Afri hedge school: Seeds
of struggle, seeds of growth
Afri's Hedge School 2006 is on the theme "Seeds of Struggle,
Seeds of Growth: Common Wealth or Corporate Control?"
and takes place in Dublin on Saturday 21st October from 2
- 6 pm with The Cultivate Centre for Living and Learning.
The venue is the Cultivate Centre, 15 - 19 Essex Street West,
Temple Bar, Dublin. Those providing input of various kinds
include Brendan Forde, Micheál Ó Seighin, Kay
Sheehy, Clare O'Grady Walshe, Eanna Ní Lamhna, Andy
Storey, Barbara O'Shea, Eithne Ní Chatháin and
Ronan James. Cost: €15, €10 concessions. Bookings
to; Afri, 134 Phibsborough Road, Phibsborough, Dublin 7, ph
01 - 8827581 / 8827563, e-mail afri@iol.ie
and website http://www.afri.ie
European Justice and
Peace commissions look at reconciliation
Around fifty people from a couple of dozen countries gathered
in Belfast in September for the meeting of the Justice and
Peace Commissions of the Catholic Church from around Europe.
The subject focus for their meeting was the experience of
reconciliation in Northern Ireland and they heard from various
speakers and visited local projects in Belfast and elsewhere
in the North. They adopted a statement on reconciliation which
includes the following: "The conflict in Northern Ireland
is about territory, social injustice and inequality in participation
in the political process. It is a sectarian conflict. It is
not about religion, but there is a very religious dimension
to the conflict. Religion is part of the problem. Belonging
to a Protestant or Catholic group seems to be a key factor
along with political aspiration in building identity.....But
religion is also part of the solution, offering a resource
from within the community of Northern Ireland on its path
to sustainable peace." The
full statement is available here.
- Sarah Barry has begun work
as Administrator/Researcher for the Irish Commission for Justice
and Social Affairs; she has been involved in both Church and
rural development projects at home and in Central America,
and is a graduate in Theology from the Gregorian University
in Rome but focuses her current research in the area of social
sciences. Fr Tim Bartlett is the executive secretary to ICJSA.
ICJSA, Columba Centre, Maynooth, Co Kildare, ph 01 - 5053016,
e-mail icjsa@iecon.ie
and web http://www.catholicjustice.ie
Dublin-Belfast as part
of Nuclear Free Future Walk
May 2007 sees an Interfaith Peace Walk (open to anyone interested)
starting in Dublin and traveling to Belfast before going to
Scotland (including Faslane), England (including Sellafield
and Aldermaston) en route to London. As the walk will be stopping
off at 8 locations between Dublin and Belfast, there is plenty
of opportunity for interaction and using the walk to promote
a future free of both nuclear weapons and nuclear power. 12th
May sees the start in Dublin, and stops are as follows; Swords
13th May, Skerries 14th, Drogheda 15th, Ardee 16th, Dundalk
17th (followed by a rest day), Newry 19th, Banbridge 20th,
Lisburn 21st and Belfast 22nd, with meetings in Belfast on
23rd May. So you can get in touch now and help plan local
events, accommodation etc. Contact Marcus at marcus@footprintforpeace.net
or K.A. at ka@footprintforpeace.net
and you can look up past walks at http://www.footprintsforpeace.net
AWI at Shannon: Demilitarise
Shannon Airport
Saturday 28th October at 2pm sees an anti-war demonstration
at Shannon organized by Anti-War Ireland (AWI) with speakers
including US Iraq War veterans such as Joshua Casteel, former
interrogator at Abu Ghraib, and supported by others. Assemble
at Lidl at 2pm to march to the Airport. Anti-War Ireland (see
NN142, e-mail info@antiwarireland.org
and web http://www.antiwarireland.org
INCORE: 'Remembering'
victims and survivors
Professor Thomas Fraser, Emeritus Professor based at INCORE,
has received an award of £239,397 from the Arts and
Humanities Research Council to undertake a two year project
looking at the topic of victims, survivors and commemoration;
he will lead a team of researchers based on the Magee campus
to produce a digital archive that will form a new section
on the existing CAIN (Conflict Archive on the INternet) web
site.
