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CONTENTS: 

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
New Name for the Coalition!

MEMORY ISSUES IN THE NEWS
Opponents Attempt to Block Unveiling of Korean Kamikaze Memorial
Gorbachev Calls for National Museum and Memorial for Stalin's Victims
Construction Plans Abandoned for National Sports Stadium at Northern Ireland's Maze/Long Kesh Prison

FEATURED PROGRAMS
District Six Museum and Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum Address Xenophobia through Youth Program on Migrant Labour - Cape Town, South Africa

EXCHANGING SITES OF CONSCIENCE PRACTICES: CONFERENCES & WORKSHOPS
International Sites of Conscience Summit - Marzabotto, Italy
First European Sites of Conscience Workshop - Marzabotto, Italy
Transmission of Memory and Political Culture: South American Sites of Conscience Workshop - Buenos Aires, Argentina
COMING UP:
International Coalition to Launch New Immigration Sites of Conscience Network - New York, USA
Asian Sites of Conscience Workshop - Phnom Penh, Cambodia
African Sites of Conscience Workshop - Johannesburg, South Africa

ADVOCACY AND ACTION
Memorialization and the Media: Journalists' Workshop - Monrovia, Liberia

RESOURCES AND PUBLICATIONS
Memorialization and Democracy: Report from 2007 International Conference
Connecting Past and Present: 2008 Report of International Coalition Activities
Memoria Abierta Updates Map of Clandestine Detention Centers

NEW INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERS
Civic Initiative, Inc. (Monrovia, Liberia)
Fort Apache Heritage Foundation, Inc. (Arizona, USA)
Human Rights Media Centre (Cape Town, South Africa)
Jamalpur Gandhi Ashram (Jamalpur, Bangladesh)
Kyoto Museum for World Peace (Kyoto, Japan)
The Laurel Hill Cemetery (Pennsylvania, USA)
Liberia Media Center (Monrovia, Liberia)
Lowell National Historical Park (Massachusetts, USA)
Museum of Education (South Carolina, USA)
New Americans Museum (California, USA)
Save Ellis Island (New Jersey, USA)
The Wing Luke Asian Museum (Washington, USA)

The International Coalition is pleased to announce its new name!
 
Beginning this July, the International Coalition will be known as the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience. The Coalition's legal name will remain the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience, and operations will continue under this legal name. However, our public and popular name is the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience.

Please visit our newly-updated website www.sitesofconscience.org where you can see our revised logo, a new video on the Coalition and recent press highlights.

Opponents Attempt to Block Unveiling of Korean Kamikaze Memorial
 
In May 2008, in the southeastern city of Sacheon in South Korea, residents still harboring resentment of Japan's former colonial rule of the region demanded that city officials cancel the opening ceremony for the unveiling of a 4.6 meter-high stone memorial dedicated to a local World War II Korean kamikaze pilot. City officials and historians stressed the importance of the memorial, arguing that kamikaze pilots should be remembered not as traitors, but as victims of the Japanese colonial period. To date, the South Korean government has refused to designate Korean kamikazes as victims of the Japanese colonial era and conservative residents' resentment against the former Japanese rule of the region continues to linger in the community.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/08/asia/AS-GEN-SKorea-Kamikaze-Pilot.php

Gorbachev Calls for National Museum and Memorial for Stalin's Victims
 
In June 2008, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev advocated for the construction of a national museum and memorial near Moscow to honor victims of Soviet-era repression and to educate future generations on the repressions of the Stalin regime. Critics of the Russian government maintain that the government has not addressed the crimes of previous regimes; Gorbachev, joined by human rights activists, stressed that state support is needed for the museum. Gorbachev also pointed out that although authorities have done much to honor Soviet soldiers who died during World War II, a national museum and memorial dedicated to the victims of the Stalin regime is especially crucial to provide a complete memory of the past for future generations and to strengthen democracy and freedom in Russia. Political figures, scientists, human rights advocates, and Gorbachev recently signed a petition stating that the museum should be built inside the Butyrka prison in Moscow.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/04/europe/EU-GEN-Russia-Terror-Museum.php
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7436456.stm
http://www.museumlab.org/2008/06/10/gorbachev-calls-for-museum-for-stalin-victims/

