Tag Archives: Latin America

The People of Mexico Give the World an Example of Solidarity

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An editorial by Leonardo Boff in Cultura de Paz. Managua, Nicaragua • Volume 23 • N° 73 • September – December, 2017 (translated by CPNN)

On September 19 and 23, Mexico was shaken by two earthquakes, one of magnitude 7.1 and another of 6.1 on the Richter scale, which struck 5 States and dozens of municipalities, including the capital, Mexico City, collapsing hundreds of houses and producing cracks in hundreds of other buildings. Beautiful churches, like that of St. Francis of Assisi in Puebla, saw their towers demolished. Everyone still remembers the terrible earthquake of 1985 that produced more than ten thousand victims. This, although it has been very strong, killed 360 people.


Image from Yucatan Times

Since then, I have been in Mexico and Puebla, invited to give lectures, and I have been able to verify in situ the ravages and the trauma caused to the people.

But what is most remarkable has been the spirit of solidarity and cooperation of the Mexican people. Without anyone to call them, thousands of people, especially youth, began to remove debris to save the buried victims. Groups were spontaneously organized and this spirit of solidarity saved many lives.

Immediately, aid collection centers were created for the victims, with water, food, clothes, blankets and all kinds of important utensils for a house. At the time I write this article (10/13/17) many collection sites are still visible. The cooperation knows no limits.

Here I only narrate two facts that are especially touching. The first: a school building that collapsed slowly with many children inside. A young man, seeing that a kind of channel had formed in the middle of the ruins, penetrated quickly through the hole and took out several children of 5-7 years. He had barely gotten the last one out when another part of the school fell behind him, saving his life by seconds.

(Article continued in right column)

(Click here for Spanish original of this article)

Question for this article

Is there a renewed movement of solidarity by the new generation?

(Article continued from left column)

Second fact: a young lady, about 30 years old, was 34 hours under the rubble. She granted a moving interview on television, narrating the different phases of her tragedy. Imprisoned in the rubble, a concrete slab was fixed within a few inches of her face. For 30 hours she did not hear any voice, or steps, or any noise that meant the approach of someone who could rescue her.

She narrated the different psychological stages, similar to those we know when a patient receives the news of the incurable character of his illness and the proximity of death.

At first, this lady asked: why precisely I must go through this misfortune? Then, almost desperate, she began to cry until she had no tears.  Then she began to pray and to plead with God and all the saints, especially the Virgin of Guadalupe, the one with the greatest devotion of the Mexicans. Finally, she resigned herself to die and confidently surrendered to the mysterious will of God. But she did not lose hope.

Finally, she heard footsteps and then voices. Her hope was strengthened. After 34 hours, literally buried under a mountain of rubble, she could be rescued. And here she was in the interview, happy and whole, accompanied by a psychoanalyst specialized in dealing with psychological traumas
like those caused by a sudden earthquake, and giving testimony of her terrible experience.

Mexico is a region geologically marked by earthquakes, given the configuration of the tectonic plates of its subsoil. The human being has no power over these enormous forces. What you can do is take precautions, learn to build your buildings to resist earthquakes in the way of the Japanese and, above all, get used to coexisting with this indomitable reality. In a similar way, the population of our semi-arid region of the Northeast, who must adapt and learn to coexist with the drought that can last for many years, as is currently the case.

 In the debate after a conference at the Universidad Iberoamericana, in Mexico City, one woman declared: “If our country and if all of humanity lived that spirit of solidarity and cooperation, there would be no poor in the world and we would have rescued a part of the lost paradise “.

I reinforced her statement and told her that it was the cooperation and solidarity of our anthropoid ancestors, who began to eat together, which allowed them to leap from animality to humanity. What was true yesterday must still be true today. Yes, solidarity and, in general, the cooperation of everyone with everyone will be able to rescue the essence of making us fully human. In recent days, the Mexican people have given us a splendid example of this fundamental truth.

(Thank you to Marcos Estrada, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

Latin America, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Venezuela: Educational sector plans to train teachers in culture of peace

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from Correo del Orinoco (translated by CPNN)

The training of teachers in values ​​linked to the thought and practice of peace will be developed in the debates that this weekend (20 January) are held throughout the country for the preparation of the National Plan for 2019-2025.


“Los espacios educativos queremos que se conviertan en espacios para la paz; unas instituciones educativas que funcionen como ejemplo de cultura para la paz y donde no sólo se piense, sino que se practique la paz”, explicó el profesor de Física José Azuaje, en un programa especial transmitido por VTV.

(Articles continued in right column)

(Click here for the original article in Spanish)

Questions for this article:

Where is peace education taking place?

