Globally Conscious Peacemakers (GCP)
WHO, WHAT AND WHY
We are an informal community of 400+ conscious professionals and global peacemakers of all ages and backgrounds from more than 45 countries around the world.
Since we first gathered online in April 2020, we have been sharing and learning practical ways to support, pacify and nurture ourselves and prevent violence and promote peace with those around us during a very challenging time for global health and security.
HOW
So far, we have followed several different formats for our monthly, virtual gatherings and we have now happily settled on a 90-minute formal session, followed by 30 minutes of open, informal conversation for those who can stay a bit longer. Each full session is repeated twice on the same day to include everyone around the world. Some people stay up past midnight to participate twice!
In the spirit of continuous exploration, innovation, and improvement, we have started experimenting with a hybrid format since our session in February 2021.
In the first half of each 90-minute formal session, there will be a more formal, interactive plenary presentation on a specific peacemaking tool or exercise, as part of our ongoing “Global Peacemaker’s Toolkit” (GPT) series.
In the second half of each 90-minute formal session, we will split up into a series of small breakout groups on participant-chosen topics - including an option to have a more intimate debrief with the earlier presenter – as part of our ongoing “Conscious Professionals Multilogues” (CPM) series.
WHEN AND WHAT
Session 34A on February 9, 2023 at 9.00am in Central Europe (CET) and 10.00am Central Africa (CAT) / 1.30pm in India (IST) / 7.00pm in Australia (AEDT): Register here
Session 34B on February 9, 2023 at 8.00am in Seattle (PDT) / 11.00pm in New York (EDT) / 1.00pm in Rio de Janeiro (BRT) / 5.00pm in Central Europe (CET) and 6.00pm in Central Africa (CAT): Register here
In session 34A, Annelie Wambeek (based in the Netherlands) will talk about “Cultural Marginality and Belonging: Do You Belong Somewhere, Everywhere or Nowhere?” and invite us to explore what ‘cultural marginality’ means and how that relates to our sense of belonging. In Session 34B, Rita Wuebbeler (based in the USA) will present on “Belonging and ‘the Delusion of Separation’: A Way to Help Heal the World”.
WHAT NEXT
GCP sessions take place twice a day on the second Thursday of every month (except January and August).
The 2023 dates are: 9 February; 9 March; 13 April; 11 May; 8 June; 13 July; 14 September; 12 October; 9 November; 14 December.
WHAT HAPPENED
When Covid-19 first hit in March 2020, Margaret Regan of the Inclusion Allies Coalition in New York City asked Jeremy Solomons in Rwanda to create a one-hour web session on “Survival Strategies for DEI Practitioners”, which he co-designed and -led with his colleague, Nadine Binder, in Germany in April 2020. In May and June, we continued to dive deeper into “Survival Strategies for Conscious Professionals” when we explored how to let go of the “Old Normal”, embrace the “Now Normal”, and prepare for the “New Normal”.
For our fourth session in late June, we formally created the “Conscious Professionals Multilogues” (CPM) and invited conscious professionals from around the world to share their perspectives on how the world is confronting Corona, Racism and Social Injustice. We learned from and with seven presenters who shared their experience from Australia, Canada, India, the Netherlands, Rwanda, South Africa, and the USA. Our fifth session took place in early August, again using a mixture of small group discussions and Corona and Social Justice updates and calls to action from presenters in Bangladesh, Brazil, Norway, and South Korea.
In sessions six and seven, which took place on 14 September and 20 October, we experimented with an adapted Open Space Technology format to enable small group discussions and sharing around various topics that emerged from the community, such as “Colorism”, “Positive Options for the Future”, “Migration and Refugees”, “From Change to Transformation”, “The Compassionate Male”, “White Privilege”, “Extending the Paradigm from Diversity to Well-Being”, “How to Introduce Social Justice Discussions in Organizations”, “Balancing Inner and Outer Work”, and many more.
We concluded the year 2020 with our eighth round of multilogues on 1 December, in which we reflected back on the year using so-called story circles and in which we looked ahead to 2021 in small group conversations. Our first CPM sessions of 2021 took place on 14 January, with a focus on
This idea for the new “Global Peacemaker’s Toolkit” (GPT) series emerged in the Autumn of 2020 as mass violence loomed across the world from the USA to Ethiopia to Belarus to Afghanistan to Hong Kong. Many concerned global citizens within our CPM community and beyond were looking for more practical, applicable tools to prevent violence and promote peace. In the first GPT session on 29 October, there were three interactive presentations on Self-Reflection with the "Looking Back, Looking Forward" exercise; Overcoming Assumptions with the "Rule of Six" exercise; and Leading Difficult Conversations with the "PASSIO" model. In the second GPT session on 19 November, we focused on "Stress and Trauma" and "Traditional Ways to Prevent and Resolve Conflict". The third GPT session took place on 10 December, with two presentations and breakout sessions on “Inside Out: For Peace & Harmony” and on “Engaging People in Systems Change”. And 2021 kicked off with two interactive sessions on “Multilogues: Co-Creating Safe Spaces” and our first hybrid format sessions in February 2021, which we continued since then.
WHAT TO DO
If all of this is of interest to you, please write to us at jeremy@jeremysolomons.com and nadine@nadinebinder.com if you would like more information about GCP and/or you yourself would like to present in a future session while meeting our four criteria:
Participated in at least one GCP session before
Focusing on practical ways to find inner peace or promote outer peace
Any tools/exercises shared are free to use/adapt and applicable now …
… as long as they do not risk doing any inadvertent harm to anyone else
And if you would just like to stay informed on future sessions, please email Nadine directly.