dialogue, discussion

The Power of Place: How historic sites can engage citizens in human rights issues

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:08:18 -0500

The Power of Place

by Liz Sevcenko

Download full notebook in English and Spanish and a brief summary in Russian and Armenian below.

See Phillipe Duhamel's creative take on this resource at interTactica!

In this notebook the author describes how human rights activists as well as the museum community can make more effective use of the spacial impact of historic sites to help educate people about social change and human rights. The Tenement Museum in New York City has joined with more than a dozen other institutions that have focused their attention on "sites of conscience"–places where terrible human rights abuse has occurred that should never be forgotten. Their goal is not only to remember the past, but also to use the emotional power of these places to catalyze critical thinking about the ongoing social issues of today, through dialogue and educational activities.

Around the world, people instinctively turn to places of memory to come to terms with the past and chart a course for the future. From makeshift roadside memorials to official commemorations, millions of people around the world gather at places of memory looking for healing, reconciliation and insight on how to move forward. Memory is a critical language and terrain of human rights. It’s here, through the process of preserving the past, that evidence of human rights violations is maintained and made public, issues this evidence raises are debated and tactics for preventing it from happening again are developed. In short, these places can be critical tools for building a lasting culture of human rights. Our project is to take a fundamental human instinct and develop it as an identifiable, self-conscious tactic in the service of human rights and social justice.

The Lower East Side Tenement Museum preserves a five-story building at 97 Orchard Street, home to over 7,000 immigrants from more than 20 different nations from 1863 to 1935. The Museum restores the tiny apartments of the diverse immigrant families who lived there and tells the stories of their daily challenges and triumphs in America. The human rights issues they faced – labor exploitation, racial and ethnic discrimination, poverty and immigration restrictions – are very much alive today. Located in a neighborhood that is today nearly 40 percent foreign-born, the Museum hosts public dialogues on immigration, welfare, housing, cultural identity and other related issues; teaches English and activism to new immigrants; and promotes immigrant voices and issues through changing arts programs. The Museum believes that historic sites can be powerful catalysts for public awareness and action on human rights issues.

To promote this idea the Museum initiated the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience. The Coalition was founded in 1999 when the Tenement Museum brought together leaders of nine historic sites from around the world: the District Six Museum (South Africa); Gulag Museum (Russia); Liberation War Museum (Bangladesh); Lower East Side Tenement Museum (USA); Maison des Esclaves (Senegal); Memoria Abierta (Argentina); National Civil Rights Museum (USA); Terezín Memorial (Czech Republic); Women’s Rights National Historical Park (USA); and the Workhouse (United Kingdom). The group pledged to work together to develop effective strategies for activatingour places of memory as centers for dialogue on contemporary issues.

Our goal is to transform historic site museums from places of passive learning to places of active citizen engagement. We seek to use the history of what happened at our sites – whether it was a genocide, a violation of civil rights, or a triumph of democracy – as the foundation for dialogue about how and where these issues are alive today and about what can be done to address them. We define sites of conscience as initiatives that:

Interpret history through sites;
Engage in programs that stimulate dialogue on pressing social issues and promote humanitarian and democratic values; and
Share opportunities for public involvement in issues raised at the site.

The Coalition conducts program development workshops, staff exchanges and web-based resource exchanges. We also collaborate with leading human rights organizations to link our histories with currentcampaigns and inspire citizen participation in current struggles for truth and justice. The Coalition is currently coordinated at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.

*Note: You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the files marked with an asterisk (*). You can download a free version of this program from www.adobe.com.

Society as Mediator for Conflict Resolution

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:08:15 -0500

Society as Mediator for Conflict Resolution

by Tamara Muruetagoiena

Download full notebook below.

In this notebook you will learn how Elkarri, a group based in the Basque Region, has used a form of dialogue they call social mediation to encourage the broadest possible participation from all arenas of society to discuss solutions to the conflict. Community members were given a broad choice of ways to get involved: from signing a petition to becoming a member to participating in and organizing discussion groups. But however people chose to participate, they learned that they had a role to play in mediating the conflict that affected their lives and created pressure on the groups in conflict to make steps toward seeking peaceful resolution.

There are more than forty significant ongoing political conflicts in the world today. One of these is the continuing conflict in the Basque Country. More and more, civilian populations find themselves caught in the crossfire, powerless to influence the conflicts that profoundly affect their daily lives. Elkarri is attempting to empower all elements of Basque society, constructing a "space" wherein the people of the Basque Country can mediate for their own well-being. Across the political spectrum, all public opinion surveys conducted over the last 10 years reflect consensus amongst Basques on several principal points. Foremost, the population firmly rejects the use of violence to achieve political aims. Even as the Basque population recognizes that there are serious political problems requiring resolution, the population strongly supports dialogue as the path to resolve these differences and wishes a voice in determining the future of the Basque Country.

In the last twelve years Elkarri has taken up this mandate and sought to promote a culture of dialogue and peace. In an effort to overcome the dynamic of confrontation, the organization has worked to create an atmosphere of cooperation, leveraging public sentiment toward the establishment and maintenance of a continuing viable dialogue. In this sense, Elkarri’s endeavors have been directed toward society as a whole: the citizens, mass media, political parties, institutions and all the actors in the conflict. Given the context of extreme political polarization in the Basque Country, the founders of Elkarri felt it was essential, from the start, to clearly establish the independent character of this social group along with its complete independence from all of the involved parties.

