Published Thursday, April 8, 2004.
As social tension and religious extremism continue in the Indonesian islands, Ohio University has made an effort with the University of Indonesia to bring an end to the violence that has been shaking the country.
Fourteen Indonesian academics and professionals will arrive in Athens tonight to begin the Inter-Religious Dialogue Project, constructed by Richard Kraince, special projects manager for the OU Center for International Studies. Tension in Indonesia has erupted sporadically since the nation's transition to a sectarian democracy in 1998, Kraince said. In the midst of this unstable, transitory period, political leaders and extremist groups have attempted to frame local and global issues in terms of a religious power struggle. As a result, entire communities of Christian and Muslim individuals have turned against one another in certain areas, a scenario that has led to thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of misplaced refugees. "These are extremely important issues to discuss today. If Indonesia is going to take its place as a stable democracy, it needs to address these inter-group and interreligion conflicts," Kraince said.
Until April 14, participants in the program will remain in Athens to take part in a conflict-scenario planning workshop with the U.S. Institute of Peace, a government organization that promotes international conflict resolution. They also will observe the Amesville School peer mediation group and attend a meeting with the Christian Peacemakers Team. "Religious issues play an important role in fueling conflict as well as serving as a pathway to peace," said Alan Tidwell of the Institute of Peace. "Participants will be looking at ways to develop alternative futures and considering the way those alternative futures can impact the way they do their jobs.
"After accomplishing these goals, participants will travel to Lancaster, Pa.; Washington, D.C.; Cincinnati, and Chicago. At each destination, the group will convene with Christian and Muslim groups who are attempting to promote interreligious harmony.
Having directly witnessed the horror and pain these conflicts have created on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, Lorraine Aragon, professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, continues to work in both nations to develop peace strategies. Aragon will serve as a linguistic and cultural interpreter at the workshop to help ensure understanding among all participants.
"It is too ambitious to think that any of these smaller programs will completely resolve the problems themselves," Aragon said. "What this will do will give these individuals a chance to gain a broader perspective beyond their own experiences. It allows them to talk in ways that might have been dangerous in their home environment."
The project will be funded by the U.S. State Department through the Office of Citizen Exchanges. To introduce the Indonesian leaders to the Athens community and to expose the public to these issues, a reception will be next Thursday at 4 p.m. in the rotunda of the new Lecture Hall facility.
"These young activists will get to see America as not only the country that went to war with Iraq or the golden country where everything goes right, but they will get to see us as we really are, struggling to solve our own problems," said Elizabeth Collins, director of International Development Studies at OU. "It's important for them. It's important for us. It's just a really exciting thing that's happening right here in Athens, Ohio."
Source: http://thepost.baker.ohiou.edu/Articles/Culture/2004/04/08/4534/
No comments:
Post a Comment