All posts by CPNN Coordinator

About CPNN Coordinator

Dr David Adams is the coordinator of the Culture of Peace News Network. He retired in 2001 from UNESCO where he was the Director of the Unit for the International Year for the Culture of Peace, proclaimed for the Year 2000 by the United Nations General Assembly.

English bulletin November 1, 2021

CITIES, TOWNS FOR CULTURE OF PEACE

As we have previously remarked in this bulletin most recently in 2020 and 2016, the leadership for a culture of peace is often taken by cities and towns, since, unlike nation-states, they are not heavily invested in the culture of war and since they tend to be more responsive to the needs of their citizens.

This month, there are four articles in this regard from Mexico.

The mayor of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum, has emphasized the social programs that she has implemented during her mandate to improve security conditions. She explains that “security is also the result of social justice, that is why we address the causes of violence with programs that allow access to education, culture and sports.” She emphasized the projects that have been the foundations of her government in the capital of the country: the Points of Innovation, Freedom, Art, Education and Knowledge (Pillars), Yes to disarmament, yes to peace, Inside the Neighborhood and Wellbeing for Girls and Boys, My Scholarship to Get Started.

Mayor Sheinbaum also hosted the third World Forum on Cities and Territories of Peace in Mexico City. The Forum demonstrated the power of women and their influence in the most important positions to run large cities in the world. In the first session of the event, all the participants were women. Claudia Sheibaum (representative of Mexico City), Claudia López (mayor of Bogotá), Ada Colau (mayor of Barcelona), Manuela Carmena (former mayor of Madrid) and Reyna Rueda (mayor of Managua).

Women have also taken the lead for a culture of peace in the Mexican city of Chihuahua. Their network, the Red Mesa de Mujeres, highlights the importance of training women leaders in this area. “We started with the idea of building a group of ten women and we already have 65 of all ages.”

In the Mexican city of Saltillo, the Mano Cadena program works to create, implement and disseminate preventive strategies for conflict resolution that promote a culture of peace. Actions include more than 138 information and awareness talks on the subject of alternative justice, 30 workshops on Peace Circles, and more than 50 training courses-workshops in community, school and alternative justice mediation given to more than 1,800 participants, community representatives and teachers.

Other articles come from Spain, United States, Japan, China, United Kingdom and France.

In Spain, United States and Japan, organizations of cities are putting pressure on their national governments to join the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which so far has only been signed by non-nuclear countries. Details are provided in the newsletter of Mayors for Peace.

Also in the United States, the city of Pittsburgh is taking steps to create “a city of peace with a culture of nonviolence.” A group, which called the Black Elected Officials Coalition, announced it would begin a series of community events to promote peace in the streets.

In China, the city of Nanjing hosted the 2021 Nanjing Peace Forum, co-sponsored with UNESCO. The Forum conducted a lively and in-depth discussion on the natural environment and human destiny, sustainable development goals and green investment, environmental challenges and youth actions, global green recovery and good business, peace actions and international practices. The “2021 Nanjing Peace Consensus” was passed. This has become an annual event, as the 2020 Forum was described in CPNN.

In the United Kingdom, the city of Coventry, the current City of Culture, which is known as a city of peace and reconciliation, welcomed Little Amal, a giant puppet of a child, as she nears the end of a 5,000-mile walk from Syria to “rewrite the narrative about refugees”. Coventry is home to about 1,500 people seeking refuge.

In France, the welcome of refugees also contributes to a culture of peace. The lead in this regard is being taken by small villages that have lost population in recent years and that find a revitaliization by refugees. In Notre-Dame-de-l’Osier, the refugees have engaged in gardening and a weekly market, as well as pottery workshops, cooking and honey harvesting that have enlivened village life. In Pessat-Villeneuve, the immigrants took responsibilty for the creation and distribution of masks that were needed to combat the epidemic of COVID.

The mayor of Grigny, France, Philippe Rio was chosen as best mayor in the world by the London association “ City Mayors Foundation ”to reward his management of the Covid crisis, and his fight against poverty in his city.” He has also taken part in the welcome of refugees and the struggle to abolish nuclear weapons.

Mayor Rio spoke at the first national forum of the AFCDRP (Association of Mayors for Peace, France) that took place October 13 in Montpelier.

At the Forum I was privileged to deliver an address that described how cities can contribute to the culture of peace, with reference to the Declaration for the Transition to a Culture of Peace in the 21st Century.

WOMEN’S EQUALITY

CDMX
Mexico City successfully holds the World Forum of Cities and Territories of Peace

TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

worldmarch
Successful start of the Latin American March for Nonviolence, Multiethnic and Pluricultural

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Thunberg
Our future, our decisions: young activists call for seat at climate table

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION

Sheinbaum
The programs of Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum to reduce violence in Mexico City

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

Nobel

The Nobel Peace Prize 2021

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY

IPB
World Peace Congress concludes in Barcelona with successful participation

HUMAN RIGHTS


abortion

USA: Women Rally for Abortion Justice Amid ‘Unprecedented Attack’ on Reproductive Rights

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

Jovenes
Chad: AJPNV training for democracy and human rights
d-democratic

Some villages in France have found a second life by welcoming refugees

. TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY . .

