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The direct exchange between Israelis and Iranians reminded me of the work of Friends Without Borders, a peace campaign created to encourage cross-border friendships in conflict zones, building connections directly between people. It’s original focus was a massive letter writing campaign between children in India and Pakistan, which became the largest peace effort in both India and Pakistan’s history. As they explain, “Children have a natural instinct toward friendship and will jump to reach out and create new friends, when given the opportunity. The simple act of writing a letter leaves deep and lasting impressions that help to humanize ‘the other.’ These are the seeds that promise to mature into a safer, friendlier world.”

Here is an inspiring short film about the history of Friends Without Borders and the enormous impact it has had both in India and Pakistan. It serves as a model for building peace, using the natural goodness of children and the power to connect through letters and the internet…

Friends Without Borders is a new approach to world peace. All across India, tens of thousands of children have been writing heartfelt letters to the students in Pakistan. And all across Pakistan, tens of thousands of children are replying with heartfelt letters back. New connections are being made. New friendships are being formed. It’s an amazing story, which features the World’s Largest Love Letter and an epic peace concert on the border of India and Pakistan….

“To the Iranian people, to all the fathers, mothers, children, brothers and sisters, for there to be a war between us, first we must be afraid of each other, we must hate. I’m not afraid of you, I don’t hate you. I don’t even know you.”

That was the beginning of a letter to the Iranian people by two Israeli graphic designers. Fed up with the growing hysteria over a possible war between their countries, Ronny Edri and Michal Tamir, a couple from Tel Aviv, decided to take matters into their own hands and reach out directly to the Iranian people on behalf of the Israeli people. The Israeli people do not want a war, as recent polls have confirmed, and it appears that the majority of Iranian people do not want war either.

It all started when Ronny and Michal partnered with a small preparatory design school called Pushpin Mehina, and uploaded posters to its Facebook page of themselves with their children above the message, “Iranians, we will never bomb your country, we love you.”…

“Free Energy” is the first release of a series of viral music videos produced by Elevate, featuring the conscious hip-hop band Luminaries. The series intends to bring awareness to globally significant issues and solutions. “Free Energy” was produced in conjunction with Pachamama Alliance. Elevate’s mission is to utilize the awesome power of art and media to celebrate and elevate the human experience….

Raul Lemesoff, an artist from Argentina, converted a former military vehicle into a mobile library whose weapons are books. The modified 1979 Ford Falcon holds around 900 books and resembles a tank. His “Weapon of Mass Instruction”, or “Arma De Instrucción Masiva” (ADIM) in Spanish, became very popular. Raul often cruises the streets of Buenos Aires and other towns and villages, as well as travelling throughout the country, sometimes visiting areas with no access to education or books. He has built a second vehicle, and a third which he brought to The Hague in Holland.

The Weapon of Mass Instruction contributes to peace and understanding of people through literacy.

On his website, Raul explains that the Weapon of Mass Instruction is a mobile sculpture that carries books and gives them away for free. The ability to transport allows them to receive donations of books from anywhere and bring them to anywhere. Small quantities of donated books are added to the vehicle, while large quantities are given to schools and communities throughout South America. Raul describes the vehicle as a “contribution to peace through literature.” …

The following is from a sermon by Martin Luther King that was delivered at the National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., on 31 March 1968. It is even more relevant today…

There can be no gainsaying of the fact that a great revolution is taking place in the world today. In a sense it is a triple revolution: that is, a technological revolution, with the impact of automation and cybernation; then there is a revolution in weaponry, with the emergence of atomic and nuclear weapons of warfare; then there is a human rights revolution, with the freedom explosion that is taking place all over the world. Yes, we do live in a period where changes are taking place. And there is still the voice crying through the vista of time saying, “Behold, I make all things new; former things are passed away.”…

The World Peace Through Technology Organization knows that quotes can be very useful. They can inspire and motivate, offer insight and persective, and they fit nicely on a poster. They are memes that can be spread easily, each containing a packet of wisdom and understanding. They are like little mind-bombs being launched from all directions, in a battle against apathy and misunderstanding. They can be extremely powerful, especially when put to music.

We’d like to share with you some quotes that may be useful now…

Through an inspiring experiment in direct democracy and consensus building, this statement was released after a unanimous vote of Occupy Wall Street’s general assembly:

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right…

Their actions are all a practice in well-understood nonviolence, and their goals are all related to peace and social justice. They go on to list the problems that we, as a society, are facing….

A great animation explaining the cost of war. At least 53% of our tax dollars now goes towards war, an ammount greater than any other country. We’re still paying off the debt from all of our previous wars, debt which is going to the banks who loaned the money to pay for the wars. And it doesn’t look like the government will stop any time soon.

“Tax Dollars At War” is a brilliant visualization of a radio interview about U.S. military spending as a proportion of our national budget. The dialogue comes from a Flashpoints interview with Dennis Bernstein and Dave Lindorff. It is produced by Softbox, animated and directed by Chris Fontaine.

The movement that exploded in Tunisia, sparking demands for immediate change and empowering the people to make those changes themselves… then matured in Cairo and Madrid and in many places around the world throughout the Spring and Summer, even touching briefly down on Madison… has now arrived in time for Autumn in America.

What it is, and what does it mean? I don’t know. We’re still figuring that out. But at this point, I think it’s clear that this is a profound and historic global movement taking place. I believe this represents a great change in society, spawned by the internet, which created new abilities and opportunities that humanity has never had before – whether it be the organizing through social networks, or the direct transmission of information to the masses through Twitter, or the equality that exists and the irrelevance of borders and separations, or the ability to educate yourself on any topic encouraging people to think for themselves and see different perspectives. This seems to be going beyond merely Revolution 2.0, and is moving towards a Humanity 2.0….

The following is taken from a speech given by the Dalai Lama about his views on the future of humanity. It was given in 1997, but is even more relevant today…

Today’s world requires us to accept the oneness of humanity. In the past, isolated communities could afford to think of one another as fundamentally separate. Some could even exist in total isolation. But nowadays, whatever happens in one region eventually affects many other areas. Within the context of our new interdependence, self-interest clearly lies in considering the interest of others. Many of the world’s problems and conflicts arise because we have lost sight of the basic humanity that binds us all together as a human family. We tend to forget that despite the diversity of race, religion, ideology and so forth, people are equal in their basic wish for peace and happiness.

I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well being. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. The key is to develop inner peace…