(continued from left column)

Por su parte,la viceministra para le Educación, María Eugenia Piñero, en su intervención en el espacio televisivo, resaltó la unión que se ha afianzado en pro de una formación con conciencia de libertad en todo el gremio educativo que incluye al personal administrativo, docentes, consejos educativos y estudiantes.

“Ahora más que nunca tenemos un magisterio unido, que apuesta por una educación liberadora, por eso llamo a todos los docentes a seguir sumando propuestas en estas asambleas para consolidar un importante nivel de conciencia en la educación”, refirió Piñero.

El propósito de promover la cultura de paz es promover valores de aceptación y convivencia entre los estudiantes con miras a construir un futuro para la sociedad venezolana al margen de la violencia.

Este sábado el ministro para la Educación, Elías Jaua, se reunió con el sector educativo del país para debatir sus aportes al Plan de la Patria 2019-2025, desde la Unidad Educativa Bolivariana Pedro Fontes en la parroquia La Vega de Caracas, donde agradeció la atención de la comunidad educativa al debate que continuará este domingo en 3.500 espacios del país.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Honduras: Culture of peace promoted in 200 young people from “hot” areas

.. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION ..

An article from La Tribuna (translated by CPNN)

200 young people from different neighborhoods and colonies of the Central District came to the headquarters of the Scout Movement, to participate in the “Honduras Motivate” event, promoting kills for life and leadership, from outdoor play activities,.

The activity was developed within the framework of the comprehensive security strategy program of the government, through the Secretariat of Security in the Office of Prevention and the Cabinet of Prevention, Peace and Coexistence.

During the activities, from 9:00 in the morning until 12:00 noon, the youth practiced and developed different group activities to learn to participate and create shared objectives in the construction of a culture of peace, harmony and coexistence.

(continued in right column)

(Click here for the Spanish original of this article)

Questions for this article:

How can sports promote peace?

(continued from left column)

These activities are carried out in strategic neighborhoods to help young people and try to remove them from the risky situation that leads them to fall into the hands of organized criminal groups.

Deputy Minister of Security, Alejandra Hernández, said that “Honduras Motívate is a project promoted by the government of President Hernández, within the framework of the comprehensive security strategy.”

In different parks for a better life, this type of activity is carried out so that young people and children can keep themselves occupied and, above all, develop habits of coexistence.

Young people participate in traditional games to try to recover the culture that has been lost. These games are little known and rarely practiced by children, adolescents and young people, explained Hernández.

They also carry out competitions where they learn and understand that there is no superiority between men and women, by valuing and seeing that each one possesses abilities and strengths different from the others.

Hernandez added that “much remains to be done, the country must advance, and harmonize in the construction of a culture of peace, we are not going back because we are on the right track and we will continue the struggle.”

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America

Mexico: Zacatecan Radio and Television System to introduce “the culture of peace” as a transversal theme

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An article from La Jornada Zacatecas (translated by CPNN)

January 20: The Zacatecan Radio and Television System (Sizart) will modify its contents to introduce as a”the culture of peace” as a transversal theme. The workshop “Sounds for peace, the acoustic landscape of public media in Zacatecas” in which 50 radio and television producers participated, reviewed the programmatic grids “to know what we are doing”, said the director general of Sizart, Teresa Velázquez Navarrete.


(Click on photo to enlarge)

She added that two experts collaborated in this review, one of them from Colombia, who was asked to offer an advance of what is being done in that country in the context of the peace process in the media, “because here we already walk more or less in the same struggle.”

Tito Ballesteros López, a radio producer of the “free networks of Colombia”; was a participant in the recently held International Radio Biennial along with Graciela Martínez Matías, who is a research professor at the UNAM, a PhD in Political Science and an advocate for the Radio Education audiences. The “critical and self-critical review was made with all the producers of the -Sizart-, and then we realized that to remake the contents we would have to speak of a culture of peace “.

The workshop “Sounds for peace, the acoustic landscape of public media in Zacatecas” lasted 30 hours and was held from Monday to Friday of this week with discussions and contributions. Velázquez Navarrete and experts proposed the drafting of a Manifesto “Public radio as a force for peace in Mexico”, which was read yesterdayby the participants.

“We came up with the experience of Colombia with a manifesto to start making a navigation chart of the public media, which we would like everyone to share, but for the time being we assume it as something we can do. We can not speak for others.”

Tito Ballesteros, also a research professor at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana located in Bucaramanga, Colombia, mentioned in a short interview the projects he has participated in, referring to the peace process in his country. The 2016 Peace Agreement, a document of 297 pages, was diffused to the people through social networks and read over the radio, point by point.

