Coexister
Aim
Create, organise, and promote projects for peace and non-violence, and encounters between religions and dialogue between cultures, particularly with, and among youth; promote a message of brotherhood through these projects.
History
Coexister was founded on 14 January 2009 after a meeting for peace in Paris, which echoed the crisis in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at that time. Originally, it aimed to prevent the import of a conflict, which is not religious but political, among the youth and on Facebook. The adventure began with 11 young Jews, Christians, and Muslims, who jointly organised the first activity 'Ensemble à Sang%', saving the lives of 150 people by collecting 150 blood donations. The young group Coexister became an association, in accordance with the French law of 1901, on 11 September 2009.
IRD Activities
- Interfaith Tour
A joint project, in which French youngsters travel around the world every two years to encounter interreligious activities and organisations in order to promote them and do research on the interfaith field around the world. As they strive to be both mobile yet deeply involved in each country, they have decided together to crisscross the five continents. There are two kinds of stays: one-month-stays in the key regions of interfaith dialogue (Israel and Palestine, Turkey, India, Malaysia and the US), the rest of the journey being a road-trip throughout the world's continents
- Dialogue
The dialogue pole aims at a better knowledge of self and others. It is possible to organize a visit of places of worship, a debate, a conference, a meal shared on a festive evening, an exhibition or a cinema session. For example, Kawaa is a coffee-debate on living together and secularism. Its goal is to create a convivial space of exchange on the levers of the interconvictional to better live together. In 2016-2017, our groups organized 60 Kawaa across France. Coexister also offers Coexisting training to run a Kawaa
- Solidarity
The Solidarity Unit aims to offer service experiences to young people who do not share the same identity or conviction. When they say "I am," "I believe," or "I do not believe," they agree to disagree. But when they say "I do" they do it together for the benefit of the general interest. With the elderly, the homeless or the orphans, through the donation of blood, clothing or toys, the solidarity cluster refocuses individuals towards a common goal, quite different from what they are. For example, during the 2016 solidarity week, 15 coexisting volunteers from 8 local groups spent a week in Grande-Synthe with the association Utopia 56 to help manage and animate the refugee camp. During this experience, they were able to take a new look at the issue of welcoming refugees to France
- Sensitization
The Awareness Center offers workshops and tools to combat prejudice. By meeting college students, high school students, students or entrepreneurs, the young people of Coexister can testify to their experience within a group and carry the message of active coexistence to the service of living together. By means of very precise educational tools, they can at the same time help to decipher the principle of freedom of thought, conscience and religions, to learn secularism and deconstruct cliches for religious reasons or beliefs
- Training
Recognizing that the action of a movement such as Coexisting requires a solid knowledge of religious fact and intercultural management, we have put in place a training plan to meet the twofold need to develop a common culture among its members and to acquire the skills necessary for the specific task entrusted to them. This is why we offer training on the religions and humanistic trends represented in France, on secularism, on complete knowledge of the posture of interconvictional dialogue and on the precise know-how on the implementation of projects organized by Under-35s and, finally, on the tools of interculturality
- Common Life
Our proposals for cohabitation aim at enabling young people to live to the end the Coexist approach by inviting them to actually share a part of their lives with people with different convictions: for a few days with travel and summer camps, or for a year with InterFaith Home roommates and the InterFaith Tour around the world.
Main Focus Countries of Activities
USA - Argentina - Uruguay - Australia - Indonesia - Singapore - Malaysia - Cambodia - Thailand - Laos - China - Japan - India - Bangladesh - Oman - Mauritius - Réunion - Ivory Coast - Kenya - Burkina Faso - Lebanon - Turkey - Serbia - Macedonia - Greece - Croatia - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Italy - Austria - Hungary - Czechia - Poland - Sweden - Finland - Germany - Denmark - Netherlands - Spain - Israel - State of Palestine - Egypt - France - Canada - Mexico - Brazil - Togo - Morocco - Slovakia - Paris, France - Lyon, France - Angers, France - Lille, France - France - Belgium - France - Belgium - France - Belgium - France - Belgium