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| Lecture - Live, Study and Play around the
World - Peace Boat Staff |
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| A member of the Tomoe Kai Taiko group issues
a challenge to the gods of the sea |
In the first lecture of the voyage, Cruise Director
Takayoshi Kise gave an account of his personal history with Peace
Boat before giving the floor to the coordinators of the various programmes
on this cruise. He expressed his hope that Peace Boat would awaken
participants to a sense of their connectedness to the world and global
issues, and allow them to forge bonds with people throughout the world. |
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| One programme offering passengers the chance
to take part in an English musical performed in port and daily language
lessons as well as experience homestays and exchange activities with
local families is GET (Global English Training). The GET philosophy
places emphasis on language as a tool, privileging its communicative
aspects over perfect pronunciation and native-speaker speed. |
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| Nicola Liscutin introducing the GU Programme
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For participants wishing to deepen their understanding
of global issues, the Global University consists of a series of workshops,
presentations and exposure and study tours in ports of call. The first
unit, coordinated by Nicola Liscutin, currently lecturing at Birkbeck
College in London is entitled "Migration" and concerns concepts of
nation, citizenship and immigration in Japan and the EU. Speakers
from the Philippines, Algeria, Japan and the UK will introduce governmental
policy on immigration in various countries, while workshops and tours
with immigrants and asylum seekers will give students the chance to
see the reality of immigrant lives and multi-ethnic society. Unit
2 will look at the role of NGOs in environmental development issues,
and give participants the opportunity to create their own international
cooperation NGO. It is aimed at those considering a career in international
organizations and culminates in a visit to an NGO in Latin America,
which is involved in environmentally conscious development. Finally,
the Action Programme will bring together students of the previous
units and allow them to incorporate their new-found knowledge and
experiences into an exploration of how they can maintain their action
in the globalization of human rights. |
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| IS Students and Coordinator celebrating departure
(from left) Saptarshi, Pilar, passenger Yu Nunokawa, Jasna,
Zainab, Dusan C, Jasmina, Dusan S, and Uri . |
GU students will entertain close links with the
IS, whose programme includes public presentations about the political
situation and role of the media in times of hostility as well as daily
workshops and case-study tours. In this way Peace Boat aims to let
them share their stories with a wider audience while providing them
with a neutral forum in which to come together with students from
the opposing side. Ranging in age from 22-27, the IS are active in
journalistic and NGO-related fields and, as co-coordinator Jasna Bastic
explained, the situation in their countries has prevented them from
travelling and bearing witness to their experiences of conflict. Peace
Boat hopes to inspire them to work on common projects, both now and
in the future, in the realisation that there are always people working
towards peaceful conflict resolution despite the politics and actions
of their respective governments. IS participants on the current cruise
are Dusan Saponja and Dusan Cavic from Serbia, partnered with Jasmina
Hadzikaric from Bosnia; Saptarshi Bhattachary from India and Zainab
Shah from Pakistan; Walid Nasser from Palestine and Uri Blau from
Israel; and Pilar Chavez from Colombia. |
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| Following these presentations, passengers were
introduced to some of the other groups onboard, from P-Mac, which
collects money and raises support for the abolition and clearance
of landmines, to the UPA team, an awareness-raising NGO which delivers
goods and aid collected in Japan to various organisations in need
at the ports of call. Also onboard is Team Space, an arts and dance
group created through the cooperation of the passengers, which aims
to effect exchange through non language-based medium and the soccer
team, Peace Ball, which engages in friendly matches with local teams
and donates sporting equipment to underprivileged communities. |
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| Despite the hazardous ocean between Japan and
the Philippines, this introductory lecture was well attended, with
many passengers expressing a desire to take part in the various programmes.
It ended on a note of excitement with a performance of Taiko drumming
and the chance for participants to share their personal reasons for
coming onboard. These ranged from a desire to explore their relationship
with the world around them or gain a new perspective on life back
home, to learning about globalisation and the issues it raises in
developing countries. Whatever the impetus, everyone seems determined
to make the most of this unique opportunity no matter what the seas
throw at them! |
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| Peace Boat's
39th Voyage index |
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PEACE BOAT is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. |
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