Making Peace Visible

When India-based reporter Amy Yee got a call from her editor to cover a press conference with the Dalai Lama, she stopped what she was doing and booked the next flight. She was headed for Dharamsala, where the Buddhist leader and thousands of Tibetan refugees make their home. It was March 2008, and the Dalai Lama was responding to violence in Tibet, where demonstrations against Chinese rule led to a government crackdown. At least 120 people had died, mostly ethnic Tibetans. On that first visit to Dharamsala, Yee was struck by the throngs of Tibetans protesting peacefully in the streets. She was also surprised when the Dalai Lama approached her after the press conference, asked if she was Chinese, and embraced her in a warm hug. A few months later, Yee quit her job at the Financial Times and moved to this small city in the foothills of the Himalayas as a freelance reporter. She writes that “Dharamsala is more than an ethnic enclave; it’s a unique microcosm of a culture fighting for survival.” Her new book, Far from the Rooftop of the World: Travels among Tibetan Refugees on Four Continents follows the stories of ordinary Tibetans who have lived extraordinary lives. It also documents this community in exile: its education system, self-expression, and non-violent resistance. In this second episode in our series on refugees and immigration, we take a look at what it means to build a new life, when you may never be able to go home; and how Tibetans have forged their own path in India and elsewhere. Music in this episode by Joel Cummins, One Man Book, and Podington Bear ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

“Humans are not rational beings with emotions. In fact, we're just the opposite. We're emotionally based beings who can only think rationally when we feel that our identities, as we see them, are understood and valued by others.”Those words from neuroscientist Bob Deutch triggered a lightbulb moment in the mind of Tim Phillips, a veteran peacebuilder and educator. This is what the field of conflict resolution had been missing: a science-based understanding of how the human brain works in conflict situations. Over the past twelve years, Phillips has worked with neuroscientists and psychologists to integrate brain science into research and practice at Beyond Conflict, the peacebuilding organization that he founded in 1991 and where he serves as CEO. In this conversation, we focus on Beyond Conflict’s research on dehumanization. If you perceive another person or group as less than human, it’s much easier to justify violence against that group or person. Dehumanizing rhetoric – like describing people as animals or vermin – is often a precursor to violence. But Phillips says if we can identify signs of dehumanization early on, we can make changes to decrease the likelihood of violent conflict. Phillips and host Jamil Simon also discuss the difference between fear and disgust – both motivators of conflict that are each processed differently in the brain and require different interventions. Plus, how Beyond Conflict has applied this research to create media interventions in Nigeria and the United States. And, how journalists can utilize knowledge of how the brain works to reach more people and avoid incitement. LEARN MOREWatch the video “America’s Divided Mind” by Beyond ConflictRead key takeaways from Beyond Conflict’s research on dehumanizationRead Beyond Conflict’s Decoding Dehumanization policy brief Listen to our episode with psychologist Donna Hicks: “Dignity: A new way to look at conflict”Watch “How to Grow Peace Journalism” webinars from the George Washington University Media and Peacebuilding Project. Presentations from Making Peace Visible host Jamil Simon, education director Steven Youngblood, and producer Andrea Muraskin in this video.. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

Intergenerational trauma, also called historical trauma, is defined as cumulative emotional and psychological wounding over the lifespan and across generations, emanating from massive group trauma experiences.The brutal October 7th attacks by Hamas inside of Israel, and the IDF’s seemingly relentless assault on Gaza have captured the world’s attention for the past six months. In this episode, we attempt to understand the psychological state that’s developed over generations on both sides, which enables people to commit such violent acts. Our guest is Lydia Wilson, a research fellow at Oxford’s Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict, a visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Middle Eastern Studies, and the Culture Editor at New Lines Magazine. Lydia has spent a good part of her career studying radicalization and the long-term psychological impact of violence on a population level. LEARN MOREArticles by Lydia WilsonThe Psychology of the Intractable Israel-Palestine Conflict, New Lines Magazine, October 2023Jordan’s Fragile Balancing Act, New Lines Magazine, December 2023What I Discovered From Interviewing Imprisoned ISIS Fighters, The Nation, October 2015Follow Lydia Wilson on X: @lsmwilson ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

