Two remarkable modern heroes, were on the air with Dr. Gary Null. Null’s ‘Conversations With Remarkable Minds series. Both on this same hour show, a great listen. Gary Null is known as a take-no-prisoners health activist and author of several books including the recently published Reverse Arthritis & Pain Naturally.

Dr. Vandana Shiva is a renown environmental and social activist, and formerly one of India’s top nuclear physicists. She is regarded as the leading pioneer behind India’s ecological and ecofeminism movement. In 1982 Dr. Shiva founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, which led to the creation of Navdanya – an organization dedicated to the restoration of organic farming across India and the preservation of indigenous knowledge and culture.

For several decades, Vandana has fought for changes in the globalized practices of agriculture and food. She has traveled the world speaking against biopiracy and patenting of indigenous knowledge by large agricultural and pharmaceutical corporations. Her activist efforts have created grassroots organizations throughout the developing world to counter genetic engineering of crops, as well as empower women throughout the third world.

Born in 1934 in Durban, South Africa, Arun Gandhi is the fifth grandson of India’s legendary leader, “Mahatma” Gandhi. Growing up under the discriminatory apartheid laws of South Africa, he was beaten by “white” South Africans for being too black and by “black” South Africans for being too white. His grandfather taught Arun to understand nonviolence through understanding violence.

For 30 years Arun worked as a journalist for the Times of India and founded the Center for Social Change which has aided half a million people in 300 villages of Maharashtra. Coming to the US in 1987 Arun and his wife Sunanda founded the M.K Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence now located at the University of Rochester in NY, and later founded the Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute to foster economic equanimity in depressed regions of the globe. He was recently elected to the Board of the Trustees for the Council for a Parliament of World Religions. Arun has written a series of books on Gandhi’s life,  the relevance of Gandhi’s vision for today, and has edited publications of his grandfather’s writings including “The Way of God.”  His website is at www.ArunGandhi.net

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Lynnea Bylund is managing director of Gandhi Legacy Tours, Director of Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute, founder of Catalyst House and has nearly three decades of experience in administration, marketing and business development. She was a nationally recognized spokeswoman for the emerging alternative video and information delivery industries. She has a degree in holistic health-nutrition from the legendary and controversial health educator and activist Dr. Kurt Donsbach, she is the founder of two not-for-profit small business-based wireless trade associations and has lobbied on Capitol Hill and at the FCC where she has spoken out strongly against the cable TV monopoly, illegal spectrum warehousing and ill-conceived congressional schemes to auction our nation’s precious airwaves to the highest bidder.  Ms. Bylund is a founder and former CEO of a Washington DC telecommunications consulting and management company with holdings in several operating and developmental wireless communications systems and companies. In 1995 Lynnea became the first female in the world to be awarded a Broadband PCS operating permit – she was one of only 18 winners, along with Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon in the biggest cash auction in world history, raising a whopping $7.7 billion. Lynnea also spear-headed the successful effort to launch the first cable TV network in the South Pacific islands.

>Follow Lynnea on +LynneaBylund, Twitter, LinkedIn, FaceBook, Pinterest, & YouTube

Here is the final part of Moe Yonamine’s guest blog.  

Part Three by Moé Yonamine

Since our Skype two weeks ago, my students are still talking about two stories Arun told—the mountain story and the peace-farmer story.

Jenni beautifully captured Arun’s message in an essay she wrote: “Have you ever noticed how people of different religions go after each other? And not just religion, but races as well. This hasn’t happened to me personally, but I’ve seen people where they are treated differently just because their skin is a different color, or they come from a different religion. We brought the topic up to Mr. Gandhi, and he told us the story about the mountains. The story is simply saying that there’s no reason for us to treat each other badly. We may come from different parts of the world, but we are all heading to the same place. We all want to reach the top of the mountain. We just take different paths to get there.”

