Interacting with other peace organizations

[Martin Jones]

Should we actively seek to form alliances with other peace organizations (eg., the Peace Alliance (Department of Peace), Peace in 5 Years, PSR, Mediators Beyond Borders, etc.)?

What would the benefits be? The downsides? Would it open doors to help us to more widely spread our message, or would it dilute our focus or distract us from our mission? Your thoughts...

[Anne Millhollen]

I think that we should form alliances with like-minded peace organizations. It would help the peace movement as a whole and Beyond War in particular to have a sense of oneness with this enormous movement.

Secondly, it would potentially expose new people to our ideas who might link into our website from the other websites. For instance, I just looked at one group you mentioned, Mediators Beyond Borders (http://www.mediatorsbeyondborders.org/who/whats_new.shtml) and then linked from their website to the Alliance for Peacebuilding (http://www.allianceforpeacebuilding.org/) which seeks to form a coalition among peace groups for collaborative peacebuilding. From their website, I could link to each of the member and affiliate organizations.

[Kathy White]

I very much agree with Anne. She says it well. kathy

[Melissa Ruhl]

Your second point is huge. The Internet is a net after all. :) And we want to be on as many "nets" as possible in order to get discovered and frequented.

[Kathy White]

HI all,
I am totally in favor of aligning our efforts with others of like mind and values and I think there are many other individuals and groups out there who are on the same page we are. I think the payoff for being connected far out weighs the worry that collaborating with others would some how dilute our message and efforts. We can never do "this", (changing the culture) alone or by being isolationists. kathy

[Melissa Ruhl]

I agree with Kathy and Anne. Also we all have different strengths and weaknesses, well different focuses as well. As we always try to emphasize, peace is not just the absence of war. Peace is life and life is infinitely complex. In order to make peace, we need many different facets of work.

[Anne Millhollen]

And we can hope for a synergism, so that the whole will be far greater than the sum of its parts.