[Peace-discuss] Fwd: Virtual Encounters In North-South Politics

[Margaret E. Kosal]

fyi

>The Virtual International Women's University (vifu)
>presents its first international conference
>
>VEINS - Virtual Encounters In North-South Politics (1)
>
>Call for Papers:
>War, Peace, and the Future of Civil Society: The Case of Palestine
>
>A virtual international conference will be offered from 2nd May until
>22nd May 2002 with the aim of analyzing the structure of conflicts
>between two peoples or nations focusing initially on the conflict
>between Israel and Palestine. This conference is supported by the
>Virtual International Women's University (vifu), which is a network of
>nearly 1000 women academics from over 100 countries.
>
>In the tradition of a feminist science that came into life through
>women's concern for social justice and their insights into the necessity
>for societal change, vifu-participants from all continents, including
>Palestinian and Israeli participants, thought about appropriate topics
>to be explored in the current Middle-East-Conflict.
>
>In order to contribute to building a future for Civil Society in
>Palestine and the Near East, we believe that the following issues should
>be addressed and discussed:
>
>1. Conflicts and their backgrounds: Potentials for solutions and
>reconciliation
>2. The histories of migrations in(to) Palestine: What are their causes
>and effects? What are the regional developments and what are the impacts
>of "Globalization"?
>3. Water, natural resources, sustainability: Where are natural resources
>located? How are they used? What effects do they have on the conflict?
>4. Body, health, nutrition: How is the physical health of civilians
>affected by strategies of the conflicting parties?
>5. Information, communication and the media's role and potential:
>How is control centralized? How to access information as a social
>resource? What is the impact of national and international media? How
>can the people participate?
>
>
>As a network of international women academics, researchers and
>NGO-activists, vifu serves as a platform for women academics to exchange
>information and discuss critical issues. The network was created through
>the International Women's University (ifu), a three-months postgraduate
>study semester which took place in summer 2000 in Germany. About 1000
>women academics met from more than 100 countries, with the majority
>coming from the so called South, thus an interesting honest North-South
>dialogue was started. International and interdisciplinary research
>concentrated on 6 globally relevant thematic fields: body, water,
>information, city, migration, work. The server "Virtual International
>Women's University" ( www.vifu.de ) serves these women (as well as
>others who joined them later) as a means to maintain worldwide networks
>of scientific cooperation and exchange. In one of these still very
>active networks the idea took shape to offer a virtual conference on
>women's views on the serious conflict between the people of Israel and
>Palestine arguably tied into a global political situation decidedly
>altered since September 2001.
>
>As a result of this collective process, we put forward the idea that a
>better understanding of a region such as the Middle East and the
>problems implied in "the case of Palestine" can be developed by
>following the paths provided by the ifu 2000 study programme and its
>major thematic fields.
>
>The vifu-participants wholeheartedly invite you to join the vifu virtual
>conference from 2nd May until 22nd May 2002 at
>http://www.vifu.de/network/conference.html .
>
>In preparation for this we ask you to send articles, papers, documents
>and links by 30th April to be posted during the virtual conference
>according to the fields of concern stated above to: zorn at vifu.de . If
>you prefer, you can also upload your article by yourself on the
>conference site.
>
>Initially, the conference will open with one discussion forum which will
>be developed into different topics/ threads as needed.
>We ask all of you to contribute to the discussion.
>
>Please pass this call on to colleagues who may want to provide a
>contribution or who may "just" be interested.
>
>Thank you for your interest, your contributions and your support!
>(A petition can be signed at
>http://www.petitiononline.com/EndOccu/petition.html )
>
>The VEINS conference organizing committee
>
>Isabel Zorn
>Virtuelle Internationale Frauenuniversität Vifu
>University of Bremen
>Fac. of Mathematics/Computer Sciences
>Postf. 330440,
>28334 Bremen, Germany
>Tel. +49- (0)421-218-7021, Fax +49- (0)421-218-4269
>email: izorn at informatik.uni-bremen.de
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>Please send questions regarding this mailinglist to ml at vifu.de
>----------------------------------------------------------------------