Last update - 00:00 27/08/2007
Rev. King's son: Mideast leaders could learn from my father
By The Associated Press
Today's Mideast leaders could learn from the nonviolent philosophy and practices of famed U.S. civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., his son said Monday at a forum in Jerusalem.
Martin Luther King III addressed a conference at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem that centered on his father's teachings. After decades of armed conflict, he said Middle East peoples should adopt nonviolence to turn the dreams into action.
At the conference, King told his listeners that "we are all interrelated, and now we are even more challenged for this interdependence." He said his father's message of love and peace could be applied in the Mideast.
The conference, called Realizing the Dream in the Middle East, examined approaches to Mideast peacemaking. It came a day before Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas were to hold the latest in a series of summit meetings designed to restart long-stalled peace talks.
King, 49, is promoting his father's legacy through a foundation called Realizing the Dream, which he founded in 2006. He gives speeches and lectures around the world, promoting nonviolence and reconciliation to resolve conflicts.
According to its Web site, the foundation embodies justice, equality, and the beloved community through specific sustainable initiatives in economic development, nonviolence and conflict resolution training, and targeted leadership development for youth.
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968 at the height of his campaign for civil rights for African-Americans in the United States. The elder King preached and practiced nonviolence, promoting sitdown strikes, marches and demonstrations as a way of pressing the need for equal rights in the United States.