2014.January.international Movement for Peace and Dignity for All[1]

IMPADA Executive Summary

International Movement for Peace and Dignity for All

Executive Summary & Prospectus

Matt Kramer

Walden University

Social Entrepreneurship

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Predatory Leadership is a contemporary condition that evolved over centuries out of the

efforts of a small percentage of the population whose policies & agendas reflect their

mental, emotional and subconscious investment into attaining their goals, openly or

covertly, by any means, with complete disregard or concern for the impact of their

actions upon others. On a personal, domestic, corporate, national and international

level, degrees of unconstrained narcissistic behavior pervade all realms of predatory

leadership; the consequences have resulted in a manipulation and distortion of

civilization to the extent that, for many, humanity’s worst expressions of social injustice

are normalized as endemic and inevitable.

(Kramer, 2014)

Vision and Mission Statements

The vision of the International Movement for Peace and Dignity for All (IMPADA) is a

world free of war, corruption, poverty, famine, and exploitation; a civilization in which

no child is ever denied the opportunity to achieve her or his greatest potential.

IMPADA's mission is to provide information, education, training and motivation

to inspire the general public to participate in achieving a world wide condition of peace

and dignity for everyone by (1) identifying and mitigating the core contributors to

humanity's greatest problems and (2) replacing toxic leaders with women and men whose

style of leadership is collaborative, compassionate and humane.

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Considerations

Clarification on the nature of leadership:

Anyone who makes an effort to influence, manipulate, harm or control another is

taking a form of leadership action. The leader could be a dominant sibling or a spouse as

well as anyone controlling an organization, work environment, department, military,

nation, resistance movement or gang of any size. Predatory Leadership (PL) can be seen

in cases of domestic violence and child abuse as well as in corrupt governments,

exploitive corporate practices and horrific examples of terrorists’ behavior towards their

victims.

Roots of Predatory Leadership

In order to initiate harm towards another, it is often necessary to perceive that

other as being inferior or inconsequential. These kinds of diminishments of others are

typical of narcissistic and psychopathic behavioral disorders (note that currently the DSM

V does not use the terms psychopath or sociopath; for both types of personality disorders,

it uses the title “anti-social personality disorder”.) According to experts in the study of

psychopathic behavior, psychopaths comprise between one and four percent of the

general population. Dr. Robert Hare, noted researcher on psychopaths in the prison

environment, developed the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), currently the

instrument most used by trained professionals to assess the presence and degree of

psychopathic behavior in a subject. For the purposes of IMPADA, three of the twenty

traits used in the assessment are relevant and applicable in the execution of PL: lack of

capacity for empathy, lack of any sense of conscience, responsibility or remorse and an

unshakable mindset of narcissistic self aggrandizement and self-entitlement. In addition

to these three traits, I incorporate a trait described by Patricia Evans: the abuser’s view of

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life is molded and motivated by the deeply entrenched conviction that he or she is the

only victim (Evans, 2010). The combination of these four traits contributes to a perfect

storm of behaviors that enables toxic personalities to dishonestly outmaneuver or

outperform their competition with devastating consequences to others including, but not

limited to, the following: achieve the top levels of power and control in any institution or

organization; cause harm to others without any sense of conscience, feeling or

responsibility, and manipulate their followers, employees, soldiers, etc., to behave in the

same manner or risk being ostracized from the organization, or worse.

It may be helpful to know that most people functioning on the narcissistic-

psychopathic spectrum do not see themselves as evil; when pressed for explanations for

their brutality, Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic represented themselves as the

victims; one aspect of the symptomology of anti-social personality disorder is that those

displaying these behavioral traits appear to be unable to function in any other way.

