Afleveringen
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Venezuela is a tough place to be a journalist. Our guest this episode, Tony Frangie Mawad wrote last year about the possibility of an opposition victory that would upend the regime of President NicolĂĄs Maduro in the country's July elections. But even though the opposition candidate won the vote, Maduro held on to power, and this year has cracked down further on his opponents and an already-weakened media.
Fangie Mawad is an independent journalist and political analyst, based in Caracas, Venezuela. He writes the Substack Venezuela Weekly, where he keeps a close eye on developments both at home, and in the Venezuelan diaspora. Heâs written for international news outlets including Bloomberg, The Economist, and Americas Quarterly, and was an editor for the Caracas Chronicles.
Making Peace Visible producer Andrea Muraskin spoke with Tony about what itâs like to work in an authoritarian context, where journalists are often censored and threatened, and sometimes arrested. As youâll hear, it helps to have a sense of humor, and a long view of history.
This interview was recorded on March 24. Things may have shifted in Venezuela by the time you hear it.
LEARN MORE
tonyfrangie.com
Venezuela Weekly (English edition)
El Chiguire Bipolar - "The Bipolar Capybara" Venezuelan satire website
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org
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After the end of the Cold War, many academics and policymakers believed that a global state of peace was achievable. People talked about a âpeace dividendâ: A long-term benefit. as budgets for military spending would be redirected to social programs or returned to citizens in the form of lower taxes.
Our guest this episode, Bridget Conley, started her career in peacebuilding in the 1990s. At that time, Western academics and politicians spelled out a formula for creating peaceful nations. You would hold elections, convert the economy to a free market, pursue human rights, and prosecute bad actors. But the post 9/11 years showed that the militarized world order was not going away.
Thereâs been a push in recent years to localize peace efforts â meaning fund them and run them based on direction from people in the effected countries. But to a considerable extent, peacebuilding still revolves around that formula from the 1990s.
Thatâs why Conley launched Disrupting Peace, a podcast that explores why peace hasnât worked, and how it could.
Bridget is the research director at the World Peace Foundation, a research organization affiliated with Tufts University. Her research is currently focused on mass incarceration in the United States, and she teaches college classes inside the prison system in Massachusetts as part of the Tufts University Prison Initiative. For Conley, prison abolition and international peacebuilding are all about creating societies that solve problems through debate and discussion, not through coercion.
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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When the Trump administration slashed the budget and suspended most of the staff of the United States Agency for International Development last month, their representatives said the agency was using taxpayer dollars to fund a radical, âwokeâ agenda around the world. Criticism coming from the Left since the founding of USAID in 1961 has characterized USAID as an arm of American imperialism.
The reality, of course, is much more complicated. Itâs heartbreaking to hear stories of children suddenly unable to attend school and receive essential vaccinations. But beyond the shockwaves of a sudden halt in the flow of assistance, there's a lot about US foreign aid that's up for debate. Questions like what does it accomplish? Does it really help? How does it help? Should it continue? Or, should foreign aid be scaled down over time?
Our host, Jamil Simon, has seen USAID projects succeed, and fall short â having worked for more than three decades as a USAID contractor, developing communication strategies to promote reform in more than 20 countries.
Our guest, Gregory Warner is a Peabody Award - winning journalist who has reported on USAID on the ground in places including Sub-Saharan Africa, Ukraine and Afghanistan. He was the creator and host of NPR's international podcast Rough Translation. Before that, he was an international correspondent for NPR, based in East Africa. Warner has reported on USAID on the ground in Africa, as well as in Ukraine and Afghanistan. He writes the Substack blog Rough Transition.
MORE FROM GREGORY WARNER
Subscribe to get Rough Transition in your inbox.
Read Warnerâs recent reporting about the gutting of USAID and what it says about the perception of America in the world.
Listen to the Rough Translation episode about a woman who lied so she could receive aid designated for sexual violence survivors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Explore the Rough Translation podcast archive.
