PEACE EDUCATION: MOVING FORWARD THROUGH SPORT– ATHLETES UNITED FOR PEACE (chapter six, pp. 205-266 in English)

Citation:

Kamberidou, I. (2012). PEACE EDUCATION: MOVING FORWARD THROUGH SPORT– ATHLETES UNITED FOR PEACE (chapter six, pp. 205-266 in English). In Gender, Social Capital, Multiculturalism & Sport [book in Greek, chapter six in English] (pp. 205–266). Publisher: Telethrion, Athens, pp.205-266. Copy at http://www.tinyurl.com/zlx35xk

Abstract:

This chapter provides English speaking students, researchers, scholars and readers with additional content, including an overview of the subject matter discussed in the fifth chapter of this book. The preface “We’ve come a long way […]” and the three articles3 that follow also present English speakers with additional themes and fine points related to issues examined in the previous chapters. The sixth chapter outlines the ongoing peace education programs, conflict resolution curricula and collaborative-intergenerational activities of non-profit organizations, training institutions, social movements and NGOs striving to eliminate racism and violence in schools and communities, including campaigns to rid sport of anti-Semitism and islamophobia as well as promote gender equity , such as (1) Athletes United for Peace, (2) Mercy Corps, (3) Peace First (formerly known as Peace Games), (4) Sport in Society (SIS), (5) Football 4 Peace (F4P), (6) Ultimate Peace (UP), (7) Teachers Without Borders, (TWB), (8) Bridges To Understanding, (9) Volunteer Action for Peace (VAP), (10) Women’s Initiative for Peace (WINPEACE) and (11) the Institute for International Sport and its 2011 World Peace Walks and World Scholar-Athlete Games which took place in the framework of the World Youth Peace Summit. In recent years, a wide variety of organizations have been using sport as an interventionist tool to nurture peacemaking across divided communities (F4P 2011). The expanding sport, development and peace sector (SDP) (Giulianotti 2010) while providing bridges to understanding also insists that sporting events and movements function to promote peace, tolerance and reconciliation among participants and viewers Bridging social inequality gaps through sport, namely reconciliation through sports, athlete activism, the promotion of new role models and mentors and intercultural synergies are vital, not only in view of the systematic misuse of Olympic values today –such as obsessive competitiveness that leads to violence, the gender leadership gap in sport governing bodies, the underrepresentation of migrants in mainstream sport institutions, doping, commercialization, the deathletization and modelification of male and female athletes in the mass media– but primarily in light of the impact of globalization on racism and xenophobia (Kamberidou 2011a). Accordingly this chapter presents arguments for the the institutionalization of peace education, as an integral part of the curricula in public schools beginning in pre-school or kindergarten.