A Call to Action for Peace

Plant the Seed Network: Mission Statement

As university students we are struggling with the current state of the world and the many difficulties that we will encounter, confront, and work to resolve.  Throughout history these difficulties have been based on power struggles over land and politics; empires have fallen and lives have been lost over geographic and economic sovereignty.  Although similar battles will continue throughout our lifetimes and future ones, there is a new type of confrontation that better defines our time.  These conflicts arise from the collision of political, religious, technological, and economics spheres on a global level.  Today an ideological and spiritual battle has emerged—a battle of culture.  We are calling on students to become actively engaged with understanding and resolution, creating a new path to peace.

As these sectors grow and become increasingly interconnected in our global world, more issues will arise.  As students, and more importantly as members of this planet, this new type of confrontation in some way will affect us in one or more sphere.  These tensions stem from clashing ideologies and cultural ignorance or lack of understanding.  This is best exemplified with the current clash between the Western and Islamic fundamentalist ideals. A lack of understanding and dialogue is brewing violence and the world is experiencing the consequences of it throughout the majority of its sectors. The events on September 11, 2001 showed this encounter very clearly.  Every one has been affected; thus it is important that every one understands the roots of the violence. We propose to establish greater dialogue to foster awareness and diminish the possible consequences of this new type of confrontation.  These struggles will not end in the short term of ten years, but will extend much further for several decades, perhaps even one hundred years, yet we cannot linger in the present expecting solutions to grown on their own..

The Plant the Seed network is an international group of students dedicated to creating a forum for this dialogue to take place.  Founded by students at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, the network would use Internet discussion forums, chat groups, podcast videos and lectures, and blogs to share and openly discuss ideas and issues.  All students from universities in every corner of the world are invited to participate. Through our own diverse experiences, our collective and shared knowledge will be more effective in diminishing the negative effects of these collisions of power.  Also, students will form groups on their own campuses to create dialogue and host events locally. These global problems will be our own as students to face and our own to solve. It is imperative that we make a global effort to tackle these problems with the correct, open mindset and an expanded understanding of all cultures.

The article, "Planting the Seeds of Peace," written by global luminary Akio Matsumura portrays the importance of cooperation and dialogue in our current world, and provides a view of the past events leading up to our current state.  With the older generation willing to help our younger generation with the problems we will soon, and already do, face, we are better prepared.  The wisdom of the older generations is of the utmost importance to allow us to ready ourselves for the problems of today and tomorrow. 

Link to article, “Planting the Seeds of Peace.”  A PDF file.

We ask your participation in this project, and if you would join this movement of students then please e-mail to become a participant in this student network and perhaps even lead the effort at your own university.  It is invaluable to have a high level of participation in order to increase the diversity and volume of opinions discussed and presented to the network. Corresponding groups will be formed in participating universities so that together with our various levels of knowledge we can break down taboos and obstacles in our understanding. 

Yours truly,

The Tufts University Plant the Seed Team

Christopher Cote, Adam Levy, John Speed Meyers