2004/2005/2006

Poems for Peace
Resist. Reflect. Protest. Express. Question. Ignite. Remember. Write
In response to our call for entries for Poems for Peace last year, we received a huge number of excellent entries from all over India and Pakistan and also a few from the United States of America. We have had a very hard time choosing a few from them but have finally selected 100 Poems for Peace for our anthology. Three judges, the well known writers Ruchir Joshi and Amit Chaudhuri and Dr. Sanjukta Dasgupta , professor, writer and poet have chosen their favourite poems . These poems feature in a special section of the anthology entitled “Judges' Choice”.
Schoolchildren in India have also contributed drawings on Peace . Some of these drawings illustrate this anthology -
One Hundred Poems for Peace.

PeaceWorks in Darjeeling

Workshop for teachers on “Reading Text” Conducted by Minu Tharoor, Professor, New York University On July 23rd 2005 at the Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre

Peacewards
Ensemble theatre using 5 monologues by Manjula Padmanabhan directed by Jayant Kripalani, featuring the rock band Insomnia was presented at G.D.Birla Sabhagar in collaboration with Sanskriti Sagar. It was the outcome of the ten-day actors workshop conducted by Jayant Kripalani with young people at the Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre. The group worked on developing the performance with inputs from the band insomnia who provided original songs and lyrics. A PeaceWorks book entitled Hidden Fires-Monologues by Manjula Padmanabhan was released on the occasion of the performances.

PeaceWorks hosted the Jana Natya Manch to perform their play Bolo Kya Banoge Tum for schoolchildren in Calcutta. A brief report...

Peace trip to Pakistan

Postcards to the president
Spearheaded by activist-writer Mahasweta Devi and Tushar Talukdar (ex-police commissioner, Calcutta) 3000 postcards were printed, stamped and distributed by Seagull for signatures by concerned individuals. The All India Muslim Student’s Federation reprinted 3000 more such postcards as part of the same effort. The postcards were offered to anybody wishing to take forward this campaign both in English and Bengali.

Exhibitions
The Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre, has organized several exhibitions which have been related to the issues of peace and coexistence. Among these were
‘Pradeep –The Photographic Travel Exhibition’ showcasing the work of Pradeep Bhatia, the photojournalist killed in a Srinagar terrorist attack, in collaboration with The Little Magazine and The Pradeep Bhatia Memorial Trust.
‘A 100 flowers’ - the outcome of an inter-school poster design competition on the theme of peaceful coexistence. This exhibition was in collaboration with The Teacher’s Centre and Max Mueller Bhavan and was supported by Intel Asia Electronics, Inc.
‘Borders and Beyond’, a photographic exhibition showcasing ten reports by photographers from several countries and continents presenting deeply moving images of people and borders, of infringement, expulsion and discrimination.

STQ: a cannibal time (Issue 32/33)
A special issue responding to the communalization of culture. The contents include the texts of talks given at a JANAM sponsored national theatre activists meet by Aijaz Ahmed, Malini Bhattacharya, Brinda Karat, interviews with Habib Tanvir, G. P. Deshpande, H. S. Shivaprakash, an extract from the play ‘Tiger’ by Sisir Kumar Das, and interviews with street theatre activists from all over the country.

Workshops
The PeaceWorks workshops have been conducted around diverse issues and have included debating workshops for schools, understanding media, orientation workshops, film and theatre related workshops, and a banners for peace workshop. Resource people have included well-known personalities like Anand Patwardhan, Jayant Kripalani and academics and professionals like Tom Lai, Dr Radharani Ray, and Sumit Roy. Workshops have also been organized for teachers both in formal schools and non-formal organizations. These have ranged from teacher training workshops to activity based workshops.

Films screenings
PeaceWorks has a collection of important films on related issues which range from documentaries and short films made by both well known filmmakers as well as efforts by independent filmmakers. These films are offered to organizations and institutions on loan to screen at their premises. The films are also being taken to schools and are offered as a complete package where a film is screened and a resource person carries forward discussions which arise from that. The films include classics like Alain Resnais’ ‘Night And Fog’, Jiri Trnka’s “Hand’, films by Anand Patwardhan, Lalit Vachani’s ‘Men in the Tree’, Gauhar Raza’s ‘In Dark Times’, Gopal Menon’s ‘Hey Ram!! Genocide in the land of Gandhi’ and many others.