Construction Plans Abandoned for National Sports Stadium at Northern Ireland's Maze/Long Kesh Prison
 
In May 2008, plans to construct a £140 million national sports stadium on the site of the Maze/Long Kesh prison in Northern Ireland were rejected. The proposed stadium, planned to host football, rugby, and Gaelic football and seat over 40,000 people, has been a major source of contention among parties in recent years due to diverging ideas for future public use and constructions near the grounds of the former paramilitary prison. Sinn Fein, which supports a proposal for a museum on the site to commemorate the historic role of the Maze during the Troubles, and the Social Democratic Labour Party supported the stadium's construction, while unionist parties - arguing that the museum would become a "shrine to terrorists" - and some soccer supporters' clubs opposed the building of a national sports stadium on the site of the former prison.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/may/02/northernireland.northernirelandfootballteam
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article3634283.ece

District Six Museum and Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum Address Xenophobia through Youth Program on Migrant Labour - Cape Town, South Africa
(April-May 2008)

Over the past few months, South Africa has been grappling with outbreaks of violence towards immigrants, particularly those from other African countries. Even before these outbreaks began, the District Six Museum partnered with Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum to work with young people around migration and displacement, creating a project whose relevance has become even more significant in recent times.

On April 19 and May 10, youth from schools near the Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum and the District Six Museum, as well as from partner organisation PeaceJam, opened their collaborative exhibition: "Migrant Labour, Forced Removals and Identity in Cape Town - A Youth Perspective!"

The project aimed to introduce a group of youth to the District Six Museum's heritage, museum practice, exhibition-making, organisational skills, and community leadership. Dedicated to ensuring that the history and memory of forced residential removals in South Africa endure and that the process of remembering will challenge all forms of social oppression, the District Six Museum has been organising Heritage Ambassador Programs for the past 10 years. The Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum commemorates the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of migrant workers and hostel life in Southern Africa through exhibits that depict the struggle and heritage of migrant workers within Lwandle and South Africa and display both the unbiased stories and the artifacts of the Lwandle community.

This Heritage Ambassador Project consisted of focussed workshops to develop the knowledge, skills, and values of participants in relation to their own identities, heritage, culture, and human rights. Youth explored forced removals and migrant labour as two key forces that shaped the urban Cape landscape on the basis of displacement - the creation of today's divided and racialised city. Participants were expected to relate these explorations to contemporary socio-economic injustices and possibilities, re-imagining a city that embraces all its citizens and visitors, a key element in the current climate of hostility towards migrants. The results of these explorations were translated into written, visual, and performance elements at exhibition openings organized by the youth themselves for their families, friends, school teachers, the National Heritage Council, the Western Cape Education Department, Museum staff, and partner organisations. A 'talking wall' was created to allow visitors to engage with the views and perceptions of youth about themselves, others and the social forces that shaped them. These views will be collated into a booklet that records visitor responses to a series of 'hotspot' youth exhibitions in 2008. In this way, the District Six Museum has added another layer of visitor voices inscribed into its spaces.

International Sites of Conscience Summit - Marzabotto, Italy
(June 2008)

From June 16-20, 2008, Sites of Conscience leaders from around the world gathered at the Monte Sole Peace School Foundation outside of Bologna, Italy for the annual International Sites of Conscience Summit to workshop their latest models of citizen engagement programs and develop a common toolkit of diverse program designs and principles. The Peace School is located at the site of a 1944 massacre of close to 800 village residents by Nazi SS troops with the help of Italian fascist elements. Today the School uses the site as the basis for programs that work with Italian youth to address rising xenophobia and racist violence, as well as with youth from conflict regions around the world, including the Balkans, to develop non-violent means of addressing conflict.

Participants evaluated the Peace School's methodologies and program designs; workshopped their own latest designs for dialogue programs that engage the public in current human rights struggles; and, based on these case studies, began developing a toolkit of diverse principles and practices for using Sites of Conscience to inspire active dialogue and action on contemporary issues. A full report of the Summit will soon be available.

First European Sites of Conscience Workshop - Marzabotto, Italy
(June 2008)

From June 19-20, 2008, the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience and the Monte Sole Peace School Foundation hosted twelve European museums for the first meeting of the European Sites of Conscience project. Participants from Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Northern Ireland, Norway, Spain, and the U.K. learned about the history of each of their sites, analyzed the model of the Peace School, exchanged ways historic sites in many different contexts can inspire new democratic participation and identified the common themes of immigration, xenophobia and racism as issues of critical concern to Europe. They also discussed challenges faced by historic sites on the issues of memory and audience engagement and how historic sites provide new space to address current social issues.

