A bereaved family transcends boundaries

This story from the Ma’an News Agency reflects the selflessness and sacrifice often necessary to transform adversarial attitudes. The family of an 18-year-old Palestinian shot by Israeli security guards has donated his organs “to those who needed them, regardless of their race, religion or identity.” Those organs saved the lives of six Israelis. Read more about the family’s inspiring decision at the Common Ground News Service.

Young people break down barriers in Middle East

Paul Willis at CNN gives a comprehensive look at several programs within and outside of Israel intended to foment dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli youth.  The idea is that once you get beyond the idea that all Palestinians are terrorists or all Israelis are trespassing settlers and soldiers, dialogue quickly emerges and is long lasting.  Find out why Ron Kronish, head of the Interreligious Coordinating Council of Israel, finds that in these programs, “there’s a lot of talking.  It’s something we need more of out here – talking that doesn’t involve shouting.”

A beacon of fairness

Michael Valpy of The Globe and Mail discusses Canadians’ reputation abroad as fair and welcoming people – and how this “soft power” leads to more effective diplomacy.  On the power of this fair reputation to allay conflict, Médecins sans frontières veteran James Orbinksi commented, “We’re good at listening and finding a solution, and sometimes that means endless committees and discussion. But you know what? That’s what it takes.”  Read more about the weight soft power carries in diplomacy.

Race and Reconciliation

It has been fourteen years since apartheid was dismantled and South Africa was dubbed “the rainbow nation.”  However, that milestone has not tempered sharp racial tensions that survive there today – divides made all the more evident by recent violence in Johannesburg and elsewhere.  Audrey Brown of BBC Radio World Service is conducting a multi-part documentary on this issue and on the ways South Africa’s varied ethnic populations can reconcile their differences.  Frank and probing, Brown asks South Africans difficult questions.  Is race being used merely as a political tool?  With apartheid still so fresh in the collective memory, how do you get ethnic “rivals” to sit down and engage in dialogue?  How do you move from strong racial identification to reconciliation?  Listen to the first three parts of BBC’s “Race and Reconciliation” documentary to explore these issues.

Is America so different?  Our long affair with slavery may have ended more than a century before apartheid, but that does not mean race is not still a divisive issue.  On March 18, Senator Obama delivered a now-famous speech on the state of race in America, in which he described the “complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect.”  He cited gaps in education, income, and employment; he deplored the urban dilemma of “violence, blight, and neglect.”  Most importantly, he elucidated and empathized with the frustrations of both white and black communities.

 

In large part, Brown and Obama are playing the same role.  They are stating candidly what types of racial prejudice remain in democratic societies that are supposed to be color-blind.  Is pointing out these very divisive truths a step backwards, an admission of the futility of trying to end racism?  On the contrary, there is abundant hope inherent in both approaches.  This hope believes that in bringing bitter, divided parties to the same table, to air grievances and share visions, we can move beyond our superficial differences.  Obama’s call was thus, “Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.”

 

The idea of opening a real dialogue about race and racism is not alien in South Africa.  The Truth and Reconciliation Commission assembled in 1995 was effective because it invited all victims of crimes under apartheid – and all perpetrators – to speak in order to achieve the greater goal of restorative justice.  Only through talking about the racial division and inviting reconciliation are such problems resolved.

Radio and reconciliation in Uganda

June 30, 2008 Radio Netherlands Worldwide

A little more than a decade ago, radio was tragically used to promulgate genocide in Rwanda.  Now, rural radio stations in neighboring Uganda are being used to halt conflict and ease the transition of child soldiers back into society.  With the prevalent conscription of children into the guerrilla Lord’s Resistance Army, creating a sense of normalcy during this time of relative peace has been difficult for youths who had been forced to leave everything behind.  However, Mega FM, a Gulu-based radio station, has became immensely popular among returning LRA soldiers, in part because many of the up-and-coming Ugandan singers featured on it are former soldiers themselves and broadcast a message of hope and love of life.  The station also is devoted to bringing separated families back together.  Find out more about Mega FM and the use of rural radio to heal post-conflict Uganda.

