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YAP Info - March 2003
1.News from the International Movement
CD I, Brussels
Next CD
80 Years of YAP
World Social Forum: YAP delegate and great experience, by Juanita
2. YAP's International Activities
Youth Towards a Culture of Peace; Peace Education in the 3rd Millenium,
by Emese, Antonio and Ivan
EVS Middle East 2003, by Virginie
EVS in YAP International Secretariat
EVS - Final Reports, by Virginie
Study Visit to UK
EVS Short Term 2003
New projects
EVS Anti discrimination 2003, by Shashi
EVS in Mexico
EVS Russia, Byelorussia and Ukraine
Training for Facilitators EYC Budapest
Arte Diem : Peace through Arts 2003
Intercultural Youth Dialogue: Post 11 September (II)
Bosnia-Herzegovina Human Rights and Good Governance Training
Study Visit to Asia
3. Life of the Movement
International Day Against War in Iraq, 15th February
Nuestra Tierra - and the Anti-War Manifestation, by Dorita
Life Inside Solidarites Jeunesses, by Lee
News from Russia, by Shashi
A Conference Hosted by CFD-Switzerland, by Barbara
4. Activities of Other Platforms/Organizations
Month in Review of YFJ Website
Directorate of Youth and Sport, Language Programme
MS International Leader Training Seminar
IACC Youth Forum
Peace Operations Summer Institute: Critical Perspectives
Intercultural Learning and Human Rights Education in the Mediterranean
Training Course: Management of Non-Government Youth Organisations
Training Course "Training for Trainers"
5. Food for thought
Peace and Self Determination . . . Keep thinking!
If War is the Answer the Question Must be Stupid by Cedric Medland
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1.News from the International Movement
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CD I in Brussels, Yap delegates and . . . no Volcano (only sunshine!)
Another CD, and a lot of enthusiastic, dedicated faces - some new, some
familiar. A wonderfully large number of YAP members and partners filled the
conference room of the Sleep Well Youth Hotel last weekend, somewhere
nearing 40 people, I believe, and it was great that so many people were here
for the CD that also celebrated 80 years of YAP!
And what a CD! In one weekend, we managed to elect a new International
Secretary, two new steering members, a change to the constitution (very
complicated to me, but something in the effect that abstentions aren't as
important when voting), a 2003 budget finally adopted, a grand collection of
new projects (from the Peace seminar and the commissions), a discussion on
the nature of peace and self determination, and so much talking and debate
that we didn't finish until 7 o'clock Sunday evening.
Some important hello's and goodbyes were said this weekend, during the CD
and Saturday's party . . .
A big thank you to Helmut for his tireless work as International Secretary .
. .
. . . And a big welcome to his successor (who for reasons of discretion
within current job, wishes to remain unknown for now), who will begin in the
International Secretariat in May
A big thank you to Gregory for all his 'treasuring' . . .
. . . And welcome and good luck to Veronica for the coming years
Thank you to Alex for his motivated 'steering' . . .
. . . And greetings to Emese who takes his place
And from SJ, farewell to Thierry, who after many years leaves his post . . .
. . . And a bundle of good luck to Roel, the new General Secretary for SJ
Thanks to Javva, and especially to Celine for all your hard work. And
congratulations for managing to produce two weeks of February sunshine in
honour of the CD!
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Next CD
The next Committee of Directors will be in Cluj, Romania from 17 to 19
October 2003.
Sadly, the Seminar on Communications, which was anticipated for the week
before the CD, was rejected by the European Youth Foundation. We will wait
to see whether something else can happen in its place. But still, we look
forward to visiting the world of YAP Romania, which I've heard is very
beautiful, hospitable - and apparently not so cold in October . . .
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80 Years of YAP
Perhaps you had not counted yet, but this year we celebrate a highly
impressive 80 years of Youth Action for Peace! I think it's a good time to
give big congratulations to everybody who has contributed something small or
big, to enable this movement to flourish for so long. We can all pat
ourselves on the back!
