Monday, June 6 to Tuesday, June 14, several locations in Central Ohio

We seek to celebrate and enhance understanding of diverse approaches to peace and community-building through politics, art, health, industry, and beyond. The Ohio Peace Festival is an annual event organized by the Ohio Peace Collaborative, a collective group of peace-driven individuals, organizations, non-profits, and companies within the State of Ohio.
Mission: To build unity through peace.
Vision: A collaborative world of peace, justice, and understanding.
Our values: Nonviolence, positivity, collaboration, and non-partisanship.
Events: See events listed below and at ohiopeace.com.
Contact: Ohio Peace Festival, 1501 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43201; or 614-327-8389 (voice/text) or 614-292-3810 (voice); or ohiopeacecollaborative@gmail.com
ohiopeace.com/

Ohio Peace Festival Events

Peace Film Festival Showcase

Tuesday, June 7, 6pm, Gateway Film Center, 1550 N. High St.

The Ohio Peace Collaborative, in partnership with the Ohio State University Film Studies program, Columbus Moving Image Art Review and the Gateway Film Center, is proud to present the first Ohio Peace Short Film Festival. Filmmakers from Central Ohio and around the world were asked to create a short film related to the topics of peace, justice and security that addresses one of the following ideas:

• “Peace can only be achieved by understanding.”

• “Ignorance is a menace to peace.”

• “The opposite of war is not peace, it is creation.”

Prizes for the three best short films will be announced. Tickets: $5.00.

Screening and discussion of Night Will Fall

Wednesday, June 8, 6pm, Gateway Film Center, 1550 N. High St.

What is the role of art in bearing witness to abuses of human rights? How do political forces shape public memory following genocide and war? The 2014 film, Night Will Fall, tells the story behind the suppression of Sidney Bernstein and Alfred Hitchcock’s 1945 documentary German Concentration Camps Factual Survey. Bernstein and Hitchcock’s film detailed the horrors of the Holocaust during the liberation of the concentration camps and was kept in British archives for nearly seven decades before being completed. Night Will Fall includes clips from the 1945 film as well as interviews with survivors and liberators of the concentration camps. The screening will include an introduction by the film’s director, André Singer, and a discussion of the intersections of art, politics, and peace. Please note that this documentary includes graphic images of the Holocaust and may not be appropriate for guests of all ages. Tickets: $5.00.

“Know NATO” Workshop

Saturday, June 11, 11am

Mershon Center for International Security Studies, 1501 Neil Ave., Rm. 120

The “Know NATO” workshop will explore the historic and actual impacts of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] before the upcoming NATO summit that is scheduled to take place July 8-9 in Warsaw, Poland. The workshop will enable peace researchers, educators, and activists to gain and share knowledge of that summit, which will be taking place during heightened global instability and conflict.

   Wars in the Middle East, Ukraine, Africa, and Afghanistan have left hundreds of thousands dead, destroyed these countries’ infrastructure, and ruined the conditions for political stability and social peace. Terrorism that has spread around the world is a terrible legacy of these conflicts. Millions of refugees have been forced to flee their homes in search of a safe place for them and their families to live.

   We are presently in the middle of a new East-West arms race, seen clearly in the area of Central and Eastern Europe. The NATO proposals of the present Polish government to station permanent NATO bases in Poland and build a new Missile Defense Shield in the country would place its people on the frontline of these new hostilities. In times of austerity, NATO is urging all member states to raise its military spending to at least 2% of Gross Domestic Product [GDP]; which social policies will be impacted?

   When the governments and Generals meet in Warsaw, an alternative voice must be heard. The “Know NATO” workshop will share plans by a coalition of the peace and anti-war movements to hold a number of events during the NATO summit in Warsaw. During the “Know NATO” workshop, alternatives to NATO militarization, such as the politics of common security and disarmament and global solidarity, will be explored.

Contact: Mark D. Stansbery, walk@igc.org 614-517-7237.

Dances of Universal Peace

Saturday, June 11, 7-8:30pm

Indianola Presbyterian Church, 1970 Waldeck Ave.

Simple, meditative, and joyous circle dances that celebrate the variety of spiritual paths on Earth. If you like folk dancing, you’ll be right at home here. No previous experience is needed — just an open and willing attitude. Participation, not presentation, is the focus.

Contact: 614-486-9530 (Thallia) or centralohiosufi@yahoo.com.

The Inconvenient Truth About Climate and Security

Sunday, June 12, 6pm

Mershon Center, OSU, 1501 Neil Ave.

Do you remember the first time you saw “An Inconvenient Truth?” The documentary kicked off a new era of climate change activism, calling on many of us to get involved both personally and politically with the climate movement. 2016 marks 10 years since "An Inconvenient Truth" was first released. To celebrate, we will screen the film, then hear about the implications of climate change for national security from Climate Reality leader Robert McCollister.

   McCollister has a Ph.D. in political science from The Ohio State University, specializing in national security policy. McCollister trained with Al Gore in the Climate Reality Leadership Corps in Chicago in 2013. 

   “An Inconvenient Truth” records a multi-media presentation hosted by Gore in which he discusses the scientific facts behind global warming, explains how it has already begun to affect our environment, talks about the disastrous consequences if the world's governments and citizens do not act, and shares what each person can do to help protect the Earth for this and future generations. 

Cathy Cowan Becker, becker.271@gmail.com, or Emma Beasley, beasley.50@buckeyemail.osu.edu.

Meeting in the Middle: Civil Discourse in the 2016 Presidential Election

Monday, June 13, 7pm

Mershon Center for International Security Studies, 1501 Neil Ave., Rm. 120

In contemporary American politics, it seems that name calling, personal attacks, and party polarization has led to a nearly unprecedented level of incivility in both state and federal government. With the approach of the 2016 presidential election, we can expect a barrage of political advertisements on social media, the internet and television, most of which will be negative. This event attempts to identify effective avenues in which all political parties, regardless of ideology, can build compromise, work together, and listen to each other’s ideas.

   Former State Representative Ted Celeste will moderate a panel to investigate the state of civil discourse in Ohio and U.S. politics. This event will examine the role of civil discourse in our everyday politics while discussing the role of social media, the 24/7 news cycle, and the impact of incivility on voter turnout and civic participation.

Registration: mershoncenter.osu.edu/component/eventbooking/bridging-the-divide-civil-discourse-in-the-2016-presidential-elections.html