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MEDITERRANEAN AND INTERNATIONAL REPORTS

MEDITERRANEAN REPORTS

Declaration of the Anna Lindh Foundation concerning the terror attack of 31st December 2010 in Alexandria

The Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures, which has its international headquarters in Alexandria (Egypt), expresses its deep sadness and pain about the terror attack which affected this city on the night of 31st December. The President of the Foundation, André Azoulay, and all of his team, wish to express their solidarity with the victims, their families and the Egyptian people.

In response to this act of violence, the Anna Lindh Foundation will intensify its efforts in favour of dialogue in the Euro-Mediterranean region by involving and engaging in this mission all those who share the need to eradicate the culture of hatred, and to build societies based on mutual respect between people of different origins, traditions and beliefs. Committed against a Coptic church in Alexandria, the attack aimed to provoke sectarian tension between the different religious communities that have lived together in peace in Egypt for centuries. This crime, carried out against civilians who were practising their faith together, demands the mobilisation of all those who promote the right to practise freely religious beliefs. The Anna Lindh Foundation condemns any pretention to exploit religions and take religions hostage for the sake of fuelling violent behaviour and terrorism, whilst they carry a message of peace and fraternity for the immense majority of believers.      

The Anna Lindh Foundation has had the opportunity to consistently observe in Alexandria how the coexistence between Muslims and Christians, which is part of the daily life in Egypt, is a major asset for peaceful relations between the different religious communities that exist in Middle Eastern societies, from where they originated. In view of the brutal attack that the Alexandrian people suffered, the Anna Lindh Foundation feels closer than ever to the Egyptian people and its institutions, and sets out to preserve the diverse heritage which is essential to building a Euro-Mediterranean space of peace and freedom.

Headquarters of the Anna Lindh Foundation

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Supporting 5th Arab women journalists conference

Guide line

Dr. Traugott Schoefthaler

 Executive Director of Anna Lindh Euro Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures to view MR. Schoefthaler CV please click over here 

What Went Wrong with the Dialogue between Cultures?
We have a common language for universal values, but we do not have a common lan-guage for cultural differences, writes DR. Traugott Schoefthaler. We need to work on such language, he says in his essay, in order to provide instruments for coping with critical moments of confrontation

What wrong with our dialogue for details just go here

Anna Lindh Euro Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures

International journalists' Association accuses the army of "brutality and deliberate targeting"
 

Saturday July 07, 2007 12:06
by Ameen Abu Wardeh -

The International journalists Association condemned Israeli for attacking journalists, and demanded a full investigation of the case of severely injuring a Palestinian camera man in the Thursday invasion into Gaza.

To view on line please go here

Dialogue at Times of War?

Message by the Executive Director of the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures - Alexandria, Egypt, 27 July 2006.
How can you even think of intercultural dialogue while the horrors of war in the Middle East affect millions of innocent people? We are not only receiving this and similar questions from growing numbers of our partners in 35 countries. We share this question.
We have identified several aid organisations which have a good record in emergency assistance to refugees and displaced people in Lebanon (our selection is indicated below). We hope that international solidarity will at least alleviate the situation of the more than 500.000 women and men, children and youth recently displaced in Lebanon, without forgetting about the millions of Palestinian refugees and those recently displaced in Gaza. We also hope that the hundreds of thousands Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Haifa, and many cities and villages in Northern Israel, who are seeking shelter from daily missile attacks, will get the material and psychological assistance they need.
We are in contact with the Heads of our national networks in Beirut, Jerusalem and Ramallah and will help them making public their precarious situation and also their points of view.
For many years now, dialogue in the region is already severely constrained by the failure of numerous attempts to revitalize the Middle East Peace Process, and the recent armed conflicts in Gaza. We can only hope that our Governments do whatever they can in order to stop the war and the suffering of innocent people on all sides.
In addition to political efforts, we need men and women of good will to stop the hatred which always fuels new violence. Even during the Second World War and during the most dangerous times of the East-West conflict, such people raised their voice - intellectuals, young people and concerned citizens at all levels. The Anna Lindh Foundation has now more than 1000 member organizations in all 35 countries of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. All of them are committed to increase their efforts and not to wait until somebody else will care about our future.
We have invited young people between 18 and 25 years to share with us their concerns and their proposals; the action "Dialogue 21" is still open for participation on our website until 31 August this year. We are very happy that almost 50 percent of all participants come from Arab countries. This is evidence of the interest of young citizens in the Arab world to contribute with their ideas and dreams to a better future.
Wars are the extreme form of political and economic conflicts. The more these conflicts are obscured by cultural and religious differences and claims, the more difficult are solutions to find. If we want to help political settlement, we need to dry out the cultural and religious fuel of such conflicts. We need to find new and more effective forms of a dialogue which starts with the assumption that the other might be right. Religion is one important dimension of human culture and civilization, based on beliefs and tradition. There are too many human beings pretending that they would know exactly what God's will is. We as human beings need to be more modest: All of us have opinions and beliefs, inherited and inspired by traditions from our fathers and mothers and earlier generations. Human beings are subject to errors, including in their beliefs and religious practices. Nobody can claim that God justifies any conflict or violence on religious reasons. Such conflicts must be attributed to weakness of human beings. But how can we expect followers of different religions to respect each other's opinion and belief, if they do not even know about their differences?
A very good idea was practiced recently in Denmark: As part of an “Islam-Expo”, organized by the Danish Centre for Culture and Development (DCCD), Head of the Anna Lindh Foundation’s Danish Network, all non-Muslim citizens of Copenhagen were invited to participate in a Friday Prayer in a Mosque, and to have a face-to-face talk on all matters of interest with a Muslim neighbour. We need more such creative ideas. As much as we need people who speak more than one language, we need people who know more than one religion. And we need to give young people an opportunity to discover cultural diversity as an element that makes our life richer and that is as essential for the survival of humankind as is biodiversity for nature. We need to give citizens a perspective for a 21st century where political and economic conflicts are settled by those we are electing to represent us.

