Alternatives Montreal — Montreal, Canada
Alternatives is hosting its Festival of Solidarity on Saturday, June 9. The festival will include workshops as well as conferences centered around the idea of uniting in a common battle against the right-wing agenda of austerity. It will bring together several key leaders of this spring’s social movements. Notable speakers include Gabriel-Nabeau-Dubois, the spokesperson for the most militant of student organizations in Quebec, as well as Hervé Kempf, author of How the Rich Are Destroying the Earth.
IPAM—Paris, France
IPAM is supporting, from June 20 to 22, a new United Nations Conference for Sustainable Development (CNUDD) in Rio de Janeiro twenty years after the Rio’s Earth Summit of 1992. The subject in question is “green economics,” which is proposed to be the solution to multiple crises today by international institutions – just as sustainable development was some time ago.
Forum des Alternatives Maroc (FMAS)—Rabat, Morocco
On May 9, the Forum hosted a conference that discussed the negative effects of globalization on the daily lives of the residents of various neighborhoods in Casablanca. This meeting served as a preparatory stage for the upcoming World Social Forum to be held in Tunis in March 2013. Participants numbered close to a hundred and included several NGOS, social activist groups, as well as the residents of the most populated neighborhoods of Casablanca.
The issue of urban policy over neighborhoods was the core subject of debates throughout the day. The Forum expressed a need to rebuild the city with certain ideas in mind such as social justice and gender equality.
Teacher Creativity Center—Ramallah, Palestine
The Teacher Creativity Center focuses on providing a safe, democratic, and stimulating environment, where human rights and democracy values can be effectively taught. It has just launched its 3-year operational plan. The center will work on accomplishing its objectives for the next three years via activating four principle projects: the civic education program, the human rights and gender program, the social responsibility program, and the educational monitor program. The center seeks, in the next three years, to intensively work in 120 social locations.
Un Punte Per—Rome, Italy
Un Punte Per is supporting a program launched at the end of 2011 that aims to help preserve the multiplicity of civilizations that constitute Iraq today. The first project has the primary objective of providing schooling for young Christian, Yazidi and Kudish minorities displaced in Northern Iraq.
Alternative Information Center—Jerusalem, Israel
The AIC, a joint Palestinian-Israeli activist organization engaged in the diffusion of information, political advocacy and grassroots activism, is hosting: Gaza: Two Years after the Freedom Flotilla with Freedom Flotilla organizer Lubna Masarwa on June 2.
On May 31, 2010, Israel’s navy attacked the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla, a civil society initiative to break Israel’s siege of Gaza and bring humanitarian aid and international solidarity to the Palestinian people of Gaza. Israel killed 9 Turkish citizens aboard the Mavi Marmara ship, injuring dozens and detaining and deporting hundreds during the attack.
The talk will address questions such as: “How has life in the Gaza Strip changed since the Freedom Flotilla? How is the struggle to end Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip linked to the broader Palestinian struggle for liberation from Israeli colonialism? How has international solidarity been impacted by the experience of the Freedom Flotilla?” Masarwa was arrested by Israel on board one of the ships. Lubna is a Palestinian political and social feminist activist and a community organiser with rich experience in connecting different struggles on the local and international levels. She was also a key organizer for the Welcome to Palestine Campaign that began in 2011.
Associação Civil Alternativa Terrazul - Fortaleza, Brazil
As the UN Conference on Sustainable Development approaches, organizations worldwide have begun mobilizing activists, academics and researchers to place pressure on the countries attending the Earth Summit 2012. However, Associação Civil Alternativa Terrazul has also begun educating and prompting local youth to fight for social, economic and environmental justice. Youth have the gumption, wherewithal and creativity to provoke transformative change, as was seen at the 1992 UN Earth Summit where 13 year-old Severn Cullis-Suzuk spoke about the plagues of climate change. Her speech explained the grave health risks of climate change and the plagues of environmental injustice on future generations. The astute environmental consciousness of her speech exemplifies the jolting impact youth can have on sustainability. Nearly half of the globe’s population is under 25 years-old, and their mobilization in the next year is a critical step to launching new international policies towards climate justice.