Peace Forum in Santos, Brazil
an article by Helena Lourenço

The Peace Forum in Santos, Brazil, took place on March 12. It was organized by the Santos Social Network and AbrasOFFA, the Brazilian Association of Organizers of Folk Festivals and Craftwork, a non-governmental organization with 18 years of experience in projects for a Culture of Peace. The Forum was supported by the Santos Convention Bureau and the Santos Senac.

Among the speakers at the Fórum were the personal representative of Mayor João Paulo Tavares Papa and city councilmen Arlindo Barros and Roberto Oliveira Teixeira, as well as teacher Lourdes Velasques and Helena Lourenço of AbrasOFFA. Opening the forum, the manager of the Santos Senac, Andréia Melgaço, presented the book Culture of Peace: Networks of Convivência, published by Senac São Paulo and edited by Lea Diskin. The event was attended by 400 people, including many school and university students.

The international specialist on the Culture of Peace, David Adams, was a featured speaker, presenting the eight axes of the culture of peace that were adopted by the United Nations in 1999. Mr Adams had been involved in the development of the culture of peace while working at UNESCO in the 1990's.

The formation of a Culture of Peace Council for the city of Santos is expected to be formalized in the upcoming weeks as a result of the Forum. Judging from the questions and remarks by the audience, there should be extensive citizen participation in the work of the Council.

An earlier version of this article in Portuguese is available on the website of Senac.

DISCUSSION

Question(s) related to this article:

What is a culture of peace city, and how does one become one?


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:

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND CULTURE OF PEACE

Latest reader comment:

Readers' comments are invited on this article and question which relates to articles from five cities: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Curitiba, Brazil; Santos, Brazil; Sant Boi de Llobregat, Catalonia, Spain; and Rotterdam, Netherlands.

This report was posted on March 19, 2010. 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 Peace Forum in Santos, Brazil and its number which is 449 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?