In Colombia, there was a radio series in which about 20 professors from different cities participated: Cali, Medellín, Cartagena and Bogotá, who were asked to offer their opinion and discuss the points of the Peace Agreement. Also the European Union supported a training workshop for community radios, at the proposal of President Juan Manuel Santos.

“And that’s how training was done at a national level in the different regions reflecting on the agreements, and how to build stories for peace.”

Ballesteros Lopez mentioned another collaboration with the European Union, “in which the Colombians who were in the media accessed content that had to do with acts of peace.”

(Article continued in the column on the right)

(Click here for the original Spanish version of the article)

Questions related to this article:

Journalism in Latin America: Is it turning towards a culture of peace?

How can peace be promoted by radio?

(Article continued from the column on the left)

The manifesto read yesterday is divided into a series of sections, one aimed at professionals of public radio, which talks among other points, their training and training on issues related to “tolerance, reconciliation, inclusion and peace, so that they are reflected in the day to day of radio programming.”

The manifesto calls on the media to avoid “inappropriate practices in the use of discriminatory speech, verbal and visual language that appeals to violence”, and “urges those who communicate their ideas from the microphones of public media to speak calmly when reporting (…) to reassure the audience.”

Regarding the management of news, it is proposed to start and end programs with positive news, to include at least one story related to “peace events” and to avoid “headlines with half-truths and / or sensationalists” and to “focus the information in depth” , as well as to respect the privacy and dignity of persons.

The section dedicated to music suggests to diffuse sound montages that “invite serenity, calm and calm before moments of crisis”, to support the use of musical artistic expressions as a form of dialogue and healthy coexistence, and to avoid content that appeal to violence, as well as to highlight national productions “that exalt our values ​​and heritage”.

Regarding programming in general, the manifesto calls on each radio station to feature marathons at least every quarter, with “readings, verses, songs and poems related to acts of peace and healthy living”, open spaces to offer profiles of people who have contributed to the peaceful coexistence of the country and the world, and to expand the content to “generate moments of reflection on the culture of encounter”.

It also suggests that program makers should “use sound landscapes from spaces previously suffering from violence and now recovered as spaces of peace”, in order to show how change is possible. And they should strengthen the Mexican identity based on manifestations of popular culture, high culture and history.

With regard to culture, it is added that “radio actors” need to know the country’s past to understand its current context “and how violence has spread to the different corners of the nation”.

Finally, a section was added for the audiences, of whom it was said in yesterday’s event, that their participation is expected in this new communication paradigm.

The manifesto calls for a horizontal communication by the media with audiences to work together in actions for peace through audiovisual media, as well as the importance of the right of reply as a mechanism to make Mexico a tolerant country, and the consolidation of public spaces of citizen participation where the audiences can produce content in order to end the “unidirectional” media.

Finally, it is stated that audiences from social networks “also have the responsibility to share information inspired by values ​​such as truth, respect, and responsibility.”

Yesterday, Tito Ballesteros also announced that there will be “a 30-episode radio program. 15 minutes of duration, which will be broadcast by all public broadcasters in the country. That is, Zacatecas and the Sizart will present a sound program for all radios derived from the manifesto released yesterday.

The students of communication, producers and conductors of Sizart radio and television, communicators, and the Attorney General of the State of Zacatecas, the Deputy Prosecutor for Prevention, the Municipal President of the State Capital, and the General Secretary of the UAZ, all participated and contributed elements to enrich the aforementioned document.

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, Latin America

El Salvador to prioritize culture of peace in its schools

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from Prensa Latina (translated by CPNN)

El Salvador will give prioritiy in all its teaching systems to the culture of peace, the education minister, Carlos Canjura announced today [22 January]..

In this way, memory, identity, values ​​and civic competence will be promoted so that the Salvadoran nation can continue its development process without forgetting where it comes from, the official stressed.


(Articles continued in right column)

(Click here for the original article in Spanish)

Questions for this article:

What is the relation between peace and education?

Where is peace education taking place?

(continued from left column)

In a text published on Monday at the official site of the presidency of this country, he gave as an example the so-called Open House program, which seeks to train children, and highly responsible youth, not only for their own development, but also for their family, their community, and the country.

He recalled that on the initiative of Salvadoran President Salvador Sánchez Cerén, in the culture of peace platform, teachers and specialists should participate actively in preparing pedagogical content at all levels of education beginning from early childhood.

Canjura said that the contents prepared by his ministry together with the secretary of culture are tools that equip students to reflect on themselves and their daily life.

He added that the priority is needed because the country has experienced a painful history which, in many cases, young people do not know and which adults tend to forget.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Uruguay’s main trade union center plans massive mobilization to construct a culture of peace

…. HUMAN RIGHTS ….

