Association for World Education

International Council Meeting 2010

The next AWE International Council Meeting will be held in Denmark from October 21 through October 23, 2010. Members who are planning to attend may request invitation letters by August 15, 2010. For further details, contact bonam@awe-international.com

Organizational Development Recommendations

AWE International - development perspectives

With the growing importance of global governance (think climate, environment, financial crisis, diseases, human rights, inequality, information technology, nuclear proliferation etc.) it becomes increasingly important to develop educational approaches that respond to the global challenges, both at the global level AND relate to the impact at the local level ….

With this words Worldpresident Jakob Erle presents the results of the AWE member survey from July 2009. The report: Organizational Development Recommendations presents important findings about member expectations, needs, support and engagement. But it also give a brief introduction to the history of AWE and a image of AWE as an organisation.  

The report will be basic for discussions on the next International Council Meeting, that will take place i Denmark the 23. and 24. October 2010

Download the report here: AWE International

Happy New Year from AWE Denmark

December 2009

As year 2009 is running out, and I have this  strong feeling that 2010 will be the first year, where many people in the West will realize, that a new world order is here and that we in the West cannot consider ourselves as the leading centre of the world any more.

Emerging economies

Why do I believe that? First of all this became very obvious during the COP15 climate conference that just ended here in Copenhagen. Though I have only been following it through TV, the discussions and the interpretation of the conference makes it visible, that emerging economies such as China, Brasil, India, South Africa and Mexico have a very strong voice and that they have learned the lesson from the West: To speak up and take care of their own interests. New green or clean technologies is not only a matter of decline of CO2 emission, it is also a matter of being able to breathe in cities like Kolkata, Delhi, Rio, Mexico City, and Beijing.  Development of new and cleaner technologies will come – with or without help from the West.  And if we in the West don’t jump on the train, we will be the ones left behind.

South – South Corporation is here as a part of the globalization process, and thanks god for that, because this is the only way to lift millions of people out of poverty. People in the emerging economies need to fight for an equal share of a balanced economic development. In this sense the West (EU) can still be a role model. Enlightenment and social movements must go hand in hand to achieve this very important goal.

I saw this very clearly in Brazil. I saw the South – South Corporation, the need for social reforms and the importance of social movements.                                                                                                     

How to become black inside

Leila Magalhães and Kirsten Bruun - Belem Soft Hotel

“it is about becoming black” said Laila, when she tried to explain the ideas behind black movement.  You need to have a black soul and to be proud of what you are. You need to dress like a black woman, to dress your hair in a black manner and to prepare the African food.  This is the only way to reclaim your soul.

Identity is a strong and necessary driver in the personal process of development, and education within social movements is very much about identity.

Enjoy a moment of community

“I am here, because I need to know more about the society and how issues are connected, but the school is also a refuge, where you can enjoy a moment of community, a place where someone are wise and everybody can participate”.

Jaô is working voluntarily with alphabetization in the rainforest in Brazil. Serge and Maria are part of a research team at Para state university. The research team is supporting the work of alphabetization by educating teachers and providing teaching methods and material in the spirit of Paulo Freire.  They work together with different social movements: in the rainforest, among fishermen, peasants, black communities, among the river people, and in the poor areas in the cities.

Decolonialisation of peoples mind and legal rights

Self-confidence and enthusiasm are important drivers in development. But realism is also important. Adult education and personal - and economical development are important partners.  Production is an important issue.  In the Amazon region in Brazil, where we were – eco-agriculture was a big issue among the social movement. A good idea but difficult to deal with, especially as a substitute for the agrobusiness industry, when 6,7 billion people in this world need food every day.

But there is a desperate need of knowledge about, how the rainforest can be an income generating resource for people in the Amazon region in a sustainable way with focus on the triple bottom-line:  ecological, economical and social development.

But sustainable is not a plus-word for MST (Movement Sem Terre). In their opinion sustainability smells of capitalism, it is built of the idea, that it is possible to restore the capitalistic idea. MST is a revolutionary movement. “La Luta continua” (the struggle continues) is still a one-liner here, but “a united people” is not what we heard as part of the agenda any more.  Each social movement seems to have its own agenda, their own lobbyists in the senate and Their own donors. MST’s agenda is a very important one. They fight for legal rights for land to the people. Lack of land reforms and lack of legal rights to land and property is maybe the biggest challenge in Brazil. Not only in remote areas as the rainforest and the countryside. Also in the cities, property rights are a big issue, and an important tool to bring people out of poorness and a criminal way of life.

