Vicky Samantha Rossi

Born in Jersey, Channel Islands in 1969, my interest in political matters and social justice probably first manifest when I organized for food to be collected and sent to Africa as part of Sir Bob Geldof's Live Aid campaign in the 1980s. After that political science was one of the subjects I chose for my school leaving examinations. Then during my BA in French and Spanish, which I took at Leeds University in the U.K., I opted for the political and economic component courses and wrote my French thesis on the student strikes in France at the end of 1990.

Fluent in French, Spanish and Italian, my love of language both spoken and written has stimulated me to travel extensively and learn through experiencing life in other cultures. The 2 years spent in Osaka, Japan (1992-1994), marked the start of my quest for greater clarification on the meaning of existence itself.

From 1994-1996, I taught computer studies in Jersey at the Pitman Training Centre, Highlands College of Higher Education as well as within various departments of the Jersey State government.

From 1996-2001, I worked as a freelance trainer in the natural health industry, teaching Reiki, meditation and healthy living practices at adult education centres, the American Air Force base in Lakenheath as well as to private groups. From January 2001 until I left the UK in June 2002, I worked as the Project Development Manager for Holistic Living, a company which promotes the incorporation by enterprises of natural therapies and healthy lifestyle practices for employees in the workplace.

In October 2002, I began working for the Green Cross in Switzerland. The Green Cross is a non-governmental organisation founded by Mikhail Gorbachev. Although the organisation works in more than one environmental field, in Switzerland we are focused on public outreach in the chemical weapons disarmament process. Green Cross Switzerland, in collaboration with Green Cross Russia, provides local citizens in stockpile communities in Russia with information on the Russian chemical weapons disarmament programme, holds emergency preparedness training and organizes an annual National Dialogue in Moscow which is attended by all stakeholders in the Russian chemical demilitarization process.

In 2005, I completed an MA in Peace and Conflict Studies at the European Peace University in Stadtschlaining, Austria. My focus of interests lies in human duties and responsibilities and global ethics as well as in new forms of democratic participation and social structures reflecting a new world order based on compassion and altruism.

Since September 2006, I have been working in the occupied Palestinian territory. For the first 10 months, I was a Communications Officer for the Holy Land Trust, a Palestinian NGO focused on non-violence training. I then spent a year as a Public Information Officer and Website Editor with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Since July 2008, I have been a consultant with the International Management Group (IMG). As part of IMG's capacity-building programme in the Palestinian Ministry of Education (MoEHE) in Ramallah, I have designed and am now teaching a report writing course to division heads and key staff in the MoEHE's Directorates-General.

Vicky Samantha Rossi became a TFF Associate in 2005. That's also when she began working on a series of interviews with peace visionairies around the world. See them here.

She served a couple of years as Board member of the foundation until July 2009 and remains an Associate.

Address	Casa Broche, Queens Rd - St Helier Jersey, Channel Islands JE2 3GR United Kingdom
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E-mail Blog	vickyrossi555@gmail.com Visions of Peace and Reconciliation

Articles by Vicky Samantha Rossi

The most recent on top. For those published after November 2006, you may alse see Rossi's own section on this site.

April 21, 2009
Liberating the Oppressor
Rossi interviews Sami Awad about the power of nonviolence.

December 31, 2008
Eyewitness report from Gaza
Rossi interviews two humanitarian workers who managed to get out of Gaza after the first Israeli assaults. Deeply moving insights into the hell on earth that is Gaza.

Vicky Samantha Rossi, April 9, 2008
When it is all over, will God look at your CV?
A philosophical essay about the opportunity that unemployment can also be.

April 6, 2008
"I come from there - and remember"
UNRWA Commemorates 1948: Abu-Yaser recalls life in Tel el-Safi. Dheisheh camp, April 2008.

March 4, 2008
The forgotten camp.
In the West Bank with Operations Suppport
The aim of the trip was to confirm whether or not the residents of New Fahme were registered refugees who had somehow been overlooked by UNRWA and were in need of assistance.
A story about what it means to help in the midst of unspeakable human misery.

December 2, 2007
Palestinian youth make documentary film
The year 2008 will mark 60 years since the flight of the first Palestine refugees. The marking of all tragic events is an important time to both remember what has been in the past and to envision anew paths towards a more vibrant future. Through art, craft and music, the Palestinian story and, as an integral part of that, the life of 1948 and 1967 refugees can be narrated in a creative and purposeful way.

December 2, 2007
Palestinian youth talk about the importance of land
“In our fight to prevent our land being confiscated we said to ourselves, ‘Why don’t we create new life out of this sad story of problems, restrictions and struggle?’” Evidently, as well as being a cause for despair when the connection between individual and territory is forcibly cut, the land can also be a source of healing and reconciliation.

June 27, 2007
Entities don't have consciousness or humanity
About the importance of keeping the political focus on the individual. Men and women of civil society embrace their individual responsibility as human beings in order to break out of prevailing structures and destructive stereotypes. A lasting transformation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has to come from within, but it can be assisted by support from outside.

June 11, 2007
Mental health development in the occupied Palestinian territories
Rossi speaks with Rajiah Abu Swai, WHO about mental problems caused by the occupation, and what can be done - a dimension of war and violence not so often addressed.

February 16, 2007
Interview with S. Srinivasan - "Vasu".
Facilitator, Barefoot College, Tilonia, Rajasthan, India.

January 31, 2007
Interview with Arun Gandhi
Vicky Rossi has travelled in the footpath of Gandhi in India. Her guide was Arun Gandhi, the "Mahatma's" grandson. In this interview they touch the fundamental aspects of the legacy as well as the contemporary relevance of Gandhi and nonviolence.

