Oh my God, please stop war in this world
and bless us to live in this world peacefully
No one wants war in any part of this world
nor no one wants to live with strife with anyone
The pain and suffering of our innocent people can not be spoken
nor can not be count their sorrowful death
The stubborn world leaders live with safe and secure
but the innocent people are dying for nothing
The war brings not only destruction and diseases
but also death of innocent human beings
Our hearts are broken when we see so many families mourn
and cry for loved ones while crocodile tears shed by some leaders
Life can not be brought back but why did they die for?
The white dove’s wing has been cut into two pieces
and the name of peace has been written with human blood
The destruction of weapons are become human’s safety tools
and cultivated lands are become play ground of war
Oh my God, please help our world and bring PEACE.
Okaïdi teams up with the Playing For Change foundation: “Peace through music”
“Don’t Worry Be Happy”
Music forms bonds, encourages people to express themselves and brings out the best in us, so for Okaïdi, it’s great for helping children to develop and fulfill their potential.
“Today we are proud to release a new Song Around The World that features children performing alongside PFC musicians on the Bobby McFerrin classic, “Don’t Worry Be Happy”. Perfect message and a great song.
This video is part of our partnership with Okaidi, a children’s clothing line based in France. We are very excited to announce that the Playing For Change Foundation is working with Okaidi to launch a music program across 10 primary schools in the Mirpur District of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The Okaidi Foundation recently created these schools and is now partnering with the PFC Foundation to introduce music as part of their curriculum. Through this new initiative, over 500 underprivileged children between the ages of 6 and 12 will receive free music education as part of their weekly activities at school.
Music is the Key!
Get ready to smile from ear to ear and move your dancing feet. Share this with your family, friends, and community, and together we can continue to make this world a better place.”
There is no intent to minimize the loss of human life but the animals have no voice unless humans speak up for them.
~HELPING ANIMALS IN GAZA~
“During times of conflict, the suffering of animals is often overlooked as the world focuses on human casualties. We – at Occupy for Animals – do not. We CAN not! We care for people AND animals, as both are mutually inclusive in a functioning Gazan society.
FIRST OFF: We make no judgement.
In this article, we have sought to avoid any political or religious conclusions. Our concern is for the people and animals which are mutually inclusive in a functioning Gazan society.
Both sides have their respective rationales for maintaining conflict. We make no judgement. What is unavoidable, however, is not to evidence the gross dis-proportionality in civilian casualties.
As a concern for the forced erosion of Gazan society and as a ‘sealed’ country, the opportunity to restore this infrastructure, we express concern about the loss of animals which are essential to the maintenance and therefore the normalization of a Gazan society.
This is a highly contentious subject and we are aware that this article will invite passionate response from both sides. OFA simply tries to help the people – the veterinarians, conservationists and rescuers – who are trying to help the animals of Gaza upon which their owners depend for livelihood, existence and survival.
The following article is available on a dedicated website, along with the complete list of references, as well as many pictures and videos, and we would suggest that you read the original article to have access to all the many linked information, at:
The Gaza–Israel conflict, taking place in the region of the Gaza Strip and southern Israel, is a part of the long-term Israeli–Palestinian conflict which began in the summer of 2006 when Israel launched Operation “Summer Rains” in the Gaza Strip.
The air, sea and land strikes by Israel have so far killed at least 1,712 people and injured over 9,080 others, according to figures released on 3rd of August, 2014 by Palestinian sources. Israel has suffered 66 casualties – 63 Israeli soldiers and 3 Israeli civilians.
As the conflict in the Gaza Strip and Israel moved into its third week, the impact of the fighting on Palestinian children has become a heart-breaking signature of the conflict. Reports from Gaza relay stories of shells destroying civilian homes, killing children sheltering within; of tank fire killing a 5-month-old baby; of a strike on a beach killing four young boys who had been kicking around a soccer ball. In Israel, parents hear the first wail of air-raid sirens, grab their frightened children and run for bomb shelters.
~ANIMALS – THE FORGOTTEN VICTIMS~
During times of conflict, the suffering of animals is often overlooked as the world focuses on human casualties. War, as practiced by humans, is unknown among other animals, but we drag them into all our wars regardless, either actively as conscripts, or just by destroying them and their homes with barely a passing thought. During times of war, animals are either neglected, injured, killed, left behind, or used as commodities to facilitate the war effort.
Historically, horses, dogs, donkeys, cats, and pigeons have been used to carry soldiers, sniff out bombs, and bring messages across the war zone. Around 8 million horses and donkeys died in World War I and despite technological advances, animal participation is still common in modern day warfare. And more recently, in the Iraq war, bottle nose dolphins were used to find underwater mines, and often got slaughtered by enemy forces in the process.
As the Israeli-Gaza conflicts escalates, it has extracted a grave human toll. However, you won’t see much reporting about the effects of collateral damage. In addition to the innocent lives of women and children taken, there’s very little news surfacing about how animals in the region are being affected.
