Thanks to Andrew Tomlinson, Director of QUNO-NY, Olivia Ensign, QUNO Program Assistant, and Theresa Kirby for assistance composing this post.

Security was tight in New York City as delegates gathered for the high-level meetings that marked the opening of the 67^th session of the United Nations General Assembly in late September. There were snipers on the roof of the UN buildings, and black limousines with flashing lights crowded the streets nearby as they lined up to get through the NYPD roadblocks. 

After the election I remembered this quotation by Martin Luther King, Jr., from his speech Beyond Vietnam at the Riverside Church in 1967:

Introduction: Today we will peacefully elect (or re-elect) a president and many other national and local representatives. But peaceful elections can't necessarily be taken for granted. Kenya will likely have its next election in March of 2013. As they approach the election, tension and violence have started to take place in some parts of Kenya, especially the coastal and north eastern regions. Many organizations, Quaker and non-Quaker, are working to ease tensions and prevent violence as the election approaches.

Note: This is a guest post by Madeline Schaefer, AFSC's Friends Relations Fellow. Scattergood School students organized and particpated in a peace march and art mob on Sept. 8, walking from West Branch to Iowa City, Iowa.  Scattergood School co-sponsored an exhibit of AFSC's  "Windows and Mirrors: Reflections on the War on Afghanistan" at a local library and was part of a group that organized programs and events connected to the exhibit. - Lucy

by Madeline Schaefer

Note: This is a guest post by Erin Polley, AFSC Program Coordinator of the Indiana Peacebuilding Program and the “If I Had a Trillion Dollars” Youth Film Festival. Submissions are now being accepted for films created by youth which explore how they would allocate the money that has been spent on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq differently. - Lucy