CONNECT WITH US
Do you have a story of your own about USAID? Keep the conversation going on LinkedIn, or drop us a line at [email protected].
Music in this episode is by Xylo-Ziko, Blue Dot Sessions, Gavin Luke, Feras Charestan, and Caro Luna.
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org
Support our work
Connect on social:
Instagram @makingpeacevisible
LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible
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Often the news covers crises without context. That's especially true when it comes to coverage of the Global South in international media.
Our guest this episode, journalist and documentary filmmaker Etant Dupain, gives us a behind-the-headlines look at events in Haiti, his home country. Dupain says that the gangs who control much of the country now are supported by powerful elites. Their aim, his says, is to suppress a grassroots protest movement that is calling for accountability for the embezzlement of billions of dollars in development funds.
Dupain's new documentary film, The Fight for Haiti, tells the story of the Haitian movement against corruption and impunity, which started with a tweet and at its height had hundreds of thousands in the street.
In this episode, youâll learn about
The problematic history of foreign aid in Haiti including the aftermath of the the 2010 earthquakeThe Petrocaribe agreement with Venezuela that was supposed to fund crucial infrastructure projects in HaitiCreative tactics activists used to demand accountabilityWho profits when gangs overtake a countryWatch a trailer and learn more about the film and the movement at thefightforhaiti.com.
Protest audio used in the episode is from the film The Fight for Haiti, used with permission.
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org
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Israel and Hamas are just over two weeks into a ceasefire agreement, after fifteen months of fighting.
This is a paradoxical moment to talk about long term peace. The horrific October 7th attacks and the near - destruction of Gaza that followed, served to amplify already high levels of distrust, hate, and trauma. At the same time, the war has demonstrated to Gazans that their government placed conflict with Israel above their own survival. And it has shown Israelis that an indefinite blockade of Gaza doesnât ensure their security.
So while the ceasefire doesnât mean the end of the conflict by any means, it does offer an opportunity to envision a way out.
Our guest for this episode is Ksenia Svetlova, an expert observer of politics and media in the Middle East and the executive director of the Regional Organization for Peace, Economics, and Security, or ROPES.
Svetlova is an immigrant to Israel from the Soviet Union, an Arabic speaker and a Middle East specialist. For fifteen years. Svetlova reported from Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, and different countries in the region. She served four years in Israelâs parliament representing the center-left Zionist Union Coalition.
MORE FROM KSENIA SVETLOVA
Read: Netanyahuâs phase two dilemma: Political survival vs defying President Trump, for Chatham House
Listen: ROPESCAST, the podcast from ROPES
Watch: Webinars and more on
ROPESâ YouTube channel
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org
Support our work
Connect on social:
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LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible
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Imagine youâre living through a crisis in your part of the world. It could be a natural disaster, a contentious election, or even a coup dâetat. Rumors are swirling on social media, on television, and even your family group chat. Events are unfolding rapidly, and you donât know what to believe.
What if, just by sending a text message, you could reach a trusted source for an instant fact check?
Our guest today, Ed Bice, heads an organization called Meedan, that provides a consumer-facing fact checking service in countries around the world. Meedanâs software integrates with messaging apps, to connect people quickly with trusted news organizations. Instead of asking Chat GPT or Google, you can ask a customized chatbot, and get an answer based on reporting from your local TV station or newspaper.
Meedanâs work has been especially impactful during contentious elections in countries like Mexico, India, and Brazil.
Unfortunately, Metaâs announcement that it will stop fact checking on its platforms this year â including WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook â threatens the funding and support essential for tools like Meedan to combat misinformation.
Ed Bice has been working for two decades to make the Internet a more collaborative and democratic space. And heâs still optimistic.
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org
Support our work
Connect on social:
Instagram @makingpeacevisible
LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible
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This is a pivotal moment in Syria, the abrupt end of a brutal dictatorship that killed and tortured thousands and terrorized Syrian society. The Assad regime also suppressed speech, and weâre now seeing a surge in independent reports on the news and social media. The big question is what happens next? And what does this change mean to the region?
