International Coalition of Sites of Conscience

📢🇵🇸 New Podcast on Palestine - Coming Soon While racism is widely discussed, its insidious nature can make it difficult to identify - and its role in inciting atrocity crimes is particularly not well understood. To shine a light on this challenge, the third conversation in our “Why Memory Matters in Palestine and Beyond” series will explore how racist stereotypes of Palestinians and Muslims are deployed to promote discriminatory policies and practices. For this our guest is Professor Sahar Aziz, a Distinguished Professor of Law and Chancellor's Social Justice Scholar at Rutgers Law School, and the Founding Director of the Center for Security, Race and Rights. “Why Memory Matters in Palestine and Beyond” is a new ICSC podcast and video series that will be released on January 13, 2025 and is designed to help us all build a better understanding of what has led to the situation in Palestine today, encourage critical thinking and dialogue, and inspire action towards building more peaceful societies everywhere. A follow-up, three-day webinar series, open to all, will be held on January 21-23, 2025. Register now via https://lnkd.in/ewKFTcJu

This 2024, we had an incredible and impactful year, working alongside nearly 400 members worldwide to break silences, amplify survivors, and champion justice. From powerful initiatives to new programs, we’re proud to share highlights of our work this year and our vision for the future. Your support is crucial to sustaining this momentum and ensuring our impact grows. Join us in creating a bolder, better world. Learn more and give today: https://lnkd.in/eNpbEHMM

📢🇵🇸 New Podcast on Palestine - Coming Soon Can memories of trauma be misused or distorted? How can we hold multiple traumas with empathy and sensitivity? What would a connective memory, where different traumatic historical events intersect and coexist, look like? The second conversation in our “Why Memory Matters in Palestine and Beyond” series will explore these questions and more with Marianne Hirsch, a Professor at Columbia University, who has written extensively on memory studies and the transmission of memories of violence across generations. “Why Memory Matters in Palestine and Beyond” is a new ICSC podcast and video series that will be released on January 13, 2025 and is designed to help us all build a better understanding of what has led to the situation in Palestine today, encourage critical thinking and dialogue, and inspire action towards building more peaceful societies everywhere. A follow-up, three-day webinar series, open to all, will be held on January 21-23, 2025. 🔗 Register now! https://lnkd.in/ewKFTcJu

The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience would like to commend the resilience, determination and courage of the Syrian people who have liberated themselves after 54 years of oppression. We stand in solidarity with those who have paid a heavy price – those who paid with their lives, those who endured years of detention under torture and inhuman conditions, and those displaced or forced into exile, facing exclusion and discrimination in host countries. Our thoughts are also with the Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian families who have long awaited answers about the fate of their missing loved ones. For them, the liberation of the prisons has reignited hope of seeing their relatives freed and alive, although too many will never be reunited. Despite the extent of the suffering, this is an important moment for Syrians and for the MENA region. While the future remains uncertain and the challenges are huge, whatever comes next must be determined and led by the Syrian people. The taste of freedom after 54 years of oppression is a victory that must be cherished and that reminds us that people's struggle for freedom and justice can bring about meaningful change, even in the face of the greatest adversities.

📢🇵🇸 New Podcast on Palestine - Coming Soon Well over a year has passed since the attacks of October 7, 2023 and the subsequent atrocities committed against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Why is the world failing to stop these atrocities? What are the driving forces that have led to this current situation? And what is needed to confront this? On January 13th, ICSC will release “Why Memory Matters in Palestine and Beyond,” a new podcast and video series that will examine these questions and more through the lens of memory. In our first conversation - previewed here - we speak with Ilan Pappé, an Israeli historian and political scientist, about the historical contexts crucial for understanding the situation in Israel-Palestine, as well as the attempts to both de-historicize these events and weaponize traumatic memories. It will also explore the pathways to rebuild the mosaic of communities that existed in the region before 1948. Stay tuned for more trailers in the coming weeks!

