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As a relatively new entrant into the field of peace building through my selection into the Dialogue Fiji committee, I have always wondered why dialogue was not a popular choice for peace building efforts in the past. The more I read of its successful applica‐tions in other contexts and situations, the more I wonder why and how this obvi‐ously successful, capacity building, solu‐tion‐based approach is not widely used as the “go‐to” tool for problem solving. From where I sit, not just as someone who works in the civil society sector but as a youth, it almost seems like there is already so much knowledge on “what not to do” rather than “what to do”. Why isn’t dia‐logue on the top of the list of ‘Needs to Be Done to Fix This’ for communities and groups who find themselves in conflict and crisis situations? When I think about youths and how we can effectively hear from them, I cant help but ask whether methodologies of Dia‐logue can be adapted, to make it more hip and in with the “crowd” while keeping to its core purpose. The world witnessed a wave of powerful youth uprisings across the globe in 2011. While their issues were different, the feel‐ings were similar. They were disappointed and frustrated. They might not have been considered im‐portant before within their own countries but I'm sure, that perception has changed now. I think if the decision makers in those countries genuinely valued youths (and they should, Time magazine has said the central, underlying feature of the Middle East's crisis is a massive youth bulge), they would have realised that youths participa‐tion is critical to the ongoing prosperity and stability of their countries. Youths are not looking for anything com‐plicated, just the opportunity to air their fears, concerns, hear from their leaders and be able to contribute their strengths for solutions and build a future that they can look forward to. For me, that starting point is dialogue. Furthermore, making sure the current
dialogue process is youth friendly, inclu‐sive and participatory. Perhaps as we are exploring these, we can also consider incorporating into the proc‐ess activities that allow us to tap into the creativity, optimism, passion and excite‐ment of young people. I believe the Dia‐logue Fiji secretariat has its work cut‐out for them for the year; these suggestions are at best recommendations towards 2013. In summary, how do we use dialogue to contribute to the building of our nation as we move towards mid 2012? And how do we ensure that this time around (as com‐pared to 1987 and 2000),
youths are included, are capacity built and encour‐
aged to contribute effectively, and most importantly begin
leading Fiji into the future us‐ing a culture of dialogue and understanding.
www.dialoguefiji.com MARCH 2012 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4
Momentum
ENGAGING YOUTH IN DIALOGUE
Dialogue Fiji Vision:
A Fiji where people re-spect each others’ dif-ferences and share a common will to build a free, peaceful, and in-clusive nation.
Dialogue Fiji
Mission:
Engage with others to build capacity in Fiji’s society to create inclu-sive spaces for dialogue and peace building.
Dialogue Fiji
Committee :
� Suliana Siwatibau
� Rev. Akuila Yabaki
� Virisila Buadromo
� Willie Kwansing
� Daryl Tarte
� Ratu Meli Vesikula
� Nemani Mati
� Nisha Buksh
� Kelerayani Gavidi
� Ricardo Morris
Nemani Buresova
Mereoni Chung
Inside this issue:
DF Staff Attend PCP Training 2
Spreading the Dialogue Influence 3
Dialogue Lessons: 4– 6
CONTACT DETAILS Phone: (679) 3552255/ 9767968 E-mail: [email protected]
ADDRESS
49 Gladstone Road G. P.O. Box 12642 Suva Fiji Islands www.dialoguefiji.com
A Dialogue Reflection by Mereoni Chung
Mereoni Chung after the Citizen’s Assem-bly 2012 in Suva where she was elected
into the Dialogue Fiji committee
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PAGE 2 MOMENTUM
DF STAFF ATTEND PCP TRAINING ON NEGOTIATION AND MEDIATION
Dialogue is an approach to conflict resolution that Dialogue Fiji secretariat staff members, George Na‐cewa and Vani Catanasiga may well be familiar with.
