The first archive of news stories that have appeared on the CRN:UK

29th June 2004 - 29th June 2005

Read past news articles by clicking here or browse the index below:

Peace Messengers in the Line of Fire
Black Information Link (Blink) (External Site)
23/6/2005
Shirin Aguiar

ANTI-GUN CAMPAIGNERS are training-up to put their lives on the line with street conflict resolution.

A new team of peace messengers are preparing to step out into a dangerous world of warring gangs and gunmen itching to settle a score. Conflict resolution is the latest tool in the fight to save lives from being lost to gun violence in the inner cities.

To read this article, please click here.

Football Building Bridges for the Displaced
Kick It Out
29 June 2005

A national football festival will help to dispel negative stereotypes of refugees and those seeking asylum next month.
 
The Unity Cup Festival, organised by Kick It Out, football’s anti- racism campaign, will bring together teams of refugees and asylum seekers from all corners of the UK to Leeds in an attempt to highlight the positive contribution displaced communities are making in the UK.
 
The weekend will feature 20 teams of refugees and Asylum seekers from Birmingham, Brighton, Cardiff, Dover, Exeter, Glasgow, Huddersfield, Hull, London, Manchester, Norwich, Sheffield, Southampton, Sunderland and the host city Leeds.
 
In recognition of the plight of the Roma population in Eastern Europe a team from Slovakia will participate in the festival to share their experiences and build contacts with established refugee groups who have campaigned rigorously to set up support networks for their communities.
 
As part of the activities, participants will be given advice on asylum rights, how to participate in mainstream footballing activities, including developing links with their local professional clubs and County FA’s.
 
The Unity Cup Festival, supported by Heads Together, a Yorkshire based arts company, and Leeds City Council, will be played over the weekend of the 16th and 17th July at Roundhay School in Leeds.
 
Piara Powar, Director of Kick It Out, looked ahead to the Unity Cup Festival  
 
“Refugees and those seeking asylum are amongst the most marginalised communities in the UK and across the continent.
 
“The Unity Cup Festival seeks to redress the imbalance of negative portrayals of these communities and highlight the positive contributions made by refugee communities, whilst relaying direct information from the participants about the life threatening situations they have had to flee.
 
“We expect there to be a good turnout over the weekend from the Leeds public, who have a great tradition in supporting anti- racism initiatives.”
 

For further information please contact Leon Mann on 020 7 684 4884
or 07736 009 116

Brightest Told to Aim High
Yorkshire Post Today (External Site)
20 June 2005
Amy Binns

A new course for the brightest children from ethnic minority groups aims to encourage them to achieve their true potential.
Organised by the Bradford branch of the Society of Intercultural Leadership and the Black Police Association, the week-long course will teach 15 teenagers from schools across the district.
They will learn leadership skills such as negotiation, teamwork and conflict resolution, as well as presentation skills to help them in applying for universities and jobs.

Click here to read more about this scheme

Summer School for Peace
University of Ulster Online (External Site)
9 June 2005

Northern Ireland’s experience in keeping peace alive will be high on the agenda for 80 conflict research specialists from around the globe when they converge on the University of Ulster's Magee campus for a major training event to be held by INCORE, the UU's peace and conflict research unit.

Over 30 countries will be represented at this years’ Summer School - the sixth to be held. Participants come from Africa, South America, Asia, Eastern Europe and North America and include leading international experts, policymakers at international organisations and from various governments, researchers and peace-building activists.

Click here to read more.

Sport Relief 2004 Funding Announcement
1 st June 2005

In 2002 Comic Relief, the Charity behind Red Nose Day, launched Sport Relief and developed a funding programme aimed at reducing tensions and tackling divisions amongst young people across the UK through the use of sport. The grants made primarily addressed territorialism, racism and sectarianism and involved a specific model of work providing inclusive sporting activities alongside structured sessions relating to understanding, addressing and reducing conflict.

The second Sport Relief in 2004 raised £16m and £3 million will be spent on grants that will continue to address conflict between young people.

We also know there are communities in the UK where young people lead totally divided lives and live in isolation from each other with no or few opportunities to mix. This can mean young people from different areas, cultures, ethnic groups and religions rarely coming into contact with each other. When communities are divided it can lead to misunderstanding, resentment, lack of opportunity, stereotyping and particular groups being marginalized. This can develop into physical tensions that overspill into violence and increased segregation in the future.

