Newsletter - CEJI Flash

Issue 4 - July/August 2007

Download CEJI Flash Issue 4 (PDF 693kb)

Competition: Win a copy of graphic novel 'The Plot' by Will Eisner

CEJI is offering five newsletter readers the chance to win a free copy of ‘The Plot’, the first graphic novel to examine the infamous conspiracy surrounding early 20th century forgery ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion’. It was written by comics legend Will Eisner and includes an introduction by Umberto Eco.

To win a copy, simply send the answer to the following question to communication@ceji.org:

Q: When did CEJI hold a Shiur on ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion’?

The answer can be found on our website www.ceji.org. The senders of the first five correct answers will each receive a copy.
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Religious Diversity and Anti-Discrimination Trainings - Register Now

Two-day Workshops - 2007

Following the success of CEJI’s first 2-day religious diversity and anti-discrimination workshop, held in Brussels in June, we will now be holding two additional workshops in 2007.

The first will take place on 17 & 18 September (in French) and the second on 12 & 13 November (in English). Both will be held in Brussels, and are open to all. The workshops cost 100€, including lunch on both days. Contact training@ceji.org to register.

Click here for further details about the Religious Diversity & Anti-Discrimination Training.

Training Courses for Adult Educators - 2008

The next courses for adult educators throughout Europe will take place from 24 - 29 February 2008 in Toulouse, France and 1 – 6 June 2008 in Konya, Turkey. Financial support for participants is available through the EU's Grundtvig or Comenius Programmes:

http://ec.europa.eu/education/trainingdatabase/

Click here to see comments and photos from previous trainings. To register your interest contact training@ceji.org.
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Progress on European Platform for Jewish-Muslim Co-operation

The first meeting of the Steering Committee of the European Platform for Jewish-Muslim Co-operation was held on 12 July in Brussels. It marked an important milestone in the creation of this international platform promoting dialogue, co-operation and partnership between Jewish and Muslim communities in Europe.

The Platform will be officially launched at an event to be held at the European Parliament in autumn 2007. This event will also see the circulation of reports mapping Jewish-Muslim dialogue initiatives in five European countries revised since their launch at the European Conference on Jewish-Muslim Dialogue earlier this year.

The European Platform for Jewish-Muslim Co-operation was established in April 2007. It is facilitated by CEJI – A Jewish Contribution to an Inclusive Europe, with guidance from a Steering Group comprising representatives of Jewish and Muslim organisations from each of the six European countries involved. In due course, it is hoped that the Platform will be co-facilitated by a Muslim partner organisation.

For more details about the European Platform for Jewish-Muslim Co-operation contact Co-ordinator Ruth Friedman at ruth.friedman@ceji.org.
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TRES Network Update: Second European Conference held in Cluj

CEJI’s Director and member of Steering Group of the TRES Network, Robin Sclafani, recently attended the second European conference of the Network, where she facilitated a workshop entitled: ‘Teaching about the Other – Challenging or Enriching my Identity?’

The conference, which was held in Cluj, Romania from 14-15 June 2007 for 100 participants from universities throughout Europe, saw the Network’s three action groups advance their work plans in the fields of 1) teaching religion; 2) religion and conflict; and 3) religion and welfare.

The TRES Network (Teaching Religion in a multicultural European Society) aims to highlight, promote and develop new strategies for the teaching of religion and theology in a multicultural European context. It has recently produced a leaflet summarising its work, which can be downloaded which can be downloaded here (PDF 1.085mb). For further information visit www.tres-network.eu.
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Advocacy Update: Take part in the EU Equality Consultation

The European Commission has just launched a public consultation on new anti-discrimination measures as part of the 2007 European Year of Equal Opportunities for All. This will hopefully be the first step towards expanding the current Equality Directives to include discrimination in various fields such as housing and education.

In order to show that Europeans are in favour of creating such legislation, as many people and organisations as possible should fill out the online form (it takes about 2 minutes – possibly the shortest EU consultation ever!). Please help support an inclusive Europe, free from discrimination, by submitting your views.

Click here to access the consultation.

The deadline is October 15th 2007.
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Advocacy Update: OSCE High-Level Conference on Discrimination

In early June, CEJI attended a High-Level Conference on Combating Discrimination and Promoting Mutual Respect and Understanding organised by the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe).

CEJI made an intervention underlining the need for diversity education during the session on islamophobia, the text of which can be downloaded here (PDF 64kb), and took advantage of this excellent opportunity to make contacts with the many government delegations present and to connect with other organisations active in the field of racism and education. In particular, we met the representatives of a number of interesting NGOs from the host country, Romania, which are fighting hard to make heard the voice of tolerance and diversity.

