TWO MORE INTERVIEWS
September and October 2007: More video interviews. Well known writer and we're proud to say, our Board member, Jesse Kornbluth, did a fantastic interview with José Ramos-Horta, Nobel Laureate and President of East Timor. Mary Wald, Chairman of TheCommunity.com, traveled to Altanta to speak with Jimmy Carter on his recent book on Palestine, the film, and why he continues to stick his neck out when he could so easily be resting on his laurels. Yes these interviews are all related to the upcoming launch of our social network. We could say something about that but all you would see is pictures of people working at keyboards. Just stay tuned.

MEETING WITH ARCHBISHOP TUTU
August 8, 2007: We met up with Arcbishop Desmond Tutu in Kalamazoo, Michigan at the Fetzer Institute. The Archbishop graciously gave us some time, in the middle of a personal retreat, to discuss the formation of the Nobel Laureates' Peace Fund with us. We discussed the fact that it is getting very difficult to think about peace in today's climate, and talked about what one individual can do. We also discussed the building blocks of a society that can function without violent conflict, and more.

The interview will be available on the web site soon.

INTERVIEWS COMING
June 10, 2007: We just returned to the States from London, Northern Ireland and Portugal. While in Belfast we saw, photographed and interviewed John Hume, the Nobel Laureate from Derry, who was integral in brokering the Good Friday Accords. We then went to Mogofores Portugal to do the same with Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, the second Nobel Peace Prize Laureate from East Timor. Bishop Belo was a leading voice for non violence during East Timor's struggle against a brutal occupation. We taped short interviews with both of them.



EAST TIMOR ELECTIONS
April 9, 2007: The citizens of East Timor voted for their new President, to replace outgoing President Xanana Gusmao. The election went to a runoff between two candidates -- José Ramos-Horta and Francisco Guterres from the country's leading party, Fretelin. The runoff election took place on May 9. Ramos-Horta won by a landslide.

José Ramos-Horta, 1996 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, has served for many years as Foreign Minister of his country. Last year, when the country nearly plunged into civil war, the Prime Minister stepped down, and Ramos-Horta took the position of interim Prime Minister. Peace was largely restored to the country.

We are more than proud to say that he has also been a part of TheCommunity.com and the Chairman of our Advisory Board nearly since we began. He has been our advisor, he has opened many doors for us, we have worked closely on projects, and he has been a good friend to our organization.

Ramos-Horta was a serious contender last year for Secretary General of the United Nations. When violence once again threatened his country, he virtually dropped everything to return to the country. The United Nations lost on that one. But East Timor gained. And we have gained a new democracy in our world that is going to make it because of people like him.
more information

ARTISTS FOR AMNESTY AWARD FOR JENNIFER LOPEZ
February 14, 2007: TheCommunity.com, working with Artists for Amnesty International, brought Nobel Laureate José Ramos-Horta to present the annual Artists for Amnesty award to Jennifer Lopez for her outstanding work on a key Amnesty human rights issue, the murder of several hundred young women in Juarez, Mexico. The event was produced by Bonnie Abaunza, director of Artists for Amnesty.

Jennifer, who is also starring in and Executive Producer of the film Bordertown, met with mothers of the murdered women, local officials and others to address the issue of the murders while working on the film. Some of the mothers were flown to Berlin for the ceremony. Husband Marc Anthony and co-star Antonio Banderas also attended. See a slideshow
CHRISTMAS EVENT WITH ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU
We are in planning with the office of Archbishop Desmond Tutu for a very special Christmas service for peace in December 2008.

The event will involve leading artists and will be filmed for broadcast. Watch our site for news as this develops.

If you are involved in the music of television industry and are interested in contributing to the event please contact us.

VIDEO OF PAUL SIMON IN EAST TIMOR
January 12, 2007: We just taped Paul's narration for the video of his trip to East Timor distributing mosquito bednets.

The video is now in editing. Stay tuned for a release.

To see more about this project, click here.

PETER GABRIEL, 2006-2007 MAN OF PEACE
November 14, 2006: Each year TheCommunity.com is a partner on the production of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates' Summit meeting in Rome. The Summits are produced by the Mayor of Rome with Mikhail Gorbachev.

Each year the Nobel Laureates present an award to an artist who has done outstanding work for peace. TheCommunity.com is on the nominating committee for the award, and is always directly involved in the production of this event. This year was a particularly special year as the award was given to a long time friend of TheCommunity.com.

The Nobel Laureates were delighted to present the 2007 Man of Peace award to Peter Gabriel for his many years of creativity and dedication in forwarding peace and human rights across the globe. He is shown here with the award, with Nobel Laureates Lech Walesa from Poland and Mairead Maguire from Northern Ireland.

see the press release