please forward this!
Call for application: International summer camp on democracy: "Turda
Democratic Gatherings", July, 10-22, 2007, Transylvania
Ratiu Center for Democracy, in cooperation with Ibn Khaldun Center is
announcing the third edition of Turda Democracy Gatherings (10 22 July,
2007). Turda Democracy Gatherings are annual events (2005, 2006, 2007) that
address the values and behaviours of democracy as well as "how democracy
works"; they provide young people with an experience of direct democracy
(examples: voting rules of behaviours and procedures, allocation of
responsibility for community roles and activities) and expose them to democracy
related skills workshops as well as short talked by distinguished visitors and
"successful citizens" under the heading "what has democracy done for me?". Not
only are we interested to see "how democracy works" but also we are willing to
stress how democracy works in multicultural environments; the Transylvanian
model is one point we can start from: the characteristics of Transylvania's
communities are relevant in checking the limits and the strengths of such
multicultural arrangements.
This year's 2007 "Turda Democracy Gathering" takes one step further, by
becoming international: students from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as
the Middle East, are invited to check out the values and behaviours of
democracy together as well as how (and if) "democracy works". They will do so
in Transylvania, Romania, itself a multicultural environment (Hungarian,
Romanian, German, Roma). Participants will also be invited to join in the
community that will host them (for example, last year's task was to participate
at the renewal of "Casa Satului"/ "The village House" a common place where a
rural community comes together for events such as celebrations, public meetings
and so on; participants will be invited to join in light construction work such
as painting, cleaning the yard, helping the constructors by bringing tools or
raw materials), which in turn, typically inspires community members to do even
more!
The daily schedule includes:
workshops on journalism, lobbying and advocacy, non- governmental activism;
the trainings will be held by professionals. The participants will be asked to
choose one of the trainings and attend every session;
volunteer work within the host community;
evening debates on various topics related to democracy, democratization and
political reform during which the participants will be joined by distinguished
guests such as academics, entrepreneurs, journalists, diplomats, NGO activists
willing to discuss and debate their own understanding of democracy and
democratization.
In order to apply:
submit an essay of approximately 1500 words that will address one of the
following topics:
- your understanding of democracy and democratization process;
- what is your understanding of democratic behaviours;
- which are the democratic values that you believe in;
- misunderstandings of democratic behaviours and procedures;
- defending democracy and democratic values in contemporary world:
your personal understanding;
- democracy in multicultural communities.
Deadlines:
The deadline for submitting the essays is 05.06.2007. The selected
participants will be selected announced until 10.06.2007.
Other requirements:
the applicants are required to send a resume together with the essay;
all the documents should be sent in English;
the selected applicants will be asked to review several readings related to
the issue, between 10.06 and 08.07.2007; the list of the readings and the
proposed schedule will be sent to the selected applicants;
students from: Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Hungary, UNMIK Kosovo, Macedonia,
Serbia, Montenegro, BiH, Croatia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey,
Palestinian Authority, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt are invitated to apply!
Traveling and accommodation:
the organizers will be covering the accommodation costs;
the organizers will be covering the costs of domestic traveling *within
Romania); efforts are being made for covering the traveling costs for
international participants.
The applications should be sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED], having as subject: IDT
application, surname, name.
For more details, please e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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