3P Hosts El-Hibri Foundation Peace Education Prize Winner Dr. Chaiwat Satha-Anand

3P and the Alliance for Peacebuilding hosted a roundtable luncheon in October in honor of the El-Hibri Charitable Foundation's 2012 Peace Education Prize recipient, Dr. Chaiwat Satha-Anand of Thailand.  The El-Hibri Charitable Foundation awarded the distinguished Peace Education Prize to Dr. Satha-Anand to recognize the contributions he has made toward reconciliation and nonviolence in Thailand and elsewhere. Peacebuilding scholars and practitioners gathered at the new Alliance for Peacebuilding office where Dr. Satha-Anand discussed his work and offered comments on current events, including the Arab Spring and broader intercultural and interfaith relationships. 3P was honored to host the El-Hibri Foundation and provide an opportunity for Alliance for Peacebuilding members to meet and engage with Professor Satha-Anand.

Professor Satha-Anand is a senior lecturer in Political Science at Thammasat University in Bangkok and a prominent scholar of alternative defense, religion and peace, Islam and nonviolence, militarism and modern political philosophy. As a Thai Muslim and one of the foremost voices for peace and nonviolence in Thailand, he has pioneered research into Islam and nonviolence, and worked as a peacebuilding practitioner in the long-standing conflict with the Thai Muslim minority in Southern Thailand. He has helped formalize institutions in the Thai government that support nonviolent approaches to political conflict, and is also a great advocate of reaching out to the military and the established security sector to bring conflict resolution and nonviolent options to the table.