Living Together Movement
At ICERMediation, we place strong emphasis on open-hearted discussions in the spirit of give-and-take, reciprocity, mutual trust and good will. We believe that contentious issues have to be resolved privately and quietly, and complicated problems cannot be solved by simply holding violent demonstrations, riots, coups, wars, bombings, assassinations, and massacres or by headlines in the Press. As Donald Horowitz said, “It is only through mutual discussion and good will that amicable settlement can be reached.”
Create or Join a Living Together Movement Chapter
Bridging Societal Divides Promoting Civic Engagement And Collective Action
What Is Living Together Movement?
The Living Together Movement is a nonpartisan community dialogue project hosted in a safe place of encounter to promote civic engagement and collective action. At the Living Together Movement forums, we encounter differences, similarities and shared values. We exchange ideas on how to foster and sustain a culture of peace, nonviolence and justice in the community.
How Can Living Together Movement Help Our Communities, Neighborhoods, Cities, And College Or University Campuses?
Living Together Movement was created to bridge societal divides.
ICERMediation created Living Together Movement to promote civic engagement and collective action. Focused on nonviolence, justice, diversity, equity and inclusion, Living Together Movement bridges societal divides as well as promotes conflict resolution, peacemaking, and peacebuilding which are the values and goals of ICERMediation.
Through Living Together Movement, our goal is to repair our society’s divides, one conversation at a time. By offering a space and opportunity to have meaningful, honest, and safe discussions that bridge gaps of race, gender, ethnicity, or religion, the project allows for a moment of transformation in a world of binary thinking and hateful rhetoric. Taken on a large scale, the possibilities for repairing our society’s ills in this way are immense.
In order to make this happen, we have launched a web and mobile application that allows interested members to create Living Together Movement groups online, invite people from their communities or college campuses to join, organize, plan, and host in-person chapter meetings in their communities, cities, or college campuses.
Why Do We Need Living Together Movement?
Our society is growing increasingly divided. With greater proportions of our day-to-day lives spent online, the misinformation that finds its way through echo chambers on social media has the power to shape our worldview. Trends of hatred, fear, and tension have come to define our era, as we watch a divided world split even further apart on the news, on our devices, and in the social media content that we consume. Set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic where individuals have been locked indoors and isolated from those beyond the borders of their immediate community, it often feels like as a society, we have forgotten how to treat each other as fellow humans and have lost the compassionate and empathetic spirit that unites us as a global community.
What Are The Goals Of The Living Together Movement?
Living Together Movement aims to provide a space and outlet for people to understand one another and come to mutual understandings rooted in compassion. We propose the creation of safe and trusting places of encounter which we have named Living Together Movement chapters.
The Living Together Movement chapters are needed to:
- Educate ourselves about our differences
- Discover our similarities and shared values
- Cultivate mutual understanding and empathy
- Build trust and dispel fear and hatred
- Celebrate and respect diversity
- Provide access to inclusion and equity
- Recognize and accept the same humanity in all peoples
- Preserve our cultures and ancient traditions
- Promote civic engagement and collective action
- Live together in peace and save our planet for future generations
How Will Living Together Movement Achieve These Goals?
Living Together Movement project will host regular dialogue sessions by offering a place for citizens and residents to gather. In order to rollout this opportunity worldwide, we need you to volunteer to serve as a Peacebuilder, organize, plan, and regularly host Living Together Movement chapter meetings in your neighborhood, community, city, or college/university campus. Our Peacebuilders will be trained in group facilitation and intercultural communication, as well as given an orientation on how to create and start a Living Together Movement chapter, organize, plan and regularly host Living Together Movement chapter meetings.
Non-members who are experienced in or interested in group facilitation, dialogue, community organizing, civic engagement, civic action, deliberative democracy, nonviolence, conflict resolution, conflict transformation, conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacebuilding, intercultural communication, diversity, equity and inclusion, etc., can also sign up to create a Living Together Movement chapter on our website in order to start a chapter in their neighborhoods, communities, cities or college/university campuses.
By providing a space for raw and honest conversations, compassion, and empathy, the project will celebrate diversity while achieving a goal of building bridges across individual and group differences in our society. Participants will listen to the stories of fellow citizens and residents, learn about other points of view and life experiences, and get the chance to speak about their own ideas.
Combined with featured talks from invited experts during each regular meeting, all participants will learn to practice non-judgmental listening while working to develop common points of view that can be used to organize collective action.
How Do Living Together Movement Chapter Meetings Work?
Each Living Together Movement chapter meeting will be broken down into sections that include:
- Opening remarks
- Music, food, and poetry (Self-care: Nourish your body and soul)
- Living Together Movement mantra recitation
- Talks and conversation with invited experts (Q&A)
- General discussion on the things affecting peace and security in the neighborhood, community, city, college or university (I-Report)
- Group brainstorms about collective action (What can we do to help? A call to action)
We know that food is not only a great way to provide an atmosphere of bonding and conversation, but it is also a great way to access different cultures. Hosting Living Together Movement chapter meetings in communities, towns, cities or college campuses in countries around the world will allow each chapter to incorporate local food of a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds into their meetings. By working with and promoting local restaurants, participants will expand their horizons and community network while the project simultaneously benefits local businesses.
