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UID:Indybay-18729273
SEQUENCE:18830394
CREATED:20130102T180900Z
DESCRIPTION:In September 2001, not long after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York 
 and Washington, longtime Bay Area activist David Hartsough was the 
 scheduled guest of that month's meeting of PASMC. David came to talk about 
 his new project, the Global Nonviolent Peaceforce. He had met another 
 activist, Mel Duncan, at the 1999 Hague Appeal for Peace.\n\nWith similar 
 visions of creating an unarmed civilian peacekeeping force, the two formed 
 what is now called the activist Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP).\n\nSince its 
 initial work in Sri Lanka in 2002, NP has gone on to send staff to help 
 create a protective presence for people in Guatemala, South Sudan, Georgia 
 in the South Caucasus, and the Philippines. With its headquarters in 
 Brussels, Belgium, its U.S. organization, Nonviolent Peaceforce USA, helps 
 to raise awareness about its work - as well as the conflict zones where it 
 seems necessary.\n\nOn Sunday, January 13, we will begin the new year with 
 a presentation on the Nonviolent Peaceforce by San Francisco NP staffmember 
 Gilda Bettencourt. Gilda will give an overview of NP as well as a progress 
 report on the organization's various efforts.\n\nThe Nonviolent Peaceforce 
 strives to foster communication among conflicting factions in the countries 
 to which it has gone. "Our peacekeepers," says its web site, "include 
 veterans of conflict zones, experienced peacekeepers, and those new to the 
 field with the right combination of experience, skills, aptitude and 
 attitude." The focus, as Gilda will surely demonstrate, is on protecting 
 civilians and making a country safe and viable for them to live in peace. 
 One way to do that is by making civilian peacekeeping a "policy option" for 
 the region.\n\nGilda Bettencourt is a Bay Area native and a graduate of UC 
 Berkeley. She has been part of NP since 2004, during which she was a 
 Strategic Relations and Capacity Building Assistant until 2010, and is now 
 a Major Gifts Associate.\n\nThe UUSM is wheelchair accessible.\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/01/02/18729273.php
SUMMARY:Presentation about the Nonviolent Peaceforce
LOCATION:Unitarian Universalists of San Mateo\n300 E. Santa Inez\nSan Mateo, CA 
 94401\n\nhttp://www.uusanmateo.org/
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/01/02/18729273.php
DTSTART:20130114T030000Z
DTEND:20130114T050000Z
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