Mohan Dutta: Culture-Centered Approach

Only in the heart of the Empire does one witness such grotesque celebration of violence. Violence as a way of life. Violence as sacred. Violence normalized into everyday stories, and violence exalted to a powerful cultural story. Violence in the guns that are sold openly, guns that are carried by everyday people as an expression of some fantasy of liberty, guns that are weapons in the hands of a killer that turns to violence to express her or his angst, and advanced weapons that are the symbols of liberty in the killing fields in Iraq and Afghanistan and Libya. The cultural affinity for violence is manufactured in the valorization of soldiers. The celebration of heroes of the many wars that the US has waged in the name of freedom, the celebration of fallen martyrs who are framed as the protectors of the freedom, the commemoration of the courage of soldiers, the memorial day and the veteran's day: these are all expressions of  violence that elevate violence as a cultura

In the tears that witness in silence The longings of separation. We will hope And plant the seeds of Imagination. In the tears that remember in silence The stories of loss and suffering. We will imagine the beginnings of change And transformation. In the tears that recount in silence The stories of unpaid work. We will create the inspiration for joy And resolution. In the tears that remember in silence The child left behind. We will join our voices together Singing the lullabies of Freedom. In the tears that fight in silence The memories of abuse. We will come together To hope for new beginnings.