The 11th annual Nobel Peace Prize Festival will be held at Augsburg College in Minneapolis on Monday, March 13 from 11:00 a.m.-1:30 p.m. and will honor 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai.  The Norwegian Nobel Institute selected Professor Maathai from Kenya for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy, and peace.  She is also founder of the Greenbelt Movement.  This organization is responsible for planting 30 million trees in Kenya over the past 30 years.

The Festival is designed to connect students in grades 1-12 who first study the work of a Nobel Peace Prize recipient; and then create a related interactive exhibit, work of art, or performance to showcase their learning about the life and accomplishments of their adopted Laureate.  The one-day Festival gives students the opportunity to share their projects and presentations with Wangari Maathai and representatives of the Greenbelt Movement, as well as other invited dignitaries and members of the community.

Wangari Maathai is the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.  In her acceptance speech in Oslo, Norway she stated: “I would like to call on young people to commit themselves to activities that contribute toward achieving their long-term dreams.  They have the energy and creativity to shape a sustainable future.  To the young people I say: you are a gift to your communities and, indeed, the world.  You are our hope and our future.”

Some of the highlights of the Festival include: African drumming, a traditional Kenyan welcoming ceremony, original songs and dramatic performances, including unicycles.

During the Festival closing ceremony, Wangari Maathai will be presented with a Peace pole.  The message on the Peace pole reads in several languages: “May Peace Prevail on Earth.”

The event is free and open to the public.

For more information:  www.nobelpeaceprizefestival.org or 612-330-1510

Peace Prize Forum

Dr. Maathai will also be the featured speaker during the 18th annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum that will be held March 10-11 at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa.  The 2006 forum, "Striving for Peace: Sustaining the Planet," will focus on threats to peace posed by environmental degradation and on the importance of grassroots development and individual efforts.

Maathai is to address the forum’s opening plenary session.
    

Christine Todd Whitman, former governor of New Jersey, will also address a plenary session of the forum.  Whitman, president of The Whitman Strategy Group, Gladstone, N.J., served as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, 2001-2003.
    

Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and professor in the School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, will address the forum’s closing plenary session.  He served as a special advisor to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on issues related to bioterrorism and public health preparedness, 2001-2005.
    

The Nobel Peace Prize Forum is held in cooperation with the Norwegian Nobel Institute and five colleges of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA):  Augsburg College, Minneapolis; Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D.; Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn.; Luther College; and St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.  It is the Norwegian Nobel Institute’s only such program or academic affiliation outside of Norway.
    

The five colleges were founded by Norwegian immigrants.  They have sponsored the forum on their campuses since 1989 to recognize Norway’s international peace efforts and to offer the general public opportunities to hear Nobel Peace Prize laureates, diplomats and scholars involved in peacemaking, including, in previous years, Jimmy Carter, Rigoberta Menchu, Oscar Arias Sanchez and Elie Wiesel.
    

The Rev. Susan R. Briehl, project associate on Education and Formation of People in Faith, Valparaiso University, will preach during a Saturday morning worship service.  Briehl is currently Distinguished Professor of the Art of Ministry, Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, one of eight ELCA seminaries.
    

Other speakers include Robert Jacobel, chair of the Physics Department, St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.; Frederick Kirschenmann, distinguished fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, Ames; Andrea Olsen, professor of dance and faculty member in the Environmental Studies Program at Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vt.; Chad Pregracke, founder and president of Living Lands & Waters, East Moline, Ill.; and Frances Seymour, founding director of the Institutions and Governance Program at World Resources Institute, Washington, D.C.
   

On Friday four concurrent sessions will focus on water, climate, food security and embodiment — "the personal landscape."
    

Thirty-one seminars will be offered twice on Saturday.  Topics include: "Global Climate Change: The Scientific Basis and Policy Discussion," "The World Bank: Ally or Enemy in the Struggle for Sustainability?" and "Caring for Creation: Doing Agriculture as Conquerors or Citizens."
    

A peace fair will showcase organizations involved in peacemaking efforts around the world.  An ethnic arts festival will celebrate the global community through music, dance, food and displays.

