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Special Report |
LAST UPDATE July 12, 2005
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| April 21, 2004 |
Global University Unit One |
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| Alyn Ware |
Alyn Ware, a peace activist from New Zealand and guest "Navigator" with the Global University (GU) programme, taught seminars in developing the mediation skills necessary to resolve conflicts with a "Win-Win" solution. Conflicts are often more complicated than simply two different sides with two different viewpoints. Each "side" has truth to their argument, and there is no official "right" or "wrong" says Alyn. Demonstrating the different perspectives of reality conflicting sides can have, the GU students showed a picture to the workshop participants of what could be seen as either an old or young lady, depending on individual viewpoints. With no "right" or "wrong" answers, students emphasised the need to understand that all opinions and sides have equal validity in a conflict.
Using "spectrums" to define what "violence" means to the workshop members, the GU students introduced examples of conflicts before asking participants to stand along a line their represented a sliding scale of varying degrees of violence. Many felt that the examples of physical, verbal and psychological abuse represented violent acts, and that when conflicting sides cannot solve their problem together, mediation is a useful tool. Participants then split into smaller groups to talk about conflicts they were experiencing in their lives, as other participants either role played the opposing side or acted as mediators. With reflection of the arguments and advice offered by the mediators, participants found that their conflicts had many different angles, and that mediation could serve as an effective means to finding a "Win-Win" solution. |
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