"What Is In a Name?"
From IIMHC to ICfC

“What is in a name?”  With this issue of the Newsletter we are proud to inform you of our new name and acronym.  While it reflects little change in our commitments, methods, scope of activities and determination, it does reflect something of a mature and growing organization that is moving to scale and that no longer needs to respond to assumed and actual questioners:  "Why another organization?" 

For quite a while we have been saying in jest that even for people in the memory business a name such as the International Institute for Mediation and Historical Conciliation is a bit difficult to remember and an acronym as un-euphonious as IIMHC is no timesaver in evoking the spirit of an organization.  Our Board ran contests; we consulted with name change gurus.  To no avail.  As simple as was the message that we must "simplify" our name, that was, in fact, not so simple. 

Some are disappointed that our most important contribution of using history and memory in peacemaking is understated in the new title.  Others will point out that using a preposition in an acronym, ICfC, even if, in its small letter status, it does distinguish us from some organizations, particularly in the Hague, is bad table manners or worse.  We, of all people, do not belittle the power of symbols.  There is something to a name. Rivers of blood were shed in the Middle Ages in the debate on nominalism and realism.  Our name is neither.  It is the evocation of a capacity to bring together the various stakeholders in making and sustaining that peace, who include those injured and those who are accused of injuring, the peacemakers who can get them to sit down at the same table and talk about the past as a means to shaping a new vision for the future, and the people, like all of us, who support work of those peacemakers.  As that work becomes more successful, we hope that you will have all the less difficulty remembering our name.

We are sharing this newsletter with you in the wake of one of the most important involvements of the ICfC.  After nearly a year of planning, the Center spent part of this past summer in Amsterdam consulting for its Mayor and senior staff on how to stop and prevent the radicalization of Muslims. We convened a Network of officials for this purpose from some of the cities of Europe that have endured the worst problems of terrorism and militancy.  This work, already has received attention far beyond anything that we could expect and we are delighted to be planning its continuity while we formulate the policy implications of our consultation and get them to the hands of those who can implement them.  More about all of this to come.  May the next period be very productive for all of us. 

As always

Hillel.

ISRAEL
Yaad Miaar: Dialogue Breeds Dialogue
Three years ago, most inhabitants of the Israeli Jewish village of Yaad and Israeli Arabs -descendants of a nearby ruined village of Miaar in Galillee could not imagine they would sit together behind the same table.

Yet they did, for many months. Their success story inspired others in both communities and in the Spring of 2007, we convened the second round of Yaad-Miaar dialogue with a new group of people from both communities.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Open Society Institute -the Southeast Asia Initiative supports ICfC History and Social Justice Outreach Project in Cambodia with $30,000
• Read ICfC Fellow Nir Eisikovits' article Is it always necessary to reconcile? published recentely in the International Herald Tribune and Boston Globe
• Listen to a broadcast on the generation of young Cambodians' difficulty to deal with their past, featuring our Cambodia colleague Vichhra Muoyly

Toward Social Cohesion in Western European Cities
Western European countries have not been spared of complex and messy conflicts rooted in people's identities. As they struggle with the integration of their large immigrant (and largely Muslim) communities, they are discovering the need for inventing more inclusive policies, for approaches that address and include identity, history, and religion. The ICfC partnered with the Amsterdam City Hall to help municipal experts reach these goals.
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Workshops and trainings in 2007

Read about the ICfC workshops conducted in India, U.S.A. (Columbia University), and Cambodia in 2007.

Read About our upcoming workshops

Mediating History, Making Peace: Henry Everett Workshop in Conflict Resolution, October 19-21 2007, Boston

This workshop is now full. Please check back for upcoming trainings

The Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia on April 17th, 1975 when Khmer people were celebrating the New Year. Within 3 years under the Khmer Rouge control, people were evacuated from the cities to the countryside, tortured, forced to overwork,

and did not have enough to eat. About 1.7 million died from disease, starvation, or execution. It is now 32 years since 1975. However, many people say the Khmer New Year will forever be linked to the Khmer Rouge.
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Is it always necessary to reconcile?
By Nir Eisikovits