Where is 3S Working?
The following are just a few examples from different domains of how the Third Side works to head off destructive conflict. While these examples are still exceptions in our modern societies, they suggest what the Third Side could accomplish if one day it became strong and these kinds of interventions became the norm.
We also invite your stories; we realize that these initial stories carry an American perspective and we would like to build a collection of stories from across the globe of the Third Side in action. Please email us at info@thirdside.org
Taking Non-Violent Resistance to Scale: The Case of Ekta Parishad
William Ury, in his book ‘The Third Side’ said, “the underlying cause of conflict usually lies in deprivation of basic human needs…The most basic human needs include food (and other necessities for living), safety, identity, and freedom. Each provides a form of security – economic, physical, cultural, and political. Put more simply, each person wants to feel well, safe, respected and free. If we can help address one or more of these four needs, we can avert much destructive conflict.”
This is exactly what the Ekta Parishad (“Unity Forum” in Hindi), ...
Women and Non-Violent Resistance: The Missing Narrative in Our Evolving Histories
History has been replete with conflict and resistance to oppressive powers. Our memories are inundated with images of burning vehicles, people on the streets throwing Molotov cocktails and gunfire to control such resistance. It is true that violent images are more gripping, hence they are more newsworthy and are covered by the media. They are sensational, striking and such images are usually more easily seared into the minds of the collective psyche.
However, this is only one part of our evolving histories. The other, more ubiquitous and, non-violent versions of such ...
Wings of Change Leading to Schools of Change: Creating Inclusive Communities as a Response to a Tragedy
December 14, 2012 was a fateful day – it witnessed the massacre of twenty elementary school children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut. The perpetrator was twenty-year-old Adam Lanza, with a history of social adjustment issues and severe anxiety. He was later diagnosed with autism, among other mental conditions.[1] Within ten minutes of the shooting commencing, Lanza shot himself. That day, amongst the twenty children that died, one of them was a 6-year-old boy with special needs named Dylan Hockley. He was special, determined ...
Healing Through Apology: The Case of the Canadian Aboriginal Peoples
The systematic approach to “civilizing” the aboriginal peoples and integrating them into the mainstream Canadian society has had far-reaching repercussions that has affected the aboriginal peoples across several generations. The Canadian Government of the 19th century believed that uprooting aboriginal children from their home environments, forcing them to learn English and/or French, discouraging them from speaking their native tongue would go a long way in allowing these children to adopt the “Canadian” ways and adapt better to the mainstream culture.[1] With ...
The Aarhus Way of Combating Radicalization in Communities
The series of terrorist incidents that affected France and other parts of Europe in 2015, starting with the Charlie Hebdo massacre led governments, security agencies, and people to take notice of a seemingly strange phenomenon – one of “homegrown terrorists”. The Charlie Hebdo massacre started with two gunmen attacking the office of the French satirical weekly magazine – Charlie Hebdo - for the cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed on the cover of their November 3, 2011 edition of the magazine. The attack spread across three days from January 7, 2015 to January 9, ...
March of Hope: How Israeli – Palestinian Women Wage Peace
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Hope was lost when talks to resolve the long standing conflict between Israel and Palestine failed in April 2014. This was the first time since President Obama’s tenure commenced, that the conflict was attempted to be directly discussed by the leadership of Israel and Palestine, in an effort to resolve their disputes and bring about peace in their nations. The long standing nature of the conflict has resulted in deeply rooted emotional hostilities as well as extreme political and societal distrust on both sides. The most logical outcome, under the circumstances, ...
The purpose of Protest – A key tool for the Witness and Equalizer: The example of Colin Kaepernick
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It was a bright sunny late August day in Santa Clara California. The stadium was packed with San Francisco 49er fans. The pre-season game was about to begin like any other National Football League (NFL) event – with the singing of the National Anthem. The announcer’s melodramatic voice emerged through the loud speaker, “Would you all please rise and remove your caps for the singing of our National Anthem.” Reverberations rippled through the stadium. All rose. But one.
Colin Kaepernick, once a promising star quarterback with the San Francisco ...
Mosques do the Opposite of Terrorism: They Diffuse Peace and Dialogue
…said Mohmmed ben Mohammed, a member of the Union of the Islamic Communities in Italy, in the aftermath of the bloody attack on the Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray Church near Rouen, about 77 miles away from Paris. Many from the Muslim community in the Rouen region, in France, reached out in solidarity to the victims and the family of those affected. It is in times of crisis that we can distinguish our friends from our foes. It is also in times of crisis that the Third Side principles become so very crucial, that the creative people and communities automatically and ...
In the News
Is War Our Biological Destiny – New York Times, November 11, 2003
Overview of the Third Side in Venezuela – By Gregory Wilpert, February 2003 (English and Spanish Versions)
Mobilizing the Third Side for a Winning Alliance against Violence. Mediate.com September 2007
Communities of Peace in Colombia. www.americas.org November 2003
Helping the 'Negotiation Revolution'. DailyCamera.com December 8, 2002
Teaching About the Third Side. Conflict Management in Higher Education Report October 2002
Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All. The Communication ...
The Third Side is everywhere
In the Family
"One night, my mother and her boyfriend got into a silly argument about where they were going to go out," recounts eighteen-year-old Marquise Johnson, who had been trained as a peer mediator at school in one of Cleveland's toughest neighborhoods. "I had to sit them down. That was the hardest thing because they just stared at me when I told them to sit down. But I said, 'I'm going to help you solve this problem - could you sit down, please?' Afterward, we were all sitting there laughing. I was proud. When I finish college, I want to be a social worker or ...