But concepts of negotiation and mediation, as they discovered at the Pacific Centre for Peace Building sponsored training in March, were extensions of transformative approaches to conflict resolution that could serve to enhance their capacities as peace builders.
The three day training, which was facilitated by the United Nations Development Program Pacific Cen‐tre, was held at the Raddisons Blu Resort at Denarau and included participants from civil society, govern‐ment and private sectors.
“I was really fortunate to be part of the training and being the youngest participant at that. I enjoyed hearing different perspectives as there were a cross sectoral representation at the training,” George said.
“I appreciated hearing from colleagues in the Fiji Military Forces and finally being able to understand them not just in their capacities as military offices but also as human beings and citizens of Fiji.”
George who is a trained dialogue facilitator said a key learning from the workshop was that negotia‐tion is between two individuals with differences whereas mediation creates an enabling environment
for a third party to come in to monitor and bring to light common interests.
“So it is important to ask the right questions while mediating or negotiating so that one avoids taking the narrow approach and ensure that some kind of understanding is created,” he said.
For Vani, the workshop was an eye opener and helped her to understand that there were other as‐pects to peace building to discover.
“I think a transformational learning from the work‐shop was that conflict doesn’t always have to be negative, it can be good and an opportunity for much needed change,” Vani said.
She said at the workshop, facilitators drew parallels between conflict and a river.
“They talked about how a river flows and how we should learn that any attempts to dam it will only result in it overflowing and inundating fields. It is always better to allow it to flow to the sea.”
“The workshop also reinforced the importance of relationships when it came to dealing with conflict but went on the further to examine effective ap‐proaches in negotiation and mediation,” she said.
“Overall, I was just very grateful to have been given the opportunity to participate and thank the organ‐isers for convening such a rewarding training,” Vani said.
Left :
DF Communica-tions and Research Officer, Vani Catana-siga enjoys a light moment at the PCP Negotia-tion and Media-tion Training with PCP Staff, Priscilla Singh.
Photo source :
Netani Rika
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PAGE 3 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4
For me, attending the dialogue event was monu‐mental in that it finally gave me the courage to finally speak. How is this significant? In my 37 years of marriage, I played the submissive wife, enduring an abusive marriage silently. It was no wonder I was depressed and sickly most of the time.
After attending the three‐day dialogue event, I realised the power to change the situation was really within my grasp and dialogue was indeed a tool I could use to reclaim my life as an individual.
I did this very simply by honestly and respectfully expressing the feelings I had kept bottled up for years to my husband. I did this even to the point of asking my husband to consider whether I really
deserved the treatment I had endured for dec‐ades. As I did that, I also balanced it by letting him know that I now understood that as an individual, I had every right to a decent and abuse free life.
My husband took a while to process this as he remained silent throughout that conversation. It was a relief to be able to voice feelings that I had kept within me for years and so after airing all that I left to attend to a business call.
Imagine my surprise when I returned home to find all the household chores done and even more a cup of tea waiting for me. It was the beginning of the healing process within my marriage. Edited for grammar and style. Additionally, the identity of the subject has been withheld for privacy.
SPREADING THE DIALOGUE INFLUENCE Change and transformation has taken place at various levels for past participants of dialogue events. The article below tells the personal story of an individual who after participating in a dialogue event developed a better and deeper understanding of dialogue and used it to first, begin mending her 37 year marriage and later to ensure greater transparency in her community women’s group.
FAST FACTS: Constitution Consultation Process 2012 A quick glance at Fiji’s constitutional consultation process as announced in March by Fijian Prime Minister,
Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama
Month Activity Facilitator March – April 2012 1. Collate and print material highlighting issues
for all Fijians to think about before they make their voices heard in the consultation process.
