We will talk about examples of approaches and programs that are dedicated to conflict transformation and violence prevention in (the context of) value-based conflicts happening across the globe, including Syria, Colombia, the current refugee situation in the world or the rise of far right extremism in the CEE region. What are the potential triggers of outbursts of violent events? What are the current security threats in the world? What can we do as a civil society to prevent them?

Can barbaric acts of violence be forgiven? Under what circumstances do we forgive or not forgive? Does forgiveness help the victim or the oppressor? What can a single person do in order to prevent violence and promote tolerance? Can a former terrorist turn into a peace worker? Under what conditions? We will discuss these and many other questions with Mr. Mike Haines whose brother was beheaded by ISIS in Syria, and Hanif Qadir, a former Islamic extremist in Afghanistan.

Juraj Mravec is a young Slovak photographer, cameraman and director. He studied in Bratislava and was awarded by the Slovak Press Photo in the category reportage in 2015. In 2016 he presented his documentary film debut about Ukraine called Mir Vam. In his projects he documents places, where an ordinary person would never get. His destinations are Ukraine or Iraq, but he finds his way also to places such as the prison in Ilava, Slovakia.

How can different religions encourage and prevent violence?

In this interactive session, we aim to discuss approaches to increasing the involvement of various religious groups in the prevention of radicalism, extremism, and violence in these challenging times. We aim to discuss attitudes towards violence and extremism both within and between different religions with youth representatives of the main three monotheistic religions.

Call to action. How can we prevent radicalisation of youth?

What is happening in the minds of young people?Why does youth in Europe sympathise with far-rightextremists or Islamic terrorism? What are their motivesfor committing violent crimes? What happenswithin radical youth groups? How can we preventradicalisation of the Youth? Young leaders and expertson youth radicalisation will discuss variousapproaches.

Experienced researchers from CVEK (Center for the Research of Ethnicity and Culture) will present model cases of radicalisation and through facilitated discussion, will search for possible actions that various local actors could take to either intervene or prevent further radicalisation. They will be confronted with experiences of various local actors and municipalities from all around Europe with preventing radicalisation.

The workshop builds upon one of the largest ever projects in Europeto identify evidence-based learning on what works and what doesn’twork in addressing radicalisation and violent extremism, engaging withthe full spectrum of actors across the continent, from local community workers to senior policy makers, current and former members of radicalised movements, survivors, and many others. Jasmeet is a researcher and practitioner of the Department of Peace Operations (DPO) of PATRIR, focusing on research and development of practical, evidence-based policies, and measures for addressing violent radicalisation and extremism.

The expected outcome of the workshop is a better understanding of the processes that lead to aggression and escalation of violence in football culture. Another learning objective is a realisation that psychological and cultural mechanisms associated with football hooligans are also present in our everyday life. Participants will find out more about the nature of prejudice, tunnel vision, and confirmation bias.

During and after identity and value-laden conflicts, political actors andelites engage in ethnic, nationalist, etc. outbidding and constituentstend to vote along ethno-nationalist/religious/sectarian lines, making it difficult to cultivate moderate or interest-based stances on issues in which various identity groups typically have a fixed position. Without participants adopting strictly identity-based or ethnic roles or positions, this workshop provides an opportunity for participants to discuss issues commonly associated with identity-based, territorial, nationalistic, and self-determination conflicts— debating on the side that they initially disagree with and prompting participants to debate in favor of a fixed position with which they themselves do not align.

In this interactive panel, participants will first-hand experience the historic process of reconciliation after the Apartheid era of social injustice and violence in South Africa. After a theoretical introduction by Professor Dagmar Kusá, participants will Skype with South African who was part of the process. Next everyone will be given a role to play and will actively engage in the TRC commission. This activity will facilitate participants´ deeper understanding of the historical events, enable an emotional experience of both sides of the conflict and provide much deeper  insights than a regular presentation.

Values are based on a differing set of beliefs that often give people meaning to their lives. Values help them recognise, what is “good” or “bad”, “just” or “unjust”. Conflicts based on values can have violent consequences, but should not. People can live in harmony despite differing values. Problems start when people attempt to force one set of values on others or lay claim to exclusive value systems that do not allow for divergent beliefs. We have brought together a group of dedicated people from seven countries (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Germany) to discuss selected topics of a CEE regional comparative mapping study of value based conflicts and give presentations of the best practices from the involved countries. This session will be organised by the currently forming European Network for Nonviolence and Dialogue that will be introduced to the audience.