A reporter wrote:
“The bile-inducing, overpowering smell was the first sign that something was very wrong. Then came the truly distressing sight: dozens of dead cows, some with open infested wounds, strewn across the grounds of a partially devastated farm yard. Most of the animals died as a result of the bombardment of the Sha’af neighborhood, on the eastern edge of Shejaiya, one of the areas to have borne the brunt of Israel’s ground offensive that began on July 17.
With more than 1,700 Palestinians dead – including many women and children – human suffering has been the inevitable focus of Gaza’s more than three weeks of war. Yet the deaths of cattle and livestock – while heart-rending and cruel in itself – points to another cost of the conflict: economic.
Working horses, donkeys and mules are invaluable for cultivating land and transporting goods and people, and in Gaza, like in many places in the world, entire families are dependent on horses and donkeys for their livelihood. The welfare of these animals is therefore crucially important, not only for the health and survival of those animals, but also for the livelihoods of those people dependent on them.”
~WE HAVE ALL SEEN IT~
… and we have wept the tears of a frustrated humanity. Tears of anger and outrage, as we – helplessly – witness the decimation of society, the annihilation of a people.
Most in distant lands have no cognizance, or interest, in the politics of far off places. What is taking place now is a human disaster of enormous proportions. Suffice to say that the world’s fifth biggest military machine is engaged in a targeted destruction of a population of some 1.8 million people – 800,000 of which are children – on a strip of land some 25 miles long and 4 to 7 miles wide. A population which is contained within its sealed borders. They cannot leave; they cannot bring in resources. This has been called ‘the biggest open air prison in the world’. They are now being attacked from land, air and sea.
We are at the very edge – the place where ‘humanity meets inhumanity’.
Israel has suffered 66 casualties – 63 Israeli soldiers and 3 Israeli civilians – whereas the death toll on Palestine’s side is of 1,712 people, with over 9,080 others being injured, according to tallies from the respective sides.
The conflict is grossly and obscenely disproportionate. The analogy here is an elephant claiming it defends itself against a mouse. The mouse can only bite the feet of the elephant, whereas the elephant simply has to raise its foot and bring it violently back to earth. Such is the disproportionate nature of events in Gaza.
This is a basic land where animals form an essential function for transport and agriculture. This is the peoples’ future and whereas all concern is focused on the human dimension, without securing the health and safety of the animals, the future economic infrastructure has no floor on which to walk.”
Unless anyone has been hiding under a rock, we should all be aware that our world is in turmoil. There is conflict everywhere. There is open war between several countries. There is greed, divisiveness, persecution, hate, inequality, oppression and killing amongst the human race.
To cite a few:
1948 Israeli–Palestinian conflict 1978 War in Afghanistan Asia Afghanistan
1991 Somali Civil War 1999 Islamist insurgency in Nigeria 2004 War in North-West Pakistan
2006 Mexican Drug War 2011 Egyptian Crisis Africa Egypt 2011 Syrian Civil War 2011 Iraqi insurgency 2012 Central African Republic conflict 2013 South Sudanese Civil War 2014 War in Donbass Europe Ukraine
It seems to be that we, as a whole, have not learned a thing. We keep repeating the same thing over and over again and the results continue to be the same.
We are insane!
I know that this has been discussed many a’times before. Many people have tried to change. There are too many vested interests to really want to stop the insanity. I wonder, are we condemned to forever, permanent warfare?
Reminds me of a game at town fairs: there’s a line of objects that pop up and you have a hammer to push each one back down. You hit one, another pops up. I can’t recall the name. However, it’s like putting fires out all the time and it’s never ending.
Or the magician’s trick to keep a bunch on plates up on thin sticks and keep them from breaking.
Will there ever be an end to war?
“Sometimes in music we can find both forgiveness and hope at the exact same time.”
Playing For Change, the multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race.
The newest edition to Playing For Change’s video episodes is ‘Music is my Ammunition.’ It was co-written by Greg Johnson and Mermans Kenkosenki, a South African-based reggae singer from the Congo who calls his musical style ‘Afro Fiesta’ – a combination of reggae, Latin rhythms and jazz.
This mostly acoustic track has a reggae feel, but brings in elements of Delta blues courtesy of Roberto Luti’s steel guitar and a hint of Cuba from Rigoberto Lopez’s bass. Stephen Marley sings back up and Roselyn Williams and Sherieta Lewis of Kingston Jamaica’s vocal improvisations are sung to the melody of ‘Jamaica Farewell,’ the classic Lord Burgess calypso made popular by Harry Belafonte.
~~Music Is My Ammunition~~
(Lyrics)
The songs of my ancestors still ricochet through the wind, And the smoke is rising through the words I and I sing. Music is my ammunition; I fire down Babylon!
(One more time) The songs of my ancestors still ricochet through the wind, And the smoke is rising through the words I and I sing. Music is my ammunition; fire down Babylon!
