Summers are a good time to catch up on reading, reviewing or preparing for what the new academic year may bring. It is a good time to clear out any unwanted materials, articles or books. Sometimes, I find things that I want to keep or share with others. This Dutch documentary titled, “Peace Beyond Borders,” was released in 2011 and would be an insightful source for a college professor teaching a class on East Africa or international mediation.
Thanks to the International Sports Alliance (formerly the Netherlands Sports Alliance), a sport for development and peace, advocacy group whose representatives I met at a conference in Trinidad and Tobago, I received a copy of the DVD. This documentary illustrates how sport can play a role in creating peaceful dialogues and act as a means for conflict resolution by way of getting two sides to the “negotiating table.” The pursuit of peace is a continuous process of refining assumptions and moving towards a compromise which both sides can tolerate.
Among the books, I have kept and continue to refer to is the 1991 work of Thich Nhat Hanh’s “Peace is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life.” I shall not write a book review, but rather recommend it for anyone going through a process of discovery or rehabilitation. There will be those who question definitions or states of peace, but an unknown source stated peace as “it does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.” Definitely not easy to do and sustain.
Explorations in Sport for Development and Peace 