Council of Europe / Palais de l'Europe, Strasbourg, France
June 28 - July 2, 2010
The 5th Summer University for Democracy, a gathering of 600 political leaders, civil society activists, journalists and business leaders met to discuss "crises of leadership." The goal was to answer questions such as:
In order to meet the expectations of their citizens, what are the means and resources available to governments at local, national and international levels?
How can confidence in representatives be restored? How can values such as peace, justice and freedom be disseminated and promoted in non-democratic countries?
The International Center on Nonviolent Conflict develops greater understanding and knowledge about the phenomenon of civil resistance, and has been invited to conduct a thematic conference and a number of workshops as part of the 2010 Council of Europe Summer University. Below are all sessions that ICNC has organized with relevant presentations and resources.
1. Civil resistance, democratization and democratic sustainability
ICNC Speakers: Peter Ackerman, Arwa Hassan,
June 28, 2010 2:00pm
This workshop address questions about the common misconceptions of civil resistance; why do the authoritarian states, even the most mighty ones, fear seemingly powerless nonviolent movements; how civil resistance democratizes society and can bring about a democratic change; what is more important for the outcome of civil resistance; its internal attributes or external structural or systemic conditions; and what is the long term impact of civil resistance on democratic transformation and sustainability.
2. Civil resistance against oppression: leadership from mobilised society
ICNC Speakers: Maciej Bartkowski, Anne-Marie Codur
June 28, 2010 4:30pm, June 29, 2010 9:30am and 2:30pm
This workshop focused on the broad issue of the influence of civil resistance in building societal capacity for civic mobilization and self-organizing, producing effective democratic leadership. Specifically, it examined the case of the Palestinian nonviolent resistance from the 1930s till present.
3. Civil resistance and accountable governance: role of citizens in the fight against corruption and social and economic injustice
Speakers: Shaazka Beyerle, Vijay Anand
June 28, 2010 4:30pm, June 29, 2010 9:30am and 2:30pm
This workshop offered an overview of the application of civil resistance to curb corruption and improve governance, accountability, and win social and economic justice. The focus was on skills, strategies, objectives, and demands of nonviolent civic campaigns and movement to fight corruption and the state’s unjust practices.
4. Role of diplomats in supporting grass-root activism and bottom-up democracy promotion
Speakers: Christopher Miller, Kurt Bassuener
June 28, 2010 4:30pm, June 29, 2010 9:30am and 2:30pm
The workshop briefly highlighted the background of the origin and preparation of the Diplomat’s Handbook, the concepts used and a taxonomy of the sorts of things diplomats can do, followed by a practical illustration of what has actually happened in a growing number of case studies. The presentation covered the “toolbox” of diplomats’ resources and actions in support of civilian based democratic movements and groups, among others, immunity, influence, funds, solidarity, legitimacy, listening, sharing, reporting, working with the host government, reaching out to grass-root organizers, defending democrats.
The workshop also explored issues that influence the work of diplomats such as the diplomat’s personality traits, and career goals; support of the home country including expert support from outside the ministry; diplomats’ relative scant experience of civic nonviolent movements and NGO community with fetishization of conferences and training over bottom-up action; consistency in supporting civic democracy promoters that is often undermined by power politics or commercial considerations and finally, coordination and information sharing within the community of democracies that if weak allows the authoritarian regimes to take advantage of policy cleavages among democratic countries.
5. Civil Society: Reforms and European Integration
ICNC Speaker: Vanessa Ortiz
June 30, 2010 9:30am
This module will highlight two movements in Bosnia that formed as either a demand to investigate and recognize a gross injustice, or as an expression of citizen discontent with the current political system. Women of Srebrenica is a movement that galvanized the grief of women who lost loved ones in Srebrenica, and over 14 years has created pressure on the international community to not only address the issue of missing persons and uncovering of mass graves, but to identify and charge those accountable for war crimes. Dosta! (Enough!), is an emerging citizens movement which has organized itself from 10 members to hundreds of individuals around Bosnia – across all ethnic groups. Dosta! has been instrumental in awakening civil society to collectively demand an end to corruption by creating nonviolent campaigns targeting corrupt political leaders and policies, and pressing for a more accountable and transparent political system as part of the plan for Bosnia’s European integration.
For more information view the Council of Europe website here
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