Dear Friends,

I would like to share with you New Profile's exhibit Making Militarism Visible. The exhibit was originally created in2001 as a portable standing exhibit, as part of our presentation in the first ever international conference on Militarism and Education which took place at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and at the Kibbutz Teachers' Seminar in Tel Aviv. New Profile was third party to the organizing. The exhibit was upgraded in 2008, in Hebrew only, and continues to be an important tool in creating discussion regarding what is militarization  and how is Israel a militarized society. The digital version, was created for international audiences in order so that whoever sees it will hopefully gain insight on how we perpetuate war and occupation.

Please feel free to send me your comments and to also share this with others. 

http://www.newprofile.org/english/?cat=11

All the best

Hi all, 

I wanted to share the following article that I read the other day. 

‘Shadow councils’ give voice to Palestinian youth'

Some interesting things I wanted to highlight from the article: 

" The organization, based in the West Bank capital of Ramallah, found in a 2011 survey of over 1,000 West Bank youth that 62 percent of Palestinian youth don’t trust in any existing political party. But Sharek didn’t stop at releasing the statistics; in 2009 it also created a network of “shadow councils” in communities across the West Bank to help young Palestinians create an alternative for themselves." 

" In the village of Beit Fajjar, the municipal council decided to cut off electricity to several families’ homes due to late payment. Members of the city’s youth council, however, had a different idea about how to solve the problem. They demanded that they be put in charge of collecting the electricity bills in order to give families a chance to pay before their power is cut. The youth council held a candlelight vigil outside the mayor’s house, effectively shaming him into ordering the power turned back on. Shweiki said the youth council has been in charge of collecting the electricity fees since then, and no one’s power has been turned off." 

" Coordination with local government has allowed one youth council member in particular to attract the attention of the international press. Sixteen-year-old Bashaer Othman, now widely known as “the world’s youngest mayor,” served as mayor of the town of Illar for two months during her summer break from school. Othman said that, although she served as mayor with the consent of the town’s municipal council, she took a very different approach to governing from that usually seen in Illar.

Most Palestinian youth are not interested in voting for one party or another during elections, but she was able to increase young people’s interest in the youth council by implementing social programs. For example, Othman partnered with local businesses to create an internship program for recent college graduates, which she says reduced unemployment in Illar.

Othman’s appointment as mayor challenged other aspects of traditional Palestinian society as well."

Greetings Jose

Arguably Human Rights Education (HRE) and Non-Violent Youth Activism share many values, so here a tip on a useful and inspirational HRE resource: http://www.path-to-dignity.org/ - a movie in several UN languages with examples of the empowering effect HRE can have - and I think it is this kind of empowerment that also is needed for youth to become non-violent activists!

Hi all, 

in another thread, I posted some resources related to internet security. I wanted to post them here also. 

Access, released a guide on maintaining online and mobile phone security, with versions in Arabic and English.The Access guide provides tips for keeping communications safer in such a climate. It recommends Gmail, for example, because it uses a secure connection by default, known as HTTPS, like at banking Web sites; Hotmail provides HTTPS as an option, and Facebook began offering it in January. The guide also explains how to disguise browsing histories and how to gain access to banned sites.

Access has only written an excellent policy document on the major cyber threats facing civil society. Worthwhile a read also.

Movements.org has published a report on how to organize on Facebook securely. 

Another one I wanted to share is the Movements.org how-to guides, which identify best practices for the use of digital technologies for social change.

Greetings Jose

Our organisation Center for Conflict Resolution (CECORE) organised a training of young political leaders on non violence with support from the A.J.Muste Memorial Imnstitute of which i would like to share.

Background information
The training was conducted on Non Violence and Governance for Political parties and selected members from other institutions in Uganda. The training was conducted by CECORE for a day from 26th April 2012 at Grand Imperial Hotel, Kampala - Uganda
The objective of the training was to equip the political parties and other concerned stakeholders with skills in non violence. With the skills acquired, participants will be expected to develop action plans for enhancing positive non violence mechanisms in handling conflicts within their setting. From the February 2011 general elections, it was evident that most of the parties failed to resolve conflicts both within their parties and even with others. The trend indicates an increase in violence. Some of the recent political violent manifestations include the “Walk to Work” demonstrations to campaign against the increasing fuel and food prices, during which a number of people were killed and a lot of property was destroyed. Other violence manifested in other districts like Sembabule (Central Uganda) during the National Resistance Movement (ruling party) internal elections. The recent nullifications of elections for some members of parliament from the February 2011 elections is another potential for violence. The violence is largely due to intolerance and the preference to forceful as opposed to peaceful means of resolving differences.

