Faces +
Stories help end wars
28 November 2014
"An enemy is
one whose story we have not heard."
~ Ms. Gene Knudsen
Hoffman
"Social media
is an amazing tool, but
it's really the
face-to-face interaction that
makes a long-term
impact."
~ Felicia Day
In 2000, "The Enemy Has a
Face: The Seeds of Peace Experience" was published by the U.S.
Institute of Peace -- https://bookstore.usip.org/books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=51280
Author and social entrepreneur, John Wallach, championed and documented
Palestinian-Israeli people-to-people reconciliation.
In December 2003, a different "The Enemy Has a Face"
was published by award-winning author, Gloria D. Miklowitz.--
http://www.eerdmans.com/Products/5261/the-enemy-has-a-face.aspx
She urged Palestinian and Jewish youth readers -- everyone -- to look
beyond stereotypes to humanize one another.
VIDEO:
Show Our Faces
See Their faces
In 1956, C.S.Lewish
published TILL WE HAVE FACES.
Lewis insisted we must live and reconcile face-to-face with our fellow human,
who "must be speaking with its own voice" -- revealing one's true
face -- "not any mask."
Days ago -- November, 2014 -- some Palestinians and Jews created a film
to remind us.
Faces matter.
Remaining distant and invisible, the face of the other fades.
Without a face, our humanity diminishes.
To restore our humanity, we need to meet face-to-face.
Magic can result.
The opportunity is in our hands.
This
Is My Face
2-minute video -- 27 November
2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIEIoJTydpc&feature=youtu.be
or
THEATER:
Dramatic Examples of
Middle East Stories
from one actor's lips
and experiences
Great artists
of stage and film
have animated stories to inspire and awaken us to our humanity.
Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Dustin
Hoffman, so many to thank.
Name your own favorites and their performances that affected you forever.
For the Palestinian-Israeli relationship, a performance that excels to
acknowledge and respect the diverse narratives and people is WRESTLING
JERUSALEM -- http://www.wrestlingjerusalem.com
No actor-writer is more compelling, awakening, and helpful than Aaron Davidman in this world-class one-person stage performance
Davidman's theatrical expression of the vast spectrum
of Jewish and Palestinian narratives about the Middle East is perhaps the
most informative, powerful, inclusive, and fair from one person's mouth.
Equally impressive is how he has lived his life -- discovering people's
parallel but different life experiences and world views not only by reading
textbooks and opinions but by meeting people face-to-face here and overseas.
For your campus, conference, or community, hosting WRESTLING JERUSALEM
could be your most informative, creative step toward improving communication
and relationships.
VIEW a video excerpt:
Wrestling
Jerusalem
2014 -- 2-min introductory
video
MUSIC:
Face-to-Face, Side-by-Side
Jews & Palestinians Sharing
Song & Their Common Home
The Jerusalem
Youth Chorus
of the Jerusalem International YMCA empowers youth from East and West Jerusalem
-- http://www.jerusalemyouthchorus.org
Life-changing experiences of high-level music-making and personal
engagement creates leaders for cooperation and good communication in their
communities.
For more information contact their director, Micah Hendler
-- Micah.Hendler@gmail.com
HEAR and SEE their musical story:
"Home"
Sam Tsui
& The YMCA Jerusalem Youth Chorus
4-1/2 min video - 07 October
2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMkqMTK1_O0
EDUCATION CURRICULUM:
OUR STORY =
Your Story plus
My Story
The History
Project in India
and Pakistan -- http://www.thehistory-project.org
-- helps school students appreciate sometimes-conflicting stories of historical
events in their nations shared history and heritage.
Co-founders Qasim Aslam and
Ayyaz Ahmad met as youth at the Seeds of Peace summer
program -- http://www.seedsofpeace.org
They were inspired to shine light on the global history textbook
pandemic.
More than 2 billion young impressionable minds are learning history through
textbooks whose narratives are often biased and from a narrow perspective,
contributing to planetary intolerance.
Led by international youth, the initiative has reached over 1,000,000 young
minds and has changed countless lives.
Youth now learn to identify biases and stereotypes by juxtaposing
contrasting textbook history narratives and by making history education fun.
They are also working in Israel-Palestine.
HEAR Qasim Aslam and Ayyaz Ahmad share their journeyroots
of their idea, how they're bringing it into schools, their dreams to de-stereotype
the future.
Pakistan-India
History Project
Co-founders Qasim and Ayyaz
4 min video - June 2014
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This message is on the Web at http://traubman.igc.org/messages/681.htm
Hundreds of other success stories are preserved at http://traubman.igc.org/messages.htm