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Dialogue Homes for Equal Dignity (DHED)
HumanDHS is primarily grounded in academic work. We are independent of any religious or political agenda. However, we wish to bring academic work into "real life." Our research focuses on topics such as dignity (with humiliation as its violation), or, more precisely, on respect for equal dignity for all human beings in the world. This is not only our research topic, but also our core value, in line with Article 1 of the Human Rights Declaration that states that every human being is born with equal dignity (that ought not be humiliated).
We agree with Professor Shibley Telhami, who advocates the building of bridges from academia as follows, "I have always believed that good scholarship can be relevant and consequential for public policy. It is possible to affect public policy without being an advocate; to be passionate about peace without losing analytical rigor; to be moved by what is just while conceding that no one has a monopoly on justice." We would like to add that we believe that good scholarship can be relevant and consequential not only for public policy, but for raising awareness in general.
The idea of building Dialogue Homes around the world (and begin with one pilot project) was born in 1997. Håkon Gunderson, together with the then Egyptian Ambassador to Norway, Dr. Hefny Madgy, and Evelin Lindner, developed and created "Global Forum" in Norway, a non-profit organization with the vision to provide conflict parties with facilities for the three-dimensional simulation of alternative futures.
The reasoning behind the concept of Global Forum was that conflict parties would benefit from playing out alternative futures, for example, how the situation would develop if certain decisions were carried out as to how distribute water in Jerusalem.
The aim was to develop large sets of data that describe and define scenarios, then to change certain parameters and play out the different alternative future outfalls. In order to make these scenarios accessible to conflict parties, the vision was developed to build a house specifically for conflict resolution, namely a Dialogue House, which contains large screens where scenarios can be played out in 3 D.
Progress has been slow since 1997, due to the global downturn in financial markets and the lack of funds for such large-scale projects. However, together with Evelin Lindner, in 2002, Maurice Benayoun, international avant-garde in the field of 3 D, developed a vision for the Dialogue House. Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies envisages to create, incorporate, promote and nurture this vision together with Maurice Benayoun.
The idea has since developed further. Stimulating conversations in November and December 2006 encouraged Evelin Lindner to differentiate the following functions for the envisaged Dialogue Homes. Warm thanks to Cybele, and David Vikner!
• Through Peace and Conflict Transformation to Dialogue!
Peace-building and conflict transformation through dialogue would benefit from having spaces dedicated to this purpose, because dialogue and peace need a symbolic locality, parallel to symbolic places such as churches or temples (David Vikner, ICU).
• Simulating Futures: Make Mistakes Virtually, not in Reality!
It would be beneficial to include the latest information technology, so that conflict parties can simulate different futures, playing them out virtually, instead of paying the price for making mistakes in reality (Håkon Gunderson, Maurice Benayoun).
• From Past Conflicts to Future Peace!
It is important to build a peaceful future by drawing on peace-promoting cultural practices from the past. Therefore it would be beneficial to connect building peace for the future with an exposure to traditional practices (such as traditional music, for example). Therefore, also the architecture of Dialogue Homes could entail traditional elements - a traditional house could be refurbished to be used as a Dialogue House, for example, or a modern design could include elements of traditional meeting places. Also museums, such as peace museums (see links further down), could house Dialogue Spaces (Cybele).
• Building Peace Within!
A Dialogue House needs to offer space for replenishment to learn "peace within" (Cybele).
• Good offices!
Not seldom, conflict parties do not have any opportunity to speak with each other. Many Israelis, for example, have never met a Palestinian, and vice versa. Dialogue Homes could offer space to spend time together as fellow human beings (see, for example, the way the Oslo Accord was negotiated, Håkon Gunderson).
• Practice Global Citizenship!
Today's world faces global challenges. Most people, however, live their lives within national boundaries, even if they travel much. In Giving Life to the Human Family and How Becoming a Global Citizen Can Have a Healing Effect, among others, Evelin Lindner makes the point that individuals need not to wait for governments, but can, and need to face these global challenges themselves, and more directly. Dialogue Homes around the world could offer space to people who would like to train global citizenship.
See to this point also Evelin's explanation of her global life design on Evelin's bio page:
"Today, I design my life as a global citizen, without a house of my own, moving around in the 'global village,' being housed by our HumanDHS network and supporters of our work, living digital and without paper, and with a minimum of possessions. I refuse being full-time part of any national institution. I wish to stay globally flexible. I would be the first candidate for a professorship at a World University for Equal Dignity. I am perhaps a Peripatetic, like Aristotle, who taught philosophy while walking in the Lyceum of ancient Athens. I walk in the global village, because I wish do to more than decry the world's ineptitude to address its global challenges. I wish to adapt my personal life to the world's global challenges, bring my life to scale so-to-speak. Living a global life is one of my ways of not just talk, but walk my talk."