Fez music festival builds bridges

June 27, 2008 BBC News

This past week, Morocco hosted its 14th festival of World Sacred Music in Fez, a celebration open to musicians and faiths worldwide, in order “to promote better understanding between cultures and faiths through exposure to some of the most sublime expressions of faith - sacred music.”  Featuring artists from America, Asia, and Africa, the event saw inspiring, rare cross-faith joint performances. Despite criticism that the event pandered to Western audiences, this festival embodied the ideal that, on their most profound and emotional levels, different faiths have so much in common that they can worship together. Read more about the festival and the artists that shared its stage here at BBC News.

Soccer for peace

June 23-26 RTE Sport, FOX News, Sport Business

Sunday brings a close to this summer’s thrilling Euro Cup, an event that in its global appeal reminds us of the unifying power of soccer.  Even taking into account the sport’s competitive, and sometimes violent nature – two of Turkey’s players were sidelined Wednesday with head injuries, and Zidane’s infamous coup de tête in the 2006 World Cup will not be easily forgotten – soccer also has the capacity to bring people together, highlighted by recent events.

 

In July, the Football Association of Ireland will establish their “Football Village of Hope” in the Shfeya youth village in Israel.  It attempts to “foster new links” between Arab and Israeli children by encouraging the values of teamwork and cooperation.  Soccer was similarly used during the troubles in Northern Ireland to help reverse adversarial attitudes.  According to FAI president and “Football Village of Hope” coordinator Milo Corcoran, “I saw the co-operation between clubs from both sides of the [conflict] and I thought that if football can bring everybody together in Ireland, why can’t it do the same in the Middle East?”

 

Similarly, Soccer for Peace, a New York-based non-profit organization, coordinates soccer tournaments that bring together 10- and 11-year-old Israeli and Arab children in Israel.  The teams give these youths – and their families – the rare opportunity to work for the same goal.  “You see Jewish families and Arab families supporting the same team; they cheer for the same children. They come together and become friends, building trust and confidence,” noted Assaf Toledano, director of the Soccer for Peace partner Maccabim Association.

 

Soccer has proven equally capable of bridging other social divides beyond violent conflict.  This week, the Homeless World Cup will be hosting a qualifier in Washington, DC in order to select the US team to compete abroad.  Forty-eight nations were represented at last year’s competition, fielding teams comprised of over 500 homeless players combined.  The global soccer tournament, held annually, attempts to reconcile the world’s homeless with the societies they believe have rejected them.  According to its organizers, “73% of players [involved in the Homeless World Cup] change their lives for the better by coming off drugs and alcohol, moving into jobs, education, homes, training, reuniting with families and even going on to become players and coaches for pro or semi-pro football teams.” 

 

The success with which these programs have used sport to stem conflict has inspired governments to take action.  President Bush recently lauded the strides Peace Players, International made in using basketball to create ties between children on different sides of the Northern Ireland divide.  Earlier this month, Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates, announced his government’s sponsorship of Generations for Peace, a “global initiative” which uses various sports to breed cooperation and understanding among youth in the Arab world and beyond.  Its first training camp, held last year in Amman, Jordan, brought over 8,000 young people together to encourage “peaceful co-existence infused with the values of peace.” 

 

The article on Soccer for Peace aptly describes soccer as a common language for children who cannot or would not otherwise communicate.  For this reason, its power to develop non-adversarial stances worldwide is profound.

Peacemaker breaks the ancient grip of Albania’s blood feuds

June 25, 2008 The Christian Science Monitor

A revival of Albania’s ancient tradition of blood feuds has seen violence spike in the country since the fall of communism.  There, the code of kanun insists that blood must be paid for with blood, and therefore forgiveness is often a “second-best” option.  However, Agim Loci and his NGO – the Committee for Nationwide Reconciliation – try to reverse those priorities.  Now a famous mediator of personal disputes and a practitioner of “shuttle diplomacy,” Loci opens channels of communications between feuding families in an attempt to breed forgiveness.  His numerous successes are marked by a new Albanian tradition: “a formal ceremony [where the families] sign a videotaped declaration ending the feud.”  Read more about how Loci is trying to foster dialogue and heal Albania on a personal level.

Won’t you be my neighbor?

June 23-24, The New York Times, The Washington Post

The search for common ground is a global endeavor.  Its motivation is to understand the differences evident on all levels of society – from personal to local, national to international – and embrace what we have in common.  We, as Americans, must be wary of projecting our ideas about freedom, cooperation, and division onto conflicts abroad (see Jakob de Roover’s commentary, cited on my June 11 post about India’s caste system).  Thus, while it is easy to deplore conflicts in the Middle East, for example, it is often hard to find commonalities with people as close as our neighbors.

