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SPECIAL EDITION NEWSLETTER 

CONTENTS: 

SITES OF CONSCIENCE WEBSITE REDESIGN LAUNCH

MEMORY ISSUES IN THE NEWS
Peruvian Peace Memorial Defaced as Ex-President Faces Trial
Vandalized Holocaust Memorial Sparks Fears of Rising Anti-Semitism in Hungary

EXCHANGING SITES OF CONSCIENCE PRACTICES
New Tactics in Human Rights Online Discussion: How Sites of Conscience Inspire Civic Engagement

RESOURCES AND PUBLICATIONS
New Coalition Program Models and Tools Available

The International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience is pleased to announce the release of our redesigned website! Visit us today at www.sitesofconscience.org to view our new English version and learn how individuals and organizations around the world are activating historic sites as new forums for citizen engagement in contemporary issues. Other languages will be available in the near future.

Peruvian Peace Memorial Defaced as Ex-President Faces Trial
 

Days after former Peruvian President, Alberto Fujimori, was extradited from Chile to await trial in Peru on charges of human rights abuses and corruption, vandals attacked El Ojo Que Llora (The Eye That Cries), a monument honoring the 70,000 victims of human rights violations in Peru's internal war with the Maoist guerilla organization Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path). The memorial, designed by artist and Coalition member Lika Mutal, was defaced with orange paint, the color associated with Fujimori's party, and several of the monument's stones honoring individual victims were dislodged or broken.
http://www.larepublica.com.pe/content/view/179765/483/
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/world/americas/25peru.html?ref=world

Vandalized Holocaust Memorial Sparks Fears of Rising Anti-Semitism in Hungary
 
Vandals recently spray-painted anti-Semitic slogans on a mobile Holocaust exhibition in the town of Gödöllő, outside Budapest. The destruction of the train carriage, which has been on display throughout Hungary since April 2006, occurred just after Jewish leaders and Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány voiced concern about the rise of anti-Semitism in Hungary and the formation of a right wing extremist group that wears uniforms and insignia reminiscent of Fascist forces during the Second World War.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/907681.html

New Tactics in Human Rights Online Discussion: How Sites of Conscience Inspire Civic Engagement
(October 24 - 31, 2007)
 
The New Tactics in Human Rights Project has launched a new online community website that will feature a new tactical discussion on a specific tactic and its adaptability to other contexts and issues every month. This October, the online discussion will feature Coalition Members who will share their experience and ideas on how places of memory can galvanize public dialogue and action on human rights issues today. Sign up today on www.newtactics.org/user/register to view the most recent tactical discussion and participate in the October discussion.

New Coalition Program Models and Tools Available
 
The Coalition's redesigned website now offers a new resources section, offering innovative models and practical tools developed by established and new museums from a wide variety of cultural and political contexts. Available program models include:

Gulag Museum at Perm-36: "I Have the Right Club" Workshop for Students
After touring the imposing barracks and guard towers of the Gulag Museum at Perm-36, students in the "I Have the Right Club" participate in a guided dialogue session on the ideas about freedom and "unfreedom" that the camp's history raises.

Japanese American National Museum: "Dilemmas + Decisions" Project
In the Youth-Media Project "Dilemmas + Decisions," the Japanese American National Museum's National Center for the Preservation of Democracy engages youth media groups from across the country in producing short videos on a variety of actual dilemmas related to rights vs. responsibilities in a democracy, including such topics as the relationship between hip-hop music and violence, whether curfew laws protect youth or prevent crime, and whether freedom is a state of the nation or a state of mind.

Lower East Side Tenement Museum: "Kitchen Conversations" Public Dialogue Program
After touring the Tenement Museum's historic immigrant apartments, visitors are invited to participate in "Kitchen Conversations," an open dialogue for visitors on such topics as the Tenement experience and contemporary immigration issues.

Mednoe Memorial Complex: "History of My Family" Lesson Plan
The Mednoe Memorial Complex's "The History of My Family" works with high school students over a period of several months to explore their own family's experience with state repression in the Tver region, its relation to a larger history of state repression in Russia, and the contemporary implications of this collective experience.

Please check the website frequently for new updates. Additional program models, newsletters and other resources will be introduced periodically. We also welcome your comments and suggestions! Contact us at coalition@tenement.org.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES AT THE COALITION

Director of Programs in the Americas
The Director of Programs in the Americas will liaise with Regional Coordinators to oversee all the Coalition's work in North and South America. Download the complete job announcement here.

Director of Communications
The Director of Communications will design and implement an international media strategy to promote the work and mission of Sites of Conscience. Download the complete job announcement here.

We welcome your feedback! To submit comments or suggestions, receive a text-only version, or update your e-mail address, please contact coalition@tenement.org.
 
Matters of Conscience is supported in part by the Ford Foundation, Nathan Cummings Foundation, National Endowment for Democracy, Oak Foundation, Open Society Institute and Samuel Rubin Foundation.