Page 14 RAIN Summer 1986 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138), and Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility (225 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012). Whereas most -of these organizations were created to highlight the dangers of nuclear war, BENS critiques current military spending practices from a standpoint of sound business principles. It argues that the current level of military spending hinders capital formation, increases the pressure for higher taxes, increas_es the upward pressure on interest rates, crowds out private investment, -creates production delays and bottlenecks, and encourages inflation. Using the pragmatic approach of the businessman, BENS brings a unique and inter-· esting perspective to the national security debate. -FLS Center for Innovative Diplomacy 644 Emerson · Suite 30 · Palo AltO, CA 94301 "Think globally, act locally" is a good 1 slogan for many types of activity, but when it comes to determining foreign: policy, it seems that-we need to leave it to federal officials. Or do we? Not according to Michael Shuman, founder and president of Center for Innovative Diplomacy. Shuman believes that one of the basic problems with foreign and military policy ,is that it is essentially undemocratic. He founded CID to promote the participation of citizens and local governments in foreign affairs. CID encourages such participation on several levels. At the individual level, CID encourages "citizen diplomacy.~· Citizen diplomats promote peace and understanding between nations through travel, scientific and cultural exchanges, and improved communication channels (Samantha Smith, Jesse Jackson, and Joel Schatz are some examples). CID offers an educational package on citizen diplomacy to its members. At the ~ocal level, CID encourages the development of municipal foreign policies through the equivalent of municipal "state departments." Recent precedents for municipal foreign policy include local government endorsements of ·nuclear freeze resolutions, nuclear free zones, and divestment of city funds from South Africa. CID is currently lobbying for a "global affairs council" in its home town of Palo Alto to expand on these types of activities. Tlte council would be fun9ed ·with one percent_of ~he city budget to address such issues as studying the impacts of 'military spending on Palo Alto, developing cultural relations with the Soviet Union and China, and offering legal assistance to political refugees. Shuman's vision doesn't stop with Palo Alto, however. He believes that if CID can establish one good model of a muni~ipal . state department in Palo Alto, this could catalyze the creat~on of such agencies throughout the country. This leads to the next level of CID activity, fostering national and international networks and ·coalitions of local officials. At the national level, the groundwork for this is being laid through CID work with Local Elected Officials of America (LEO), a national organization of local officials dedicated to reversing the arms race and rechanneling military money back to America's cities. LEO and CID have hosted workshops for local officials and are working on a handbook entitled Building Municipal Foreign Policies. CID entered into the arena of international coalition-building through 'Shuman's partieipation in the First World Conference of Mayors for Peace through Inter-City Solidarity, held in August 1985 in ·Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ·where 200 officials from 100 cities in 30 countries gathered to plan for peace. CID publishes a newsletter, The CID Report, available for a $2Q membership contribution. -FLS Search for Common Ground Suite 403 1701 K _Street, NW Washington, DC 20006 The Pentagon sees the world as "us against the Russians"; peace activists· see the world as "us against the Pentagon"; Search for Common Ground seeks to go beyond both of these views to find common ground. Executive Director John Marks notes that what makes conservatives feel more secure (more and bigger weapons) tends to make liberals feel less secure, and vice versa. Similariy, what makes the U.S. feel in.ore secure tends to make the Soviet Union feel less secure, and vice versa.. · In both areas, no_resolution to the problem is possible on its own terms; reframing the issue is necessary. Working toward such reframing is the mission of the "Security Without Insecurity Project," a program of Search for Common Ground co-directed by Andrew Bard Schmookler, author of Parable of the Tribes, and Scott Thompson, a Reagan appointee to the newly formed U.S. Institute of Peace. Other projects include television productions, consultation, and the promotion of U.S.-Soviet cooperation such as a joint immunization program for children·around the world. Search for Common Ground has Citizen Action Project groups in several cities across the country. In all of its work, the organization promotes a shift from adversarial, win-lose ways of interacting toward non-adversarial, win-win approaches. -FLS Peace Trek Family Coloring Book, by Joel and Diane Schatz, 1986, 44 pp., $5.95 from: · Ark Communications Institute 250 Lafayette Circle, Suite 202 Lafayette, CA 94549 Peace Trek is a poster created last year by Diane and Joel Schatz to depict visions of a peacefUl world seemingly emerging from a world dominated by violence, greed, and fear. Although the poster itself is richly .colored, scenes - from the poster are now available in coloring book form to allow yo.u and your family to add the colors and participate in creating the vision yourselves. Scenes froni the book are shown on the cover and elsewhere in this issue of RAIN. A facing page of text accompanies each scene to get children (and adults) .to ponder issues raised in the pictures. Each page provides space to write in answers to such questions as, "What toys would ·be most popular in a peaceful world?" and "What could students from different countries learn from each other?" If you think that children need more . positive images than what they get on TV, here's a healthy alternative. -FLS FROM: Peace Trek Coloring Book (Illustration by Diane Schatz) ./
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