Govt
May – July 2012 1.Civic Education Program July – September 2012
1. Consultations will commence between the Constitutional Commission and the citizens of Fiji.
Professor Yash Ghai,
Taufa Vakatale
Satendra Nandan
October – December 2012
1. Collate the public submissions.
2. Based on the Guiding Principles, the Commis‐sion will draft a constitution
3. Announce the composition of the Constituent Assembly by December of this year.
Constitutional Commission
January – March 2013
1.Draft constitution will be submitted in January 2013 to the Constituent Assembly
2. The Assembly will consider the draft constitu‐tion in an inclusive and transparent process, based on the Guiding Principles.
3. The rules for the Constituent Assembly, such as quorum, speaking rights, and voting shall be finalized with the assistance of international ex‐perts prior to the formation of the Constituent Assembly.
Constituent Assembly will consist of representative civil society groups and or‐ganizations that are Fijian‐registered, including faith‐based organizations, na‐tional institutions, political parties, and Government.
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VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4 MOMENTUM
The kind and gracious man has many visitors waiting and piles of paperwork on his desk that requires his atten‐tion, as his is a working office and ministering to millions across the world takes up so much of his time.
But he met with me because he had a message for you:
"Happy Easter to everyone, peace and love to the Chris‐tians and to all," said Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholo‐mew, spiritual leader of millions of the world's Orthodox Christians.
And then he asked me if I cared to take coffee.
"Greek coffee or Turkish coffee?" he said with a smile and a wink. "Medium sweet, correct?"
For political and cultural reasons in the West, the role of Bartholomew is often either ignored or misunderstood in the United States.
He's no mere churchman. He is the direct and 270th suc‐cessor of the 2,000‐year‐old Christian church founded by St. Andrew the Apostle.
The patriarchate has been in this city since the beginning of Christianity and remained after the conquest of Byzantium by the Ottoman Turks. And it held on, des‐perately, through the 20th century, as the anti‐religious Kemalist secularists ran Turkey.
It remained even through the pogroms of the 1950s, as the Greek population here dwindled to a little more than 2,000.
But great change has come to Turkey, and the Tribune has sent me here as witness.
Americans hardly hear of the amazing things that are happening in Turkey, even though it is a nation vital to America's interests.
This is an Islamic nation and a member of NATO, border‐ing Iran, Syria and Iraq. The economy is booming; the people are optimistic and confident. Turkey is building a new identity.
This change hasn't come at the hands of those stridently secular Kemalists.
A politician who was once jailed a few years ago merely for mentioning Islam while reading a poem is now the country's Prime Minister, Recep Erdogan.
Erdogan isn't a theocrat. But the fall of the anti‐religious secularists has allowed some in America to complain that the U.S. should fear what's happening in Turkey. So I thought to ask the patriarch of the tiny minority Ortho‐dox whether Erdogan worries him.
DIALOGUE LESSONS: With faith and hope, Turkey builds a new identity
Any study of Turkey’s history will, as this article from the Chicago Tribune’s John Kass rightly points out , tell of an extremely complicated, diverse and sometimes volatile nation. But positive change has come through economic and democratic reforms driven mainly by intercultural and interfaith dialogues. Key to these efforts are religious leaders who believe in dialogue and use religion to build bridges.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is spiritual leader of millions of the world’s Orthodox Christians.
Photo source: www.globalnewspointer.net
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VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4 MOMENTUM
"These are political questions," Bartholomew said, "but the changes have been extremely positive. Years ago, you couldn't have dreamed of the changes. You couldn't have believed it.
"These are political questions," Bartholomew said, "but the changes have been extremely positive. Years ago, you couldn't have dreamed of the changes. You couldn't have believed it.
"The prime minister has promised to restore properties confiscated from Christians and Jews years ago. He has promised to reopen the Orthodox seminary at Halki, which has been closed for many years.
"Of course, we have concerns in some areas, and there are legal questions remaining, but the Orthodox‐Islamic dialogue has been extremely positive. More positive than I ever would have imagined."
Certainly, this is not some utopia. An alleged coup at‐tempt by the secularist armed forces has led to prosecu‐tions, even of journalists.
