University Videoconference Series
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We, The World has launched a Student Videoconference series as part of our newest program InterConnect - Collaborative Communications for a Caring World:

Building Peace and Security in the 21st Century:
A Teach-In/Speak-Out Videoconference Series

Linking the United Nations
with Universities and Featured Participants
from Around the World

It's "All About Solutions"
- Utne Magazine
Education Update Article
United Nations Chronicle Article

International Youth Peace Forum:
Educating for Peace and Sustainability
with featured speaker Dr. Jane Goodall

Friday September 19, 2003

Click here to get involved!

The September 19th videoconference followed the International Day of Peace Ceremony taking place in the morning at the United Nations. Dr. Goodall and other speakers took part in both activities.

The videoconference examined peace education, youth and sustainability to accomplish conflict prevention. Speakers for the September 19th videoconference included:
 

  • Dr. Jane Goodall, a UN Peace Messenger and Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research
  • Audrey Kitagawa (moderator/speaker),Advisor, UN Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
  • Jacqueline Murekatete (Rwanda) and other youth representatives from the Share the Spirit of Peace Youth Summit and International Day of Peace UN Ceremony coming from regions of conflict such as: Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Liberia (Kimmie Weeks), Israel (Oran Cohen), as well as Australia (Jackie Furtado) and others
  • Nina Meyerhof and Jon Schottland, Vermont Peace Academy, Children of the Earth, Seeds of Peace
  • Rick Ulfik, Founder and Director of We, The World


1 University (in Iowa) and 6 Vermont High Schools totaling over 300 students were connected to the United Nations where Dr. Jane Goodall joined several remarkable young people who survived violence and genocide in Rwanda, Bosnia, Liberia and elsewhere and shared how their experiences have motivated them to devote their lives to promoting peace and co-existence. For example, 18-year-old Jacqueline Murekatete (from Rwanda) now speaks in schools and other community gatherings with a man who survived the Holocaust in Germany. Together they share their experiences and their mission to prevent genocides like those from ever happening again.

During the videoconference Dr. Goodall shared her inspiring words and accomplishments as well. Students and speakers were able to fully see and interact with each other.

The videoconference was so moving to a reporter covering it at the UN for Education Update (a newspaper that reaches 200,000 parents, educators, and students) that the publication's editor has made our event the Cover Story of their 8th Anniversary issue!

Please contact us to order videotapes ($25 US per copy) of this or the July 9th videoconference with Congressman and Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich: Videoconferences@WeTheWorld.org

NOTE: We are seeking a sponsor for live webcasts of our upcoming videoconferences. Please let us know if you have any contacts in that area.

Also, there are still openings for University Host Sites for our upcoming videoconferences. Please contact us if your affiliated University might be interested in participating: (Videoconferences@WeTheWorld.org)

Series Launched Wednesday July 9, 2003

Click here to view or learn more about the July 9th Videoconference

Videoconference Series Presented by
We, The World

Sponsored by
The Lifebridge Foundation
 Vermont Interactive Learning Network
Eleanor Wasson
and John Krysko

Co-Sponsored by
Transitioners.org
Children of the Earth
Vermont Peace Academy
Good News Broadcast.com
Music Therapists For Peace
WorldPeaceProductions.org
The Buckminster Fuller Institute
The Global Youth Action Network
The Foundation for Ethics and Meaning
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
Communications Coordination Committee of the United Nations

As the U. S. Congress is poised to appropriate billions of additional dollars for the Defense Budget and Homeland Security, there is little public discussion about the programs, policies and practices that can prevent armed conflict, repression and terrorism, which are less costly on many levels and could be more effective in the long run in contributing to the increase of peace and security around the world.

At times of crisis, practices of prevention typically get even less media attention than usual. An important way that such ideas and information can be disseminated is through in-depth discussion on media channels with wide audiences. This Student Videoconference series offers an appealing and valuable setting for this to take place.

Each event of this series links Universities, the United Nations and featured speakers. The series is webcast and covered on a variety of media.

In September 2003 the Videoconference Series is being convened in recognition of Interdependence Day which We, The World launched in September 2002 at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg South Africa.

Upcoming Videoconferences
Your affiliated University can become one of the Host Sites for this Videoconference series. Please let us know if your University would like to participate in the series and what the available dates and times are.

Hosts receive acknowledgment during the broadcast, on our website (with a link) and on promotional materials.

Videoconference Format
Videoconferences are facilitated by a Chair at each connecting site. And there is one overall moderator. After 7-10 minute presentations by the featured speakers students (and faculty) at each of the connected sites will have the opportunity to ask questions and interact with the speakers. Each Videoconference is generally 1 1/2 hours long after which Universities may resume discussion separately if they wish.