Wonderful generous members of our network have already offered their premises as our first Dialogue Homes!
We warmly welcome our first Dialogue Homes offered to us by our network members:
• Linda Hartling and Rick Slaven in Oregon, USA
• Anne-Grete Bjørlo in Koppang, Norway
• Maline Cecilia Westerberg in Skien, Norway
• Pamela Hiley in Oslo, Norway
• Howard Richards kindly offers his home in Chile.
He also writes (8th September 2008): "A good location for a dialogue house would be in the south of Chile where the ethnic conflicts with the Mapuche are in need of dialogue. Unfortunately I do not have a house there, but I have good contacts among people promoting Mapuche dialogue if somebody wants to build or buy or seek a house there.
Another good place for a dialogue house would be on the pampa in Argentina where there are incessant conflicts related to agribusiness. We have already been holding dialogues here, although we did not have the dialogue house idea. Our house might also be used by people who come to Chile from other places. We could hold international conversations in English, but any attempt to work with Mapuches or Argentine farmers would have to be in Spanish."
We look for interested people, who would like to develop our DHED project. Please see our Call for Creativity.
Links
2007 State of the Future
By Jerome C. Glenn and Theodore J. Gordon
Article by Yuwei Zhang in the UN Chronicle Online Edition:
Providing a comprehensive overview of global trends and challenges, the 2007 State of the Future was launched at UN Headquarters in New York on 10 September 2007.
Produced by the Millennium Project, under the auspices of the World Federation of UN Associations (WFUNA), the State of the Future report contains insights into the Project’s work from a variety of creative and knowledgeable people, obtaining information from and getting feed back on emerging crises, opportunities, strategic priorities and the feasibility of actions. The report comes in two parts: an extensive 99-page executive summary, and a compact disc containing over 6,000 pages of research, including the Millennium Project’s 11 years of cumulative research.
“The Millennium Project brings together futurists, scholars, business partners and policymakers who work for international organizations, Governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and universities,” said UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Kiyo Akasaka, who hosted the book launch. As one of the primary products of the Millennium Project, “it collects and assesses judgments from several hundred participants to produce the annual State of the Future report”, he remarked.
“All of us have been in situations where we’ve been asked to provide a big picture of economics, education, politics … but that is extremely difficult to do”, Jerome Glenn pointed out, adding that producing such a complex annual report was a daunting task when he first started the research in 1992. He explained: “We can document a range of potential futures and we have an ongoing and continuous feedback system with our nodes around the world.” It is a decentralized and globalized think tank, said Mr. Glenn, who has over 30 years of experience in futures research for Governments, international organizations and private industry. Co-founder and Director of the Millennium Project, Mr. Glenn told the UN Chronicle that it was an ongoing and accumulative project with specialized studies for each year’s report. Chapter 3 of the 2007 report presents 19 possibilities that could influence future education and learning by the year 2030 in a special study which distills insights from more than 200 participants from around the world.
A new idea mentioned in the report is “trans-institution”, according to Mr. Glenn, which is a kind of new institutional invention that allows independent organizations—Governments, corporations, NGOs, universities, individuals and the United Nations or international organizations—to act like a trans-institution and cooperate with each other. The report states: “Each trans-institution could improve global resilience as coalitions of the willing, composed of national resilience officers and their counterparts in corporations, NGOs, universities and international organizations.” Mr. Glenn also suggested that trans-institutions should be created for each of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are referred to throughout the report.
Speaking at the book launch, Stephen Schlesinger, former Director of the World Policy Institute at the New School University, said: “This is quite an extraordinary project. It is a balanced, nuanced, forward-looking and prerogative document.” The 2007 State of Future report is about bringing nations together and working in unison. “The notion of the UN itself is collective security, which is about nations working together for the benefit of all humankind”, Professor Schlesinger noted. Hoping the report will be well-circulated both within and outside the Organization, he said that as we are reaching the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, it would be a most reliable guide, which would help form the UN agenda for the future.
For more information on the Millennium Project, please visit: http://www.millennium-project.org
The Executive Summary of the report can be viewed at:
http://www.millennium-project.org/millennium/sof2007-exec-summ.pdf.
UNESCO Launches a Tool to Put Social Science Research at the service of Public Policy-Making
Immediately following UNESCO's 34th General Conference, which re-affirmed the importance of creating the conditions for a genuine dialogue between researchers, policy-makers and the members of civil society in order to address the multiple challenges of the contemporary world, UNESCO is launching a new tool to support policy-making based on research results from international social and human sciences.
Designed and developed under the aegis of the Management of Social Transformations (MOST) Programme, this service will be freely accessible on the website of the Organization from 15 November 2007. It will provide customized access to policy-relevant material (case studies) according to specific locations (city, country, region) and/or themes related to social transformations (urbanization, migration phenomena, human rights, sustainable development, etc.)