The decolonialisation of peoples mind is a matter of gaining self-confidence.  Legal rights and knowledge about ones legal rights is maybe the most important tool. N.F.S Grundtvig  - the Danish philosopher and educator – stressed that more than 150 years ago in Denmark.  And he also stressed that people don’t need to be able to read and write to know their rights. Spoken words are for everybody – and public enlightenment and dialog is a precondition for a human society.

Democracy and South – South Corporation

In AWE we have worked with the idea of democracy for quite some time. Very concrete we have supported the idea of an Edu-game about multilayered democracy, and we have taken part in the development of the game, and we have tested this game many places together with our chapters. Most lately we have presented it in Brazil: At Para University at FISC (Forum International Societé Civile) and at Confintea VI. Professor Salomaô Hage said after the workshop at the university: “A game that make people angry and encourage them to invent new types of institutions is maybe not so bad”.

But anyway – something is wrong, because we receive more and more messages from the South: Stop talking so much about democracy. We do not believe in your talk about democracy.  AWE’s president Jakob Erle presents a very nice definition of democracy, when he presents the EDU-game:

Democracy is to deal with common challenges through political institutions that are controlled by the citizens through political participation

But in the world of reality, democracy has in the South and the East got a bias as a new cultural imperialistic mission from the West.  The reality is that democracy has many faces, and not all of them are pretty.  Jakobs definition is just one of these faces, and an idealistic one.  One of the things we need to discuss in AWE, when we meet again to the next International Council Meeting - hopefully in October in Denmark:

What does globalization, good governance and human rights mean in an emerging South – South perspective and what is World Education about. Which values do we want to fight for in AWE in the next decade – the 2010^s.

Up till the next International Council meeting we are preparing two issues of Journal. One issue is edited in India by Sujit Kumar Paul and it will be about the emerging countries with focus on development in Brazil, India, Russia and China – the BRIC-countries.

The other issue is edited by Ana Maria Barros Pinto in Brazil. This issue will focus on the Confintea meeting in Belem and the Paulo Freire inspired pedagogical approach.

The best wishes for future corporation in 2010 from Rikke Schultz, AWE-Denmark

Revisiting Belem

Our mission: To get closer to the social movements in Para State - Brazil

Ana Maria interviewing Teofila Nunes and Mercedes from MST

MST are present in 24/27 states in Brazil.

They have given land to 350.000 families in Brazil. The next five year, they will figth for Land reforms leading to social justice and popular sovereingty.

Black Movement

Leila Magalhães and Kirsten Bruun - Belem Soft Hotel

“Is is about beeing black - to retrieve your black soul”

January 2010 –Two weeks course in Porto Alegre

Brasil

Human rights, dreams, challenges and realities

The aim is to approach Human Rights from the Grassroots movement’s point of view –from their struggle. We’ll listen to their stories and we’ll see them acting in their environment.

The course will be the starting point of the United Peoples (UP) Brazilian folk high school project.

Join 14 fantastic days in Porto Alegre. You can stay one week more and participate in the Social Summit 2010

Read more in attached folder:

brazil-folder1

or here

JØRN MEETS GUARANI INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN BRAZIL.

Some days ago Ana Maria (AWE representative, Brazil) and I attended a regular class in Guarani language and culture in the federal university in Porto Alegre. The teacher was Vhera Poty, a young, 22 years old man, Guarani, who taken a high school exam and wanted to study film at the university. See picture.

The next day we visited him in the area of the tribe about 100 km. from the city Porto Alegre, where he lived.

They lived in small houses of bricks or stone or wood– about 180 people- 32 families.
There was a school at a central place with the forms 1-4 and two teachers –one white (Portuguese speaking) living outside and one indigenous teacher speaking Guarani. See picture of the class. The new school buildings and the salaries to the teachers and the school food were provided by the local municipality, as well as a separate house which served as a health clinic.

The area was characterized by people being active with something – some women were weaving baskets producing things which could be sold in the market places of Porto Alegre; the men were building several houses in wood, and they fetched all the material in the forest which surrounded the area. It was evident that they knew the methods and techniques of indigenous house building.

The children attended the school, which also gave them a warm meal at the middle of the day.
Older children, form 5-9, were collected by school busses – with the name eschola – and taken to a nearby regular nearby school.

Around in the village there were strolling freely around groups of chicken, dogs, ducks, pigs, and other animals.

They grew the crops they needed for their existence – bananas, sugar cane, maize, different vegetables.

The money they needed they got from making crafts and weaving baskets, but they did not work outside, with a few exceptions.

