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IDEC/EUDEC 2012
Puerto Rico

International Democratic Education Network

Newsletter, April 2012

(Earlier newsletters follow in reverse order)

NOMINATION FOR THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

CWC, the Concerned for Working Children, www.workingchild.org, an organisation in Bangalore which, among other things, helps children to identify problems in the areas where they live and present their findings to local government, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

CWC is a member of IDEN.

IDEC 2012

Nuestra Escuela in Puerto Rico was the host for IDEC 2012, which ran from March 24 – 31, and was attended by about 800 people from over thirty different countries. Moe Zimmerberg was there and has written this report.
Since IDEC is a conference and not an organization, each event is unique to the host’s culture and needs. Therefore, the 2012 International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) was very different from previous years.
Saturday was a ‘meet and greet for the foreign participants. We went early toe the Caguas Botanical and Cultural Garden to have a chance to walk around while the organizers were setting up for registration. It was a beautiful place, full of plants both native and exotic. The artifacts of the local indigenous people were particularly interesting. The Taino were known as a peaceful people. We were just finishing our walk when the rain started, so we hurried to the registration tent.
One of my favourite aspects of IDEC is the development of the friendships that we have established with people from all over the world. When we got to the tent it was filled with old friends, some we hadn’t seen in years. After a few joyous hours of reunion the evening’s entertainment began, despite the rain. We were treated to two local music groups performing traditional Puerto Rican music, but the most amazing music was the Afro-Caribbean drum and dance group. I was familiar with the rhythms from drumming friends of mine, but nothing to compare with this quality. What a treat!
Sunday, the first ‘conference’ day, was filled with speeches. Usually IDECs are divided into two parts, one intended for the democratic education community and the other intended to reach out to the general public. In Puerto Rico we had only the second part, and as such it was exceptionally successful. Among the local participants, who made up about two thirds of attendants, were the Governor’s adviser for education, senior politicians bureaucrats, school principals and teachers. Derry Hannam made great impression;: more than fifty people asked for copies of his presentation. This was the best IDEC ever for him, because it clearly had so great an influence on powerful people who had not before understood the idea of democratic education.
There were some amazing talks. Alicia Cabezudo told us about her experiences teaching history in Argentina during the time of a repressive authoritarian regime – that in itself was a revolutionary act. Chills ran down my spine as she described meeting a former student, now a union representative, who was there when she first defied soldiers by showing her students the pile of burning books in the schoolyard.
Monday’s highlight was a visit to Nuestra Escuela, our host school. Upon disembarking from the bus we were greeted by a Batucada Band right there on the street – complete with horns and singing¡ What a way to be welcomed! This is perhaps the school’s forte; they hug and kiss every student when they arrive in the morning. Though not technically a democratic school (depending on your definition) Nuestra Escuela has done amazing things for the disenfranchised youth of Caguas – primarily through the power of love.
On Tuesday, Jean-Rober Cadet told us his story of being a slave as a child in Haiti and his subsequent attempt to lead a middle class life. The damage from the abuse, exploitation and lack of nurturing has had lifelong effects. Apparently modern slavery still exists, on the order of 300,000 children, called Restavecs, in Haiti alone. Very sad and shocking.
Some decisions were also made on the future of IDEC: The 2014 conference will be in Korea, 2015 to be decided there. Also a new map has been drawn for the rotation of continents based mathematically on alternating north and south while rotating east or west, the direction determined by the location of the 2015 IDEC. We’re very excited to go back to Korea; the organizeers have the full support of the local city government.
Wednesday was the last day – yes, a very short and packed conference. We learned about alternative education in Burma (Myanmar) and teacher training in the Netherlands influenced by Krishnamurti. After a rousing, musical closing ceremony, Puerto Rico has some great music, the heavens opened up forcing a cancellation of the outdoor performance. We were not daunted, but continued to play music inside.
The next day, after the First Regional Gathering of the Americas and the Caribbean, we were treated to a spectacular modern circus show put on by the City of Caguas and performed by the local youth, complete with stilts, acrobatics, and even fireworks – a first for IDEC. They really went all out to put on a good show, the main focus of this conference, and we hopefully had a huge impact on education in Puerto Rico.

Future Conferences

EUDEC 2012: July 28 – August 5: Kapriole School in Freiburg: http://eudec.org

AERO conference: August 1 – 5, 2012, in Portland, OR, USA
www.educationrevolution.org/blog/finding-the-catalyst-for-the-education-revolution

IDEC 2013: August 4 – 8: Patchwork School, Boulder, Colorado. USA
www.idec2013.org