Middle East youth dissolving walls,
"Peacing
It Together" in life and film
11 November
2009
TOMORROW
in history, Thursday, November 12, 2009, the CHARTER FOR COMPASSION
-- http://charterforcompassion.org/--
calls youth and adults on Earth to animate The Golden Rule in every situation,
every day.
Scholar Joanna Macy says we are part of The Great
Turning - http://www.joannamacy.net/html/great.html
- first realizing we are not separate from each other and Earth, and from the
larger context of our dynamic Universe.
The Great Turning requires citizen-driven regenerative
actions that "dissolve walls" -- helps us draw an
ever-expanding circle around our own home until we include everyone and all
life. . .together.
SEE and HEAR Earth's youth beckoning,
singing: "It's up to me and you. . .Together, we will find a way
through. . .I believe in you. . .We'll never be apart."
Together
Music video (4 min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGtS2-a4CBI&feature=fvst
Peacing It Together
New film &
educational package
SEE and
HEAR Israeli and Palestinian youth of PEACE IT TOGETHER -- http://www.peacittogether.ca
- expand their summer Dialogue that helped discover their personal
strengths to create inspiring films including the new 30-minute behind-the
scenes documentary:
Peacing It Together
Trailer (3 min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3Ic5KAAu9A
A new
education package -- http://www.peacingittogether.ca/films.html
-- is now available including the 30-minute Peacing
It Together, all the youth-made videos, and more:
This package is suitable for classes in history,
conflict resolution, Middle-East politics, current affairs, Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, social studies, peace studies, media literacy, communication, and
film studies.
The teaching resource will:
- broaden students understanding of the
Palestinian-Israeli relationship
- help students identify with their peers in the
region
- inspire students to participate in peace building
in general
- encourage them to make a difference in their
communities and in the world
More
information is available from Reena Lazar (
RLazar@peaceittogether.ca ) or Melanie Hamael (
MHamael@peaceittogether.ca )
Givat Haviva
Model of engagement for
60 years
GIVAT
HAVIVA -- http://www.givathaviva.org.il/english/
-- in Israel on November 19, 2009, celebrates 60 years of gathering
Muslim, Christian, and Jewish youth and adults to engage and experience
principles of equality and human dignity.
This 2009 year, their FACE TO FACE ENCOUNTER
program has steeply raised its annual goal to include 30,000 Arab and Jewish
high school students (11-12 grades) in two-day, face-to-face seminars.
Arab-Jewish co-facilitation that includes
educational staffs of the involved schools is co-directed by Farhat Agbariya and Ro'ee Peled.
A Face to Face encounter
October 25, 2009
http://www.givathaviva.org/News/show/198
The
2009 HAVIVA REIK PEACE AWARD honors singers and musicians Ahinoam (Noa) Nini and Mira Awad
The two women -- courageous Jewish and Palestinian
artists -- separately and together have championed and modeled
Israeli-Palestinian dialogue while building bridges between people through
music even in difficult times of violent conflict.
Their strong relationship continues to prove that the
human spirit and free thought can overcome physical and psychological
boundaries to create a dialogue based on notes and words instead of weapons
while building together a better future for the Middle East.
Through their music and example, they have together
inspired tens of thousands of people in the spirit of possible cooperation and
joint activity.
SEE and HEAR Noa
and Mira Awad perform as they did side by side at the
2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, showing the entire world that there
must be another way.
There Must Be Another Way
Noa and Mira Awad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mXWYHdBoUU
Dissolving walls
Closing the social
distance
We are
"dissolving walls" as Joanna Macy says we must and can.
Educator and youth advocate Cheryl Duckworth, Ph.D. (
Cheryl.Duckworth@gmail.com ) talks about "closing the social
distance."
She joins growing bands of teachers and
citizen-leaders helping others learn to bring down those barriers we use to
divide ourselves from others -- age, class, nationality, language, race,
religion.
Cheryl Duckworth's blog is http://teachforpeace.blogspot.com
.
Successful and civil civic engagement was
demonstrated one October night In the San Joaquin Valley of California.
Eighty diverse citizens of Fresno gathered in a circle
for successful Dialogue with its new quality of listening.
SEE photos and WATCH local television
coverage.
CROSSING LINES: Story As Entry to Relationship
and Change
October, 2009 -- Fresno, California, USA
http://traubman.igc.org/fresnonight.htm
As we
continue "dissolving walls" and "closing social distances"
-- living the new life of communicating and cooperating -- old fears and ways
atrophy and become irrelevant, obsolete.
The emergence of Sustained Dialogue, as well as
outmoded means of walls, distance, and violence are described well by author
Winslow Myers in his 2009 book -- LIVING BEYOND WAR: A Citizen's Guide
-- and again in his recent editorial article.
The Middle East: Victory Is Obsolete
by Winslow Myers
Monday 26 October 2009 -- TruthOut.org
http://www.truthout.org/1026093