In this episode, we welcome back Zaina Erhaim to share her perspective on the sudden fall of the Assad regime, and what's ahead for Syria. Zaina is an award winning Syrian journalist, who is widely recognized for her commitment to ethical reporting and amplifying marginalized voices. She began her career reporting on the civil war in Syria, but fled to the UK after both the Assad regime, and opposition forces threatened her life.
Zaina Erhaim is the managing editor of Jeem, and a communications consultant.
Note: This interview was recorded on December 22, 2024. On December 30, Syriaâs transitional government appointed Maysaa Sabrine as head of the Syrian central bank, the first woman to hold the role.
Listen to our 2022 episode with Zaina Erhaim, Decolonizing international journalism
More from Zaina Erhaim on Syria after Assad:
New York Times Opinion | Al-Assad Is Gone, and One Idea Fills My Brain
New Internationalist: Where to now for Syriaâs women?
Al Jazeeraâs The Listening Post: Images and narratives of Syriaâs historic moment
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org
Support our work
Connect on social:
Instagram @makingpeacevisible
LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible
Bluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social
We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!
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Please consider supporting our work at the intersection of peace, conflict, and the media! Make a tax-deductible contribution today at makingpeacevisible.org. Thank you!
When you look at the online reactions to major events, or watch news footage of political rallies, you might conclude that people on the political Left have a completely different moral compass, â or sense of right and wrongâ, from people on the political Right. But Kurt Gray, a social psychologist who studies morality and politics, says thatâs not true.
The main thesis behind Grayâs work at the Deepest Beliefs Lab at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his new book Outraged: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics, and How to Find Common Ground â is that humans share a sense of morality based on fear of harm, the product of our evolutionary heritage. However perceptions of who is vulnerable to harm and how those vulnerable should be defended differs widely across the divide.
In this episode, Kurt Gray draws on research to shed light on issues including
Why so many people reacted positively to the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian ThompsonWhy we often think our communities and our children are less safe than they actually areHow the decline of local news may contribute to polarization Why facts rarely change minds in a political argumentHow to approach politics with a sense of âmoral humilityâLearn more about Kurt Gray and the book at kurtjgray.com. Follow his newsletter, Moral Understanding: The Science of What Divides Us, at moralunderstandingnewsletter.com.
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org
Support our work
Connect on social:
Instagram @makingpeacevisible
LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible
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Support this podcast with a tax-deductible donation.
Photographer Anastasia Taylor-Lind and writer Alisa Sopova create intimate, accessible portraits of Ukrainian civilians living close to the frontlines of the Russian invasion. Sometimes their subjects are picnicking in a park or tending a garden. Other times, theyâre repairing a ceiling damaged by shelling or waiting for departure on an evacuation train. Anastasia and Alisa have been working together in Ukraine since the Maidan Revolution, also known as the âRevolution of Dignityâ in 2014. And over the years, theyâve returned to visit the same families, witnessing how the war touches men, women, and children over time.
Independent Projects
5K From the Frontline
Welcome to Donetsk
International media work:
NPR: The Ukraine war isn't new. These intimate photos show 3 families enduring it for years
The New Humanitarian: How seven years of war and COVID-19 split Ukraine in two
The New York Times: Opinion: Where There Are Fish in the Tap Water and Womenâs Uteruses Fall Out
Time Magazine: The Strange Unreality of Life During Eastern Ukraine's Forgotten War
Music in this episode by Doyeq, One Man Book, and Bill Vortex
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org
Support our work
Connect on social:
Instagram @makingpeacevisible
LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible
Bluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social
We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!
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In the 2024 election, it was clearer than ever that Americans are âwatching different movies,â as political analyst Van Jones put it. Essentially, weâre living inside different narratives that arenât of our own making. During this campaign season more than ever before, the presidential and VP candidates appeared on sympathetic podcasts as a way to appeal to younger voters.
