Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Welcome to IFLAC

IFLAC PAVE PEACE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Los Angeles, California - 3rd to 6th August 2005
AYRES HOTEL, L.A (near the L.A Airport)


THE MAIN GOALS OF IFLAC
To strive toward the promotion of peace and mutual respect between people and nations.
To promote social, cultural and religious tolerance between people.
To eliminate violence in all its forms.
To organize peace culture researchers, writers, intellectuals and friends of literature.
To encourage creativity that promotes culture and peace.

PURPOSE OF THE ORGANIZATION
We believe that culture and literature can promote peace, freedom, and the enrichment of the quality of life. On the threshold of the twenty first century, we shall endeavor to pave the way towards the fulfillment of our main ideal “one world and one humanity, all living in peace”. Our goal is to help build a Middle East and a world beyond war in the 21st century, by means of literature, culture and art. This endeavor is in harmony with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights embodied in the Charter of the United Nations.
We strive for freedom of speech and expression, and for freedom from hostile and oppressive violence, whether it is war, or gender, physical, mental or moral oppression. We believe in the right of people everywhere to live in peace, and in their rights to pursue their various cultures, as well as human endeavors, and to obtain equal civil justice.

ACTIVITY
Toward these ends, we organized an "International Congress on Conflict Resolution Through Culture and Literature," in Shavei Zion, Galilee, in June 1999, the Second Iflac Conference, in Sydney in 2001, the third Iflac Conference was held in London in 2002, and the fourth one will be held in Bursa, Turkey, in October 2003.
"IFLAC", under its former name: "The Friends of Literature Association", was founded in 1985 in Haifa Israel, and was registered as a Voluntary Association in 1987. There are nine branches in Jewish, Arab and Druze sectors in Israel, actively and harmoniously working together. We hold regular literary and cultural meetings including: Lectures, Poetry Reading, Story-Telling, New Books celebrations, Interviews, Literary Weekend Seminars, Cultural Festivals, Symposiums, Congresses, Jewish and Arab/ Palestinian Students Meetings and Workshops.
In 1996 the TENT OF PEACE was set up in the Druze village of Ussfiya, in which inter-cultural meetings and happenings are regularly held. From year 2000, Iflac’s center is in Haifa, in Beit Pinsky, the house of the late poet David Pinsky, where regular Dialogue Encounters and Literary meetings are held.

DECLARATION OF THE IFLAC WORLD ETHOS (2004)
THE IFLAC GLOBAL COMMON PEACE CULTURE VALUES ARE:

1. Respect, understanding and tolerance for other Cultures, Opinions and Religions,
2. The right of every individual to humane treatment and to his/her own cultural values, norms, cultural heritage and traditions.
3. The prinicple of freedom from war, terror and violence and respect for life.
4. Equal rights for all women and men.
5. Solidarity between people all over the world and advocacy of a just world economic order.
6. Separation of Religion and the political and public sphere.
The IFLAC Committee: The International Forum for the Literature and Culture of Peace

DEFINITION of PEACE CULTURE
Culture: The Webster New World Dictionary describes "culture" as: "The development, improvement and refinement of the mind, emotions, interests, manners and tastes, as well as the arts, ideas, customs and skills of a given people in a given period."
The Oxford English Dictionary adds that culture is "The intellectual side of civilization."
The definition of "culture" in IFLAC, is based on all the above.
Peace - Webster's New World Dictionary defines peace as: freedom from war, public security, freedom from disagreement or quarrels, harmony, concord, serenity. The definition of "peace" in this article is based on this definition.
Peace Culture -A peace culture is based on all the above, and therefore it can create, mediate and transfer values, ideas, ethics, information, customs, traditions, interests, emotions, developments, arts and intellectual refinement, between: people, generations, nations, and civilizations. It is both a productive and reproductive force by transmitting the cultural patterns of the present and the past, and an important creative and educational influence, by its power to inculcate new values, norms, attitudes, behavior and trends.

for more information contact Dr. Ada Aharoni ada@iflac.com

website www.iflac.com