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2015 -  "HOPE in ACTION - Inspiring a culture of hope to build a more equal and peaceful world"

Much of the conflict we see around us in the world today arises from inequality which we need to tackle before resentment and anger spill over into violence. There is no true peace without justice.

In 2015 we thought about how to encourage people to participate in actions to achieve justice for those whose rights are not respected or who are ignored or discriminated against, as well as looking into the gross inequalities of wealth in our world where the 80 richest people own as much as the poorer half of all the world's people.

We acknowledged that one of the things that holds people back from getting involved (in voting or campaigning or challenging injustice) is despair. They feel that their views are not listened to or that they cannot make a difference.  We sought to show that each of us could make a difference when we spoke and acted together, by demonstrating that this had happened in the past (eg the Chartists and the suffragettes) and is happening now all around the world in local communities and in world-wide actions and movements. We need to inspire people with the hope that we can make a difference. We can work with others in non violent ways and stand together with those harmed by injustice to challenge the perpetrators and fundamental causes of inequality.

"Poverty and injustice are not inevitable; they are man-made so we can change them"

event/s were organised to include these 4 elements:

1.     explaining why hope is important for action to happen

2.     showing how people acting together have brought about change

3.     selecting particular inequalities to focus on and offer examples of campaigns to support. 

4.     aiming for participants at events to commit to a campaign for global justice

We produced a booklet of Guidelines:  downloadable (6pp) here:  PDF version  or a  Word.docx version

It developed the 4 elements in the summary above. It included references to useful reports and videos, ideas and websites, with examples and resources offered by OWW partners and other organisations involved in tackling various kinds of inequalities. A template of a dove to print and cut out for collecting pledges at an event was provided.