Coalition for Peace & Reconciliation Update
"Sometimes we are in fear but later the fear is no longer with us. We have to
walk and spread our message with compassion, loving kindness and respect for
the human rights of all who are victims of war," Venerable Maha Ghosananda,
Dhammayietra Center.

Dhammayietra IV -
Auschwitz to Hiroshima
"It is the tears of the victims," whispered an Italian woman as a cold gentle
rain began to fall.  It was about 9:30 pm that 4th evening of December at the
gates of the Auschwitz concentration camp.  It was the opening of the four
day Convocation of the 'Interfaith Pilgrimage for Peace and Life' a world
wide walk in memory of World War II; the last night of the Jewish Feast of
Lights.  Moved by the sight of the Hanukkah candles the rain matched the
tears of the participants remembering the estimated 1.6 million people, 90%
of whom were Jewish, who lost their lives in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

This international, interdenominational walk began on December 10th from the
'receiving platform' at the Birkenau camp.  It will traverse through Eastern
Europe, the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia to Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
Japan by August 9th, 1995.  Initiated and organized by the Nipponzan Myohoji,
a Buddhist religious order, its members dedicate their daily lives working
for world peace abiding by the principles of nonviolence, in spirit and
action.

Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda attended the Convocation in Auschwitz. 
Disciple, colleague and friend of Most Venerable Nichidatsu Fujii, the
founder of this Japanese Buddhist sect, Venerables Ghosananda and Fujii were
involved in the nonviolent movement of Mahatma Gandhi while they both were in
India.  Maha Ghosananda spoke to the Walkers at the Convocation of the
Dhammayietra IV which will accompany this Interfaith Pilgrimage as it crosses
Cambodia on the way to Vietnam, May 8 1995.

Landmines
"It is our husbands, it is our brothers, it is our sons who are killed, not
yours" was the local Women's Association's response to the Kompong Chhnang
Governor's refusal to allow any demining at all in that province.  In the
spirit of the women's outcry, First Prime Minister HRH Ranariddh has approved
Cambodia's first Mine Awareness Day, scheduled for February 24th, 1995.  A
Regional International conference on the socioeconomic effects of landmines
is being planned for June in Phnom Penh.  It is also an issue to be brought
up for discussion at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women this September
in Beijing, China.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines has been working hard worldwide. 
Many 'good words' have been spoken in support by kings and presidents,
governments and United Nations officials, even mine makers as well as mine
victims.  The Campaign is at the point now where 'good acts' must speak
louder than words.  Indeed our lives on this planet are too short and the
sadness caused by mines too great to allow this opportunity to ban ALL mines
go by now.  It is time to confront those in your spheres of influence, be
they government military leaders or mine producing companies, who are still
willing to build their own lives on the shattered dreams of others. Be clear,
be creative, be encouraging with others to get involved but be urgent!

CPR fifth birthday
The Coalition for Peace and Reconciliation (CPR) is entering its fifth year
of life. (Forget the cake. Send money and LOTS of it!)  Sadly the reasons
which brought it into being, remain.  Indeed perhaps it is time to work even
harder.  The ebb and flow of war in Cambodia, seemingly doesn't know how to
stop, goes with the seasons.  It is dry season now and the war, particularly
in the west-northwest is flowing.  The root causes of the conflict sound
painfully familiar.  While the root effects, once again, are spelled out in
the names and the faces of those who continue to lose life or limb, home and
livelihood to this menace of war.

Facing the realities of present day Cambodia, CPR strives to encourage
alternative methods/means to confront the ignorance, the greed and the
violence that so grips the country at this time in its history.  Meditation
and reflection, community based and individually, offer a 'moment' for all to
remember that those with whom they dwell are their bong paon (sisters and
brothers) sharing the same short movement of life.  From such reflection
comes hopes and dreams of what might be as well as identifying the skills,
the education, the training and the courage needed to bring that vision into
being.  In networking with others CPR works to make opportunities available
so people can overcome the obstacles that block the road to peace.  Such
manner of proceeding reflects Maha Ghosananda's philosophy, "As we make peace
for ourselves, and for our country, we make peace for the whole world."

CPR would like to take this anniversary to thank all of you who have been and
are involved in our feeble efforts.  Women and men from different countries
and of various spiritualities we strive to make this wounded world of ours a
little more human and in that, more divine.  We look to you for your moral
and financial support in the future as we have depended upon you in the past.

Along with the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of World War II, this
month we are honouring the anniversaries of the birth of the King (Martin
Luther King Jr., January 15th, 1929) and the death of the Mahatma (Mahatma
Gandhi, January 31st, 1948).  Both in their own rights are prophets of active
nonviolence.  Both inspired people around the world in the power of this
philosophy and method.  Yet Gandhi did not die because of what he preached
but for what he practised.  "An ounce of practice is worth more than a ton of
preaching," he would say.  In the same spirit King wasn't killed for dreaming
but for acting and living out his beliefs.  "If a person hasn't discovered
something worth dying for, s/he isn't fit to live," said Martin. Indeed each
preached, often eloquently, a word that frees; each was a doer of deeds which
liberate.

As Cambodia is entering yet another season of suffering... now is the time.
Bob Maat SJ
CPR, PO Box 144, Phnom Penh Cambodia
Ph 855 236 4205; fax 855 232 6400; email: cpr@pactok.peg.igc.org.
Cheques can be sent to CPR, c/o 87/2 Soi 15, Sukhumvit Rd, Bangkok 10110
Thailand.