Political systems that put people and communities at the centre

The Politics of Compassion in an Age of Ruthless Power, is the title of an address to be given by Professor Kevin Clements in Christchurch on Friday 10 August.

The address will focus on how to build humanistic emancipatory politics based on the centrality of people and communities as opposed to the current dominant economic and political systems.

Professor Clements is the Chair and Foundation Director of the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at Otago University. The meeting, organised by the Durham Street Methodist Church, will begin at 6.30pm in the Knox Hall, 28 Bealey Ave. Admission is free.

Professor Clements will lead a workshop on Saturday 11 August. The workshop will introduce people to non- violent tools for conflict transformation and what is needed to do a structural analysis and how to design non-violent transformative movements. The workshops will also be held in the Knox Hall from 9.30am to 12.30pm.

He will also preach at a combined Durham Street Methodist Church and Knox Presbyterian Church Service on Sunday 12 August at 10am.

The events are to mark Peace Sunday. Within the Methodist, Presbyterian and Anglican Churches a Sunday near 6 August is designated Peace Sunday. To commemorate the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, in 1945. It is a time of reflection and prayer and for the churches to renew their mandate for peace.

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