"Each site remembers particular histories and tells particular stories, but the common and universal themes of difference and exclusion lie at the heart of all of our histories," said Nadia Baiesi, director of the Monte Sole Peace School Foundation. "Today, talking about these themes is more urgent than ever. We need new ways to inspire new conversation on sensitive issues of difference - the power of sites of memory and the perspective they provide is a powerful catalyst. I am proud that we can share our experiences and practices through this network."

Participating museums included the Direccio General de la Memoria Democrática, Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain; Gedenkstätte Hadamar, Germany; Gernika Peace Museum, Spain; Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz, Germany; Healing Through Remembering, Northern Ireland; Le Bois Du Cazier, Belgium; Monte Sole Peace School, Italy; Museo Diffuso della Resistenza, della Deportazione della Guerra, dei Diritti e della Libertà, Italy; Museum of Free Derry, Northern Ireland; Senter for studier av Holocaust og livssynsminoriteter (HL-senteret), Norway; Terezín Memorial, Czech Republic; and The Workhouse, England.

Transmission of Memory and Political Culture: South American Sites of Conscience Workshop - Buenos Aires, Argentina
(June 2008)

Many South Americans deny their recent history, refusing to acknowledge the events that took place during periods of state terrorism. Yet, immersed in a rich history of civic engagement and ongoing human rights activism, memory initiatives throughout the Southern Cone are determined to recognize and remember the events that have profoundly shaped their communities. 16 such organizations came together from June 9-11, 2008 in Buenos Aires for the second South American Sites of Conscience workshop on "Transmission of Memory and Political Culture", hosted by Memoria Abierta, the Coalition's South American Regional Coordinator.

Memoria Abierta, a coordinated action of Argentine human rights organizations, promotes knowledge, social awareness, and the memory of state terrorism in South America. By organizing workshops, trainings, and site visits Memoria Abierta helps South American places of memory identify and archive historical records and artifacts related to state terrorism and use them to engage the public in dialogue and understanding around state terrorism and human rights.

At the recent workshop, memory activists from diverse political and institutional contexts presented and evaluated one another's educational programs and identified the next steps for the coming year of Sites of Conscience activities in South America. Despite their different histories and current political contexts, participants found that they shared similar challenges in their efforts to engage youth and the larger public in the history of state repression in their community and its contemporary legacies. To address these challenges, participants also strategized on how the South American Regional Coordinator could best meet their needs in the coming year, such as supporting efforts to develop their own archives.

Participants that have already become Institutional Members of the Coalition also worked in a special session to explore joint projects and staff exchanges that they may submit to the Coalition for support, which would enable them to develop their work in engaging the public in dialogue and action on human rights issues.

Participating institutions included:

Asociación Civil Hijos de una Misma Historia (Mar del Plata, Argentina), Archivo Provincial por la Memoria de Córdoba (Córdoba, Argentina), Casa por la Memoria y la Cultura Popular (Mendoza, Argentina), Colectivo Londres 38 (Santiago, Chile), Comisión de Consenso y Trabajo del CCD "El Olimpo" (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Comisión de familiares, sobrevivientes y compañeros de las víctimas de los centros clandestinos de detención El Vesubio y Protobanco (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Comisión Provincial por la Memoria (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Corporación Parque por la Paz Villa Grimaldi (Santiago, Chile), Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos y Asesinados por Razones Políticas del Paraguay (Asunsión, Paraguay), Instituto de Diálogo y Propuestas (Lima, Perú), Museo de la Memoria (Montevideo, Uruguay), Museo de la Memoria (Rosario, Argentina), Museo de las Memorias: Dictaduras y Derechos Humanos (Asunsión, Paraguay), Paz y Esperanza (Ayacucho, Perú), Proyecto de Extensión de Interés Social "Memoria e Historia del Pasado Reciente, Problemas didácticos y disciplinares" de la Universidad Nacional del Litoral y la Asociación del Magisterio de la Santa Fe - AMSAFE (Santa Fe, Argentina), and Subsecretaría de Derechos Humanos de Chubut (Chubut, Argentina).