Metaphorically, compare the phenomenon of PL to the nature of viruses. As far as I

know, viruses are not self-aware and are not conscious of their ability to spread death and

disease on a global basis. By the same token, psychopaths and/or narcissists do not self

identify but their self serving natures (lack of capacity for empathy; lack of capacity for

conscience/remorse; narcissistic sense of self entitlement; and a mindset that they are the

only victims in their worldview) enable them to out-compete those whose integrity and

ethics indicate they would lead with more wisdom and compassion than we see in most

leaders. Because psychopaths are not constrained by ethics or integrity, they have more

resources to use against their more ethical competitors. As toxic leaders established a

pattern of using any means to achieve their goals, by the influence of their numbers over

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time, they have negatively manipulated and distorted the entire evolution of human

civilization.

It is the premise of PL that for thousands of years, psychopaths have been often

invisible yet so effective in employing and disseminating their means to achieve their

ends that many people presume these means are endemic to human nature. As a result,

many people are resigned to the beliefs that conditions such as war, corruption, poverty

and famine are inevitable. Subsequently, people who have the potential to lead with

integrity as compassionate and collaborative leaders may refuse to do so because they do

not want to be associated with institutions that appear to be impossible to run without

deviousness and corruption. By their refusal, there is more opportunity for psychopathic

opportunists to attain those positions of leadership. It is important to understand the four

traits described above are present throughout all the ways narcissism and psychopathy

exist in our culture. In other words, the man who abuses his family exhibits the same

dysfunctional behaviors as the corporate leader who fires his employers to use cheap

labor overseas; the Wall Street traders and speculators who stimulate economic

devastation; the industrialist whose pollution fouls the environment and contributes to

global climate change, and the national leader who sends his nation into war.

***

"It may seem daunting, but I am a prisoner of hope. We are more connected than ever

before, we have more knowledge, and there are solutions if we work together . . . What

unites us is our common humanity" – Bishop Desmond Tutu

In the implementation of propaganda, one of the most effective methods toxic

leaders use to manipulate their followers/soldiers to commit harmful acts against others is

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the compromising and marginalization of empathy. As the leader is exhorts his followers

to honor the movement, protect the nation against enemies, or demonize fellow citizens

who belong to a different church, race or political party, he engages their empathy on

behalf their family, pride in their nation, etc. But in the process, counter to Tutu's

declaration that we are all interconnected, he dissolves and denies any connection to his

targets, exacerbating their fears as he describes the enemy as "other", "less than", and sub

human. This also happens politically when members of one group employ a magnified or

artificial disapproval for a specific group of people as a tool for advancing a personal

agenda (think demonization of immigrants, gun reform, welfare moms, pro-choice issues,

gay marriage, etc.) This compromise and suppression of empathy towards others may be

one of the most effective tools for rationalizing war and sustaining other conditions,

including poverty and slavery, that are causing harm to millions of people in today's

world.

Fulfilling the Mission

IMPADA was founded to address the premise that over the centuries, psychopaths

have had a greater influence on civilization than most people realize. Additional premises

include that due to their lack of integrity and willingness to employ any means to achieve

their goals, psychopaths are better equipped to attain positions of power and control than

those who would be more compassionate and collaborative as leaders. However, once

they do achieve those positions, their leadership is exemplified more by the harm they

cause than any real benefit to their constituencies. In addition, their success is emulated

by non-psychopath contenders for the throne who believe that in order to be successful,

they must also be willing to make “hard” decisions that will cause harm to others, many

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of whom are innocent of any wrong doing. In response, I believe that when people learn

how history has been shaped by the nature, motivation and methodologies of narcissistic

and psychopathic people (akin to how the invention of the microscope revealed the

relationship between bacteria and infection), they will be able to make better choices

about whom they follow, elect, promote and marry. This will be the first step towards

transforming civilization into a more ideal state free of the world’s worst problems.

PROGRAM

In order to fulfill its mission, IMPADA will engage a four step program that

begins with promoting its message to the most receptive audiences.

