Four Screenings and Scores of New Friends

Yesterday, at the Youth Summit we screened the film to a group of thirty youth from all over North America, as well as Kenya.  I posted seven questions on the walls of the room and asked the youth to "walk the walls" and decide which question most resonated with them.  Each wrote their name on the sheet of the question that tugged at them.  The groups were unevenly sized: two, four, seven, six.  Then they got into seven small groups to share their perspectives on these questions: -are human beings inherently violent?

-are some people born killers?

-who stands to benefit/lose from forgiveness?

-is evil intrinsic to some individuals and if so, is it a waste of time to forgive them?

-how might you judge the sincerity in a perpetrator's confession?

-what do you think of the statement that students in Rwanda are the same as students in the U.S., except that they lived through a different situation and faced different moral decisions?

-what do you think about this statement: the widow who reaches out to her husband's murderer is an expression of empathy not just for her loss but also for the loss of the perpetrator's moral humanity.

Their discussions were rich and several groups did not reach agreement.  They reported out in the remaining time and we had to wrap it up.  One of the young men is from El Salvador and we got to talk my research with Salvadorans many years ago, and the ways he feels pulled between non-violence and his families historic ties to the FMLN.  It was a very real and wrenching conversation.

Early Saturday afternoon, political scientist Cynthia Enloe (Clark University) described her focus on the post-war reality of Iraqi women and U.S. women.  She talked about injured soldiers and the women who care for them, and the impact this care has on the lives of the women, and how men's stories of war influence women's stories of war.  She called this the gendering of injury of war.  Cynthia ended her talk by saying that the privileging of men's war stories, the submerging of women's war stories, women's role caring for injured men, and the use of violence against women in war form the perfect patriarchal seed bed for the next war.

Carolyn Nordstrom, anthropologist from the University of Notre Dame, talked about the fault lines that constitute the zones of vulnerability that are often invisible.  She described a fourteen year old girl from a war zone in Angola: she was shot as a child, lives on the street with other children, they care for each other, have clear rules about sharing and looking out for one another.  Their motto is "let's not turn into Brazil; let's change this before Brazil happens here."  Carolyn examines the extra legal activity that constitutes 1/3 of the world's economy: smugglers, drug traders, money launderers, dealers in guns and body parts, which all told generate over $2 Billion that are not accountable to anyone.  About one-tenth of the world's economy is being laundered at any given moment.  Meanwhile, 12 million children are forced to work in the sex industry every year, and 218 million children work illegally, mostly in agriculture.  The informal economy is beginning to eclipse the formal economy, and the profits are used to grow political power and impunity.  There is a global ideology that says this is okay, and this is a major fault line on our planet.  Societies built on fault lines collapse.

Today (Saturday), we got an extra opportunity to screen the film for students from Roanoke College in Virginia. We will set up a screening on campus in the spring.

In the afternoon, we screened Coexist again for 47 Conference participants -- mostly college professors and activists.  Three of the Conference keynote speakers joined us: Cynthia Enloe, Carolyn Nordstrom, and Catherine Morris of the University of Victoria.  We were asked many more questions than we had time to answer, and most importantly, we made new friends and contacts, many of whom asked for copies of the film and the Viewer's Guide.  One professor said his students are in ROTC and they need to see Coexist.  Another professor said this kind of violence permeates our inner cities in the U.S.  Someone else suggested that the film be used in Israel and Palestine to teach about coexistence.  Some viewers said they love the film's complexity, others its relevancy and power.  We were VERY pleased.   After the screening, we met George Lahey from Swarthmore who encouraged our work, and many other pillars and pioneers of the peacebuilding and peace education movements of North America.  We are thrilled to have attended the Conference and already have an idea for our next film!  Stay tuned!

--Mishy Lesser, Learning Director for Coexist

Learning what it means to be a Winnipegger

Day 2 in Winnipeg at the Peace & Justice Studies Association Conference Elders from Winnipeg's Indigenous Community led us in an opening ceremony at Thunderbird House, a beautiful, round sacred space for dialogue that is home to many gatherings and activities of native peoples.  We learned of the push to create a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada to investigate the severe childhood sexual abuse suffered by elders (when they were children) who were forced into religious schools.  If you saw the film Rabbit Proof Fence about similar atrocities in Australia, you'll know what I am referring to.  As we walk the streets of Winnipeg I am struck by the suffering of the aboriginal people of this land.  They seem disproportionately poor, homeless, and jobless.  We also see the signs of great spiritual suffering, as evidenced in alcohol and drug abuse.  Chief Ovide Mercredi of the Misipawistik First Nation and Swampy Cree Tribal Council challenged the conference attendees, asking "where were the peace activists when the Canadian government flooded our lands and ancestral cemeteries just a few decades ago?"  He talked about the violations of treaty and the Canadian government's seizure of tribal wealth.  This is the context for the Conference and for our screenings of Coexist.