A compilation with translations by CPNN

A recent article in Liberation shows how some villages in France have found a second life by welcoming refugees.

The article says that these villages, that are “struck by rural exodus,” have decided to renew their local life with immigrants, and it mentions four villages: Luzy (2,000 inhabitants, Nièvre), Ferrette (800 inhabitants, Haut-Rhin), Notre-Dame-de-l’Osier (500 inhabitants, Isère) and Pessat-Villeneuve (650 inhabitants, Puy -de-Dôme).


At Pessat-Villeneuve, Mayor Gérard Dubois (right) with Hamidullah (center) – clip from video entitled Portrait de Hamidullah, réfugié afghan a Pessat-Villeneuve.

Here are excerpts from articles about these four villages.

Luzy in Nièvre

“In the heart of the Burgundy countryside, Luzy, a town of 2,000 inhabitants, has welcomed 45 asylum seekers of Guinean, Afghan, Sudanese or Iranian origin, etc. since the end of 2018.

For these men, women and children who fled persecution at home, Luzy is seen as a stopover on the roads of exile. For the moment, they are suspended from the response that the French authorities will give to their asylum requests.

For the past fifteen years, Luzy has been losing inhabitants. But, for three years now, it has gained and the village has been reborn, in particular thanks to the arrival of these new Luzicans, from all over the world.

Committed to receiving them as best as possible, the inhabitants of Luzy have mobilized to give meaning to their reception and living together, including football games, French lessons, pétanque tournaments and ball trap competitions.

Ferrette in Haut-Rhin

Since 2016, Ferrette has welcomed around 80 asylum seekers – half of whom are children – from places as far away as Afghanistan, Sudan and Armenia.

They all hope to be recognized as refugees – or at the very least, that France will grant them “subsidiary protection”, the status granted to asylum seekers who are not qualified as refugees… ..

When the mayor of Ferrette agreed to welcome migrants, he found himself facing stiff opposition, even from members of his staff… ..

But while some protested, he also saw other locals come together to help, with the emergence of a group called “Voisins du monde” which offered them French lessons, access to a game library, cooking classes and even transport to the hospital.

Samir Beldi, director of accommodation at the Mulhouse / Ferrette branch of Adoma, the housing office that houses migrants, said things had gone well.

“The volunteers managed to repair the damage after some initial trouble. There were preconceptions but we have turned the page on that,” he said.

His assistant, Martine Kaufmann, agrees. “They are not ‘poor’, they were not necessarily poor at home,” she explains. “Some of them have important qualifications. There is diversity among asylum seekers.

(Article continued in right column)

(Click here for the French version.)

Question for this article

The refugee crisis, Who is responsible?

(Article continued from left column)

Notre-Dame-de-l’Osier in Isère

Located in Notre-Dame-de-l’Osier and belonging to the Emmaüs-France network and the Cocagne network, the Tero Loko association was created a little over 3 years ago. It offers an integration project for refugees and inhabitants of the territory. The objective is twofold, to facilitate the integration of people in precarious situations and to participate in the dynamism of this rural town of 700 inhabitants. Their slogan, “Cultivate welcome” is a reflection of this desire.

In this access to employment project, Tero Loko offers integration contracts (CDDI) in market gardening and bread production, two essential productions in everyday food, as well as marketing for the sale of their products …

Tero Loko thus supports refugees on access to employment and also works with them on access to sustainable housing or learning French.

This project can provide answers to a need for integration in rural areas. It offeris a complete project to refugees in search of stability and participates in the revitalization of rural communities. The joy of being together is evident in these markets because the exchange is reciprocal. The refugees are helped in their integration and the inhabitants find a lively village life thanks to this weekly market and various activities (such as pottery workshops, cooking, honey harvesting or even creative workshops of all kinds).

Pessat-Villeneuve en Puy-de-Dôme

In Pessat-Villeneuve (63), a village of 670 inhabitants in the Puy de Dôme, a solidarity initiative was born during the first confinement. As the masks are missing throughout the territory, Hamidullah, a refugee from the Pessat-Villeneuve temporary accommodation center, has decided to produce them. Other refugees have joined in his efforts to help with the distribution. Thanks to them, all the inhabitants were able to benefit from this essential protection. Gérard Dubois, the mayor of the village, and Isabelle Harry, deputy mayor who participated in the distribution of the masks, tell us about this adventure………

What is the origin of this reception policy?

Gérard Dubois :  In 2015, the photo of little Aylan was the trigger for my commitment. I told myself that something had to be done. At that time, we had just bought a vacation center which belonged to Air France and which was unoccupied during the winter period. It seemed logical to me to offer it to the State to accommodate families. At the end of October 2015, the prefectures could not find any center to welcome migrants from Calais, they remembered me. It all happened very quickly. We took in 48 migrants initially. They landed in our beautiful region. Our small village had 550 inhabitants at the time. Then, making the center sustainable was a real desire both personally and on the part of the municipal team…….