Interview, November-December 2006
Laura Hiberiro & Mira Dabit, Right to Education Campaign, Birzeit University.

Interview, November-December 2006
Noah Salameh, Center for Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation in Bethlehem.

Interview, November-December 2006
Nuha Khoury, Dar al-Kalima College in Bethlehem.

Interview, November-December 2006
Ibrahim Issa of the Hope Flowers School in Bethlehem.

November 29, 2006
Palestine, the olives, identity and peace
Vicky Rossi interview with Daoud Nasar, Tent of Nations, Bethlehem
"The olive tree is connected to our struggle for peace, justice and freedom because we, in the same way as the olive tree, have our roots here. So the Palestinians have a deep connection both to the land and to the olive trees.”

November 28, 2006
Blog on "Visions of Peace and Reconciliation"
See this TFF Associate's remarkable interviews and reflections from her in-the-field experience. There is also her special page on this homepage.

November 12, 2006
Fundamentalism versus Civil Islam
A fascinating exploration of a little know term as well as of several other essential concepts in Islam, emerging from Rossi's interview with professor Muhammad Machasin, a learned scholar and the acting head of consultative leadership of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

September 5, 2006
Four interviews about living and working for peace in the Middle East
Rossi listens to Reuven Moskovitz, Inam Wahidi, Lisa and Asher and Sami Awad, Palestinian and Israeli citizens who have decided to do something real to bring about peace and reconciliation. Listen to their hardships and doubts and to what made them refuse to hate.
Four stories about civil courage and strong beliefs in nonviolence and human rights as tools that will eventually build a better future for all in the region. An example of how ordinary citizens make the world a little bit better every day without hitting the front pages. And through their personal histories you learn a lot about the background to the ongoing conflict.

Vicky Rossi interview, May 22, 2006
Strawbale houses - nonviolent technology and peace with Nature
Rossi interviews Dr. Evgenyi Shirokov, Head of Belarusian Division of the International Academy of Ecology, Head of Belarusian HABITAT Center about how Belarus pioneered the idea of building and living in straw-bale houses. It's cheap, healthy, environmentally friendly, safe, keeps you warm down to minus 30 degrees centigrade and, when disintegrating in a hundred years, leaves no waste.

Vicky Rossi interview, April 21, 2006
The Tamera Peace Village - Education for Inner and Outer Peace
In 2005, Sabine Lichtenfels - a theologian and political activist - was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize as one of the 1000 Women for Peace - a project aimed at gaining public recognition of the relentless efforts made by women across the globe to promote sustainable peace and social justice. Sabine Lichtenfels is a political activist and peace worker dedicated to bringing peace to the Middle East and to teaching young people to "think and act responsibly and with commitment".

Vicky Rossi interview, March 1, 2006
On peace education and the University for Peace in Costa Rica
An interview with the leaders of this unique university and an in-depth discussion of what peace and peace education is - and could mean - for our future world.

Vicky Rossi interview, January 8, 2006
The idea and the future of the Earth Charter
Vicky Rossi talks to Federico Mayor, former S-G of UNESCO and now Earth Charter Commissioner. First you get the history and main content of this innovative and integrative Charter for the future of humankind. Next comes the interview and, finally, all the links to where you can learn more. Says Mayor, "each of us must behave in such a way that we "respect Earth and life in all its diversity", "care for the community", "build democratic societies" and "secure Earth's bounty and beauty".
Says Jan Oberg, "In an era with so little political vision, this Rossi interview on the most important norms for our common Earth makes happy reading at the beginning of the new year."

Vicky Rossi interview, December 4, 2005
Why we need Ministries of Peace and how to work for their establishment
TFF's Peace Antenna, Vicky Rossi, speaks with two of the most devote activists in Britain. See what motivates them and how they work to sow the seeds with MPs and progress the idea with like-minded initiatives in several countries. We suggest that you take a similar initiative in your country, if it doesn't already exist.

Vicky Rossi, TFF Peace Antenna, September 21, 2005
The Civil Peace Services Forum in Germany
TFF Peace Antenna Vicky Rossi interviews Tilman Evers of the Forum ZDF and explores the structure and functions of a network of peace consultants who operate independently of governments in conflict zones to create peace and reconciliation.

Vicky Rossi, TFF Peace Antenna, July 29, 2005
World problems need world order reforms
Vicky Rossi interviews Mr James Ranney who is chair of the Philadelphia Chapter of Citizens for Global Solutions. Interview about federalism, a world constitution, the EU, nuclear abolition, a UN People's Assembly, and more - with references to Dag Hammarskjöld and Albert Einstein. The interview marks the 100th anniversary of Dag Hammarskjölds birthday on July 29, 1905.

Vicky Rossi, TFF Antenna, May 24, 2005 (pdf 615 KB)
A Shared Human Identity - The Foundation of a Peace Culture
A thesis submitted towards an MA degree in Peace and Conflict Studies (56 pages). Micro and macro perspectives on humanity; peace and patriarchy; the UN and a planetary society; towards a peace culture in accordance with the Earth Charter.
"It's been delightful to serve as Vicky Rossi's advisor; she's a searching soul full of idealism and energy to grapple with both the destructive reality and the constructive potentials," says Jan Oberg.

In pursuit of peace
However, humanity is continuing to evolve and, as such, it is a plausible hypothesis to imagine that peace, in its extended context, can characterise global societies in the future and that we will reach a wider sense of identification which will unite us in our diversity.