This story unfolded in the home of Jesse a few nights after the talk with Arun. Jesse shared this in his reflective writing: “Living in a household where Catholicism has been in my family since the start can be conflicting when I talk about my perspective on religion. I believe in self-reflection and peace with your physical and spiritual body. My mom is open to hear my beliefs, but my step-dad isn’t on the same page. The most recent discussion I had with my step-dad was intense. While I listened to my step-dad, I thought about the talk we had with Mr. Gandhi. I was thinking about the story of the mountain. I asked my step-dad why judge and talk bad about other religions. Religions may have different beliefs, but they all strive to get to the same place. Sitting in silence for a couple of minutes made me realize he was thinking. He began to talk about his acceptance of my beliefs. I would like to think that I changed the way he thinks after that night, and that he would end the type of violence he was doing.”   [Read more…]

Part Two by Moé Yonamine

Eager students packed the library, 138 of them seated in rows of chairs waiting for the moment Mr. Arun Gandhi’s face would appear on the screen.  Excitement, anxiety, and laughter filled the room. My students would soon have the opportunity to have a face-to-face conversation with Arun, whose universal work we had studied along with that of his grandfather. Roosevelt High School is one of the most diverse schools in Oregon, and the faces of students represented peoples from across the globe and the great challenges and struggles many have encountered in their lives and street experiences.

These students entered my class in September, many outraged and frustrated with the Trayvon Martin verdict. The experience of Trayvon hit home to so many who regularly experience issues of race and violence in their own communities. Trayvon Martin’s case had become a symbol of injustices they had seen in their own lives and the verdict a reminder of what society sees as the solution. “What’s the point of even trying?” Damarté said during the first week of class. He explained that the outcome okays violence as the just solution to an injustice, so speaking up is not going to do much. My sophomore class waited for my response, many feeling the same discouragement.

We needed to take a bold look at the world and decided to use the lens of asking these two questions: What should the world know about this situation? What should the world (and people) do? We looked at many issues around the world today, discussing injustices the students saw and how they connected to them through their own lives, including issues of stop-and-frisk in New York, post-apartheid conditions in South Africa, continuing conflicts in Israel/Palestine, and the devastating genocide in Rwanda. We analyzed deeply about what should be done about the injustices they identified. “How come we don’t learn from things that have happened to other people?” said Carolina. “Why, if we all know how bad the Holocaust was, did we let something like that happen in Rwanda?”  “And the Israelis who went through this in the past are now part of the same thing with the Palestinians,” Curtis said covering his face with his hands in frustration.  “It just keeps repeating, Ms. Yonamine,” echoed Carolina, looking for an answer. I heard the voices of despair.  [Read more…]

Some students of Salisbury University’s Center for Conflict Resolution made this great 12 minute video, a tribute to my life and mission as well as my family.  I want to thank Kelly Sullivan, Rebecca Demers, April Cahill and Dr. Brian Polkinghorn. Namaste!

Great music was incorporated in the soundtrack: Awake My Soul-Mumford and Sons Your Hand In Mine-Explosions In The Sky Crazy Girl- Eli Young Band Lost In My Mind- The Head & The Heart.

Love and Shukriya,  Arunji

Davide Martello World Tour for Peace Announces USA Tour
November 2013-2014

“The Peace Pianist,” playing in Taksim Square

Davide Martello, an Italian pianist based in Germany, began his world tour over two years ago with the intention of helping to bring about a more peaceful tomorrow.  He has played in over 60 cities worldwide, including Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan; Sarajevo, Bosnia, and Pristina, Kosovo.

In June 2013 Martello brought his grand piano to Taksim Square in Istanbul, during the Gezi Park protests.  It was there that journalists gave him the name, “The Peace Pianist.”  For the three days that he played in Taksim Square, he showed the power of music to calm tensions.  Police and protesters alike took off their riot gear and listened to him play, and for over 50 hours there was peace in the square.

His performances covered by

CNN,  New  York Times, Huffington Post, The Times.

Everyone has their own gifts they can use to make the world a more peaceful place.  I’ve got my piano,” Martello said.

Martello will continue his world tour in America.  He will drive his piano across the entire continental United States to promote his message of peace through music.  He plays performances in outdoor spaces, believing that music outdoors causes all of us to reflect for a moment in the midst of our busy lives – a reflection that is often a movement of the human soul toward peace.  Martello performs in outdoor spaces for free.

In addition to playing in public venues he will also be playing for organizations that are helping to create a peaceful tomorrow (including Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute, Partners in School Innovation, Peace and Brotherhood, among others).

Please find below Martello’s tentative schedule for the USA tour:

November: NY, Maine, NH, VT, MASS, RI, WV
December: NJ, Penn, DEL, MD, DC, WV
January: Virginia, NC, SC, GA, FL
February: AL, Miss, Tenn, KE
March: LA, AK, OK
April: TX, NM, AZ
May: CA, NV, OG, WA
June: ID, UT, CO, WY, MO
July: ND, SD, NE, KA
August: Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minn, WI
September: ILL, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio
October: New York City