The recent CD seemed the perfect opportunity to celebrate these 80 years,
and so Friday was arranged as the great day. A press release at lunchtime,
with some deliciously 'light bites' contributed by Geraldine (thank you
Geraldine) increased the prestige of the occasion, and at least one person
turned up to photograph the commissions, while Adina and Roel faced the
questions of a journalist with real dignity and formality. And Friday
evening brought the return of some familiar faces of the past into our midst
. . . It was good to see and talk with people who knew YAP 10 or 20 years
ago, and to hear their memories and impressions.
So all in all, it was fun, and let's look forward to the next 80 years of
YAP!
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World Social Forum: YAP delegate and great experience, by Juanita
23-28 January 2003, Porto Alegre, Brazil
To be involved and to breathe the international social forum is a great
experience, as delegate, as professional, as NGO and as a person... maybe
more..
The phrase "the World Social Forum is not an event, but a process", gives
the spirit to work in the belief that another world is possible.
The social forum is the place where the people speak/talk, the place where
the people express their feelings and their realities. It is the opportunity
to know what happens in the world, what other people (NGO) are doing to
change the actual situation, to learn and to be open to the way that people
believe, and to do something for them, for the world. So, you have the
solidarity spirit, you and your representatives know that we are not alone.
For me the principal points in this forum are:
solidarity
knowledge
share experiences and knowledge
Orientation in the social movement
to be integrated in an international social movement
to have considerations regarding others' cultures, peoples,
situations.
to develop more contacts, networks
to know there are people working in the generation of information
about international actions, and to be able to react to this information.
* to react with information
In my point of view, YAP need to be involved more active, to have a concrete
strategy to get contact with a target group or activities. I think that if
we want, YAP could be doing a great workshop, seminar, panel about our work
and experience; and with that tobe more involved - more active in the social
world changes.
PERSONAL FEELINGS
I have the impression that my work is part of international interest-action.
For that I (as person) am imvolved in the social changes in the world. My
heart accelerated its rhythm and I was happy to see all the people who
believe that an other world is possible and work in that. In this moment
Nuestra Tierra - YAP, is involved more strongly in the international
movement. Another world is not only possible, because if you hear good
breath through us, it is one of the best expression about our work...
Please look at this website to find out more: www.forumsocialmundial.org.br
At the CD in Brussels, it was agreed to continue in YAP's representation at
the WSF.
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2. International YAP Activities
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Youth Towards a Culture of Peace, Peace Education in the 3rd Millenium, by
Emese
14 to 20 February 2003 Brussels, Belgium
Youth Towards a Culture of Peace, Peace Education in the 3rd Millenium was
the title of the seminar that took place between 14-20 of February in
Brussels, hosted by JAVVA and organised by YAP.
Since the very first evening the group of participants bonded quickly -
maybe it was because of St. Valentine? The good atmosphere in the group
assured also a good learning and participatory atmosphere during the
workshops, lectures, discussions, individual reflections, games. The
programme was very well set up and lead by the prep team and the 2
lecturers: first we reflected upon what peace is and means to us, we tackled
conflicts at personal and global level, which are the conditions in which
conflicts arise, how they escalate and had to think of possible solutions.
We had some invitees from Greenpeace, Amnesty International, Mouvement
Chretien pour la Paix who gave several examples of concrete actions for
peace.
But we, the participants, had also the chance to do some action during the
seminar, i.e. we demonstrated against the war in Iraq twice, on the 15th
along with 80.000 people and on the 17th.
The last day was again very productive and creative concerning future
projects. Here you have some of the ideas which I do hope to be implemented:
designing a tool kit for peace educators in schools, a seminar on women
issues, a Peace boat that will sail for 3 months along the Danube . . .
Personally I have learnt a lot, got more aware of the political situation
today and was inspired and motivatied towards future projects for peace at
local level. Besides this it was good to reflect on the personal conflicts
that exist in our immediate environment and if at globa level we need to be
more people in order to make a difference, at personal level it depends
mostly on us to solve conflicts and not run away.
And from Antonio and Ivan . . .
It was my first time in a YAP seminar, and in the beginning I was feeling
very sad but after I met all the great people with the vision about the
world . . . If I tell you the truth, for the first time in a long time I was
feeling useful. That means that if we still work together in this way, we
will go very far and probably change many things.
