Global conflicts have an immediate impact on our campus communities. How can we understand and manage the historical wounds of global conflicts so as to be able to discuss current conflicts without confrontation?

On November 11, 2002, the Centre for Human Rights and Equity hosted a seminar on Global Conflict: Community Peace. This event was the first of a series of initiatives at York endeavoring to create an atmosphere and to promote the necessary skills for respectful, thoughtful discussion on issues surrounding global conflict.

The goal of the seminar was to facilitate the development of constructive ways to discuss global conflict. Recognizing that global events have an immediate impact on our campus communities, the session was designed to explore how we can best work with each other, without confrontation, whether we are active in a student club or leading discussions in the classroom. Speakers Anne Goodman and Jehad Aliweiwi brought their academic and activist experiences to their shared focus on the community. Discussion focussed on generating strategies that can be used to successfully share information and have discussions about conflict while maintaining the integrity of York as an educational institution dedicated to a respectful learning environment.

Anne Goodman, who comes from South Africa where she was active in the anti-apartheid struggle, has a Ph.D. in peace education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). Her areas of research, teaching and practice include peace and reconciliation in Africa, peace education, trauma healing and reconciliation, the culture of peace, nuclear issues, and ethnic identity and conflict transformation. She is currently Esau Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Winnipeg, and has also taught at McMaster University and OISE. She has a long history of peace and environmental movement activism and was a member of the National Working Group for the International Year for the Culture of Peace.

Jehad Aliweiwi is currently Regional Director of Catholic Cross-Cultural Services. He has a substantial career as a community activist first at York where he was a leader of the Arab Students Association, and subsequently as the Executive Director Canadian Arab Federation. He has worked to facilitate dialogue and peace among and between communities.

The event was co-sponsored by the Centre for Human Rights and Equity, York Federation of Students, Graduate Students Association, Office of Student Affairs, Sexual Assault Survivors Support Line, Centre for the Support of Teaching, York International and CPM Association.