Gweler y ddolen we hon am wybodaeth yn Gymraeg

What happens when civilians choose unarmed action to protect themselves from violence? How empowering is nonviolence in shaping peoples’ presents and futures?

Aberystwyth Arts Centre, 11 – 28 March 2024
OPENING EVENT: 6 pm on Friday 22 March

The exhibition CREATING SAFER SPACE explores the unexpected power of nonviolence in the protection of civilians living in the midst of violence. It shows how protection is being thought of and practised by ordinary people without the use of weapons, and what transformative ways of imagining, doing, and living it enables, but also what its limits are.

With most deaths in wars sustained among civilians and a record high of over 110 million people forcibly displaced worldwide, the protection of civilians from the harms of war, violence and persecution is a pressing issue of our time. But answers are still mostly imagined as either armed protection from violence or as humanitarian assistance to protect people legally and socioeconomically. By contrast, the people featured in this exhibition show us that and how nonviolent, civilian alternatives of protection from physical violence work.

CREATING SAFER SPACE draws on unarmed civilian protection experiences from Cameroon, Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya, Myanmar, Nigeria, Palestine, the Philippines, South Sudan, and Thailand, where civilians are harnessing the power of nonviolence to create safer spaces and work towards alternative presents and futures. The objects, images, and voices originate from a selection of 26 research projects conducted in collaboration between academics, self-protecting communities and nonviolent civilian accompaniers, that explored how nonviolent civilian protection works. The experiences they have captured invite us to reflect on our own ideas and biases of who can protect and how.

CREATING SAFER SPACE challenges its visitors to undo commonly held beliefs about vulnerability, agency, and choices in war. It invites us to imagine possibilities for the protection of civilians differently. And it inspires us to take action and contribute to this change.

OPENING EVENT

6 pm on Friday 22 March

Join us for wine, food, music and to learn more about the exhibition. Opening remarks by:

As part of the Creating Safer Space project “Community Strategies for Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) in South-West Colombia” the research team, under the leadership of Dr Natalia Campo, organised the 1st International Festival of Participatory Video and Community-based Cinema at the Universidad Autónoma de Occidente (UAO) in the city of Cali, Colombia, between 15 and 16 Nov.

The festival received 178 applications from 25 countries and its academic agenda included a series of in-person workshops on UCP strategies with community members from the three sites of the project: Buenaventura, Caldono and Lerma, as well as a conversation with Prof. Beatriz Arias about art-based strategies for UCP.

A massive thanks to our UAO-based colleagues and generous hosts of the festival: Prof Jesus Alfonso Florez, Dr Campo, Jimena Andrade and Dr Adrian Alzate; and to the students of Dr Campo’s module Participatory Video and Community-based Cinema, who made a tremendous contribution to the festival. A well-done to our local partners from Buenaventura, Caldono and Catatumbo, whose films were shortlisted. To the winners of the festival, a massive congratulation. You can read more (and see pictures) about the Festival and the winners here:

https://www.instagram.com/festivalcineando/?hl=es
https://www.facebook.com/festivalcineando
https://filmfreeway.com/IFestivalInternacionalCineAndoconmigenteVideoParticipativoyCineComunitario

We are happy to share the Creating Safer Space brochure, with information about our network, our activities and our research.

This version of the brochure shares initial research findings from each of our 26 research projects in Africa, South-East Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. A new version of the brochure will be published in autumn 2024, with the final research results.

The brochure is available for download here.

The Creating Safer Space network has two research projects in Palestine. The research teams leading both projects highlight that while the world’s attention is understandably focused on Gaza, there is also a tragic situation unfolding in the West Bank.

The project Safety and dignity: Enhancing unarmed civilian protection amongst Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills is led by Marwan Darweish (Coventry University), together with Mahmoud Soliman (Coventry University & Al Shmoh Cultural Centre, Palestine) and Andrew Rigby (Coventry University). Drawing upon their research, they have published an article in Rethinking Security entitled Settlers turn Soldiers: The imperative for international presence and protection in the West Bank. The team argues that there is an urgent need to deploy a civilian multinational presence to protect Palestinians in the West Bank from armed and empowered Israeli settlers. The team also report on the arrest of their film maker:

“Mahmoud Makhamra is a young film maker from the South Hebron Hills (SHH), Palestine, who has been contracted by the project to make a ten minute film about civilian protection in the area. The aim is to use the film as form of discussion among community and other actors to elicit insights and exchange views about the effect of local protection mechanisms. Mahmoud also co-produced the film On Our Land about cultural protection in SHH.