We created a common understanding, when you just drink more than you should
and you don?t have any excuse to be afraid of the others, to open yourself
and be able and free to express yourself; to give others your personal point
of view, knowing you are not wrong or tiring because people are interested
to listen to you as you are also interested to listen the others. It was
nice to always share time and words with people from everywhere, and see old
friends link closer relations with others and know new people.
For me it was specially nice to be all together during the demonstration and
walk on the streets finding from time to time a knew face of one of us,
telling the world why young people don?t want to take part in things like
war or misunderstandings. We were there trying to find a solution for
everything but also and first for each one of us on the way to build a new
globality... maybe a new Europe if we go step by step...
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EVS in the Middle East 2003, by Virginie
The 10 young volunteers have been living in Hebron, in Haifa and in East
Jerusalem for almost one month !! A pre-departure preparation took place in
Brussels from 3rd to 7th of February. Virginie from the IS, Silvia ex-2002
volunteer, Moira from SCI Italy and Helmut from IS for one specific session
on Palestine were in the team, trying to introduce the EVS in Palestine's
philosophy to this French-Spanish-British-Irish-Italian-German group. The
result was very successful (I can not describe to you now which tool we used
to make the evaluation of the training but it was quite: funny -thanks to
Silvia- !), the volunteers left Brussels (the team basically had to push
them away from their room during the last night as they did not want to
leave us: so nice !!) and arrived safely in Tel Aviv where they had no
problem to enter the country. IPYL and the European Commission delegations
in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem helped a lot contacting the local authorities
about their arrival.
Since then, they are all in their projects, realising, understanding,
integrating the community they will live in for 6 months.
An E-group as been create called "Bridge for Palestine" where the volunteers
are sharing their feelings, giving testimony on the reality of the
Palestinian situation inside Israel and inside the West Bank ; it is quite a
success as more than 10 people asked me (as I am the moderator..) to put
them inside the group.. some other interested reporter? It is also planned
to create a link on IPYL's website and YAP's website and insert those
testimonies from those volunteers. We will let you know as soon as it is
online.
For now good luck to those 10 activist young people (a special beso to super
Monica) and to their hosting projects.
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EVS in the YAP International Secretariat
Greetings! As this is my first info, I thought I might introduce myself
here, quickly. Though I have met many of you already, there are many more
people I have yet to meet . . . and I look forward to it! Anyway, I am
Megan, the new EVS volunteer in the office. I began working here about six
weeks ago, and everybody has made me very welcome here, despite my sad lack
of the French language! Before coming here, I volunteered in my free time
with YAPUK for about 2 years, after my first workcamp in 2000. Sadly, I
will not stay here for the full year, as I begin a University course in
London in September, so already, perhaps you would like to think about
whether you could be the next volunteer to sit at this desk in the corner of
the office with a slow computer (to be replaced . . . ) and a glorious view
of the Church outside, and a big window to fill the air with sunshine . . .
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EVS - Final Reports, by Virginie
EVS Anti Racism 2001, EVS Palestine 2002 : The deadline to submit those
final reports was the 28th of February, but they are still under
construction as it was very difficult to get all the necessary papers (from
volunteers and from hosting organisations) in time. As to avoid this kind
of situation (not very comfortable for all of us), the IS would like to
insist in the importance of such papers and promises to send them with more
insistence and perhaps with more explanations for next round !
Thanks a lot for those who co-operated in them.
EVS in Mexico 2002 and the Final Conference (in the frame of the Anti Racism
project) : The final reports will be sent on the 31st of March. I already
officially apologise towards those I will persecute during the coming
months: !!
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Study Visit to UK
. . . The report is almost ready! What more to say . . . Just watch this
space!
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EVS Short Term 2003
Who knows exactly where EVS short term is going? It seems there are many
possible changes in store for the coming years, whether the project will
become decentralised, whether Expression of Interest forms must be filled
for every single volunteer, the distribution of the finances . . .
Nevertheless, the application for Short Term EVS 2003 was submitted for the
February deadline and we wait to hear what happens.
