Newsletter #199 — January 21, 2024
Reader Suggested Links
Highlighting links suggested by our readers. Please send us links to things that you find useful.
- Israel / Hamas War
Violent Pro-Palestine Demonstrations Are Not a Bug — A look at the complex origins of violent, pro-Palestinian demonstrations and a disturbing argument that they may be being instigated by well-funded national and international provocateurs. - Rule of Law
South African Lawfare at The Hague — An undoubtedly controversial argument that South Africa's genocide charges against Israel are a type of "lawfare" based on allegations that are not supported by sound legal arguments. - Race / Anti-Racism
Black and Jewish Activists Have Allied for Decades. What Now? — One of the more surprising outcomes of the October 7 attack on Israel and the war that has followed is the way in which it has shattered the long-standing alliance between Blacks and Jews.
Colleague Activities
Highlighting things that our conflict and peacebuilding colleagues are doing that contribute to efforts to address the hyper-polarization problem.
- Disinformation
Asking people to “do the research” on fake news stories makes them seem more believable, not less — A new study asked thousands to evaluate the accuracy of news articles — both real and fake — by doing some research online. But for many, heading to Google led them farther from the truth, not closer. - Israel / Hamas War
Oasis of Peace Winter 2023 Newsletter — From Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, on how they are dealing with the war and trying to move both themselves and the prospect of peace forward. - Saving Democracy
The 2023 ABA Frank Sander Award: The House Select Committee on Modernization of Congress — Bruce Patton talks with the Co-Chairs of the Select Committee about what they did to try to make Congress more effective, and reflect on what's working and what is not. - Israel / Hamas War
Difficult Conversations About Israel and Gaza — Suggestions from the dialogue experts, Essential Partners, about how to have a constructive conversation about one of the most divisive issues many of us currently face. - Peacebuilding
An End-of-Year Letter from AFP's Executive Director, Liz Hume — This letter contains an impressive list of all of AfP's activities over the last year with many links for more details about each of them. - Developing a Unifying Vision
Imagination Activism | Phoebe Tickell — An interview with the founder of Moral Imaginations on the role of imagination in activism, the universality of values in human culture, and the crisis of imagination within the current system. - Developing a Unifying Vision
Getting to 3rd Space - Seth Kaplan-Part 1 — Lamar Roth and Tom Klaus from Tenacious Change interview Seth Kaplan, about his book Fragile Neighborhoods, which explains how we can "repair American society, one zip code at a time."
Beyond Intractability in Context
From around the web, more insight into the nature of our conflict problems, limits of business-as-usual thinking, and things people are doing to try to make things better.
- Left / Right Conflict
The Them-vs.-Us Election — This article offers a new, perceptive, and important way of looking at the fault lines that divide our hyper-polarized society. - Political Dysfunction
Death by a Thousand Paper Cuts — An article for those wondering why our institutions never seem to function as intended and why the rebellion against the "administrative state" is so widespread. - Civic Education
The Soul of Civility — A review and brief summary of an important new book exploring the concept of civility and explaining how it can help heal our society. - Social Complexity
How to Thrive in an Uncertain World — For those who have noted our tendency to highlight the complex and uncertain nature of so many ongoing conflicts, a welcome guide for those looking for a way to navigate our uncertain world. - Social Complexity
The World is Falling Apart. Blame the Flukes. — A complexity theory-based look at the origins of our rapidly accelerating cluster of world trouble spots. - Race / Anti-Racism
America Works. DEI Doesn’t. — From the south side of Chicago, and inner-city pastor's look at what it will take to save his community (and how that differs from prevailing progressive policies). - Israel / Hamas War
The Face Of The 'Suffocating Occupation' — From MEMRI and Arab (not Israeli) sources, an eye-opening collection of videos depicting life in Gaza before October 7 -- videos that challenge a great many prevailing stereotypes. - Family / Gender / LBGTQ+
Sex Differences in the Brain and the Mind — From the perspective of neuropsychology, a look at the conflict between what science and what politics has to say about sex differences. - Social Complexity
Economies of Scale, Part III: Power, Inequality, and Dependence — For a time in which big institutions are widely distrusted, a reminder of how much we depend upon the economies of scale that those institutions make possible. - Social Complexity
The Electric Grid Explained In 10 Charts — For those tempted to demonize big energy, charts explaining the complexity of the electric grid that we depend upon for our survival (and the difficulty of the green energy transition). - Left / Right Conflict
Do You Remember the Ecstasy of Electing Joe Biden? — With the 2024 election rapidly approaching, reflections on what happened to the enthusiasm of the Democratic coalition that drove Trump from office. - Social Complexity
Language and Traditions Are Considered Central to National Identity — A report on an extensive series of international polls that tries to help us understand what people think are the core elements of their national identity. - Education
The Harvard of the Unwoke — For those looking for a reasonable, but less "woke" model for 21st century higher education, a report on Ben Sasse's experiment at the University of Florida. - Freedom of Speech
The Truth About Banned Books — A report on a systematic effort to identify political biases in the holdings of K-12 school libraries. - Large-Scale Violence
Putin Is Making His Plans Brutally Clear — An update on the evolving nature of Vladimir Putin's aggressive brand of violent authoritarianism -- something that it seems like we no longer want to bother opposing. - Left / Right Conflict
You Should Go to a Trump Rally — A sensible challenge for those on the left who would like a more accurate understanding of the other side of the political divide. - Race / Anti-Racism
This Is the Actual Danger Posed by D.E.I. — An argument highlighting three major areas in which DEI policies, as currently practiced, appear to violate the law and the core principles underlying democracy - Saving Democracy
Innovating Beyond the Two-Party System — For those looking for an alternative to a Trump/Biden rematch, reflections on how we might escape the two-party system that as left us with such an unpopular choice. - Theories of Change
Slow Change Can Be Radical Change — For those who may be tempted by the allure of rapid, revolutionary change, an argument that a going slow approach can actually be more effective. - Interstate War
As if We Didn’t Have Enough to Frighten Us … — A worrying argument that we may have to add another flashpoint (nuclear-armed North Korea) to our list of global conflicts that may be emerging as the power and influence of the US and its allies declines. - Authoritarianism
'Alarming' surveillance: Feds asked banks to search private transactions for terms like ‘MAGA,’ ‘Trump’ — From the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, documentation of the ways in which the federal government is circumventing unreasonable search protections (something that would incense Democrats if Trump did it).
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