How did this mask creation initiative come about? Did the idea come from your side or from the center?

Gérard Dubois :  It was complicated because we were living in this confinement during the elections….. about the masks. No one had any. I tried to get some for the center through the Association of Mayors of France. We were able to do bulk orders nationwide to redistribute them, but we didn’t get exactly what we wanted. Then, one day, the director of the Cecler center calls me and tells me that a young refugee, Hamidullah, is able to sew and that he intends to make masks. I immediately accepted……His idea was really to offer them to the population, it all started with him. Our participation in the action was easy compared to his work. We provided him with the equipment: sewing machine, elastic, suitable fabric, plastic pouches for hygiene during distribution. We also created a communication to add in the masks to explain the origin of this mask and its history…….

Is it by sharing moments that we can get to know each other better?

Isabelle Harry:  It’s true that it’s not always easy to do this. They were very motivated by the idea of creating the masks and then distributing them. This gave them the opportunity to go against the inhabitants and get in touch with them. It is true that when the center was set up, there were a lot of reluctant residents. It should not be denied. They were scared and it was not easy. I was the first to ask myself questions. For a small village like ours, that’s normal. Gradually people were reassured and now the refugees are integrated. This initiative was one more step. The majority of the inhabitants were very happy and found it great to give the refugees a chance.

(Thank you to Kiki Adams, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

Europe, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Cities in Spain, USA and Japan press their national governments to support nuclear disarmament

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

Excerpts from the newsletter of Mayors for Peace

The October newsletter of Mayors for Peace includes several examples of cities pressing their governments to support nuclear disarmament.


Spain

The City of Granollers, headed by Mayor Mayoral, has invited Catalan cities to support the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) as well as recruited them to join Mayors for Peace. Whenever the occasion arises, Mayor Mayoral and the city staffers always promote Mayors for Peace and the TPNW to other cities. Over the last couple of months, Mayor Mayoral called different mayors in Catalonia to urge them to approve a motion in which they recognize the danger posed by nuclear weapons, to show solidarity with the people and communities affected by their impact, and to call on the Spanish Government to sign and ratify the TPNW. The motion has been adopted by 59 localities in Catalonia, as well as the Barcelona Provincial Council, which represents more than half of the population of Catalonia.

To read the full text of the report, please visit this link.

United States

On September 23, 2021, the Back from the Brink campaign released an Open Letter signed by over 300 local, county and state officials in 41 U.S. states. The letter, directed to President Biden and the U.S. Congress, welcomes the entry-info-force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and “urge[s] bold action and U.S. leadership in the pursuit of global, verifiable nuclear disarmament and concrete policy steps to reduce and eliminate the severe danger nuclear weapons pose to each and every one of our constituents – and all of humanity.”

(Continued in right column)

Question related to this article:
 
Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

How can culture of peace be developed at the municipal level?

(Continued from left column)

Signatories include Mayors for Peace Vice President, Mayor Frank Cownie of Des Moines, Iowa and twelve other U.S. members of Mayors for Peace. The letter signers hope to influence the Biden administration’s Nuclear Posture Review, the document that sets U.S. nuclear policy.

The Back From the Brink campaign calls on the United States to:
Actively pursue a verifiable agreement among nucleararmed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals;
• Renounce the option of using nuclear weapons first;
• End the sole, unchecked authority of any president to launch a nuclear attack;
• Take U.S. nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert; and
• Cancel the plan to replace the entire US arsenal with enhanced weapons at a cost of more than $1 trillion over the next 30 years.

The campaign has been endorsed by 53 U.S. municipalities, six state legislative bodies, and over 380 organizations including the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Read the Open Letter and full list of signatories here: Open Letter | Back from the Brink (preventnuclearwar.org)

Japan

On October 4, Fumio Kishida, a member of Japan’s lower House of Representatives representing the A-bombed city of Hiroshima, was elected as Japan’s 100th prime minister. The arrival of a new leader who advocates the realization of a “world without nuclear weapons” and calls nuclear disarmament his “life’s work” has led to growing expectations for the future. At the same time, some have voiced their concerns about how far Mr. Kishida can achieve concrete progress under the current circumstances in which Japan adheres firmly to a policy of reliance on nuclear deterrence for security.

The first touchstone is the momentous first meeting of the States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), scheduled to be held in March next year. Japan’s national government did not participate in meetings to negotiate the treaty’s establishment in 2017. At the time, Mr. Kishida was the Japan minister for foreign affairs. Even after TPNW’s entry into force in January this year, the Japanese government did not change its stance of refusing to sign and ratify the treaty. In the A-bombed cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there are forceful calls for the government to participate in some capacity in the meeting, because non-signatory nations also have the right to attend the meeting as “observers.”

