On Saturday April 6th I attended day 2 of the 2019 International Conference on Conflict Resolution Education in Graves hall on the Ohio State University’s campus. I was unable to attend day 1 due to classes. The conference was from 8:30am to 4:30pm. I attended this event because I have an interest in social justice and I am eager to learn about the ways I can contribute to the field. I attended 4 workshops. They were “Conflict Resolution for the 21st Century” by Rodney Chatman, “Youth and Peace Informal Education – Experiences from the Far East and North Africa” by Khaled Emam, “Supporting Ex-offenders: Creating Community with College Social Systems” by Heidi Arnold, “Effective Activism: Mapping Tactics and Strategies, Allies and Opponents” by Michael Loadenthal.

In the “Conflict Resolution for the 21st Century” workshop, Chatman drew from his time in the armed forces and as the police chief of Dayton to explain the best ways to handle conflict. Chatman started by addressing what we all bring into conflict, bias. If we acknowledge this bias it will be easier to make progress towards resolution. We also need to acknowledge the emotions we bring with us and experience during conflict. When we do this, we can form a point of connection. To solve a conflict effort needs to be exerted by both sides. Both sides need to be present and respectful, using indicators like tone, proximity, and active listening. Additional ways to progress towards resolution during a conflict are labeling emotions, giving an item to someone to stimulate reciprocity, open-ended questions, and minimal responses to encourage continuation of explanations. I sincerely enjoyed this workshop. Chatman was engaging, funny, and insightful. I learned skills I will apply to my everyday life and that will be extremely applicable to my professional career and how I conduct myself in the workplace. I even got to practice these skills when I volunteered to be involved in a 1 minute debate.

In the “Youth and Peace Informal Education – Experiences form the Far East and North Africa” workshop, Emam shared the recent history of Egyptians and their conflict with their government. He played videos and spoke about the peaceful protests in response to brutal violence. Egyptians largely remained peaceful even when they were gunned down and beaten in the streets. Emam focused on the actions of Egyptian youth. Egyptian youth make up a majority of Egypt’s population, 60 percent. Because young Egyptians make up such a large percentage of the population, Emam decided to focus on children to develop peace in the region. Emam ran a program in which he brought together Muslim and Christian families. Once brought together the families would spend time together eating, performing tasks, and doing recreational activities. The tension between the two religious groups represented faded away by the end of the program. During this workshop I became more informed about a topic I was previously ignorant about. I am fascinated by the bravery displayed by the Egyptians. It is amazing that they have the strength to largely remain peaceful in the face of such awful violence. It reminds me of Martin Luther King Jr. and his commitment to nonviolent action and civil disobedience. At the end of the workshop Emam had us discuss if nonviolence is effective in relation to violent action. My answer was yes. In order for long lasting peace to occur violence must not be the main contributing factor to that peace. I based my answer off of circumstances similar to the conflict in Egypt. These included nonviolent protest and civil disobedience by Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

In the “Supporting Ex-offenders: Creating Community with College Social Systems” workshop Arnold shared her experience teaching communications at the Dayton Correctional Facility and how that has shaped her outlook on ex-offenders and their re-entry to society. Arnold and a panel of ex-offenders shared the extremely difficult process of re-entering society upon release from prison. Once released from prison ex-offenders must find housing and employment quickly. This is hard to do without social support. The panel of women shared their experiences with this process and the difficulties they faced. They faced very high obstacles to achieving a stable and happy life. Job opportunities were very slim. Even with masters degrees these women could not find jobs to match their professional skill level. Student loans weighed them down. Illnesses like cancer confined them further. Adjusting to a new kind of motherhood was draining. The panel of ex-offender women were strong in the face of this adversity, they decided to help other ex-offenders even though they are struggling greatly. They were brave to share the intimate details of their lives. They were kind, open, and understanding. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to have a discussion with these women. They have impacted how I view those around me, the justice system, and my future career.

The last workshop I attended was “Effective Activism: Mapping Tactics and Strategies, Allies and Opponents”. In this workshop Loadenthal detailed many tactics that are useful for nonviolent action in activism. The goal of these tactics were to create a liability or crisis and then shift the responsibility to your target. Some tactics he mentioned were: blockades, arson, exposing, public shaming, and mapping allies and opponents through social media. Loadenthal mainly used these tactics to target domestic terrorist groups that promote white supremacy. He is very successful in finding their public communications online and exposing them to employers through public images and social media. Throughout this presentation I was confused why he had gathered all of this data and the FBI had not. The data Loadenthal collected indicated serious threats on public safety. I asked him about this and he told me the FBI is aware of these threats but they do not hold them to the same level of importance as foreign terrorism. This was very alarming. It has inspired me to look further into this line of work, data collection and analyzation, and to seriously consider it for my future.