© 2012 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
Where yesterday’s enemies meet
In Caux (Montreux), the world headquarters of “Initiatives of Change”, young peacemakers find fertile ground to study conflict resolution. Because it is there that the foundation welcomes yesterday’s enemies, in order to heal the wounds of history. On July 12, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd reiterated his government’s apologies to two Australian Aborigines for having separated children from their families.
“Initiatives and Change” also played an important role in Franco-German reconciliation - with the arrival of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer in 1947 - and during decolonization in Africa. The movement was notably chaired by Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of the Mahatma - who himself came three times to Caux - and Comelio Sommaruga, former president of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Its current president is the Egyptian Omnia Marzouk, an Arab Muslim, based in London.
They learn how to resolve conflicts in the world
Nikhil Vazirani (21 years old) wants to bring his country, India, and Pakistan closer together. Lucy Linder (25 years old), first Swiss woman at the “Caux Scholars”.
Amir Kanergi (24 years old) is working to re-establish democracy in Tunisia, his country.
Caux-Initiatives et Changement will graduate twenty new peace artisans.
In twenty years, the foundation has trained 400 students
“These courses gave me the vision and the courage,” explains Kahlil. A former student at the Caux-“Initiatives of Change” conflict resolution school, he became one of the student leaders of the Arab Spring in Egypt. For twenty years, the Hauts de Montreux foundation has been training young peacemakers around the world every summer as part of its International Meetings. This anniversary was celebrated at the Swiss embassy in Washington, proof of the interest of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in the Caux movement. “We now have nearly 400 graduates from 103 countries who work in a network all over the world”, rejoice Cari Stauffer and Jitka Hromek-Vaitla, academic directors and directors of the “Caux Scholars” programs. “Our alumni, with whom we keep in touch, are very active in politics, international organizations, universities and the economy, among others.”
In Caux, the twenty students who are currently completing their applied conflict resolution courses dream of following in Kahlil’s footsteps. They come from 15 countries, from Colombia to Burma, including Bosnia and Kenya. For a month - taken from their vacation - they examined complex crisis situations, learning the analysis tools to resolve them and developing reconciliation strategies.
¶ Poetry: Peace Initiatives
Among them, the Indian Nikhil Vazirani (21 years old), an engineer in training, wants to contribute to a rapprochement between his country and Pakistan, separated since the partition of India in 1947. “My grandparents, non-Muslims, had to flee Pakistan. Today, our two peoples have kept an identical culture, but our two states persist in making us enemies. On my return to India, I intend to take action with our government and the media.” To this end, Nikhil Vazirani will apply what he learned in Caux, thanks to reconciliation methods built on “textbook cases”, which constitute the recent history of Zimbabwe or South Africa.
From Tunisia to Switzerland
Tunisian Amir Kanergi (24 years old), a student in international relations, fought for the revolution in his country. On January 13, 2011, one day before the ouster of President Ben Ali, he lost a friend during clashes between the police and the population in Tunis. This is where he found his motivation to come to Caux, in order to be able to work more effectively to restore democracy in Tunisia. “After twenty-three years of dictatorship, our new government lacks experience. We must give it time to learn.” The Tunisian therefore wants to get involved at the grassroots level, in the education and teaching sectors.
Morgian Lucy Linder (25 years old), computer science student, is the first Swiss national to take part in the “Caux Scholars”. She wanted to learn how she could make her country more open, by combating xenophobic reflexes. “In Switzerland, we must learn to tame our fear of others. That’s why I’m considering creating a multicultural center.”
Claude Béda Texts Marius Affolter Photos (24 Heures of 07.26.2012)
Initiatives and changes: http://www.caux.iofc.org%%0%%
Claude Béda from 24 hours