 Expectations:
Participants mentioned their expectations as:
- Appreciation that talking to each other is vital and that dialogue is the way; Appreciate each other as people with different views and not a war situation
- Find a way of solving problems
- Expected top policy makers from parties (especially from the NRM-ruling party) to be here because dialogue has not been helpful so far
- Dialogue on not using young people as tools to violence. We should use this opportunity to reach to a compromise. Youth should instead be involved as decision makers
- Expecting police representatives at the dialogue – we need to hear from them
- Learn how to remain non-violent amidst a dictator that has invested in violence
- A lot of learning

 Non-Violence Experiences: Is it Practical?
Non-violence methods are critical and should thus be embraced by everyone. All actors, including the state, must be seen as appreciative of non-violent actions geared towards realizing commendable policy and political change.

The experience of Uganda shows that the opposition strategizes with the use of non-violent means in an attempt to address the challenges of Uganda. The good intentions are however met with hostility from the police who are seen as partisan, and therefore seen as taking orders from top officials of the ruling political party.
There is a portrayal of non-violent activists as not peaceful but as people with a motive behind their action and are thus handled as spoilers of peace.

The youth are being viewed as being used as tools of violence in a situation where many of them are unemployed. Instead of being used appropriately to discuss issues of national interest, they are usually seen at the forefront of all violent incidences with claims that some of them are being paid to cause chaos during planned protests/demonstrations.
As a result, many young people have ended up in prisons – leaving the future of this majority population in jeopardy.

Non-violence has been seen to work in some incidences e.g. Women for Peace activists … towards the 2011 Presidential elections.

Non-violence needs to be given a chance because we have seen violence before and we do not celebrate it. It is a strategy that needs to be used and can be successful with mutual respect

.Food for Thought: Issues for Consideration in Non-Violence
The Ugandan situation shows that civil and political rights are triggering more violence and yet there is more concentration on social and economic rights. There is need to pay close attention to certain causes that are likely to trigger violence than others.

There seems to be a general misunderstanding among Ugandans of their responsibilities in a multi-party system as there was no civic education carried out…

The principle of non-violence needs to be instilled in everyone, starting with the environment in which one grows. It is common knowledge that in the home, families that practice non-violence are happier.

There have been several attempts for political parties to dialogue. However, those that have taken place have not achieved their purpose considering that most of the resolutions are not implemented.


Non-Violent Action in Uganda: What is the Way Forward?
This session, meant to put into perspective the Ugandan situation, started with a game centered on power grab. The game involved groups of three people, each making sure to get as large a piece as possible of one piece of paper.
A need to shift our minds from active militancy in pursuit of passive violence was key message from this game. “Violence Breeds Violence” Non-violence is for the strong, not the weak. It is what defines strength that is not destructive.

It is evident that the dominant factor in our governance is money and wealth. Would we get the best breed of leaders in a regime change? In Non-violence, we must crave leadership that puts the interests of others ahead of our own interests.

The philosophy of non-violence is part and parcel of our humanity. There is need to value human life and this includes viewing people seen as perpetuators of violence as needing love too. Many of them are traumatized, considering what they go through in their daily work with no avenues to vent their grievances. The system in which they work is one in which they have to take instructions. It is therefore up to cool headed and civil people to bring change.
Academia and civil society have not been of much help here unfortunately. It is up to the parties to sit and dialogue..

Often time, self censorship in the media is not practiced and yet has a cost to human life. The media are active players in fueling conflict and should therefore be brought to our side in advocacy for non-violence.



Dialogue as a Non-violent Method
Dialogue as a way to address some of the challenges being faced promotes the appreciation of each other’s strengths and identification of commonalities from which to base our actions.

The training identified areas for possible dialogue as:
1. Reforms to be made in the electoral process.
2. Demonstration: How to effectively manage them ensuring that the rights of other people, not party to the demonstration, are not violated
3. The use of state resources for political parties
4. The role of security organisations in multi-party dispensation


WAY FORWARD
Political parties need to fundraise within themselves to hold more comprehensive training for their members in conflict resolution and non-violence

In future trainings on non-violence, it is important that persons that influence the policies in this country be part of the proceedings in-person e.g. the Inspector General of Police (IGP), First Lady, Secretary General of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) – Ruling party.

There is need for a country wide civic education drive for all to comprehend their role in a multi-party dispensation.

For a complete version of the report (PDF)-please email me

How to engage youth? The Intertactica blog, here on this site, has provided 9 handy tips, including this one: 

9. Renew leadership. At the end of the day, it’s not about tactics, tricks or gimmicks. It’s about being real. Genuine rejuvenation means genuine change in who is the face of your organization. Seek out new talents and potential. Leave room for the new. Trust younger activists to hold real positions of leadership within your organization. Now that’s meaningful change!

Read the other 8 tips (et ici, en français).

Have another great, youthful, action-filled day!