Casa Abierta by Nicaraguan singer-songwriter Salvador Cardenal is the Peace Song of the Day for Friday, October 14th. I uncovered this song among the archives for PeaceSmiths, a Long Island group committed to peace, justice and environmental issues. PeaceSmiths holds a copy of the 2006 War Resisters League Peace Calendar, “Peace-Loving Nations: Music of Peace and Resistance”, where this song appears.
Below is a video of the song sung in Spanish. And, after the video, the chorus in English and Spanish.
The Duke and Duchess are dedicating this song to the folks on the ground at Occupy Wall Street. Tomorrow morning, the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators are facing eviction from their park. If you can support them with your presence or a phonecall, please take action before tomorrow morning at 6am. You can find more information at www.occupywallst.org
“How To Save A Life” by Fray is the Royal Peace Song of the Day. The song is beautiful and soulful. The video is full of images of real people showing the full range of emotions from fear, sadness, and grief to happiness, joy, and release.
Why is this a peace song? Being in tune with your own feelings, and understanding how important feelings are to yourself and others, is an important key to Nonviolent Communication.
“I Walk With Beauty” is the Peace Song of the Day for Wednesday, October 11th. This song comes from a Navajo prayer. The Duchess learned this song from a man in Virginia, as part of a Sufi dancing class.
This song is wonderful for meditation. It is very centering. If you dance with it, you have a chance to circle the ground underneath your feet, and the sky above your head.
Ok tweeps, between the planet-wide protests of the 10th anniversary of the Afghanistan War, and the flowering of the planet-wide Occupy movement, there is much to discuss. Scarry Thoughts in his post #AfghanistanTuesday World Report – October 11, 2011 gives a suggested schedule for this twitter discussion.
The fourth chapter of The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace brings us to Henry David Thoreau‘s seminal 1849 essay on Civil Disobedience. This is the essay that turned words into action. It turned the future into right now. This essay educated two of the most powerful leaders of the 20th century, Gandhi and King. It provided the foundations for their nonviolent movements.
Like many of his fellow transcendentalists, Thoreau was an abolitionist. He reacted strongly to President Polk’s incitement of the Mexican War in 1846. The war was intended to annex territory for slavery. Congressman Abraham Lincoln’s outspoken opposition to the war essentially ended his political career for 8 years.
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Thoreau took it a step further. He saw that living in a the the free state of Massachusetts and speaking out against slavery did not absolve him of involvement in the war, and in furthering slavery. Thoreau saw that his support of the government — his payment of taxes — made him complicit. Despite having coined the phrase in the beginning of this essay that teeters between libertarian and anarchist: Continue reading Power of Nonviolence Thoreau CD: Peace Book Chapter 4 10/10/11→
“These Are The Days” by 10,000 Maniacs is the Peace Song of the Day for Monday, October 10th.
The Duke and Duchess of Peace are dedicating today’s Royal Peace Song of the Day to the beautiful weather (two warm, sunny days in a row in the NY Metro area in October!) and to the beautiful hope for democracy represented by the folks at Occupy Wall Street.