We are inviting tenders from partnerships of organisations working around these issues at a local level. These partnerships will need to be made up of a range of relevant agencies but the leading partner must be a voluntary sector organisation that is a registered charity or has charitable aims. We want to support work that brings together young people who are divided because of religion, race or territory and where conflict is either explicit or threatened. The proposed work will use sport and leisure activities to help engage young people and be supported by structured work aiming to directly help young people address the divisions and conflicts they experience in their communities.

For further information about this funding programme, the geographical areas where funding is available and how to submit a tender please go to www.comicrelief.com or contact Victoria Southwell on 020 7820 5578.

More info to follow...

Extended Schools: Beyond the Classroom
Young People Now
1 st June 2005
Helen Gregory

As the number of extended schools is set to be increased, Helen Gregory finds out how some schools are successfully delivering a range of services.

(Ed: the Extended Schools Program may be a source of work and/or funding for community-based conflict resolution groups)

Click here to read more.

Women’s Role as Peacebuilders Overlooked – UU Expert
University of Ulster Online
31st May 2005

University of Ulster academic Dr Elisabeth Porter has highlighted the important role that women play in conflict resolution around the world.

Dr Porter, who is Research Director at INCORE, was a keynote speaker at an international conference in Barcelona on ‘Women and Mediations: A Practice of Peace’. She had been invited to speak at the conference by the Catalan Government.

The conference theme was to make more visible the contribution women make to peace processes.

Dealing with disruption
The Guardian
Friday May 20, 2005
Polly Curtis, education correspondent

The education secretary, Ruth Kelly, has asked a panel of teachers to come up with a national plan to tackle bad behaviour in schools. She's particularly interested in it recommending strategies that could be adopted in all schools.

(Ed: In at number four… you guessed it)

Click here to read some of their options. (External site)

Fighting guns with words in Birmingham

Mediation methods learned in Northern Ireland aim to end lethal gang warfare

The Guardian
Monday May 16, 2005
Rosie Cowan, crime correspondent

Leroy McKoy has a novel way of getting young gang members' attention. He asks them to list the children and babies of friends whose funerals they have attended. All can write down several names. Then he asks if they are prepared to add their own children's names.

Click here to read an interesting article in the Guardian about how mediation techniques used to calm the troubles in Northern Ireland are being put into practice in Birmingham. (External site)

Why don't we just kiss and make up?
New Scientist Print Edition
07 May 2005
Lee Dugatkin

Look at the world's worst trouble spots and you can't fail to notice they have one thing in common: tit-for-tat attacks between warring parties. Escalation of violence is incredibly destructive, yet we humans find it very difficult to break the vicious cycle. It seems we are not good at conflict resolution. Perhaps we could learn a lesson or two from the spotted hyena.

Click here for a look at why animals are better at conflict resolution than humans. (External site)

Anti-racism concert in south London
This Is Local London
Thursday 28 th April 2005

Chart-topping R'n'B star Lemar will be one of the acts to perform at an anti-racism concert in south London. The multicultural festival Rise, backed by the Mayor and the National Assembly Against Racism (NAAR), is to be held in Burgess Park on July 16.

Click here to find out more. (External site)

News from External Sources:

Survey Reveals Youth Racism
Yorkshire Post Today
02 April 2005
James Reed

ALARMING levels of young people with anti-Muslim views have been uncovered by a study of teenagers in Yorkshire. Researchers who questioned more than 1,500 non-Muslim young people aged between 13 and 24 found nearly one in 10 supported the ultra-Right wing views of the British National Party. Significant numbers of pupils also objected to Muslim girls choosing to wear headscarves to school.

Click here to read this story (external site).

Mourinho gives peace a chance
The Telegraph
28 March 2005
Gareth A Davies

Jose Mourinho put his own troubles to one side yesterday to make an emotional peace visit to the Middle East. In recent weeks the Chelsea manager has been in conflict with the Football Association and UEFA but yesterday joined a growing list of world dignitaries, including former United States President Bill Clinton and United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan, who have also praised the use of sport to unite the warring communities in the Holy Land.

Click here to read this story (external site).

Tips for Addressing School Related Youth Violence
Medical News Today
24 March 2005

Click here to read this story (external site).