Technical Requirements
Host sites will need to have a videoconference facility that uses an ISDN line with connection speeds of 256 to 384 kbps (384 is standard offering much better quality). Connecting via IP may also be an option. (Please contact us about IP). The Videoconference room should be able to accommodate at least 20 or more students. Please let us know if your University can also simultaneously webcast the Videoconference.

Cost to Universities
$350 for each of the University sites (in continental U.S.) covers the
technical/connection and related costs, including a run-through test link-up done several
days prior to the actual videoconference. Partial or full "scholarships" may be available
in certain cases.

Videoconference Host Sites on July 9, 2003
American University
The University of Minnesota
The United Nations
The U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Dennis Kucinich

To view the July 9th Videoconference (90 minutes long),
please click on the link below.
NOTE: If the Videoconference is not active at this link,
please send us an email message
(VideoconferenceInfo@WeTheWorld.org)
and we'll contact you when the Videoconference archive is back online.

Archive of We, The World Videoconference July 9, 2003
NOTE: 1) Click on We, The World - Videoconference, 2) Click WMV on the left side.


Guest speakers for the first of the series on July 9, 2003 included:

* Congressman and Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich, who has introduced legislation mandating a Cabinet level Department of Peace in the U.S. government

* Felicity Hill, from the UN Development Organization for Women working for UN Resolution 1325 and for an essential role for women in conflict resolution and peacebuilding

* Mel Duncan, Executive Director of the Nonviolent Peaceforce: international trained, unarmed civilians applying proven nonviolent strategies to protect human rights, deter violence, and help local peacemakers to carry out their work

* Rick Ulfik, Founder and Director of We, The World

* Gemma Adaba (Moderator), UN Representative, International Confederation of Free Trade Unions

American University in Washington, D.C., one of the participating Universities, held a special gathering for this Videoconference with about 150 participants, including international conflict resolution practitioners who were participating in the Peacebuilding & Development Summer Institute and came from such diverse countries such as Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, The Gambia, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Australia, Ethiopia, Japan, Albania, Denmark, and from several Latin American and Caribbean countries; also Greek and Cypriot youth and professionals from the Washington D.C. area including former and current foreign service officers, World Bank, OAS, CARE, Mercy Corps, UNHCR, and The World Affairs Council officials. In addition, Master's degree students from fields such as International Peace & Conflict Resolution and International Development also participated in the Videoconference.

Youth Forum
Peace in Action
November 5, 2003

Speakers included:

Nana Osei Boakye Yiadom II (Apeadu) - Queenmother/chief of Aburi, Ghana. and Co-Founder of the Apeadu Peace Center which provides assistance and advocacy for refugee women and children in Africa. It offers community teacher training and youth training, creating Youth Ambassadors who, among other things, are working with young people in a Liberian refugee camp in Ghana teaching them beadwork skills to bring in money and other skills they can use. The Apeadu Center also sponsored an environmental cleanup that the entire community took part in.

Audrey Kitagawa - Advisor, UN Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict

Andres Guerrero - representative of UNICEF

Lori Heninger - speaker/moderator - Quakers office of the United Nations, studying the problem of child soldiers being used in conflict areas.

Heather Moore - Youth Leader from Miracle Corners of the World, which has assisted young people in establishing micro-enterprises and constructing a community center in Arusha, Tanzania which today serves as a resource center for both the local community and volunteers from abroad.

Blair Bodine - Singer, songwriter creating CDs for Children of the Earth

Jonathan Sawyer - representative of Global Kids

Plus

Heather Moore moderated a section of the videoconference for student project presentations.One student representative from each connected school site spoke about a successful peace-related project that they initiated.

Also, Nina Meyerhof (Co-Founder, Vermont Peace Academy; President, Children of the Earth, Co-Founder, the Apeadu Peace Center) facilitated a presentation led by Vermont students who are interested in planning a Vermont Youth Peace Summit to be held in January.

The Videoconference Bridge was provided by the Vermont Interactive Learning Network. Participating linked sites for the November 5th Videoconference included:

The United Nations
George Mason University (Washington DC)
Mills College (California)
Several Vermont High Schools participating in the Vermont Peace Academy's Peace Education Program

As usual, the program was fully interactive with students from any of the linked sites being able to ask questions and connect with the speakers.

Videoconference Series topics:

(Practices Of Prevention That Build Peace And Security helping to create a sustainable planet with peaceful co-existence among all peoples and respect for all life:)

- fund the transition from fossil fuels to renewable non-polluting energy sources worldwide

- support business responsibility regarding labor, the environment and other areas

- promote the multilateral framework of the United Nations, its institutions and its legal instruments for resolving international conflicts

- establish a Department or Ministry of Peace in every country

- promote peacebuilding through insuring basic human needs worldwide such as food, water and shelter

- support universal access to healthcare and all components of healthy living including: sanitary living conditions, chemical-free food and water, pollution-free land, sea and air

- provide significant funding for public media that are independent of special interests

- promote peace education programs at all grade levels

- prioritize nonviolent forms of communication at all levels from personal to international

- promote peacebuilding through empowering women

- promote peacebuilding through Interfaith dialogue and understanding

- support the creation of democratic practices and institutions worldwide.

