Building the Coexist team at one high school

Today is the final workshop with the 25 faculty and staff members before we bring the students in to join this new team we're forming at East Hartford High School (CT). The educators have spent this school year deepening their understanding of genocide and othering, bystanding and upstanding, retaliation and forgiveness, and practicing new skills (Guided Visualization, Talking Circles, Walk the Wall, Snowball). In the process our Upstander Project team is supporting social emotional learning, cultivating interdisciplinary collaboration among teachers from distinct disciplines, and creating a safe space for learning and discussion that can benefit students. This is all leading up to April 3rd when over twenty students join the Coexist Team. In September 2013 the Upstander Project launched a yearlong pilot project in partnership with EHHS.  The plan: work with the adults in the fall/winter months and invite the students to join us in the spring. The vision: use our documentary film Coexist and the activities in the Teacher's Guide to help the school strengthen its leadership culture with an eye toward making othering socially unacceptable.

What ideas would you like to share that support social emotional learning at your school or in your life?

Metropolitan Film Festival of New York

Coexist has just been awarded an Honorable Mention in the documentary category at the Metropolitan Film Festival of New York!

Through Coexist we want audiences to become activists in their communities. We hope Coexist inspires dialogue with friends, family, and most importantly strangers and the "other". We encourage you to explore our site to learn more about our educational mission that we are working to achieve.

Why Coexist?

When hate persists, how will you coexist? It's a question each of us face in our lives whether dealing with name calling and bullying, teasing and harassment, hate crimes, or even genocide. In the documentary film, Coexist we aim to stimulate discussion among people everywhere about the need to coexist. Coexist, is the evolution of several years of exploration, research, and discussion about reconciliation, coexistence, and peace-building. In our film you will see how genocide survivors struggle to coexist with killers in Rwanda, as targeted killing continues regularly throughout the country.

Survivors & Killers Living Side by Side

Because there are killers and survivors in every village in Rwanda, they must live side by side. This has prompted the government to heavily promote reconciliation programs. We found few people even in the most remote villages who have not heard the government's message of reconciliation. But, as you might imagine, reconciling with a killer who murdered your family is impossible for some people.

The Complexity of Coexistence

We set out to explore the extent of reconciliation in Rwanda. We had seen and heard numerous examples of seemingly stunning success. What we found in our investigation in Rwanda is that many people have been able to rehumanize their former enemies. But healing after such extreme trauma can be a life long effort. Many people simply cannot reconcile. For everyone in Rwanda the ability to simply coexist is imperative. As the country's top official at the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission, Fatuma Ndangiza told us, "Reconciliation is at different levels, some will reconcile others will coexist, and I think as long as it contributes to peace its all welcome."

A Feeling of Peace, as Killings Continue

The country is largely peaceful today. There is little danger for those willing to go about their business and keep quiet. But, some say peace is impossible. Because despite the relative peace murderers continue to kill genocide survivors today. The victims' families told us that survivors are being killed for testifying or preparing to testify against genocide offenders. Sometimes the murderers are related to the genocide offenders, and others are the genocide offenders themselves trying to protect other family members from going to prison.

What's Next?

Follow our progress here and share this story with your family, friends and colleagues. If you've visited our site before you'll find there are many new stories to read, pictures to view, information to check out and opportunities to interact. There are numerous ways to do that which we've outlined across our site. Become a fan on facebook, join our cause, send a link to our video on this page: http://upstanderproject.org, make a donation, tell teachers, professors, and administrators about Coexist.

In the coming months as we work to complete our film we will explore coexistence asking you:

"When hate persists, how will you you coexist?"

--Adam Mazo Director, Coexist

Inside a Rwandan Prison

Kigali, Rwanda Guards armed with semiautomatic weapons struggle to unlock a heavy steel door before finally opening it, unleashing a burst of joyful music from an all male chorus wearing bright orange and pink. A 5-piece band sounding much like Rusted Root tries vainly to excite the crowd full of thieves, killers and orchestrators of the Rwandan genocide. This is the image put forward to visitors by the Kigali Central prison. What goes on beyond the airplane hangar style hall is kept secret.

Among the crowd is Gregoire Nyilimanzi who admits leading thousands of Hutus in his area of Kigali and telling them to kill Tutsis. Unlike most he says that he is to blame for his crimes, not the government. Gregoire says, though the government encouraged killing, he bears the final responsibility for the deaths of more than 10,000 people killed in his sector. He has apologized and confessed with the hope that the government might reduce his sentence. Right now he is facing life in prison. He believes firmly that reconciliation is vital to the future of Rwanda and criticizes those who give false confessions to win early release. Like most he says that the government of unity is helping to lead people to reconcile.

Though he was lower ranking in the detailed and complex power structure, Gregoire takes more responsibility than Amuri Karekezi a former Kigali City Councilor. Karekezi says he has apologized for his crimes and admitted what he did, stoking hatred and dehumanizing Tutsis in the minds of Hutus. But this former government official blames the government for forcing him to commit these crimes. Despite admitting guilt he won't go into detail about his offenses. 13 years after being locked up, he says he has an appeal pending, as indicated by his bright orange short pants and pajama shirt. Karekezi wears a blue and white embroidered Muslim headcap, designer glasses, and blacks socks pulled up high with the word "Friday" at the top. Shoes, scarves, socks, and glasses are the only things prisoners can wear to stand out from one another. The hierarchy is clear loafers, boots, and sneakers like Nike and Adidas seem to separate the upper class prisoners from the others who merely wear flip flops.

Outside the jagged glass topped brick walls of the facility prisoners work continuously. Prisoners in pink and orange spend their days tending to crops in the fields, watering the dirt roads to keep down the dust, and repairing cars. Some carry the same machetes they may have used during the genocide.

As Gregoire points out, there are some killers who haven't changed and he believes some of them are living with impunity abroad. He pleas with foreign governments to hunt down genocide orchestrators so that Rwandans may live without fear.

President Obama's First Action

President Barack Obama's first official act was to sign a presidential proclamation declaring Tuesday, January 20th a "National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation." With this proclamation the President recognizes the value of reconciliation in healing a country:

We are in the midst of a season of trial. Our Nation is being tested, and our people know great uncertainty. Yet the story of America is one of renewal in the face of adversity, reconciliation in a time of discord, and we know that there is a purpose for everything under heaven.

The same can be said for what is happening in Rwanda right now. Rwandans have been facing seasons of trials for decades.

By the hundreds of thousands, neighbors killed neighbors. Now the killers share dinner with survivors. The documentary film Reconciliation's Reach, will show how Rwandan women have become pioneers of reconciliation after genocide. An organization dedicated to rebuilding Rwanda is turning hated neighbors into friends, creating lasting peace in villages around the country. Survivors and perpetrators come together to learn about their past, apologize for their mistakes, and build a future together. This method of reconciliation has the potential to be used around the world.

As President Obama said in his inaugural address:

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

Take action today to join the effort to make this film.