Talk of war and peace concluded the Trends Research Institute’s fall conference in Kingston, NY, earlier this month. It wasn’t water cooler or bar talk; it was structured, meaningful and driven.
We talked about the new age of endless war. We talked about the suffering to come, the destruction around the bend. And we talked about how easy it is to go to war and how difficult it is to talk peace.
Most of all, we talked about Occupy Peace.
On September 20 (note new date), 2015, the Trends Research Institute will launch Occupy Peace, an initiative designed to reinstate the core values that gave birth to this nation and provide the tools for advancing peace in communities across the country: No foreign entanglements; build communities here, not nations elsewhere.
Sounds ambitious? Indeed. But the roots of this movement already have taken hold. The institute has reached out to its spectrum of subscribers around the globe and its network of analysts to begin crafting a unique, meaningful and fruitful strategy to make peace talk strategic. To make it patriotic. To tie peace to prosperity. To show how individuals and small community groups can bypass the usual clichés and rhetoric about peace to advance the cause with purpose.
The global launch officially will begin at noon on Sunday, September 20, in the heart of the oldest intersection in the country. At the corners of Crown and John streets in Kingston, NY, stand four magnificent pre-Revolutionary War structures. These buildings were witness to critical developments in the founding of our country and the writing of the United States Constitution. There is no more meaningful and inspiring location at which to replant the seeds of true democracy; there is no better place to resample our moral and constitutional DNA.
Unlike other peace rallies, where masses chant for peace and then go back to their normal lives with no incentive to act, Occupy Peace will provide a battle plan for action – a battle plan for peace.
Interested? Sign up at Occupypeace.us. And read the current edition of the Trends Journal for an in-depth look at our take on war and peace.