[WCUSP] Queen Noor: Let's Reclaim Mother's Day for Peace!

[KATHARLOW at aol.com]

_http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/10/commentary.noor/index.html_ 
(http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/10/commentary.noor/index.html) 
 
By Queen Noor
Special to CNN

Editor's note: Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan is an international  
humanitarian activist, a leading voice on issues of world peace and justice, and  
honorary chair of _Rediscover Mother's Day_ (http://www.rediscovermothersday.org/) 
, which celebrates the role of women as  peacemakers.
 
AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- 

bism'Allah iRahman iRaheem: 
In 1982, during a period of dangerous stalemate in the Middle East peace  
process, I gave a speech at Georgetown University about the critical need for a  
more engaged and balanced role for the United States in the region. 
The newspapers the next day covered my handbag, my rings, and my dress. When  
asked about the substance of my message, one U.S. Senator said, "It's a great 
 public relations weapon to have an attractive queen." 
Twenty-five years later, the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East still  
reflects some of the most pressing global challenges confronting the  
contemporary world -- the stagnant Palestinian/Israeli peace process, the  
increasingly dangerous conflict in Iraq, the escalation of extremism, the debate  over 
emerging democracies -- all point to the need for visionary and  transformative 
leadership. I firmly believe that peace will only come to the  region when 
mothers find their voice and say of the violence, "Enough is  enough!" 
Mother's Day -- whether it is the U.S. tradition of celebrating mothers on  
the second Sunday in May, or on the first day of spring, when we observe the  
holiday in Jordan -- is universally meant to be a tribute to motherhood and the 
 blessings of peace. In fact, in America the holiday was originally called  
"Mother's Day for Peace." It was proposed over a century ago by Julia Ward 
Howe,  the famous abolitionist and suffragist, after she witnessed first-hand the  
terrible bloodshed of the Civil War in America and the Franco-Prussian War in 
 Europe. Howe hoped that the powerful maternal desire for security could 
shape  world events, and she called on mothers of the world to unite against war. 
Howe's vision and her call to action could not be more relevant today. As a  
mother, stepmother and grandmother, nothing is more important to me than the  
safety of my family. I am not alone. Studies show that women's priority, when  
given either money or opportunity, is the well-being of their families. They  
invest their time and devote whatever resources they have to reducing poverty 
 and hunger, improving maternal, child and general health and promoting  
educational opportunity. That is why the position of women is the best marker of  
a country's development and stability. 
Mothers prove every day, all over the world, that peace and security require  
cooperation and compassion. Having traditionally occupied a paradoxical 
position  at the heart of society but on the fringes of power, women often bring 
unique  strengths, talents, and perspectives to the quest to resolve conflict 
and  establish freedom. They are willing and able to cut across ethnic, 
religious and  tribal barriers, and break through obstacles through peace in order to 
do what  is best for their families. 
It is no coincidence, then, that so many of today's leading peacemakers are  
themselves mothers. All of us must do everything we can to support their  
efforts. People like Swanee Hunt, who served as the United States Ambassador to  
Austria and has spent her life advocating for peace and for the inclusion of  
women in the peace process through her work and by creating Women Waging Peace. 
 Or Trish Malloch Brown, who travels the world advocating for people affected 
by  war and conflict on behalf of Refugees International. Or Lisa Schirch, 
the  director of the nonprofit 3D Security Initiative, who uses development 
projects  like building schools and water wells to disarm conflicts from Lebanon 
to  Ghana. 
But the day has come for something more than individual efforts. Millions of  
mothers from Nablus to New York and from Baghdad to Beersheba must begin to 
find  common cause in peace and work together to give their quiet power a 
louder  voice. We need a movement of what Naila Bolus of Ploughshares Fund calls 
"global  security moms," who can work within their families and communities, and 
in  national and international arenas to temper extremism and to hold their 
leaders  accountable for decisions that escalate the cycle of violence rather 
than  address underlying problems. Such a movement of mothers would be 
impossible for  our leaders to ignore, and would be more powerful than all the tanks 
and suicide  bombers combined.  
So from one mother to many others, let us be silent no longer in the face of  
war and violence. May all mothers and families around the world be blessed 
with  a happy Mother's Day for Peace. 




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