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A few years ago, I stood in a circle of people from many different walks of life.  Our group ranged in age from 20 to 70, and included people from diverse class and race backgrounds.  The leader of our gathering asked for volunteers to make statements that were true about themselves and step into the center. Then she invited anyone else for whom the statement was also true to step in to join them at the center.  This activity, called ?Common Ground?, was being used as a tool to explore diversity and commonalities within our group.  The statements ranged from lighthearted things (such as ?I love to eat?) to more serious ones (such as ?I sometimes try to control what I do not understand?).  In each case, a mixture of people, of varied colors and ages, seemed to be stepping forward.

This was a keynote address I shared with the Peace Alliance national conference in Washington, DC on March 20, 2009.  It just went live on Vimeo. Ocean Robbins Keynote

A couple weeks ago I completed co-facilitation of a Middle East Jam in Jordan’s exquisitely beautiful southern desert, where 27 young leaders gathered from 14 nations throughout the region for a transformational week. Jam participants built friendships and laid groundwork for vibrant partnerships, and gained support to empower their work for sustainability, peace, localization, community resilience, justice, human rights, interfaith dialogue, social entrepreneurship, youth development and conflict transformation. We met outdoors, and were in a place of deafening silence. We had luscious soft flat sand to meet on, right up against towering pink cliffs that provided shade from the intense sun. It was amazing, and deeply inspiring.

After the Jam I went to Hebron, Palestine, with Tareq, a Jam alumnus who leads nonviolence trainings for Palestinians. I loved the people I met, and was also pretty shocked at the level of brutality and systematic disrespect that is manifest by the Israeli settlers and military there -- it feels like it is beyond security at any price, to the point of at times looking like intentional and systematic dehumanization.

YOUTH PRODUCING CHANGE

a program of Human Rights Watch International Film Festival

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

*Deadline: December 10, 2009

The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival in partnership with Adobe Youth Voices seeks youth-produced film, video and animated works on human rights issues made by youth ages 19 and under for its third annual YOUTH PRODUCING CHANGE program.

A Call for Peace – Unity in our Community

Our Santa Cruz Community is feeling the hurt and divide after the tragic death of 16 year old Tyler Tenorio. In the face of this tragedy, we remind ourselves that if divide and conquer is the strategy that has been used to destroy, then connecting and self-organizing may be strategies for healing and regeneration.

We need to unite as a community and together seek healing and partnership. We need to come together to critically analyze this tragic event and the racial realities that surround it. Together we can answer our community’s immediate need for healing and connection and work towards a long term solution for Cultural, Spiritual, and Economic unity in order to create a safe and healthy community for all of us.

The 2009 Leveraging Privilege for Social Change Jam introduced us to so many amazing people, including Jason Harvey, founder of Oakland Food Connection. Oakland Food Connection focuses on food, community, and culture in Oakland, California. Right after the Jam YES! was excited to partner with Oakland Food Connection, and our hearts and bellies were full when Jason and the OFC team prepared beautiful local organic snackies and dinner for our Global Collaborative Day of Engagement. Mmmmm...