Platform2 On Tour :: Aberdeen
A glimpse of the Platform2 On Tour event in The Tunnels in Aberdeen last month…
Find out more at www.myplatform2.com.
Conflict: War & Peace
The latest Ctrl.Alt.Shift collaboration has been launched…
BALTIC Competition
Conflict: War & Peace
Conflict is a major contributor to poverty throughout the world. 80% of the world’spoorest countries have suffered from a major conflict in the past 15 years, funded by a global military spend of $900 billion. Almost every conflict zone in the world is located in a developing country. Very little change happens without some conflict, for the simple reason that people who hold power at the expense of others usually fight to hold on to it. The human destruction caused by violent conflict isdevastating: 90% of modern war victims are civilian. 75% of the world’s refugeesare women and children, as men are often killed or forced into armies or militias.
Ctrl.Alt.Shift and BALTIC are hosting a contemporary art competition around the theme of conflict, giving you the chance to get involved. You will be given the opportunity to showcase your work on the BALTIC website and BALTIC’s own Quay TV, as well as being published in Ctrl.Alt.Shift magazine which is distributed nationally. Your work will accompany the Ctrl.Alt.Shift exhibition at BALTIC. To enter, all you have to do is create a piece of artwork based around conflict, take a picture of what you create and then upload it to this site. Some themes to consider that might help you find direction are: racial and ethnic intolerance, political violence and violence in culture – further information can also be found on the website and in the brief.
Ctrl.Alt.Shift is a community for passionate and outspoken individuals, joined in the fights against poverty and injustice. Learn about the issues. Add your voice. It’s your world – take control.
Platform2 :: Your Platform To Change Your World
One of the programs I’m involved with through work is Platform2, a fantastic volunteering opportunity. We’re still recruiting, so check out the spiel below, and if you’re interested/know someone who might be, either get in touch or pass the details on!
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Platform2 is fully funded by the Department for International Development and does not cost anything for the volunteers who take part. In short, Platform2 is a 10 week fully paid placement on a project in a developing country. It is specifically directed to 18-25 year olds who would otherwise not be able to afford such an opportunity. Check out our website: www.myplatform2.com for details of the program.
At the moment we are recruiting for the trip leaving on the 17th March ‘09. If someone were to apply now they could be away to Ghana, Peru, India, or South Africa at from mid March (until the end of May)! Applications for this trip must be in by 19th Jan ’09 – less than 100 places left!! There will however be trips leaving regularly over the next 2 years. The next application deadline would be the end of March for trips leaving 26th May ‘09.
Platform2 is a unique opportunity for 18-25 year olds in the UK to volunteer in a developing country for 10 weeks and then come back and creatively express their experience in the UK. Volunteers could be going to countries such as Ghana, South Africa, Peru or India, for a 10 week placement which will make a real difference to the local community – all of the work is locally operated and supervised, and sustainable.
When the volunteers get back, we’ll give them a platform to creatively express their experience – through art, film, photography, blogging – whatever they’re into, they can use it to tell people about their trip and what it’s like to live in a developing country.
Platform2 is different to most overseas volunteering opportunities because it’s aimed at people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford to do something like this, so it’s free. The scheme is fully-funded by the Department for International Development and run by Christian Aid, Islamic Relief and BUNAC.
If you’re 18 to 25 (at the time of travel), have / are eligible for a UK passport, and want to make a difference to people in the developing world, here’s your chance.
To find out more, please visit www.myplatform2.com or email Craig at cmccreadie@christian-aid.org.
Rebellion, Corruption & Conflict
Yesterday I had two vivid reminders of my time in the DRC. Our trip was an incredible chance to visit this beautiful country, to meet the inspiring people we work with and on behalf of, and also to get to know the other gappers. Yet coming back to the UK foisted us all back into the busyness of work, of meetings, of writing sessions, of deadlines. Today I had that rush interrupted again…
DR Congo rebels ‘oust Gen Nkunda’
This BBC news headline certainly grabbed my attention as I scanned my morning email yesterday. Officers in the CNDP (Congress for the Defence of the People, the main rebel group in eastern DRC) said they had removed their leader, Gen Laurent Nkunda, because of “bad governance”. Gen Nkunda denied this, and today the BBC are running an article stating that rebel commanders in the CNDP have pledged their loyalty to Gen Laurent Nkunda, following those claims. His spokesman said those rebel officials saying he had been ousted had committed “high treason”.
How Corrupt Is Your Country?
That was the other headline that made me pause a little longer than usual. Yesterdays Daily Stat email (from Harvard Business School) took a look at the Corruption Perceptions Index, which compares 180 countries according to the degree of public-sector corruption perceived by business leaders and analysts.
