A photo of Padraig O’Malley taken in April 2009. O’Malley has pulled together a conference titled “The Forum for Cities in Transition,” which is being held at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. (Brynmore Williams/GlobalPost)
Divided cities
Opinion: O'Malley's peace efforts help Kirkuk, Belfast, Mitrovica, Nicosia and Beirut see what they can learn from each other.
BOSTON — It is a burning reality in Kirkuk, Iraq — as fresh in the air as the acrid smell of another suicide bombing.
It’s there on Belfast’s Ardoyne Road that severs the Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods.
It’s there on the bridge in Mitrovica that separates the Serbs and Kosovar Albanians.
It haunts the mortar-punched ruins that still lie along the green line in Beirut.
And you still can find it smoldering in some corners of Nicosia, Cyprus.
In every one of these bitterly divided cities, you can hear the arrogant assertion that their conflict, their grievances, their hatreds are unique. They will spend hours telling you all about it.
And Padraig O’Malley will hear none of it.
A towering Irishman with a passion for peace-making, O’Malley has gotten to know these cities enough to know that their hatreds are not unique at all. And O’Malley believes that in discovering that their conflict is not so special, the different sides of these fractured cities can unlock a doorway to understanding.
That is the simple idea behind an important international conference pulled together by O’Malley, “The Forum for Cities in Transition,” which is being held here in Boston at the University of Massachusetts starting today and continuing through Thursday.
“People from divided cities are in the best position to help people in other divided cities,” says O’Malley, a professor of peace and reconciliation at the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
And so he has brought together some 35 leaders, including mayors and city council members and police officials, from all of these divided cities so that they can share in a gathering aimed at learning how cities torn apart by hatred can heal their divisions.
“They share behavioral, political, social and psychological traits not seen in people in more 'normal' societies. And they end up believing that their conflict is special and that there has never been a conflict like theirs. No one can understand, they like to say, except those who’ve lived through it,” O’Malley explains.
Recent on Worldview:
Opinion: China has a President Hu, now Europe chooses President Who?
Michael Goldfarb - Worldview - November 20, 2009 21:12 ET
The process of elimination that led to Van Rompuy's appointment represents all that is institutionally wrong with the European Union.
Opinion: Silenced in the Sahara
Timothy Kustusch - Worldview - November 20, 2009 10:52 ET
"Saharawi Gandhi" was expelled from the Western Sahara and is now on hunger strike.
Opinion: How to finance the war in Afghanistan?
C.M. Sennot - Worldview - November 20, 2009 06:32 ET
A question that, for Obama, is likely to hit home all the way over there in China.
Opinion: How best to get things done in Afghanistan and elsewhere
Mort Rosenblum - Worldview - November 19, 2009 12:35 ET
Or, the art of speaking loudly behind a door firmly closed.
Opinion: In France, l’Etat is no longer moi
Mort Rosenblum - Worldview - November 17, 2009 06:41 ET
Dodging corruption charges and facing jail time, French leaders go out of their way to give Louis XIV a bad name.
International visitors buoy US tourism industry
Susan E. Reed - Worldview - November 15, 2009 09:30 ET
Despite dreary economic times, a favorable exchange rate beckons foreign tourists to the majestic Grand Circle and beyond.
Opinion: Everyone missed signs of change in eastern Europe
Tom Fenton - Worldview - November 14, 2009 16:43 ET
While reporters did not foresee the fall of the Berlin Wall, the on-the-ground reporting was important.
"Damned United" and the tragedy at Leeds
Mark Starr - Sports - November 13, 2009 21:56 ET
A genuine soccer movie tells the story of Brian Clough, the greatest soccer coach in England to never coach the national team.
Opinion: Nigeria proposes reform of oil industry
John Campbell - Worldview - November 12, 2009 15:39 ET
President Yar'Adua puts forward new legislation but it looks unlikely to effectively reform the industry.
Opinion: Stuck in neutral?
Michael Moran - Worldview - November 12, 2009 06:42 ET
Some Europeans who steered clear of the Cold War may be wavering 20 years later.
The European School: a microcosm of EU integration
William Echikson - Worldview - November 11, 2009 19:32 ET
Czech and Slovak students don't dwell on their countries' communist past.
.jpg)
Opinion: How history's first draft got it wrong
Michael Goldfarb - Worldview - November 11, 2009 12:34 ET
The fall of communism in eastern Europe was not, as Francis Fukuyama wrote, "the end of history."
Opinion: Gay rights go global
Peter Tatchell - Worldview - November 11, 2009 09:22 ET
Homophobia still rules much of the world, but gay people are winning gains in nearly every country.
How 'bout them apples?
C.M. Sennott - Worldview - November 11, 2009 08:24 ET
The U.S. can't compete with China's cheap labor costs and mega orchards in the global apple trade.
Opinion: How consumer choices can drive environmental change
Stephan Faris - Global Green - November 10, 2009 11:38 ET
When businesses realize that eco-friendly alternatives will help their bottom line, they take action.
Opinion: Incorporating lessons from Iraq
Mort Rosenblum - Worldview - November 10, 2009 06:55 ET
Rather than destroying a country in order to save it, turn to the hard slog of nation-building.
.jpg)
Opinion: The day after the Wall fell
Michael Moran - Worldview - November 9, 2009 17:55 ET
The fears of Germany and its neighbors in 1989 have largely been resolved by 2009.
Opinion: ALS, Lou Gehrig and Michael
Mark Starr - Worldview - November 8, 2009 10:16 ET
How one man's struggle with ALS called on Major League Baseball to take a stand.
Opinion: "Old fox" Mugabe outwits others
Douglas Rogers - Worldview - November 8, 2009 09:56 ET
Power-sharing government achieves some improvements but Mugabe still rules with iron fist.
Opinion: Why sanctions aren't the answer for Iran
Joel Brinkley - Worldview - November 6, 2009 15:45 ET
America needs to understand that punitive measures aren't going to keep Iran in check. Not when Russia and China have a lot to lose.
Watch GlobalPost videos:
Reporter's Notebook
It's straight out of Orwell. The Cuban government of Raul Castro has kept up the repression of the Cuban people through a Criminal Code known as...Read more >
Making peace is hard work. And there are few in the world who pursue it with the relentlessness and entrepreneurial spirit of Padraig...Read more >
The call came too early for President Obama on the Nobel Peace Prize. In fact, it was precisely 6 a.m. when President Obama was awoken by his press...Read more >
Featured: Special Projects
After the Fall:
20 years since the Berlin Wall came down
Life, Death and the Taliban:
Videos and stories
Study Abroad:
Students report from the road
Living in the Shadows:
An intimate look at China's migrant workers
A World of Trouble:
The global economy in 20 hotspots
Global Blogs:
Comments:
No Comments.
Login or Register to post comments