Psychologists for Peace

Alert and Alarmed

This webpage is one of the outcomes of the first Alert and Alarmed forum, held on November 8, 2005, which brought people together to express their fears and concerns about important social issues, and to share practical strategies for adding their opinion to social debate, developing social activism, and helping create resilient communities. The theme of the evening, which was the first of a planned series of events, was about finding ways of giving voice to options that create peace, harmony and goodwill rather than fear, opposition and hysteria.

On December 5, 2005, a second forum was held, this time in Central Victoria. During this event, people began forming some ideas for further group action in the region.

  1. Strategies for promoting peace and social justice
  2. Glossary
  3. Weapons of Mass Disempowerment
  4. Further events in the Alert and Alarmed series

1. Strategies for promoting peace and social justice

This is a collection of ideas of things that people are doing, or can do, to become more active in promoting peace. Please contribute your ideas and strategies, by sending to [email protected].

 APS tip sheet

Ideas from the Melbourne CBD Forum

Share your thoughts and ideas with others

  • One on one dialogue
  • Create narratives that build a new type of culture
  • Tell stories that humanize people from other groups
  • Take responsibility for the problems and be part of the change
  • Don't be afraid to be culturally different
  • Don't be afraid of being 'peaceful'
  • Practice non-violent communication

Join with like-minded people


Personal peace

  • Learn martial arts (e.g. aikido)
  • Find spiritual ways of seeing/doing things differently
  • Attend retreats
  • Channel sadness into compassion for others


Educate ourselves

  • Play the www.democracynow.org versus www.cnn.com game to compare headlines
  • Find good tv stations to watch informative documentaries
  • Keep informed on mainstream media so that you know what other people are being taught
  • Seek non-anglo-saxon news sources
  • Examine your own biases
  • Seek independent news sources (eg. http://www.journalismnet.com/alternate/#best)
  • Critically watch news with friends, question everything, watch with a critical eye
  • Be active on the internet, both for research and discussion groups
  • See the film 'Outfoxed' about the manipulation of the media by large media network


Educate others

  • Do a higher degree in peace-related studies
  • Educate clergy/religious community leaders in inter-faith ideas
  • Teach peace, non-violence in the community

Form relationships with people from other cultures

  • Learn a language for peace
  • Do volunteer work - eg teaching English to refugees
  • Minimise stereotyping
  • Support your children to use the internet to create friendship networks with people in other cultures and other parts of the world

Care for ourselves

  • Take time out
  • Switch off
  • Congratulate and reward yourself for good work
  • Find sources of rest, reward and escapism
  • Use self talk to manage frustrations eg 'At least I'm trying to do something'
  • Celebrate positive information
  • Go clowning

Ideas from the Central Victorian Forum

Things I’d like to do or could do or have done…

  • Laugh a lot with my friends
  • Engage with the mainstream media to offer my perspective eg Herald Sun’s Feedback Column, John Laws’ Talkback
  • Use the internet
  • Use humour in my actions/conversations
  • Create slogans expressing your opinions on T-shirts
  • Get together with like-minded people
  • Make a simple sign and sit with it in a public place
  • Participate in campaigns and petitions run by other peace and human rights organisations (E.g., see Amnesty International campaign).
  • Write a letter to the Queen expressing your views
  • Respond publicly to different media perspectives (eg documentaries)

Group Activities

  • Create a Think Tank/Institute to publish papers and become an expert on public issues.Possible names – eg The Castlemaine Institute, The Centre of Victoria, The Central Think Tank, The Victorian Centre etc etc….
  • Create a broader regional presence to generate a more inclusive wider circulation of ideas and events across the region.
  • Creative, humorous and seditious public art actions
  • Participate in, promote CRASIO Street Theatre – DVD distribution
  • Create a calendar of local events that keep these issues on the agenda
  • Revisit the Purple Sage Project
  • Create information handouts that explain the issues in plain language, and hand these out at events to help educate the public
  • Acknowledge Country at every gathering/meeting and contact Uncle Brien Nelson to seek Jaara interest/advice/involvement (if they wish) and listen to any needs that local Jaara people have in relation to our areas of interest & action.
  • Design a symbol that represents opposition to the ‘climate of fear’ approach being used by the current government/media
  • Public conversation forums – different speakers, different themes
  • Establish a ‘Speakers Corner’ at the Botanical Gardens or Victory Park on weekends
  • Pay for a full-page ad that challenges the status quo – “Create Waves”
  • Peace Festival Day