A fresh outlook and a new vocabulary have proven fundamental in creating spaces for meeting and discourse instead of the common attitudes and expressions of hostility, coercion and intractability. Elkarri does not adhere blindly to rigid criteria such as "neutrality" or "equidistance." Rather, the movement is guided by an active commitment to the establishment of conditions favorable to a balanced and democratic process of dialogue. This social movement is continually evolving its own language and modes of action, unmistakably distinct from the concepts, words and methods employed by the parties embroiled in the conflict. Elkarri provides an "a la carte" menu of participation to maximize grassroots support. Rather than dictating one or two prescribed means of involvement, Elkarri aims to maximize accessibility by providing a wide range of options. Because the pace of contemporary society limits the amount of time, energy and resources that people are willing and able to commit, we allow people to tailor their involvement to match their capacities.

The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated by the broad support for Elkarri’s Peace Conference of 2001-2002. While it culminated in a single event, the Peace Conference encompassed a year-long, four-part process operating on three levels–among the general population, among political parties and internationally. It began with a signature drive that netted 50,000 signatures and small donations that added up to US$500,000. Eventually more than 4,000 people joined the organization as members while 1,200 volunteered their time and 180 ongoing local workshops and one-time events were held throughout the Basque Autonomous Community and Navarre, as well as in Madrid, Barcelona, Brussels and New York. This notebook is an attempt to share some of the valuable insights and experience we gained through this process of social participation. We hope that this information will be useful to others seeking to broaden the base of participation in conflict resolution.

*Note: You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the files marked with an asterisk (*). You can download a free version of this program from www.adobe.com.

Action Theatre

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:07:59 -0500

by Motahar Akand, Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK)
Download full notebook below.

The goal of Action Theatre is to develop the capacities of young people and cultural activists at the grassroots level to be a force for change, helping to create a society based on human rights, gender equity and social justice. The tactical outcome is the creation of local theatre groups who would initiate discussion, debate, analysis and actions on critical human rights issues in their community. Participants in the tactic also enhance their leadership skills and human rights awareness.

Six individual elements–six roles–work in conjunction with one another to provide a complete Action Theatre experience:

Initiator: Creates an action theatre group.
Core team: ASK staff members who initiate Action Theatre in other communities.
Primary team: Community members who form the human rights theatre group, or Manobadhikar Natya Parishad (MNP), and implement action theatre
Upazilla level Manobadhikar Natya Parishad (UzMNP): Federation of local MNP groups.
Partner NGO or PNGO: The local group with which ASK works to coordinate the program.
Community Organizer (CO): Local community member working under the supervision of the PNGO to build the primary team and provide support to them.
Audience: Participants in performance who are tasked with defining the action to be taken.

In this tactical notebook, we outline the Action Theatre framework that has been developed and replicated in twelve working areas across Bangladesh. We will share the key elements and steps necessary for the successful application of this tactic, as well as some of the challenges and unexpected outcomes we have seen. Local theatre groups are now gaining ground as a mobilizing force in Bangladesh. This tactical notebook will help provide you with the information you need to determine whether Action Theatre is appropriate for your country and human rights issue.

*Note: You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the files marked with an asterisk (*). You can download a free version of this program from http://www.adobe.com

Access to Justice: Creating local level, citizen action mediation bodies to ensure human rights

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:07:58 -0500

by Dinesh Narayan Suddhakar

Download full notebook below.

The Centre for Victims of Torture (CVICT) in Nepal instituted a tactic to circumvent the problem of police abuse through a process of rights-based community mediation. This community mediation process was piloted in three districts of the country and has now expanded to twelve. The tactic trains local people as mediators and resources to their communities on basic laws and human rights. In addition, it has served as a vehicle to empower women to become community leaders, addressing their individual and collective needs. In the three districts there are currently 90 Human Rights Mediation Committees (HRMCs) and 90 Women Peace Committees (WPCs) at the Village Development Committee level and 810 HRMCs at the ward level.

The WPCs have served approximately 8,000 women who have been included in awareness building programmes and 4,865 women who received basic training on human rights, basic laws and mediation skills. From those who received that training, 1,993 women currently work as volunteers. A total of 964 disputes–out of 1,273–were successfully settled. In addition, legal aid was provided to 24 women to pursue 28 cases in the formal court system. Up to now, both committee types have successfully settled 3,107 out of 3,939 community level disputes.

Evidence of the success of the HMRCs and WPCs is the allocation of annual funds by the government’s Village Development Committees. This is vital to sustain the programme. Perhaps more significant is a public recognition of the HRMCs and WPCs by the formal justice forums, (i.e. court, district administration, police, etc.). Names of mediators are listed by the district court in its notice board. In addition, positive response has come from police and requests have come from other Village Development Committees to institute the programme.

*Note: You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the files marked with an asterisk (*). You can download a free version of this program from www.adobe.com.