As a podcaster, journalist, and Senior Fellow for Public Practice at Braver Angels, a nonprofit working to depolarize America, guest MĂłnica GuzmĂĄn is an ideal voice to help us make sense of what happened, and provide some helpful perspective. On her podcast A Braver Way, GuzmĂĄn is joined by guests from across the political spectrum to unearth tools, insights, and messy real life stories that can guide listeners over the divide in their everyday lives. She says that Americans are being hurt by misinformation not only about facts, but also âmisinformation about whatâs in the hearts of other people.â
On this episode youâll hear a few clips from A Braver Way â including from a conversation GuzmĂĄn, a political "blue" recorded with her parents â who voted for Donald Trump.
If your family is politically divided, youâll definitely want to listen to this in time for Thanksgiving!
Learn more about our guest at moniguzman.com
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org
Support our work
Connect on social:
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We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!
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If youâre listening to this podcast, youâre probably concerned by the level of polarization weâre seeing in societies around the world.
We can point fingers at social media, the news media, political parties, fear mongering leaders, poor education, broken political systems⊠the list is long. The divides can seem so vast, the problems so huge. Itâs easy to retreat into a huddle with people who see the world the same way you do.
But our guest for this episode, Columbia University psychology and education professor and author Peter T. Coleman, says there are things each of us can do to help heal these societal wounds. And he says the press and media can play an important role in decreasing polarization.
That's the subject of his latest book, The Way Out: How to Overcome Toxic Polarization. Coleman outlines evidence-based practices that you can do on your own- or with a group- to help recalibrate assumptions, and re-create bonds with people you disagree with.
Coleman also partnered with the organization Starts With Us to turn the lessons from the book into an online program, called The Polarization Detox Challenge. It's like an exercise routine, for strengthening your compassion muscles. The book is focused on the United States, but the exercises can be done anywhere.
This episode originally published in January 2023.
Follow Peter T. Coleman on X: @PeterTColeman1
Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. We had help on this episode from Faith McClure.
Support our work with a tax-deductible donation.
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions and Bill Vortex
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org
Support our work
Connect on social:
Instagram @makingpeacevisible
LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible
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We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!
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Our guest in this episode is a scholar and peacebuilder who knows the world of peacebuilding intimately, and offers a critique from the inside.
Qamar-ul Huda is the author of Reenvisioning Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution in Islam, published in April 2024. Heâs worked for major players like the US Institute of Peace and the UN Development Program. He served in the Obama Administration as Senior Policy Advisor to Secretary of State John Kerry, and is now a professor of International Affairs at the US Naval Academy.
In this conversation, Huda shares a refreshingly positive perspective on the possibility of peace in Islamic countries, rooted in his deep understanding of Islamic religion and cultures. In his book, he reflects on some of the mistakes made in the early years of the War on Terror, by the US government, and other international actors. He says many of these mistakes were rooted in seeing peacebuilding as a secular project, which failed to acknowledge the conflict resolution tools and ethics that exist in Islamic tradition. And he says this thinking continues to influence foreign policy to this day. He also highlights more constructive examples of conflict resolution in the Muslim world.
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org
Support our work
Connect on social:
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"Nature knows no political borders. " - David Lehrer
On a small desert campus, students from Israel, Palestine, and other parts of the Middle East take classes in ecology, earth sciences and renewable energy. They also debate the hot button issues: history, politics, religion, war, occupation, terrorism, while learning to listen actively, and living together amidst contradicting narratives.
Our guest David Lehrer is Director of International Development at the Arava Institute, based at Kibbutz Keturah in Israel. He teaches there, and also heads up Arava's action arm, working with Palestinian partners to bring clean water, sanitation, and eco-friendly temporary housing to displaced people in Gaza -- among other projects.
