Large participation and diverse activities at the second Nonviolence Forum in Villa Gesell, Argentina

The school hosting this year's forum was in the news during the last year due to extreme violence when one student killed another one. School Head Damian Montero and Deputy Head Manuel Artieda, were present for the whole day and participated in different Forum activities and mobilised a good part of the student body to the various workshops.

Since the morning, the Assembly Hall was decorated with posters prepared by the students about the different forms of violence. An amphitheatre was prepared to host the speaker panel in the morning session. In the entrance a reception table was available to register those who came and another table was for World without Wars who handed out material about the coming World March for Peace.

Video endorsements were projected onto a screen and the Forum started on time at 11am.

The Forum started with the Panel discussion "Violence is personal and social". The subject of violence was presented from different perspectives. Humanist journalist Osvaldo Bocero covered the theme of violence in the media, making a brief introduction to the Law and Audiovisual Services that is a subject of debate in Argentina at the moment.

Then, Lieutenant Elizabeth Cristobal spoke from the Women's Commission in Mar del Plata, who dealt with the issues of gender and family violence. Matias Davini, Economics graduate covered the subject of alternatives to the capitalist model and explained some of the various experiences of businesses in recent years and encouraged the creation of new management models linked to cooperativism.

This was followed by Hernán Daulte, from the Humanist Movement and President of the Centre of Cultures who spoke about the phenomenon of "natural" violence and explained that the human being is leaving behind their prehistoric past to advance without limits towards a society free of violence. "Violence, with time, will generate disgust and repugnance in the population", he declared.

Finally, Alejo Stauber, Member of the Technical Team of Provincial Management of Secondary Schools, thanked the organisers for having been invited and especially for being the last to present. He referred to school violence as a phenomenon that was evident but which has its origins in inequality and the torn fabric of society. At the end of the presentations a good number of the nearly one hundred people present asked questions to the panellists.

During the afternoon workshops were held, all with good attendance. The most popular were: Education, in which students, teachers and journalists participated. The presence of the local media covering the form throughout the day must be noted. Closing the day there was an official presentation for Villa Gesell of the World March for Peace and Nonviolence.