Phase I – Education & Marketing Materials

Information will be created and distributed in the form of public lectures,

seminars, ebooks, printed books, comic books, videos, interviews and other media that

can be shared in multiple formats. Articles will be submitted to progressive media

institutions such as Mother Jones, the American Prospect, Rolling Stone Magazine, The

Progressive, NPR, Pacifica Radio and the many small urban publications around the

nation such as the LA Weekly, the Village Voice and similar publications around the

globe.

Phase II – Lectures & Media Strategies

The second step will be to use the media, lecture opportunities and other

marketing/promotion strategies to attract members and possibly new staff to work on

behalf of the mission. Recruiting ties directly into the third step:

Phase III – Membership & Training

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With the help of educational providers, IMPADA will develop training programs

to provide interested parties with the knowledge and resources to start their own groups

whose members, likewise, will be invited to start their own groups, spreading the word in

a geometric progression. Using a multi-level marketing model, if ten people attend the

first training and, a month later, each of them recruits and trains ten people, each of

whom continues the process, in six months, a million people will be enrolled,

brainstorming ideas and contributing to the common goal. Three months later, the

potential size of the movement could reach a billion people.

Given a lack of accessibility and the apathy of many people, these numbers may

seem unreasonably idealistic. Consider the following numbers:

Psychopaths in the world today:

(per Dr. Robert Hare): 70,000,000.

(Per Dr. Martha Stout): 300,000,000.

Humanitarians working for the common good:

(Per Paul Hawken):

Number of NGOs addressing the human condition: 1,000,000+

Number of people worldwide, working to improve the human condition:

100,000,000+

The premise of IMPADA is that these humanitarians are working under

conditions similar to those experienced by doctors in the Middle Ages prior to the

invention of the microscope. As doctors, lacking in germ theory, could not devise

effective remedies for many diseases, humanitarians, unaware of the true nature of the

forces initiating and sustaining the conditions they are trying to heal, will be unable to

devise remedies directly addressing the core contributors to humanity’s worst problems.

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As the information organized by IMPADA is shared throughout the world, becoming part

of every day dialogue, people will be able to better discern toxic personalities before they

have access to power, and make better decisions about whom they would like to occupy

seats of power. If IMPADA succeeds in (1) doubling or tripling the number of people

working on behalf of social justice and (2) employing IMPADA’s training, those people

are able to be more effective in their efforts, there should be a geometric progression in

the progress made towards overcoming conditions related to social injustice.

At the very least, with the benefit of new information gleaned from the training,

each member has the opportunity to better recognize early signs of PL and make better

decisions about whether or not to engage with or provide opportunities to such toxic

personalities. As millions of people change their behaviors in response to the current

norms supporting predatory leaders, societies will have increased opportunities to

become more humane in their governance. At the same time there should be a

corresponding reduction in domestic violence and child abuse. As some victims of child

abuse grow up to become abusers themselves, a reduction in rates of child abuse should

contribute to a reduction in the numbers of abusive adults a generation later (Stosny,

2009). When millions of people are applying the new information in their brainstorming

sessions, it is possible that we will come up with effective solutions that will transform

civilization into a more humane existence within a few generations or even sooner.

Phase IV – Transforming Education

The fourth step will be to lobby for educational reform that provides curriculum

that will stimulate and motivate youth to participate in the civic arena and prepare

themselves to replace the predatory leaders of the world as they die out. This step

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includes the encouragement of critical thinking and emotional intelligence (EQ)

beginning in age appropriate ways as early as kindergarten and first grade. Children

raised with EQ principles not only tend to perform better academically; they are more self

reliant, respectful of others, resistant to bullying and more innovative with their ideas

(Great Schools, 2014). For one example, watch this amazing Ted Talk given by a brilliant

and happy thirteen year old (Laplante, 2013): http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=h11u3vtcpaY

In another example, with unfettered imaginations and “spontaneous compassion”,

John Hunter’s fourth graders come up with valid suggestions for achieving world peace

