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Listening -A
bridge to Peace
“To learn to be a
good listener is a gift we give ourselves and humanity in
general as it is the basis for all good relationships at
home, in the school, at work, in the Community at large and
is therefore the cornerstone for a culture for Peace”
This workshop dedicated to Listening skills - a Bridge to
Peace - is part of a four day seminar in Peacebuildings
Skills in which we explore eight/ten fundamental skills for
transforming conflict and building peace.:( Active
Listening, Creating Empathy, Understanding conflict,
Changing our Attitude to Conflict, Accepting and Integrating
feelings, Honoring and Respecting diversity, Clear
Communication, Co-perative Power, Mapping the Issue,
Designing options, )
It is a fully
experiential workshop and through discussion,role play and
dialogue we explore the art of listening with the heart,
listening to affirm another person, listening to gain
information, and discussing what we hear and what we dont
hear and why. We also discuss gthe difference between
sympathy and empathy and the importance of having an
empathetic attitude when listening and the verbal and non
verbal skills which create empathy = clarity = trust =
dialogue =peace. = good team building = productivity
We explore,too,
all the verbal and non verbal issues that block empathy
between one person and another = not feeling heard
=aggression = no dialogue = further aggression/isolation =
lack of collaboration
The full four day
Seminar is a simple dinamic course in Peacebuilding Skills
for interacting with others to create the basis for a
mutually empowering dialogue.. Its about discussing ways of
handling conflict - ways that make a difference in all areas
of our lives
At the end of the
four day seminar participants willhave gained : A new
awareness of themselves, The knowledge that they can change
the quality of their lives throughu sing the skills of the
seminar and can actively promote peace through actively
creating Dialogue and Better health through becoming aware
of where tension/stress is being held in the body due to
unresolved conflict .
Handouts will be
given during the seminar so that participants can teach the
skills themselves. All the material has been compiled by the
Australian Network of Conflict Resolution. This Seminar is
for people of all ages who wish to learn more about acively
creating peace through dialogue.
Maybe this
explains better what it is all about, If I can help in
anyway please let me know.
Namaste
Your Excellencies,
Honorable Judges
My fellow Peace Promoters.
good day to my fellow human beings on this planet
My Name is Binnie Degli Innocenti and I come from Italy. I
am one of the founders of the Womens Worldwide Grassroot
Humanitarian Movement. IT is a pleasure and an honor to be
here with you all today.
However before I go any further I would like to thank Mr.
Gandhi for his invitation to come to this Conference and all
the organizers of this Conference for creating such an
important event in this incredibly big Lighthouse of Society
which won the UNESCO prize for Peace Education in 2002. I
had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Gandhi in London and Mrs.
Shamama and so from them I got an inkling of the importance
of this conference and its message for world peace. A
special thanks to Shishir for his kind patience with my
haphazard computer skills in sending information.
What is my contribution to this symposium and why am I here.
Just briefly I teach peacebuilding skills with an emphasis
on listening as I believe to learn to be a good listener is
a gift we give ourselves and humanity at large. It is the
basis for all good relations in the home, at work, in the
school and in the wider community. The cornerstone for a
culture for peace.. However I was in Tel Aviv two years ago
and missed being blown up by a suicide bomb by "divine
intervention" so I felt I could do something more to help
create peace. Then I found myself marching for peace against
the war with millions of other people but did it workNO: It
was the most incredible turn out of all times but to no
avail. So my co founder and I decided that we were never
again going to march against another war, we women were
never going to permit another war in our own lifetime but
above all in our childrens lifetime and all the children yet
to be born. We were going to run with the energy of the
peace marches but go beyond marching and GO FOR
MAINSTREAMING PEACE, PUTTING ALL THE EMPHASIS ON THE
POSITIVE , no good school master who has
difficult/aggressive kids will put the schools emphasis on
them but will put the emphasis on the positive and try to
include these kids in the general dialogue.
I then spent the last two years
listening to women from all over the world on the subject of
MAINSTREAMING PEACE.
so what does MAINSTREAMING PEACE mean to us?
We the undersigned women from all over the world of
different races, colour, f aiths, creeds and cultures, who
have marched for peace, say that we believe that only by
MAINSTREAMING PEACE, promoting solidarity,cooperation, cross
cultural understanding and respect for each nations cultural
and spiritual heritage will peace evolve. Peace starts in
the heart of each individual and it needs to be the primar
concern of all Governments everywhere.
We are appalled at the widespread abuse and disregard of
human rights, racial discrimination, the plight of the
refugees and the stateless, idigenous peoples, the killing
torturing, raping of the women and the maiming of men ,
women and children, the taking of hostages, the imprisonment
of individuals without trial, the bulldozing and bombing of
civilian property and the murder of UN Representatives.
We are also appalled at the recent escalation of fear based
politics, the rise in the sales in ever more sophisticated
weapons, defence budgets on an all time high, the general
destruction and pollution of the environment by bombs, mines
and depleted urganium shells. Agent Orange, toxic gasses,
radioactive waste and sonar soundings from military ships
damaging marine life.
SO MAINSTREAMING PEACE FOR US MEANS supporting the
initiative to Create a Ministry for Peace in GB, a
Department for Peace (US), the teaching of
citizenship/conflict transformation skills in all schools,
The appointment for a Commissioner for Peace in the EU,
Peace Attaches and the establishment of faculties for peace
in all countries.
MAINSTREAMING PEACE MEANS FOR US gender equality and urging
the UN and all its member states to adhere to the UN
Security Council Resolution dated 31.10.2000. which
reaffirms the importance of the equal participation of women
and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and
promotion of peace and the need to increase their role.
MAINSTREAMING PEACE MEANS FOR US an end to economic
exploitation and that conditions and pay reflect a policy of
fair trade and people before profit.
MAINSTREAMING PEACE MEANS FOR US the abolition and
dismantling of all nuclear weapons and other types of arms
of mass destruction. MAINSTREAMING PEACE MEANS FOR US
reducing defence budgets considerably to create peace
budgets to invest in creating solutions to the dramatic
humanitarian issues which are at the cause of mass
destruction
20% of the worlds population does not have access to safe
drinking water,
826 million people are undernourished
Half of humanity lives on less than 3 US dollars a day
the blatant disregard of human rights ie the most basic
human right the right to live ,breathe and have water
1/5 adults cannot read or write, 98% live in developing
countries and 2/3 are women
2.5 billion people have no adequate health care supplies
MAINSTREAMING PEACE MEANS TO US asserting that we are all
interconnected and interdependent with every living thing on
the planet and would therefore wish to see no further
destruction, pollution of the environment. towards this end
we urge all countries concerned to sign the KYOTO PROTOCOL
thus making a small but significant step towards creating a
united global vision for the protection of our planet, or
rather our childrens planet.
This document , which will be sent to all governments
through their representatives at the UN together with the
total number of men ne women who have undersigned it , is
more than a list of pleas and statements which probably many
of you are already in agreement with but MAINSTREAMING PEACE
for us means above all that
WE DECLARE THAT AS FROM THE 21ST SEPTEMBER 2004 - UNITED
NATIONS DAY FOR PEACE, CEASEFIRE AND NON VIOLENCE - we wil
vote for and support those politicians and political parties
who will COMMIT AT ALL COSTS to resolve conflicts through
peaceful means as per UN CHARTER.
iN THE NAME OF ALL THE CHILDREN ALL OVER THE WORLD WE WOULD
WISH THAT WAR BE OFFICIALLY DECLARED A CRIME AGAINST
HUMANITY BY THIS CONFERENCE and enforced as Law at the UN
Thank you. |