An article from República

PIT CNT [Uruguay’s main trade union center] is planning a strike for the third week of February, with “massive” mobilization, where all social organizations will be called, not just trade unions, to demand the “construction of peace, tolerance and dialogue,” according to President Fernando Pereira.


Fernando Pereira

Hours before the stoppage in response to the acts of violence experienced in recent days, two femicides in four days of the year, the death of a police officer at the end of 2017, the brutal death of a taxi driver and the murder of a union leader, something that in Uruguay had not happened for a long time, President Fernando Pereira said that the society needs “a day of mourning and reflection. We are not asking others to reflect, we are going to reflect and we are mourning.”

(Continued in right column)

(Click here for a Spanish version of this article.)

Question related to this article:

What is the role of organized labor in the peace movement?

(Continued from left column)

“Given these events, the trade union movement decided to call for reflection and mourning as an immediate response,” he said. “We called for it immediately so no one could say we were trying to stretch a long weekend. The solution was to act immediately and to postpone the other proposals that are on the table “.

Among the measures to be taken, the first one is to convene the Extended National Representative Board of the Union in the first week of February, in order to plan a mobilization for the third week of that month.

“We hope to have organizations linked to human rights, to feminism, to different religious beliefs, to all the members of society that want to participate in a massive call to build a culture of peace, tolerance and dialogue, rather than settling conflict through violence,” said the president of the union.

He recalled that there were 33,000 complaints from women about violence, “which marks a problem we have as a society. We can not look with indifference at the things that are happening, when a teacher is being beaten by a mother, or when rural workers commit acts of violence towards workers who claim their rights.”

At the beginning of the general strike called by the PIT CNT, at the door of the company Viana Trasporte, where the trade unionist of the SUTCRA, Marcelo Silvera was assassinated in front of his partner and his son, dozens of people approached the facilities to make an escrache demonstration .

In front of the march, colleagues of the union carried a banner with an image of the victim, with the caption: “Marcelo Silvera Presente” and below the signature of the transport coordinator. The murderer of Silvera is serving a pre-trial detention while the trial against him is being prepared. Because it is an aggravated homicide, the person who fired the shots could receive a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.

HUMAN RIGHTS, Latin America

Brazil: Londrina to hold meeting for peace and religious tolerance

TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

An article from Bonde News (translated by CPNN)

The Concha Acústica de Londrina, located in Praça 1º de Maio, will be the stage for the 2nd Londrina Meeting of United Religions for Peace for Religious Tolerance, in celebration of the National Day to Combat Religious Intolerance, celebrated on January 21. The meeting will be next Saturday (20 January), from 8am to 10am. In case of rain, the action can be transferred to the Municipal Public Library Pedro Viriato Parigot de Souza.

(foto: Londrina Pazeando)

(continued in right column)

Question related to this article:
 
How can different faiths work together for understanding and harmony?

(continued from left column)

The event is promoted by the Municipal Council for the Culture of Peace (Compaz), the Commission for the Promotion of Racial Equality and Minorities of the Order of Attorneys of Brazil (OAB) Subsection of Londrina and the Inter Religious Group of Londrina (GDI).
(continued in right column)

This is the third consecutive year that the initiative is held in Londrina. According to Compaz’s secretary, Charleston Luiz da Silva, the goal is to promote culture for peace and respect among religions. “We want people to understand that all religions are united for the same purpose. We invite the entire London community to participate.”

About twenty religious leaders have been invited to speak. In the past, 17 leaders participated. Each will have three to five minutes to talk about the culture of peace in the opening, scheduled to start at 8am. At the end of the event, those present will make a hug for peace.

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

Latin America, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Ecuador calls upon the G77 to address the problems of the planet

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An article from Hispan TV (translated by CPNN)

Ecuador, in its capacity as president of the Group of 77 developing countries and China (G77 + China), opened on Monday [11 December] in Quito, the Ecuadorian capital, a High Level meeting with eminent personalities of the South, with the objective to reflect on the main problems of the planet.


María Fernanda Espinosa, in video of the conference
(Click on photo to see video)

“We will reflect on geopolitical conflicts and the importance of dialogue to promote a culture of peace,” said Ecuadorian Foreign Minister María Fernanda Espinosa at the opening of the event, adding that we must address the impacts of climate change, fiscal justice and human mobility, which “are central and necessary axes to advance in a global order”.

(Article continued in the column on the right)

(Click here for the original Spanish version of the article)

Questions related to this article:

Where in the world can we find good leadership today?

