It was so inspiring to hear from over 100 peace and social leaders at the 1st annual Global Cyber Peace Conference with the theme of "Envisioning the World after The Great Pause". COVID-19 has disrupted conventional governmental, educational, business and family systems across the world. This conference examined how Positive Peace can inform ways in which these global systems are re-imagined and reconstructed. A first-of-its-kind, this conference included more than 35 sessions and workshops on peace and conflict-related topics over 24 hours, across three conference zones: Asia/Oceania; Africa/Europe/Middle East and the Americas/Caribbean.
One of the highlights was listening to keynote speaker Irene Santiago, who envision a future of peace and inspired attendees to continue practical peace building in their communities. Following this, I attended a session on Structural Racism and Violence. This session discussed the current troubling state of global affairs. It also looked at identifying ways to create more equitable structures moving forward. A musical highlight was Melbourne based Jazz singer Jackie Bornstein, who captivated the audience during the first break.
By Lloyd Naz
Upcoming 2020-2021 President