Peace + Justice

Totally agree, JUST peace!

I so enjoyed the Kingian Nonviolence workshop you facilitated a while back - awesome to have you in this group!  As you offer workshops, please feel free to add them to the calendar in this group as well!

Thanks Julie, it was a joy to get to know you in the workshop as well! I'll definitely share as new events come up.

Welcome to the group we are excited to meet you as well

Peace & Blessings

Hi

Thank you for your contribution. Can you give some examples here: how exactly do you embrace conflict in your view?

Thanks again

Razvan

Hi Razvan, thanks for your question!

How to embrace conflict... it varies. When I lead workshops on conflict, I like to reframe conflict in a more affirming light:

1. Conflict is normal—it's just part of being human, part of everyday life.
2. Conflict is a catalyst—we never change, we never do anything different, unless we're feeling tension or discomfort somewhere. Change requires some form of conflict.
3. Conflict is an opportunity—conflict catalyzes change, but our responses will influence whether the conflict is constructive or destructive. If we let it, conflict can be an opportunity to learn and grow, to practice empathy and justice, to cultivate new and improved relationships where people are known and valued.

Some examples of what that looks like:

• When my kids yell and scream at me or each other, or when they complain about what's for dinner or having to go to bed, I could just tell them to behave, or make them stop shouting, or send them to their room as punishment. Instead, we try to embrace the conflict by helping them understand and express their emotions, letting them know that we hear them and that they matter, and once they're calm brainstorming together healthier ways that they could tell us what they need.
• When my spouse and I unhappy with each other, sometimes we guard our words and keep our distance from each other, waiting for the other person to say sorry or waiting for the anger to go away on its own. Usually, this just makes us more resentful. When we're able to embrace the conflict, we make space share our frustration and listen to each other. It's often uncomfortable, and sometimes we get more riled up before we calm back down. but by the end of the conversation we're more assured of our love for each other and better able to be great life partners together.
• I'm currently mediating a conflict between some leaders at an international nonprofit. The leaders comes from different culture and have very different ideas about what healthy leadership, teamwork, communication, and community look like, which has lead to a long-standing conflict. It has led to them avoiding the conflict and thus avoiding each other as much as possible. If they succeed in embracing their conflict—leaning into it and letting it challenge and change them—then they have the opportunity to be a much more caring and inclusive organization, one that effectively incorporates multiple cultures and leadership styles.
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other leaders from the U.S.'s Civil Rights Movement of the 1950's-60's (as well as any other movement that utilized nonviolent direct action) understood that the struggle for social justice and civil rights often required escalating a conflict before peace was possible. By strategically disrupting the status quo and resisting injustice they drew attention to issues about which most people were apathetic or ignorant, confronting people with the question of what their morality told them was right. This embrace and escalation of a conflict, done through loving and nonviolent means, made people uncomfortable enough to have to deal with the conflict.

Sorry that's a bit long, I love example questions!

Hello @Peter Digitale Anderson 🙂

I am new around here, so I go through introductions to get to know each of you and I just read your profile. It is inspiring.

I have also been around the Peace Catalyst website to know a lil bit more about your work. WOW! This is great!

While I write this message, the war is raging in Gaza, the conflict is killing and traumatizing people.

So, here is my question, please : how can we embrace this conflict and see opportunity in it? How can we make the link with what you explained here ''I'm attracted to the positive, constructive possibilities of conflict—leaning into conflict, welcoming conflict, sometimes even escalating conflict, because we believe there is something better on the other side of it. Conflict is not a problem but an opportunity.''?

I am reading a book these days about how to end terrorism via non-violent means. I do it in the same spirit of finding alternatives. If you have the time, I would like to share and discuss about this with you 🙂

Thank you very much.

I wish you a peaceful Sunday,

Marion

Hi Marion, welcome to Weave! Great question—The war in Gaza is front of mind for so many of us right now.

The first thing I would do is draw a distinction between the conflict in Israel/Palestine, and the violence that people are choosing in response to the conflict. The violence is killing and traumatizing people, because people are trying to "win" the conflict through harmful, destructive strategies. The conflict itself, despite having been born out of violence and containing decades of ongoing direct, structural, and cultural violence, is still full of opportunities for envisioning new relationships, new community, new possibilities, a new future. I embrace the underlying conflict, not the violent responses to it.

Still, there are always opportunities even after extreme violence. Often (too often...) situations escalate violently before people realize how bad they are and how badly alternatives are needed. The war is Gaza is opening up and strengthening all sorts of possibilities. For example:

• Around the world, governments are tempering or re-evaluating how strongly they support Israel's stance toward Gaza. It's a small shift, but an important one.
• Protests are happening around the world advocating for a ceasefire and for liberation for Palestinian people. This is a massive increase in concern for the plight of the Palestinians.
• Western Christians, Western governments, and many Israelis and Jewish people are being confronted with the opportunity to confront their Zionist ideas, which has blindly supported Israel's settler colonialism for decades.
• Based on the above, it is possible that events will lead Israel's government (or its people) to recognize that their stance toward Gaza and the West Bank will only lead them deeper into war, and lead to new policies and more constructive attempts at peacebuilding.
• If Hamas survives this war, it is possible that the people of Gaza will recognize how destructive their leadership has been and replace Hamas with more peace-oriented leadership.
• The level of destruction in Gaza, and the global attention its receiving, may prompt an effort to help rebuild Gaza better and stronger, along with more global advocacy for them to have more access to the rest of the world.
• Even in the midst of large-scale war, there are always opportunities for individuals and communities to seek to live counter-culturally, to struggle for peace, to connect and reconcile with those they are supposed to hate... these examples go on to become the foundation that future peace and reconciliation are built upon. Whether that's Jews and Palestinians in Israel, Jews and Muslims around the world, and more... people can choose to love even when it goes against the current.