Setsuko Thurlow, an A-bomb survivor living in Canada, and Beatrice Fihn, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), have respectively sent Mr. Kishida a letter to the effect that they are looking forward to meeting him at the meeting’s conference hall in Vienna, Austria. Switzerland and Sweden, non-participants in the treaty for the time being, are said to have expressed their intent to attend the meeting as observers. We will continue to keep our eyes focused on the actions of “the only nation in the world to have experienced nuclear attacks in wartime.”

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global

Mexico: Women who weave communities of peace in Chihuahua

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article by Eugenia Coppel in Milenio

Urbivillas del Prado and Riberas del Bravo in Ciudad Juárez illustrate how the strategy of Women Builders of Peace (MUCPAZ) operates, a federal program that by March of this year has reached 107 municipalities in 27 entities.


Until just a year ago, the Urbivillas del Prado subdivision, on the southern outskirts of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, was a group of gray houses, with streets full of rubble, tires and garbage, and without adequate public spaces for meetings between neighbors. . “It was sad because everyone was on her own,” says Mari Velázquez, a teacher who has lived in this neighborhood for 12 years with her husband and her two children.

“Right now it’s another world, it’s totally changed,” says Velázquez, one of the women leaders who has promoted the transformation of her environment, proudly. The most obvious change is the colors that illuminate the facades of about 90 percent of the buildings, which were painted by the community itself, and with special enthusiasm of the girls and boys, says Mari Velázquez.

The strength of the neighborhood organization is also reflected in cleaner streets, in a park without rubble and in the trees planted there; on the newly demarcated soccer field and on the now colorful tires that serve as games for children. Also in the kermesses, collective harvests, piñata workshops, boxing classes, mental health campaigns and initiatives for the prevention of gender violence and addictions, among other activities that began to take place this same year.

For Mari Velázquez, the most important thing that has been generated is the union between neighbors, which grows stronger every day. “Before it was just a greeting and that’s it, but now we have more communication, more friendship; We are committed to working together to seek solutions to the problems we have, working together with women, men, girls and boys, ”says the president of the newly formed Urbivillas coalition.

The former governor of Chihuahua himself, Javier Corral, recognized the efforts of Mari and the entire community in an event held in August 2021, a few weeks before she ended her term.

In front of one of the many walls transformed into multicolored murals, the politician described the subdivision as a “referential model that can serve not only many other areas of Juárez but of the country.”

Corral gave thanks personally for the design of the project, as well as for the coordination of the participating public and private actors to Eunice Rendón, expert in public policy and international consultant on security, migration and bioethics issues.

Eunice Rendón works as an external advisor to governments in the creation of strategies to prevent violence and addictions. One of the federal programs with which she collaborates is Mujeres Constructoras de Paz (MUCPAZ), of which the Urbivilla project is part.

As an activist for the rights of migrants she has implemented projects of the same program in another neighborhood of Juárez, Riberas del Bravo, as well as in municipalities of Oaxaca, Tlaxcala and the State of Mexico.

In an interview, Eunice Rendón explains that she designed a protocol based on the Women Builders of Peace program, where she detailed the step by step to achieve a successful operating experience in any municipality in Mexico. This includes a baseline, a follow-up evaluation and different possible scenarios in the process of articulating a community, in conjunction with municipal, state, federal, private sector and society actors.

Women in peace processes

In the Global Peace Index 2021, Mexico ranks 126th out of a list of 161 countries, with the latter being the most violent.

For Johan Galtung, one of the most important theorists in peace studies and director of the International Peace Research Institute, peace is not only defined as the absence of conflicts, but as the positive transformation of them. Generating positive peace means creating harmonious relationships between two or more parties to the conflict and undertaking community projects.

(continued in right column)

(Click here for the original article in Spanish.)

Questions related to this article:

Do women have a special role to play in the peace movement?

How can culture of peace be developed at the municipal level?

(continued from left column)

Also, the international community has recognized that women are agents of change and that their participation is essential in peacebuilding processes. In 2000, the United Nations Security Council approved resolution 1325, which urges women to actively participate in achieving lasting peace processes.

The MUCPAZ strategy, which starts from these bases, was launched in 2019 by the National Institute of Women (Inmujeres) and the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP). Its objective is to incorporate a human rights perspective in Mexican municipalities, promote gender equality and empower women to contribute to peace processes.

According to data from the Mexican government, as of March 2021, 217 networks of Women Peacebuilders have been implemented, with the participation of 3,510 women in 107 municipalities and 27 states, with an investment of more than 123 million pesos.

During the inauguration of the program in the Venustiano Carranza mayor’s office, in Mexico City, the head of Inmujeres, Nadine Gasman, emphasized that MUCPAZ consists of preventive work, rather than direct care for victims of gender violence, since that work corresponds to other instances. What the strategy seeks is to influence “the reconstruction of communities and the reestablishment of the social fabric,” said the official.

Some results are already visible in the two neighborhoods of Ciudad Juárez where the pilot projects were launched. Eunice Rendón talks about the various activities that have been carried out in these territories, starting with the main thing, which is the formation of networks of women, but also of men, young people, girls, boys and adolescents.

