Common Ground Newsletters-Winter 2003-2004

Burundi
In 1995, we began a multi-pronged initiative on the ground in Burundi to help defuse ethnic violence, including a Women.s Peace Center, a project to work with young people who had been involved in violence, and a radio production facility, called Studio Ijambo (Wise Words). In 2002, we supported the launch of an independent radio station, Radio Isanganiro (Crossroads) by an ethnically mixed group of former Studio Ijambo journalists. The station's motto is: Dialogue is better than shooting. Here are two examples of the dozens of programs that are produced to encourage tolerance and reconciliation:

Inkingi Y'ubuntu (Pillars of Humanity) This series tells the stories of Burundians who have risked their lives to protect a person from another ethnic group. Started in 1999, the series has honored more than 200 heroes. To encourage even more behavior of this sort, we are planning a Heroes Summit next year in Bujumbura.

Mbabarira (I'm Sorry)
This brand new series provides a safe forum for Burundians to talk about past acts that they now regret. In a society where atrocities are commonplace, we believe it is important to encourage forgiveness and apology. Programs have featured a mother who regretted mistreating an adopted child, a domestic worker who was sorry for having sown jealousy in the home where she worked, and a man who forgave a friend for stealing his mobile phone. According to producer Michel Rwamo, .We wanted to reach people who were either too afraid or too proud to face the other person..

Documentary
Our work in Burundi is highlighted in a new TV documentary to be aired on US public television. Called Peace by Peace: Women on the Frontlines, it focuses on women as peacemakers. Produced by an all-female crew led by Patricia Smith Melton, the program includes three of our staff, Jeannine Nahigombeye, Director of Radio Isanganiro; Spès Manirakiza, who directed the Women.s Peace Center; and Executive Vice President Susan Collin Marks. In November, the Washington Post profiled Jeannine, who said, "I will teach my own child that it is not ethnicity that matters, but what one carries in the heart."

Forums
In 1995, at the same we started our activities in Burundi, we realized that we also needed to focus attention in Washington on the whole Great Lakes region of Central Africa. We wanted to encourage cooperation among government agencies, multi-lateral organizations, NGOs, and academia. So, in partnership with Refugees International we began what became the Great Lakes Policy Forum. The Forum has been successful beyond expectations. In October, it held its 100th meeting, featuring Ambassador Aldo Aiello, Special Representative of the European Union. Refugees International is still our partner and has been joined by the Council on Foreign Relations, the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

The Great Lakes Policy Forum is essential to the work I do. Not just useful, but essential. Ambassador Richard Bogosian.

Spin Offs
The Great Lakes Policy Forum provided a model for other forums. In 1996, we launched a similar group in Brussels. In 1999, we began the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Forum in Washington, along with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Conflict Management Program at SAIS, the Conflict Prevention Project of the Woodrow Wilson International Center, the Center for Preventative Action at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Partners for Democratic Change. Then, in 2002, we organized the NGO Working Group on Angola that has grown into the Washington Roundtable on Angola.

Greek-Turkish Media
For the last few years, with funding from the European Union, we have been holding meetings of Greek and Turkish editors and publishers to improve communication and encourage joint projects. One result was that Greek State TV (ET3) and Turkey.s NTV agreed to co-produce six documentaries on subjects of shared interest. This fall, the documentaries aired in both countries to critical acclaim. They included programs on refugees, music, economic cooperation, leadership, everyday life, and the role of civil society in building better relations.

Earthquake Diplomacy
Another outcome of the Turkish-Greek media meetings was publication in September of a six-page supplement by the Greek daily Makedonia and the Turkish daily Cumhurriyet. The supplement, written in both languages, focused on earthquake diplomacy, which in the last few years has transformed the very nature of Greek-Turkish relations. It described how the two countries have moved beyond historical enmity and shifted their dealings from a win-lose to a win-win approach. The common ground turned out to be highly destructive earthquakes that struck both countries and led to a reciprocal flow of support and human connection.

Hosting The Ayatollah
We continue our efforts, started in 1996, to improve US-Iranian relations. In August, in cooperation with the Iranian Interests Section in Washington, we organized a meeting between Ayatollah Seyed Mostafa Mohaghehg Damad and US religious leaders on the compatibility of Islam and Christianity.

Film Festival
In October, we held the third annual Common Ground Film Festival in Washington at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. A standing-room-only crowd attended the opening that featured the documentary, GACACA: Living Together Again in Rwanda, which focuses on the balance between vengeance and forgiveness and how to achieve mass justice for mass crimes. The Festival played to full houses for the next five nights. In the year ahead, the Festival will move to other cities, and the films will be distributed as a university film series.

Please Support Us
We believe that, in these difficult times, the work of Search for Common Ground is needed more than ever. If you share our vision, please contribute in a substantial way. Together, we can change the world.

THANK YOU. All of us here at Search for Common Ground feel privileged to be able to do our work. We are incredibly grateful for the support we receive.

With best wishes,

John Marks-President