| | | ACC Bulletin No. 68
June 1st 2006
ACC International Programme Office
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Release of "ACCENT", Demos Community College and Active Citizenship Community College
Evaluation conference: European Year of Citizenship through Education
Invitations received
Calendar
New members
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Release of "ACCENT", Demos Community College and Active Citizenship Community College
The issue no. 4 of the "ACCENT - Community Colleges for Europe! A European Demos" has been released in April 2006. The ACCENT no. 4 is a report of the project "Citizenship in Action" including two major events, Demos Community College (http://www.acc.eu.org/SEEEMS/2063.asp), and Active Citizenship Community College (http://www.acc.eu.org/SEEEMS/3960.asp). The ACCENT no. 4 is available in a pdf version at http://www.acc.eu.org/SEEEMS/1037.asp This is the intro of "A different history...":
At the Demos Community College in the city Rhodes (October 9th-18th 2005) a group of Europeans met to find out how they could contribute in enhancing democratic values, exploring and moving European democracy forward. "Demos", the core theme of the Community College, carries the meaningfulness of the ancient Greek practice of active citizenship. It was the spark for revisiting Democracy in Europe today by the mixed group of Europeans. By creating a vibrant learning community, by living and learning together within the principles of the European Community Colleges non-formal educational format, the group developed their own small Demos within a highly participatory process.
At the roots of the journey leading to this issue of the ACCENT were participants at the Demos Community College in Rhodes. One of many outcomes of the deliberative learning process was a branchy mindmap of challenges for Europe of today.
At the beginning of January of 2006 an invitation crossed Europe. The Association for Community Colleges invited Europeans to consider their future in Europe. The mindmap from Rhodes was delivered alongside the invitation, and participants of the next event, the Active Citizenship Community College (Elsinore/Helsingør March 20th-27th 2006), were asked to pick from the branches and write their opinion about it; ideas, questions and doubts raised by participants at the Demos Community College were put in the middle of a new mixed group of Europeans. New participants’ questions and solutions to the future of Europe were then framed by the Demos of Rhodes in order to be re-opened by the Demos of Elsinore.
More than one hundred people from different places in Europe sent their articles (available at http://demos.acc.eu.org). Twenty of authors arrived to the International People’s College in Elsinore/Helsingør, where the final editorial of the articles and the final countdown to the publication took place.
People with much and nothing in common but with a desire to influence the future of Europe and the European Union went to propose ideas on how to construct bridges among them. This time people came from The Netherlands, Spain, Latvia, Albania, Bulgaria, Malta, Romania, Russia, Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal, Turkey, Ukraine and Belgium ... but they all believed to have a common future in Europe.
Different personalities, different countries, and different visions of the world, different religions, different education, different language... but all with the same mission: to review the concept of Europe and to propose one single future. When all together are united for the same purpose towards one common project, all kind of barriers are eliminated. The pretext was to write a magazine with different articles from the present time of the European Union. Nevertheless, when we started to work on it we realised how complicated is to work in order to build a common Europe.
However, the coexistence is superposed and the differences of nationality, religion or language, do not create barriers. The barriers are broken down when a project is in common and for an also common short, medium and long term where everyone wants to participate.
If these people can work together and forget all these differences, why can’t our political representatives in the European Union? Why are these differences not broken down when in the end they are just in the minds of everybody?
This group of Europeans can give example to the politicians that it is possible to build a stronger and more unified Europe. If only the politically responsible in Europe would take up the glove and work by this way and try to walk further on. In this case another Europe is possible, a strong Europe, united, and with one thing in common that everybody can feel, the feeling of being contributor of a reality with vocation of future.
In the new issue of the ACCENT, with the title A European Demos, we present what we picked from the branches and elaborated further. We have clustered the elaborations into three chapters (Europe’s borders, Challenges for the future of Europe & Citizens’ participation in the EU) while another one has been added with contributions from presenters at the Active Citizenship Community College.
All this history has been possible thanks to all and each one of you, thanks to:
Ieva Astahovska, Fation Dragoshi, Naim Ozgur, Nuria Tello Clusella, Manos Katantonakis, Jeffrey Romano, Cesar Sanchez, Natalia Nikolova, Riccardo Pisani, Annamaria Csiszér, Pavlina Soumrova, Anatoliy Sklyarov, Tuomo Arto Viljamo Jarvela, Zeynep Karasu, Madli Pindmaa, Sevgi Dönmez, Filiz Telek, Renske Hijbeek, Bogdan Gavril, Jakub Kawulok, Silvia Pereira, Natalija Kovalenko, Marcin Maliszewski, Klementyna Szczepanska, Will Kay, Marc Nickel, Lukasz Albanski, Nora Kasanicka, Timo Eggink, Fotiny Chrisakoudy, Ana Sariva, Nadia Ruckanova,Dionisis Kokkaliaris, Larissa Korobeynikova, Rita Guerreiro, Eduard Corneliu Nicolescu, Oege Dijk, Joanna Polawska, Salvador Martinez Marrahí, Iulian Circiumaru, Maria Bakari, Sarah Whiteley, Ulrik Golodnoff, Maria Scordialos, Toke Paludan Møller, Sven Ole Schmidt, Jakob Erle, Runa Midtvåge, Garba Diallo, Malene Jepsen, John Petersen, Lucie Cizkova, Maite and many more
If the roots are the participants from Rhodes, if the participants from Elsinore/Helsingør climbed the branches, if the fruits are contents of the ACCENT issue and on the Demos Community Blog (http://demos.acc.eu.org/), and if the fruits are the seeds to more of the same, then A European Demos is this process as a whole!