We dashed from the Opening Plenary to Gordon Bell High School, the most diverse school in Winnipeg and the province of Manitoba.  It is a middle and high school.  Two high school teachers invited us to screen the film.  One of them teaches English, the other World Issues.  About thirty students crowded into a very cold classroom (they've yet to turn on the heat in the school).  One of the teachers, Mark, introduced us and he reminded the students of their viewing of "Hotel Rwanda" a couple of years ago.  A couple of the students knew the essentials about the Rwanda genocide. We showed the film and some of the students were visibly moved.  Mark gave them a moment to reflect on what they'd seen.  Then Adam got up for Q&A, and pointed to Rwanda on a globe that was conveniently sitting on Mark's very crowded desk.  Then the students asked Adam a couple of questions: why did you make the film?  how did you feel when you went to Rwanda where you heard all these stories?  There was an interesting exchange as Adam talked about filming Grace when she began to cry, and then her translator began to cry.  Adam didn't know what she had said but could feel her pain, and only learned later about the details of her story.  He talked about standing out as a white man in Rwanda, and said he imagined everyone in the room knew what it was like to stand out in ways you don't want to.

Then Adam turned it over to me and I pointed to South America on the globe, and said that I, too, had traveled far from home to learn more about myself and the world.   I asked the students to help me make a list of all the "People of Coexist" who were featured in the film.  I recorded the names on the blackboard and then asked the students to define the word compassion.  We agreed that compassion is the capacity to feel concern for someone else's pain and suffering.  Then I asked them to find a buddy and share with one another who they feel the most compassion for.  Many chose Grace, a few selected Agnes, one chose Alexander, and another Domitilie.  Then I asked the students to think about a question they might ask that person and an experience they might share with them.  And then we were out of time and had to dash to Rice Hall (University of Winnipeg) for our meeting with the Youth Summit.

No sooner did we arrive than we got a text message telling us that the youth were running thirty minutes late, and that the entire conference was off schedule.  This was a stroke of luck, as the technical problems that faced us were hefty and we needed time and help to solve them.  We thought we'd found the right cord for the right laptop, and were all set.  And then the youth arrived and we started the film, and found that the sound was scratchy and the image cut off.  So Adam and Mishy had our first experience of Improv.  As Adam worked with Michelle from the adjacent office to save the day, I spent half an hour engaging the youth in a conversation about the film, its purpose, the afternoon workshops they had, the plenary we missed, and their experience as facilitators.

It's been such a busy day we're even blogging this right now as the Youth Summit participants watch the film.

One more screening still ahead tomorrow for the adults!  And now more than ever we need to get our own equipment to avoid the kind of uncomfortable and awkward situation we faced today.

-Mishy Lesser, Learning Director for Coexist

Just Touched Down in Winnipeg

Adam and I braved the head winds this morning and made our way to Western Canada where, starting tomorrow, we will screen Coexist at the Peace and Justice Studies Association Annual Conference.  This is PJSA's 8th Annual Conference and this year's theme is "Building Bridge, Crossing Borders: Gender, Identity, and Security in the Search for Peace."  We will screen the film three times: once at the conference for academics, K-12 teachers, and practitioners; at a high school in Winnipeg; and at the Conference's Youth Summit. The sun is still shining through the afternoon clouds and we will go explore the city, and register for the Conference.  From the little we have seen, the city spreads out quickly and spills into plains.  Adam said it certainly lacks the congestion of a typical US east coast city.  We are near the land of the Misipawistik Cree Nation.  Our taxi driver was Sikh, we passed a Greek/Jamaican Restaurant, a Hindu Temple, and the hotel staff are South Asian.  In other words, Winnipeg appears to be a multicultural city.

More tomorrow, as we are off to meet James from the Youth Summit.