So... I mourn the violence, and I want the war to end quickly. But even out of such destruction, there are always seeds of peace that can grow into something more beautiful and hopeful. It just depends upon what those engaged in the conflict choose to water and cultivate.

Thank you so much Peter for taking the time of this great answer.

Yes, indeed. Violence and conflict have to be considered very distinctly. So true! Thank you for this reminder. I tend to forget this.

And yes, there are opportunities. Always. 🙂

Here in attachment I join a PowerPoint I did after reading the book I mentioned earlier. It is some sort of a summary of what they explain about the Basque Country's way of ending ''terrorism''. It was a specific situation of course, but I still find it is interesting to see how things shifted slowly but surely.

Also, I think every single day of what will happen to all these traumatized children from Gaza. What do we do for them? How can we get ready to welcome them? I am asking myself this every day. If you happen to have answers or leads, I take them!  😊

Thanks again and have a peaceful day,

Marion

Thanks for sharing the PowerPoint!

Re: trauma and children in Gaza.... as a framework, I really value the model for healing and transforming trauma that comes from the Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience from Eastern Mennonite University's Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. Its journey from the cycles of violence, to finding safety and support, to acknowledging and mourning what has happened, to eventually integrating the trauma into their story and reconnecting with their world and community seems realistic and holistic, though never easy for fast.

But this isn't just a personal transformation—it needs to happen in community as well. I often describe people as having core needs for safety, agency, identity, and community. When these needs are met, people are more resilient, trauma is prevented or is less devastating, and trauma is more quickly healed and transformed. That just brings us back to the question of, what will the future of Gaza look like after this? If we want to see their collective trauma healed and for there to be a future path to peace, Gaza needs to be a place where people feel safe, where people feel like they have power and agency in their lives, and where their identity is welcomed and celebrated.

Unless we're directly working with refugees or residents from Gaza, the best thing most of us can do is to advocate for a ceasefire and work for a rebuilding and a political solution that meets their needs far more than the current situation has done.

Thank you so much Peter for the snail model. It is awesome.

This is what we should have done maybe years ago to avoid what is happening right now and what we will need to do later for this to never happen again, hopefully.

Well, we are trying to do our best right now and this is what matters 🙂

I totally agree with you that there will be many levels to the recovery of such a bloodshed : individual, communal, national and international.

But first, let's stop the war. Cease fire now.

Peace,

Marion

Marion: I couldn't open your file. It has a odp extension. I tried it with PPT and it doesn't open. Can you share as a PDF? Thanks!

Topic/Embrace Conflict in Pursuit of Peace" :

To really have a deep dive appreciation, one need to understand the 21st Century value of the ancient Zoroastrian spiritual philosophy of Perennial Good vs Evil struggle in human existence. This philosophy was passed on to the Hebrew when they were freed from slavery by Cyrus The Great in Babylon. emEventualy, to Christianity, all sects today, 2 generations after Jesus. Remember and appreciate today this spiritual heritage to go forward here in 21 .

Topic/Embrace Conflict in Pursuit of Peace" : Understand the 21st Century value of the ancient Zoroastrian spiritual philosophy of Perennial Good vs Evil struggle in human existence. But now we can  Link via  SHIRKAT-- Urdu Word Meaning Participation, Partnership, and Company

Summary:  Shirkit A place of Cohesion. Place: Nankana Sahib, Punjab,  Pakistan. Diane Brause (Mentor) :  This place, Nankana Shahib, a place of Sikh Heritage,  project brings toghter, Joint dialogues, Joint  training, joint exposures, joint social cohesion.  Vision/Mission:  Create inclusive society for peaceful co-existence, by initiating sustainable social cohesion, all over Pakisthan. (This Inter-Culture Project was funded for a small grant of $5K, via Lyle Seed Grants.  A similar project can be done here in our N.VA/Fairfax County geo, perhaps , near the small town of Warrenton, VA (RT 66 at Rt 29 Exit) where a new Sikh Gurdwara, was built by a small community of recent immigrant  Sikh families who live nearby. This Gurdwara (a Sikh Temple) was an abandoned wooden church for previous 10 years.  The 2 brothers upon purchanse of this abondoned church, proceeded to rebuild , repair then convert to the current existing Sikh Gurdwara for worship, in traditional Sikh heritage, and also the "social & community gathering" via "vegi Langar" (community meal), where all neighbors and visitors are welcomed, once or twice a month spiritual event, to participate and build trust and friendship .  It is hoped by the leaders of Warrenton Gurdwara, that in time, this place can be a "Shirkit"  in a similar way to what exists now via Lyle Seed Grants at Nankana Shahib, Punjab, Pakisthan.

My Google Photo Album relating to this  Post (Title):

Interfaith Spirituality Project (ISP)--Housing & Wellness for All _FX VA USA Innovation Hub Din Ilahi Collective-Club Twin (Anchor 01 T) REF URL: https://photos.app.goo.gl/udmNr82LykDp7CM16