Dr Mohammed Amran Wins Beacon Prize for Community-Builder
The Beacon Fellowship Charitable Trust Press Trust
10 March 2005

Community worker Mohammed Amran was today announced the winner of the Community Builder category for this year's Beacon Prize. He was chosen by a panel of judges after the public nominated him for his outstanding contribution to charity.

Click here to read this story (external site).

“Setting up a school’s council is one thing. Most schools do it. Making them really work is quite another. Most schools stumble. Infrastructure, benefits, training, residentials, involvement in all aspects of school life – with no “no-go” areas – are features of the best school councils.”

Tim Brighouse

School Councils UK Conference, 11th March 2005,
Deutsche Bank, Winchester House, London

School Councils UK, a national charity working for effective school councils, has embarked on a two-year research project. Last week saw the project’s first conference. The initial early findings of the project were the focus of the event hosted by Deutsche Bank at Winchester House, Great Winchester Street/London Wall on Friday 11 th March.

The concept of the project…

• Ten schools have been picked to see what difference pupil participation and decision making –through school councils - could make to their improvement;
• Researchers are measuring the difference this involvement has made – through a project-wide baseline survey and interviews with staff and pupils;
• This is a unique research project spanning a two year period;
• Pupils and staff will be trained in how to operate effective school councils;
• The school councils and pupils have a wide remit and can discuss any aspect of school life including the teaching and learning that takes place in the schools; peer related issues; school environment as well as extra curricular items;
• The ten schools are all London Secondary Schools and reflect the broad range of educational experience London children face.

To read more about School Councils UK, please visit their site by clicking here.

News from External Sources:

‘Truth telling’ important for post-conflict resolution

4NI Northern Ireland on the Internet
18 February 2005

‘Truth telling’ processes can play an important role in post-conflict resolution according to new University of Ulster research.
Dr Patricia Lundy from the School of Applied Social Studies at UU and Dr Mark McGovern from Edge Hill College, Ormskirk, have been investigating attitudes towards post conflict truth and justice issues.

Click here to read this story (external site).

Little helpers called in to stop bullying

Andrew Denholm, Education Correspondent
February 16 2005
The Herald

THE sight of pupils in baseball caps patrolling the playgrounds of Scotland could soon become commonplace under an initiative to make bullies and other disruptive children face up to the consequences of their behaviour.

Click here to read this story (external site).

Football Unites, Racism Divides of Sheffield, Aik Saath Conflict Resolution Group of Slough, and Breaking Barriers in Burnley (BBB) are youth organisations that train other young people in conflict resolution and anti-racism. Last weekend (28th-30th January 2005), these three organisations came together to provide each other with an unprecedented training opportunity. Forty young people from all three projects congregated at the Peace Centre, run by the The Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Trust in Warrington. The Trust was formed after the IRA attack on Warrington which killed 12 year old Tim Parry and 3 year old Johnathan Ball. The state-of-the-art 'Peace Centre' provided the venue for this exciting collaborative project. The weekend incorporated a simulated community-based conflict, a theatre-based workshop by BBB called Polarised, and an insight into how football within the community can tackle racism. The simulation, organised by Aik Saath, centred on a conflict between asylum seekers and their host community. It gave the young people the opportunity to test out their new skills in mediation and conflict analysis. A highlight of the weekend was 'Polarised'- a truly amazing piece of youth theatre, providing an insight into a dystopian future where the BNP has been elected. BBB hope to film the play and produce a video tool pack for schools and youth centres wishing to tackle racism. FURD explored racial stereotypes with young people, their origins and gave participants an understanding of the 'glass ceiling' that people from minority backgrounds often face.

Niney Whittle (BBB), Prudence McCalmon (BBB), Asim Khan (AS) and Omar Khan (AS)

Tomas Jones (BBB), Emilla Wadsworth (BBB), Lisa Sultani (FURD) and Kirt Morris (BBB)

News from external sources:

All aboard for conflict classes
Bus drivers told how to deal with troublemakers

Edinburgh Evening News
Thursday January 27, 2005
BRIAN FERGUSON
City Council Reporter

BUS drivers are getting training in conflict management techniques to help them deal with difficult passengers.

Click here to read this story (external site).

Abusive NHS patient jailed

John Carvel, social affairs editor
Friday January 21, 2005
The Guardian

“ The NHS is training 750,000 staff in techniques of conflict resolution and testing a new alarm system, using mobile phone technology, to pinpoint the location of an incident and record evidence.”