Mishy Lesser, Upstander Director

Coexist accepted by Artivist Film Festival in Hollywood

We're excited to share some great news. Coexist has been accepted by the 2010 Artivist Film Festival. Our documentary will screen during the festival at the historic Egyptian theater in Hollywood, California. The festival runs from November 30th-December 4th. Our screening date is TBA. What's Artivist?

"The success of ARTIVIST can be attributed to its ambitious vision: “ARTIVIST” is the 1st international advocate film festival dedicated to addressing Human Rights, Children’s Advocacy, Animal Rights and Environmental Preservation through film and music. Its mission is to strengthen the voice of international advocate artists – “Artivists” – while raising public awareness for social global causes. In addition, Artivist has screened impressive LA and World Premieres in the past 6 years, such as the internationally recognized “Super Size Me”, “Fast Food Nation”, “Born Into Brothels”, “Trudell”, “Emmanuel’s Gift”, narrated by Oprah Winfrey, and dozens more. “Super Size Me” and “Born Into Brothels” received OSCAR nominations, making Artivist a top choice for filmmakers to screen their L.A. Premieres."

Screening Event!

On Tuesday, July 13th join us in Boston for the first public rough cut screening of Coexist. The film is nearly complete and this will be the last chance to see it before our premiere later this year. Coincidentally this is also the date that we departed for Rwanda last year to shoot Coexist. So much has happened since that day we traveled to the other side of the world with our project and in Rwanda. Everyone is welcome to join us on Tuesday to see what we've been working on all this time and have a discussion about transforming conflict, Rwanda, and documentary filmmaking. I hope to see you then.

-Adam Mazo, Director of Coexist

Here are the details:

Tuesday July 13th at 7pm

Temple Israel-Boston

477 Longwood Ave

It doesn't happen overnight

At this moment in April with the Rwandan genocide hours from erupting, the reasons hundreds of thousands of innocent people would be slaughtered were not clear to outsiders. 16 years later it is clear the killings didn't break out because of a lone spark, or a plane crash. What prompts thousands of people to dehumanize their neighbors to the point that they can kill them? In many cases individuals just like you and me came to view their neighbors as somehow less than human, as the "other." The 1994 genocide was the result of decades of dehumanization. It doesn't happen overnight. Dehumanization is not unique to Rwanda. Check out the news and you'll learn about a 15 year-old Massachusetts teen bullied incessantly until she committed suicide. As Rwandans mark the anniversary of the genocide tomorrow, several of Phoebe Prince's classmates will be called to court to face criminal charges. The reporting suggests many people witnessed the teasing, bullying, and "othering" of Phoebe and failed to act. Reading the words of those closest to Phoebe you might realize they didn't even recognize how tormented she was. The insults and harassment escalated over many months either unnoticed or unreported, until she snapped. It doesn't happen overnight.

In our documentary film, Coexist we'll explore how Grace and Agnes , two women who are different in nearly every way try to move forward. Both suffered immeasurably during the Rwandan genocide. Agnes lost her husband, 3 children, and her dignity. Grace lost her parents and her sister-- her entire family. They both struggle with the reality of living with their trauma and living among killers who slaughtered their relatives. They are forced to figure out how they can possibly face this unfathomable situation. 16 years later, it's clear: it doesn't happen overnight.

-Adam Mazo, Director-Coexist -5 April 2010

Thank You!

We are truly thrilled to announce that Coexist has earned two major grants, beginning with a $25,000 challenge grant coming from the Germeshausen Foundation. The Boston-based foundation supports Harvard's Women and Public Policy Program, Boston's PBS affiliate WGBH-producer of shows including FRONTLINE, Yale University, and Peace Games. Matching a portion of that challenge is the Mass Humanities. Their board voted to fully fund our proposal for the maximum grant amount of $10,000. All of this serves to bring us much closer to completing our documentary film Coexist and continuing our work in the community to transform conflict in the lives of young people across Boston, the U.S. and the world. Finishing our film does not mean our work ends. Our team will be taking the film to schools, community groups, faith groups, homes and backyards to engage you in conversations about transforming conflict. We're crafting plans now to make that happen and measure just how big our impact is. These foundations have told us that their support is a result of the work we are already doing in schools. This is a team effort. We look to you to connect our communities making sure that students, teachers, parents and everyone facing conflict knows about Coexist and becomes involved. Watch our clips here on the site, tell friends, suggest they become fans on facebook, sign up for our mailing list, donate today! Tell us how we can help you in your community. We are here to work with you, so let's continue the conversation!

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