COMING UP:

International Coalition to Launch New Immigration Sites of Conscience Network - New York City and Tarrytown, NY, USA
(August 2008)

In August 2008, the International Coalition will launch the Immigration Sites of Conscience Project, a collaboration between fourteen historic sites and museums across the United States committed to activating histories of immigration to address growing tensions around immigration affecting local communities and national policy. Participating pilot museums represent communities with a wide range of immigration and ethnic histories, from major immigration centres in the United States such as Los Angeles and New York to smaller cities recently transformed by new immigration such as Charlotte, North Carolina and Lowell, Massachusetts.

Museums will gather at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York City and at the Pocantico Conference Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund from August 8-13. To be opened by Aryeh Neier, President of the Open Society Institute, the seminar will include trainings in dialogue facilitation and immigration policy, and will result in the design of dialogue programs on immigration issues for each site. The seminar will be followed by three regional trainings for front-line museum staff, and the piloting of programs designed at the seminar. The International Coalition is also planning a national media campaign and a web resource centre for participating museums to exchange program designs and receive ongoing guidance from dialogue facilitation and immigration policy trainers.

While the project is launching in the United States, in the coming year member sites in Europe and South Africa - both places experiencing a dangerous rise in violence and intolerance towards immigrants - are developing their own programs, to be linked to the United States sites in a global exchange. One site, Le Bois du Cazier, remembering Italian immigration to Belgium, will participate in the August summit before participating in a similar exchange among European sites in May 2009 in Germany.

Asian Sites of Conscience Workshop - Phnom Pehn, Cambodia
(August 2008)

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, the former prison and the largest site of torture during the Khmer Rouge regime, along with the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, will be co-hosting the third Regional Meeting of Asian Sites of Conscience in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from August 25-27, 2008.

The site is a central element in the international trial expected to begin in September 2008 of senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime. The trial is a momentous step in Cambodia's long wait for justice for atrocities committed during the Khmer Rouge rule in the late 1970s.

The buildings at Tuol Sleng are preserved as they were left when the Khmer Rouge were driven out in 1979 and contains thousands of photographs, skulls, and paraphernalia from the prison.

Primarily visited by international tourists, the site is now working to engage a broader local public to learn more about its history. Its efforts provide a catalyst for other sites in the region to focus on the themes of human rights and democracy. The Asian Sites of Conscience workshop will bring together representatives from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Japan, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam and enable them to share strategies around developing programs for their sites. The workshop will also focus in creating mechanisms to maximize the impact of the work in the region with the support of the Asian Regional Coordinator, the Liberation War Museum.

African Sites of Conscience Workshop - Johannesburg, South Africa
(August 2008)

The 2008 African Sites of Conscience regional workshop will be held from August 12-14, 2008 and will be hosted by the Hector Pietersen Museum in partnership with Constitution Hill in Johannesburg, South Africa.

In the past several months, South Africa has been experiencing waves of anti-immigrant sentiment, manifest by explosions of violence in particular towards people from other African countries. As the country struggles with this new type of racism while re-building from the legacies of Apartheid, participants in the workshop will focus on themes of migration, immigration citizenship, displacement and the role of Sites of Conscience in promoting such issues. The workshop will bring together a pioneering group of individuals from West and Southern Africa who represent the diverse fields of heritage, memory, transitional justice and human rights. The group will include historic sites such as the Maison des Esclaves, Constitution Hill, and the District Six Museum. The goal of the workshop is to identify and develop programs at each participating site that engage communities in dialogue and debate around issues of citizenship. Participants will workshop each other's diverse strategies for promoting active citizenship for human rights in their contexts.

Memorialization and the Media: Journalists' Workshop - Monrovia, Liberia
(May 2008)
 

In April 2008, the International Coalition and local Liberian partner Civic Initiative (CI) conducted a workshop with Liberian civil society leaders and established a Memory Resource Group on memorialization.

As Liberia re-builds after 14 years of violent conflict, the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is now addressing this difficult period and holding its final hearings to identify what happened. At the conclusion of the hearings, the TRC will make recommendations for how the country can move forward and continue building its democracy. Civil society groups that form the Memory Resource Group advocate that the TRC include plans for establishing Sites of Conscience to create places to engage a broader public for a longer time than is possible in the hearings. Sites of Conscience would provide lasting public spaces for acknowledging victims and for ongoing citizen engagement on how to address the legacies of the conflict.

