LANGUAGE OF CONFLICT
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Pedagogy of the Oppressed -- a contribution with a blindspot

10/24/2015

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I love long bus and train rides for reading. I keep flirting with the idea of buying a transcontinental ticket simply to read and write. Let me know if you're interested.

Yesterday I finally read the "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" , Paulo Freire's book that has sold over 1 million copies and has become so famous spellcheck knows his name.

This short book illuminates the challenge of revolution. The oppressed want to rise up but having been raised in oppression rarely have any true notion of freedom.

As a result, they aim for the role they have seen modeled by the oppressor. Oppressed and oppressor, Friere claims, around inextricably bound.

To maintain the status quo the oppressor need only do what he/she has always done. To be truly free, by contrast, requires a form of revolution that restores humanity to both groups.

The book came out in 1970 far before Mandela led the overthrow of South African apartheid in exactly the way Freire (I think) would celebrate.

In this way, his work makes such an outstanding contribution.

I once attended an event where I heard former Secretary of State Madeline Alright lament that she and all interveners have never figured out how to help liberate people without having them turn those same guns on others.

She was pointing out the phenomena observed by Freire. The oppressed, without authentic and humanizing leadership, will likely be no better than their oppressor.

Tough news. This means the underdog isn't necessarily a better guy. He's just under the thumb of someone. Intervention requires, Freier claims, standing in dialogue with one another. Learning together.

The book purports a pedagogy of education based on his work with some of Brazil's illiterate population.

That said, his work applied to conflict interventions. It is not enough to "free someone" we must stand together in the inquiry of "what does true freedom look like?"

True freedom doesn't mean oppressing the former oppressor. Freire also points out the fear of freedom many have. Freedom requires a kind of self-responsiblity foreign to both oppressed and oppressor

My only beef with Freire comes from his discussions about animals. He keeps distinguishing man from animal. Animal has no personal will, he says, and has no say on his environment.

He uses the distinction to highlight what it means to be human and therefore which aspects of humanity revolutionary leaders (and educators) must cultivate.

This distinction left me unsettled because it allows for man's oppression over the animal kingdom and planet. He promotes freedom for humanity.

I hope that by 2015 we understand that humanity's destiny is linked to that of the planet and the animals.

If we are kind to people and liberate each other but torture and incarcerate animals we still are not "humane."

If we treat the planet as our servant we may lack the humility necessary to care for our home.

Yes, the oppressor loses his humanity when he/she subjugates others. I claim we also lose out humanity when we treat animals and the planet as inferior.

Anywhere we draw a line between what's or who is worthy of self expression and who is not, we are in an oppressive mindset.

Even Americas Founding Fathers made faulty discontinctions, excludig Women and Blacks from their full pursuit of happiness.

I think Freire missed the boat too on this one.

Every generation will be seen by future generations as misguided in some way. I believe future generations will shake their heads in shame at how we treat animals (especially those we eat) and how we treat things that grow.

Thanks for reading...I awoke at 6:30am this Saturday having to get this off my heart and into the world.

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Jumping the Gun on Wednesday Morning

10/21/2015

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Like most things, once you start reading or thinking about something, you start to see it everywhere.

I am always on the lookout for words, expressions, or names that reflect the violence embedded in our culture. The subtle references to death or violence... "killing two birds with one stone" or "beating a dead horse."

Because the gun issue is so hot these days, I've been on the watch for expressions related to weapons.

                                                   Jumping the Gun

When the elevator doors opened this morning, a handsome gentleman lunged towards me. His lunge, he explained, was not his eagerness to see me, but rather -- as he put it -- "jumping the gun" on the day. He was still four floors away from his destination.

So, I offered him this suggestion, "Maybe you're not jumping the gun, maybe you're just really eager to start your day."

He seemed less enthused by this alternative.


This expression actually comes from running before the starting gun in a race. This just begs the question why we use guns to start running races. Plus, it's hard to even say the word "gun" in the United States right now without reflecting on guns in schools.

