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INTER-MEDIACION.
Inc.
is a
Florida, USA company dedicated to two main objectives:
The first objective of Inter-Mediacion, Inc.
is to promote a permanent interest in the peaceful resolution of international conflicts, such as the dispute over the Falkland Islands'
sovereignty. Inter-Mediacion,
Inc. is managed by Nora Femenia, Ph. D. working as Associate Professor
at the Center for Labor Studies and Research, Florida International
University, University Park, Miami.
After the 1982 Malvinas/Falklands War,
formal relationships with the Falkland
Islanders were never formally attempted by Argentina. In the need to build
bridges between the Falkland Islands and Argentina, Inter-Mediacion,
Inc., Inc. while maintaining a permanent working relationship with the Falkland Islands
Government, has undertaken since 1989 several academic and public education
initiatives. Here are some highlights from this ongoing project:
-
Presentation at the International Studies Association Annual Conference,
(1999) of a paper detailing the experience of using direct connections with parties to
the Falklands-Malvinas dispute to build a peace plan that includes all stakeholders,
consulting Falklanders' views.
-
A Course on
International Conflict Resolution, offered at Nova Southeastern University's
department of Dispute Resolution, used the case study of the Falklands-Malvinas
1982 War. (1998)
-
The book: National Identity in Times of Crises: the scripts of the Falklands-Malvinas War
(1996) by Nora
Femenia, (N. Y.: Nova Science Publishers), covers the reciprocal construction
of enemy-images between Argentina and the United Kingdom along the 74 days
of the Falklands/Malvinas conflict. It shows the artificial nature of the
attributed enmity, its political-psychological causes and the hidden needs
for self-esteem in both parties' national identities. Socially constructed
British and Argentine images of the Islanders stem from these processes,
but have little coincidence with the images that the same Islanders construct
for themselves.
-
The book titled "Argentinos, Britanicos y Falklanders
en el Atlantico Sur; identidad y desarrollo," (in Spanish, 1995)
reviews the construction of mutual images and its importance in the inevitable
future development effort in the area. Copies of this book (unpublished)
will be made available through this FALKLANDS-MALVINAS FORUM in a short
time period.
-
A paper presented at the University of Huddersfield "Understanding
the Social World Conference," in the U. K. July 1995, presented
the connection between national identity mobilization processes and political
myth construction.
-
A 1994 presentation: "National Identity in the Falkland
Islands," was given at CARI (Consejo Argentino de Relaciones Internacionales),
Buenos Aires.
-
A two-pages interview by Mr. Daniel Ulanovsky, on April 4, 1993, was published
in the Sunday edition of Clarin newspaper, Buenos Aires, with the title:
"A veces nos olvidamos que las Malvinas estan habitadas."
("We usually forget that the Malvinas are inhabited."). As a follow-up
of this publication, in the week following April 4-11, 1993 several radio
interviews were solicited from Buenos Aires radio stations (Radio Rivadavia
and Radio Mitre) to Nora Femenia in Washington, DC.
-
A paper titled: "National-identity script construction
in times of Crises: the Falklands/Malvinas 1982 War." was presented
at the International Society of Political Psychology Annual Meeting, at
Boston, Mass. July 6-10, 1993
-
By invitation of Dr. Guido Di Tella, Foreign Minister of Argentina, a Seminar
titled "Argentina and the Falklanders: bridges for
a successful communication," was organized on October 7 and 8, 1993.
Designed to provide both theory on peaceful conflict-resolution methods
and information about the Falkland Islanders' way of living, it was offered
to the students of the Argentine National Foreign Service Institute. Along
the second day of the Seminar, a simulation exercise of a negotiation process
between an "Argentine delegation" and a "Falklanders delegation," fulfilled
the purpose to provide students, for the first time, with insights about
Islanders' mindset and wide perspectives in the main issues for the Islands:
political status and self-determination; fisheries and oil resources; and
ecological preservation.
-
By invitation of the Dean of Latin American Area Studies, Mr. Richard Jackson,
at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center, in Arlington, Virginia,
USA, a Seminar on "Britons, Argentines and Falklanders
in the South Atlantic" was provided for the students of the Foreign
Affairs Institute, U.S.A., on November 18, 1993.
-
An article about the problem of cross-cultural differences between Argentine
and Falklanders' social construction of policies in the region was published
in the local newspaper "The Penguin News,"
at Port Stanley, and later commentated in local radio stations. September,
1993.
-
Invitation to participate in a radio-conference organized by the BBC from
Glasgow, Scotland, about the future of the Islands,
together with Mr. Alexander Graham Yoll, in October, 1993.
-
By invitation of Dr. Granillo Ocampo, Argentina's Ambassador to the U.S.A.,
a training Seminar for Armed Forces attaches and other Argentine Embassy
personnel on "Falkland Islands national identity
issues," was delivered on December 15, 1993.
-
Articles sent for publication: "Cognitive obstacles
in the Argentine mindset for a future peace process with the Falklander
Islanders," and "Review of the sovereignty
problem over the Falkland Islands," to the Buenos Aires Herald,
December 1993.
-
A paper by Nora Femenia: "Argentina, the United Kingdom
and the possibility of post-Falklands War reconciliation," was discussed
at the George Mason University Interactive Conflict Resolution Conference on the 10th Anniversary of the
Falklands/Malvinas War at Fairfax, Virginia, 1992. This conference was
closed and only attended by selected delegates for each party, Falkland
Islands included.
The second objetive of Inter-mediacion.com is
to provide an affinity portal Web site, focused on conflict
resolution content, directed to the Hispanic/Spanish-speaking public. Some of
its objectives are:
·
Offer content, activities, programs and materials that inform and
promote social awareness of the cost of conflict and teach conflict-resolution
skills at all levels.
·
Allow professionals to have access to the latest research
information about conflict-resolution methods, take skills building courses
online and off-line and keep in communication with each other. Enable teachers
to have ready-made action plans to introduce conflict-resolution methods in
schools.
·
Have community-building features such as moderated bulletin
boards, chat zones, personal publishing of research and content on the field,
and wide information about professional meetings, conferences and related
training opportunities.
·
Offer connections with online libraries to obtain the essentials
books on the field of conflict-resolution.
· Promote professional services, such as mediation, offered
all around Latin America.
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