It is official, Becky Lourey is running for Governor of Minnesota. She made this announcement to Green Party friends and well-wishers at a House Party held at the residence of former Minneapolis mayoral candidate Farheen Hakeem on Friday, February 10. She said she had done the mathematics and is confident to win this race as she has alternative policies that will “put power in the hands of the people.”

Introducing her campaign team of Liz, Barbara and Farheen; Becky proudly announced that she is “surrounded by people who care for the things that she cares for.” Outlining her winning strategy, she said she stands for a “Universal Health Care Program” describing it as “the most durable” the blueprint of which should be out shortly. Determined “to deliver” and driven by the passion to fix things in Minnesota, she said what we see around us falls short of the people’s expectations, and the people are thirsting for alternative choices.

On her proposed health care plan she said “we have worked so hard on it that we encourage people to read it when it is published.” As a long-time legislator, she boasts of her track record in such programs as early childhood care, pesticide legislation, environmental issues, transportation concerns, and safe neighborhoods.

She was disappointed by the present Governor’s plan to build more jail houses as a way to fight crime instead of investing on quality education that will keep our youth off the streets and place them on a sound footing to work on building successful careers.

She said our current democracy is based on “constitutional liberalism” in which a few rich people have hijacked the power from the people and do not care for social justice. Believing in their materialistic wellbeing, she asserted that the situation on the ground is reduced to that of the rich man’s game “where survival is for the fittest.”

Becky has raised 12 children, four of them are her biological children and the others are adopted and these include African-Americans and Koreans. “I have struggled to put food on the table for 12 children. At one time four of my children were on surgery, my husband was out of work and we had no health insurance. I know what being without health insurance means first hand.”

She has seen racial injustice take place when her black children “got arrested when they should not,” and when she sympathized with them they told her point-blank: “Mum we are being arrested because we are black.”

She maintains that now is the time for change and she brushed aside skeptics by declaring “if you approach elections with a defeatist attitude, you will lose.”  She lashed out at the current administration for going “to war just for the oil” and passing down unprecedented huge budget deficits “to our grandchildren.”

She laments that over the years, she has witnessed the legislature “being compromised” and it is time for new leadership that will work in the interest of the people and introduce a “fair taxation system.”  She is sure of winning this race because she has the winning strategy hinged on issues that the people of Minnesota want addressed now.

Minneapolis – On a cold February afternoon, more than 650 visitors paraded through the hallways and offices of the new Center for Families to check out the newest innovation in North Minneapolis created to help struggling families succeed.

The 19,000-square-foot facility — built by the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches — will serve all families, with a special focused outreach to West African immigrants. It will house services such as language classes, job training, health screenings and referrals, mental health services, adult basic education, and many others designed to help families plant strong roots in the community.

The center is located on the campus of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in North Minneapolis, and the grand opening celebration brought together West Africans, religious leaders, community leaders, social service advocates, and government officials. Rev. Albert Gallmon, Jr., pastor of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, gave the afternoon’s address and left the crowd standing on its feet.

“The fact that we all have united Blacks/Whites, the children of Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Liberia, Ghana, Togo, rich, poor, middle class to construct and operate a Center for Families is something to shout about. We have come today even though some said this day would never happen. We have come today not because we believe that the city and others join us in our sense of moral outrage but because we want preachers, black and white, Protestant and Catholic, Jewish and Muslim to join hands and hearts together to bring about a moral revolution in our land.”

The grand opening also featured the premiere performance of “We, Too, Rise,” an original choral anthem commissioned by GMCC to celebrate its 100th Anniversary of uniting people of faith to serve people in need. It was composed by Emmy-Award-winning composer, Steve Heitzeg and performed by the Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church choir, under the direction of Sanford Moore. The anthem is taken from the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” in which King responds to eight Alabama clergyman who had labeled his demonstrations as “unwise and untimely.” King responds: “…the time is always ripe to do right.”

Planning for the $3.5 million Center for Families began nearly four years ago with an advisory committee made up of government professionals, social service advocates, and community leaders. But most important was the representation from the West African community whose wisdom guided the center’s development from its infancy.

