Each year, the Fellowship of Reconciliation awards three peace prizes — international, national and local — to individuals or organizations whose commitment to peace, justice, and reconciliation is recognized as extraordinary.

Nominate your favorite individual or organization working for peace by Friday, March 2!

Image: 2011 award recipient SOS Crown Heights

The Syrian regime has imprisoned dozens of nonviolent activists. Help call for their release!

Release Islam Dabbas, 22

Islam Dabbas became one of the Syrian nonviolent resistance’s most avid proponents, bringing water bottles and flowers to soldiers even after his father was imprisoned.

The Syrian regime saw the effectiveness of this strategy too. On July 22, 2011, soldiers surrounded and captured Islam, with flowers still in his hands.

• Read more about Islam Dabbas.
• Take action now to demand Islam Dabbas’s release!
• Read about all the Syrian prisoners FOR is tracking.

Top image: Flickr user syriana2011 (Creative Commons)

Honduras has become a hub for U.S. military operations in Central America, with an air base that has received an infusion of up to $45 million in construction funds since 2009. Besides the U.S. military’s own presence and operations there, it also assists the Honduran military.

Read FOR’s report, Honduras and the U.S. Military, cited by Dana Frank in a Times Jan. 26 op-ed:

“Since the coup the United States has maintained and in some areas increased military and police financing for Honduras and has been enlarging its military bases there, according to an analysis by the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Congress, though, has finally begun to push back.”

Photo courtesy of 143rd Infantry Detachment, Texas Military Forces.

With the Occupy movement continuing to grow and transform in 2012, many local occupations have been shut down by police in confrontational situations that have sometimes turned violent. FOR has provided our Pact for Peaceful Witness to offer guidelines for nonviolent behavior and action during civi disobedience and protest situations.

Our national staff and local members have been involved in Occupy groups across the nation, and you will find regular commentaries and analysis on our blog about those experiences. We also reflect on the foundation of this growing movement and what’s ahead. And we invite you to please share your story!