Please share any expressions you hear in the comments below...





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Who put the "tank" in "Think Tank"?  Violence in American English

10/19/2015

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There seems to be quite a bit of violence in American English...

A few blogs back, I wrote about the U.S. obsession with making everything a "Boot Camp."  Boot camp is something new military recruits would endure to prepare them for life as a soldier and in worst cases, battle.

Have we reserved such terms to war? Now, now we have Yoga Boot Camps and Writing Boot Camps. Surely you have seen other kinds as well. There probably are even Flower Pressing Boot Camps.

Scholar Vivian Jabri would say such terms are not just funny and trite little expressions, they represent the deeply embedded violence within our discourse.

It isn't surprising some of our kids and police are so violent...and that we often think of battle first. We are living in violence everyday though much of it is verbal.

This Blog is entitled The Language of Conflict because part of my work is raising awareness to the language we use and how that impacts the way we live and what kinds of policies we produce. 



Rethinking "Think Tanks"

I always find new examples. This past week, I was spending time with some Francophones. The conversation was trotting along nicely in French until someone wanted to say "Think Tank" and we could not find the French term for it.

"Group de réflexion"! Someone exclaimed. The French call Think Tanks, "Reflection Groups." I laughed when hearing the expression imagining a group of French folks sitting like Rodin's thinker...reflecting...and reflecting and reflecting.

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After I got done laughing at the French, I started to think about our expression, THINK TANK.

Really, even our reflection has to be in preparation for battle? Our think tanks are largely trying to help us get around violent conflict (I hope) not prepare us for battle.

If any of you use a Nutribullet to make your smoothies or hummus take a look at it. Not only have we inserted the word "bullet" into our smoothie makers, it looks like some sort of missile.  The words on the box and in the recipe book promise us the machine will pulverize our broccoli to pieces.

Something to think about....If Think Tanks inform strategy and policy and their name positions them to head for battle, then might not their findings advocate for violent, bulldozing solutions?


I may be teaching a course on NARRATIVE & CONFLICT RESOLUTION at George Mason University's School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
...Stay Tuned...

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Why the U.S. is Glad Russia is in Syria!

10/13/2015

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Last week, I had a meeting at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). They asked me what I would advise USIP president Nancy Lindborg regarding current world affairs.

Great question!

I wanted to share my answer here because it speaks to the topic of this blog...the discourse used within and around conflict.

                                      The Familiar Discourse of the Cold War 

While of course no one really wants the U.S. and Russia to face off in the Middle East creating a proxy war on top of existing civil wars, Russia's entry into the mix is actually comforting to the United States.

The field of Conflict Resolution and even much of the business negotiation field was born out of the cold war. In our upcoming conflict anthology Dr. Sara Cobb and PhD Candidate Alison Castel and I make the case that this Cold War era, which we call Epoch One, gave birth to Game Theory, Tit-for-Tat, and Rational Choice Theory that became the foundation for much of the field.

We became accustomed this "rational" state actor and this game of deterrence. Hollywood made movies about the Russians, and still do (even the new Muppet Movie). Russia was an enemy the United States could identify. This discourse is familiar.

The U.S. enjoyed the Iran negotiation because again it evoked the Cold War discourse...an arms race, a state actor and long negotiations.

                                            What the U.S. Does NOT Like

The United States does not like an enemy that does not have a face or a country. Our foreign policy struggles and defense department struggles with insurgent groups whose identities shift often and whose networks are as complicated to understand as our modern technology.

There are few "presidents" in the middle east struggle; with ISIS there are no diplomats that know how to properly hold a wine glass and an hors d'oeuvres plate. They will not come to your summit and put on a name tag.

They're not interested in your negotiation table.

Now, Putin, on the other hand. Putin will sit down with you. Putin will negotiate. Maybe he cannot be trusted but he's an "enemy" we know.