Mahmoud was arrested by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on 29 Dec 2023 at about 12:00 in his village Jinba, while he was filming a shepherd. Mahmoud told us later that “they arrested me and took me to a military camp, and kept me outside in the cold for six hours, my eyes blindfolded and hands tied behind my back”. After that the army took Mahmoud to a military detention centre in Kfar Etzion near Bethlehem. He was released on 2 January without charges. The Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory have no civil rights and will be charged in military courts.”

The project Assessing the impact of unarmed civilian protection in the South Hebron Hills between 2018-2023 is led by Operazione Colomba. They report:

“From October 7th the level of violence escalated: all the Israeli settlers wear a uniform and hold weapons, and behave as a sort of militia, supported by the legitimization of the Israeli government. In this worrying context, Operazione Colomba’s staff has a crucial role to protect Palestinian civilians in danger and to monitor and report human rights violations in the area. The staff suffered direct threats by settlers and the Israeli army on many occasions. Operazione Colomba even witnessed an attempt by an Israeli settler to murder a Palestinian man in the middle of the street in the village of At-Tuwani (South Hebron Hills), that has been recorded and reported to the media and Israeli NGOs and lawyers. Luckily the victim survived, after many medical treatments. Please see: https://news.sky.com/story/israel-hamas-war-how-attacks-by-settlers-on-palestinians-in-the-west-bank-have-risen-during-gaza-conflict-12986997

From the beginning of 2024, the level of violence is always very high. Operazione Colomba is on the ground, together with other groups of activists (Palestinian, Israeli and international) who perform unarmed civilian protection. More than 18 Palestinian villages (almost 1000 people) have been forcibly evacuated by Israeli armed settlers and army in the region. Operazione Colomba witnesses daily arrests, violence, destruction of properties and land-grabbing, recording all the human rights violations.”

The Creating Safer Space project ‘Development of civil protection capacities in women displaced by the armed conflict through popular communication and Community Legal Empowerment‘, led by Masterpeace Cali, shares one of the key outputs from their research: a Transmedia Booklet co-created with the project’s research participants.

The research participants are women in Colombia who have been displaced by armed conflict, and who now reside in contexts characterized by social and urban segregation in the city of Cali. In these environments, the women remain exposed to multiple forms of violence linked to fear-based political dynamics. The booklet communicates the key research findings and shares innovative protection strategies. The aim is to encourage the adaptation and replication of these strategies in other regions and communities affected by fear-based policies.

The booklet is available in English and Spanish.

We are very pleased to announce three new Creating Safer Space projects. These projects will pilot a new participatory evaluation and learning methodology for Unarmed Civilian Protection and Accompaniment (UCP/A).

Creating Safer Space is aware of the sensitivities connected with UCP/A and how traditional methods of evaluation are often top-down or output-focused and therefore risk missing important nuances connected with civilian protection efforts. A group of practitioners and scholars have therefore discussed good practice approaches to evaluation, and developed principles that should inform evaluation design. More information is available here: https://creating-safer-space.com/participatory-evaluation-and-learning/

Creating Safer Space held a funding competition in Summer 2023 to pilot this approach to evaluation and learning, and we are happy to announce the three projects that received funding:

Contributions of grassroots organisations to the implementation of unarmed civilian self-protection strategies in violent urban contexts

Masterpeace Cali received funding for the project Contributions of grassroots organisations to the implementation of unarmed civilian self-protection strategies in violent urban contexts: Towards the security of diverse and vulnerable populations in socio-segregated environments. This project investigates the impacts of actions carried out by grassroots organisations in violent and socio-segregated urban contexts in the city of Cali, Colombia.

Assessing the impact of unarmed civilian protection in the South Hebron Hills between 2018-2023

Operation Dove / Operazione Colomba received funding for the project Assessing the impact of unarmed civilian protection in the South Hebron Hills between 2018-2023. This project aims to assess the impact of the ongoing collaboration between international volunteers and the Palestinian community in the South Hebron Hills, West Bank.