Learning to care for a shared environment in the region, providing essential infrastructure in wartime, and working together across divides are usually treated as a footnote in the media, David says. But he hopes that as Arava continues to work with Palestinian partners in the face of a war with no end in sight, peacebuilding becomes news.
LEARN MORE:
The Arava Institute
Arava Institute on Instagram
David Lehrer's bio
Times of Israel: Palestinians, Israelis partner to bring off-grid solutions to Gaza camps
Special thanks to Tamar Miller and Rachel Kalikow. Music in this episode by One Man Book, Blue Dot Sessions, Doyeq, and Joel Cummins.ABOUT THE SHOW
The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org
Support our work
Connect on social:
Instagram @makingpeacevisible
LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible
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We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!
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Ali Abu Awwad is hard to summarize. He grew up with a mother in the PLO, and served jail time for his role in the resistance during the First Palestinian Intifada. In an Israeli prison, Ali learned the power of nonviolence when he and his mother went on hunger strike to see each other. After his brother was killed by Israeli soldiers, his family met with a group of bereaved Jewish parents. Awwad says witnessing the shared humanity of Palestinian and Israeli mourners "turned his world upside down."
Awwad has been working as a peacebuilder since 2002, and has given talks around Israel, Palestine, and the world. His current work is leading Taghyeer, a Palestinian movement â"to take nonviolent responsibility for self-development and forging a path to end occupation." Awwad says he founded Taghyeer, a "DNA Palestinian movement" to focus on the "homework" needed to lay the foundation for true Palestinian self-governance and an end to Israeli military occupation. In this conversation, Awwad gives us an intimate view of his own inner transformation, and an inside look at Palestinian identity and self-determination.
LEARN MORE
Watch: An Israeli and a Palestinian talk peace, dignity and safety a conversation with Ali Abu Awwad and Ami Dar, Israeli peace activist and founder of Idealist.org, from TED.
Read: âI Donât Want to Resist the OccupationâI Want to End the Occupationâ an interview with Ali Abu Awwad in the Nation Magazine
Read: Nonviolence Is the Missing Path to Israeli-Palestinian Peace editorial by Ali Abu Awwad in "The Daily Beast"
Listen: Ali Abu Awwad and Robi Damelin on Nonviolence as The Path to Freedom for Palestinians and Israelis on "Unlocking Us" with Brené Brown
Music in this episode by Xylo-Ziko and Blue Dot Sessions.
Special thanks to Cloe Shasha Brooks.
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org
Support our work
Connect on social:
Instagram @makingpeacevisible
LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible
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We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!
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Most people feel that peacebuilding â resolving conflicts and decreasing violence â is a positive thing. But as we've said many times on this podcast, peacebuilding is virtually invisible in the world.
Todayâs guest, veteran mediator and peacebuilder Mark Gerzon, says to strengthen peace and reconciliation efforts, we need to make peacebuilding mainstream. And to do that, the reasons behind the practice need to be practical and more accessible to both the public and to donors. He says the messaging we've been using for years, grounded in a moral imperative for peace, isn't working. And today, heâs working in the United States to train leaders to work across the partisan divide.
Gerzon has served as advisor to the UN Development Program and multinational corporations. He is president of the Mediators Foundation, an incubator for social action projects that bridge divides around the world, and has authored several books on the topic of polarization and reconciliation.
LEARN MORE
Leading Through Conflict and other books by Mark Gerzon
Harvard Business Review: To Resolve a Conflict, First Decide: Is It Hot or Cold?
Documentary by Mark Gerzon: The Reunited States
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions and SFmusic.
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org
Support our work
Connect on social:
Instagram @makingpeacevisible
LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible
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We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!
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Social entrepreneurs are a unique breed of people, capable of conjuring up a vision, a new way of doing something, a solution to a problem; but they also have the skill and the determination to overcome all the obstacles to implement their vision. John Marks is a remarkable social entrepreneur who, with his wife Susan Collins Marks, built the largest peace building organization in the world, Search for Common Ground. When they stepped down from leadership in 2014, Search had 600 full time employees and offices in 35 countries. Search was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018.