(Hunter, 2011): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_UTgoPUTLQ

Paralleling Hunter’s revelation of self evident assessment by fourth graders who

were solving world problems, I recommend Sugata Mitra’s heart warming Ted Talk

revealing how uneducated slum children in India who had never touched a computer

before were given access to computers without any prior instruction and, in a self

organized learning environment (SOLE) learned English on their own and taught

themselves how to reach out to learn from the world via the internet:

http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud.html In the process

you may be surprised to learn that today’s schools are based upon a learning model

developed by the colonial British empire with the intention of replicating identical

bureaucrats to run the global empire of the 18th century. In other words, today’s schools

are designed to produce parts for a machine that no longer exists. It is past time to

provide our children with more stimulating and invigorating learning environments.

Why IMPADA Will Succeed

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http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_UTgoPUTLQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11u3vtcpaY



Since the founding of the United Nations in 1945, billions of dollars have been

spent to address many of the social ills referenced in this paper. Additionally, as noted in

Paul Hawken’s talks and writings, as many as a hundred million people are working with

conviction and dedication to address and overcome these same problems (Hawken,

2006). Given the financial and personal investments of so many people, how can

IMPADA achieve results to any greater extent?

As with the invention of any new product, the entrepreneur needs to educate the

public about how the new product is worthy of their attention and will improve the

quality of their lives. The key to IMPADA’s success is in creating a community of

activists sharing goals centered around a desire to achieve a civilization free of the

oppression and exploitation that is endured and accepted in today’s world. When asked if

world peace will ever be possible, many people shake their heads. But then I ask, “Who

do you know that prefers a world of war, corruption, famine and poverty?” With the

revelation that they personally do not know of anyone who seriously appreciates the

status quo, I invite them to consider the possibility that they have more support and

resources for positive change available than they realize. I do not have all the answers; I

have faith in the collective thinking of multitudes of hundreds of millions of humanitarian

activists at work around the globe today (Hawken, 2007). From that point, I invite

everyone, for the sake of their great-grandchildren, to join the collective and take one step

towards healing the future of their descendants by learning about the hypotheses that

drive the study of predatory leadership; if all they do is share that step with another, they

have already contributed to the momentum we need to achieve that future free of war,

famine, poverty and corruption. If they can believe in that potential, they will want to

support the services of IMPADA.

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Final Thoughts

As with any organization seeking to transform a global population of seven billion

people, the mission and goals of IMPADA are vast and seemingly insurmountable.

However, we have many contemporary examples of art and ideas that today are known to

a majority of those people. From the music of the Beatles and Ray Charles to the spread

of computers and cell phones, the growth of the Internet and globalization is providing

the means for IMPADA to reach interested parties around the world. The rise of the Arab

spring, the Occupy movement and the growth of movements supporting women’s rights,

the end of violence against women, and the end of human trafficking, all are indicators of

committed and peaceful activists who, when armed with the knowledge that IMPADA is

willing to share, will be able to make better organized, targeted and effective strategies to

achieve their noble goals.

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Preliminary Organizational Chart

CEO/Director

Legal Representation

Office Manager/staff support

Activities

Financial Manager Public Relations Coordinator

Fundraising/Grant-writing

Accounting/Bookkeeping

Social Media Manager &Web Manager

Events PlannerAdvance Coordination

(lecture opportunities; public dialogue events, etc.)

Training Manager

Regional Training Managers

Membership and Intern management

(includes training members to solicit speaking opportunities to educate new audiences and recruit new members)

Publishing: books; comic books; training materials; informational pamphlets, etc.

Reception/Public interface

Membership database management

Intern support for all staff positions

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References

Evans, P. (2010). The Verbally Abusive Relationship: How to recognize it and how to

respond. Avon, MA: Adams Media.

Great Schools. (2014). Boost your kid’s emotional intelligence. Web 1.9.2014:

http://www.greatschools.org/parenting/teaching-values/slideshows/2694-boost-

eq-older-kids.gs

Hawken, P. (2006). The World’s Largest Social Movement. Web 1.9.2014:

http://focus21.wordpress.com/2011/08/25/paul-hawken-the-worlds-largest-social-

movement/

Hawken, P. (2007). To Remake the World. Web 8.19.2013:

http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/265/

Hunter, J. (2011). Teaching with the World Peace Game. Web 8.19.2013:


Kramer, M. (2013).

