Peacewarts: Chronicled Courage 101 - Truth and Reconciliation (Class 13) Episode Summary: We explore the history and mechanics of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. We examine how restorative justice breaks the cycle of revenge and why public truth-telling is a technical requirement for a durable peace.

Homework

1. Look up the Family Group Conferencing model in New Zealand and find one detail about how the community participates in the "reintegration" phase.
2. Write down one question about any of this episode’s topics. If you don’t have a question, write "no question."
3. Optional: Journal. Is there a secret conflict in your life—something unsaid that is poisoning your relationships? What would happen if you performed a radical truth-telling?

Learning Topics: Restorative versus punitive justice: The structural shift in international law’ The Maori Model: Accountability, reparation, and the logistics of reintegration; Amnesty for truth: Analyzing the tradeoff of the South African TRC; The shock absorber: How public testimony interrupts the physics of revenge; The great graft: The process of binding a wounded society together through transparency.

• Get the book Peace Stuff Enough: AvisKalfsbeek.com/peace-stuff-enough

• Join the Community / Get the Books: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com
• Podcast Music: Javier Peke Rodriguez “I am late, madame Curie” https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

Peacewarts: Chronicled Courage 101 - Realism vs. Moral Imagination (Class 12) Episode Summary: We deconstruct the cultural addiction to dystopia and reclaim the word Realism. We explore the psychological pros and cons of dystopian media and introduce Kevin Kelly's concept of Protopia as a tactical alternative to hopelessness.

1. Look up Kevin Kelly’s definition of Protopia and find one example of an incremental improvement in your community that happened because people chose to cooperate.
2. Write down one question about any of this episode’s topics. If you don’t have a question, write “no question.”
3. Optional: Journal. Think about a piece of media you consumed recently. Did it act as a "warning" that inspired action, or did it foster a sense of "inevitable" hopelessness?

Learning Topics: The Double-Edged Sword: Benefits and dangers of dystopian fiction according to academic research; Desensitization vs. Preparation: How media consumption shapes our readiness for peace or war; Protopian Thinking: Why Kevin Kelly’s model of incremental improvement is more "realistic" than utopia or collapse; The Outlier Bias: Challenging the dystopian news cycle with the 99% reality; Tactical Optimism: Why optimism is a discipline of the courageous, not the naive.

• Get the book Peace Stuff Enough: AvisKalfsbeek.com/peace-stuff-enough

• Join the Community / Get the Books: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com
• Podcast Music: Javier Peke Rodriguez “I am late, madame Curie” https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

• Peacewarts: Chronicled Courage 101 - The Kellogg-Briand Pact (Class 11) Episode Summary: We re-examine the 1928 attempt to outlaw war. We deconstruct how this pact shifted the legal architecture of the world from "Might makes Right" to "War as a Crime," using the 2026 abduction of Nicolás Maduro and the proposed purchase of Greenland as modern case studies in legal friction.

  Homework

  1. Look up the Stimson Doctrine and find out how it used the logic of the Kellogg-Briand Pact to respond to the 1931 invasion of Manchuria.
  2. Write down one question about any of this episode’s topics. If you don’t have a question, write “no question.”
  3. Optional: Journal. Think about a "right" you feel you have in a conflict—the right to be angry or the right to have the last word. What would it look like for you to outlaw that behavior as an instrument of your personal policy?

  Learning Topics: The Sovereign Right to War: The pre-1928 legal landscape and the "Right of Conquest;" From Kant to Levinson: The long intellectual history of outlawry and the American Committee for the Outlawry of War; Operation Absolute Resolve (2026): The stress test of international law in the capture of Maduro; Non-Recognition as Enforcement: Why physical control does not equal legal sovereignty; Contract vs. Conquest: Analyzing the Greenland purchase strategy through the lens of international law.

  • Get the book Peace Stuff Enough: AvisKalfsbeek.com/peace-stuff-enough
  • Join the Community / Get the Books: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com
  • Podcast Music: Javier Peke Rodriguez “I am late, madame Curie” https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW