The YWCA sponsors a post and essay contest every year to promote non-violence in schools:

Led by YWCAs in thousands of communities in the United States and more than 40 countries on six continents, the YWCA Week Without Violence is always observed the third full week in October. Topics for the Week Without Violence include: A Day of Remembrance, Protecting Our Children, Making Our Schools Safer, Confronting Violence Against Women, Facing Violence Among Men, Eliminating Racism & Hate Crime and Replacing Violence with Sports, Recreation & Fun.

It has a local apolitical focus, dealing with violence stemming from bullying, vandalism, violent video games, and the like.

Well, in Brooklyn this year, the contest is being co-sponsored by the Brooklyn Parents for Peace. Peace in the classroom and playgrounds? No, not quite:

Brooklyn Parents for Peace is a network of Brooklyn residents — parents, neighbors, and educators — alarmed by the growing militarism of our society and its effect on our lives and our children's future.

We seek to inform ourselves and our community about issues of war and peace and to enable ourselves to respond effectively.

We hope to give our children a role model of active response to problems which easily lead to hopelessness, cynicism, and despair.

Parents for Peace was founded in 1984. Our earliest initiatives included organizing local opposition to the Staten Island home port for nuclear-capable Cruise missiles and the U.S. intervention in Central America. We subsequently mobilized local opposition to the Gulf War and economic sanctions which penalize Iraqi children.

After the terrible events of September 11, we reached out to affirm our sense of community and to oppose a military response to this tragedy. We have continued to organize for peace and social justice, specifically for compensation to civilian victims of US bombing in Afghanistan; ending of the Israeli occupation and a peaceful solution of the conflict, guaranteeing security of both Israelis and Palestinians; preservation of civil liberties in Brooklyn for all including immigrants; apprehension of terrorists through methods which respect international law; avoidance of a new war in Iraq.

Well, this sounds like your run-of-the-mill anti-war protest group. Cindy Sheehan will be the keynote speaker at their event this Saturday.

That event will also mark the judging of the contest entries, and the presentation of the winners, including a reading of their essays.

So you can wonder just what sort of essays and posters are going to be scored more highly by the judges. Seems to me that the children are best set on the task of dealing with violence in their immediate area; they are hardly equipped to consider issues of statecraft and history. Moreover, children will work hard to please their parents, meaning we might get treated to essays that repeat the verbage of the anti-war movement without real comprehension.

Too bad the YWCA didn't think that maybe the highly charged political agenda of the BPFP was not a great fit for Week without Violence. It'll be interesting to see the winning essays and posters. Assuming they get posted, I'll let you know next week.

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