DAY ONE
Day One of the symposium was stimulating and most engaging. Here are a few highlights.
The opening keynote address concerned the conflict in Northern Ireland. Impressively, Peter , a lawyer and political scientist talked about the fictitious deep narratives perpetuated over time by both sides and how the power of memory is translated into present day myths. The role of segregated societies in the ongoing conflict was emphasized. Segregated power plays operate for the need of their own community. “If you want to know who to blame for the conflict, it is the other side.”
Failure to look at both sides and entrenchment in segregated ideologies perpetuates the conflict.
Later, we talked with Peter at the coffee break. As an advocate for understanding “the other” he was rejected by his mother and was permanently alienated from her, never speaking with her again even until her death. Even so, his children managed to overcome the tension and maintained a relationship with their grandmother. What can the children teach us about overcoming alienation and separation?
In the afternoon, a series of very impressive papers was presented. One of the best among them,was“The meaning of violence for women living in a high violence neighborhood in Cape Town.” After a break and time for a rest and a manicure, the evening provided the most eventful experience of the day. At dinner, these people talked extensively with us.
1. Michael, a researcher from Sweden (formerly from Germany and a non-Jew who worked on a kibbutz as a youth) studies the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and has interviewed the heads of Hamas and Hezbollah. He supports the Palestinian viewpoint. On another research assignment in the Congo, he was kidnapped and held for seven days!
2. Carin, Michael’s research associate, who is fluent in Arabic, studies the role of Hamas music as it contributes to entrenched ideologies.
3. Maor, a young 29 year old Israeli social psychologist who is now studying for his doctorate at Jacob University in Germany. Maor’s grandparents immigrated to Israel from Kurdistan.
Marilyn and I were part of a very vibrant and sometimes contentious conversation. Michael, sympathetic to Hamas, Maor politely listening and later privately describing Michael as naïve. We connected to Maor and continue to engage with him today as the symposium continues. We observe that even the peace psychologist researchers must work hard to overcome their own entrenched positions.
The symposium participants are from all continents! At dinner, on one side I sat next to Charlie from Manila who does research on the situation in the south of the Philippines in Mindanoa and Carin on the other who lives in Sweden and conducts research in Palestine. Collapsing in bed for a deep sleep and getting ready for day two….
