Workshops

"Global Games: Sports, Politics and Society is a first, bringing together a stellar array of former athletes, activists and academics who have independently conceived of sport as being a major force for human rights and social justice. Because of EPIIC's inspiration and vision these individuals will meet, share, discuss and debate their ideas with their eyes turned toward specific courses of action. As a former professional football player, who is deeply concerned about reaffirming sport's main stance in the world, which is, a profound respect for humanity and life itself, this conference is auspicious, and I am honored to be a part of it." -David Meggyesy, Western Director, NFL Players Association; Former President, Athletes United for Peace; Author, Out of Their League; Former All-Pro Linebacker, St. Louis Cardinals

On Sunday, Feb. 13, 2000, select participants from the 2000 EPIIC Symposium, "Global Games: Sports, Politics and Society," gathered together for a professional workshop entitled, Athletes for Social Responsibility. The workshop provided an opportunity for practitioners, academics and students to gather and engage in dialogue about their shared concern for human rights, their commitment to using sports as a vehicle for achieving social justice, and their thoughts on the social responsibility of athletes. The modest aim of the workshop was to bring a group of dedicated individuals together in an informal venue to share both their common interests in human rights and their unique professional experiences. In the course of planning Global Games it became apparent to those of us on the Symposium Program Committee that a number of worldwide programs existed which shared similar goals relating to sports and human rights, yet the organizations did not know of each other's activities. The Sunday workshop provided an opportunity for individuals from these different groups to educate and inform one another. Representatives from such organizations as Athletes United for Peace, the Center for the Study of Sport in Society, the Giving Back Fund, OATH (Olympic Advocates Together Honorably), Olympic Aid, and TEAM (The Exceptional Athlete Matters), among others, were present at the workshop. (For a complete list of organizations and links, see below.) The goal of the Program Committee in organizing the professional workshop was to provide a venue for sharing and dialogue on what we believed to be a timely and critical issue. At the same time, we also hoped that from the session we could form an affiliated network of individuals and organizations committed to a common cause, albeit from their disparate perspectives, Athletes for Social Responsibility. The participants at the workshop reached a consensus that the most productive way to stay in touch and informed, and to continue sharing valuable information was through a website dedicated to the cause of sports and social responsibility. We were not interested in creating a new bureaucracy, but rather in reinforcing the richness of the existing civil society organized around this issue. That is what we hope this website will achieve. --Jessica B. Berns EPIIC 2000 Participant The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, 2000

Participants

Peter Alegi Boston University; Sports Instructor and Soccer Coach, Khayelitsha Township, Capetown, South Africa; Author, "Soccer and History: Sports and Imperialism" Ketra Armstrong Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences, The Ohio State University; Author, "Women and Sports Development in South Africa" Jessica Berns Member, EPIIC Colloquium; Class of 2000, The Fletcher School Dennis Brutus Former Chair, South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee Doug Cahn Vice President for International Human Rights Programs, Reebok Annmarie Cholankeril Member, EPIIC Colloquium Robert Duval Founder, Athletics of Haiti; Former Head, League of Former Political Prisoners, Haiti Scott Glaberman Member, EPIIC Colloquium Mayuri Guntupalli Member, EPIIC Colloquium Sengil Inkiala Instructor, Massachusetts Commission for the Blind; Congolese dissident; Member of the crew that won the 1999 Blind Sailing Nationals in Newport, RI Jay Kahn Member, EPIIC Colloquium Bruce Kidd Dean, Faculty of Physical Education and Health, University of Toronto; Author, "Boycotts that Worked: the Campaign against Apartheid in the Commonwealth Games" Chuck Korr Professor of History, University of Missouri, St. Louis; Author, West Ham United: The Making of a Football Club Jose Masso Deputy Director, The Center for the Study of Sport and Society, Northeastern University; Sports Agent, specializing in Latino professional baseball players Dave Meggyesy Western Representative, National Football League Player's Union; Former President, Athletes United for Peace; Author, Out of Their League Hadley Morash Sports Philanthropy Project Ann Peel Founder and Chair, Athletes CAN; Co-Founder and Founding Board Member, OATH (Olympic Athletes Together Honourably); Project Manager and Founder, The Sport Solution Marc Pollick Founder and President, The Giving Back Fund Mike Savicki Wheelchair Triathalon Athlete; Marathoner; Associate Director, World T.E.A.M. Sports (The Exceptional Athlete Matters); Organizer and Participant, Vietnam Long Time Coming, T.E.A.M.'s 16-day, 1,200 mile bike marathon from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City Jim Silk Executive Director, Schell Center for International Human Rights, Yale Law School Sherman Teichman Founding Director, EPIIC Mark Tewksbury Olympic Gold Medalist in Swimming; Founder, Olympic Advocates Together Honorably (OATH) Jay Weiner Journalist, Star Tribune, Minneapolis-St. Paul

Related Information:

Johann Olav Koss: the achievements of one of the greatest Winter Olympics athletes of all time have since been eclipsed by his efforts on behalf on Olympic Aid, a humanitarian organization established to provide relief to children in war torn countries... "Johann Olav Koss: Olympic-Sized Heart" an article by Erik Cetrulo, The Fletcher Ledger, February 14, 2000 "Building Toward a Political Sports Movement" an article by Jay Weiner, The Village Voice, February 23-29, 2000 "'Doing God's Work' for the Kids of Haiti" Robert Duval is making a difference with the poor children on this Caribbean island... an article by Finbarr O'Reilly, National Post,(Canada) July 12, 2000 "Soccer: Social Laboratory on a Field; In Haiti, an Activist Offers Hope and a Soccer Ball" an article by David Gonzalez, New York Times, December 28, 1999 "Mathare Youth Sports Association -- Giving Kids a Sporting Chance" an article by Randi Hansen, CharityVillage.com - NewsWeek, July 19, 1999 "Kenya's Shanty Kids Go Online" The world opens up for children in a Kenyan shany, where they are taught to exchange email and digital pictures with other children from around the world... an article by Philip Ngunjiri, Electronic Mail&Guardian, September 24, 1998 "Promoting Human Rights in the Olympic Movement: The Cases of South Africa, Moscow and Beijing" a thesis by Jessica Berns, MALD '00, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Spring 2000 A Day of Celebration, Tufts University Brazilian, Haitian, Iraqi, Russian, Somalian, Sudanese, and Vietnamese soccer players came together to form the "World Citizens" and play the Tufts University soccer team as part of the "Game of Nations" day that concluded EPIIC's year on refugees, migration, and global security, April 1998.

Links to other Organizations:

Adopt-A-Minefield: http://www.landmines.org Athletes Reaching Out Foundation: http://www.arofoundation.org/aro/about.html Athletes United for Peace: http://www.athletesunitedforpeace.org Business for Social Responsibility: http://www.bsr.org Center for the Study of Sport in Society: http://www.sportinsociety.org Fair Labor Association: http://www.fairlabor.org The Giving Back Fund: http://www.givingback.org Harvard Trade Union Program: http://www.harvard.edu/htup/ International Institute for Sport: http://www.internationalsport.com IOC - Commissions and Olympic Movement Efforts: http://www.olympic.org/ioc/e/org/movement_intro_e.html Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) - Shoot Back Program: http://www.piac.org/childseye/shootb.htm OATH (Olympic Advocates Together Honorably): http://www.theoath.org Reebok Human Rights: http://www.reebok.com/about_reebok/human_rights/default.asp Women's Sports Foundation: http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org World T.E.A.M. Sports: http://www.worldteamsports.org