CARA and Para Siempre FC come on board Football Beyond Borders!

 

More great news for Football Beyond Borders: London 2011 as the CARA (Council for Assisting Refugee Academics) comes on board the project, along with Para Siempre FC.

CARA was established in 1933 in response to the persecution of academics across Europe by fascist regimes. It was founded as the ‘Academic Assistance Council’ by leading figures such as Sir William Beveridge; Lord Rutherford; John Maynard Keynes; A V Hill, Lionel Robbins; and Margery Fry.

78 years on, CARA awards grants to enable refugee academics to achieve employment in the UK at a level commensurate with their skills and experience in the long term. Academics are frequent targets of state-sponsored violence and repression. In times of conflict, academics and intellectuals often suffer intimidation, torture, and imprisonment.  Grants can support refugee academics to re-qualify in a range of professions in the UK such as teaching, academia, engineering, law, the charity sector and medicine.

CARA has established a UK University Network of 66 Universities, in order to facilitate cooperation and collaboration between UK higher education institutions in support of refugee and threatened academics and in defence and promotion of academic and university freedoms worldwide.  SOAS has been a significant member of this initiative by means of a fellowship scheme and internship program.

CARA's mission is most definitely one in which everyone involved with Football Beyond Borders believes, and we are all thrilled to be working with such a prestigous organisation.

Para Siempre F.C., sponsored by CARA, comprises of academics, lecturers, postgraduates and undergraduates from an array of social and cultural backgrounds. Their aim is simple yet powerful; campaigning for the right of children to have an education. Para Siempre F.C. are using football as a universal language to promote sustainable education for those in the most impoverished regions of the world, to facilitate support for existing educational charities and maintain development through schemes of self-sufficiency.

Para Siempre F.C. is not just a football club. It is striving to create a different model of the traditional sports club. A football club with its’ foundations built on values of altruism and generosity, real sustainable change and essentially, improving the lives of the impoverished.

The values of Para Siempre tie in perfectly with those of Football Beyond Borders, and we are all thrilled to be working with such a great project.

CARA and Para Siempre FC will host one of the evening's discussions, based around how academics specifically serve as a catalyst to cross borders, and how football within universities does the same, but again full details of our partnership have yet to be finalised, so watch this space!

Make sure to check out http://academic-refugees.org for more information on CARA and http://www.parasiemprefc.co.uk/ for more information on Para Siempre.

 

Elevation Networks teams up with Beyond Borders

Football Beyond Borders London 2011 is delighted to announce that they will be partnering with Elevation Networks for the International Universities Tournament this July.

Elevation Networks is a student-led enterprise who "aim to inspire, challenge, and positively influence a generation of young people into a belief system that challenges the impossible, overcomes barriers, and provides a gateway for aspirations to become tangible goals".

This aim fits in perfectly with the ethos, and we are understandably thrilled to be involed with such a great organisation.

Watch this space; more details on how Elevation Networks will be involved are coming soon!

In the meantime check out their website:

www.elevationnetworks.org

 

Carling Cup Final 2011

ULFC were privileged to perform the opening ceremony for Sunday's Carling Cup Final between Birmingham City and Arsenal at Wembley Stadium.

This video favours the Birmingham City lads, but I couldn't find one from the Arsenal end - I guess their fans haven't been in the mood to re-live the day just yet...

Beyond Borders: West Africa 2010

Here is a short video of last summer's Football Beyond Borders tour of Ghana. This is what Beyond Borders is all about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lxxpqhKk1o

Thanks go to Symeon Brown for this video.

The blog of the trip (including photos and updates from when we were out in Ghana) can be found here:

http://soasbeyondborders.tumblr.com/

What Is Beyond Borders London 2011?

ULFC AND SOAS BEYOND BORDERS ARE PROUD TO PRESENT

THE INAUGURAL LONDON INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITIES FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT

23rd - 30th JULY 2011

Welcome to the official blog for the inaugural ULFC and SOAS Football Beyond Borders International Universities Tournament.

ULFC is the representative football team of the University of London, the largest federal university in Europe, with a student body of 135,000.

SOAS Beyond Borders uses football as a common medium through which to engage in cross-cultural dialogue, faciltating understanding and experiential exchange, with a focus upon building lasting links between international students, communities, and educational institutions.

In the summer preceding the London 2012 Olympic Games, ULFC and SOAS Beyond Borders will be hosting an event which will see student-footballers from across the globe come to London in order to participate in an international football tournament with a difference.

Each 'Gameday' will comprise afternoon or early evening matches, followed by a chance for the players to change and shower, before all heading back together to the UoL and SOAS campuses in Bloomsbury, central London for a communal dinner, in which teams will eat and socialise with their opposition.

The evening meal will be followed by lectures, debates, seminars and cultural presentations. Each visiting team will have the chance to chair one evening's events, and to choose the topic and focus of debate. The evenings will encourage and stimulate cross-cultural dialogue, experiential exchange and discussions concerning the future of our global society.

On free days between matches, and during the aforementioned evening events, we will be engaging community groups and grassroots social initiatives from London and beyond, so that they can become involved with and benefit from the Beyond Borders project. We will also be hosting special events such as open training sessions and educational activities.

The project will be extensively documented, with a view to producing a short documentary and photo exhibition, both of which will be touring educational and community institutions in 2012.

Bringing together future leaders from across the globe, and students from both the global 'North' and 'South' will bring into sharp focus both the differences and similarities between students from across the globe.

The issues we now face are global ones, and the nature of our financial system means that global students and communities are increasingly interlinked in ways which are not always immediately obvious. Yet, even at a highly cosmopolitan university such as the University of London, we have yet to explore the global links possible with students around the world.

This project hopes to;

- Engage in cross-cultural dialogue, understanding and exchange

- Create closer links between international educational institutions

- Highlight and engage constructively with the UN's Global Compact of 2000

- Provide a unique opportunity for students to participate in an event with international scope

- Get local community groups and social enterprises involved with an international project

- Expand and circulate the Beyond Borders initiative within the British and international community

- Use football to foster friendships and alliances between global students

- Inspire students and young people to become involved in social enterprises

- Offer the opportunity for London to host an international sporting event of precedence in the prelude to the 2012 London Olympic Games