Imprisonment, poverty and Babylon’s system; We’ve been suffering all this time (all this time) I and I keep on chanting down ‘Till our children will face The front of that line
(I gotta say) The songs of my ancestors still ricochet through the wind (through the wind), And the smoke is rising through the words I and I sing. Music is my ammunition, lord; I fire down Babylon!
(One more time) The songs of my ancestors still ricochet through the wind, And the smoke is rising through the words I and I sing. Music is my ammunition, lord; I fire down Babylon!
Peace and dignity are not very far out of our reach It just comes down (just comes down) to what I and I choose to teach
Truth and honesty will free our hearts And free our minds (free our minds) So then our children can live together as one ‘Till the end of time
(I gotta say) The songs of my ancestors still ricochet through the wind, And the smoke is rising through the words I and I sing. Music is my ammunition, lord; I fire down Babylon!
The songs of my ancestors still ricochet through the wind (through the wind), And the smoke is rising through the words I and I sing. Music is my ammunition, lord; I fire down Babylon!
Music is my ammunition; I fire down Babylon! Music is my ammunition; I fire down Babylon!
(One more time) Music is my ammunition, lord; I fire down Babylon!
~~Music Is My Ammunition~~
~Playing For Change~
~~Uploaded on Aug 2, 2011~~
We are honored to announce the release of PFC3: Songs Around The World – available everywhere now! This CD/DVD set highlights the passion and talent of 185 musicians from 31 different countries.
Hello everyone, today we continue on our journey to connect the world through music with our Song Around The World, titled, “Music is my ammunition“. Check out this Playing For Change anthem, “Music is my ammunition” and spread the word about our new album, PFC 2.
Support Playing For Change by telling all your friends and family to join the movement at http://playingforchange.com.
Much has been said these days about the current state of affairs in our world. Many events continue to develop which confirm that we, as a race, are not headed in the right direction. This speech was first given in 1940.
The events of Nazi Germany were in full effect. This was the first major feature film to bitterly satirize Nazism and Adolf Hitler.
I have seen several video versions of this speech. The power of the words remain the same: strong, on point and real. I never tire because it always applies to our current reality. The video montage is awesome and different to the ones I’d seen before.
The Great Dictator is a 1940 American satiricalpoliticalcomedy-drama film starring, written, produced, scored, and directed by Charlie Chaplin, following the tradition of many of his other films. Having been the only Hollywood filmmaker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound films, this was Chaplin’s first true talking picture as well as his most commercially successful film.
Chaplin’s film followed only nine months after Hollywood’s first parody of Hitler, the short subject You Nazty Spy! by the Three Stooges which itself premiered in January 1940,although Chaplin had been planning it for years before. Hitler had been previously allegorically pilloried in the German film by Fritz Lang, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse.
In his 1964 autobiography, Chaplin stated that he would not have made the film had he known about the actual horrors of the Nazi concentration camps at the time.
~~The Great Dictator’s Speech~~
“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone – if possible – Jew, Gentile – black man – white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness – not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.
Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost….
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men – cries out for universal brotherhood – for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world – millions of despairing men, women, and little children – victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.
To those who can hear me, I say – do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed – the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. …..
Soldiers! don’t give yourselves to brutes – men who despise you – enslave you – who regiment your lives – tell you what to do – what to think and what to feel! Who drill you – diet you – treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men – machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate – the unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!
In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: “the Kingdom of God is within man” – not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power – the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.
Then – in the name of democracy – let us use that power – let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world – a decent world that will give men a chance to work – that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise. They never will!
Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world – to do away with national barriers – to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.
Soldiers! in the name of democracy, let us all unite!”
The Great Dictator is a comedy film by Charlie Chaplin released in October 1940. Like most Chaplin films, he wrote, produced, and directed, in addition to starring as the lead. Having been the only Hollywood film maker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound films, this was Chaplin’s first true talking picture as well as his most commercially successful film.
More importantly, it was the first major feature film to bitterly satirize Nazism and Adolf Hitler.
I woke up to this thought from a Facebook friend, Carl …
“STOP THIS OLD MACHO POSTURING …. WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER ….THERE ARE NO WINNERS IN WAR ONLY DEATH DESTITUTION AND SADNESS …. LET US ALL LIVE IN PEACE HARMONY AND LOVE.
IMAGINE …. I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE.”
~~HEADLINES~~
Echoes of the Cold War as US and the West weigh sanctions on Moscow and force levels in Europe
Peace is an occurrence of harmony characterized by the lack of violence, conflict behaviors and the freedom from fear of violence. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility and retribution, peace also suggests sincere attempts at reconciliation, the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the establishment of equality, and a working political order that serves the true interests of all.
Join and spread the Spirit of Peace because Peace can only prosper as a collective condition of human heart and mind …. for the sake of all Children! And the Dream of World Peace will become Reality!
It Is What It Is 