News from the House of Erasmus
an article by Rein Heijne

As the House of Erasmus, we continue to organize projects to promote a culture of peace and non-violence. Here is a brief summary of status and progress of our projects. More information is available in the Dutch language on our website combined with the publication of a Newsletter.

In November 2007 the festival "Bridges of Erasmus" addressed the promotion of peace-education. The highlight was the presentation of the exercisebook "Erasmus in the class-room". The first specimen of this was handed over to the Junior Mayor of the City of Rotterdam. At this moment the first edition of 1000 copies is fully distributed to schools and teachers. Because of this success we are trying to edit shortly a second edition.

In June 2008 we started to invite people to write a letter to Erasmus in which they can give their opinion and views about the thoughts of Erasmus and the relation with the present day situation. Up to now we've received enthusiastic reactions and ten letters which will be publicised on our website.

Now we are very busy with the preparations of a festival "Seeds of Change" on the 21th of September - the International Peace Day. Parts of the programme are: 1) a panel-discussion about the four principles of the Earth Charter, e.g. the promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence. 2)various appearances of musicians, poets, and the like. 3) the highlight will be the presentation of "The Peace Kit" to the mayor of Rotterdam and several key persons, like teachers, politicians, businessmen. We've developed this peace-kit in connection with the "Mayors for Peace"-project and it contains twenty creative ideas to set up various projects. 4) the festival will be concluded with a multicultural get-together.

Finally, on 28th of October (the commemoration of Erasmus' birthday) we'll contribute to a symposium about the thoughts of Erasmus in comparison with the thinking of the present-day Turkish philosopher Fethullah Gülen.

DISCUSSION

Question(s) related to this article:

How are you celebrating Peace Day?


As a reader, you are invited to join in the discussion of this article based on any of the above question(s): just click on the question, read the previous comments and add a new reply. You may also enter a new discussion topic on this article - see bottom of this page.

Thematic forum(s) in which this article is being discussed:

MAKING AN EFFECTIVE PEACE MOVEMENT

This report was posted on July 23, 2008. The moderator is CPNN Administrator.

If you wish to start a new discussion topic on this article, please copy the title of this article which is News from the House of Erasmus and its number which is 406 and enter this information along with your discussion question and a brief text on the new topic form.

A few stories are retained on the main listings if they are considered by readers to be a priority. If you have not already done so, please take the time to check a box below: should this article be considered as a priority?