(Article continued from the column on the left)

The Foreign Minister emphasized that these problems must be analyzed “from a southern perspective”, because “they are key for the countries that make up our group, the largest and most important within the United Nations, which this year we have the privilege of preside.”

The meeting was also attended by the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed, and the High Commissioner for Operations of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), George Okoth-Obbo.

The head of Ecuadorian diplomacy also called on the countries of the South to “strengthen our ties based on the values ​​of equality, brotherhood and social justice”, just when the planet is confronted with situations of extreme complexity, such as change climate and enormous inequality.”

For the Ecuadorian official, this meeting aims to send a message about the need to strengthen multilateralism and global integration.

“Continuous economic growth should promote social inclusion, but we can not do it alone, it requires the integration of the global south, where speeches and actions in favor of a multipolar world are increasing,” added the Ecuadorian minister.

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global, Latin America,

Brazil: FINOM participates in Meeting of the National Pact for the Promotion of Respect for Diversity, Culture of Peace and Human Rights

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from the website of the Faculdade do Noroeste de Minas (translated by CPNN)

The “University Pact for the Promotion of Respect for Diversity, Culture of Peace and Human Rights” celebrated one year in November 2017. The occasion was marked by a meeting in Brasilia so that institutions could present their initiatives and exchange experiences. The event took place between December 5 and 6, in the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), with the participation of 64 institutions of higher education.


The pact is an initiative of the Ministry of Education, with the support of the Ministry of Human Rights, and aims to promote human rights education in higher education and overcome violence, prejudice and discrimination.

(Article continued in right column)

(Click here for the article in Portuguese)

Questions for this article:

How do we promote a human rights, peace based education?

(Article continued from left column)

As one of the more than 300 Brazilian institutions enrolled in the University Pact, FINOM was represented at the anniversary meeting of the Pact by the Academic Director, Professor José Ivan.

The dynamics of the meeting were very well organized, because through the adopted methodology, the participants were divided into groups and all had the opportunity to present the work programs that have been carried out in the institutions under the program.

The main objective of this event was to promote the exchange of experiences between institutions, and the goal was fully achieved, since the highlight of the meeting was the sharing of institutional experiences.

According to the professor and Academic Director, José Ivan, “the meeting was a great opportunity to gather information that further enriches the institutional program to promote human rights education and a culture of peace and respect for diversity.”

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Mexico: Hip-hop: coexistence for peace

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article by Maribel Sánchez for Diario de Xalapa

With the aim of contributing to the creation of spaces that foster social and community coexistence of youth in favor of culture and peace, on Friday 8 and Saturday 9 December, feature films will be screened in Xalapa, along with a dialogue table, an open forum of hip-hop and a photographic exhibition of street art.

Titled Hip-hop: coexistence for peace. Art, culture and celebration, the meeting is coordinated by representatives of the Collective Cinema Collection, the Center for Culture and Communication Studies, the Music, Society and Globalization Seminar and the Anthropological Looks workshop (Ciesas-Golfo), which coincide in that “Hip-hop as a youth culture has been stigmatized by relating it to conduct of clandestinity, illegality, delinquency and poverty, spreading a negative image of the people involved in it.”

(article continued on the right side of the page)

(click here for the Spanish version of this article.)

Question for this article:

What place does music have in the peace movement?

(article continued from the left side of the page)

However, they clarify that hip-hop is an artistic and cultural movement that integrates a universe of expressions that go from the local to the global. They also see it “as a way of life adopted by young people to express themselves, to be visible to society and to coexist with other sectors of the population”, reasons why through it they will seek to transmit a message of non-violence.

Some of the questions on which it will reflect are: How to weave networks of youth in with diverse and heterogeneous citizenship? How do people’s experiences start from cultural communities? Can hip-hop guide us towards possible paths of peace?

Salvador Ponce, Ana I. León, Mariano Báez and Homero Ávila inform interested parties that the first activity will be Friday at 6:00 pm in the Aula Clavijero (Juárez 55), where the documentary Somos Lengua will be exhibited, with which the Director Kyzza Terrazas explores the relationship that some Mexican rappers have with words, expressing their immediate day by day reality.

On Saturday 9, from 12 a.m. to 9 p.m. in Espacio Obra Negra (91 De la Rosa Street, Colonia Salud), the day will begin with the dialogue table Hip-Hop: youth and culture of peace, to continue with the screening of short films by filmmakers Locals, an open hip hop forum and the exhibition 20 years of street art in Xalapa, by photographer Ulises Martínez Ciprés, in collaboration with Roberto Ruiz and Amehd Villegas. At the closing will be the presence of Dj Aka and Stilo (Línea Enferma).

The entrance to each of the activities will be free.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America