But there have been structural changes. For example, where once only a few elite families from Istanbul ruled the economy, business here is now far more democratic,
with a thriving middle class.
A new constitution is being written, distancing the na‐tion from the days when the military, as self‐described protectors of the nation, would routinely topple Turkish governments with coups when things got too democ‐ratic.
How the Turkish parliament grapples with granting rights to minorities, from the Greek Orthodox Church seeking legal status to the large Kurdish population, will deter‐mine how quickly Turkey moves closer to its goal of membership in the European Union.
"It is unimaginable not to have legal status," said the ecumenical patriarch. "We've been here for so many centuries. So this is of concern."
Still, there have been many symbolic changes over the past few years. Here are a few of the easy symbolic touchstones:
Turkish women are no longer harassed for wear‐ing a head scarf.
Turkish television runs Kurdish situation comedies, though 20 years ago the whispered suggestion of programming for the minority Kurds would have landed you in prison, suspected of supporting ter‐rorism.
DIALOGUE LESSONS: With faith and hope, Turkey builds a new identity
Above: Turkey’s current Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has overseen the reforms of Turkish policies
Photo source: www.globalnewspointer.net
Below: The Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary in Turkey
Photo source: www.todayszamah.com
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VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4 MOMENTUM
It is no longer a political kiss of death for a Turkish politician to express faith, something American presidents do with regularity, even if they attend church only during election season.
Yet in every government office and on the walls of build‐ings, you can see posters and paintings glorifying Kemal Ataturk, the brilliant and ruthless nationalist who con‐
sidered religion and multieth‐nic diversity to be enemies as he conceived the modern Turkish state.
There are many reasons for change here, and even a series of general columns can't hope to address them all. It would take volumes written by wiser people who have spent their lifetimes studying this extremely complicated and diverse nation.
But economic and democratic liberalization have gone hand in hand with dialogue, and Bartholomew has been working to build it with an Islamic Turkish theologian who now lives in Pennsylvania, is relatively unknown in America and yet has vast influence here.
His name is Muhammed Fethullah Gulen.
Gulen preaches interfaith acceptance and peace. His followers number in the millions, in Turkey and across the world.
Bartholomew refers to his friend by the affectionate nickname of "Hoja Effendi."
"He builds bridges, and religion should build bridges," said the patriarch.
"This is why we need the dialogues. Not to have religious fanatics who divide people. The idea is to bring people of faith together for the benefit of humankind."
As he spoke, the Islamic call to prayer erupted from a neighborhood mosque outside. The sound filled the pa‐triarch's office.
It echoed and echoed along the walls
DIALOGUE LESSONS: With faith and hope, Turkey builds a new identity
Mohammed Fethullah Gülen (pictured bottom right) has been recognized for his stances for interfaith and intercultural dialogue, for science, democracy and spiri-tuality, and against violence, and turning religion into a political ideology.
He has inspired a worldwide movement with participants setting up dialogue and edu-cational initiatives such as this 2010 Gulen Model of Educa-tion conference in Indonesia (left).
Photo source: www.hizmetmovement.blogspot.com,
www.diyalogcu.wordpress.com
www.dialoguefiji.comMarch 2012VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4Momentum Inside this issue:Mereoni Chung after the Citizen’s Assembly 2012 in Suva where she was elected into the Dialogue Fiji committeePage #Momentum Page #VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4FAST FACTS: Constitution Consultation Process 2012 A quick glance at Fiji’s constitutional consultation process as announced in March by Fijian Prime Minister, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4Momentum DIALOGUE LESSONS: With faith and hope, Turkey builds a new identityVOLUME 1, ISSUE 4Momentum DIALOGUE LESSONS: With faith and hope, Turkey builds a new identityVOLUME 1, ISSUE 4Momentum DIALOGUE LESSONS: With faith and hope, Turkey builds a new identity
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