We hope that CEJI will soon have the resources to begin implementing its programmes in the newest EU Member States. For details about how to support our work, please click here.

We look forward to the OSCE’s upcoming meeting on islamophobia in October, at which we hope to showcase our Religious Diversity Training Module, and to the Spanish Chairmanship’s youth meeting in November, for which CEJI was invited to help create the ‘human dimension’ part of the programme.

For more details about CEJI’s Advocacy work visit our Advocacy page or contact Policy Officer Gidon van Emden.
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Shiurim: Give us your views

CEJI’s Shiurim have now finished for summer and will begin again in October after the Jewish High Holidays.

We hope to use the summer break to reflect on the format of the Shiurim, aiming to make the meetings more focused on CEJI’s mission and more effective in reaching its target population. We very much hope you will take the time to share your thoughts on the following questions:
  • If you attend/have ever attended the Shiurim, which aspects do/did you find particularly effective?
  • How could the Shiurim be changed to better meet your needs?
  • Would you be more likely to attend if we were to hold half- or full-day conferences instead of lunch meetings?
  • Would the Shiurim be as interesting/more interesting to you if we focused more on topics that relate to CEJI’s advocacy objectives (the prevention of antisemitism, racism, extremism, xenophobia and discrimination at an EU-wide and national level)?
Your responses should be sent to Gidon van Emden, CEJI’s Policy Officer.
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CEJI at the European Communication Summit

CEJI Director Robin Sclafani participated in a panel discussion on the ‘Challenge of Interfaith Dialogue’ at the European Communication Summit held June 11-12, 2007 in Brussels.

Organised by the European Association of Communication Directors, there were more than 350 participants and 60 top speakers from the corporate, political, media and non-profit sectors.

Click here (PDF 148kb) to read Robin’s speech.
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Learning to Live Together

The Gulbenkian Foundation and the European Journal of Education, with the support and participation of UNESCO, came together at a meeting in Lisbon on 21 June to mark the 10th anniversary of the publication of ‘Learning: the Treasure Within’. This 1996 publication, authored by the UNESCO Commission on Education for the Twenty First Century, identified four pillars of education:
  • Learning to know;
  • Learning to do;
  • Learning to live together;
  • Learning to be.
CEJI Director, Robin Sclafani, was an invited panellist in this meeting, speaking on the importance of interactive and participatory methodologies as a means to fight prejudice and discrimination amongst young people.

Click here for the meeting programme (PDF 480kb).

Click here to download ‘Learning: the Treasure Within’ (PDF 1.095mb).
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Staff News

The CEJI team has been pleased to host intern Tomasz Kupka, who has been in Brussels for one month working with EPTO on the evaluation of the FRUITCAKES manual from the perspective of a local youth worker.

Tomasz is from southern Poland, where he works with the Centre for Social Responsibility. As an EPTO-trained peer trainer, he prepares and runs workshops on gender equality, 'men for change' and violence against women.

He is also studying cultural studies at Silesian University, and in future hopes to study at Vienna University’s Centre for Gender Studies.
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Other News

Check Yourself! Test your conscious and unconscious preferences

Project Implicit® offers the opportunity to assess your conscious and unconscious preferences in over 90 areas including sexuality, skin tone, religion, disability, age and gender.

The project is a collaborative research effort between researchers at Harvard University, the University of Virginia, and University of Washington which examines thoughts and feelings that exist either outside of conscious awareness or outside of conscious control.

Each time you begin a session you will be randomly assigned to a topic. Try one or do them all! At the end of the session, you will get some information about the study and a summary of your results.

Participation is possible in languages including English, French, Dutch and Hebrew. Project website: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/

Consultation for Rainbow Paper on Intercultural Dialogue

The announced consultation for the Rainbow Paper on Intercultural Dialogue is now open! It asks eight questions on how to make intercultural dialogue happen more. The collective result will be the basis for a dissemination campaign in the course of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008.

The form, which can be downloaded here (.doc 260kb), explains the background and design of this initiative and gives more detailed information on how to participate.

Please return the completed participation form to: rainbow@efah.org by Wednesday 22nd August 2007 (earlier if possible).

Gender Manifesto
The ‘Gender Manifesto’ is a call for critical reflection on gender-oriented capacity building and consultancy created by GenderForum Berlin and Genderbüro Berlin in January 2006. Over 100 institutions and organisations have subscribed to this document, which can be downloaded here. To subscribe, or to give feedback on the content of the Manifesto, contact manifest@gender.de.
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