Active Citizenship in Conflict Zones – How is it possible in Syria? In Denmark?

Suggested donation fee: 30,- kr. cash or mobile-pay at the entrance

At a time when many people feel discouraged and paralyzed by the destructive actions happening in Syria, we find it essential to gain knowledge and raise awareness about peace initiatives and transformative non-violent actions that are taking place – especially because we rarely hear of them.

At this open event a Syrian peace organization will share their stories and methods from their work on active citizenship within Syria, thus illustrating how they manage to carry out peace work in a time and place of violent conflict.

Since the beginning of the war in Syria this organisation has engaged thousands of social activists. Members of the network develop their own initiatives and activities across the country and young leaders serve as catalysts for change in their own local communities.

In Denmark, the need for peace work and non-violent conflict resolution is also becoming ever more pressing as opposing opinions regarding the current refugee crisis are creating tensions and divisions within society.

Besides raising awareness about current peace work in Syria, this event is therefore also intended as an inspiration regarding ways of using active citizenship as a means to transform conflicts and human relations.

Programme

• Stories of active citizenship in Syria by Syrian peace activists.
• Transforming conflicts/the relation between big and small conflicts  by Else Hammerich – founder of the Danish Centre for Conflict Resolution
• Stories from Syrians and Danes about the founding of a network that uses active citizenship as a means of working with peaceful coexistence in Denmark – Globally Connected.
• Stories of Hope – an upcoming event on creative conflict transformation by The LIVIA Foundation.
• ”How to be an active citizen across borders and conflicts?” A facilitated conversation between participants by Jane Bruslund   

Who are we?

Globally Connected Denmark is a newly established network of Danes and Syrians in Denmark who work with active citizenship in their local communities promoting peace and better co-existence. Globally Connected is established with the help of Syrian peace workers and also exist in Holland were it started in early 2015 also with the purpose of creating better dialogue in Europe between Syrian refugees and Europeans.

The LIVIA Foundation (Liviafonden) aims at  disseminating the courageous and nonviolent approaches to conflicts in societies. One initiative by the LIVIA Foundation is the LIVIA Award that has been given 4 times for  brave conflict transformation initiatives in Denmark and other parts of the world.

Danish Centre for Conflict Resolution (Center for konfliktløsning) is a non-profit and non-governmental organization founded in 1994 with the purpose of spreading knowledge of peaceful conflict resolution nationally as well as internationally and to ensure that individuals and organizations are qualified to deal with conflicts in a sensible manner.

 The event is funded by Danmission and KVINFO