|
Towards a Nonviolent World Newsletter
I have some big news to share this time! There will be a MONTH long program this summer! It will take place in the buzzing city Thessaloniki, in beatutiful Greece and is called "Peace Power".
Applications are open for everyone and there will be 10-15 spots available.
The timing is perfect, since the program will follow the Study Guide "Engaging Nonviolence" that will be published this summer.
Below you can also read about upcoming and past workshops, an interview and other relevant things concerning what is going on right now & nonviolence. Enjoy reading :-)!
|
|
|
|
Peace Power
helps young people to discover their power to bring about peace
I received confirmation of funding to organise a month long training and practice program for 10 to 15 young people from across the globe. Participants will have to cover travel, accommodation and food. But in order to make it inclusive, I would like to collect donations to offer travel scholarhips to people from outside of Europe who need those. You can donate through a crowd-funding campaign that I'll launch next week. After the selection process, participants will also be encourage to mobilize their own network to contribute to the fundraising campaign. If you want to help us to avoid the 5% platform fee of the crowdfunding, you can also make an 'earmarked' donation to the Foundation for Active Nonviolence, in The Netherlands. Write "peace power" in the comment and address your donation to: Stichting voor Actieve Geweldloosheid. IBAN: NL 93 INGB 0000 266551
The aim of "Peace Power" is to actively involve youth world wide in developing systemic, cultural and direct practices to change the current direction of destruction to one of peace & nonviolence to all beings and the planet, based on the understanding that our survival and well-being is inter-connected.
Participants of Peace Power will:
- gain practical skills to become effective peacebuilders in their local communities, as well as internationally;
- gain knowledge and understanding of the necessary elements of developing a culture of peace and nonviolence;
- immerse themselves in volunteering to get hands-on working experience;
- get diverse input and inspiration from people that have different backgrounds, thereby expanding their capability to look at things from different angles and appreciate differences.
Program
The program starts July 26, with an introduction weekend from Friday-Sunday. Participants will volunteer four days a week with different organistions in the city and follow workshops every Friday. The workshops will be on: August 2-9-16 and 23rd. The 24th of August will be the last day of the program.
More information about the application process and other details will follow soon on the website!
For people who already participated in a training: please contact me if you want to assist me in organising and delivering the program!
 
|
|
Upcoming Workshops
1. May 16-21-30 "Dealing with Conflict" Thessaloniki, Greece. Fully booked.
Workshop titles and aims:
1. Exploring Violence & Nonviolence: Understand different forms/levels of violence & understand the aspects and depth of nonviolence.
2. Conflict Navigation and Nonviolent Power: Become aware of common responses to chose what response fits the situation and get tools to react to conflict constructively
3. Communication and Compassion: Get to know some tools to communicate in ways that help to connect to and understand someone, to cooperate and to find 'win-win solutions'.
2. July 12-14 in Utrecht Netherlands. 20 places.
"Change the Story: Skills for making it happen"
This workshop will be a UNIQUE opportunity to follow a workshop with BOTH authors of the Study Guide "Engaging Nonviolence. Activating Change in Our Lives and Our World", as Veronica lives in Canada and is visiting The Netherlands.
|
|
Themes of the workshops:
- Creative & active nonviolence in today’s world (Friday)
- Conflict Resolution & Strategic Nonviolence (Saturday)
- Resilience and a culture of peace (Sunday)
The workshop is for people who work with and for other people and justice, like people in the NGO sector, social workers, teachers and activists. Anyone who wants to discover the potential of nonviolence as a paradigm for global transformation.
In the workshop you will learn:
- to see the roots of systemic violence and the necessity and potential of systemic nonviolence
- skills to deal with conflict nonviolently in a personal and professional setting
- skills to mobilize people and gain support for your cause
Reserve your spot and sign-up here!
|
|
|
Past Workshops
1. LESVOS
In March I was on the island of Lesvos for 4 days to give workshops to the 'resident volunteers' (people that live in the refugee camps and help out with the activities) of the Dutch NGO "Movement on the Ground". They were based in two different camps, "Kara Tepe" for families and "Olive Grove" just outside of the well-known over-crowded "Moria" camp. Participants came from many countries, from Afghanistan to Togo. Not all were fluent in English, and certainly most had not done many workshops before, so it took more time than I was used to, to get the main ideas across and get discussions going. But their feedback was encouraging and I think it was important to reach this not very privileged group. I held three workshops twice, in the two camps :
1. Responding to conflict
2. Creativity & de-escalation and
3. Mutual understanding.
The topic self-care, that I addressed in each workshop, was much appreciated. Most of them share tents with just a bed and a heater. Insecurity about the future and memories of the past plague every person. Questions about their past were not allowed, so I could only imagine. In the time I wasn't giving a workshop I saw the camps, sorted clothes, and played games with the children who had lost their parents and were now living in the 'safe zone' of Moria camp. I hope for a better future for all of them.
