June Oscar AO, one of Australia's most energetic indigenous leaders, has won the Desmond Tutu Reconciliation Fellowship for 2016. This prestigious award celebrates individuals doing extraordinary work in reconciliation.
Former Governor-General Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO will present this year’s Desmond Tutu Reconciliation Fellowship award at the Melbourne Town Hall on 19 May 2016.
Read MoreOn 21 March 2016, President Barack Obama traveled to Cuba; he was the first US President to visit the island nation since 1928. This landmark event was part of recent diplomatic efforts to normalize US-Cuban relations after decades of Cold War hostility.
Christina Plant (CP) gets the view of Dr Elizabeth Kath (EK), Lecturer at RMIT’s School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, Co-Director of Global Reconciliation, Honorary Research Fellow with the UN Global Compact Cities Programme, and author of new book Australian-Latin American Relations: New Links in a Changing Global Landscape, on President Obama's historic visit.
Hanan Al Hroub teaches at the Samiha Khalil High School in the Palestinian West Bank city of Al-Bireh, where students witness unimaginable acts of violence in their everyday lives. Stabbings, shootings and bombings happen regularly in Al-Bireh because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Read MoreThe life of Nanko Van Buuren is remembered as a shining example of courage, vision, compassion and unwavering commitment to social justice and reconciliation. Many owe their lives to him, and he devoted his own life in service of improving the lives of the most disadvantaged and marginalised people of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He ventured into places that others were afraid to tread, built bridges across seemingly insurmountable social divides, devoted himself to even the most precarious and difficult social problems, and transformed the communities where he worked.
Read MoreAn Israel girl band has made history when their debut single became the first ever song entirely in Arabic to top the Israeli music charts last year. Habib Galbi by the band A-WA, a group made up of three sisters, are descendants of Yemeni Jews who relocated to Israel after its establishment in 1948.
A-WA initially posted an online music video of Habib Galbi (Arabic for “Love of My Heart”), without mentioning they were Israeli Jews. “We wanted people to come to us with an open mind,” said Tair Haim. “We just wrote something like, ‘We are bringing you a fresh desert breeze.’”
Walker Street Gallery and Arts Centre in Dandenong have launched a photographic exhibition for Sri Lankan Reconciliation called "Ancient Cultures, New Futures". The exhibition will run until Saturday 2nd May 2015 and is part of a Global Reconciliation project in association with members of the Australian Sri Lankan diaspora and Initiatives of Change, Australia.
Read MoreSomali people are defined as a society of poets who express their feelings, and emotions positively through poetry.
The Somali Australian community will celebrate Cultural Diversity Week, promoting peace and constructive dialogue in Banyule. Cultural Diversity Week also provides an environment of social harmony, and shared understanding between the Somali Australian community and the wider Australian community through poetry.
This transformative documentary shares the uplifting stories of survivors of three major conflicts as they balance forgiveness with the need for justice. The film is being screened at Nova Cinema, Carlton at 4.30pm on Saturday 21 March - Harmony Day.
The documentary will be followed by Q&A with award-winning filmmaker, Lekha Singh alongside IRA Bombing victim, Jo Berry.
This story published in the Guardian is about the work of one of Global Reconciliation’s partner organisations – The Brazilian Institute of Innovations for Social Health (IBISS). Over the past 20 years, IBISS has been working to support people living in Rio de Janeiro’s ‘favela’ communities. IBISS delivers social inclusion and reconciliation projects including in the areas of health, education, sport, the arts, legal services, and street work.
Read MoreIn October, 2015 Global Reconciliation initiated an Alliance for Community Harmony, holidng a public forum entitled “Islam in the Australian community: Resisting the politics of fear,” on the 25th October at the Elm Street Uniting Church in North Melbourne.
The forum was the first of a series of actions arranged by Global Reconciliation, and was led by representatives of many organisations including the Islamic Council of Victoria, Liberty Victoria, Initiatives of Change and the Greens.
Read MoreSri Lanka has passed through one of the most tragic periods of war and division in its long history. Despite undoubted progress with economic reconstruction, the painful memories and the reality of continuing conflict remain everyday realities.
This exhibition seeks to contribute to the much-needed process of healing by supporting dialogue and reconciliation across the boundaries of continuing difference. Rather than focusing on the familiar images of war, destruction and personal suffering, or on post-war reconstruction and the growing material wealth, it seeks out ambivalent images that encapsulate both the challenges facing the country and the hopes carried by all for a different kind of future.
Read MoreFor decades, women’s football was banned in Brazil. Now ex-drug traffickers are tackling prejudice in the game by training future soccer stars from the favelas.
The Astroturf on the football pitch in Rio de Janeiro’s Penha favela complex is torn and covered with litter, while graffiti on the bullet-ridden, pockmarked walls vows “death to the police”.
“Stray bullets are part of my life here,” says Jessica, a 17-year-old football coach. “Sometimes you have to jump into a house to dodge them.”
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