The server will first be running on a collection of documents produced within the framework of the UNESCO Forum for Higher Education, Research and Knowledge, and will be gradually enriched by research from around the globe, notably through the network of UNESCO Chairs in social and human sciences.
The tool is currently available in English, French and Spanish, and will soon be extended to the other United Nations official languages.
To access the server: MOST Policy Research Tool.
Garry Davis: World Citizenship, World Passport, World Presidency, World Service Authority, World Government of World Citizens, World Government House
Garry Davis (Bar Harbor, Maine, July 27, 1921) is a peace activist who created the first "World Passport." A former World War II bomber pilot and Broadway actor, he renounced his American citizenship in Paris in 1948 to become a "citizen of the world." Davis founded the World Service Authority, which now issues the passports - along with birth and other certificates - to applicants. Davis first used his "world passport" on a trip to India in 1956, and has been variably admitted into or jailed by countries around the world after using his world passport. Up to 150 countries have purportedly accepted the world passport at one time or another. In France, his support committee was co-founded by writers Albert Camus and André Gide and the Abbé Pierre (quoted from wikipedia).
See also www.onefilms.com and www.1worldcitizen.com.
ICU Conference Center
Rubin Museum for Art
The Rubin Museum of Art opened on October 4, 2004. It is the first museum in the Western World dedicated to the art of the Himalayas and surrounding regions.
The museum's mission is to establish, present, preserve and document a permanent collection that reflects the vitality, complexity and historical significance of Himalayan art.
Nobel Peace Center
Oslo, Norway
The establishment of the Nobel Peace Center was approved by parliamentary resolution in 2000. At that time, it was planned as a "Peace Prize Center" after having first been conceived of as a Peace Prize museum. The name was later changed to the Nobel Peace Center.
The Center for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities
Oslo, Norway
The Center for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities has two main fields of interest: the Holocaust on the one hand and religious minorities on the other. Within these two fields of interest the Center will contribute with new research, education and information activities, exhibitions and conferences. Moreover, it is the explicit aim to be a meeting-place for people who want to participate in the enduring controversy concerning all kinds of religious, racist and ethnic motivated repression. At the end of January 2005 we moved to Villa Grande, Nazi collaborator Vidkun Quisling's residence during World War II.
Falstad Center
Falstad, Norway
Falstad is a Memorial and Human Rights Centre. The foundation was established in 2000. Education, documentation and communication concerning the history of imprisonment during World War II and Human Rights constitute the core activities of the centre. In October 1941, Falstad Special school for handicapped boys was taken over by the German occupying power and transferred into SS Strafgefangenenlager Falstad, a detention camp for political prisoners. Later, Russian POW's were imprisoned here together with Yugoslav partisans and Polish forced labourer's. The camp contained prisoners from 13 countries during the War years. A total of 5000 prisoners were registered at Falstad. Today, the Museum gives the younger generation an insight in conditions during WW II that eventually lead to the Declaration of Human Rights as a resolution in UN in 1948.
Uppsala Peace Museum
Uppsala, Sweden
The Uppsala peace museum held its opening ceremony in 2005, in connection to the unveiling of
a sculpture of Dag Hammarskjöld at
the 100th anniversary of Hammarskjöld's birth. The museum is displaying material about peace keeping activities, the UN and about Dag Hammarskjöld.
The Kyoto Museum for World Peace
Kyoto, Japan
The Kyoto Museum for World Peace is the first peace museum in the world created by a university. Ritsumeikan University's decision to establish this peace museum was based on a desire to represent Japanese war history as accurately as possible. In the thirteen years since its establishment, over 450,000 people have visited the museum, and approximately 260,000 people have attended the over fifty special exhibitions hosted by the museum over the years. The peace museum is particularly proud to have hosted student groups from over 3,000 different schools, approximately half of those being elementary schools. RU's peace museum has developed into a leader of peace education in both national and international circles.
Osaka Human Rights Museum
Osaka, Japan
The museum focuses on historical human rights material associated with discriminated groups, women, handicapped, and environmental issues. In addition to permanent exhibitions, there are special exhibits and lectures. Please see HumanDHS's Equal Dignity and Purity for All page.
Osaka International Peace Center
Osaka, Japan
Peace Osaka, also known as Osaka International Peace Center, is a museum that documents the horrors of World War II.
The permanent exhibition room on the first floor shows photographs and other documents related to the the war, highlighting the horror and pain caused by Japan's aggressions in China, Korea and South East Asia. It also documents the US invasion of Okinawa and the atomic bombings.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
Hiroshima, Japan
A-Bomb WWW Museum
Hiroshima, Japan
Goals of the project are
to provide all readers with accurate information concerning the impact the first atomic bomb had on Hiroshima, and to provide the context for a constructive discussion of what the world can learn from this event and why such weapons of total destruction should never again be used.
