Lyon 6-10 May 10 – Celebrating Peace Project Europe

Between 6 and 10 May 2010 overall some 100 NGO representatives and active citizens from all over Europe and France gathered in Lyon for a network meeting. On working days there were discussions and planning sessions of the European Network for Civil Peace Services (EN.CPS), the European membership of Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) and the members of the French Comité d'Intervention Civil de Paix (ComitéICP).

On the weekend of 8 and 9 May we organised a series of events to draw the public's attention to nonviolent alternatives of dealing with conflict.  The dates have a symbolic meaning: in France 8 May commemorates the victory over the Nazis in 1945, and on 9 May 1950 Robert Schuman made his famous declaration, proposing to pull together French and German steel and coal industries, a symbolic starting point of the European integration project.

To inform a broader public and citizens of Lyon, in the afternoon of 8 May the organisers brought together fellow activists from Lyon and different parts of France with participants of the European network meeting.  Accompanied by a Brasilian-style drum band, the crowd moved along the Rhône river, distributing some 1,500 flyers and inviting pedestrians to come to a roundtable discussion the following morning.  The demonstration culminated next to the Guillotière bridge where people stopped to listen to the drum concert, to receive material at several information stands and to visit an exhibition.

In the morning of 9 May some 70 people then joined the roundtable discussion.  Representatives from several associations presented their field and training work and asked for a stronger role of the European Union in supporting international peace initiatives, including the proposal to establish a European Civil Peace Service programme.  The following discussion saw contributions by Malika Benerab-Attou (Member of the European Parliament), Christiane Demontes (member of the Rhône regional senate) and Véronique Moreira (vice-president of the Rhône region, in charge of international solidarity).