Tomáš is a young Slovak visual artist, a laureate of the Oscar Čepan award 2011. Afterstudies in Banská Bystrica and Warsaw, he is collecting visual material in the V4 countrieson a long-term basis, focusing on a key question: where is the boundary between patriotismand nationalism? Racism, xenophobia, protests, demonstrations and blockades arehis topics. He rather presents the material “as it is”, without declaring his attitude, thus implicitly criticizing the common manipulation of media.

Bjørn will be leading a workshop about countering propaganda in which he will discuss how to counter extremist ideas, touching upon both how propaganda works and how we can create our own effective counter messages and campaigns to work against the propaganda of extremists.

Nowadays there are many potential sources of violenceagainst civic activists, for example: a post onsocial networks, a conference speech, an interview, taking part in a talk show, a speech at a protest, etc. We will discuss which of them can be reactions from the community, when someone has a different opinion and may blame you, can say you are wrong, use bad words, and threaten you verbally or physically. Similarly, the workshop will discuss attacks to which civic activists are exposed when they advocate for public health reasons and become targets of huge industries with big influence like tobacco, alcohol, and many others.

Which are the most hated groups in the online world? Who are thehaters and what are they doing it for? Do the online discussions reflectthe offline world? Why are hoaxes spreading so quickly and is trying to counter them effective? How to react to online hate? This workshop will synthesize two years of data collection from the Czech online space and will offer this experience to the conference participants.

Brief summary of the conference, closing remarks and invitation to the next steps informing the European Network for Nonviolence and Dialogue.

A former foreign fighter himself, Hanif once joined Al Qaeda members in Afghanistan, but was deterred by the crimes he saw being committed against civilians and turned his back on them. Upon his return to the UK, he vowed to safeguard young men and women from similar experiences, losing their lives and harming their communities.

Among his many missions is encouraging countries and their leaders to invest in their young people in order to create positive futures and personal resilience before extremists could invest in them. At the same time, Hanif and his team are actively involved in using social media to engage Muslims in condemning ISIS, like in their ‘Not in my name’ campaign. Hanif Qadir is the CEO of the Active Change Foundation, a London-based organization he co-founded in 2003 to encourage young people to embrace a positive future, and to help young people in danger of becoming radicalized.

Hanif Qadir will be sharing his story of a personal transformation from a fighter of Al Qaeda to a professional worker preventing endangered youth in London from radicalisation.

Mike Haines’ (Scotland) brother David Haines was a British aid worker who was beheaded by ISIS. David had been working for the international relief agency, when in March 2013 he was ambushed and kidnapped on the Turkish border and held captive in Syria for 18 months. In September 2014 a video of his murder was released.

Mike Haines will be presenting his personal story of how he has been influenced by his brother’s life and death. Instead of calling for hatred and vengeance, Mike has decided to spread the message of tolerance, understanding and non-violence.

Iconic leader of the Crimean Tatars, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, member of Parliament of Ukraine. He survived Stalin´s deportation of 1944, and all his life headed the non-violent struggle of Crimean Tatars for their right to return to their homeland. As a frequent political prisoner during Soviet times, he holds a record of the longest hunger strike (303 days). Mr. Dzhemilev is one of the greatest politicians of our time. He publicly spoke against the invasion of Soviet troops to Czechoslovakia in 1968, which cost him his freedom. Crimean Tatars were the only group ever able to hold peaceful occupation of the Red Square in Moscow. In the summer of 1987, more than 1500 people were demonstrating for the right to their homeland for several weeks. Despite complicated Ukrainian politics since 1991, life threats, and blackmail from president Putin, Mustafa Dzhemilev remains unmoved on the principles of non-violence derived from Islam and The Quran. Mustafa Dzhemilev on Maidan

During the panel about conflict transformation he will speak about his vast experience of freedom fighting without using violence and what he has achieved with such approach. Is it working? Is it worth the patience and dedication? 

As a Humanitarian Affairs Officer at the Office of the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria Crisis, Sajeda Shawa (Jordan) has an immense experience in the field of conflict transformation and violence prevention and is passionately active in the domain of individual social responsibility, voluntarily supporting women, youth and young professionals in the areas of humanitarian field, entrepreneurship and innovation via local platforms. Her determination to serve the local community and introduce positive change is highly inspiring and admirable. Ms. Shawa dreams about the integration of “ humanitarian culture” in the educational systems around the world creating a sense of compassion to those who need help and those who can help – regardless what the mean of help is.

