Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding (Part I)

June 10, 2011 8:15 pm Thai time

Kathy addressing the class

Sarah finally in a photo.  She normally is behind the camera.

Bryant doing his presentation to give Norman (traveling gnome) a new companion.

Don is the lucky recipient of Norman.  We have to see how gets Norm on tomorrow.

Today we started our lecture series in earnest.  We started off with Ajaan(teacher) Mark Timthai.  Our discussion today was getting an understanding of what Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding are from his understanding.  We were given the definitions used for the terminology used for the lecture so that we could have common understanding of what he meant when he used terms like confliction resolution or conflict transformation.

This was a great discussion.  Ajaan Mark is a great teacher who uses real life scenarios to illustrate the abstract concepts such as what it means to live together peacefully.  In this context he used two separate art pieces to illustrate the different views.  The first was the Peaceable Kingdom portrait where everyone lives together peaceably – lion and lamb with little children running around.  The other was a sculpture, The Spirit of Haidi Gwai.  There are 13 passengers on a boat, human and non-human.  The man in the middle is holding a totem of all the passengers on the boat. This shows that they all have a purpose on the boat even though each has a separate and unique function.  They are to co-exist and not destroy one another.  As long as they do this they have the possibility of getting somewhere.

From these two examples he moved on to tell us about the peace work he has been involved in Asia.  He exampled some of the techniques he used with different groups.  He talked about the process of preparation that good conflict mediators use to help with the process.  He stated that you must prepare, understand the cultural, political and sociological structures.  He gave an example that he used with Buddhists to work out conflicts with some Muslims.  He stated it was important to know each groups value systems so you know where places of commonalities are.  I am way over simplifying this wonderful lecture.  I am trying to get you the gest of this morning.

We then discussed 4 aspects of breaking the cycle of violence.  This lead to an interesting discussion the use of his language on that sometimes a culture can put you in a cage.  That even if the door to the cage is opened that people may not choose to leave that cage.  Lively discussion ensued particularly among the people of color in the room.

He also led a discussion on the Golden Rule.  Is the Golden Rule a solution or a problem?  His thesis is that the golden rule is ego-centric and assumes that everyone is like you.  He used the example of when he was invited to Denmark after the political cartoon was published to help mediate a discussion.  He stated that he and others from the Islamic community around the world were invited to this meeting.  They were told that a bus would pick them up after breakfast at 8:30 am.  They were ready for the bus but no one had come to tell them where the bus was or where they were to meet the bus.  Mark stated he saw a bus and went over to find out if this was there ride.  It indeed was.  However, by time they had figured this out it was very close to 8:30 am.  At exactly 8:30 am the bus driver closes the door even though everyone had yet to board the bus.  Upon getting to the meeting place they were told that they would be split in 3 groups.  They all waited around to find out where these three groups would be meeting.  The meeting time had passed but they had not been given a room assignment.  Again, they went looking for a person to find out where they were supposed to be.  They would told Danes who put the meeting together that they were giving you respect by not telling you where to go.  Danes find it incredibly disrespectful to tell someone how and where they should go for meeting.  It is their responsibility to figure it out.  They were giving their guests respect.  Some of the Islamic leaders turned on their heels and left immediately.  This was Ajaan Mark’s illustration where the Golden Rule had broken down terribly.

We discussed a little more about respect and aesthetics of peacebuilding but I really would like to discuss our afternoon practical application.  We met with the leader of Foundation for the Preservation and of Indigenous Wisdom.  Che was an amazing speaker.  He is part of an indigenous tribe who live along the Thai/Burma border.  I will work on getting my notes from the discussion up for reading by Thursday.

Next few pictures are of a northern Thai cultural center.

Bryant, Greg, Don and Sarah getting ready for discussion.

Che and Ajaan Mark

My roommate Gail 

Okay, I thought this was cute.

Today was a really good day.  All of this information provided us with lively dinner discussion on the dark side of missionary work; how conflict is resolved when the two value systems of those in conflict have no commonalities or can decide whether or not talk first or end violence first. 

We are traveling to Mae Sot on tomorrow.  This is in really rural Thailand.  I probably won’t have internet access until we get back on Thursday evening so I won’t have any posts until then.

Talk to you when I get back.