Many preceded us – Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King and Alice Paul – but we can also draw a lot of inspiration from current everyday examples. Such as a dedicated teacher who makes time every day to meet a student, to call him when he is absent and to answer provocative behaviour in a calm and inviting manner. Or the loving mother who sits with her son day after day, she on one side of the barricaded door, he on the other. She talks for a moment and doesn’t demand an answer. She doesn’t force anything, but she is determined not to accept his isolation by showing her presence. Or the employee who is excluded by his colleagues. The feeling of being excluded is well-known to him. As a child he did not know what to do against bullying. Now he will not be driven away, but he comes to his work every day, showing the courage to ask for help and to stand up for his position.

How can you avoid giving up and giving in? How can you persevere in difficult situations? Many situations in families, schools, organizations, in fact throughout the world, ask for courage, determination, connection and solidarity. During this conference we hope to encourage and inspire with concrete stories and examples of how you can connect and resist at the same time.

Anita Bergman
Carla Stals
Debby Kessels
Eliane Wiebenga
Ilse van den Heuvel
Wendy Verspeek
Members from the Dutch Network on Non Violent Resistance and New Authority
www.geweldloosverzetnederland.nl

With the support from the international community:
Austria: Martin Fellacher, Stefan Ofner
Belgium: Greet Lust, Hilde Leonard, Sieska Baert
Canada: Dan Dulberger
Denmark: Rikke Lyngdam
England: Denise Wilson, Margaret Smith
Germany: Bruno Körner, Martin Lemme
Israel: Irit Schorr-Sapir

And with support of the Lorentzhuis, centre for systemic therapy, education and consultation Haarlem the Netherlands.
www.lorentzhuis.nl