Peace education project
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Eric Sirotkin
Executive Director
UWPEP
P.O. Box 848
Ashland, OR 97520 USA
541-359-3596
We all imagine something beyond the disunity in which we find ourselves. Witness reveals it as reawakening to “the essence of being human.” Choosing between being passive witnesses or actively bending history determines whether we will have peace in the world and within our own hearts. This book is my journey to reawaken to our common humanity. As a lawyer bred on courtroom battles, I yearned to break the destructive cycle of ‘us vs them.’ Traversing the planet from Soweto to Pyongyang I discovered an ancient path to a new way of living. When September 11th fueled the march to war and the nation falls deeper into states of red and blue, I struggled to hold onto a power that proved much stronger than anger and vengeance. Witness reflects an untold story of an entire generation who lost heroes, ducked and covered, marched and dropped out, only to re-emerge with the opportunity for greater awareness, deeper truths and to become active witnesses weaving a new ‘imaginative picture of the world.’
Coming in 2012
Witness: An activist lawyer's journey to end us vs. them
A memoir by Eric Sirotkin
The Ubuntuworks Peace Education Project (UWPEP) inspires and empowers young people, activists and artists to open their eyes to their unlimited potential to creatively make a difference in our world. Through multimedia performances, interactive websites, lectures, films and peaceful exchanges, UWPEP builds a global community and promotes a culture of peace.
The world has reached the turning point. We can tumble into despair with more wars, fear and a divided world of us and them. Or we can choose the path of ubuntu - building peace and relationship through experiencing our intrinsic interconnection. UWPEP leads the way.
Visit us at www.uwpep.org
Volunteer programs and internships available.
Becoming an
Active Witness
Training
What is demanded is a change in our
imaginative picture of the world.
Bertrand Russell
We can choose to be passive witnesses or can actively bend history and daily change the world around us. In UWPEP’S Becoming Active Witness multimedia educational outreach series, students, activists, and anyone disillusioned by the state of the world, rediscover that in order to not merely survive, but to thrive we must be liberated from this destructive cycle of ‘us vs them’ to reawaken to our common humanity. Join Eric Sirotkin to feel hopeful, connected and empowered in this fractured world.
“ Only earthbound man still clings to the dark and poisoning superstition that his world is bounded by the nearest hill, his universe ended at river shore, his common humanity enclosed in the tight circle of those who share his town and views and the color of his skin.”
June 6, 1966 Day of Affirmation Speech
It isn’t enough to talk about peace.
One must believe in it.
And it isn’t enough to believe in it.
One must work at it.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
