U Peace Oklahoma City Group: Where do 3rd parties come from?

Today I was invited by Mohit Mukhergee and the University for Peace's Center for Executive Education to give a short workshop on Dramatic Problem Solving. The session was very lively and the forum session brought up some interesting points about the nature of conflict resolution.

The conflict focused on intercultural ignorance that led to stereotyping and harmful accusations. The big question that came out of the forum, deeper than just trying to solve the specific conflict at hand, was where and how do we find viable, neutral, agreeable third parties to solve conflicts between mutually hostile and/or defensive parties? And, how do we get past the initial moments of aggression and defense to reach out to the third parties? What we saw in action was that there are some key necessities: one side remaining calm, asking about feelings, and looking for allies who are not aligned.

Later, we discussed what are the best ways to bridge these kind of divides long-term. I said that the only thing that I have seen work is sustained contact and joint projects between the groups with a mutual goal to achieve. This is what brings people together. It is the only thing that ever has.

I have seen this even in La Carpio where one might think that everyone is in the same boat of slum living. But, the reality is that some have nicer houses, better more stable situations and create in-group and out-group mentalities. Through our Coffee Dance theatre project we were able to create that sustained, goal oriented contact and now groups that were divided work together to make a business viable and grow out of poverty.

Thanks to Mohit for inviting me and thanks to the faculty and students from Oklahoma City University for sharing all their energy today.