Chanukah Sameach, Happy Chanukah: perhaps a small sign.

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September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
“Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows” Martin Luther King, Jr.

December 2, 2010

PRESS RELEASE: The Nonviolence Sessions of the Arab region start in Beirut

Nonviolence movements from eleven countries of the Arab Region open a space for dialogue for conflict transformation

On December 3, 4 and 5, the Third Beirut Nonviolence Session organized by Nova, the Nonviolence Network of Arab Countries (NNAC) and the Permanent Peace Movement (PPM), will take place in Lebanon.

For the first time, 30 nonviolence organizations and movements from eleven countries of the Arab region (Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Kuwait) will join in Beirut to exchange experiences and strategies on transforming the conflict within their countries and to strengthen relations within the framework of the NNAC.

It will be a “closed-door” meeting, but will have the participation of international organizations from the United States, Italy, Netherlands and Spain. The main objective is to discuss how nonviolent civil society organizations can promote a peaceful process of change and ensure human security within their societies.

Some of the issues to be discussed will be: dialogue with armed non-state actors, nonviolence and its role to empower women, the development of a citizenship culture through nonviolence or the nonviolent struggle within autocratic systems.

This conference is organized with the support of the Catalan Agency of Cooperation for Development (ACCD), the Council of Barcelona (International Cooperation, Solidarity and Peace Department) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Spanish Government (MAEC).

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