The work on this project will document the developments
that have taken place in the area of victims, survivors and
commemoration since 1997. While much of this will relate to
the conflict within Northern Ireland, the team will also be
looking at events in the Republic of Ireland and Britain.
For further information contact:
Professor Tom Fraser, e-mail: tg.fraser@ulster.ac.uk
Room MD138A, University of Ulster, Magee Campus, Londonderry,
BT48 7JL. Or see: http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/victims/
The latest INCORE
annual report (pdf) is available on the INCORE website
and paper copies are available from the INCORE office. It
features the work of INCORE and its varied projects from January
2005 to June 2006.
Add your voice to the climate for change
Visit Irish Friends of the Earth's climate change site at
http://www.climatepledge.ie/
and make it easy to add your voice to those pushing the Irish
government to do more - you can pledge to do something to
reduce pollution and demand the government do something in
return.
Vilence in the Medea
UN International day of Peace, 21st September, saw street
theatre performed in Dublin and Belfast on the theme of violence,
and particularly violent death as entertainment, in the media.
The Dublin street theatre was outside the offices of the Broadcasting
Commission of Ireland and was organised by Ballitore Meeting
of the Society of Friends (Quakers) with help from The Griese
Youth Theatre Group, also from Ballitore Co.Kildare.; the
drama in Belfast was outside BBC and UTV headquarters, organised
by INNATE. The main elements of the campaign demands are:
That the effects of media violence are highlighted on one
high profile day each year; That 21st September, which happens
to be United Nations World Peace Day, becomes that high profile
day; That television stations would transmit "No Violent
Death for Entertainment Purposes" on this single day
each year; That schools and colleges would concentrate civics
or media classes on "Violence as entertainment"
on that day; That each individual member of the public would
be encouraged to inform themselves of the implications and
effects of having large amounts of violence and violent death
in their entertainment diet, and be encouraged to review their
viewing patterns. Research to support this campaign and backjground
information can be found on the website http://www.everylifecounts.info
or you can contact Terry Gillespie ph 057 8825173 (evenings)
or e-mail terry.gillespie@gmail.com
- The script for the street theatre on 'violence as entertainment'
will be on the INNATE website under 'Resources'.
The world at your fingertips
There is one easy way to have the world at your fingertips,
well, at least so far as peace, environmental and human rights
organisations around the globe is concerned; all you have
to do is buy a Housmans Peace Diary with its World Peace Directory
of almost 2,000 national and international organisations in
150 countries. The 2007 diary is UK£8.95, post-free
anywhere in the world, or there are bulk discounts (e.g. 5-9
copies £8 each, 20+ at £6 each).. It is two-days
to a week format. Available through payment by UK cheque or
by credit card. Housmans, 5 Caledonian road, London N1 9DX,
phone 020 7837 4473, e-mail orders@housmans.com
and web http://www.housmans.com
Towards an inclusive
democracy from de Borda
'Towards an inclusive democracy' is the title of a forthcoming
publication (subtitle 'Consensual voting procedures for use
in parliaments, councils and committees'), edited by Peter
Emerson, to be published by Springer (http://www.springer.com
ISBN 3-540-33163-8) during early 2007 at about 250 pages.
The book includes pieces by Michael Dummett, Maurice Salles,
Hannu Nurmi and Elizabeth Meehan; the first half looks three
different voting procedures and hypothetical examples, the
second discusses these against the background of the theory
of voting, social science, human rights and mediation theory.
The book will retail around €75/57. The de Borda Institute,
36 Ballysillan Road, Belfast BT14 7QQ, ph 028 - 90 711795
or 078 - 377 17979, web http://www.deborda.org
ARAN website
The ARAN / Animal Rights Action Network website was launched
recently and full details of campaigns and actions can be
found at http://www.aran.ie
including a monthly newsletter. A rally in Dublin is being
organised for 10th December, International Day for Animal
Rights. General queries to National Events Organizer, John
Carmody, e-mail: arancampaigns@eircom.net
Postal address: ARAN, Po Box 722, Kildare, ph. 087-6275579.