Click here to read this story (external site).

Last month, REWIND organised a residential training weekend for young people from across the country. The Birmingham-based organisation brought together Aik Saath, Bradford Youth Development Partnership, Bradford-Keighley Youth Parliament, the M13 Project, the ISMS Project and young people with Sandwell detached youth workers for a unique learning experience in Liverpool. The participating young people were given an insight into the socially constructed myths that have justified racism and how pseudo-science and history have been used to cement these myths. The REWIND team demonstrated tried and tested multimedia methodologies for the attendees to use when working with other young people to deconstruct these myths and ‘unlearn the learnt.’ Historical texts, maps, films and statistics were all used to show how racism was justified in the past and how it can be fought in the future.

The residential provided all participants with an extremely interesting and varied insight into how the myths of racism can be tackled. To read more about REWIND’s distinctive approach to anti-racism work, you can visit their comprehensive new website by clicking here.

Link Group Conference
by Francesca Cerletti, Project Manager, Peace Direct

On November 19th/20th 50 people from 30 different organizations attended a Peace Direct seminar for groups interested in forming links with peacebuilders in conflict areas. The Link Group Conference was a success. It brought together people from a wide range of backgrounds, whose history of linking ranged from those with a decade or more, to those who had none but were interested in setting up a group. Some key learning points emerged from the workshops on the nature of links. Those present particularly enjoyed meeting one another and learning about each others' experiences in the complex process of linking with initiatives abroad.

To download a full report on the initiative and an evaluation, please click here.
To save a copy, right click and select 'save as.'
To download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader, please click here.

To read more about peace direct on the CRN:UK, please click here.
To visit peace direct on the web, please click here.

The Education and Youth Subcommittee of Mediation UK:
Network and Training Day

On Saturday, 27 November 2004, the Education and Youth Subcommittee of Mediation UK, held a networking and training day at Friends House, London.

During the morning, nearly fifty participants benefited from brief presentations by Hilary Cremin (author of Let’s Mediate), Mildred Masheder (Let’s Co-operate, Positive Childhood: Educating Young Citizens) and John Lampen (co-founder of the Hope Project). Rachel Boyd of the School Councils Project chaired a discussion on a new EYSC initiative, Standards of Best Practice for School Mediation Projects.

During the afternoon, Alice Meager of WMQPEP and John Lampen shared their experiences of incorporating conflict resolution into Citizenship lessons, Chris Mynett of SMILE presented on ‘Getting Schools to Peer Mediation’ and Daren De Witt ran a workshop on ‘Non-violent Communication: Turning Dirt into Gold. This successful event ended with an open forum for attendees to discuss issues and share ideas .

Last updated: 08/11/04

Website Launch: The Young Mediators Network

www.youngmediatorsnetwork.org

Lucknow, in North India, has traditionally been a very volatile city. With a 60/40 Hindu/Muslim population, every cause of tension between religions was amplified and inter-communal violence was a frequent occurrence. Yet when the Ayodhya mosque, only 80 miles away, was torn down by Hindu extremists in 1992 no-one was killed in Lucknow, while 900 people died in Mumbai alone. The prompt action and mass presence of the City Montessori School (CMS) was very largely responsible. We are familiar with the Montessori Method of teaching younger children, but with 28,000 pupils ranging from between 5-18 years of age and 21 campuses, it is the largest school in the world. Last week in One World Week, Peace Direct organised the Lucknow Dialogues tour, in which a group from the CMS met schools and others in six English communities to explore how schools can bring communities together.

Clear differences of approach emerged in the English schools and groups that we visited. The Lucknow approach emphasises similarity to the point where the students from Lucknow do not know the religion of their friends. We found this approach mirrored in Slough in the work of the youth group Aik Saath. Aik Saath was set up in 1998 after violence between Sikhs and Muslims erupted. This was a particularly vicious period, with letters circulated claiming horizontal conversion of Sikh girls by Muslims. Even though there has never been any evidence for this, the letters are still referred to, seven years later, as though they were gospel truth. Aik Saath, a youth led group which brings together young people from different faiths, runs peer mediation workshops in which young people uncover the similarities in the way they feel, and the things they want out of life, as well as learning techniques to resolve conflict. These workshops started in secondary school but Aik Saath are now taking them into primary schools to try to prevent younger children developing attitudes that will harm them and may lead to racially motivated crime.

