Introduction

Dear
friends from so many different latitudes, North, South, East and West, welcome
to our Reader. We hope that this collection of background papers will help
bring us closer and establish further common ground in preparation for our
Seminar: "Choosing Peace Together". While gathering for the conference in
Poreè, a seaside resort on the Adriatic, its natural beauty cannot
deflect our awareness from the harsh and continuing reality which brings us
there and which we have to face head on: WAR. It is obvious that our struggle
for peace must go on. We are far from reaching our goal. We are too few. The
dangers and risks are far too many and we know all too well that hope and good
intentions are not enough.

So, we invite you to read these pages with the best of your energy and
thoughts, trying to accept the challenges and to be ready at any moment to
listen deeply to others' experiences, to learn from them, and to share the work
we ourselves have done insofar as it is relevant and can help our mutual
endeavours. Our criticism needs to be constructive, both in pointing out our
failures and mistakes and in highlighting contributions, improvements and
advances. As human beings we have to recognise that we need positive
reinforcement to be strengthened and to continue our work creatively. We need
to have as much respect and appreciation for those who work quietly in small
scale, local situations as we have for the more high-profile achievements of
others on the world stage. Work at every level is very important to, and in
fact creates, the whole. Let us be positive even when analysing what is wrong,
in the understanding that we come here with a commitment to deepen the meaning
and moral influence of our struggle. We are not alone, and although we are few,
we are always in search of others who might join us. Let us look always for
what we have in common, strengthening our final goals and principles, rather
than stressing differences. We are all vital, as individuals, as members of
the group, as part of society as a whole.

This Reader will be helpful to you in different ways. It will give practical
information concerning the conference, travel, accommodation and so on. It will
also give you a general overview of the four main areas the Seminar will
cover.

Five Plenary Sessions

These will be short, general gatherings each morning before we move on to our
theme groups, afternoon workshops and the five longer evening plenaries you
have read about in the general leaflet on the conference. The evening plenaries
will raise controversial and challenging aspects of our struggle for peace.
They will be occasions in which all the participants share insights and raise
issues which will be reflected in the other parts of the event. These include:
Choosing Peace Together; Justice after War; The Death of
Conflict Resolution; Men's and Women's Agendas; and Civil Action
for Peace.

Seven Theme Groups

In these sessions, which will follow the morning's plenary, each participant
will join a smaller, self-selected, discussion group. This Reader will provide
you with one article on each of the selected topics, all of which have been
published previously in Peace News. These are intended to help us to get
our teeth into the the isssues and to provide a starting point for the
discussions we will have in these small groups. This will give us the
opportunity to deepen our analysis, to assess proposals, to evaluate
achievements, failures and hopes, and to work creatively on common ground. The
topics are: Nonviolence and Social Empowerment; Reconstruction and
Democratisation; Identity and Conflict; Peace Action and
Modernisation of the Military; Women Crossing the Lines;
Grassroots Movements and Peace Processes; Civil Disobedience and
Environmental Action.

Workshops

You will find a great variety of workshops, which will be the context for our
afternoon sessions. Many ideas for the workshops have already been proposed,
far too many to list completely in this Reader, others will arise and some may
be dropped as we decide our priorities together in Poreè. These
afternoon gatherings will be a great place to share very concrete
experiences.

Other activities

There will be a daily newsletter. Finally, we cannot work all the time. There
will be free time to talk informally, take a walk, or go for a short bathe in
the sea or in the sun. There will be a free afternoon for leisure, shopping,
tourism, or a visit to local individuals and centres working in our field of
concern. One evening we shall have a party and on others we will give videos,
songs, photos and whatever else our creativity has helped us with.

The conference will have three languages: English, Croatian/Serbian and
Spanish. Simultaneous translation in these languages will take place at all
plenaries and help will be provided in theme groups and workshops, either by
the translators, resource people or participants themselves who have offered to
help.

When you receive this Reader, it will not be long before we meet in person: So,
hello! And a Big Welcome!