From there, courses and workshops have been offered on the basic principles of gender, on how to contact various authorities and / or report violence, or on how to carry out productive projects. Through community activities, such as soccer, hip-hop or mechanics, the theme of positive masculinities among young men is introduced.

Both in Urbivillas del Prado, as in Riberas del Bravo – one of the neighborhoods where the highest rates of feminicides and sexual violence are registered in Juárez – the most successful activities have been those that have to do with providing women with tools for their productive development, with courses, workshops, certifications and creation of cooperatives.

“You cannot ask for gender empowerment if women are financially dependent on the aggressor; that is what often slows them down. The other learning is enhanced when there is something that can give them an economic possibility, ”says Eunice Rendón.

Feminist rice pudding

A 40-second video illustrates the type of work that has been done in the Riberas del Bravo neighborhood. In it a group of girls and boys appears singing and dancing a feminist version of a popular children’s round: “Rice pudding / I want to find / a partner who wants to dream / who believes in herself / who goes out to fight / to conquer the dream of more freedom “…

“It is part of the empowerment process,” says Yadira Cortés, coordinator of the Red Mesa de Mujeres, in whose Facebook account the video can be found.

This network is a civil association that since 2004 works for gender equality and non-violence against the women of Ciudad Juárez. Since 2017, it has been present in Riberas del Bravo, where it has focused on the training of women leaders and has just joined the MUCPAZ network.

Cortés explains that the work that she and her colleagues have carried out is very similar to the proposal of the federal program, and considers that by joining this larger network, her intervention methodology has been strengthened and focused. “We were already working on violence prevention and now we are also working on peace-building issues,” says the activist and professor at the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez.

Riberas del Bravo, in the description of Yadira Cortés, is a peripheral colony where there is no industry or medical services; the ambulance does not arrive and the police units almost never pass; the pavement is in poor condition, public transportation is poor and scarce, and there are high rates of drug use and violence.

For this reason, the Red Mesa de Mujeres highlights the importance of training women leaders in this area. “We started with the idea of ​​building a group of ten women and we already have 65 of all ages,” says the activist.

“They are women who are already known in the community: the lady who always talks to the police, the one who reports on support programs or the coordinator of the chapel. Other women identify them and are a point of reference ”.

Finding and activating these natural leaders and helping them continue to work in a self-managed way is the main purpose of MUCPAZ, in the opinion of the specialist Eunice Rendón. The strategy has shown that through them it can have a positive impact on different levels of daily life in the community.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Pittsburgh : Black leaders seek ‘city of peace’

. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .

An article from the Post Gazette

A month ago, a group of African American lawmakers announced an initiative to curb the wave of gun violence and violent crime throughout Allegheny County.

The group, which calls itself the Black Elected Officials Coalition, announced it would begin a series of community events to promote peace in the streets. Democratic state Rep. Ed Gainey, who represents Lincoln-Lemington and is favored to win the Pittsburgh mayoral race next week, acted as the primary spokesman for the group, raising dramatically the expectations for the BEOC’s access to resources and cooperation across bureaucracies.

Mr. Gainey said the lawmakers, in cooperation with partners in government, the nonprofit sphere and law enforcement, would work together with at-risk young people to “create a city of peace” and promote a culture of nonviolence. This is a tall order, but not an impossible one, especially when elected officials are willing to stand behind their work with their names and reputations attached.

(article continued in right column)

Question related to this article:
 
How can culture of peace be developed at the municipal level?

(article continued from left column)

Even before BEOC was formed, Pittsburgh City Councilman Ricky Burgess, whose district includes Homewood, East Liberty and Garfield, had been working with Councilman Daniel Lavelle, whose district includes Downtown, the Hill District and Oakland, on the Stop the Violence Trust Fund.
 
Both councilmen are deeply involved in the effort to give $9 million to the Center that CARES, a Hill District nonprofit that deploys a dozen outreach workers to seven neighborhoods where most of the violence has been centered. All studies show that early intervention before neighborhood beefs escalate is the key to curbing conflicts.

This initiative will be one part of the strategy that these elected officials will lean on in the coming years. What BEOC proposes goes far beyond the usual “throw money at the problem and hope for the best.” These are elected officials who understand the nature of the problem and are heartbroken by the disappointing results of previous efforts.

This is too important to be left to law enforcement to figure out. The BEOC believes it has the empathy and motivation required to make this initiative a game changer.

Others on the coalition are Allegheny County Council members Olivia Bennett and DeWitt Walton and state Rep. Jake Wheatley, D-Hill District.

For their willingness to put their names and reputations on the line, the Black Elected Officials Coalition deserves our respect and appreciation. If the coalition succeeds, it will help Pittsburgh to serve all of its people, including those formerly without hope and left to settle scores on their own, in the streets.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, North America

Mexico City successfully holds the World Forum of Cities and Territories of Peace

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article from Cultura Colectiva (translation by CPNN)

The Head of Government of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum, was the host of the third World Forum on Cities and Territories of Peace. It brought together important world leaders, an important event in the fight against inequality that exists in the XXI century. Within a complex scenario due to the covid-19 pandemic, major proposals were presented in the capital by mayors who were invited from different cities.