- support the use of field-tested programs in nonviolent intervention such as nonviolent civilian peacekeeping forces

- support the mediation of conflict

- reduce weapons sales

- reduce and eliminate stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction worldwide

- support disarmament talks and treaties

Click here to get involved!

PARTICIPANTS, VIEWERS AND MEDIA COVERAGE
Our July 9th videoconference connected 4 sites: The United Nations, American University (in Washington, DC), the University of Minnesota, and the House of Representatives with featured speaker Congressman Dennis Kucinich (who has introduced legislation mandating a Cabinet level Department of Peace in the U.S. government). The total number of participating students and faculty was over 150. Close to 300 others watched the webcast of this videoconference and many more have since watched it and continue to watch it on the internet. Also, excerpts from this Videoconference were broadcast on the INN Report with a viewership of tens of thousands of people via the Dish Network. Utne Magazine website ran a feature story on this videoconference and the series entitled "All About Solutions".

Our September 19th videoconference connected 8 sites with over 300 students and faculty participating: The United Nations (with featured speaker Dr. Jane Goodall and youth speakers who experienced genocides in such countries as Rwanda, Yugoslavia and Liberia), 1 University in Iowa and 6 Vermont High Schools who participated as part of the Vermont Peace Academy's peace education program. A reporter from Education Update wrote the following about this videoconference:
 

Hello Rick. Thank you again so much for providing me with the opportunity to observe the videoconference today. It was very moving and my Publisher (Dr. Pola Rosen) and myself have decided to make the story the feature in our November issue... Michelle Accorso


Education Update is an award-winning eight-year-old newspaper that reaches 200,000 readers including: teachers, principals, superintendents, members of the Board of Regents, college presidents, deans of education, foundation heads, parents and high school and college students. Their website receives 1.8 million hits per month. They did indeed make our videoconference the lead story in their November issue.  Click here to see it!

Our Videoconference Series has the potential to reach a large number of viewers beyond the immediate participants. The Program Director of PBS affiliate WYBE  in Pennsylvania has agreed to broadcast at least one of the videoconferences. Visual Voices TV show (which airs in Manhattan, is simultaneously webcast around the world, and is about to tremendously increase its distribution) will air excerpts from the videoconferences. And C-Span has expressed interest as well. Also, videotapes can be distributed to students at the participating Universities as well as to other educational institutions and community groups.

Series Panelists:
Dr. Jane Goodall (Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research) - Sept. 19, 2003 participant
Congressman Dennis Kucinich - July 9, 2003 participant
Felicity Hill (UN Development Organization for Women, working for UN Resolution 1325 and the essential role of women in conflict resolution and peacebuilding) - July 9, 2003 participant
Mel Duncan (Executive Director of the Nonviolent Peaceforce) - July 9, 2003 participant
Ashok Gangadean (Co-Founder and Director, Global Dialogue Institute) - confirmed
Jonathan Granoff (President, Global Security Institute) - confirmed
Carol Barton (Coordinator of Womens International Coalition for Economic Justice) - confirmed
Audrey Kitagawa (Advisor, UN Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict) - Sept. 19, 2003 participant
Alice Slater (Lawyers Committee for Nuclear Policy) - confirmed
John Langmore (Director of International Labor Liaison Office in New York City)  - confirmed
Amy Goodman (Journalist and host of Pacifica's Democracy Now) - confirmed
Hazel Henderson (Consultant on sustainable development, Board Member of Worldwatch Institute; world renowned futurist; originated the Calvert-Henderson Quality-of-Life Indicators) - confirmed
Richard Falk (Professor of International Law, Princeton University)
Raphael Piroman (Public Broadcast System TV Host, Channel Thirteen, New York)

Possible Host Sites Include
United Nations - confirmed
(The UN Dept. of Public Information has arranged for the UN to provide their videoconference facilities for this program)
University of Minnesota - July 9, 2003 participant
American University (Wash. DC) - July 9, 2003 participant
George Mason University (Wash. DC)
New Mexico State University
University of California, Santa Barbara
Temple University (Pennsylvania)
University of California, Berkely
University of California, Irvine
Eastern University (Pennsylvania)
DePaul University (Chicago)
John Jay College (New York)
Georgetown University
University of Pennsylvania
City University of NY Graduate Center
Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität (Bonn, Germany)
European Union Student Counsil


Messages from some who watched
the July 9, 2003 Videoconference


Rick,

I watched the webcast. I am so proud and happy that you and your people brought that about. What an important and significant accomplishment. Thank you.