Laplante, L. (2013). Hackschooling makes me happy. Web 1.9.2014:


Mitra, S. (2013). Build a School in the Cloud. Web 1.9.2014:


Stosny, S. (2009). The Line between Victims and Abusers. Web 1.9.2014:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/anger-in-the-age-entitlement/200905/the-

line-between-victims-and-abusers

Stout, M. (2005). The Sociopath Next Door: The Ruthless Versus the Rest of Us. New

York: Broadway Books.

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http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/anger-in-the-age-entitlement/200905/the-line-between-victims-and-abusers

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/anger-in-the-age-entitlement/200905/the-line-between-victims-and-abusers




http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/265/

http://focus21.wordpress.com/2011/08/25/paul-hawken-the-worlds-largest-social-movement/

http://focus21.wordpress.com/2011/08/25/paul-hawken-the-worlds-largest-social-movement/

http://www.greatschools.org/parenting/teaching-values/slideshows/2694-boost-eq-older-kids.gs

http://www.greatschools.org/parenting/teaching-values/slideshows/2694-boost-eq-older-kids.gs


Addendum: Board Member Invitation, marketing and growth perspective:

Dear Friends;

A few minutes ago, I sent the message below to my webmaster. In order to get him to understand the real possibility that the IMPADA website may get overwhelmed with viewers, I provided a status update explaining the potential for IMPADA to become a world-wide movement. As I re-read the message, I realized it could serve an additional purpose. I am in the process of setting up IMPADA as a non-profit NGO. One of the requirements is to establish a board of directors. If you have received this message, you are someone whose insights and humanitarian interests I would be proud to have on the board. If you are not able to participate, maybe you know someone who you believe would be a good fit. With one exception, all of you are based here in the U.S.; I would also like to include board members from other countries. Most of you have not seen the new website - while it is still undergoing construction and revision, it may be helpful for you to view it: http://predatoryleaders.com. Critiques or feedback you may have will be welcome.

Tools and Prospects for Growth

Here is an example of the marketing strategies I will employ to promote IMPADA on a world-wide basis (when people with more skill at marketing get involved, I expect more effective messages will be used):

Imagine the via following, with social media, online marketing via Facebook, Craigslist, LinkedIn, conferences such as Bioneers, public service announcements, and other methods intended to promote viral marketing, thousands of people become motivated by the following message:

*Are you interested in creating real and effective social change? How would you like to influence a million people or more to get involved in addressing and solving humanity's worst problems?

*Attend this lecture (visit this website); learn how you can gain new skills and insights that identify the core contributors to our worst problems; and join the movement of dedicated humanitarians who will bring about the end of war, corruption, poverty and famine. Between 2010 and 2011, I gave about a dozen talks on the topic of predatory leadership. At the end of each talk, many in the audience came up to ask how they could help.At that time, I did not have a concrete set of options to provide; I simply said, "I need partners in creating this movement"; that was not sufficient for many of them to go further. Over the past two years, I added electives in social entrepreneurship and social transformation to my college curriculum; out of those classes, IMPADA was born. With the development of IMPADA as a legitimate non-profit NGO with specific functions and services that need to be addressed, when I resume giving public talks, I will describe concrete options for participation and expect more people to make a commitment to become members.

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People who are motivated to get involved will be educated regarding the history of predatory leadership (PL) and how PL has manipulated and distorted the evolution of civilization to the extent that the majority of people with whom I currently discuss the state of the world firmly believe that humanity is condemned to perpetually suffer from war, corruption, etc. These entrenched beliefs in the sustainability of the worst aspects of humanity are false; their propped up existence is a tribute to the success of predatory leaders in sustaining social injustice as a means for furthering their personal enrichment.

