At the beginning of February, ThoughtBox headed off to
Castellon in southern Spain for an annual conference of the Global DEEP
Network. DEEP (which stands for Dialogue - Empathic Engagement
and Peacebuilding) is a global NGO whose community are currently working across 17 countries to
spread the values of positive social interaction through a range
of projects, initiatives, education forums and community activities.
The gathering was an opportunity for members (old
and new) to meet to share projects, explore new ideas and potential collaborations
and work on some of the core DEEP strategies to move the global
network forward.
The weekend began with an official DEEP seminar held at Universitat Jaume I
in Castellon – a meeting that was open to the wider university community as
an opportunity for people to come along and learn more about the DEEP
network. Many of the DEEP core members are alumni of the Masters in
Peace, Conflict and Development Studies from the UNESCO Chair of Philosophy for
Peace taught at the Universitat Jaume I, with a core module
delivered by Dr Alberto Gomes, the founder of the DEEP network.
As well as the core DEEP members, the meeting was
attended by several curious students from across the campus, as well
as the local press, who wrote an article
about the gathering for
the Castellon newspaper Elperiodic.
Some of the highlights from the four day gathering included:
- A screening of a selection of short films called Voices of the Migrant, created and screened by Celia Demoor, Director of DEEP France. Celia spoke about some of the work that she had been doing in what was the ‘Jungle Camp’ in northern Calais and also introduced some of the future projects that she has been given funding to take forward.
- Working together within a World Café forum to exchange ideas and create questions about the work that DEEP is doing (and could do in the future) and how we can all support the global network
- Dr Alberto Gomes talking about the notion of DEEP, and the importance of unlearning our collective behaviours to strip back to the innate values of the human spirit and the strong qualities of humanity
He spoke of what he sees as the Seven Vices of society
and how DEEP is working to turn these vices into virtues:
1.Turning Ignorance to Knowledge
2.Hatred to Love
3.Fear to Hope
4.Arrogance to Humility
5.Competition to Cooperation
6.Greed to Generosity
7.Apathy to Empathy
ThoughtBox is working within the German node of the
network and our first collaboration is the formation of Youth
Café. Find out more about DEEP and this exciting new collaboration on
the ThoughtBox Blog or
visit the DEEP
Deutschland website to learn more.
