May Art bring Peace on Earth!
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May Peace Prevail on Earth! — International Peace Day 2014
Inspiring words from a sage and impressive performance from a 4 years old, both Art and Peace to celebrate the International Peace Day:
[…] peace is the normal condition of humanity, just like health. There is so much plain, simple, decent behavior around, so much mutual aid, a helping hand, companionship, friendship, good neighborhood when bad luck strikes at its worst. And we sense mutuality, unquestioning reciprocity; not always but mostly. read more
…
Nature. Goethe’s famous “Über alle Gipfeln ist Ruh, Über alle Wipfeln spürest Du, Kaum einen Hauch” is a hymn to nature peace as quiet, windless. That is one nature peace.
Another nature peace. In Spain, up there, are two clearly gendered mountains, huge–Adam and Eve. They exude peace in their eternal stillness, unmoving, yet immensely touching and inspiring. Be it windless or stormy, equally faithful. The guardians are there.
Yet another. A river with waterfall and eddies, a beach with the rhythm of waves, long, rolling in, forever. All is movement, like snowflakes in the wind on a winter day; yet there is rhythm and harmony. The water freezes, the ocean flattens, the snow covers the earth.
It is the Rule of Law, Nature’s laws–maybe one day negotiable with less distance to Nature–our freedom is insight in them (Hegel).
Arts. Here is an effort:
KUNST OG FRED
La oss löftes av kunsten
som kunstnerne har löftet den
oppover, utover det vanlige
utover alldagen
slik at vi kan skue langt
utover grenser og klöfter
i vårt uryddige menneskelandskap
inn i andre öyne som
også er blitt löftet
utover det vanlige
for å forenes
i fred.ART AND PEACE
Let us be lifted by the arts
like the artists have lifted them
upward, outward, beyond the ordinary
beyond the run of the mill;
making us see far
beyond borders and cleavages
in our untidy human landscape
into other eyes that
also have been lifted
beyond the ordinary
to be united
in peace.
Art is a medium. The music fills us, and we are in the music, those moments of oneness, in a plush concert hall or on-the-rock, in a street. That spiritual beyond us in any art; in time as music, literature; in space as paintings, sculptures; in both as drama, theater, opera. Written art may more easily communicate concreteness, but for that reason also be divisive; abstract form for eyes or ears may be less divisive, more unifying–but for what? Whatever the answer, there is that moment of oneness, of unity. Precious.
The natural or the artistic? Both, of course. May peace prevail.
Johan Galtung, a professor of peace studies, dr hc mult, is rector of the TRANSCEND Peace University-TPU. He is author of over 150 books on peace and related issues, including ‘50 Years-100 Peace and Conflict Perspectives,’ published by the TRANSCEND University Press-TUP.
Le Déserteur – The Deserter
https://www.transcend.org/tms/2014/08/johan-galtung-performs-%E2%80%9Cle-deserteur%E2%80%9D/
Transcript and translation to English, verse by verse, by Harold Berg.
Le Déserteur – The Deserter
Monsieur le Président,
je vous fais une lettre,
que vous lirez peut-être,
si vous avez le temps.
Mr. President
I’m writing you a letter
that perhaps you will read
If you have the time.
Je viens de recevoir
mes papiers militaires
pour partir à la guerre
avant mercredi soir.
I’ve just received
my call-up papers
to leave for the front
Before Wednesday night.
Monsieur le Président
je ne veux pas le faire,
je ne suis pas sur terre
pour tuer de pauvres gens.
Mr. President
I do not want to go
I am not on this earth
to kill wretched people.
C’est pas pour vous fâcher,
il faut que je vous dise,
ma décision est prise,
je m’en vais déserter.
It’s not to make you mad
I must tell you
my decision is made
I am going to desert.
Depuis que je suis né,
j’ai vu mourir mon père,
j’ai vu partir mes frères,
et pleurer mes enfants.
Since I was born
I have seen my father die
I have seen my brothers leave
and my children cry.
Ma mère a tant souffert,
qu’elle est dedans sa tombe,
et se moque des bombes,
et se moque des vers.
My mother has suffered so,
that she is in her grave
and she laughs at the bombs
and she laughs at the worms.
Quand j’étais prisonnier
on m’a volé ma femme,
on m’a volé mon âme,
et tout mon cher passé.
When I was a prisoner
they stole my wife
they stole my soul
and all my dear past.
Demain de bon matin,
je fermerai ma porte
au nez des années mortes
j’irai sur les chemins.
Early tomorrow morning
I will shut my door
on these dead years
I will take to the road.
Je mendierai ma vie,
sur les routes de France,
de Bretagne en Provence,
et je crierai aux gens:
I will beg my way along
on the roads of France
from Brittany to Provence
and I will cry out to the people:
refusez d’obéir,
refusez de la faire,
n’allez pas à la guerre,
refusez de partir.
Refuse to obey
refuse to do it
don’t go to war
refuse to go.
S’il faut donner son sang,
allez donner le vôtre,
vous êtes bon apôtre,
monsieur le Président.
If blood must be given
go give your own
you are a good apostle
Mr. President.
Si vous me poursuivez
prévenez vos gendarmes
que je n’aurai pas d’armes
et qu’ils pourront tirer.
If you go after me
warn your police
that I’ll be unarmed
and that they can shoot.
Read also:
https://www.transcend.org/tms/2014/08/needed-regime-change-in-israel/
auratrifu 