2022 Olympics Journal
Swords into Plowshares
For the past 63 years, our campers and staff have participated in a very special tradition at Camp Kinderland. The Kinderland Peace Olympics has been an integral part of every season in that it reflects camp’s values of peace, equality, and social justice. Our goal is to pay tribute to the people, events, and social movements that reflect our commitment to make the world a better place. In addition, the Peace Olympics provides us with a framework of group cooperation and respect for one another’s abilities. Children can exercise their many skills, explore new ideas and capacities, and share with each other across age groups. Best of all, they do all of this while having a great time.
We are proud to unveil the murals from this summer's Peace Olympics! Our theme of the summer is "Swords Into Plowshares" and the teams were:
CHIPKO MOVEMENT, also called Chipko andolan, nonviolent social and ecological movement by rural villagers, particularly women, in India in the 1970s, aimed at protecting trees and forests slated for government-backed logging. The movement originated in the Himalayan region and quickly spread throughout the Indian Himalayas. The Hindi word chipko means “to hug” or “to cling to” and reflects the demonstrators’ primary tactic of embracing the trees to impede the loggers.
LANDLESS WORKERS MOVEMENT (MST), Portuguese Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, Brazilian social movement seeking agrarian reform through land expropriation. The Landless Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra; MST) is one of the largest and most-influential social movements in Latin America. Thousands of Brazilian families live in its land-occupation settlements in an effort to redistribute land to rural workers for small-scale farming.
THE GREEN WAVE MOVEMENT. In Argentina, the movement that has fought for abortion rights and had a major influence over the country's legalization of abortions has come to be known as the "Green Wave." The Marea Verde or “Green Wave” movement for abortion rights continues to sweep across Latin America. On the heels of a historic win in Argentina , Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that criminalizing abortion is unconstitutional, paving the way for Mexico to become the most populous Latin American country to legalize abortion.Now the movement has spread to other countries on the continent.
ABOLISHING APARTHEID. The laws of Apartheid denied basic human rights to the overwhelming majority of South Africans. Apartheid, under which the white minority held power over the entire population, was met with strong internal and external resistance. The most powerful form of resistance, however, was the refusal of South African blacks to remain prisoners in their own land. A multi-racial coalition, led by Black South Africans, ultimately forced the apartheid government out of power.
2022 Peace Olympics Journal
We invite you to download and read our 2022 Peace Olympics Journal to learn more about how each team celebrated their history in the 2021 Camp Kinderland Peace Olympics!