                                     Don't Slip Back Because it is Comfortable

So my advice to USIP and U.S. policy in general is to not let our comfort with the Cold War discourse upend all we have learned about conflict since the Cold War. We know the limitations of rational choice theory. We know the power and limitations of dialogue groups.

If we slip back a few decades simply for comfort, we'll lose our ability to make much of  a contribution in the Middle East. It's like going back to the old bad relationship.

The stakes are higher than in the relationship because many more people could experience extreme pain if we do this. We will head right towards Russia because we know it and all those in the Middle East struggling to find their way will be in the middle of our proxy war.

I encourage us to stay in the discomfort of "not knowing" what to do in the Middle East rather than jump right back into tit-for-tat. There is no Berlin Wall to fall this time. There are more players involved.





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Is being called a "moderate" an insult?

10/7/2015

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The language we use to describe ourselves and our problems shapes our action or justifies our inaction...

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Have you ever taken one of those quizzes online to find out exactly what political party or religion you are? After answering a bunch of questions about good, evil, life after death, the Creator, etc. one site proclaimed me a Buddhist neo-Pagan.

I had a Christian friend take the test. She seemed far more Jewish than I, often admonishing me for not being a good enough Jew. She hung Jewish dreidels on her Christmas tree and talked a fair bit about Israel.

I told her she was Jewish.

Then site told her she was Jewish.

"I knew it!!" I shouted with glee.

We collapsed into laughter.

I hoped she wouldn't ask me more about my "Buddhist neo-Pagan" diagnosis. She didn't.

I tried a political test too.

I wanted to see where I landed on the political map based on a series of questions about economic reform, immigration, domestic liberty (same sex marriage, etc), international policy and so on. The little program determined I was "a moderate." I fell squarely in the middle of the X-Y! 

It was not until I read Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter From a Birmingham Jail"  last month when I started to think that the moderate made me more than a wet noodle; it maybe made me dangerous.

King talks about his disappointment with the white moderate. He says, during the Civil Rights Movement, white moderates really needed to take a stand against injustice and to better understand that "we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny."

In talking specifically about the white moderate, King writes, "Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will."

Now, I cannot feel too responsible for the actions (or, rather, inaction) of said moderates during the 1960s. I was not born yet. No one can deny, however, that this world is just as filled with inequity as the it was in April of 1963 when King wrote the letter.

We are now so aware of these injustices. Travel, social media and my doctoral program showed me the millions that sit in American jails, displaced persons from the Middle East, the beheading of alleged adulterous women every Saturday in small towns in Saudi Arabia, imprisoned Russian political prisoners, and those living with various wounds caused by rape, persecution, and exclusion.

What would King have us do in the face of all this? From his jail cell he declared, "injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action."

He applauds by name the white social revolutionaries who "languished in filthy, roach infested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality..."

He says injustice must be rooted through powerful action with a spirit of "urgency."

Every day I sit in the question of what "powerful action" must occur. I'm not really excited about "languishing in a filthy, roach infested jail"...I've got to be honest. I love those I have met who are...

King's words resonate today. In today's New York Times,  op-ed writer Krastev says Russian ministers told him, "What runs the Kremlin today is not Mr. Putin’s will but his ambiguity. Wars among different power factions, as a result, have escalated."

Here we see it is Putin's moderation that makes him so dangerous, not his hegemony.

So what then to do with this new-found truth? I'm not sure..

This past week my actions were simple;  I treated a unknown child with so much dignity, she followed me out the door; I helped an elderly woman put on her sock and helped another with a broken wrist through the streets of New York. I celebrated the rich culture of Harlem and chatted with its residents and let an angry Ukrainian I met in the street talk my ear off about how the Russian people support Putin.

This feels a far cry from King's call to action. I now know why he keeps his arms folded  his Washington D.C. monument. It's the constant reminder that not enough has been done.

It's not enough, true. At least now I'm less proud of being a moderate and more on alert to shower with respect anyone who crosses my path.








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