The occasion of fifty years passing since the tragic, wasteful assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., has inspired an abundance of valuable commentary on Dr. King's legacy. Chief among the points being made is that it wasn't race or civil rights per se that brought King to Memphis, but a sanitation workers strike. His decision to appear and speak on behalf of the workers was of a piece with his growing commitment to what he and others were calling the Poor People's Campaign. The logic behind the campaign was that the creation of the "beloved community" involved the seeking of justice and...
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“Nuclear Abolition: Claiming Your Right to Live”
Saturday, April 21st, 1:00 - 4:00 pm
Do you care about peace, but feel you lack knowledge or experience to take action? Do you want a world free of nuclear weapons, but don’t know how to get involved?
Join us on Saturday, April 21st, 1:00 - 4:00 pm (doors open at 12:30 with free food/refreshments), for our first-ever student-led peace dialogue, “Nuclear Abolition: Claiming Your Right to Live.” Admission is free and open to the...
By Mitch Bogen
What better time than now, with polarization and division so ascendant, to celebrate our shared humanity? With this spirit of optimism, on March 23rd the Ikeda Center hosted its second dialogue night event of 2018, this time called “Learning to Live Together: Rediscovering Our Fundamental Connectedness.”
In her welcoming remarks, the Center’s Lillian I shared that the theme was inspired by Daisaku Ikeda’s 2018 peace proposal, which she said “emphasizes the need for people, governments, and leaders to embrace and recognize the fact that every...
On Saturday, March 10, the Ikeda Center’s program coordinator, Lillian I, participated in Massachusetts Peace Action (MAPA) Next Gen’s first event, “Know Nukes.” Lillian (left) joined a panel alongside Max Tegmark (right) from the Future of Life Institute and Michelle Cunha (center) of MAPA to discuss the current state of nuclear weapons, nuclear disarmament, the mentality behind nuclear...
The Ikeda Center’s February 2018 student seminar on the topic of nuclear weapons abolition didn’t proceed according to a schedule. Rather, it proceeded with what facilitators Betty Reardon, a pioneer in peace education and feminist studies, and Zeena Zakharia, Assistant Professor of International and Comparative Education at UMass Boston, identified as a “learning sequence.” That is to say, the daylong event was carefully structured in order to elicit from students their considered impressions of the major obstacles to nuclear weapons abolition, and then to help them visualize a clear...
Daisaku Ikeda's 2018 Peace Proposal emphasizes that a "human rights" focus provides the "key to resolving global issues and abolishing nuclear weapons," not least because it can help "overcome social divides." Celebrating last year's adoption in the UN of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was followed by the awarding of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Mr. Ikeda urges us to be optimistic about advancing the cause of global peace in the year to come. "The challenge of creating the new reality of a global society," he...
On February 10, eleven Boston-area university students joined facilitators Betty Reardon and Zeena Zakharia for a daylong seminar on the topic of advancing the new movement toward nuclear weapons abolition. The interactive gathering was carefully structured in order to 1) elicit from students their considered impressions of what the major obstacles are that inhibit progress on nuclear weapons abolition; and 2) to help them visualize a clear sequence of action steps that ultimately will result in the entering into force of the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Check back...
A Report From Dialogue Nights No. 4
By Mitch Bogen
View a photo gallery of the event.
We hosted our first Dialogue Nights event of 2018 on January 19, when more than forty Boston-area students and young professionals gathered at the Ikeda Center to discuss “The Invisible Arrow of Prejudice, War,...
On Friday, December 1, the Ikeda Center welcomed nearly 50 Boston-area students and young professionals for our third Dialogue Nights event of Fall 2017, this time featuring guest facilitator Ceasar McDowell, Professor of Civic Design at MIT. The evening’s theme was “The Power of Raised Voices: Do You Know More Than You Can Say?” The goal of the dialogue was to help participants unearth the sources of their reluctance to engage in the important, difficult conversations we need to improve the health of our democracy.
On Friday, December 1, the Ikeda Center welcomed nearly 50 Boston-area students and young professionals for our third Dialogue Nights event of Fall 2017. The gathering featured Professor Ceasar McDowell of MIT leading everyone in an exploration of "The Power of Raised Voices." Employing a unique approach, Dr. McDowell facilitated a dialogue about dialogue, or rather, a dialogue about why so many of us are reluctant to engage in the kinds of conversations that are needed if we are to become a healthier, more harmonious society.
The point wasn't that it's wrong to be...
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Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue
396 Harvard Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: (617) 491.1090 Fax: (617) 491.1169