A key recommendation from the Memory Resource Group was that the International Coalition, in partnership with CI, raise awareness among journalists about the importance of creating Sites of Conscience as lasting civic forums for addressing Liberia's past and future, to help them place the issue in the public eye before the TRC concludes. From May 21-23 2008, the International Coalition, CI and Liberia Media Center (LMC) organized a workshop with 17 journalists (including three editors) from all the major media outlets in Monrovia - print and broadcast. The workshop:

• facilitated an in-depth understanding of Sites of Conscience as spaces for ongoing public dialogue and of their role in building strong democratic cultures;
• generated an advocacy and media strategy among the journalists, media houses, the Liberian Memory Resource Group, CI, LMC, and the International Coalition on how to promote the development of Sites of Conscience as an integrated part of Liberia's post-TRC democracy-building process.

The workshop yielded a team of journalists committed to reporting on the potential challenges of memorialization, and to working with CI and LMC. A range of press coverage followed the workshop, including an article in a major newspaper on a potential Site of Conscience, St. Peter's Lutheran Church. Additionally, two radio shows and two TV broadcasts featured the International Coalition and/or CI about the issue of memorialization.

Alongside the workshop with the journalists, the International Coalition met with editors at major newspapers to secure their interest in covering questions of how to create places for Liberians to confront their past and how to move forward.

Memorialization and Democracy: Report from 2007 International Conference

• What is the relationship between public memorialization and other mechanisms of transitional justice?
• Do memorials have a limited life span? What design decisions can help give them a longer life?
• Shouldn't memory discriminate when it comes to human rights and democratic values?

These are a sample of the questions raised and discussed in a brand new report from the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) and FLACSO-Chile. An outcome of the 2007 summit "Memorialization and Democracy," hosted by the International Coalition and the Villa Grimaldi Peace Park in Santiago, Chile, together with ICTJ and FLACSO-Chile, the report puts forth the first set of recommendations for national and international frameworks to support Sites of Conscience as developed by the participants in the summit.

The conference brought together 130 participants from more than 20 countries in an unprecedented combination of policy-makers and practitioners in human rights, democracy-building, historic preservation, education, tourism, urban planning, and other fields.

Read the PDF version of the report or e-mail us at coalition@tenement.org for a printed copy.

Connecting Past and Present: 2008 Report of International Coalition Activities

The International Coalition's first annual report on its activities, Connecting Past and Present, is available in PDF here. The report describes the International Coalition's work and the work of individual Sites in response to critical questions, and includes the Coalition's statement of financial activities for Fiscal Year 2008. This report will soon be available in languages apart from English. For a printed copy of the report, please e-mail us at coalition@tenement.org.

Memoria Abierta Updates Map of Clandestine Detention Centers

Memoria Abierta is developing a map that will locate hundreds of ordinary buildings that were formerly employed as centers of detention, torture, death, and disappearance during the period of state-implemented terrorism in Argentina. The map aims to transmit the memory of what happened inside these buildings and other urban spaces related to terrorism throughout Argentina to future generations.

In March 2008, Memoria Abierta added the clandestine detention centers (CDC) in Mendoza to this map, one of the Argentinean provinces with the highest number of former buildings and urban spaces of repression. Thirty CDCs with their names and addresses were added to the map - a work in progress that to date shows the location of over 200 centers - available through Memoria Abierta's website www.memoriaabierta.org.ar/eng/principal.php#.

Information on the premises, the period of operation of these centers, the officers responsible for them, as well as several photographs for 14 of the sites were also added to the map on the website to integrate these clandestine detention centers into the narratives of Argentina's history.

Civic Initiative, Inc.(Monrovia, Liberia)
 
Civic Initiative (CI) is a Liberian civil society organization whose focal areas in the pursuit of democracy as well as the rule of law are Transitional Justice (TJ) and Security Sector Reform (SSR). CI propels this agenda by engaging in and facilitating advocacy, research, and documentation of closely intertwined or related concepts. Given that the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) represent Liberia's TJ mechanism, CI provides public education, monitoring, as well as technical support to the Liberian TRC. The Liberian TRC is charged with investigating the antecedents of the Liberian civil conflict. For more information, please contact Kanio Gbala at baigbala.ci.gmail.com.