His new book, From Vision to Action: Remaking the World Through Social Entrepreneurship, explains how he built Search for Common Ground, and what made it so successful. His new book delivers practical guidance on building bridges and creating meaningful change. Of particular interest to us at MPV, John is a remarkable innovator, not only in the production of effective media to promote peaceful solutions to conflicts, but also in the breakthrough ways he found to disseminate the media, and ideas and approaches they celebrated.
RESOURCES:
Virtual book talk with John Marks with Harvard Law School's Program on Negotiation, September 23, 2024
Clips from Common Ground Productions:
· Radio in Burundi: 1:42 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qghsd3-Wpv8
· Childrenâs TV in Macedonia with Sesame Workshop: 2:04 - https://youtu.be/ifyCYSbHp2A
· Reality Series: CNN piece on âThe President: 2:45 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQFlmUzi6ys
· Adult Drama: Team trailer: 2:14 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqYVapttDEQ&feature=youtu.be
· PSA: Ziggy Marley: 0:23 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llinHdw_gdU
· Music Video: Ring the Bells: 3:38 - https://youtu.be/5Rs94ztNROI
Music in this episode by Joel Cummins, Podington Bear, Xylo-Ziko, and Faszo.
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org
Support our work
Connect on social:
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Imagine living next door to a person who murdered your father, raped your sister, or even killed your child. This was the case for many people in Sierra Leone who endured a brutal civil war from 1991 to 2002: the majority of the 50,000 who died were those killed by their own neighbors.
While working with a program that facilitates ritual reconciliation processes in Sierra Leone, a process known as fambul tok (or âfamily talkâ), peacebuilder and philanthropist Libby Hoffman learned that justice for Sierra Leonians isn't about punishing or ousting a perpetrator. Rather, justice comes through making the community whole again. âWhen you hurt somebody, you don't just hurt them; you hurt the community as well,â says Hoffman.
In this episode, host Jamil Simon speaks with Libby Hoffman about fambul tok, a process she calls âbuilding peace from the inside out.â Fambul tok is an ancient tradition where disputes are solved through community-wide conversation around a bonfire. In this post-war context, Hoffman and her team facilitated the revival of the practice for Sierra Leonians.
Hoffman also documented this remarkable peacebuilding process in her award-winning documentary film Fambul Tok, which has itself catalyzed further reconciliation within Sierra Leoneâs war-torn communities. Hoffman's book about her experiences in Sierre Leone is called The Answers Are There: Building Peace from the Inside Out.
Libby Hoffman is the founder and President of Catalyst for Peace, a US-based private foundation building peace from the inside-out â creating space for those most impacted by violence to lead in building the peace, supported by healthy, inclusive systems. A former Political Science professor, Hoffman has a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from Tuftsâ Fletcher School of Law and a BA in Political Science from Williams College.
The film Fambul Tok is available for private viewing through MPV's Peace Docs initiative. Watch the film here: vimeo.com/26644766.
This episode was produced by Andrea Muraskin, with help from Faith McClure. It was originally published in October 2022.
Music by Xylo-Ziko via freemusicarchive.org.
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org
Support our work
Connect on social:
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On July 28, 2024, a teenage boy carried out a fatal stabbing attack on a dance class in Southport, England. Three little girls were killed, and eight other children and two adults were injured. Police arrested and detained the assailant. They didn't release his name, because he was under 18.
A user on X posted that the suspect was a Muslim asylum seeker named Ali Al-Shakati. A prominent YouTuber claimed the attacker was an "illegal migrant." As rumors quickly spread on social media, attracting tens of millions of views, Brits on the far right used platforms like X and TikTok to organize violent protests around the country. In one town, a mob started a fire outside a hotel housing asylum seekers and and smashed a glass door, chanting "get them out." In another, demonstrators attacked a mosque. By the end of the next weekend, violent protests had taken place in at least 18 towns and cities, and 147 people had been arrested, as Tortoise reported.