Plus, the poetry and music facet of each meeting allows Living Together Movement to interact with local communities, education centers, and artists by featuring a diverse range of work that explores heritage to promote preservation, exploration, education, and artistic talent.
Why Should Colleges or Universities Create a Living Together Movement Chapter?
The most potent force in the world is a united group of people who concentrate on a goal and band together to achieve it. But groups cannot be formed without individuals who strive for a common cause and purpose. Now imagine young, bright, energetic students coming together in a group, sharing their experiences, speaking their minds, and opening up dialogues with their peers as part of their civic duty. How strong of a force would that be? A force whose goal is to make the world a better, healthier, and more peaceful place to live.
Living Together Movement is precisely that force—a local community, whether in a university, a city, or a neighborhood. Living Together Movement is an effort by the International Center for Ethno-Religious Mediation (ICERMediation) to bring citizens from different ethnic, racial, religious, educational, and cultural backgrounds together in a group for a common purpose and to share their lives and thoughts with the members of their community. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, people were distanced due to health protocols. Living Together Movement is an effort to fix the damage caused by the pandemic, and it intends to bring people together once more.
Living Together Movement is a community within a community whose members are in charge. It will operate in and for the community, with members electing presidents, treasurers, vice presidents, and… for their community. They will talk about their experiences, goals, ideas, and problems and discuss these matters with the community members.
Living Together Movement is a place to hear and be heard, and what better place than a University to start with? As mentioned, Living Together Movement is about local communities, so the rules and regulations of the country and the University will be respected during the course of the activities of the chapter.
Where Can I Download Documents About Living Together Movement?
Before you create a Living Together Movement chapter for your neighborhood, community, city, or university, download and read the Strategic Planning Template for Living Together Movement Chapter Leaders.
To host and facilitate your Living Together Movement chapter meetings, download and read the Description of the Living Together Movement and Regular Chapter Meeting Agenda Document. This document is a general guide that should be used for all Living Together Movement chapter meetings worldwide.
How Can I Create A Living Together Movement Chapter On ICERMediation?
Thank you for your interest in creating a Living Together Movement Chapter for your neighborhood, community, town, city, organization, college, university or any other institution of learning, including high schools. Below are the steps to follow.
Read the Strategic Planning Template for Living Together Movement Chapter Leaders.
In addition, download and read the Description of the Living Together Movement and Regular Chapter Meeting Agenda Document.
Use the Strategic Plan document to plan. You will use the agenda document to host your weekly chapter meetings. We usually schedule an orientation for new chapter leaders to explain how to create a Living Together Movement Chapter on the ICERMediation web and mobile application, as well as how to host and facilitate weekly chapter meetings. Contact Us if you are interested.
After reading the organizing documents, you must sign up for any membership level beginning from Associate Membership in order to create a Living Together Movement Chapter on the ICERMediation app or website. The Create a Group tab feature is only available for members who have signed up for Associate or higher membership levels.
If you are a generic (free) member and you want to create a Living Together Movement Chapter, you will need to log in to your member dashboard, click on Upgrade Membership, select Associate or any other membership level, and complete the membership upgrade.
After signing up for Associate or higher membership level, we will invite you to the next stage of creating a Living Together Movement Chapter on the ICERMediation web or mobile app.
At that time. you will log in to your member dashboard. You will see the tab Kingdoms & Chapters. Click on it. Then click on the Create a Group tab to the right. That is where you will create your Living Together Movement Chapter. The name of your chapter must begin with the name of your neighborhood, or community, or city, or university, or organization, etc. Here are two examples:
- White Plains, New York Living Together Movement Chapter
- Columbia University Living Together Movement Chapter
You may ask a graphic designer to help you design an image – a sort of logo – for your chapter. You will upload this image as your chapter photo.
In addition to the image, you will need a cover photo – that is, a small (wide) banner. Your graphic designer can also design one for you. You will upload it as a cover photo for your chapter.
It is better to tell your graphic designer that the photo image and cover photo (banner) will be used for a social media group branding. That will help them create the correct size for you.
If you need help creating your Living Together Movement Chapter, please Contact Us immediately. We will schedule a meeting at that time to help you create your Living Together Movement Chapter and also explain how to start organizing and hosting your weekly Chapter meetings.
You can also sign in to your member account and request to join the Peacebuilders Network.
As soon as your request to join the Peacebuilders Network is approved, you will be added to this online group and notified about upcoming orientation on how to create and start a Living Together Movement Chapter.
Welcome to the Living Together Movement! We look forward to working with you.