During the past 10 years, Minneapolis and St. Paul have seen a significant jump in the number of African immigrant families. The Twin Cities has the fourth largest African immigrant population in the country and the highest growth rate in African immigrants (628 percent since 1990). Unlike more well-established groups from East African countries such as Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya, those from West African countries such as Liberia, Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon have few services available to them.

The Center for Families is the result of a unique collaboration of public- and private sector partners from a variety of fields. Partner agencies supporting this venture include:West African immigrant groups, the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches, Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, the city of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minneapolis Public Schools, City View Community School, NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center, the Council on Crime and Justice, the Neighborhood Involvement Program, Episcopal Community Services, Goodwill Easter Seals, the McKinley Community, Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, Northside Food Project, and Urban Leadership Academy.

Photojournalist: Richard Ooga/Mshale

View pictures from the event in the photo gallery.

SAINT PAUL – Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer addressed the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.’s “Day at the Capitol” gathering on February 9th in Saint Paul. Kiffmeyer was introduced by Alpha Kappa Alpha member Cassandra Ward Brown, a prominent Minneapolis attorney.

Kiffmeyer talked about elections and about efforts to encourage people of color to vote.

“Minnesota has had the highest voter turnout in the nation for the past three elections. It’s because of civic-minded citizens like the members of Alpha Kappa Alpha that we’ve been able to do that,” said Kiffmeyer. “It was a real honor to address the group.”

Alpha Kappa Alpha is at www.aka1908.com

Minneapolis, MN
– Overseas, protests over cartoons were hardly non-violent. But the one organized by Twin Cities Muslims was deliberately different: Peaceful.

So peaceful that furor against Muslim violence seconded the furor over the cartoons- the subject of the rally in
Minneapolis
.

An estimated 1,000 Muslims crammed into the Brian Coyle center on Feb. 20 to denounce controversial caricatures originally published on a small Danish newspaper that lampooned prophet Mohamed in an unflattering manner.

“The best way to defend our prophet is peace, his core message to us,” said Mona Ahmed, 24, a student at the

University
of
Minnesota

“Violence doesn’t help at all.”

In Islam, the depiction of Mohamed, positive or negative, is considered blasphemous.

The protest was the first relating to the cartoons held in
Minnesota
.

The publication of the 12 controversial cartoons in September had a domino effect around the world. Several European newspapers reprinted the caricatures in solidarity with the Danish paper and to uphold freedom of expression, further exasperating Muslims.

So far, about 45 deaths, mostly in , and , are blamed on the cartoons.

Minneapolis
protestors said that they are in solidarity with global Muslims in condemnation of the cartoons, but do not condone the violence and lawlessness that followed.

To do just that, protestors were decidedly calmer, labeling violence as an “Unislamic.”

“Islam basically means peace,” said Ahmed Abdikarim, a member of the rally organizing panel. “Despite strong reactions, we’re very discontented with the acts of violence and distraction around the Muslim world.”

Sentiments of distress with the violence seem to be equally picking up around the Muslim world. A consortium of renowned religious leaders and scholars recently issued a statement flatly denouncing violence and warning that Muslims may become “pariahs”. The statement, though, was unapologetically critical of the cartoons but cautioned that violence may overshadow the very protest aimed against the problem.

In some ways, the discontent with violence overshadowed the cartoon protest at the
Minneapolis
rally. Almost all speakers voiced concerns about a negative perception of Muslims if violence is not quelled immediately.

Many protesters were holding signs that read “Mohamed is a gift of mercy” and “Mohamed is the messenger of God” among others.

Another highlight of the protest was the fact that most major American newspapers have not published the cartoons, earning a rare praise from Muslims.

“American media has shown responsibility.” said Hassan Mohamoud, imam of Al-Taqwa Mosque in
St. Paul
.

A call for prayer was announced halfway through the rally. Most men stood in lines, facing northeast, the direction of Ka’aba, Islam’s holiest site in Mecca and, quietly pronounced “Allahu Akbar” (God is great). Women prayed in a nearby room.

Organizers say that they are considering holding similar protests in other Minnesota cities where there is a significant Muslim community, such as
Rochester
.