Members in IMPADA will be (1) educated in ways to teach others about PL and (2) trained to become meeting facilitators with the intention that they will recruit new members and train those members to facilitate brainstorming meetings with the intent of addressing the myriad ways that narcissistic and psychopathic personalities are able to outperform potential leaders of humanitarian intent for positions of power and control. One advantage held by predatory leaders is that many of good conscience and positive intent refuse to go into leadership because they do not want to work in a paradigm in which success appears to be impossible without collaborating with corrupt people and making decisions that result in harm to others. Thus one to four percent of the population (70,000,000 to 300,000,000 predatory leaders world wide) work mostly without competition to sustain conditions of social injustice, successful largely because the vast majority of the population is ignorant of their existence and the means they employ to serve themselves at the expense of humanity.

Metaphorically, compare the phenomenon of PL to the nature of viruses. As far as I know, viruses are not self aware and are not conscious of their ability to spread death and disease on a global basis. By the same token, psychopaths and/or narcissists do not self identify but their self serving natures (lack of capacity for empathy; lack of capacity for conscience/remorse; narcissistic sense of self entitlement; and a mindset that they are the only victims in their worldview) influences them to behave in ways that are congruent to their success at gaining control and achieving their goals, and by the influence of their numbers over time, negatively distort the entire evolution of human civilization.

How the numbers will work:

Attendees will learn that all they have to do is recruit and train five people a month to (1) spread the word about the existence, nature and consequence of predatory leadership. Let's say that a month later, each of those five people recruit and train five more people - now we have thirty people recruiting and training five people a month. A month later, 150 people are now recruiting and training five people a month. A month after that,750 people; a month after that 3,750. In the fifth month, 18,750; sixth month: 93,750; seventh month: 468,750; eighth month: 2,343,750 (mathematicians will recognize that for the sake of simplicity, I left out the original 5% from each preceding month; via a more accurate formula, each month's totals will be greater than listed here.) The viability of such numbers is supported by such visionaries as Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson (http://culturalcreatives.org/) and Paul Hawken (http://longnow.org/seminars/02007/jun/08/the-new-great-transformation/#); both report

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hundreds of millions of people, many unaware of each other, already working towards creating a better future for humanity.

If the average person trains ten people a month; we'll reach that two million mark in four months. For numerous reasons, not all people will follow through with the same numbers every time but I have no doubt, if we address the requisite challenges and do an effective job of inspiring people to get involved, within a year or two millions of people will be working to spread the word and brainstorm solutions to identify, marginalize and mitigate the influence of predatory leaders. My current thinking is that once this theme becomes widespread globally and millions (billions?) of people become as aware of PL as they are of Coca Cola and the importance of washing their hands for health reasons, PL will begin to abate. I do not believe any solution should involve attacking predatory leaders currently in power in any way; they are too invested in their own survival at any cost and too powerful for us to succeed without suffering great harm. My approach is more like developing a vaccine of ideas to prevent further spread and halt further generations of the disease.

One thought: if we can simultaneously begin to raise generations of youth to also recognize and understand the PL problem, more of them will be motivated and trained to join the civic community and, aware in ways that their predecessors were unaware, outcompete potential predatory leaders for those positions of power and control that are critical to shaping the future of our species. Thus, in my current perspective, it will take some generations to turn the tide on an invisible force that has been plaguing humanity for thousands of years. Such a patient approach is supported by Paul Hawken and his fellow activists in the vision of the Long Now Foundation. However, I am open to the idea that with millions of people brainstorming solutions, including addressing the moral issues involved in marginalizing a specific percentage of the population, maybe we can attain a world without war, corruption, poverty and famine within a generation or two. Acting upon the optimism and faith in humanity that has brought me this far in the creation of the hypothesis of PL, I am open and willing to work for the possibility of such miracles.

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Documents

2014.January.international Movement for Peace and Dignity for All[1]