|
Detect languageAfrikaansAlbanianAmharicArabicArmenianAzerbaijaniBasqueBelarusianBengaliBosnianBulgarianCatalanCebuanoChichewaChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)CorsicanCroatianCzechDanishDutchEnglishEsperantoEstonianFilipinoFinnishFrenchFrisianGalicianGeorgianGermanGreekGujaratiHaitian CreoleHausaHawaiianHebrewHindiHmongHungarianIcelandicIgboIndonesianIrishItalianJapaneseJavaneseKannadaKazakhKhmerKoreanKurdishKyrgyzLaoLatinLatvianLithuanianLuxembourgishMacedonianMalagasyMalayMalayalamMalteseMaoriMarathiMongolianMyanmar (Burmese)NepaliNorwegianPashtoPersianPolishPortuguesePunjabiRomanianRussianSamoanScots GaelicSerbianSesothoShonaSindhiSinhalaSlovakSlovenianSomaliSpanishSundaneseSwahiliSwedishTajikTamilTeluguThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduUzbekVietnameseWelshXhosaYiddishYorubaZulu |
|
AfrikaansAlbanianAmharicArabicArmenianAzerbaijaniBasqueBelarusianBengaliBosnianBulgarianCatalanCebuanoChichewaChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)CorsicanCroatianCzechDanishDutchEnglishEsperantoEstonianFilipinoFinnishFrenchFrisianGalicianGeorgianGermanGreekGujaratiHaitian CreoleHausaHawaiianHebrewHindiHmongHungarianIcelandicIgboIndonesianIrishItalianJapaneseJavaneseKannadaKazakhKhmerKoreanKurdishKyrgyzLaoLatinLatvianLithuanianLuxembourgishMacedonianMalagasyMalayMalayalamMalteseMaoriMarathiMongolianMyanmar (Burmese)NepaliNorwegianPashtoPersianPolishPortuguesePunjabiRomanianRussianSamoanScots GaelicSerbianSesothoShonaSindhiSinhalaSlovakSlovenianSomaliSpanishSundaneseSwahiliSwedishTajikTamilTeluguThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduUzbekVietnameseWelshXhosaYiddishYorubaZulu |
|
|
|
|
|
Text-to-speech function is limited to 200 characters
|
|
2. SOUTH of Greece
The workshops for the School of All Relations, SOAR, was a very different experience. About 10 young women had been following 3 months of workshops and introspection. I joined them one week after they started hiking in Greece as the final stage of their program. I arrived to the campsite at a monastery where we sat around a fire for the first workshop about better understanding (nonviolent) power, by discussing a story from the Peace Brigades International and learning about the two 'hands' of nonviolence. The second day we walked for some hours reflecting on activist that walked for peace (Vinoba Bhave, Peace Pilgrim and Satish Kumar). In the evening we gathered for another workshop exploring different questions of 'deep adaptation'. On the third day we had arrived to Distomo where we visited a museum to learn a part of Greek history of the 2nd world war. German soldiers had massacred nearly the whole village (218 people). I gave space to digest this difficult story, knowing that similar things still occure today. I layed down a "truth mandala", a method from The Work that Reconnects to process different emotions. From healing violence we shifted focus to preventing violence and developing resilience. All in all a very rich experience, with some beautiful insights of the participants. Here you can see a short description of the program.
|
|
|
|
Interview. A few days ago I did an interview for a Dutch magazine "De linker wang" - The left cheek, as they found out about the 'peace hero' meddal I received last year September. This won't be published online, so with permission I've translated a part of the interview to English. You can read it here. (Be careful: the page is hosted on the ToNoWo website, but not included in its menu, so follow the link from here!)
|
|
Violence to the Earth
The amount of violence we do to the Earth is one of the many forms of violence human beings commit. The belief that violence is 'normal' and part of our 'nature' has created destruction all around... but as you may know we are as much capable and naturally inclined to cooperate and be kind....! It is time to work on ALL the levels: be nonviolent to yourself, to other people and to non-human beings and things.
 
Have you already heard of the work of Polly Higgins? She has spear-headed a legal team to make " eco-cide" a crime. She believed that there should be legal punishment for harming the planet, just like there are crimes against humanity. Of course harming nature also harms human beings, so it would make very much sense to adopt such a legal notion. Sadly, Polly Higgins physically left our planet on April 21st, just two days before the " Earth Day". To make sure that ecodie will still be adopted as a legal crime, you can become an Earth Protector for 5 euro.
Also check-out Greta Thunberg, the 16 year old Swedish pupil who became famous speaking at the UN Climate Change Conference in Poland and inspired youth across the globe to go on school strike every Friday, is speaking in many places. She got a prize for climate protection at the German Goldene Kamera Festival, where she applied the Two Hands of Nonviolence in her speech: saying stop and inviting people for dialogue/to join. Here you can watch it.(Just about 5 min).
And now we're on this topic, also check-out the new group Extinction Rebellion that has been gaining momentum! Start for example with " Why the climate protests that disrupted London were different"
|
|
|
Erasmus+ Trainings
Unfortunately I can't announce any Erasmus+ training yet... In July we will hear more if this autumn there will be again trainings for European youth workers to learn more about nonviolence. And this will be published on the website and probably the next newsletter.
|
|
Rivera Sun compiled Nonviolence News for a whole month. You can read the latest one here. It has not only news of ongoing nonviolent obstructive and constructive actions, but also victories and historical examples. Really worth checking out!
Rivera is part of the campaign "Nonviolence Now" where you can also read many stories of nonviolence.
Thirdly, Rivera wrote the text for this Mother's Day video of Code Pink:
"Let no more mothers raise their children to kill other mothers' children. Give us, instead, the abolition of war, the promotion of peace, and the care of people and planet."
|
|
|
|
Resources: on the website you can find several resources to study nonviolence, articles, books, videos and films. Click on the button below to go to the page.
|
|
|
|
|
