September 25, 2016
Grassroots Peacemaking
POG Matts lngemanson, Founding Member
Rotary is the biggest Peacemaking Organization in the world with 1.2 million members in 215 different countries and territories. Rotary is also one of the founders of the United Nations.
Rotary Rotary Stands for Tolerance
Paul Harris, Founder of Rotar
Everything important in Rotary begins at the Grassroots Level!
Fellow Rotarians,
The Rotary Foundation started with a leftover of $26.50 from the Rotary Convention in 1917.Not much happened for the next 30 years until Paul Harris died in 1947. Many Rotarians at the Grassroots Level then started to contribute $1,000 in the memory of Paul Harris. This evolved into the Paul Harris Fellowship. The Rotary Foundation now raises between $250 million and $300 million per year.
Polio Plus started at the Grassroots Level in the Philippines about 40 years ago. It took 10 years to get off the ground and become the world wide project it is today. Rotary has since raised more than $1.2 billion and we have inspired other organizations and governments to contribute an additional $12 billion. U.S. Congress that does not seem to agree on anything has contributed more than $3.5 billion because of Rotary. Congress still contributes $300 million every year. Pol o is now almost eradicated. An estimated 2.5 million people live Polio free thanks to Rotary. This is the power of Rotary.
Rotary is one of the Founders of the United Nations. The U.S. State Department asked Rotary International to help develop the Statutes of the United Nations. Rotary also organized and managed the United Nations charter meeting in San Francisco 1945.Forty-nine of the delegates from different countries were also Rotarians.
The United Nations is very good at Peacekeeping. Rotary is very good at Peacemaking. The difference is that with Peacekeeping, they send in Peacekeeping soldiers to keep the enemies separated.
With Peacemaking, the enemies become friends. Rotary's contribution to Peacemaking has been very important in quiet, typical Rotary tradition at the Grassroots Level. That is why we don't hear much about Grassroots Peacemaking by Rotarians around the world.
Rotary has actively contributed to peacemaking in Argentina, Chile, Cyprus, Armenia, Turkey, India and Pakistan through grassroots efforts between Rotarians on both sides of the conflict areas.
We have started to see interest for Grassroots Peacemaking in other areas around the world, like Zimbabwe, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, Taiwan, Russia, Ukraine and Mexico.
The following United Nations Ambassadors have spoken at the International Breakfast Meeting of the Rotary Club of New York since 2014.Ihad the pleasure of moderating these meetings:
- H.E. Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations
- H.E. Rodolfo Reyes Rodriguez, Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba to the United Nations
- H.E. Yuriy Sergeyev, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Nations
- H.E. HAHN Choong-hee, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations
- H.E. Mr. G. Ali Khoshroo, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
- Franklin F.Y. Chen (Feng-yuh Chen), Deputy Director General, Taipei Economic and cultural Office in New York
- H.E. Ms. Betty King, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva
There have been, in modern times, important changes to the dynamics between war and peace. This makes the involvement by Rotarians more important than ever before.
War is a game where all parties lose - Peace is a game where all parties win!
Peace is in everybody's self-interest!
The Internet and social media platforms like Facebook, Linkedln and Twitter have made decisive information available to more and people all over the world. We experience a unique paradigm shift of historic proportions. This technology also has a great impact on the nature of wars.
Wars have for many years been win-lose games, where the winner takes all and the looser loses everything. The game of war is now very different. It has become a game, where all parties loose.
Modern wars also have a tendency of never ending. America's war in Afghanistan has lasted longer than any other war in American history. It is the same situation with the war in Iraq. There is also no end in sight for the war in Syria. Wars are obsolete as ways of winning power and glory.
Peace creates win-win situations where people make money and build prosperity. People from all over the world have come to America to live in peace, make money and raise their families. America's strong economy and high level of technology also enables her to have the strongest military defense in the world without major sacrifice to her people.
America has in 240 years become the richest and most powerful nation in the world thanks to its economic growth. This is the result of great business and education opportunities together with a large population. This has created the biggest reservoir of intellectual resources and is driving the American prosperity.
For many centuries, the European countries used to fight wars with each other. After forming the European Community, they do not fight wars with each other anymore. Europe is instead experiencing her longest period of peace combined with the greatest prosperity in history.
The Korean peninsula is a place where it is possible to compare the effect of different political and economic systems. South Korea and North Korea share the same language, the same history prior to 1945 and the same ethnic population. South Korea has chosen the path of free market economy, democracy, freedom of speech and thought. North Korea has chosen the path of planned economy, no democracy, no freedom of speech and thought. The result has been that the economy of South Korea is now 50 times bigger than that of North Korea.
People today are better informed because of their access to the Internet and social media. Thus being well informed, smart people gravitate to countries with economic opportunities, democracy, freedom of speech and thought. This has resulted in many people moving from war zones like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan to European countries. These countries will over time benefit from the intellectual resources of their new immigrants. President Assad of Syria is left to be the king of a pile of rubble after many intellectual resources have left Syria.
It should be in every county's interest to develop economic opportunities together with democracy, freedom of speech and thought, in order to keep their smartest and best educated people from leaving. An example of great national loss happened when Albert Einstein and other German scientists moved from Germany to America when Adolf Hitler came to power. It was simply not possible to kill Jews in Germany and at the same time make it attractive for Albert Einstein and other Jewish Scientists to live there. Needless to say, America benefitted greatly from this migration. It may also have helped America win the Second World War over Germany.
It is clearly a big challenge to develop peace and prosperity between nations that hate each other. I suggest that a possible way is to create a philosophy and vision of future win-win situations between these nations. If they can agree to a common philosophy and vision of peace and prosperity, it would be possible for them to work together in order to make this into reality in their own self-interest. It will however take a lot of time. The alternative is much less attractive with more war, death, suffering and destruction.
Rotary is a Great
Peace Making Organization
PDG Matts lngemanson
Founding Member Grassroots Peacemaking
District Governor 2013-2014
Director 2009-10 & 2011-15 Rotary International District 7230 New York & Bermuda
Founding Member
Centennial Chair Chair 2004-2006
If each of us Rotarians contribute $100 per year to the Rotary Foundation. Rotary, with its approximately 1.2 million members around the world, will collect $120 million. One hundred dollars per year is only 27 cents per day. That is a very small price to pay in the spirit of Service Above Self. These 27 cents per day will help the Rotary Foundation make an even bigger difference in the world. You can read about the Rotary Foundation at www.rotarv.org/foundation.
The power of the Internet puts the brains of millions of people together. It also puts 1.2 million Rotarians together. It does not matter where we are and when we are available. The Internet makes it possible for Rotarians around the world to participate together.
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