"Art of dialogue", quand francophones et néerlandophones se rencontrent ...

La Belgique piétine politiquement, les diables rouges ne sont toujours pas en finale, mais vous, vous y croyez toujours à l’entente entre citoyens du plat pays, et peu vous importe qu’ils parlent le “flamand”, le “wallon”, ou le “bruxellois”! Alors le projet “Art of Dialogue” peut vous intéresser !

A travers ce projet, nous vous proposons d’apprendre, d’échanger et de créer un véritable dialogue entre néerlandophones et francophones de Belgique.

Vous participerez à un week-end d’immersion (11-13 novembre). 10 jeunes francophones, 10 jeunes flamands approfondiront la thématique : déconstruire ensemble les préjugés entre flamands et wallons pour construire un véritable dialogue à deux voix. Cette première étape sera le point de départ de l’aventure.

Ensuite, en plusieurs étapes et rencontres, vous construirez ensemble plusieurs projets journalistiques destinés à sensibiliser le grand public à votre expérience et à lutter concrètement contre les préjugés entre flamands et wallons. Certaines de ces réunions en groupes vous permettrontd’acquérir et de valoriser différentes de ces techniques utilisées dans le journalisme grâce à l’intervention d’experts (rédaction d’articles, publication de photoreportages, réalisation de reportages vidéo, etc.).

Ces divers projets feront l’objet, avec le soutien de nos associations, d’une diffusion médiatique « grand public » (radio, presse, internet, etc.). Tous ces contenus seront rassemblés sur internet et présentés lors d’une conférence de presse afin de témoigner ensemble du voyage réalisé et des expériences de dialogues vécues.

Ce projet (qui durera d'octobre 2011 à mai 2012) s’adresse à vous, si vous êtes:

• citoyen belge âgé entre 18 à 30 ans,
• parlant l’anglais,
• disponible pour participer à un week-end de lancement ( 11-13 novembre 2011) et à différentes réunions/rencontres en groupe,
• participation aux frais de 30 euros (incluant les frais d’organisation du week-end d’immersion et des autres rencontres liées au projet).

Si vous êtes intéressé(e), une première rencontre de présentation du projet (sans engagement) est prévue le vendredi 14 octobre 2011 à 18h00 en nos locaux : 31, Rue Maurice Liétart à 1150 Woluwé-Saint-Pierre (près de l’arrêt Montgomery, derrière le collège Saint Michel).

Pour vous inscrire ou vous informer, contactez Nicolas Bossut avant le 14 octobre 2011,:

Par mail à : nicolas.bossut@paxchristiwb.be

Par téléphone au : 02/738.08.01

Ce projet est coréalisé par :

• “Jeunes en Paix”, le groupe de jeunes de Pax Christi Wallonie-Bruxelles et de Justice et paix ;
• “U move 4 Peace”, le groupe de jeunes de Pax Christi Vlaanderen.

Summit of Youth Religious Leaders, Warsaw

Young Religious Leaders from across of Europe, will meet in Warsaw, pledging for multi-religious cooperation as an answer to challenges of multiculturalism/migration and critical issues troubling peace, welfare and coexistence in Europe.

22 Young Religious Leaders representing the biggest European youth organizations of Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Zoroastrian faiths, will meet in Warsaw, 16-19 September, for 3 day summit and training, pledging for multi-religious cooperation. While several European leaders have recently declared that multiculturalism in Europe has failed, the violent attack in Oslo assaulted Europe’s immigrant culture in the extreme way, and the economic crisis strengthens the hostility toward outsiders, young leaders representing faith communities will try to develop a common strategy, based on multi-religious cooperation, that could be an answer to challenges of multiculturalism/migration. They will discuss how religions can play a positive role in building more inclusive societies in Europe and how multiculturalism can help societies thrive. In the face of the rise of extreme right-wing, nationalistic, xenophobic and racist parties in Europe, growing religious persecutions of members of different faiths, targeting of immigrants, discrimination against the Roma people, and other serious violations of human rights, happening now in Europe, there is a need for the young religious leaders to take a stand and take actions against current developments and policies leading to radicalization and violence.

Apart from taking part in discussion sessions led by international experts in the field of interfaith and ethnic coexistence, multiculturalism, migration, refugees and Arabic Spring, the young leaders will be trained in advocacy, developing skills on: how to use mass media for advocating for social cause, how to run an advocacy campaign on social media, how to lobby politicians, how to use possible legal procedures and approaches that could help promote interfaith cause. There will be also trained in mediation skills, mediation as a conflict resolution method for solving intercultural conflicts.