Engaging in conversations around contentious issues can be challenging, but it is crucial for fostering understanding and change. The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience invites you to participate in Dialogue in Difficult Times, a comprehensive virtual training designed for staff at Sites of Conscience and like-minded organizations. Over the course of three days, February 4th-6th from 10 AM to 12 PM EST each day, this 6-hour training will provide participants with the theoretical and practical tools needed to facilitate and manage productive dialogue in the face of divisive topics. Throughout the course, participants will explore the principles of dialogue, learn how to craft an "Arc of Dialogue," and gain strategies for managing and encouraging diverse perspectives. Drawing from the expertise of over 370 members across 70 countries, this training will provide valuable insights into creating safe, inclusive spaces for dialogue. Don’t miss out—register now for this unique learning opportunity!  https://lnkd.in/ee6iw5i3 #DialogueInDifficultTimes #VirtualTraining #SitesOfConscience #BuildingBridges

🎙️ Listen to “The Difference She Makes”! A powerful new podcast by GIJTR amplifying the voices of women activists worldwide 🌍💪. Through 6 compelling episodes, discover how women navigate the economic and emotional toll of violence, war, and systemic injustice. Tune in to hear stories from former combatants, U.N. reps, survivors, and more. Their resilience inspires change for women everywhere. https://lnkd.in/ejHApQ8u #TheDifferenceSheMakes #GIJTR #WomenActivists #JusticeAndTruth

🌍 December 18 marks International Migrants Day. 🌍 Between 2020 and 2024, over 281 million people migrated internationally. Among them, 31.6 million found themselves in refugee or refugee-like situations, while 72.1 million remain internally displaced due to conflict, violence, and instability. (Source: UN Migration; UNHCR) Since the earliest times, humanity has been on the move, seeking for opportunities or fleeing from a diversity of threats. Yet, despite this long history, there remains no holistic definition of migration as a human right. While multilateral organizations broadly agree that migration involves individuals living outside their country or habitual residence—whether nationally or internationally, voluntarily or not—the motivations for migration are often inconsistently categorized. This leads to fragmented interpretations, limited legal protections, and uneven access to basic rights for migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, and internally displaced people. To address these challenges, the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience (ICSC), in collaboration with its Migration Museums Network (MMN) and partner-civil society organizations (CSOs) working alongside displaced communities globally, launched the initiative: "Embracing All Journeys: Expanding Understandings of Migration Together" This initiative critically examines the diverse experiences of human movement and the multitude of drivers that inform migration. Together, we are: 🤝 Co-creating a more inclusive and adaptable understanding of migration as human movement, recognizing its complexities and diversity. 🚶Affirming human mobility as a universal right, while advocating for basic guarantees and protections for all those who move. As we mark International Migrants Day, we honor the courage, resilience, and contributions of migrants worldwide. By embracing all journeys, we strive to build a more inclusive future that respects and upholds the rights of all people on the move. #MigrationMatters #DiverseHumanJourneys #RefugeesIncluded #HumanRights #InternationalMigrantsDay

This morning, we had a wonderful and insightful discussion on the intersection of climate justice and transitional justice with Marin Murdock, Strategy and Design Assistant at Democracy International, and Nelson G. Ologhadien, Lawyer and PhD Candidate in Energy, Environmental, and Sustainability Law and Policy at the University of Dundee. The conversation highlighted key themes from our recently published policy paper, Environmental and Transitional Justice: Addressing the Bidirectional Relationship Between Environmental Changes and Conflict in Post-Conflict Societies. Missed the live event? Watch it now on YouTube and gain valuable insights into how transitional justice processes can support environmental justice.  https://lnkd.in/ewebDUMp Let us know your thoughts and keep the conversation going!   #ClimateJustice #TransitionalJustice #EnvironmentalJustice

Between December 5-7, museum professionals, researchers and artists gathered at Site of Conscience Museo Nazionale dell'Emigrazione Italiana and Galata Museo del Mare in Genova, represented by Giorgia Barzetti, for the fifth edition of Conference "Italian Diasporas - Italy in Movement: Representation and Issues of Identity”, seeking to explore how identity(ies) are constructed, affirmed, maintained and articulated in a changing evolving global context. Sites of Conscience Museo de la Inmigración in Argentina, Single Mothers Association of Kenya, Instituto de Preservação e Difusão da História do Café e da Imigração - INCI in Brazil, Musée Nationale de l'Histoire de l'Immigration - Palais de la Porte Dorée in France, Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Foundation in the US, and the Apartheid Museum in South Africa brought their globally diverse reflections, with strong contributions from Marcelo Huernos (Co-organizer) Daniel Manyasi, Henrique Trindade Abreu, Michelle Linfozzi, Stephen Lean, and Emilia Potenza on stressing the need for inclusive and nuanced representations of Diasporic Italians to counter identity-making stereotypes that fuel societal divisions all over the world. Gegê Leme Joseph, coordinator of the ICSC Migration Museums Network, shared the network's collective call to move beyond incomplete stories of migration. She emphasized the importance of highlighting the complexity and  intersectionality of diasporic identities worldwide through the voices of marginalized communities, and the need to correct imbalances in global migration narratives by showcasing their interconnectedness across geographies and time. #SitesofConscience #Diaspora #Migration