In the meantime, Via Pacis was selected by the Steering to coordinate the
project for 2003, and the task falls into the careful hands of Anniko. So
in this work we wish Anniko, and Via Pacis, the best of luck!
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New projects:
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EVS Anti discrimination 2003, by Shashi
Anti Discrimination campaign even slipping with its wheels due to the lack
of hosting projects arranged and presented to the IS, is nevertheless alive
and not only as a pure idea of Plato. The prep-team of four people is quite
packed, moreover, from secret sources we know that there are two Very
Experienced People who have shown sincere interest to contribute to the
prep-team (!), so sounds like we can make till 1st of June. Please note,
that even the postponement of the application for the project won't affect
much the dates of the start of the campaign: at the moment they are planned
as the end of November-beginning of December.
The grandly encounter of the old good prep-team of Anti Racism campaign and
the newly-fledged prep-team of Anti Discrimination project will take place
in the beginning of April and the progressive experience of the older
generations will be passed on.
During the CD, with the joint efforts of a small group of Anti
Discrimination enthusiasts, several recommendations for the
YAP-organizations, who still haven't fixed the local hosting projects, were
elaborated. Virginie is going to publish them asap.
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EVS in Mexico
From 15 April 2003 (projects of 6 and 9 months)
Waiting . . . and waiting . . . Every day Virgine received an email from
Nuestra Tierra - "Do you have any news of the EVS Mexico?" - and sadly,
Monday brought the refusal for the project for the second time. The EU
Commission considers that the application is not sufficiently innovative.
Please feel free to contact the International Secretariat for more
information.
These projects however, are still set to begin on 15th April, and are likely
to take place using an ordinary LTV procedure. If you are interested in
this, please contact Nuestra Tierra on ntmex-yap@pvnet.com.mx
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EVS Russia, Belarus and Ukraine
As with the EVS in Mexico, we were waiting and waiting, and finally this
project has also been rejected. The main reason for the rejection of the
project is that the European Commission no longer wishes to support projects
in hospitals or other care centres, and that therefore the tasks of the
volunteers are not eligible for EVS anymore. Please feel free to contact
the International Secretariat for more information.
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Training for Facilitators
http://www.yap.org/activities/2003/April/index.php?ID=15
EYC Budapest, 13-20 April 2003
Finally, the Prep team for this training is formed, and preparation is
underway . . . Sadly, however, we find so far a lack of applications for
participation from YAP members. So, even though the deadline is past, I
encourage you to apply as soon as possible, so that this seminar can
actually happen! Please look again at the website, and if you can apply
before 6th March it would be very helpful. We will wait for our inbox to be
flooded with applications!
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Arte Diem : Peace through Arts 2003
The application was made to the European Commission for the February
deadline, for this year's Arte Diem to be held in Alcobendas, Madrid, hosted
by Waslala. The dates are planned for 5th - 25th August.
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Intercultural Youth Dialogue : Post 11 September (II)
After the success of Intercultural Youth Dialogue : Post September 11, it
was decided to hold a second one in September of this year (21st - 25th
September), which will aim to build on the dialogue opened in the first. As
with the first seminar, it will be organised with Baladna Association for
Arab Youth, and hosted in Nazareth.
The actual situation requires the dialogue between civilizations, as much to
resolve the actual conflict - of property, of power, of the vision of the
world - as to help to prevent future conflicts. This dialogue is orientated
to enlarge the comprehension and mutual respect, not only between those that
have different political convictions, social position and economic power,
but also between persons from different cultural, ethnic and religius
backgrounds.
The diversity is often seen as a threat to our own individual or grupal
identity, but a bigger mutual understanding leads to a more tolerant and
receptive attitude.
The application for this seminar was made to the European Commission for the
February deadline and we wait for further news.
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Bosnia-Herzegovina Human Rights and Good Governance Training
There is no news of this project which was introduced by the Johns Hopkins
University, and it's likely to be cancelled for this year.
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Study Visit to Asia
Sadly, this study visit looks unlikely to happen due to funding
difficulties. Perhaps another time . . . ?
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Окончание в следующем выпуске.
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