The Warsaw youth summit is organized by Religions for Peace, European Interfaith Youth Network (RfP, EIYN). EIYN serves as a platform aimed at bringing together youth organizations and young individuals from all religions present in Europe, advancing common action for peace.

What Should the Church's Role in Politics Be?

While the US is often thought of as hyper religious, particularly in comparison to our European counterparts, and this regularly seeps into our political sphere, the brand of religion often in the press is right-wing evangelical Christianity. When the Catholic Church does take an active and public role, it is generally around the issue of abortion.

For that reason, it was particularly refreshing to see the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) take a vocal stance during the debt ceiling debate.

Both the Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R-OH), and the chair of the House Budget Committee, Paul Ryan (R-WI), along with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) are Catholic, so it provided the Bishops, and Catholic progressives, a unique opportunity to remind them of Catholic Social Teaching, namely, the preferential option for the poor. (In fact, 30% of the 112^th Congress identifies as Catholic.)

It's important to note the Catholic Church is considered a powerful lobby in the U.S., so the Bishops' letter was a strong message. Their work did not happen alone, of course, numerous religious organizations, Catholic and otherwise, continued their fight to elevate the progressive, religious voice in the debate. A Pax Christi USA activist was amongst other religious leaders that were arrested in the Capitol during a pray-in.

All this has made me think about what it means to be a progressive Catholic, particularly in the American political context.

Coverage of the role of the Church in US politics in the media is almost solely relegated to the issue of abortion; stories around denying communion to pro-choice politicians immediately come to mind. While an especially engaged Catholic could tell you other issues the Church has taken a position on, I'm not sure that your average citizen could. It is sad that pro-life in our country has been defined as abortion, not a range of life issues including stances on economic & racial justice, access to affordable health care, and the death penalty, to name a few.

As a result of this perception that the U.S. Catholic Church is active of abortion and silent on other issues that effect people's everyday lives, coupled with what many view as more conservative messages coming from the pulpit, there is a serious crisis with the US Catholic Church being able to maintain members. And the fact is, the more people leave in frustration, the more conservative the remaining body gets. It should be noted, that a growing Latino population and immigration are helping stem some of the losses in numbers and growing conservativism within the Church.

It often surprises those who first know my politics, that I'm Catholic, even more so when I explain it is my Catholic faith that informs my politics, not that I am Catholic despite my politics.

I do think the Church should play a role in politics, it does not exist in a vacuum and religion has been a part of our political framework for ages, so I would hope the institutional Church takes stances on the many issues our faith touches on, truly embodying what it means to be pro-life. Additionally, more progressive Catholics (and religious progressives generally) should raise their voices as a counterweight to the right wing, capitalistic Christianity that seems to have taken hold, because the Church is only as powerful as its members.

What do you think?

Is there a role for religion in politics? What should it be?

Do others in the US find themselves grappling with these same issues?

For sisters & brothers in other parts of the world, does Catholicism, or religion generally, play a factor in the political system in your country? How so?

London Riots Put Spotlight on Troubled, Unemployed Youths in Britain

NYT/LONDON — “I came here to get my penny’s worth,” said a man who gave his name as Louis James, 19, a slightly built participant in the widening riots that have shaken London to its core. With a touch of guilt on Tuesday, Mr. James showed off what he described as a $195 designer sweater that he said he took during looting in Camden Town, a gentrified area of north London.

In recent days, young rioters and looters like Mr. James have dominated front pages and television reports around the world, prompted a recall of Parliament to a special session and forced the deployment of thousands of police officers.

Widespread antisocial and criminal behavior by young and usually unemployed people has long troubled Britain. Attacks and vandalism by gangs of young people are “a blight on the lives of millions,” said a 2010 government report commissioned in the aftermath of several deaths related to such gangs. They signal, it said, “the decline of whole towns and city areas.”

The government investigation revealed that though only a quarter of such incidents were reported, 3.5 million complaints were nonetheless made to the police. An iPhone app is available to track attacks, and one enterprising inventor marketed a device, called the mosquito, that emits a high-pitched noise that can be heard only by young people as a means for store owners to keep gangs away.

Politicians from both the right and the left, the police and most residents of the areas hit by violence nearly unanimously describe the most recent riots as criminal and anarchic, lacking even a hint of the antigovernment, anti-austerity message that has driven many of the violent protests in other European countries.

But the riots also reflect the alienation and resentment of many young people in Britain, where one million people from the ages of 16 to 24 are officially unemployed, the most since the deep recession of the mid-1980s.