Video of conference

The opening session demonstrated the power of women and their influence in the most important positions to run large cities in the world.

One of the main conclusions of the Forum was to recognize that the fight to end social inequality is one of the main strategies to combat violence and achieve global peace. Claudia Sheinbaum, head of government of the Mexico City and host of the event, pointed out that “you cannot talk about peace or ending violence, if you do not fight against inequalities.” Sheinbaum stressed that it is essential to guarantee access to human rights of health, education, security and a healthy environment to improve equity. “If we do not attend to access to human rights, it will be difficult for us to attain a territory of peace.

In the first session of the event, all the participants were women. Claudia Sheibaum (representative of Mexico City), Claudia López (mayor of Bogotá), Ada Colau (mayor of Barcelona), Manuela Carmena (former mayor of Madrid) and Reyna Rueda (mayor of Managua).

(continued in right column)

(Click here for the original article in Spanish.)

Questions related to this article:

Do women have a special role to play in the peace movement?

How can culture of peace be developed at the municipal level?

(continued from left column)

Reflections towards the future

“We cannot think of peace without equality. We know that there will be no peace if inequalities are not reduced; that is why we must work to end them,” said Ada Colau, mayor of Barcelona, ​​Spain, who participated virtually. She stressed that violence is related to all aspects of life. For example, she said, it is impossible to talk about peace in the world without addressing the climate crisis. “Climate change implies population displacement and more violence,” she noted. However, she clarified, global peace begins in the cities themselves; For this reason, it is important not only to actions, but also to raise our voiceto denounce the violation of human rights and support those who suffer injustice.

Claudia López, mayor of Bogotá, pointed out that Colombia has been the only country in Latin America affected by an internal armed conflict in the recent century. Despite this, she highlighted the work done to achieve the peace agreements that ended the conflict. “We knew that as long as the conflict with the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) occupied the epicenter of Colombian politics, there was no way for the causes of women, equity, the environment and other issues to take place,” she said. She pointed out that reconciliation was important since it not only meant a peace agreement, but also to bring tranquility to all Colombians in all areas. “But for this, it is necessary to attend to the social demands for equity, justice and opportunities.”

Finally Reyna Rueda, mayor of Managua in Nicaragua, praised the role of women in current politics. “Obviously there is a lot to do, but women are working on full and comprehensive development,” she said. She stressed that all the inhabitants of the planet must be promoters of peace: “We must promote it, strengthen it, and leave indelible marks for future generations.”

The World Forum on Cities and Territories of Peace began as the World Forum on Urban Violence, in Madrid, Spain, and has now become a process of global and collective reflection that seeks to strengthen peacebuilding from the local spheres. For 2021, Mexico City is the headquarters of its third edition.

(Editor’s note: It was decided that the Fourth edition of the Forum will take place in Bogota, Colombia.)

Latin America, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

United Kingdom : Little Amal: Coventry welcomes giant refugee puppet to city

. TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY . .

An article from BBC News at bbc.co.uk/news (reprinted by permission)

Coventry has welcomed a giant puppet of a child to the city as it nears the end of a 5,000-mile walk from Syria to “rewrite the narrative about refugees”.

Crowds of people greeted the 3.5m (11.5ft) puppet, named Little Amal, in the city centre on Wednesday afternoon.


The crowds grew larger as Little Amal made her way towards the centre of Coventry

Little Amal represents a nine-year-old girl on a journey, in a project called The Walk.

The puppet, whose name means “hope” in Arabic, started its 8,000km journey in Gaziantep, Turkey on 27 July and has travelled across Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and France.

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Question for this article

The refugee crisis, Who is responsible?

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Organisers said the aim had been to shine a light on the stories of the millions of displaced refugee children she represents.

Coventry, the current City of Culture, which is known as a city of peace and reconciliation, is thought to be home to about 1,500 people seeking refuge.

Julia, who arrived in Coventry from Kenya, said: “Amal is symbolic to a lot of us.

“I don’t think people understand survival until they are put in a situation. You think ‘why are you running? Why can’t you go to the police?’

“Sometimes it’s not a choice you have when you are just a common person.”

After Coventry, Little Amal will visit Birmingham, Sheffield and Barnsley before the 14-week travelling street theatre ends in Manchester on 3 November.

Little Amal’s story began in Good Chance Theatre‘s award-winning play, The Jungle. The critically-acclaimed production was based on the stories Good Chance’s founders Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson encountered when they created their first Theatre of Hope in the 2015 Calais refugee camp. Little Amal appeared as a character in The Jungle who represented the hundreds of unaccompanied minors in the Calais camp who were separated from their families. Following the success of The Jungle, which contributed to a global conversation about refugees and shared humanity, Good Chance felt Little Amal’s story still had so much more to say.