Last year (2008), the DRC came in joint 171st… pretty low down. The UK & Ireland tied for 16th place, and the US tied in 18th place.
As my attention is pulled towards the violence in Gaza, I’m trying not to forget those enduring conflict elsewhere. Though it won’t hit the TV news tonight, remember the Congolese people. Their suffering does not end when the camera crew rolls out.
God of peace, you forget no one.
Be gracious to the people of Congo and bless them.
May we who have been given so much,
strengthen our resolve to work and pray for reconciliation
in all parts of the world bloodied by war.
Give us the grace to watch with those who weep
and the endurance to stand with those who wait for a safe return home.
Work through us to hold all suffering people in the palm of your hand
and to heal your broken world.
So roads scarred by the suffering of your people,
are made into perfected paths to peace.Amen.
(Christian Aid/Kate Tuckett)
Conspire!
CONSPIRE!: Plotting Goodness is a quarterly publication that shares stories of community, revolutionary love, and creative new visions. Conspire! stubbornly insists that small, daily acts of faith, conviction, and integrity can change the world.
I found out about CONSPIRE! through Ryan, who’s part of the team crafting it. They’re looking for submissions for the first issue, I’ve just sent a few off! The deadline is soon (Jan 9), but if you’re keen you could make it! The official call for entries is below, check it out…
Call for visions and voices in our premier issue.
Spring 2009 (March) : Resurrection Stories
At the core of all Christian belief is this bizarre, astonishing, and absurd claim: That someone who was executed and killed came back to life three days later. Most of the time it seems that church folks allow that belief to be a safe, abstract spiritual idea without really grappling with its claim on their lives.
Does the resurrection of Jesus actually have an impact on our lives, personally and communally? Have we felt resurrection in our own experience? Has the resurrection story transformed the way we lived into certain situations or utterly changed the way we looked at our options? How?
Have we gone through real deaths – losing someone we loved, bathing and embalming
the loved one’s body marked by brutal violence, or feeling our hopes and possibilities crushed – only to come out at the other end, more alive and on fire with hope?
Or is resurrection the ultimate Christian mind-game–a story so hardwired into us that we are programmed to find resurrection whether or not it is actually there. Are our resurrection stories a placebo to cover up meaningless suffering and loss? Do we call things resurrection when what we actually mean is that we have gotten over some death and moved on?
This inaugural issue of Conspire! will launch around Easter, 2009. In it, we invite you to share your musings on resurrection. Your stories may come from your personal life, or from the life of your community, or from the world around you. How have you experienced world-shattering hope, good news that turns you upside down and changes your life – and is more than a spiritual cliché? Maybe resurrection happens in sly, subtle ways (after all, only a handful of people saw the risen Jesus!). Maybe resurrections are there all the time – but we finally learn to open our eyes to see them.
We are looking for various kinds of materials:
Articles: Articles can range from 200 to 1,500 words. We are looking for material that is personal, engaged, provocative, challenging – not scholarly, not too heady, but neither too simplistic or pious. Most articles should relate to the specific theme of the issue, though we will occasionally consider others as well.
Artwork and Photography: Do you have an eye for the visual image that compels our attention, draws forth deep resonance in our spirit, unveils the unseen beauty around us – or maybe is just cool? Let’s see what you have –maybe it fits in our pages.
Poetry: Do you weave words that yield the shock of beauty, the jolt of insight, the opening of new awareness? Send something our way – no long epics, please, no piety set to verse.
Short Fiction: Are you a spinner of yarns that probe the human condition, that navigate the interstices of meaning and mystery in our experience? Maximum of 1,500 words.
Reviews: Are there some great books, films, art, blogs, or other media out there that can spark our imagination, challenge our paradigms, empower us in our subversive revolution of love? Let us know – in under 500 words. (Note: Reviews do not have to tie into the theme of the issue.)
The deadline for submissions is January 9, 2009.
Send manuscripts, queries, ideas to: editors@conspiremagazine.com
No large image files, please. Small, low-res jpegs, or links to online galleries.
WHO WE ARE:
Conspire! is a quarterly publication that shares stories of community, revolutionary love, and creative new visions. Conspire! stubbornly insists that small, daily acts of faith, conviction, and integrity can change the world.
Since Conspire! is just starting, we are not able to offer compensation for articles at this point – but we certainly will provide you with a subscription!
Muhammad Yunus Lecture
At the beginning of December I got to hear Muhammad Yunus give a lecture at Glasgow Caledonian university (notes here). The university recorded the lecture, and you can view it online here. If your interested in microfinance and social justice, it’s well worth a watch.
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