Coming to the Table - Peace Committee Discussion

COMING TO THE TABLE - BYRON BLAND

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TOPIC:  Coming to the Table -- A Curriculum
Polarization is destroying our country.  We need to think creatively about the political community we need to address this crisis.  This curriculum engages you in a new way of thinking about this political challenge.  It does not tell you what or even how to think.  Instead, it identifies critical questions that encourage thoughtful exploration.  It draws heavily from my experiences working with Community Dialogue in Northern Ireland shortly after the Good Friday Agreement was struck in 1998.  Here is the curriculum outline:

Session 1:
  - A Handshake
  - Imagining a Shared Future

Session 2:
  - A Hostile Peace
  - Talking Out our Differences

Session 3:
  - Honoring Sacrifices
  - When Justice Matters

BIO: Byron Bland served as the Associate Director of the Stanford Center on International Conflict and Negotiation and as a Research Associate at the Center for Democracy Development and the Rule of Law.  During his forty-year tenure at Stanford, he was a Lecturer in the School of Law, the School of Education, and the Department of International Relations as well as campus minister for the United Campus Christian Ministry.  Having worked for over 25 years in Northern Ireland and over 15 years in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Byron continues his involvement in both conflicts.  At the tenth anniversary celebration of the Good Friday Agreement that substantially ended the conflict in Northern Ireland, Byron was one of the three Americans invited to participate in the celebration proceedings along with President Bill Clinton and George Mitchell.  More recently, he has turned his attention toward applying what he has learned from this international experience to conflicts now raging in the United States.