PeaceJam news

Madeleine Ward tells us about the activities of Ackworth School's PeaceJam group

In March 2010, the Ackworth School PeaceJam group will travel to Bradford University for the annual PeaceJam conference hosted by the Peace Studies Department. It gives young people from all over the UK a chance to meet and learn from a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.  This year’s Laureate is José Ramos Horta, president of East Timor, formed in 2002 when it finally broke away from Indonesian rule. The country has had a long history of oppression, but Ramos Horta is committed to developing it peacefully and steadily over the coming years. In 2008, José Ramos Horta was injured in an assassination attempt but he recovered well returning to his presidential duties two months later.

Ackworth has already had the opportunity to see José Ramos Horta, as a group from the school travelled to Denver to take part in the tenth anniversary conference where he spoke in 2006. He inspired us with his reasonable and balanced approach to politics and we were keen to hear him again.

At the conference, which will take place over a weekend, the group will have to explain to him our own ideas for a peace-making project either in our local community or part of a wider campaign. We are hoping to start a regular PeaceJam magazine in school which will inform others of social justice issues, as well as continuing with a Fair Trade stall, which runs twice every term. We will also have the opportunity to meet up with other PeaceJammers and attend a workshop which will educate us on an issue that we might not know much about.

For more information about PeaceJam, visit