 

This is the crux of the June 23 New York Times op-ed “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”  Summarizing the sense of alienation Americans have from one another, Peter Lovenheim writes, “There’s talk today about how as a society we’ve become fragmented by ethnicity, income, city versus suburb, red state versus blue. But we also divide ourselves with invisible dotted lines. I’m talking about…property lines.”

 

The author makes a point to buck that trend, befriending his 81-year-old neighbor, a widower named Lou.  However, is this example an exception to the rule?  Lovenheim interestingly brings up Robert Putnam’s “Bowling Alone,” which details the waning of American civil society.  Are our personal divisions contributing to greater, national cleavages? 

 

Looking at our society’s traditional divisions, there is mixed evidence.  According to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, three in ten Americans still harbor racial prejudices. 

 

But, at the same time, new statistics from the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey indicate that nearly three out of four Americans believe many faiths other than their own can lead to salvation. 

 

Numbers aside, the desire and impetus for greater cooperation and increased understanding do exist in America.  Look at my June 19 and June 24 posts on bipartisanship, or June 18’s about creating mutual understanding in gang communities.  Both McCain and Obama promise bipartisan cooperation.  At least rhetorically, it would seem we are on the precipice of coming together in unprecedented ways.  Perhaps it will be new media that pushes us over the edge –YouTube has already been a notable contributor to conversation across borders and oceans.

 

And, of course, there is Mr. Lovenheim.  He concludes, “Our political leaders speak of crossing party lines to achieve greater unity. Maybe we should all cross the invisible lines between our homes and achieve greater unity in the places we live.”  Indeed, if we can engage one another on a human level, all the greater walls we put up – be they state, national, or global – can fall.

 

This is not just an American phenomenon.  This is the idea behind the search for common ground everywhere.

A Bipartisan Foreign Policy for January ‘09

 

Following my June 19 post on bipartisanship as “foreign policy’s best hope,” I attended a discussion hosted by not-for-profit Partnership for a Secure America about ways the next President can work with both sides of the aisle on foreign policy and national security issues.  Participants were Amb. Thomas Pickering, who has served under several Republican and Democratic Presidents; Bud McFarlane, former National Security Adviser to President Reagan; and Rick Barton, Senior Adviser, International Security Program at CSIS.

 

PSA’s Executive Director, Matt Rojansky, set the tone of the discussion in his opening: “The debate can be better, and therefore America as a country can do better.”  What struck me immediately was the panelists’ earnest effort to engage in a dialogue.  By no means did they hide from or apologize for their political leanings.  But they listened to one another, conceded points, and tried, not entirely successfully, to find mutually acceptable solutions.  

 

So, though the respondents may have disagreed on a timetable for Iraq withdrawal and on preconditions for Iran negotiations, they agreed that the next administration will need a formalized bipartisan mechanism (a commission or committee) to advise the president on national security issues.  They shared the call for an increased use of diplomacy and negotiation abroad.

 

Reflecting Henry Kissinger’s comments earlier this month, each panelist recalled a time when the two parties would meet regularly to discuss foreign policy, a tradition that seems to have waned in Washington.  Rick Barton noted that the American people are “eager for this conversation.”  Bud McFarlane also wanted to “hearken back” to a time of cooperation.  A true return to these “first principles,” not merely a “New Year’s Resolution,” warned Pickering, is the only way to move forward.  

 

It is tempting to blame the breakdown of this relationship on the current administration.  It is equally easy to look to some idyllic but abstract “past” where the parties traded advice rather than attacks.  The panelists did neither.  They recalled the professional and collegial relationships that party members used to have, and they look forward for ways to achieve such a rapport again.  

 

Among their agreements:

• Bipartisanship is a necessary – and currently missing – element in forming foreign policy.
• The next president must formalize his commitment to bipartisan cooperation in the form of an advisory commission or committee that gives equal weight to Democrats and Republicans.
• Policymakers must emphasize diplomacy and negotiation, more than today’s reliance on hard power.
• Developing a cohesive energy policy must be a first priority for the next president, with the knowledge that the United States must lead in the innovation of new fuels and more fuel-efficient vehicles.
• Radical, extremist Islamism is a threat to America; we must engage would-be terrorists on an educational and religious level.

Take a look at video of the conference here at PSA’s blog, Across the Aisle.