The Peace Museum
Chicago, Illinois, USA
The Peace Museum is a non-profit organization and a licensed Illinois 501(c)(3) organization. All contributions are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law. The Peace Museum is the first and only of its kind in the United States, exploring the imapact of war and peace through the arts. The museum was founded in 1981 by Mark Rogovin, a leading Chicago muralist, and Marjorie Craig Benton, former U.S. Representative to UNICEF.
The following list is quoted from http://offbeattravel.com/peace-museum.html (we thank them for their permission to post this list here, with slight amendments):
International Museum of Peace and Solidarity
Samarkand, Republic of Uzbekistan
Samarkand, once the crossroad of trade of the Great Silk Road, is still the cultural center of Central Asia. It's also the home, since 1986, of the non-profit, non-governmental International Museum of Peace and Solidarity. It runs a wide range of educational activities and international projects, as well as housing about 20,000 exhibit pieces from over 100 countries. It's probably the only place in the world where visitors can see a piece of the Berlin Wall, fragments of Soviet and US nuclear missiles, a part of an A-bombed roof tile from Nagasaki, soil from Auschwitz, in one place.
The museum emphasizes universal human values, and the costs of war -- destruction of WWI and WWII, atomic bombardment, the mission of the UN and the Red Cross and Crescent societies, racism, poverty, human rights.
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum
(Musee International de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge)
Geneva, Switzerland
The Red Cross and Red Crescent was the world's first humanitarian organization (set up in 1863) and has become synonymous with international rescue and assistance.
The museum uses photographs, films, writings and a collection of unusual artifacts to bring visitors into the experience. "Visitors are not considered as mere spectators of other people's suffering but are encouraged to think and to act. They too can help build a peaceful world in which human dignity is a value cherished by all."
The museum's collections also include objects actually created by prisoners of war and given to Red Cross delegates. There's a database of over 10,000 documents for research, and over 900 film titles starting from the 1930s. Special exhibits, concerts, and lectures are also among the activities of the museum.
Museum of Tolerance
Los Angeles, California, USA
This museum, the educational arm of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, has a dual focus. It seeks to explore the dynamics of racism and prejudice in America, and the history of the Holocaust.
The high-tech exhibits include the Tolerancecenter which stresses the message of personal responsibility through the Millenium Machine which speaks of human rights abuses throughout the world and possible solutions. Ain't You Gotta Right? Is a 16-screen video wall using archival footage and interviews to depict the struggle for civil rights in America. Seeking to expand the message of tolerance into current history the In Our Time film focuses on Bosnia, Rwanda and contemporary struggles for human rights.
The National Civil Rights Museum
Memphis, Tennessee, USA
On April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot to death while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The National Civil Rights Museum is the memorial for the man who led the civil rights movement in the United States promoting nonviolence as the best means toward that end. His famous speech, I Have A Dream, still rings through the world as a goal we hope someday to achieve.
The museum itself, housed in the Lorraine Motel, contains over 27,000 square feet devoted to exhibits and an auditorium. In addition to its permanent exhibits chronicling the history of the civil rights movement in the USA it showcases touring exhibits on loan from other museums, galleries and collections. Over the past few months these have looked at: Latino Life in the United States; Anne Frank: A History for Today; and Speak Truth to Power: Human Rights Defenders Who Are Changing Our World.
The National Liberty Museum
Philadelphia, PA
Created to celebrate the United States' heritage of freedom and the diverse society it has produced, the museum includes exhibits honoring 1000 men, women and young people of all walks of life who have helped make the world a better place, array of hands-on exhibits that demonstrate easy, practical and fun ways to resolve conflicts peacefully, and a gallery devoted to the contribution of immigration to the diversity of American society. National Liberty Museum also maintains a unique collection of more than 100 works of fine art which reflect the theme of the fragility of liberty.
Dayton International Peace Museum
Dayton, Ohio, USA
The historic Pollack House, built in 1877, in Dayton houses permanent exhibits, as well as peace activities, and special events that focus on changing our culture of violence to a culture of peace. Member of the International Network of Museums for Peace.
The Bruderhof Peace Barn
Farmington, Pennsylvania, USA
This is a project of the 5th through 8th grade students of the Spring Valley Bruderhof School in Farmington, PA. Two days after 9/11/2001 these students wanted to do something for peace. They decided to convert an old barn into a museum for peace and a memorial for the victims of terrorism and war. In addition they have handcrafted memorial benches for each passenger and crew member of Flight 93, which are at the crash site in Shanksville, PA. Tourists from all over the United States and the world are welcomed stop by the Peace Barn.