Anna Lindh Foundation: First Euro-Med teacher training course on
‘religious diversity’
 

Alexandria, November 19th, 2006
The Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures is launching the first teacher training course ‘How to deal with religious diversity in classrooms’. Thirty-four teachers from 18 Euro-Mediterranean countries will participate in the training in Alexandria, Egypt from November 20th – 24th, 2006.
A minimum of knowledge on all major religions in the region is necessary for promoting mutual respect, according to the conclusions of a High Level Experts meeting convened recently by the Arab League and the Anna Lindh Foundation in Cairo.
The five-day training course is organized by the Anna Lindh Foundation together with the Council of Europe and the Swedish Institute in Alexandria. Teachers will be assisted in understanding religious diversity and pluralism, they will be introduced into methods and tools of intercultural education that they can use in class and out-of-school; and they will learn about the role women and men can play in intercultural and inter-religious dialogue.
The opening ceremony will take place at 10:00 a.m. on November 21st 2006, at the Goethe Institute in Alexandria. Opening speeches will be given by the Executive Director of the Anna Lindh Foundation, Dr. Traugott Schoefthaler, the representative of the Council of Europe, Mr. Josef Huber, and the Director of the Swedish Institute Alexandria, Mr. Jan Henningsson. Teaching and learning materials on cultural and religious pluralism will be published next year on the website of the Foundation www.euromedalex.org 
The recent "cartoon crisis" has revealed a huge gap in mutual knowledge, especially between Europeans and their Muslim neighbours around the Mediterranean Sea. This situation calls for new forms of dialogue which clearly address differences and diversity between cultures and religions and promote more knowledge and respect.
The teacher training on religious diversity is organised on the basis of the ‘Rabat Commitment’ on ‘Dialogue between Cultures and Civilisations: Towards Concrete and Sustained Actions’, which has been signed in June 2005 by UNESCO, the Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization of the Arab League (ALECSO), and of the organisation of the Islamic Conference (ISESCO), the OIC itself, DCCD, the Anna Lindh Foundation, and the Council of Europe.
The Anna Lindh Foundation Euro-Mediterranean Teacher-Training Programme was established in May 2006 in collaboration with the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) and the Council of Europe. It provides teachers from Euro-Med countries with teaching skills and materials on cultural and religious diversity, sustainable development and education for human rights and democratic citizenship. All materials developed for the Euro-Med Teacher training programme, selected materials from other partners and results from school-to-school projects will be published in English, French and Arabic on the Foundation's web-site.

What every American need to know about Israel/Palestine

Just Another Mother Murdered
Alison Weir
Counter Punch
October 6, 2006

Her name was Itemad Ismail Abu Mo'ammar.
 
She didn't die, though. That took longer. It required her  life to flow out of her in the form of blood for several  hours, as Israeli soldiers refused to allow an ambulance to transport her to help. Her husband and children could  do nothing to save her.
For more please click here

INTERNATIONAL REPORTS

Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program

NED - The National Endowment for Democracy. Established in 2001, the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program enables democracy activists, practitioners, scholars, and journalists from around the world to deepen their understanding of democracy and enhance their ability to promote democratic change. Fellows are in residence at the International Forum for Democratic Studies, the research arm of the Endowment, in Washington, D.C., and receive a stipend, health insurance, and travel assistance.
We are especially interested in ensuring that this program becomes known to scholars and activists in the Middle East and North Africa. Given your organization's important role in the promotion of human rights and democracy in this vital region of the world, we are turning to you for assistance in spreading the word about our program.

To get application form details please click here

PRIVATE TELEVISION IN PALESTINE Submitted for the degree of MA in Mass Communications, Leicester University, UK                                                 

By walid Batrawi a Palestanian Journalist and media resercher

PAX Christi,supported AWMC Project of Filming an episode documenting sevral sorts of violence against women in Jordan For more please click 

HERE

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