World peace and a healthy investment portfolio are not mutually exclusive, per se. The Providence Journal reports that 6000 origami cranes will be distributed at this Saturday’s WaterFire. These cranes have been folded over the last few months by volunteers from the Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence and employees of Fidelity Investments. And guess what color the cranes are — Fidelity Investments color! One can easily see that the paper used is some sort of Fidelity promotional material, the logo and ‘Fidelity.com’ are clearly visible. Read more about Fidelity’s peace initiatives in Sudan. (This female employee is presumed to be utterly blameless in this cynical exercise.)

Says GWB:

Phrases such as “bring them on” or “dead or alive”, he said, “indicated to people that I was, you know, not a man of peace”.

  I just popped by the Bannister Gallery at Rhode Island College, which I sort of assumed wouldn’t even be running a show during the summer, and was pleasantly surprised to come across Protest, a show featuring photographer LeRoy Henderson that will be up through early July.

Henderson shows the struggles of Americans as they take to the streets, in New York and Washington, to protest both the Vietnam and Iraq wars.  The banners and slogans are worth documenting, but the most interesting part of the black-and-white photos are the people holding them.  Who, for instance, are the two made-up women in 2005 holding the Billionaires For Bush signs?   Or the woman from 1969 with the sign that says “Give me one good reason I should fight in Vietnam. Arm black men to fight for freedom in America.”  The most striking images, though, are the ones that aren’t easy to place–a man kneeling in a field, or a shadowy figure with sunglasses.

The photographs question the protesting individual.  A man lies face-down on the ground while a dopey-looking cop stands over him, but the demonstrators in the background look like confused tourists more than anything.  And the Billionaires For Bush are interesting, but are they really as striking as the groups of Iraq protesters hidden behind giant masks?

As a whole, the photographs raise interesting questions about the nature of political demonstration: after the sixties, can Americans demonstrate without seeming unoriginal?  After public protests about Vietnam didn’t work, does the public even listen to protesters anymore?

This is very sad news, for a group that’s done great work in contributing to Providence’s decreased crime over the last decade.

PROVIDENCE — A streetworker for the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence was stabbed and attacked with a baseball bat early yesterday as he tried to break up a disturbance that may have been gang-related outside a downtown nightclub.

Sareth “Tony” Kim, 32, was taken to Rhode Island Hospital with head injuries and a stab wound to his shoulder. Three men who were with Kim — Sokha Chea, 27, Ray Min, 16, and Steven Ormerod, no age available — all suffered severe cuts and other injuries. Min, who is Kim’s nephew, was stabbed in the right arm and chest as he tried to protect his uncle, the police said.

…of at least one thing the RI House of Reps did this week — pass Al Gemma and Ken Carter’s HOUSE RESOLUTION RESPECTFULLY URGING THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO FULLY SUPPORT HOUSE BILL 808

And what’s up with US House Bill 808, you ask? It creates the Department of Peace.  (Dan asked for clarification — and, yes, it’s Kucinich’s version, not Orwell’s.)

Both sponsors have military service under their belts, and Carter chairs the Veterans’ Affairs Committee.