Europe, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

2021 Nanjing Peace Forum successfully concluded and released the “Nanjing Peace Consensus”

. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .

An article from Teller Report

On October 26, the 2021 Nanjing Peace Forum, which lasted for 3 days, closed. With the theme of “Harmony and Coexistence: Peaceful Coexistence with Nature” this year’s Peace Forum, it discussed in depth “How man and nature can live in peace”.


Getty Image

The “2021 Nanjing Peace Consensus” was released at the closing ceremony, sending an invitation to the world to “build a community of life on earth”.

Xia Zehan, the representative of UNESCO to China, said in his concluding remarks that active peace must include environmental protection, not only for mankind, but also for all life on earth : “We can build a global peace of sharing, mutual benefit and stability in the future.”

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Question related to this article:
 
How can culture of peace be developed at the municipal level?

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This Nanjing Peace Forum conducted a lively and in-depth discussion on the natural environment and human destiny, sustainable development goals and green investment, environmental challenges and youth actions, global green recovery and good business, peace actions and international practices. The “2021 Nanjing Peace Consensus” was passed.

Liu Cheng, head of the Chair of Peace Studies at Nanjing University, and the youth representative Isabel jointly read the “2021 Nanjing Peace Consensus”.

Qin Changwei, Secretary-General of the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO, delivered a closing speech. He suggested that everyone quickly translate the results of this forum into practical actions to promote the noble cause of peace for the benefit of all mankind : “We must seize the day, quickly transform the results of this forum into practical actions, and earnestly implement the “2021 Nanjing Peace Consensus”, starting from me, starting from daily, starting from our own work, bravely exploring, and constantly innovating , Design for peace, work for peace, implement the concept of protecting nature and promoting the harmonious coexistence of man and nature, and encourage more people to join the noble cause of promoting world peace and benefiting all mankind.”
　
Finally, Li Qi, vice chairman of the Nanjing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, announced the successful conclusion of the 2021 Nanjing Peace Forum, sending the voice of Nanjing to peace-loving people around the world: “Here we extend an invitation to the world, and welcome more friends who are committed to peace building to join in the construction of Nanjing International Peace City. Let us work together to promote science and technology, education, humanities, innovation and other fields to connect, communicate, and communicate with the world. Mutual sharing.”

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, East Asia

World Peace Congress concludes in Barcelona with successful participation

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

A press release from the International Peace Bureau

The World Peace Congress organised by the International Peace Bureau (IPB) and the International Catalan Institute for Peace (ICIP) ended this Sunday (October 17) in Barcelona after three days of conferences, workshops, and cultural events.

Under the title “(Re)imagine the world. Action for peace and justice”, more than 2,500 people took part in this hybrid congress, with activities in Barcelona. The events took place in the Centre of Contemporary Culture (CCCB) and the Blanquerna – Universitat Ramon Llull, and broadcast on the Internet.

1,000 people attended to the congress in person, while 1,500 attended online. Participants came from 126 countries. In Barcelona, activists from 75 countries including South Korea, the United States, Afghanistan, India and Mongolia, were also able to listen to the speeches covering issues such as nuclear disarmament, climate justice, racism and the rights of indigenous peoples.

As IPB Executive Director, Reiner Braun, explains, this is the biggest international peace event of this year. “The congress was a great success. We got a great support from the city of Barcelona and the president of the government of Catalonia. From my point of view, it was the right congress in this difficult political time and in the right place because we got a big support from the city. The IPB will definitely continue working on the way of more engagement for peace after the congress”.

Questions related to this article:

Where in the world can we find good leadership today?

Jordi Calvo, IPB Vice-President and member of the local committee, affirms: “At the congress we have seen that the peace movement is not alone. The large participation of feminist, anti-racist and global justice movements in the conferences and seminars shows that pacifism is more alive than ever, but that it needs to adapt to new narratives and generations. After this congress, the Catalan, Spanish, European and global peace movement is stronger”

The congress started on Friday 15 October with an event attended by the President of the Generalitat Pere Aragonés and the Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau. The opening session was attended by prominent names such as British politician Jeremy Corbyn and ICAN Executive Director Beatrice Fihn. The open plenary can be accessed  here .

Sean MacBride Award

Each year, IPB gives the Sean MacBride Peace Prize to an individual or organisation that has done outstanding work for peace, disarmament and/or human rights. This year the award was awarded to Black Lives Matter for the movement’s dedication and work to create a world where the lives of black people can thrive.

On the second day of the World Peace Congress in Barcelona, Rev Karlene Griffiths Sekou, community minister, academic and activist, and director of Healing Justice and International Organizing received the award on behalf of the social movement.

“Our movement is not a moment in time, it is a constant reminder to eradicate white supremacy, change racist policies and overthrow oppressive systems”.

“We thank the International Peace Bureau for their recognition and thank the community leaders, local activists and ancestors, who fuel the relentless will of our movement and inspire us to re-imagine a world for our children and for future black generations,” she added.

