14% of the…


David Meth

United States/South Korea

"...she left an indelible memory and influenced my writing. I don’t know…

I encourage you all to check out this month's Peace X Peace PeaceTimes newsletter.  You can read it in pdf form or on our website - and the editor's note is below. We hope your enjoy, and let us know what you think.

Editor's…

- By Kamla Bhasin

India

Angelica Arbulu

“I am wearing large overalls and am but a couple of months away from maternity leave myself. It dawns on us that there isn’t a chance in hell I’m going to get that job. ”…

- A Statement by Patricia Smith Melton

Last week I looked at how the power of women is rising throughout the world. Combined with the power of the Internet, the 5^thWorld Conference on Women will be a game-changer for peace,…

- A statement by Patricia Smith Melton

Editor’s Note: Thousands of women gathering to make the world a better place ― you got a problem with that? You might think some people do if you look at the timeline for the UN-sponsored World Conferences on Women: 1975 (Mexico), 1980…

Alia Rasheed

Oman

"Film can be used as a tangible tool of peace and unity. But transformative films have to be nurtured. Filmmakers have to be nurtured."

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Paul Haggis, the Oscar-winning filmmaker of Million Dollar Baby (2004) and Crash (2004), was once asked in an interview about how he felt about his 2007 film criticizing…

Claire Charamnac

Nepal/United States

"In these images I was looking for confidence and strength. Hope and possibility are not enough, because this world needs leaders more than dreamers. "

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Women LEAD is a leadership development organization that empowers young women to become leaders. We have empowered more than 200 young girls to become leaders in their schools and communities. Our…

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…