Come to the Fellowship of Reconciliation’s Called to be Peacemakers conference, a residential weekend event for 18 to 30 (ish) year olds who are interested, active and/ or engaged in peace and conflict issues. With expert speakers and skills training, the event provides an opportunity to join a community of like-minded individuals from across the UK.

This year the conference asks: How do we relate to one another, ourselves and the wider world around us? Relationships shape who we are and what we believe. In this busy world we rarely examine our relationships; how they develop and change; our relationship with ourselves, others and the peace movement.

The conference is being held at the Hollowford Centre, Derbyshire and is subsidised to allow as many people to attend as possible. A limited number of travel bursaries and subsidised places are available. Conference places are £40 if booked before 1st October 2008 (£50 after).

The flier and booking form for the event can be downlaoded below and returned via email, or posted to:
Fellowship of Reconciliation,
19 Paradise Street,
Oxford, OX1 1LD.
01865 250 781

Benny Wenda coming to speak!

BENNY WENDA is a tribal leader from West Papua, the western half of the island of New Guinea, bordering Papua New Guinea, which is located about 250km north of Australia. Nearly 40 years ago, West Papua was annexed by Indonesia following a sham referendum in which the Indonesian military hand-picked a thousand Papuan elders and forced them at gun-point to vote for Indonesia instead of independence. Ever since, thousands of West Papuans have been killed, tortured, raped and imprisoned by the Indonesian security forces.

Benny Wenda is now the leader of the West Papuan independence movement in the UK. In 2002 Benny was arrested by the Indonesian military for peaceful pro-independence campaigning, including raising the banned West Papuan flag.
If his trial had ever reached a conclusion, Benny would most likely have been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

He was detained and tortured for months before escaping and fleeing to England with his wife and daughter where they have been granted asylum. From exile in Oxford, Benny is now continuing West Papua's peaceful struggle for independence from Indonesia.

Benny will be coming to talk to us about international relationships within peace campaigning, specifically looking at campaigning on a peace issue in another country, campaigning as an international in the UK, and his personal experiences of working with Indonesian nationals.

Read more about the Free West Papua Campaign here.