The Nobel Peace Prize Forum is an annual event bringing together Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, civic leaders, and scholars together with students and other citizens in an effort to engage peacemaking efforts around the world. The 2012 Forum used a variety of mediums and topics, ranging from “The Ethics of Hip Hop” to an address by Nobel Laureate F.W. de Klerk.

I attended the “Business Day” of the forum at the beginning of this month and was pleasantly surprised by the continual emphasis on the need for the private sector to be involved if peace can prevail on earth. The day was filled with a variety of interests from the private sector epresenting the large field it is-- renewable energy, microenterprise and entrepreneurs, agriculture and food industry, chambers of commerce, economics, etc.

I greatly appreciated all the presentations I attended throughout the day, but the final keynote speaker was astonishing. Saki Macozoma served time on Robben Island during Nelson Mandela's imprisonment and was a business leader throughout the ending of apartheid. He spoke of the South African private sector's collective involvement that kept the debating factions at the table during the ending of apartheid, and the business community’s involvement presently to help decrease unemployment. The key to his presentation was that the South African business community recognizes the benefits from social reform and high quality of life. This is a revolutionary concept. If the worldwide business community supported and understood this we could have a radically different world--one where corporate power could be a term of social change, not greed and corruption.

May peacemaking prevail on earth, and may all of us play a role,
Elizabeth Fairbairn, St. Joseph Worker & Justice Office Intern

For a schedule of the Business Day click here.
Please click here for the video archive of the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize Forum.

Call to Action Conference

The Marriage Amendment: Can Faithful Catholics Vote "No"?

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Registration 9:00; Conference 9:30 (lunch and snacks provided)

Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
700 Snelling Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55116
Sponsored by Call to Action

"Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to provide that only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Minnesota?" Can Faithful Catholics vote "no"?

"Call to Action acknowledges that people of faith have differences on this issue and offers conference participants an opportunity to consider this issue from a variety of perspectives."
(CTA event brochure)

Conference Music: Donna Pena, composer and performer resding in Inver Grove Heights

Conference Presenters
Lucian "Mickey" Martinez, attorney who drafted a bried on behalf of a national civil rights organization in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States of America on the matter of the U. S. Military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Policy. His topic: "A Holy, Civil Matter"

Patricia Beattie Jung, editor of the discussion text, God, Sex, Science and Gender and Professor of Christian Ethics and Health and Welfare Ministries at Saint Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, Missouri. Her topic: "Marriage Equality and Catholicism"

Project 515 Players, directed by Bryan Gerber, performs vignettes based on the real-life discrimination facted by same-sex couples and their families in Minnesota and highlights many of the 515 discriminatory laws through theatrical presentation and song.

REGISTRATION

Before March 31: $35 per person

After March 31: $45 per person

Young Adults (under 30) $10 per person

Adults traveling two hours or more $20 per person

PLEASE REGISTER EARLY to help with food count

Please make checks payable to CTA-MN, P. O. Box 19406, Minneapolis, MN 55419

Conference Contact Person

Art Stoeberl 651.278.6630 artstoeberl@yahoo.com