A professional hosting group offered the space, time and stimuli for this highly creative, meaningful, transformative, and sustainable learning experience. Thanks to Interchange (www.interchange.dk), Hara (www.haraconnection.com), Facile (www.days.dk) and International Academy for Education and Democracy (www.iaed.info).
text by John Petersen, Maria Bakari and Rosa Bellver Belda
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Evaluation conference: European Year of Citizenship through Education
ACC-board member Erik Jentges attended the Evaluation Conference of the European Year of Citizenship through Education, held in Sinaia, Romania on 27-28 April 2006. The aim of the conference was to share good practices, to discuss main obstacles and to identify priorities for the future work of the CoE in the field for Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) and Human Rights Education (HRE). The title of the conference was “Learning and living democracy: the way ahead” and brought together almost 200 participants from all 46 CoE member-states, NGO representatives and representatives of international organisations (UNESCO, OSCE, CoE and EU).
While much of the conference was centered on formal education (primary and secondary school education and teacher training), the idea of non-formal education with the format of residential schools with mixed European participants was perceived as innovative. In workshops on “civil society” and “democratic citizenship and social inclusion”, I had the chance to speak in more detail about the activities of the ACC. Furthermore, two organisation of which the ACC is a member, the EAEA (European Association for the Education of Adults) and the EUCIS-LLL (European Civil Society Platform on Lifelong Learning) were also present at the conference and helped in promoting the idea of adult education with a European dimension.
More information can be found at www.coe.int/eyce for general information on the European Year of Citizenship through Education and at http://www.coe.int/t/e/cultural_co%2Doperation/education/e.d.c/majour_events/EYCE_SinaiaConference_en.asp#TopOfPage for details of the conference.
by Erik Jentges
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Invitations received
A number of invitations are available from the http://public.acc.eu.org (folder: invitations)
Among the latest are:
Training Course towards becoming a good adult educator
Training Modules on European Citizenship
Environmental project for families
Summer event in Poland
Africa-Europe Training Course for Youth Organisations: "Youth participation for Poverty Poverty Reduction."
etc.
You can post your invitations to the public folder directly by mailing seminar@acc.eu.org
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Calendar
28/2 Elisabeth Alber attending Liaison Group meeting in the Civil Society Organisations and Networks, Brussels (BE)
2/3 Elisabeth Alber taking part in the EESC liaison meeting with organized citil society, Brussels (BE)
3/3 Lucie Cizkova, Garba Diallo, Runa Midtvåge and John Petersen ACCC preparatory meeting, Helsingør (DK)
6-8/3 Marzia Pistolesi guiding international students from Nordfyns Folkehøjskole (DK) in Tuscany
8/3 John Petersen meeting Jakob Erle preparing the ACCC, Copenhagen (DK)
8/3 John Petersen meeting Knud-Erik Therkelsen and Finn Slumstrup (Danish Borderland Association), Copenhagen (DK)
9-10/3 John Petersen presenting ACC at delegiertenkonferenze AOb - GEW in Aurich (D)
19/3 Urska Nowak, Anja Vidmar and John Petersen discussing future CC in Slovenia, IPC-Helsingør (DK)
20-27/3 Active Citizenship Community College (ACCC) at International People's College, Helsingør (DK)
1/4 Naomi Woltring presenting the European Songbook, ACC and EVS at the Nivon General Assembly, Amserfort (NL)
20/4 John Petersen presenting ACC and Rite Tautskola to Foreningen Danmark-Letland, Copenhagen (DK)
24/4 Kristine Vidzupe, Niels Bendix and John Petersen meeting concerning Rites Tautskola initiatives, Bogense (DK)
25/4 Barna Kovacs attending the "Communication on Adult Learning" reception hosted by Helga Trüpel (vice chair of the European Parliaments' Culture and Education Committee)
27/4 Erik Jentges at the Learning and Living Democracy: they way ahead. Evaluation conference of the European Year of Citizenship through Education, Sinaia (RO)
27/4 Perrine Martin visiting the ACC Office to discuss CC in France.
29/4 ACCENT no. 4 released
1/5 Malene Jepsens contract ending
19/5 ACC represented by Camilla Nielsen-Englyst at hearing with EU-Commissioner Margot Wallström, Copenhagen (DK) http://www.acc.eu.org/uploads/WallstoemReplyCph.pdf
23/5 Miodrag Stamboldziev and John Petersen meeting, Skopje (FYROM)
16-26/5 John Petersen and Mjellma Mehmeti investigating possibilities for a R. Macedonia Office, Skopje (FYROM)
26-28/5 ACC Board meeting, Berlin
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With this a warm welcome to our new members:
Martha Vassiliadou
Pavel Kawulok
Ludmila Vorcakova
Klementyna Scczepanska
Ana Saraiva
Eduard Corneliu Nicolescu
Rosa Bellver Belda
Salvador Martinez Marrahi
Timo Eggink
Jeffrey Romano
Renske Hijbeek
Ricardo Guedes
Zeynep Karasu
Mogens Godballe
Afroditi Giota
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Sincerely,
John Petersen
ACC International Programme Office
Falstersgade 44, st., gaarden
DK-8000 Aarhus C
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