The riots in London began when protesters gathered outside a north London police station after the shooting of a local man by officers. The police have long had troubled relations with racial and ethnic minorities in Britain and have sought to repair these relations, although the protesters have come from all backgrounds. Days later, in Hackney, where some of the fiercest riots took place, a young man in a gray hooded sweatshirt shouted directly into the faces of riot police officers: “You know you all racist! You know it.”

The combination of economic despair, racial tension and thuggery has “a devastating effect on communities,” said Graham Beech, an official at the crime-prevention charity Nacro. “It’s something that ordinary people see on their walks to work — street drunkenness, vandalism, intimidation — and that affects the general fear of crime.” As the British government’s austerity measures begin to take effect, young people will also see their chances of employment dwindling and their financial and community support cut, Mr. Beech said. “Boredom, alienation and isolation are going to be factors,” he said.

In many ways, Mr. James’s circumstances are typical. He lives in a government-subsidized apartment in northern London and receives $125 in jobless benefits every two weeks, even though he says he has largely given up looking for work. He says he has never had a proper job and learned to read only three years ago. His mother can barely support herself and his stepbrothers and sisters. His father, who was a heroin addict, is dead.

He says he has been in and out of too many schools to count and left the educational system for good when he was 15.

“No one has ever given me a chance; I am just angry at how the whole system works,” Mr. James said. He would like to get a job at a retail store, but admits that he spends most days watching television and just trying to get by. “That is the way they want it,” he said, without specifying exactly who “they” were. “They give me just enough money so that I can eat and watch TV all day. I don’t even pay my bills anymore.”

To read more, visit HERE.

Were is the greek money ?

As we all know Europe it’s in a hot spot, it all started on Greece but it won’t stop there, even my country it’s struggling to get out of the market speculation.

But what that’s have to do with the the youth forum or even the youth conference ? As we all remember the topic for the conference was “Military budget vs humanitarian aid” , a few months ago I was surfing the youtube looking for videos about the greece crisis and i found this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQGkP68AVTI.

Well i suggest you first read this fact’s before watching the videos:

• Keep in mind that Greece is a country with an incredible deficit ( Greek deficit for 2009 was 15.4% of GDP ) in:. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/nov/15/greek-deficit-bigger-than-thought.

• Greece as aprox. 11 million people and 100.000 thousand troops.
• Portugal as aprox. 10 million people and 18.538 thousand troops.

-Last but not least, “we” (E.U) lend money to the Greek's in we return they had to buy weaponry.

In conclusion, the million dollar question is why does Greece need’s so much weaponry?

In one to be said the most peaceful continent’s on earth, Europe as forgotten that Greece and Turkey are in a full weapons race each one competing for the upper hand, forgetting the most basic aspects of their own population sutch as a sustainable economy.

So were is the Greek money? It’s in the weapons that the fellow E.U partners sold them and now they ask their money with interest above the market.

Best Regards,

Simão Saco, Portugal.

A travers les blessures - Mon séjour au Congo-Brazzaville

Après de nombreuses années, je suis retournée le mois dernier au Congo-Brazzaville, mon pays d'origine. J'y ai retrouvé ma famille et une population encore meurtrie par la guerre près de 15 ans après le conflit qui a ensanglanté le pays à la fin des années 90 opposant les milices du Président Lissouba, les milices de combattants venus du Sud du pays et celles de celui qui devait devenir le Président du pays, le Général Denis Sassou-Nguesso.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWuLXxcvqbg

La situation du pays est restée troublée des années après ces affrontements sanglants, notamment dans le Sud ou des éléments armés incontrôlés continuaient de terroriser et de dévaliser les populations civiles.

Le Congo connait aujourd'hui à nouveau la paix mais la population est toujours traumatisée par ce déferlement de violence aveugle qu'ils ont dû subir. Pas une personne que je n'ai rencontrée qui n'ait évoqué ce conflit qui reste présent dans tous les esprits.

On trouve encore dans la ville quelques stigmates de la guerre malgré les importants efforts de reconstruction.

Pays riche en pétrole, le niveau d'infrastructures reste insuffisant et les services publics faibles même si les pouvoirs publics semblent vouloir y remédier.

5 mois de conflit et près de 15 ans plus tard, les blessures ne sont pas refermées...

La guerre est vraiment, ainsi que les fondateurs des Nations Unies l'ont énoncé dans le Préambule de la Charte de l'organisation, "un fléau" [infligeant] "à l'humanité d'indicibles souffrances".

