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October 11, 2007

R.I. nonviolence advocate blogs from Northern Ireland

Teny Gross, director of the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence in Providence, will blog in projo.com's Guest Blog during his trip to Northern Ireland to train residents in nonviolence.

Gross and others from the institute are working with adults and children in a sectarian area of Belfast that has suffered from poverty and violence.

Gross, a former Israeli soldier, runs a streetworkers program in Providence that counsels people in nonviolence and has helped the police reduce violent crimes, Providence Police Chief Dean Esserman has said.

Although violence has decreased in Northern Ireland, Gross's hosts at the Forthspring Inter Community Group say sectarianism and polarization continue as problems.

Forthspring says the group's mission is to promote nonviolence and build relationships of trust and understanding in the community.

"Within communities such as ours, where Protestants and Catholics live separately, people rarely come into contact with each other and Forthspring therefore provides a much needed safe and welcoming environment where people of both communities can meet," Forthspring says on its Web site.

Gross headed to Ireland Oct. 5 and plans to stay until Oct. 20.

(Technical difficulties prevented Gross's first entries from arriving sooner, but projo.com will begin publishing them today.)

To see Gross's blog, follow this link.

Posted by Jack Perry  at 9:44 AM | Permalink

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