New Director of Nonviolent Peaceforce comes to Midland
Press Clip Source: WCMU
Written By: David Nicholas
Date: March 18th 2014
Read Original Article: Not Available Anymore
People in mid Michigan wanting to make a difference in the push for peace around the world have an outlet for their efforts through a Midland-based chapter of the Nonviolent Peaceforce.
The new director of the non-partisan non-governmental organization, Doris Mariani, joined NP last fall as its Chief Executive Officer.
She will be meeting with local chapter members and the greater Midland community on Wednesday to update the work of NP and rally local support.
Mariani said she found a natural connection between her background of twenty years working in economic development in Europe and her new position with NP.
She said, “You come to realize that, uh, you cannot do development unless there is peace. And doing other high-level security work, uh, again you realize that you cannot do it unless you have peace.”
The Nonviolent Peaceforce has unarmed civilian peacekeepers in locations around the world that are either emerging from conflict, or are presently in conflict.
Mariani said one example is South Sudan.
It was believed that that fighting had ended as the new country was formed — winning independence from Sudan in 2011.
Since then, civil war has broken out — returning the region to a state of unrest..
The group, Mariani said, also focuses in on areas “off the radar” where tensions exist for the possible outbreak of war or factional fighting.
She said, “But it is true that in many other cases, we do get involved in conflict that either will be coming or has passed and then conflicts have left a situation where there’s really no peace and security on the ground — that there’s still hostilities between various groups.”
Mariani will meet with Midland NP Chapter members Wednesday morning before giving a presentation about the group’s message of peace to a group of Midland Dow High School students.
She will hold a public “meet and greet” event at First United Methodist Church from 4 to 5 pm.