Photos from the congress:

You can access the photos of the congress via this  link.

Press Release and final declarations:

You can find all the press releases and the final declarations  here.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global

Exchange between students in France and Mali : An interview

. TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

An article from Sahel 2r3s

Emmanuelle Dufossez is a professor of Fine Arts at the Ferdinand Fabre College and High School in Bédarieux, in the Academy of Montpellier. In December 2018, in collaboration with Bakrene Ag Sidimohamed (who lives and works in Tessalit, in the Kidal region of northern Mali), she initiated an exchange between two groups of students from their respective municipalities. The objective of the project was to promote intercultural exchanges in a common spirit of citizenship, without neglecting the specific reality of each environment.


Video made by the students in Mali

First, can you explain to us the reasons why you started this project? What were the means used? How did you make the connection?

For personal reasons I joined a Facebook group linked to Tessalit and started chatting with Bakrene. In the third message, he asked me to help him contact children’s education NGOs. It was so direct, so unexpected … and it touched me. He didn’t know I was a teacher yet. As for me, I was far from imagining at the time the scale of the disaster in the region …

So I suggested to my principal, Mr. Pierre Fournier, that we set up an exchange between students and he immediately accepted (he was much more aware of the situation than I was), and put everything in place. to make this possible. With Françoise, the CPE, we organized a meeting of the students of the civic life council of the school, and they decided to take part. Two weeks later, I had a webcam and Skype in my room and we were waiting for Issouf, the principal and his students from Tessalit!

For his part Bakrene had succeeded in convincing the director of Minusma (the United Nations Peacekeeping Force) and he went to involve everyone in town. This is how the project began. It was very rock’n’roll, but we managed to talk to each other by videoconference, almost every week until the end of the year.

Sometimes the connection was not possible and we waited for nothing, but that was part of the game and everyone understood the difficulties. I give credit to Minusma which has played a good role in promoting a project clearly in favor of peace and sharing, and also the families in Tessalit who have agreed to take risks by allowing their children to participate in the exchange.

From this first year, we initiated a small educational project with a geography colleague who was to do a case study around the management of natural resources. The children sent the questions to the Tessalit group via Bakrene, and in return, they sent us short videos about the situation for water in Tessalit.

Our students in Bédarieux are very involved. They set up a book drive to rebuild the Tessalit library which was burnt down during the conflicts. We are now awaiting assistance to transport the books.

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(Click here for the original French version of this article)

Question related to this article:
 
Youth initiatives for a culture of peace, How can we ensure they get the attention and funding they deserve?

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What is the importance of your approach and that of the citizen competition project? What are your goals?

This year, we immediately wanted to start a long educational project with my history-geography colleague and a fourth grade class that we have in common, as well as our colleagues from Tessalit, Issouf Maïga, director and State teacher, Bakrene Ag Sidimohamed and Ahmed Ag Zouemar. It is about corresponding and getting to know each other through the simultaneous discovery of the text of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of the Child signed by the members of the UN in 1989.

The exchange, the discovery of the other, their way of life, their habits, their tastes, everything that allows us to take into account otherness and differences is at the heart of our concerns.

It is time to reopen minds, in France as elsewhere, if we really want to live in a world at peace. This common reflection that we are carrying out with very young adolescents addresses the rights of children and at the same time reveals to them the disastrous situation in northern Mali; The program 2r3s contributes in its own way by involving young adults through the citizen competition.

For us in any case, this project is also a cry of alarm to the international community so that it can help us improve the education system in this conflict region.

How did the exchanges go between the students of Bédarieux and Tessalit?

The discussions turned out to be materially difficult given the dire situation of the school in Tessalit. Without the volunteer workers from the Tazunt association, Issouf, the teacher would not be able to carry out the work, since he is alone.

The language barrier was also a big difficulty. In addition, it is important to remember that schools closed in 2012 in the North and that they have struggled to reopen since 2018. The French language is being lost in the region, for lack of practice … but the amazing joy of living brings the children together.

On several occasions we even sent us short videos in which children, French and Malian alike, sang for their comrades! But the situation of the students of Tessalit is worrying for the future.

What are the differences that you have observed?

As I said above, the differences are glaring. It is even hard to believe that children live on the same planet in a world that has designed a common text for their equality. Nevertheless, they are children, who love to sing, laugh, and of course, play soccer!

Did you encounter any difficulties during this project? If so, what were they?

Given the security context in Mali, we had to face many difficulties. The differences in living conditions do not always make it possible to approach things in the same way, since it depends on whether one is positioned in Bédarieux or Tessalit. Material difficulties also have a strong impact.

Have you observed in the pupils a real awareness of the rights and duties which they have? Has their relationship to education changed?

Yes. For example, here in France, we have succeeded in recovering some students who were dropping out of school. As for the issue of awareness, it is real, in France as in Tessalit where part of the population is trying to find solutions, without much help for the moment. But my colleagues at Tessalit would be better able to answer this question.

Africa, Europe, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY,