‘Peace Starts Within’
Gandhi comes to Cal State L.A. to bring peace to L.A. city youth
Los Angeles, CA – Featuring international peace activist Arun Gandhi, the 3rd Annual Youth Peace Conference, entitled “Peace Starts Within,” will be held on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 8-9, in the Golden Eagle Ballroom at Cal State L.A.
Presented by Soledad Enrichment Action’s (SEA) Youth Peace Movement, the conference will focus on teaching 400 youth from some of the most violent inner-city neighborhoods that change must start within themselves in order to bring peace to the streets of Los Angeles.
Born in 1934 in Durban, South Africa, Arun is the fifth grandson of India’s legendary leader, Mahatma Gandhi. Growing up under the discriminatory apartheid laws of South Africa, he was beaten by “white” South Africans for being too black, and “black” South Africans for being too white. To cope, Arun sought eye-for-an-eye justice. However, he learned from his parents and grandparents that justice does not mean revenge, it means “transforming the opponent through love and suffering.”
Mahatma Gandhi taught Arun to understand nonviolence through understanding violence. “If we know how much passive violence we perpetrate against one another we will understand why there is so much physical violence plaguing societies and the world,” the late Gandhi said. Through daily lessons, Arun says, he learned about violence and about anger. Now, Arun shares these lessons all around the world.
Arun is the author of several books. The first, A Patch of White (1949), is about life in prejudiced South Africa. He later wrote two books on poverty and politics in India, followed by a compilation of M.K. Gandhi’s Wit & Wisdom. He edited a book of essays, entitled World Without Violence: Can Gandhi’s Vision Become Reality? Additionally, he co-wrote The Forgotten Woman: The Untold Story of Kastur, the Wife of Mahatma Gandhi, with his late wife Sunanda. For more about Arun Gandhi: http://arungandhi.org/2.html.
Founded in 1972, SEA empowers youth, families, and communities in underserved areas to become self-determined contributing members of society by providing guidance, resources and support.
The two-day event is co-sponsored by the Pat Brown Institute and the Department of Social Work at CSULA. For details, call (323) 698-6500 or go to http://www.seacharter.net/ypm/2012.
What: 3rd Annual Youth Peace Conference: “Peace Starts Within.”
When: Thursday and Friday, November 8-9, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Where: Conference: Golden Eagle Ballroom, on the Cal State L.A. campus. For directions or campus map, go to www.calstatela.edu. Public permit parking available at Lot 5 or upper level of Structure C.
(The conference includes a dinner on Nov. 8, 6-9 p.m., at Monterey Hills Steakhouse in Monterey Park.)
Cost: Conference admission: $50 for one day and $100 for two days.
Dinner: $125 per individual, $500 for 5 seats, $1,000 for full table.
Info: Call (323) 698-6500 or email [email protected].
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