They were also like the rest of the indigenous peoples supported by a state Foundation for Indigenous people, in which indigenous people themselves are represented, and which administer social programmes for indigenous peoples.

To sum up: It was a big experience to see the natural harmony between humans, free animals and the nature (fields, the forest), of course, existing within a context of poverty measured by normal Western standards. But the way of life and the social philosophy in the area I visited were clearly determined by age-old traditions and administered by a 7 persons - council from the area, which had to meet the next day under the chairmanship of the young 22 –years old and educated young man, Verah.

Jørn

Paulo Freire ideas about education is still important in Brazil

Wagner and Kirsen discussing Paulo Freires ideas about education

Alphabetization is an important issue when it comes to mobilization of the civil society in Brazil, and we visits schools for adult education in two favela’s in Belem and in the river area close to Saô Domingos do Capim – a smaller city south of Belem.

Mova is a public adult education movement and NEP (Nucleo de educacaô Paulo Freire) is a civic organization, both organizations are in the business of alphabetization based on the ideas of Paulo Freire.

Mova provides school education equivalent to primary school level – and passing the exam (5 level) is necessary if you want to register any kind of private business. But this is not the only reason for signing in. One of the students we speak with wants to continue education in the health sector others are there just to educate themselves and being part of the community in the evening classes. Wagner Magno – their teacher – stresses the importance of enlightenment and empowerment. Everybody need to see the possibilities for improving their own life, nobody benefits from sitting and waiting for the government to do something for them. We need to find our own way out of poorness and suppression.

Sâo Domingos do Capim

Saturday morning meeting with the alphabetization team

It is the same attitude we find in the rainforest Saturday morning, where we are meeting the volunteers working with alphabetization in the river region around Saô Domingos do Capim. Pascaô is one of the volunteer’s, he is organizing landless people and he is educating him selves as teacher in the NEP- alphabetization program. “I am here, because I need to know more about the society and how issues are connected”, he stresses, “But the school is also a refuge, where you can enjoy a moment of community, a place, where someone’s are wise and everybody can participate”.

The school is a refuge, where you can enjoy a moment of community

Sergio Xorrêa is coordinator of NEP-activities in the area. He is born in Saô Domingos do Capim, he has studied at the university and he is a member of Salomaô’s research team. He knows the importance of a sustainable development of the rain forest. But he blames the University for doing too little research about how people can improve their daily way of living. There is money enough in research about intensive exploration of the forest where big companies are involved, but when it comes to small-scale development, there is no interest or resources for research. But it is positive, that land claims has been easier for the cooperative movements, and the parliament has now decided, that only 20% of the forest can be used for development in big scale.

Amazonas - Sâo Domingos do Capin

Jørn has now arrived in Porto Alegre in southern Brazil

Saturday 23 of May I arrived for a 2 weeks stay in Porto Alegre. I will stay with Ana Marie Pinto, AWE chapter contact in Brazil, and also a former teacher of IPC, Helsingør.

My first impression is that it is another Brazil from what we experienced in Belem. The climate is close to that of Danmark in Summer 18-24 degrees in the day and 6-7 degrees colder in night. However , we have to bear in mind that it is their Winter, as there are distinct seasons here. Porto Alegre is similar to a German or French big city and with a big dominance of white people. Yesterday we visited a professor at the private Catholic university, and practically all were white, it was like any European place. But as soon you come to practical work in kitchens and everywhere else there are mixed groups and blacks. Behind the face Brazil is racially divided to a bigger extent than what I had expected.

However, in the Sunday market place downtown there were plenty of Indian people, selling handmade crafts and things. Groups of Indian children sang for the public. And indians from Equador was playing and singing and dancing.

Indian children singing at the market

Kirsten and Rikke is back in Denmark

Kirsten and Rikke in Rio

After 3 hectic days around Belim and 30 hours of travel Kirsten and Rikke is back in Denmark.

Thanks to all our new friends for some incredible days. And stay on this channel. The next couple of days we will upload stories and pictures about our experiences and challenges.

Jakob left for Rio

Jakob is leaving

Wedensday afternoon the group visited Poema an institute on Federal University of Para State.

www.poema.org.br

After the visit Jakob left us to go the Rio.

The rest of the group continuied in a programme arranged by Salomaô Hage. We visited schools in the city and on the River nearby Saô Domingos do Capim and we visited MST in Icoaraci, a movement for people without land (Sem Terra).

Jorn continues his visit in Brazil in Pôrto Alegre together with Ana Maria