I belong to several groups I believe will be interested in seeing a tape of the program, and I will be checking the We the World website for how to obtaining a couple copies. The descriptions given of tangible ways to work for peace will offer so many people hope that a world of peace is actually a possibility. This is greatly needed to counter the despair and feelings of hopelessness/helplessness that many people are feeling and expressing given the current political situation.

Again, thank you.
Beverly Stern



Dear Rick Ulfik,
 It is wonderful to hear good news for a change, from the doers. It is dawning on me that there exist an enormous really enormous spontaneous uncentralized practical peace and justice effort worldwide based on the economic fundamentals of social justice. It certainly is challenging the perverse and evil dominants of the moment. Perhaps sometime soon it can start diminishing and isolating them. I really do think something big and good can happen. There's too much energy for it to be contained.

Critical to the progress of this is breaking through the groupthink and the media barriers that keep this new spirit from getting out and penetrating our public despair and depression and the resulting stupor.

Thanks so much for this.
Yours, Tom Blandy



dear rick,

congratulations! if there is such a thing as a "coup" for peace (with which phrase i suspect you'd take issue), this was surely it! i know to a small degree the months, weeks, days, hours, phone calls, phone conferences, missed meals and missed sleep you devoted to this amazing product. so many components - places, people, technical equipment, logistics to coordinate and unite in one small yet large moment in time.

congratulations, too, to the multitude of people, both before and behind the cameras and mikes, who took this action with you. i hope you and they take pride in this remarkable, groundbreaking achievement. as i see it, only by changing hearts and minds can behavior (possibly) be changed, and only through communication can hearts and minds (possibly) be changed. thank you for the effort; thank you for taking that step.

looking forward to your follow-ups,
barbara j hunter


Ways for you to become involved (choose one or more!)

1. Your College, University, Community Center or Community TV station can become one of the Host Sites for our Videoconference series. Hosts receive acknowledgment during the broadcast, on our website (with a link) and on promotional materials.

We are looking to confirm more University sites for each of our upcoming videoconferences.

Please let us know if your College, University or Community TV station is interested in participating.
HostSites@WeTheWorld.org.

2. You or your business/organization can become a FINANCIAL SPONSOR at one of these levels:

Friend:
Supporter:
Benefactor:
Patron:
Founder:
Other:
$500
$1000
$2500
$5000
$10000
$_____

* Sponsors at the FOUNDER level and above may have their logo displayed on a panel table banner that will be visible during each of the succeeding videoconference broadcasts..
* Sponsors at the PATRON level may have their logo displayed on a panel table banner that will be visible during the next videoconference broadcast.
* Sponsors at the BENEFACTOR level and above will receive acknowledgment during broadcasts.
* All Sponsors will receive acknowledgment on promotional materials and with a link to their website.

Click here to become a Financial Sponsor

3. Your organization can become a Co-Sponsor and agrees to promote the Videoconference series with members and others. Organization information will appear on promotional materials and on our website. Click here to let us know you'd like your organization to become a Co-Sponsor: VideoconferenceCo-Sponsors@WeTheWorld.org

4. Volunteer with our organizing team! Volunteers@WeTheWorld.org

5. Email a question for our panelists! Send your question to: QandA@WeTheWorld.org
Selected questions will be asked during the broadcasts.

6. Join our email list to find out when the next Videoconference will take place, as well as other events and announcements of interest. E-List@WeTheWorld.org

Videoconference Coordination Team

We, The World
Rick Ulfik - Director, We, The World
Nancy Hawthorne - Research and Outreach
Ravi Dahiya - Business and Private Sponsorships
Mark Monteiro - Business and Private Sponsorships
Ashita Solanki - Research and Outreach
Yesenia Garcia - Research and Outreach
Bonnie Lock - Research and Outreach
Marychris Melli - Research and Outreach

Transitioners.org
Susan Jameson - Coordination and Outreach

Buckminster Fuller Institute
Joerg Geier - Research and Outreach

United Nations Consultant
Gemma Adaba - UN Representative, International Confederation of Free Trade Unions

DePaul University Consultants
Pat Szczerba - Videoconference Coordinator
Patrick Vrba - Outreach

Please contact us for more information:
Info@WeTheWorld.org.

Becoming A Financial Sponsor

To become a Financial Sponsor of the Student Videoconference Project, or to make a donation to We, The World, press this PayPal button:
(Any problems with setting up a PayPal account, please contact PayPal support at 888 221-1161)

Please let us know exactly what your payment is for:
Payments@WeTheWorld.org

If you don't want to pay online, you may send a check or money order payable to We, The World in U.S. currency to this address:

We, The World
211 East 43rd St. Suite 710
New York, NY 10017
USA

THANK YOU!

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