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The Unsung Heroes of Dialogue
Dialogue knows no geographic, cultural or social boundaries. Even where conflict has created seemingly insurmountable walls between people, the spirit and vision of human beings have in many instances kept alive the flame of dialogue. Keeping that flame burning is one of the goals of the United Nations Year of Dialogue.
To this end, the United Nations has identified examples of human courage--the unsung heroes of dialogue who have faced adversity and looked beyond cultural, social, economic and racial issues to find a solution. Seven 60-second public service announcements have been produced, each illustrating how an individual crossed the divide of difference to bring people together. These public service announcements may be aired by any television station that wishes to carry them and can be translated into any number of languages. Here are the stories of the "unsung heroes". Stay tuned!
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Jack Beetson Crossing the divide
(Australia)Jack Beetson, is an indigenous Australian educator, who every year invites indigenous and non-indigenous people to meet “the other” at his Linga Longa Philosophy Farm in the country. They share camp, ask questions, and explore cultures and identities. It’s a rare opportunity for two different cultures to transcend division and meet and discover, in a friendly and informal environment.
Jack is also Chief Executive Officer of Tranby Cooperative for Aborigines, which runs courses on Aboriginal studies by Aboriginal people, for both indigenous and non-indigenous people. Apart from providing culturally appropriate vocational education, his “cultural renaissance” programmes have helped Aborigines removed from their families as children to piece together their identity and regain dignity and pride. By providing insights into the nature of the people and their relationship to the land during the years before white people settled Australia only 200 years ago, non-indigenous students gain an added dimension to their own identity and an alternative appreciation of the unique land in which they live.
Jack’s motivation is not just indigenous rights, but human rights for all.
Margaret Gibney Lives with conflict in Northern Ireland
(Belfast, Northern Ireland)The Mount Gilbert Community College (Belfast) Wall of Peace Project began when children wrote to leading figures around the world asking them to send messages of peace. Margaret Gibney, then 14 years old, wrote to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and in her letter told him that she had known only one year of peace in her whole life. The Prime Minister was so inspired by her plea and the Wall of Peace that he mentioned her letter on American television, and, as a result, Hillary Clinton asked to visit Margaret where she was in Belfast in 1997.
Margaret has since won a number of awards for her inspirational peace work, including a Champion Children Award, and she has traveled internationally as a UNICEF Young Ambassador.In July 1998 Margaret went to New York to take part in the Youth Leadership Forum and Goodwill Games founded by Ted Turner. She was one of 36 youngsters from all over the world who were brought together to celebrate the start of the Goodwill Games. Margaret was also one of the three Young Ambassadors taking part in live TV coverage of the Games and was interviewed about her part in the Northern Ireland peace Process and the Wall of Peace.
Sultan Somjee, Ph.D Kenya - East Africa Sultan Somjee Heals Tribal Conflict
(Nairobi, Kenya)Kenyan ethnographer Sultan Sornjee runs the ethnography department at the National Museum of Kenya in Nairobi. He is also the founder of the African Peace Museum project. He has an authoritative knowledge of the culture and peace traditions of Kenya's pastorale peoples, built up over 25 years of study.
Through his work for peace, Sornjee encourages indigenous communities to share their Peace Traditions. These non-reading cultures do not build monuments, and they do not write, but they keep alive their knowledge through oral and visual traditions. There are also local Peace Sites that are acknowledged by the whole community.
Sornjee is an Ismaeli Muslim- his grandparents came to Kenya at the turn of the century from the Indian sub-continent.
Dr. Salahuddin Ramez Humanitarian hero who died treating the victims of conflict
(Afghanistan)It takes special courage to fly into a war zone and work with the injured, offering hope and relief in the midst of conflict. Dr. Salahuddin Ramez had this sort of courage and as a surgeon with the International Committee of the Red Cross, left his native Afghanistan to attend to the casualties of war in areas of conflict around the world.
Educated in both Afghanistan and Germany, he joined the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1995 and went first to Pakistan then the Sudan, East Timor and finally on a mission to Sierra Leone.
It was here whilst carrying out his work that Dr. Ramez contracted Lassa fever and tragically died on 25th July 2000. This public service announcement is an overdue recognition of his commitment to humanitarian aid across religious and cultural divides.
Sydney Possuelo Three decades spent protecting indigenous people in Amazonia from the shock of the new
(Brazil)Sydney Possuelo is in charge of the Department for Unknown Tribes in the Brazilian Government's Indian Foundation (FUNAI). He is one of Brazil's most experienced 'sertanistas' (Indian experts). He has spent more than 30 years caring for indigenous groups - mainly in Amazonia - where the effects of development and deforestation creep ever further into their jungle homeland. Invading prospectors, loggers and smugglers will sometimes shoot Indians who stand in their way.
Sydney Possuelo and FUNAI help protect these vulnerable people's rights. In the past, FUNAI regarded contact as the best option for unknown tribes, but for the last decade Sydney's objective has been to avoid all contact with the aim of leaving the tribe in peace for as long as possible.
However there are times when contact simply has to be made. When it does Sydney Possuelo delicately initiates a dialogue. It's a process which can take years, and which can be very dangerous- a number of the men in Sydney's teams have been killed or wounded by Indians. In the past, Sydney has been forced to contact more than half a dozen unknown indigenous groups in the retreating rainforest.
The music on the 1-minute film about Sydney is a song of the Kayapo group of tribes arranged by Marlui Miranda.
Zlata Filipovic Survivior of the horrors of a war continues the work to keep the peace through reconciliation
(Bosnia)Zlata Filipovic began keeping her Sarajevo diary in 1991, just before her eleventh birthday. She recorded everyday teenagers' activities that she avidly pursued, from school to piano lessons, skiing, parties, and watching her favourite TV shows. Then the chaos and terror of war shattered her world. In spite of great tragedy and deprivation, Zlata kept making her lucid diary entries, carefully chronicling the claustrophobia, boredom, resignation, anger, despair, and fear war brings. With a precision and vision beyond her years, Zlata wrote that the "political situation is stupidity in motion." Zlata's diary brings Sarajevo home as no news report ever could.
Since the war's end Zlata's diary has been published to critical acclaim, first by UNICEF, then released in France whilst the U.S. serial rights have gone to Newsweek. After experiencing war so closely Zlata now uses her spare time to work for peace and helps foster communication between different peoples. She has been involved in the launch of UNICEF reports on the impact of armed conflict on children, as well as being part of an international UNESCO jury deciding on a children's and young people's literature prize in the name of tolerance. Zlata is currently studying Human Sciences at St. John's College, Oxford.
Faouzi Skali Using the joy of music to bring cultures together
(Morocco)Every year, a very special festival takes place in Fez, Morocco. A unique event, it gathers people from all corners of the globe, and unites them across different cultures countries, traditions, languages and times. The Fez Festival of World Sacred Music does all this through the universal language of music. The festival is the brainchild of its Director General, Dr. Faouzi Skali. Faozi believes that people can reach out across their differences through the power of music. Each year he invites musicians from around the world to share music that they hold sacred.
In a world where technology is breaking down barriers of trade and communication so quickly, the spirit of the festival aims to facilitate a similar free flow of human dignity and spirituality, breaking down divides to allow all cultures to share goodwill and celebrate diversity of thought and religious belief.