When a judge eventually released the attacker's name, Axel Rudakubana, it turned out he neither Muslim not a migrant, but a Christian and the British-born son of Rwandan parents.
This is just one of many stories of online misinformation leading to real world harm. Our guest this episode, Lena Slachmuijlder, is working to stop the flow of misinformation in a world where so many get their news from social media. She heads Search for Common Ground's Digital Peacebuilding initiative, which identifies and trains "digital stewards" around the world, people who are trusted by their communities and help stop the spread of fake news online. Also, in her work as co-chair of the Council on Tech and Social Cohesion, Lena is envisioning ways to design new tech that fosters real conversations online, including the use of AI.
Learn more:
Digital Community Stewards free online course
Digital Peacebuilders' Guide
Searching for Safer, Healthier digital spaces - review of digital peacebuilding initiatives
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org
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Gloria Laker Aciro was a teenager when war upended her familyâs life in Northern Uganda. The Lord's Resistance Army, led by the infamous Joseph Kony, were known for their brutality, and for kidnapping children and making them child soldiers or child brides.
As a young displaced person, Aciro became a journalist so the world would know about the suffering in Northern Uganda: The abductions, killings, the ambushes, the destruction. But after a few years, she wondered if focusing on bloodshed was the right approach. What if journalists like her could help bring peace to the country?
Today, Aciro is director of the Peace Journalism Foundation of East Africa. Peace Journalism -- as you might remember from one of our previous episodes -- is when editors and reporters make choices that improve the prospects for peace. She covers peace and conflict, refugee issues, and the environment, and trains journalists around East Africa in peace journalism.
Aciro was a finalist for the 2022 Women Building Peace Award given by the United States Institute of Peace. And in 2019, she received a Golden Jubilee Medal awarded by Ugandan President Yoweri, for her coverage of the LRA conflict and her contributions to current peace efforts in Northern Uganda.
Aciro sat down with Making Peace Visible Education Director Steven Youngblood to reflect on her decades in the field in Uganda, and the real impact of peace journalism in the face of war and gang violence.
Music in this episode by Xylo-Ziko and Joel Cummins.
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org
Support our work
Connect on social:
Instagram @makingpeacevisible
LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible
Bluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social
We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!
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Close your eyes and think of the word âwarâ or âgun violence.â Whatâs the first image that comes up? Maybe itâs news footage of the wars in Gaza or Ukraine. Or maybe itâs a scene from a movie like Hotel Rwanda or Bridge on the River Kwai, or a shoutout in any number of crime and cop dramas.
Scripted storytelling, with its ability to get up close and personal with human emotions and struggles, also has a powerful influence on our perceptions of the world. And with news outlets increasingly politically siloed, perhaps Hollywood has a better chance of shifting perspectives than journalists do.
Our guest Kate Folb is director of the Center for Hollywood Health and Society, a project of the Lear Center at USC Annenberg. Hollywood Health and Society (HHS) provides expert guidance for screenwriters, producers and actors about issues from HIV, to immigration, to gun violence. They have projects on the threat of nuclear war and the impact of military expenditures on our lives and wellbeing. In this interview Jamil and Kate discuss how HHS gets Hollywood writers to think differently, as well as shows and movies featuring compelling heroes without guns that you should be watching.
Series and films mentioned in this episode, in order of appearance:
How to Get Away with Murder (ABC)
The Cleaning Lady (Fox)
Mayor of Kingstown (Paramount Plus)
Arrival (Paramount Pictures)
The Diplomat (Netflix)
Oppenheimer (Universal Pictures)
Madame Secretary (CBS, available in the US on Netflix)
Getting Bombed (YouTube)
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org
Support our work
Connect on social:
Instagram @makingpeacevisible
LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible
Bluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social
We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!
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