Fort Apache Heritage Foundation, Inc. (Arizona, USA)
 
Chartered as a nonprofit organization by the White Mountain Apache Tribe in 1997, the Fort Apache Heritage Foundation exists to facilitate historic preservation, Apache cultural perpetuation, and economic development centered on the Fort Apache and Theodore Roosevelt School Historic District, Arizona. The historic district preserves and interprets an approximately 300-acre landscape of canyons, mesas, trails, farmlands, and 27 historic buildings at the confluence of the east and north forks of the White River. For more information, visit http://www.fortapachearizona.org/.

Human Rights Media Centre(Cape Town, South Africa)
 
The Human Rights Media Centre promotes human rights awareness by enabling organizations and individuals to tell their stories to the public through a variety of media. Among the Centre's activities are: Breaking the Silence: A Luta Continua, a multi-media traveling exhibition documenting members' experiences under Apartheid which raises awareness on issues like the International Apartheid Lawsuit; a refugee project which has documented and disseminated stories of African refugees in Cape Town in a book, radio programs, wall mural and documentary film; women workers' stories disseminated in a book titled Labour Pains for the Nation; and a history and heritage project about the double-pronged ambush in 1985, culminating in The Trojan Horse Memorial in Athlone and the book If Trees Could Speak: The Trojan Horse Story. These ongoing political education efforts aim to build bridges across post-Apartheid South African communities, as they are still racially divided and polarized. For more information contact director@hrmc.org.za.

Jamalpur Gandhi Ashram (Jamalpur, Bangladesh)
 
Jamalpur Gandhi Ashram, a historic site marked by a past of repeated resistance to its mission to follow Mahatma Gandhi's non-violence and non-cooperation movement, represents Bangladesh's long anti-colonial struggle in the 20th century. The Ashram is in the midst of a rebirth period, with help from local community members and the international community, to work toward the establishment of ideals of peace, non-violence, tolerance, equality and humanity. Highlights of the Ashram's activities include establishing a Museum to commemorate the history of struggle in Bangladesh and to inspire younger generations with the ideals of equality and brotherhood and the spirit of the Liberation War era; direct services to community members including a library, a primary health care program, adult education, and self-reliance programs for women; community dialogues, seminars, and symposiums; and creative observance of International Non-Violence Day, Gandhi's Assassination Day, Independence Day, Victory Day and other National days. For more information, please contact jamalpur_gandhiashram@yahoo.com.

Kyoto Museum for World Peace (Kyoto, Japan)
 
Kyoto Museum for World Peace was established in 1992 by Ritsumeikan University, which after World War II committed itself to a core educational philosophy of "peace and democracy". The Kyoto Museum for World Peace is dedicated to an honest and critical review of the history of World War II, Japan's aggressive militarist past, the damage of the wars, and the efforts of people who opposed the war. The Museum promotes an understanding of the importance of establishing peace by conveying the tragic realities of war and illustrating the efforts of those who oppose war. The permanent exhibition contains materials from the Manchurian Incident in 1931 to the Iraq War. It also provides space for visitors to consider all barriers to the full realization of human potential - that is, all forms of "structural violence". The Museum offers kids' programs, tours for teachers, symposiums and lectures. For more information, please visit http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/mng/er/wp-museum/english/index.html.

The Laurel Hill Cemetery (Pennsylvania, USA)
 
The Laurel Hill Cemetery is a 78-acre tract of land located in Philadelphia. It is one of the only cemeteries in the nation to be honored with the designation of National Historic Landmark, a title received in 1998. Countless prominent people are buried at the Cemetery, including many of Philadelphia's leading industrial magnates - Rittenhouse, Widener, Elkins, and Strawbridge. General Meade and 29 other Civil War generals are buried here in addition to six Titanic passengers. As in its earliest days, Laurel Hill's natural beauty and serenity continue to render it a bucolic retreat nestled within the city's limits overlooking the Schuylkill River. The beautiful green space is further complimented by breathtaking art, sculpture, and architecture. For more information, please visit http://www.thelaurelhillcemetery.org/index.php?flash=1.

