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Perspectives

In a fast-changing world, the challenges we face - postmodernism, quick changes, uncertainty, complexity, fake news - call for a generous lens in viewing identity, society, and inequality. Embracing fluid identities, contested societies, and the pursuit of equality through dignity and respect are crucial. Discrimination's historical atrocities emphasize our shared humanity, while peace-building and reconciliation demand trust and inclusivity. Let's explore these pressing issues and strive for a shared, peaceful future.

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Perspectives

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  1. Perspectives

  2. The world is a fast changing place

  3. The presenting Challenges • Context - postmodernism • Unpredictability – quick changes • Uncertainty – what is the absolute? • Complexity – competing narratives • Ambiguity – fake news!

  4. Practically speaking • On average, by the time they are 32 - a Millennial will have changed jobs 4 times

  5. My (limited) challenge in the 1970s was what car would I buy?

  6. Perspectives or viewing things and people through a lens of generosity.

  7. One triangle is bigger.. Which one is it?

  8. The facts – We live in a world full of broken-ness, one which lacks generosity

  9. What do you see_

  10. Perspective depends on where you stand • What needs to change?

  11. Michael Wardlow # 0424653Lanesboro Correctional InstitutionP O Box 280Polkton, NC 28135 USA

  12. Identity is not fixed Identity is fluid Identity is plural/multiple

  13. Identity can be perceived as well as owned Identity can be a proxy

  14. Emerging from the past is a journey not a destination

  15. Where we came from

  16. A contested society • no shared sense of identity • No shared sense of traditions • loyalties which are exclusive and unlikely to accommodate difference

  17. In contested societies the boundary between people is defined as much by silence as by argument • This has often been outworked in • Avoidance • Polite indifference • Limited dialogue and action

  18. Peace Walls exist

  19. The hardest wall • The walls of the mind.

  20. "The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public area, but the small clearing in each heart.“ Yann Martel, The Life of Pi

  21. A stable society • people sharing a common sense of identity. • high degree of support accorded to state institutions and the institutions of law and order.

  22. The Challenge – how?

  23. “Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won't come in”. • Alan Alda

  24. What do you see? • How many “F” s? • FINISHED FILESARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS

  25. What do you see? • Finished Filesare the result oF years oFscientiFicstudy combined with the experience oF years • 6

  26. We hope to move into a Shared Future.. the question is - what type? • "Our aim is for a normal civic society, where • individuals are considered equals • diversity is respected and • where violence is an illegitimate means to resolve differences, • but where differences are resolved through dialogue in the public sphere”.

  27. The hard questions • What are we willing to share? • Who are we willing to share with? • What are the terms for that sharing to take place? • What are we going to do about it?

  28. Equality? • Core to peace building and sharing space

  29. All human beings are entitled to equal respect • Equality of opportunity is an entitlement that derives from our inherent humanity • Nobody is just an economic unit whose dignity, value or rights are determined or measured in terms of contributions to the economy

  30. Difference is a source of richness not the basis for unfair treatment • Treating everybody as if we were all identical is neither the meaning nor the measure of equality • The persistence of inequalities diminishes us all.

  31. Aspiration. People should be treated with dignity and respect • Application. This is mediated through them being treated fairly and equally

  32. Is not rocket science! • “If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility” • HW Longfellow

  33. Discrimination – Nothing new • General Ran Min ordered the extermination of all people with racial characteristics of high-bridged nose and bushy beards during the fourth century AD and 200,000 were reportedly massacred.

  34. In the 13th century Jews were removed from many countries across Europe. • In the last century, Death camps,– Jews, LGB, Communists, those with mental impairments. • Pol Pot’s killing fields, Amin’s Uganda, Rwanda and Europe more recently the Middle East.

  35. “The children were taken to one side of a meadow and told to race back to their mothers. With their mothers and grandparents forced to look, the captors shot the children as they ran” Dame Sue, describing what had happened in 1999 in a site in Kosovo where she identified bodies. About 1,300 children were killed during the war

  36. Equality experiences • In the past 6 years • 24,500 contacts • 2,000 applications • 500 strategic cases • Top Disability, sex/gender, race

  37. “Peacebuilding and reconciliation are slow, painstaking, often expensive trust-building exercises whose impact must be evaluated across decades.” Andy Pollak How does Cross-Border co-operation contribute to Peace Building in Ireland?

  38. This journey ….. • It is a battle for hearts as well as minds • So is about people as well as structures • It is about law as well as attitude • It is about taking risks for peace!

  39. Challenge! • The ultimate measure of a wo/man is not where s/he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where s/he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

  40. Education is important... Why? • Plays a key role in determining a person’s life chances – social and economic mobility, sharing space.

  41. Education? • E- ducere: to train or to mould • E- ducare: the draw out

  42. Why? • “It is hard to escape the conclusion that educating children of different backgrounds together has the potential to reduce fears and tensions between communities that are founded on ignorance” Every Child an Equal Child EC 2008

  43. Therefore • The Commission recommends a move to system of education which routinely teaches all children together via a shared curriculum in shared classes, in support of better advancing a shared society.

  44. Why advance sharing? • Societal mixing and social cohesion is limited by separation, including in educational provision • Educational sharing, if meaningful and substantive has a key role in advancing a shared society

  45. Why Share? • Cultural hypothesis –two different views of separate cultures taught • Social Hypothesis –separation reinforces difference and ignorance of “the other” • In NI - early drive was to reduce segregation not increase integration • Basis was “contact theory” (1954) • No developed pedagogy and no desire for a new system ESRC-GCRF 2018

  46. Why share? Educational caseResearch evidenceSocietal caseFinancial case ESRC-GCRF 2018

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