Ms. Shawa will talk about years of her experience in conflict prevention and transformation, the role of civil society in that process and the intercultural dialogue that aims to promote inclusion, integration and nonviolence in our respective, ever changing realties.

In the past, she had managed projects and long worked in post-conflict areas such as Serbia, Colombia and El Salvador. She is an expert in the fields of Conflict resolution and participation. As President, Julia has solidified private sector partnerships to reach development goals and has spearheaded linkages with entertainment and advertising industry leaders to support peacebuilding efforts.

In her presentation, Julia Roig will be giving examples of approaches and programs that are dedicated to conflict transformation and violence prevention in (the context of) value based conflicts happening across the globe.

 “People who feel constantly excluded from society will start to exclude themselves. To (re-) integrate them is not a spectacular single challenge but an everyday job that needs patience and passion” says Stefan Schützler, who is a social street worker for the organisation Streetwork BP Gangway e.V in the eastern part of Berlin since 1994. He has worked with many subcultural groups but his work is mainly focused on young German natives from a weak social background.

You can meet Stefan at our April conference in Bratislava, where he will talk about Youth radicalisation and prevention of radicalisation programmes.

He is a survivor of the July 2011 attacks on Utøya island in Norway when right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik shot and killed 69 people and injured 110 others. Bjørn is now working against extremism and hatred through a variety of means including writing, talks, filmmaking and theatre productions on related topics.

Bjørn Ihler will be leading the workshop Storytelling and Violence. This workshop will discuss how the transformational effect of stories can both perpetuate violence and promote healing with the use of tools like restorative storytelling.

She is a social psychologist and a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for the Research of Ethnicity and Culture. Main areas of her work and expertise include social and cultural integration of migrants and refugees, social identity issues and political discourses on minorities. For the past four years she has been focusing her research and advocacy activities on the role of municipalities and other local level actors in integration of migrants and fostering of social cohesion.

Given her experience with local authorities, Alena will discuss their role as important actors in prevention of youth radicalisation.

a co-founder and current director of the Centre for the Research of Ethnicity and Culturedeals daily with the issues of integration of migrants and minorities, interethnic relations, social cohesion cooperation with municipalities and many others. She has managed and supervised several research projects examining the status of the Roma people and migrants in Slovakia.

Facing one of the most pressing issues nowadays – the rise of radicalism – Elena will explore roles of different local level actors in preventing radicalisation of youth.

He studies Roma studies in the Faculty of Psylosophy at the Charles University in Prague. He is a coordinator of czech governmental campaign HateFreeCulture, which reacts to the hateful actions of society (www.hatefree.cz). He is also managing publishing house of Roma literature KHER. Also, he is actively participating in art work, where he mainly deals with issueas such as identity, violance and hate or injustice (www.houdeklukas.com).

He is a researcher and practitioner with the Department of Peace Operations of Peace Action, Training and Research Institute of Romania focusing on research and development of practical, evidence-based policies and measures for addressing violent radicalisation and extremism. He currently works on the Horizon 2020 "Project Takedown" – a project whose aim is to holistically tackle the problems of terrorism and organised crime in Europe – where he is involved in development of a library of responses identifying key lessons learned and what works and doesn’t work in addressing radicalisation and violent extremism.

In his workshop, Jasmeet will discuss the key issues in how we approach radicalisation and violent extremism, why some of what we’re doing often makes the situation worse, and what can be done to make it better.

For more than 10 years he has been a member of the Łódzki Klub Sportowy Supporters Association, where he is involved in an organisation of an anti-Semitic campaigns and Christmas Eve for the children with difficult social background. He is fascinated by sociological aspect of supporters culture around the world. He has visited stadiums all over the Poland as well as in Rostock, Belgrade, Bogota, Guayaquil, Nairobi and many other grounds. In all these places he tried to discover and understand the local culture of football fanatics.

Piotr Chmielewski (Poland) will tell you all about his findings and experience during his workshop “Stadium as a mirror of our society”, focused on the processes that lead to aggression and escalation of violence in football culture.

He is currently based in Yerevan, Armenia as an International Research Fellow with the Caucasus Research Resource Center where she focuses on ethnic outbidding, social militarization, and the mediation, resolution and transformation of ethno-nationalist, territorial and self-determination conflicts. Having worked with CSOs, think tanks, and NGOs in Belgium, Germany, Kosovo, and the United States, Aubrey enjoys bringing people together from around the world to engage in dialogue and to find unique ways to address identity-related and value-laden conflicts, security, and conflict mediation, resolution and transformation.