The Liberia Media Center (South Carolina, USA)

The Liberia Media Center is a legally registered non-for-profit media and communications firm that fosters local development through the utilization of communication and information resources. LMC exists to assist media and civil society with professional services in a wide range of areas, including research, training, outreach, and mass communication. The Center was officially commissioned on August 26, 2005 and currently provides journalists, media organizations, youth, students and the broader civil society improved access to basic IT (computer and internet) and secretarial resources at its office complex in Monrovia.

LMC also conducts periodic assessments of media coverage of significant national and international events such as Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Public Hearings and the ongoing trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor in The Hague; and facilitates capacity building and provides an objective and neutral space for discussions, workshops, and meetings among civil society, media, and international organizations. For more information, please contact Lawrence Randall at lmclib@yahoo.com.

Lowell National Historical Park (Massachusetts, USA)
 
Lowell National Historical Park commemorates the early story of America's Industrial Revolution. The Park offers visitors an in-depth look into the past that brought the 19th-century textile industry to tap the waterpower of the Merrimack River while also revealing cultural connections to the present and visions for the future. As it is situated in the midst of downtown Lowell, the Park's buildings and museums blend with the many cultural sites and historic scenes throughout the city. Highlighted programming includes the visitor center in the former Lowell Manufacturing Company mill complex; seasonal boat tours of the power canal system; Boott Cotton Mills Museum, featuring a 1920s weave room with operating power looms; and the Mill Girls and Immigrants Exhibit which explores the history of "mill girls" and immigrants in a Boott Mill boardinghouse. For more information, please visit http://www.nps.gov/lowe/.

Museum of Education (South Carolina, USA) The Museum of Education, located within the College of Education at the University of South Carolina, organizes exhibitions, publications, and programs addressing perennial issues in education and, specifically, the integration of schools in South Carolina and the south. The Museum includes a gallery (with permanent displays featuring civil rights leaders Septima Clark and J. A. DeLaine), the Chester C. Travelstead Seminar Room, and an outdoor pedagogical pavilion. The Museum recently presented (the first) Travelstead Award for Courage in Education to Judge Matthew J. Perry, civil rights activist. For more information, please visit www.ed.sc.edu/MusofEd.

New Americans Museum (California, USA)
 
New Americans Museum, as a catalyst to celebrate America's past and promise, provides inspiring and compelling educational and cultural programs and activities exploring America's diverse immigrant experiences. The Museum's new home at the NTC Promenade, Liberty Station, is located at the historic Naval Training Center, placing the Museum in the center of San Diego's flagship destination for arts, culture, science, and technology. As a public forum venue and invaluable gateway to education, exploration, history, international exchange, the arts, and multi-cultural enrichment, the Museum offers oral and visual history projects; visual and performing arts; cultural events; lectures and speaker series; conferences; and exhibitions. For more information, please visit http://www.newamericansmuseum.org/.

Save Ellis Island (New Jersey, USA)
 
Save Ellis Island (SEI) is a partner with the U.S. National Park Service to rehabilitate, restore, interpret, and put to beneficial reuse the currently deteriorated and unused former hospital buildings of Ellis Island, located primarily on its south side. SEI plans to establish the Ellis Island Institute and Conference Center in the thirty unrestored buildings on Ellis Island and transform the Center into a world-class facility for civic engagement and life-long learning through exhibitions and interactive programs on the topics of global migration, global public health, and historic preservation, the themes of Ellis Island. Current SEI programs include public tours of the restored Ferry Building and exhibition about the south side and the Ellis Island hospital; hands-on education programs for school groups; and workshops for educators. For more information, please visit http://www.saveellisisland.org.

The Wing Luke Asian Museum (Washington, USA)
 
The Wing Luke Asian Museum is dedicated to engaging the public in issues related to the culture, art, and history of Asian Pacific Americans. A Smithsonian Institution affiliate, the Museum is located in the historic East Kong Yick Building in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1967, the Museum is named in honor of the late Seattle City Council member Wing Luke, who made history by becoming the first Asian American elected to public office in the Pacific Northwest. The Museum is noted for its work in creating community-based exhibitions and programs that explore Asian Pacific American themes and promote multicultural understanding and tolerance. It is the first and only museum designed to represent the 12.5 million Asian and Pacific Islander Americans. For more information, please visit http://www.wingluke.org.

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 Sigrid Rausing Trust.