The Next Step for Central Victoria

  • Write a follow-up story of the forum for the local press
  • Create a web-based communication forum for the group

Activities you can do to become more active in promoting peace

2. Glossary

Psychologists for Peace are making a glossary of terms that are being used in the public arena and which have the ability to manipulate public opinion, distort or obscure facts, and generate fear amongst the population. The glossary will contain terms as well as explanations about how the use of these words is problematic and the psychological ramification of their use and inclusion in our society. The glossary can be used by PFP members and other interested people, who can then use them as an aid to communicating and educating others about social issues. Please send your contributions to [email protected]. It is helpful if people send in examples of terms PLUS an attempt at an explanation as to why the use of the term is misleading or problematic, as we need to distribute both.

War on terror This phrase has been used by many governments including our state and federal governments. When terms like war are used it implies the acceptability of responses outside of those of traditional law and order. If we are at 'war' then military responses become appropriate. This kind of language attempts to predetermine the range of policy responses available. The terrible acts that have taken place could be also described as criminal acts, but then if they were, people would expect that the principles and safeguards built into our criminal justice system would be employed. By describing these events as something separate and outside of crime and coupling it with the term war it becomes easier to get the public to accept erosion of our traditional rights. Second, in addition to potentially confining our understanding and channelling our responses by using this kind of language, terms like 'war on terrorism' may create public expectations that can not be met. Wars generally have readily identifiable start and end dates, they have recognisable protagonists, they have boundaries, and they have been governed by international rules and treaties. All of these features appear to be absent or at the very least contestable when considering terrorism. This reinforces the importance of asking why is it being routinely described as 'war' (Julian Bondy, Presentation for the RMIT 'Talking Terrorism' Seminar RMIT University Postgraduate Month 2005 Wednesday, 5 October 2005)
Preventative detention The term 'preventative detention' obscures what has been agreed to by our governments. Normally when people are stopped, searched, questioned and detained, we call this 'arrested'. When people are arrested there are a number of safeguards built in to ensure that power is not misused and that people are subject to procedural fairness and the capacity for redress. By calling it something else and by coupling this with 'terrorism' as a separate and distinct category from 'crime' we are abandoning all of the traditional safeguards associated with the very serious act of depriving someone of their liberty. (Julian Bondy, 2005)
Control orders

Control order will require people who are identified as suspicious by police as wear electronic monitoring devices for up to 12 months. The only other group of Australians who are required to wear devices such as these are offenders who have committed offences and are required by our Courts to wear these devices as an alternative to imprisonment. When you restrict someone's liberty and when you place restrictions about whom they can have contact with, then you are punishing them. (Julian Bondy, 2005)

In all other instances wearing such devices in Australia is regarded as part of the punishment imposed by Courts on offenders. It is only because we have come to accept that terrorism is something different from other forms crime that we have come to accept that fellow Australians be subject to such extraordinary acts even though they have not committed an offence.

3. Weapons of Mass Disempowerment

A list of tactics that are used to induce compliance and generate fear. Contributions are welcomed.


4. Further events in the Alert and Alarmed series

Mid February, 2006. Enemy Images Workshop. Details to follow.

Early 2006. Follow-up event in Central Victoria to progress some of the ideas shared in the forum (specifically, the web-based communication, the Think Tank, the Calendar of Events, and the Fun/Creative strategies for change). Details to follow.