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Common Ground Newsletter

Dear Friend,

As we finish our 27th year, my colleagues and I remain committed to peace on earth.  While prospects often seem bleak, we are still optimistic.  One of our main tasks is to keep hope alive.  We do this where violence rages, in places like the Democratic Republic of Congo, and we rejoice when armed conflicts cease and we can help in rebuilding war-torn countries, such as  Liberia, Nepal, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone.  In November, we brought together our various program directors – representing 20 nationalities – for a week-long retreat.  All of us wish you a Happy New Year and, yes, peace on earth.    

Searchers of the world unite

Workshop participants in Islamabad

PAKISTAN.  In 2007, we began publishing a weekly, Urdu-language edition of the Common Ground News Service to promote dialogue and reduce tensions.  420 of our articles have been reprinted in the Urdu press and 350 more have run in Pakistan’s English papers.  (To subscribe in either language – or four others – see www.commongroundnews.org.)  Now, we are launching a new project to train personnel from half of Pakistan’s radio stations to make culturally appropriate shows with common ground themes.  Also, we recently partnered with the UN’s Alliance of Civilizations program to hold a three-day workshop for 23 writers and editors of religious newsletters, who reflect the five main schools of Islamic thought and whose publications reach half a million of the country’s religious elite.  We trained participants in conflict resolution skills and in how to report in non-inflammatory ways.  The goal was to increase tolerance and reduce bias in writing.  By the end of the workshop, participants showed increased willingness to listen and to make space for topics related to compassion and co-existence.  Here are two comments from participants:

“The thoughts presented in this workshop can trigger a great social revolution movement.”

“Such workshops must be conducted from time to time to discover common ground.” 

Pesantren students in Indonesia

INDONESIA.  We work in partnership with Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the largest Muslim organization in Indonesia, to promote pluralism and tolerance in the country’s Islamic boarding schools (pesantrens).  In our pilot effort, which we would like to expand across the entire country, we are reaching more than 25,000 students in 10 schools in Java, Central Sulawesi, South Sumatra, and Lombok – areas vulnerable to extremism.  We have developed a methodology that combines debate competitions with training manuals and a series of common ground comic books.

PARTICIPATORY THEATER. We have a diverse toolbox, including traditional forms of conflict prevention like mediation and facilitation – and unconventional ones, including TV soap opera, music, and sports.  One of our most innovative tools is participatory theater.  We use it, in combination with other methods, to train Congolese troops to stop human rights abuss, and we also employ it in Burundi and Côte d’Ivoire to resolve conflicts over land ownership. 

Democratic Republic of Congo		Burundi		Côte d’Ivoire

NEPAL.  In Nepal, as elsewhere, we seek to bring people together from across dividing lines and help them discover their commonalities.  One such effort involved producing a “Peace Song” that included musicians and former combatants and activists from different sides of the conflict.  In addition, we partnered with Interface, a Nepalese media company, to co-produce a TV documentary on “The Making of the Peace Song.”  The film was shown on national television and won a runner-up World TV award from the Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development for the best documentary on conflict transformation.

Fijian Prime Minister Josaia Bainimararama presents World TV runner-up award to director Dil Bhusan		Making of the Nepalese Peace Song documentary

Racial healing break-out group

RACIAL RECONCILIATION.  In July, we sponsored with The Faith & Politics Institute a three-day workshop with 30 key leaders to address, “What would it take to heal the wounds of racism in the US?”  As a direct result, we are launching the One America Project, which should provide a comprehensive umbrella for racial healing across the country.  The project will connect and support practitioners, making use of training, workshops, a Common Ground News Service on Race, and new media networks.

AWARDS.  Since 1998, we have presented Common Ground Awards to honor achievement in negotiation and peacemaking.  This year, six members of Congress attended the ceremony at the Canadian Embassy in Washington.  One member stated afterwards, “In my 16 years in Washington, I have never spent a better evening.”  Awardees included Congressman John Lewis and Elwin Wilson whom we honored to mark an extraordinary example of apology and forgiveness.  48 years ago, Mr. Wilson savagely beat Mr. Lewis, then a civil rights activist.  This year, Mr. Wilson apologized to Mr. Lewis, who graciously accepted.   (To see an MSNBC clip from the event, go to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33553501#33553501.)

Susan Collin Marks, Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan & Luma Mufleh		Congressman John Lewis and Elwin Wilson

Winners.  The other 2009 Common Ground Awardees are:

• Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish – a Palestinian whose three daughters were killed by Israeli troops in Gaza and who still works tirelessly for peace and reconciliation (www.daughtersforlife.com)
• Karen Armstrong – for having created the Charter for Compassion, A Call To Bring The World Together (www.charterforcompassion.org)
• CeaseFire – a community-based organization that intervenes to reduce violence in Chicago’s inner city (www.ceasefirechicago.org)
• Luma Mufleh and the Fugees Family – a Jordanian-American in Atlanta who coaches  soccer teams for refugee children from war-torn areas (www.fugeesfamily.org)
• Stand by Me – an internet musical sensation that has received 15 million hits on YouTube and that was produced by Playing for Change (www.playingforchange.com)
• Ring the Bells – a song and music video by Melissa Etheridge and Salman Ahmad –  Melissa is from Kansas.  Salman is Pakistani, and his band, Junoon, is arguably South Asia’s most popular rock group. The two mega-stars met at the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo where, as the designee of Al Gore, Melissa performed her Academy Award-winning song, “I Need to Wake Up,” and Salman was there at the request of  Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus.  The two jammed, bonded, and agreed to write “Ring the Bells,” an anthem for peace that blends rock music with Sufi themes.  Later, they offered to dedicate the song to our work, and we brought in Participant Media, producer of films like Good Night, and Good Luck and An Inconvenient Truth, to make a music video.  (Please see www.takepart.com/searchforcommonground.)

Salman Ahmad & Melissa Etheridge (photo by Patty Hoaglund)

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