Issue: 2444

Colombian children are providing a model of how children can become the authentic leaders of their community—and how children can lead the way to a community-wide shared vision, even when all hope for common vision has faded. Novelist and journalist Sara Cameron was invited by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to chronicle Colombia's children-led peace movement.

High profile school shootings in the US have been the inspiration for much popular discussion about the causes of youth violence in recent years, with everyone—from bad parents and corrupt teachers, to rock stars—being blamed. Rick Jahnkow argues that while the motivation for such shootings may be complex, one causal factor in particular is being ignored—militarism.

A community action group in Chile is helping a neighbourhoodto better its environment and the lives of its people. Their main focus is on improving the quality of life for the community'schildren and on encouraging participation by them in organising and managing their own spaces. Luis Tricot reports.

More than 120,000 children, some no more than seven or eight years old, are currently fighting in armed conflicts around the world. Judit Arenas reports on the experience of child soldiers and the work being carried out to put an end to this abuse.

In attempting to apply European values to educational needs, and with notions of protecting the "innocence" of children in non-European countries, do we undermine the one opportunity by which children can survive in their own communities? Julia Guest met child mechanics in Burkina Faso.

Matt Mahlen examines concepts such as "duty", "liberty" and "responsibility" and the relationship between the French military and the education system.

In 1998, Denis Halliday, the then Chief UN relief co-ordinator for Iraq, resigned his post in protest at the impact of continued economic sanctions on the civilian population. Kathy Kelly is a veteran US peace campaigner, currently best known for her role as joint co-ordinator of the sanctions-busting group Voices in the Wilderness (US). In July both visited Britain to speak at the "Re-energise" anti-sanctions conference held in London. Peace News caught up with them for a chat.

The torture and ill-treatment of children in the home, at work, and in conflict is commonplace. Amnesty International expose this "hidden scandal" and report on the work they are doing to combat it.

In this examination of their work providing nonviolence training for teachers and pupils in the German state education system, Andreas Peters and Milan ask whether they are taking part in a great opportunity to encourage social change, or merely providing a fig-leaf for a totalitarian institution engaged in supplying resources to economic interests?

In a special report for PN, Matt Meyer looks at the hopes for peace in Eritrea, ten years after liberation from Ethiopian control.

Following on from Peace News 2439 on noviolence and social empowerment (NVSE), Andreas Speck and Julia Kraft report on the War Resisters' International NVSE conference, which took place earlier this year in Puri, India.

In recent months, Genoa, Gothenburg and Quebec have seen mass protest against globalisation—timed to coincide with the formal meetings of the G8, EU and the Americas trade talks. We reprint a discussion article written after the Quebec protests by US-based activist and author Starhawk, which presents ideas for moving the eternal violence/nonviolence debate forward into new territory.

Carlo Giuliani was a young man killed by another young man: a conscript policeman who was travelling in a vehicle which was being attacked by protesters during the G8 protests in Genoa. In so many ways his death was inevitable – not the death of him personally, but of one or more protesters taking part in mass and chaotic action against the dominant political and economic institutions, set against the repressive and violent response of the forces of “law and order”.

Several young Israeli men are refusing to participate in military service and a number continue to be imprisoned for their principled stance. As we went to press at least three were serving short sentences in military prisons.

“Ultimately these Summits must be judged by the benefits they deliver to the world's poor. The result this year was an anti-poor trade plan, nothing on debt and a feeble fund.” Jessica Woodroffe, Head of Policy at the World Development Movement