In the news media, war gets more headlines than peace, conflict more airtime than reconciliation. And in our polarized world, reporting on conflict in a way that frames conflicts as us vs. them, good vs. evil often serves to dig us in deeper. On Making Peace Visible, we speak with journalists and peacebuilders who help us understand the human side of conflicts and peace efforts around the world. From international negotiations in Colombia to gang violence disruptors in Chicago, to women advocating for their rights in the midst of the Syrian civil war, these are the storytellers who are changing the narrative. Making Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories (www.warstoriespeacestories.org), and hosted by Boston-based documentary filmmaker Jamil Simon. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

After over two decades as a journalist, including ten years covering terrorism and disasters for TIME Magazine, Amanda Ripley thought she understood conflict. But when momentum started to build around the candidacy of Donald Trump, she questioned what she thought she knew. Ripley interviewed psychologists, mediators, and people who had made it out of seemingly intractable conflicts for her book, High Conflict: Why We Get Stuck and How We Get Out. In this conversation with host Jamil Simon, she shares insights about how people in conflict can move forward, and how journalists can get at the "understory" of what's beneath any conflict. Order Amanda Ripley’s book, High Conflict: Why We Get Stuck and How We Get Out. Watch Amanada’s talk on High Conflict for The Alliance for Peacebuilding. Follow her column in the Washington Post. Find our episode on the Colombian peace process here. You can watch the documentary “A Call for Peace” for free here: vimeo.com/305983614. Enter password peace2019. Learn more at acallforpeace.org.Music in this episode from Blue Dot Sessions and Pianobook. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! Reza Sayah is an Iranian-American journalist, currently based in Tehran. He’s reported on major events around the world including the Ukrainian Revolution of 2004, the Second Iraq War, and the Egyptian Revolution. Reza has spent much of his career working for major broadcast news networks including ABC, CNN, and Al Jazeera. In those roles, he’s had to explain complicated conflicts - in the form of very brief segments. And he says the corporate news model often works to perpetuate conflicts. But, another way is possible. This episode was originally published in June 2022. Watch:Top Hamas official discusses Israel attack, Iran relations for PBS NewshourReza Sayah reports on Iran’s Jewish community for PBS NewshourReza Sayah: How This Iran-Backed Militia Helped Save Iraq from ISIS for PBS NewshourReza Sayah’s Tedx talk: How to Spot News that is NOT News ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

As of May 2023, there were an estimated 110 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Many are escaping wars, gang violence or repressive regimes, others are fleeing climate change impacts. Some are leaving collapsed economies where they can’t feed their families. How journalists cover refugees and immigration has a major impact on public perceptions. This is the first in a series of episodes looking at the intersection of journalism, refugees and immigration because it’s such an important issue, and because how journalists report on it has such a strong impact on public attitudes.Guest Dina Francesca Haynes is an immigration and human rights attorney with decades of experience around the world. She worked for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Bosnia and Afghanistan, and with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Rwanda, among other international organizations. She’s personally represented hundreds of asylum seekers and victims of human trafficking. Haynes also writes for publications like The Jurist and The Hill, and has served as an expert source for journalists at CNN, Vice News, NPR, and other news outlets. She is the founder and president of the legal aid organization Refugee Projects, and directs the Immigration Law Certificate Program at New England Law. In this interview, she shares moving stories about clients trying to escape war and human trafficking; as well as advice for both journalists and activists on how to communicate fairly and accurately about immigration in a highly politicized atmosphere. LEARN MOREVisit refugeeprojects.org, and follow on Instagram @refugeeprojects.Read Dina Haynes’ article in Jurist: Rule of Law Chronicles: Migration, Xenophobia and the Immigrant Other (May 2023)Read the Vice News article on human trafficking in Afghanistan quoting Dina Haynes: The Anti-Trafficking Movement Is Pivoting to Afghanistan (October 2021)Music in this episode by Poddington Bear, Bill Vortex, Meavy Boy and Doyeq. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