UCP and Migrants in the US / Mexico Borderlands

Meta Peace Team received funding for the project UCP and Migrants in the US / Mexico Borderlands. Using a participatory action research design, this project will engage with organizations serving migrants at the United States/Mexico border to develop tools for evaluating the impacts of unarmed civilian protection and accompaniment to protect migrants in the North American border region.

We are very pleased to announce the publication of ‘A Toolbox for a Decolonial Perspective in UCP’. This toolbox seeks to highlight key aspects that can support decolonization processes advocated by Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) practitioners. It’s not a definitive or closed document, but rather a dynamic and open proposal intended to expand through discussion and exchange within our community of practice.

This toolbox was developed in the context of the meetings of the Decolonization Working Group of the UCP Community of Practice, led by Nonviolent Peaceforce. The elaboration of the toolbox was supported financially and by team members of the Creating Safer Space network. The toolbox is available in English and Spanish:

https://creating-safer-space.com/resources/toolbox-for-a-decolonial-perspective-in-ucp/

The Creating Safer Space project ‘Strategies for Safety and Solidarity: Understanding protection through creativity in South Sudan and Colombia’ has produced a booklet about their research, artmaking and solidarity actions.

Their work invites us to consider how the arts and heritage can contribute to our understanding of safeguarding and survival in a fragile context, but also how protecting the arts could be essential to creating a safer society.

Artists and keepers of cultural traditions from South Sudan, Sudan and Colombia have worked with researchers to investigate the ways we seek out protection and how those strategies for safety are narrated.

The booklet is available here.

Four team members of the N+ project Art That Protects visited mid-Wales in October 2023. Project PI Beatriz Arias López and research assistant Laura Jimenez of the University of Antioquia were joined by project partners Adriana Diosa and Oscar Manuel Zuluaga of Harlequin and the Jugglers for an event at Aberystwyth University that showcased the work and findings of the project’s first phase. Read more about the event here.

In addition, Adriana and Oscar gave a theatre workshop for 3rd-year students of the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies (TFTS) and contributed to a seminar on dance as a form of resistance in Colombia in the Department of History and Welsh History. They also presented the Art That Protects project at the Community Hwb in Machynlleth.

15 members of the Creating Safer Space network took actively part in an International Gathering of Unarmed Civilian Protection and Accompaniment Organisations, which was held in Ferney-Voltaire, France and Geneva, Switzerland from 9-11 October 2023. Organised by Nonviolent Peaceforce with input from a range of UCP/A stakeholders, this was “the first global gathering of UCP/A practitioners, their community partners, researchers and allies collaborating to advance the UCP/A Community of Practice by creating opportunities to grapple with shared issues, explore creative solutions, and build relationships with colleagues working around the world”. 

N+ members – from the core network team, different project teams, and the advisory board – were involved in planning, implementing and facilitating the gathering, offered workshops on different UCP/A-related topics including decolonisation, learning and evaluation, looming threats, and peace processes, spoke about UCP and community self-protection research at a policy event for humanitarian organisations and UN member countries, and contributed to the gathering more widely by sharing their experiences and knowledges. 

Ellen Furnari, Creating Safer Space advisory board member, played an essential role in the research and planning process that led up to this Gathering. Ellen together with core N+ team members Nerve Macaspac, Rachel Julian and Roger Mac Ginty organised a workshop on “Learning What Works in UCP/A”, while core team members Beatriz Arias López and Laura Jimenez were active in the “Decolonising UCP/A” process and workshop. South Sudan project team member Moses John contributed to the “Looming threats: Shaping challenges into strategies” plenary, and project PI Juan Mario Diaz led a workshop on “The Role of UCP/A in Contemporary Peace Processes”.

Project PI Enrique Chimonja Coy and Network PI Berit Bliesemann de Guevara contributed to a Policy Roundtable, co-hosted by the Permanent Missions of the Netherlands, Costa Rica, the Philippines and Sierra Leone to the United Nations and Nonviolent Peaceforce.

Other N+ members participating in different roles in the Gathering included project team members from or working in Colombia, Myanmar, and Indonesia, and Palestine. The Gathering was co-facilitated by Berit Bliesemann de Guevara and Beatriz Arias López.

The N+ team also organised a small preview of the Creating Safer Space exhibition, which involves creative outputs from our projects and will be shown in full in different locations around the world in 2024.

Learn more about the Community of Practice process and the Gathering here.