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In the process of preparing the United Games Youth Festivals in June 2000, as part of the International Year of a Culture of Peace, the young people taking part discovered that, although there was a lot of information on a culture of peace, there were very few ideas for concrete action. They came up with the idea of putting together a collection of games and activities about non-violence, which then developed into a plan to write a whole book. This book will be based on the personal experiences of the young people themselves and their daily lives.
From the very beginning it has been clear that it should be a book by young people for young people. The role of adults in the process is to organise and co-ordinate the camps, fundraise and advise on content when asked. All final decisions are made by the young people involved. This process will continue until the book is published.
First Camp
In August 2000 the first step was taken at the camp in Olomouc/Czech Republic. The idea of the Young People’s Book on Non-Violence was born. Young people from Austria, Czech Repubic, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Slovenia and Yugoslavia participated. Everyone who had taken part went back to their own countries and started collecting materials, contact schools and youth groups to gather ideas about what the book should look like as well as poems, pictures, essays and personal stories to go inside the book.
Second Camp
In April 2001 a second camp was held in Györ, Hungary to come up with a structure and a workbook to continue the process of book writing. Many of the people who were in Olomouc attended this camp as well as new participants from Italy, England and India. The idea of the book has been spreading to other countries fast and more and more young people are getting involved.
In Györ, various workshops were held to brainstorm ideas for the structure of the book and the content of each chapter. We soon realised that all the different causes and effects of violence are linked and to separate them into chapters was not easy. There was an intense plenary session where the different suggestions were combined and structured in a way all young people from all countries agreed on. The group was then split up into smaller groups to work on the individual chapters and artistic parts of the book.
The chapters follow a logical sequence of thoughts. The book starts with the idea of the Iceberg of Violence and then takes a look at how both violence and non-violence exist in all of us. It then leads on to aspects of the daily life of young people such as personal relationships in family, school, local communities and wider society. All of these relationships always come back to the individual young person.
Where do we go from here?
What we have now is not a finished book but some kind of workbook to use as a framework for the next stage of the process. Although the workbook has a structure and chapters, it has many gaps. We would appreciate your contributions and experience to fill these gaps over the next few months. The text on each page gives an outline of what we would like to say in the final book, but it can be changed so we would like your comments on our ideas. There are also ”wish-list” boxes outlining what other specific material we need. Anyone is welcome to contribute!
A group of young people in each participating country have taken responsibility of collecting the material for each chapter. (See contact details of the young people). Contributions will be accepted until the end of November. If you wish to have your name included in the book, please make sure you clearly label any work you send. If it is possible to send your work on disk or CD, that is even better.
In approximately six months we will do the next camp, hopefully in Izola/ Slovenia. The aim will be to go over the texts again and design the layout of the book. Professionals will help us with the editing and designing and will offer their expertise in the field. We also hope to test some of the activities and games in the book in local schools and youth groups. If everything goes well, the book will be finalised in a fourth camp in spring/early summer 2002.
Contact Address:
United Games International
Göstingerstraße 169
A – 8051 Graz
Tel: +43/316/68 55 83
Fax: +43/316/68 55 834
E–Mail: werner.greis@telecom.at
United Games 2002 – ”Be the Change for a Culture of Peace”
”Be the Change for a Culture of Peace” is the common title under which all international United Games Youth Festivals in Europe and India will be performed in May/June 2002.
We will focus on Agenda 21 and sustainable development and try to take a closer look at possible ways for young people to put parts of Agenda 21 into practise in their towns and regions. Back home, they will also discuss the issue with a youth group in a country on the southern hemisphere of our planet via Internet.
United Games will cooperate with Peace Child International, who has created a worldwide youth network for sustainable development under the title: ”Be the Change”:
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