Can Heavy Metal Save the World?

My latest on the way in which Orphaned Land, Israel’s biggest heavy metal band, is transforming relations between Muslims and Jews in the MENA. This is not just an amazing story about what one band is doing, but rather a narrative on how constructive and non-violent social change can take root.

Sometimes change happens in the most unlikely ways, fostered by the most unlikely of people. In the last few years, while Israel’s relationship with the Arab and Muslim world has drastically deteriorated, an Israeli heavy metal band has been uniting thousands of Jews and Muslims across the Middle East.

To read more, click here.

* A longer version of this piece appears in The Jerusalem Post.

When Doves Cry

It is said that wars begin in the minds of men. Considering the people charged with running Israel and Iran today, this is indeed a frightening prospect. But it’s also a chilling insight into the workings of the human mind in general. Why? Because our minds are filled with biases – unconscious and systematic errors of judgment – that make war with Iran an increasing possibility. We are, as psychologist and Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman argues, hardwired to find hawkish arguments more convincing than dovish ones.

Kahneman’s lecture was given in 2006 (the english begins 1:48), but the implication for the current and escalating conflict between Israel and Iran are clear. Below I have selected a number of cognitive biases (not all mentioned by Kahneman) that I believe are influencing the recent bellicose rhetoric emanating from Jerusalem and Tehran. For the sake of familiarity I will concentrate on the Israeli hawkish narrative (you can read a recent example here).

Complexity Matters

In his book “In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong”, (1996) French-Lebanese novelist Amin Maalouf argues that group violence is a consequence of over-simplified “tribal” identities and that its antidote lies in awareness/recognition of self complexity. He notes:

When one sees one’s own identity as made up of a number of allegiances, some linked to an ethnic past and others not, some linked to a religious tradition and others not; when one observes in oneself, in one’s origins and in the course one’s life has taken, a number of different confluences and contributions, of different mixtures and influences, some of them quite subtle or even incompatible with one another; then one enters into a different relationship both with other people and with one’s own “tribe.” It’s no longer a matter of just “them” and “us”. (31)

While Maalouf writes from an anecdotal perspective, recent research by Sonia Roccas and Marilynn Brewer (2002) on social identity complexity lends empirical support to his thesis.

Roccas and Brewer define social identity complexity as the degree of overlap between different elements of one’s identity:

A high degree of overlap means that different elements of one’s identity converge into a coherent whole (low complexity): e.g. a secular liberal who is anti-war, pro-choice, supports gay rights, votes democratic and is environmentally conscious.

A low degree of overlap (high complexity) means that different elements of one’s identity do not easily cohere together: e.g. a religious conservative who is gay, pro-life, proud feminist, has mixture of conservative and liberal friends, watches Bill O’Reilly and John Stewart.

Interestingly, and this is the part that connects to Maalouf’s thesis, what Roccas and Brewer found is that the degree of identity complexity correlates to level of tolerance for out-groups: with higher complexity associated with greater tolerance. This research is in-line with other studies that have shown the pro-social benefits of embracing complexity (Coleman, 2011).

Conflict resolution practitioners would do well in thinking of practices and techniques for increasing people’s awareness of their own identity complexity. Some promising work on identity-based training has been done in this regard (Korostelina, 2007), but the practical potential of this research has yet to be fully realized.

* Also published in ICCCR blog, dedicated to wedding theory, research and practice in the field of conflict resolution.

Awakening to Women: The Nobel Effect

Do women make peace in a different voice? Peter Coleman and I explore some essential peacebuilding lessons culled from the work of recent Noble Peace Prize recipient Leymah Gbowee. As always, if the spirit moves you, please share with your virtual community and leave a comment (criticism welcomed) in the talkback section of the article.

Also, if there was a song that captures the essence of our article it’s this:

Isaac to Sacrifice Abraham?

My good friend Aziz Abu Sarah, regular columnist for 972, published a piece based on a drasha he gave in a synagogue for Rosh Hashana. Its an important sermon that is worth your time. I make a small cameo in the article in which I introduce my dramatic sounding idea that peace calls on all of us – Israelis and Palestinian – to reverse the curse of Abraham: that violent primordial impulse that legitimizes sacrificing children on an ideological altar. I will develop this idea in detail when I have some time to come up for air. Speaking of, readers of this blog will notice that there have been very few post or comments as of late. The reason is that I’m currently holding three jobs and working on two degrees simultaneously. I simply have no time to write, publish or blog. But I will be back. Promise. In the meantime, enjoy and take heart in Aziz’s words.

Turning a Vehicle of War Into an Instrument of Peace

From The Observers.

In the Hebrew Bible it is said that a time of universal peace will see swords turned into plowshares. One Israeli reserve solider, Dror Gomel (36), has decided to reverse the biblical sequence by turning his army vehicle, known as a Nagmash (body of a Centurion tank), into a melodic percussion instrument and a message of peace.

Gomel, a professional percussionist and special education teacher, can be seen in the video, which was shot in southern Israel, playing the front end of his armored car to the delight of his infantry. The words he recites: “No more war, no more bloodshed”, were famously uttered by the late Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the 1978 signing of the peace accords with Egypt.

Gomel posted the video on his facebook page with the comment: “Last week I was on reserve duty. There I met the cream of Israeli society: all kinds, types and colours. People who are willing to give their time to their society. We have a strong and excellent army. And our hand is extended towards peace all the time. I dedicate this video to all my reservist friends wherever they may be.”

Revolution Calling!

Protests are in the air and on the ground, and since protests are a social act, here are two pieces that I co-wrote/prepared dealing with recent social movements in Israel.

The first is a collection of personal reactions from Israelis living abroad to the revolution that is happening in their home country. The piece features Natasha Mozgovaya, Dan Arieli, Joel Schalit, Alon Ben Meir, Kobi Skolnick, myself and others. The piece was published in 972 and co-prepared with my good friend Ami Kaufman.

The second article is co-written with another good friend, Aziz Abu Sarah, and recalls our experience marching together for a Palestinian state in Jerusalem. With everything that’s been happening in Israel, the piece feels a little like yesterdays news (the protest took place July 15 and we wrote this a few weeks back) but it was an important demonstration that should not be forgotten.

Also published in Bahasa Indonesia, Arabic, French, Urdo, and Hebrew.