At Aubrey’s workshop, participants will get the chance to explore and examine the topics of position-based bargaining, (re)humanization of the ‘other’ and identity-based and territorial conflicts.

She has worked with troubled background kids and teenagers since her high school years. She currently works in an alternative vocational school for disadvantaged youth in Budapest as a mentor, international project coordinator, and non-formal education teacher.

At our conference, Rebeka will provide and insight into young people’s minds and discuss the various ways of how to prevent youth radicalisation.

She is president of the National Council of NGOs for the Republic of Moldova, is a well-known and respected opinion leader with many years of experience in the promotion of civil society, tolerance, conflict resolution, democratic leadership, advocacy and lobby. She has been awarded with “Civic Merit” Award of the Republic of Moldova for promoting youth/health policy and intensive organizational and civic activity and several UN prizes for promoting and defending human rights.

Antonina will share her rich knowledge and experience in the civic sector at her workshop about civic activists and the violence they may be subjected to.

He is from Platform for Active Citizenship and Human Rights Partnership is actively involved in the civic sector in the Republic of Moldova. His experience includes coordinating the National Volunteering Week 2016, which resulted in more than 600 activities, with about 560 authorities, institutions and organizations involved.

Andrei, together with Antonina Fonari, will discuss the various types of violence civic activists can be faced with and how to act in such situations.

She teaches political science at the Bratislava International School of Liberal Arts, e.g. courses on International Conflict and Conciliation and Narratives of Peace, Conflict, and Justice: Transition in Post-Apartheid South Africa. She was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Center for Social Science Research at the University of Cape Town and is currently researching the institutional choices for addressing the past chosen during the times of transitions in South Africa and Slovakia and their impact on the quality of democracy today. For the past eight years, she has helped to organize the annual global Muslim Jewish Conference, where she leads the Committee on Conflict Transformation.

At the conference Dagmar will facilitate the simulation on Truth and Reconciliation Committee and provide expertise on its content.

He is president of PDCS, is well-known for his outstanding skills and experience in the field of training and consultancy (over 1200 training courses in 40 different countries in CEE region and elsewhere). As a trainer and consultant, he has been focusing primarily on organization development, alternative ways of conflict resolution, international development issues and non-violent communication.

Dušan will fully engage participants in the “truth versus justice” debate in the context of societies emerging from conflicts during the simulation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission at our April conference.

He founded an anti-extremist platform NOT IN OUR TOWN (NIOT) in Banská Bystrica and worked as its coordinator for 3 years. He currently works as an expert for NIOT and as a programme director of Socratic institute which educates young social leaders for civic society.

At our conference, Rado will share his experience with prevention and deradicalisation on local level through nonformal education, art and approaches of German organisation Cultures Interactives

Marek is director of the Anton Tunega Foundation, a political academy and think tank located in Bratislava. Until April 2015, he chaired the Christian Democratic Youth of Slovakia, the youth organisation of KDH (Christian Democratic Movement).

Salah is Social activits, founder of Muslim Students Association and director of Center for cutlural dialogue in Nitra, Slovakia with an experience in Muslim-Christian Dialogue, which he realised for Sheikh Mohammed Centre for cutlural understanding in Dubai

She is a political activist. Currently Vice President of the European Union of Jewish Students and formerly Vice President of the Austrian Union of Jewish Students, Barbora has been for years engaged in intercultural dialogue and Jewish advocacy.

Juraj is a young Slovak photographer, cameraman and director. He studied in Bratislava and was awarded by the Slovak Press Photo in the category reportage in 2015. In 2016 he presented his documentary film debut about Ukraine called Mir Vam. In his projects he documents places, where an ordinary person would never get. His destinations are Ukraine or Iraq, but he finds his way also to places such as the prison in Ilava, Slovakia.

Tomáš is a young Slovak visual artist, laureate of the Oscar Čepan award 2011. After studies in Banská Bystrica and Warsaw, he is collecting visual material in the V4 countries on a long-term basis, focusing on a key question: where is the boundary between patriotism and nationalism? Racism, xenophobia, protests, demonstrations and blockades are his topics. He rather presents the material "as it is", without declaring his attitude, thus implicitly criticizing the common manipulation of media.