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| Nava (in the middle) with some of the participants at the seminar |
Nava also shared insights about the School for Peace (SFP), also the first educational institution of its kind, which offers workshops, training programs and special projects, to a range of Jewish and Palestinians participants. The school is aimed at advancing personal change as well as fostering broader commitments towards agency and activism, particular in areas where the most impact can be made, such as within environmental and social development sectors, schools and the media. The SFP develops participants’ awareness of the conflict and their role in it, enabling them to take responsibility to change the present relations between Jews and Palestinians. In emotionally charged and often painful dialogic workshops, equal numbers of Palestinian’s and Jews are engaged with facilitators from both sides. These engagements are characterised by mutual vulnerability, multilingual sharing of experiences aimed at creating the possibilities of new and different narratives for change. Opportunities for sharing stereotypes, fears and demonisations of “the other” are engaged with, in attempts to transform understandings of each other. Drawing on theoretical frameworks such as social identity theory, development theory of racial and ethnic identity, research on whiteness and post-colonial theories, the approach taken by the SFP has been evaluated, researched and studied and opportunities to extend the approach are underway internationally.
The community are currently working towards the establishment of a Peace College that will
provide an accredited Master’s degree in Conflict Resolution with the
University of Massachusetts Boston. Set to begin in the fall of 2015 in USA the
college will be named after the late Ahmad Hijazi who was the much loved and
respected Director of SFP between 2008 and 2012. Since it was established, 60,000 Jews and
Palestinians have participated in School for Peace programs and more than 1000
facilitators have been trained to lead workshops, many of whom are also involved
in social advocacy within the sectors where they work and live. SFP
collaborates with community and social organisations, NGOs and other
institutions and has impacted on many participants, with sometimes life
changing consequences.
The
discussion that ensued after the lecture raised important considerations for
social justice educators, activists and scholars in the South African context.
There are clearly lessons to be learned from the experiences shared by Nava
which offers up new visions of hope, possibility and imagination for what is
possible in any conflict-ridden spaces so as to advance our common humanity. Perhaps
a deepened discussion and a problematizing of discourse is necessary (such as
what counts as “conflict” and what “egalitarian” implies). How the SFP’s methodology
is potentially applicable in our context or even in other arenas outside of
education (for example within the SA mining sector, with all its complexities) requires more thought.
Some consideration for how issues of history, power and access impact upon
participation in such endeavours as the SFP, particularly after participants
have been through such learning
experiences, could also be very useful. Nava’s
visit and insights certainly highlighted important questions and issues for
further dialogue.
More information on the School for Peace can be found at http://sfpeace.org/
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