Rose-Marie

Collective Supervision: a new tool for civil society organisations

Pax Christi Wallonie Bruxelles has published an article in which they present a new tool named “collective supervision”, created to facilitate the work of civil society organizations and to found the basis for a constructive dialogue between and with their partners. The creation of this new tool emerges from Pax Christi Wallonie Bruxelles experience in monitoring working groups, and also from their role as companions and facilitators in a continuing process of discussion and exchange. Under the direction of an experienced supervisor, this method aimed to help the participants to bring out reflections on their practices, in order to develop and strength their competences and abilities for cooperation. The complete article is available in French HERE.

International Pax Christi Route: Participative Citizenship

On the occasion of the 150th Anniversary of the Italian Republic, Pax Christi Italy is planning an international route from Monte Sole to Barbiana (100 Km walking), to deepen some of the contents of the Constitution. The event will take place 24 - 31 July 2011, it aims to share testimonies and to promote values for peace, justice and democracy. The complete information for the event is available in English in Ref. 2011-0244-en-gl-JW and in French in Ref. 2011-0244-Fr-gl-JW.

Social Media Information at in Preparation of Rio +20

Dear Civil society partner,

As you are aware, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 4-6 June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED.

During this coming fall, the Rio+20 Secretariat will be organizing a number of social media activities with tools such as Facebook, Twitter and its dedicated Rio+20 website.

The activities will include, but are not limited to; discussion forums on the themes of the Conference and other cross cutting issues, a picture contest, as well an a unique opportunity to send world leaders a message directly from your home computer.

The strength of these activities is in the numbers! Please help us grow our social media presence, as well stay in touch with the Rio+20 preparatory process, by joining (liking) our Rio+20 Facebook page and follow us on Twitter.

Rio+20 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/UNRioplus20
Rio+20 Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/UN_Rioplus20
Rio+20 Website: http://www.uncsd2012.org

Sincerely,
Rio+20 Secretariat

Questions? Contact us at uncsd2012@un.org

Photos from PCI Delegation to WCC IEPC, Kingston, Jamaica

Photos from PCI Delegation to WCC IEPC, Kingston, Jamaica

Photos from PCI Delegation to WCC IEPC, Kingston, Jamaica

Greetings from Jamaica!

Here are some photos to showcase the work of Pax Christi International's delegation to the World Council of Churches International Ecumenical Peace Convocation in Kingston, Jamaica.



You can watch the conference LIVE HERE.

Blogging from the World Council of Churches International Ecumenical Peace Convocation

Greetings PCI Youth Forum. Here in Jamaica I've presented the outcomes and documents of our May 2010 TWA workshop, as well as our Extremism Toolkit.

Here are the outcome reports on:
1) Military Spending versus Development Aid
2) Religion and Violent Extremism

Happy reading!

Jess

Pax Christi International - Urgent Appeal to World Leaders to Stop Atrocities in Libya

On 21 February 2011, Pax Christi International joined several other human rights NGO in an urgent appeal addressed to the Human Rights Council on Libya. The statement urges the Council to mobilize the United Nations and the international community to take immediate action to halt the mass atrocities being perpetrated by the Libyan government against its own people. The inexcusable silence cannot continue. Read the statement HERE.

Youth around the world are in solidarity with the young people of this region. We will not remain silent.

News from the World Social Forum

News from Pax Christi USA - ACT: Support the PC Ayiti Youth Program

Reflecting on Paul Farmer's article, the community of Pax Christi USA has a unique opportunity in Pax Christi Ayiti. We can get constructively involved in the processes that are helping to build a better future for Haiti and yet largely keep from becoming, as an NGO, a hallmark of some of the structural problems that have become symptomatic of NGOs there. This is done in four main ways:

1. PCUSA and PC Ayiti are sister organizations with strong historical ties.

2. Pax Christi Ayiti has asked us to be involved in some very specific ways.

3. Pax Christi Ayiti is the instigator and leader of their own projects.

4. Our joint efforts and resources are aimed at creating the conditions for which communities in Haiti can nurture a culture of the Peace of Christ and use resources toward that end.

We invite you to become involved with this unique relationship. If you would like to learn more about the Pax Christi Ayiti SAKALA Youth Program or if you would like to contribute to it in some way, please feel free to contact me at:

Manuel@paxchristiusa.org

Also, look for more information on the Pax Christi Ayiti Program on our website in the near future. We would love to hear from you and have you help us strengthen our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Haiti through your support.