Theatre events
Theatre events have included workshops and performances involving both volunteers and the schools programme. An actors' workshop conducted by Jayant Kripalani developed into a complete performance entitled ‘Peacewards’ which was performed for audiences in Calcutta at the G. D. Birla Sabhagar. This performance based on the dramatic monologues by Manjula Padmanabhan and were taken to schools and presented in different forums including at the Karachi High school in Pakistan. The workshop for non-formal schools included a session for children conducted by members of Sukchar Pancham Repertory Theatre.

The school programme
This includes sessions organized for groups of 50-200 students at a time. The programmes have included lectures by resource people from various fields, film screenings with interactive discussions, theatre workshops and presentations and activity-based programmes. The schools have included both Bengali and English medium schools across Calcutta.

Workshops for non-formal schoolteachers
A series of four workshops to reinforce the concepts of unity in diversity in teachers and children in non-formal schools. The workshops have been conducted with both teachers and students in ten NGOs working in the field of non-formal education and have been conducted by resource people like Mrs. Uma Ahmed (educationist), and the Sukchar Pancham Repertory Theatre group.

 

2009
The King and the Little Man—The workshop:

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Anubha Fatehpuria started workshopping with a bunch of high school students, adapting K. G. Subramanyan’s children’s story ‘The King and the Little Man’ for the stage. Eventually, the most enthusiastic youth, a group of five (three from Patha Bhavan School, and two from St. Xavier’s Collegiate School), were part of the intensive workshop that led to the performance at the Kolkata Police Auditorium at Bodyguard Lines, Alipore.
The focus, however, was on the process of putting the play up. The story, originally in English, was translated into Hindi. Scenes were added. Music was introduced. Bits of comic relief were thrown in. The artist’s images were projected on colourful cloth in the backdrop as the young actors performed around it. The language was a challenge for all the participants of the workshop because none of them were Hindi-speaking. But rigorous practice did the trick. Within a week, the youth—complete amateurs so far—were ready to perform the play for an audience.

The Supersonics in Concert -
on the occasion of the launch of Stories or Peace
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Conversations for Change
Peace Studies and the School Curriculum
a series of five talks/interactions involving schoolteachers and respected academicians and educationists on exploring creative methods of incorporating Peace Studies into the mainstream school curriculum >>>

Reading Text - a workshop for school teachers on encouraging students to read outside the curriculum, to enjoy reading, to derive important ideas from what they read, and to relate those ideas to issues that are pertinent to their lives and the world around them. Conducted by Minu Tharoor - Prof New York University

Dream Rights
Storytelling through photography, by presenting images of a classmate's dream of what is appropriate social change. This workshop was about encouraging the students to understand that the way they look at the world is fundamental to change...
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In the Rights Direction
the PeaceWorks Human Rights Defenders programme >>>

PeaceWorks School Curriculum - Reading Literature

2008

Thoda Pyaar Thoda Peace
Peaceworks Festival
November 2008
>>>

Play for Peace>>>
A 3-day intensive workshop on peace-building and conflict resolution conducted by 'Play for Peace' (PFP) – a global organization now in its 10th year which brings together children, youth and organizations from communities in conflict. >>>

A day long journey exploring socially relevent issues and the power of words
a report...

2007

Stories for Peace
Students from India and Pakistan were invited to submit original short stories which explore the theme of peace. A board of judges, comprising writers, academics and literateurs selected the 20 best entries to be published in a ‘Stories for Peace’ anthology by Seagull Books, Calcutta.

Kites for Peace
A PeaceWorks Cross-Border Event
“Kites for Peace”, a project conceived noting the current state of mistrust and suspicion between two nations, India and Pakistan, was launched in January 2007 at the International Schools Educational Olympiad organised by the Karachi High School held in Karachi, Pakistan. The idea was to approach schools in both the nations and ask the students to write messages on the kites. It involved school children in the task of sending messages of peace and amity across the border.
Click here for a report

In the Rights Direction
The PEACEWORKS Human Rights Defenders Programme is an initiative to work with young people to train them and to create a collective of human rights defenders. It is a process of capacity building and sensitizing young volunteers through interactive workshops and films on gender, sexuality, globalization and law to enable them to understand with precision, conceptual issues concerning social justice.
The group was formed after a human rights workshop conducted by human rights lawyers Oishik Sircar and Debolina Dutta from 18 to 26 June, 2007.

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Creative writing workshop
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Stroking Dead Man’s Hair:
The polemics of Third Theatre and Us!

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Peaceworks School Curriculum -
St. Joseph's, Bowbazar:

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Report on the Human Rights Workshop
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Peaceworks Creative Expressions Workshop
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