Fwd: Tamera Newsletter February 2011

	February 2011 Dear Friends of Tamera,                                                     Like a surge of power, uprisings have come over the arabic world  with a sheer, unbreakable will for change and for making space for something new. The many young people in Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Yemen and Gaza have our greatest admiration. Their courage seems to be as strong as their will for non-violence. Now they need our support: Also we in Europe, the US, and everywhere have to connect with this power against oppression and injustice, and work on global alternatives. Increased food prices created the spark for the uprisings. We need alternatives that show how people can take control and responsibility for basic the resources : food, water, and energy, into their own hands . At the heart of these central issues, there must be solidarity and community knowledge. Then, it will be like in Sabine Lichtenfels'  vision of the future in her book, "Grace": "The people will discover how they can stand up against the power system which causess the termination of uncountable plants, animals and people, because they have again found their faith, their vision and their path for the healing of the earth."

News from Tamera:

Seminars and Education: Tamera Event Calendar 2011: On March 1st, 2011 our new guest season will start. As Tamera focuses on the ongoing development of the peace model, the events and courses offered will focus the same theme. A warm welcome to researchers, thinkers, visionaries, doers and utopists who want to cooperate and research new solutions – for a future without war. Events in March: 1st of March - 22nd of October: Participation in Building Tamera – A Model for the Future 11th- 18th of March: Introduction week: "Basic Ideas about the Building of Peace Models" Mar 12: Guided Tour and Open Day with the ecology team "Portugal – Desert or Paradise?" Here you find all events from March - November: http://www.tamera.org/index.php?id=76

SolarVillage: Tamera in the Buckminster Fuller Challenge: Tamera has taken on the Buckminster Fuller Challenge and is in the running for $100,000 for the submission of the test field of a SolarVillage. The annual international prize program supports the development and implementation of a solution that has significant potential to solve humanity's most pressing problems. The Buckminster Fuller Challenge review process brings together influential design science leaders such as Josè Zaglul, Vandana Shiva, Danny Hillis, William McDonough, John Thackara and Hunter Lovins. We are proud to be affiliated with this important Challenge. in March the Semi Finals will be published. You can read the proposals here. More: http://challenge.bfi.org/application_summary/2236 The "South-Sea" is full: Last autumn, one more retention space was built in the southern valley of Tamera - the South Valley Lake or "South Sea". Abundant winter rainfall had already filled the lake by the beginning of January. Its shores are designed in the form of terraces with rather large agricultural areas for vegetable and fruit production. Presently, we are planting a large number of trees, mainly fruit trees in mixed cultures, into the embankments. This is just one of five new retention areas planned for this year - a model for landscape healing: More: http://www.tamera.org/index.php?id=780&L=0

IGP - Institute for Global Peace Work: Martin Almada, recipient of the Alternative Nobel Prize from Paraguay, in Tamera: "There is an old system that is not ready to die, and there is a new system that can not be born. Tamera can help the old system to finally end and a new one to be born," said Martin Almada, 74, the Paraguayan activist for solar energy and human rights and recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, during his trip to Europe at the peace research project Tamera at the end of January. The attorney knows from experience how quickly one can become a public enemy. As a socially and culturally engaged school director, he was tortured by the military dictatorship of his country, convicted as an "intellectual terrorist" and imprisoned. More: http://www.tamera.org/index.php?id=775 Memorial Day for the Massacre in San José de Apartadó: On February, 21st, once again, representatives of the Colombian and international peace movement will meet in Mulatos, the training center for the peace community, San José de Apartadó in Colombia. It has been six years since paramilitary troops killed eight people at this place. The peace community still faces threats of violence.   However, they are looking toward the future and starting, together with worldwide partners, a peace education program. Two women from Tamera are also taking part in the meeting: Andrea Regelmann and Iris Bijou Lindstedt are organising a literacy campaign and a campaign against malaria. More about the peace community: http://www.sos-sanjose.org and http://www.cdpsanjose.org/ (only in Spanish) Hope for Colombia: The 50-minute video by GraceMedia will be ready soon. It shows, in a very moving way, the pilgrimage through Bogotá which Tamera and the peace community participated in last November. The movie will be available in German, English and Spanish. We look forward to finding partners and places to show the video. Committed friends of Colombia, please call! Here you can see the official trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw2jIvkWSTo

With best wishes The Tamera Community

P.S.1: Don´t forget: 1000 supporters by end of the year 2012! With a monthly contribution in the amount of your choice you become part of the realisation and part of the increasing planetary community, which will bring peace models into being worldwide. More: http://www.tamera.org/index.php?id=716 P.S. 2: Don´t forget: The School of the Future: You can take part at the peace study 2012, by receiving and studying the texts: Please write to: igp@tamera.org P.S. 3: Please send us a mail should you no longer wish to receive our newsletter. If you do not receive the newsletter in a proper version, please open it here: http://newsletter.tamera.org/