Faslane, Belfast
Angie Zelter, one of the main organisers of the year-long
Faslane nuclear submarine base blockade is in Belfast pn Tuesday
10th October, to speak about this ambitious peace action in
Scotland against the updating of Britain's WMD and encouraging
groups and individuals from here to get involved and join
the blockade.
More info at http://www.faslane365.org
Angie will be speaking at 1pm, Tuesday in Conference Room
3 in the Queens' Student Union on University Road at a meeting
called by QUB Green Action. Also on Tuesday 10th October at
8pm she will be speaking in the Peace House, 224 Lisburn Road
at a meeting called by Justice Not Terror Coalition. Both
meetings are of course open to anyone interested. More info
phone 0773 - 781 9569.
Centre for Global Education, Belfast
The Centre for Global Education is a resource base for global
and developing world studies. It promotes a form of education
designed to increase understanding of international development
issues and encourage action that will tackle the problems
underpinning poverty and inequality throughout the world.
The Centre promotes a form of education that is variably called
development education, global education, global citizenship
or development awareness. All of these labels share the following
components:
An exploration of development issues such
as trade justice, conflict, gender, the environment and child
work.
The use of active learning methodologies
to foster independent, critical thinking, confidence, self-awareness
and good communication skills.
Work with a wide range of target groups
from pre-school through to adult groups such as teachers,
student teachers, adult educators and youth workers.
The provision of resources for use in
the formal and non-formal education sectors.
An additional key element of development
education is the action component. It is imperative that learners
use the values, skills, attitudes, knowledge and understanding
provided through development education to take action that
will address poverty-related problems at local and international
levels. As the writer Alice Walker stated 'activism is my
rent for living on this planet'.
The Centre's main education services include:
Resource Base The Centre has a resource base on its premises
that is accessible to the public and contains the most complete
collection of materials on development issues available in
Northern Ireland. These resources include:
Over 1,200 books on development issues and
developing countries
50 national and international periodicals
Over 1,000 video broadcasts
Over 500 teaching packs designed to support
curriculum delivery from Key Stages 1-4
Resources designed for youth sector training
Interactive CD Roms
Over 100 reference box files on development
issues and developing countries
Invaluable international reports, newspaper
cuttings and newsletters.
Web Site on Global Citizenship
The Centre has produced a new web based resource for young
people at key stages 2 and 3 to support the study of local
and global Citizenship. The web site is called The Big Pic
and it can be accessed at www.bigpic.biz. The content of the
site incorporates the curriculum proposals as outlined by
the Council for Curriculum Examinations and Assessment (CCEA)
for Citizenship and reflects its four main themes:
Diversity and Inclusion
Equality and Social Justice
Democracy and Active Participation
Human Rights and Social Responsibilities
The Big Pic has been designed to enable
teachers and students to enrich their experience of the curriculum
by focusing on international development issues in both local
and global contexts. The site was formally launched in the
Long Gallery, Stormont on 16 June when the final segment of
materials on Democracy and Active Participation was added
to the site.
As an interactive resource with activities that increase young
people's knowledge of development issues while also being
fun to use, the Big Pic has already enjoyed positive feedback
from teachers and young people alike. Visit the site for yourself
and check out the activities.
Global Youth Work Course
The Centre is currently delivering a new Global Youth Work
course aimed at youth work practitioners which is accredited
under the Northern Ireland Open College Network to OCN Level
3. The aim of the course is to offer youth workers the skills
and training necessary to deliver development education within
their youth work organisations.
The training content comprises 5 units:
Principles of global youth work
Understanding Globalisation
Information, resources & support for
global youth work
Applying global youth work in practice
Evaluating global youth work.
The course includes two residential seminars
and the compilation of a portfolio of learning for assessment
purposes. Over 40 youth workers have already completed the course.
For further information contact: youthofficer@centreforglobaleducation.com
For information on any of the Centre's services contact our
Information Officer: info@centreforglobaleducation.com
or tel: 028 - 90241879
INNATE
networking group of INNATE meets next on Monday 16th October
at 7 pm in 7 University Avenue, Belfast - all welcome. Thanks
to Natalia Concha for assistance during September.
Nonviolent
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