By contrast in the meeting with Education Bradford there was much more emphasis on recognising and celebrating diversity, but within a basically secular context. Our Lucknow visitors struggled with both ideas. They found it hard to see why people would emphasise difference rather than similarity, and struggled with the idea that religions cannot be understood without close attention to each one's history, culture and other circumstances. Even more alien was the idea that some people might have no religion - everyone should follow the religion of their parents - with the implication, what possible reason could there be not to do so?

We visited schools that were doing many of the same things as CMS. In Loughborough and Newcastle we saw primary schools celebrating different religious festivals such as Diwali and Eid with the whole school population. In Loughborough the schools are working explicitly with parents to develop inter-faith understanding, and there are posters on the walls about unity which would not look out of place in Lucknow. CMS is a 5-18 institution and naturally works with the whole age range and we saw recognition of the importance of this from Aik Saath, who are moving from secondary to primary, while in Loughborough the primary schools are looking for ways to ensure that the grounding in tolerance and understanding established in primary schools does not evaporate when children move to secondary education.

Another feature of the English education system which surprised the Lucknow group was the degree of ethnic segregation in schools in some areas. In Newham, estimated to be the most ethnically diverse education authority in the country, Somalis will tend to be in one school, Congolese in another and so forth. In an event organised by Newham Conflict and Change, who also run peer mediation courses in schools, this problem was discussed. The students from Lucknow floated the idea of adapting a programme they have developed whereby students from Lucknow correspond, in English, with students from schools in Pakistan, to develop better understanding and closer links. As lack of contact, rather than active hostility, is probably the biggest concern in relation to building more cohesive communities, ideas such as these, perhaps using email, are worth trying.

What did we learn from the tour? First, the Lucknow experience cannot be directly translated. The scale and longevity of the programmes are unique. But schools and communities here are using many of the same principles. What is needed is concerted effort over time, and the raising of the profile of this work in the community beyond the school, so that if tensions mount, the school or college is well positioned to take its message onto the streets. We hope that the Lucknow Dialogues have made a small contribution to achieving this.

A web site peace message board will allow people to send in personal thoughts on peace on www.twin60.com; the world song choir will be performing songs of peace from countries including South Africa, Korea, and Russia at St Mary's Guildhall; The Cathedral will stage a series of events to focus on peace and reconciliation including talks on the Middle East; and Warwick Arts Centre will be showing films and staging performances on a peace related theme.

A what's on guide will be published later this month and will include a comprehensive list of events.

Cllr Ken Taylor, Coventry City Council Leader said: "Coventry Peace Month is a great opportunity for local people to be reminded about the city's reputation for peace and reconciliation. We are hoping that we will be able to reflect on our achievements of the past and also to celebrate the positive relationships among our own communities.

"I'm really pleased that the month will feature so many events especially because they will appeal to all age groups. We will also be marking the 60th anniversary of our twinning link with Volgograd in southern Russia and following the very recent devastating events in Beslan the emphasis on peace has never been more appropriate."

Coventry Peace Month will begin with a community event in the Upper Precinct, City Centre on Saturday 16 October 04.

Local people are also being encouraged to send in entries to a kite design competition – focusing on the peace theme. The winning designs for under 10s, 10 plus and 18 plus will be produced into kites and flown at an International Kite Fly for Peace at the Memorial Park on Sunday 10 October.

Designs should be produced on either A4 or A3 sized paper (landscape). Name, age and contact details need to be included and sent to Coventry Peace Month Kite Competition, Policy Performance Team, CH 27, Coventry City Council, The Council House, Earl Street, Coventry, CV1 5RR .

To download a leaflet detailing what is going to happen during Coventry Peace Month please click here.
To save a copy, right click and select 'save as.'
To download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader, please click here.

Partners on the Coventry Peace Month planning group are CV One, Coventry, Cathedral, Coventry University, Coventry City Council, Coventry Peace House, Lord Mayor's Committee for Peace and Reconciliation, Multi-Faith Forum, Coventry Association of International Friendship, Warwick Arts Centre, Belgrade Theatre, Herbert Art Gallery and Museum.

Young people take part in Michael Fryer's workshop (Centre for Conflict Resolution)

Aik Saath Peer Conflict Resolution Team Members: Jawad Ahmed and Tej Bhachu

Pupils from Slough and Eton School