On Making Peace Visible, we are always questioning the mantra, if it bleeds, it leads. Boston’s Charles Stuart murder case is a classic example of what can go horribly wrong when you follow that mantra. Charles Stuart was a father-to-be from the suburbs of Boston. Shortly after attending a birthing class in the city with his wife, Carol, Charles Stuart placed a 911 call. The couple had both been shot in their car. Stuart said a Black man pulled the trigger. Carol died from her injuries the next day. She and Charles were white, and the reaction from authorities was worlds away from what usually happened when a Black person was shot in Boston. Mayor Ray Flynn asked the police commissioner to assign every available detective to the case. Police immediately began raiding the homes of Black residents and conducting strip searches of young Black men in the Mission Hill area. With TV news playing and replaying the 911 call and a photo of the Stewarts bleeding on the front page of the Boston Herald the next day, a media circus ensued. But two months later - when Charles Stuart died by jumping off a bridge – it quickly became clear he was in fact the killer. This episode, we’re joined by Adrian Walker, an associate editor and columnist at the Boston Globe who was a rookie reporter there at the time of the Stuart case. Walker headed up a team of investigative reporters who recently revisited this story in a new and fascinating way. In the podcast Murder in Boston, and web series Nightmare in Mission Hill, investigative reporters at the Globe brought new evidence to light – like law enforcement officials who knew about Stuart’s guilt, but kept quiet. The podcast and the report also give voice to the family of Willie Bennett, the Black man who was the Boston police’s prime suspect. In this retelling, Walker – who hosts the podcast, – and other journalists discuss the media’s shortcomings in covering the Charles Stuart story, and how the news reports often fanned the flames of racial tension around it. The project also offers a blueprint for how journalists can help bring about healing following community trauma. Listen to the podcast, Murder in BostonRead the web series, Nightmare in Mission HillThis episode was edited by Faith McClure, and we had production help from Kristin Nelson. Special thanks to Lazzaro. Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

In this episode we’re featuring a recent interview with our host, documentary filmmaker and lifelong peace activist Jamil Simon on This is My Silver Lining, a podcast about ordinary people doing extraordinary things, with an emphasis on life’s unexpected twists.Jamil has certainly had plenty of those. In 1990 he took a job in Tunisia designing communication strategies to promote water conservation and family planning. He would go on to promote social and environmental reform in 25 developing countries. Through these experiences, Jamil became convinced that peace efforts must become more visible and that journalism is the most powerful way to advance positive change globally. In 2018, he organized a symposium in New York City titled War Stories, Peace Stories: Peace, Conflict, and the Media, which brought together peace builders and journalists for a dialogue on covering war and violence more thoughtfully. It was this symposium that inspired Jamil to launch his podcast, in order to continue these important conversations. Jamil was awarded the 2019 Luxembourg Peace Prize for his work building global awareness of peaceful solutions to conflict. Jamil has also protested the Vietnam War, hitchhiked from Mexico City to de Janeiro, and driven a taxi cab, and that’s just scratching the surface. Find This is My Silver Lining wherever you get your podcasts and at thisismysilverlining.com.Listen to previous Making Peace Episodes referenced in this interview:Building peace on a walk through the Middle East with Anisa Mehdi and Joshua Weiss from the Abraham Path Initiative Un-embedding Western narratives about Afghanistan with Dutch journalist Bette DamThis episode was edited and produced by John Keur at Wayfare Recordings, with additional production by Andrea Muraskin. Special thanks to Lauren Passel. Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions and Xylo-Ziko. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

Making Peace Visible is a show about how the media covers peace and conflict. One of the major reasons we make it is because peace gets so little coverage in the news media. When we do hear news about peace, it's usually focused on signing an agreement. When that’s done, the cameras, and the world's attention move on. But that handshake moment is just a fragment in a peace process. It often takes years of building trust and openness between warring parties to get to an agreement. And then more years after, to transition from violent conflict towards a political process; and see if peace can stick, and whether the grievances that led to war in the first place are being addressed. The slow speed and complexity of these processes may not lend themselves to mainstream news formats. But they are happening, and we're missing out on valuable lessons in reconciliation that can be adapted to other conflicts around the world. That’s why we invited Jonathan Cohen, executive director of the peacebuilding organization Conciliation Resources, or CR. In this episode, he shares stories from two ongoing peace processes: In Ethiopia, an ethnic Somali state called Ogaden. And on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines, a new autonomous region called Bangsamoro. You’ll also hear about CR’s work in Nagorno-Karabakh, where journalists from both sides – Armenian and Azeri – collaborated to make documentaries about that conflict. And we’ll discuss why this kind of storytelling still matters, even after most of the region’s Armenians were displaced during an Azerbaijani offensive in September 2023.LEARN MOREParts of a Circle: Nagorny Karabakh conflict documentary series (Scroll to bottom to watch 2019 Summary Film)Ethiopia: persisting with peace – short film about Ogaden peace processSouthern Philippines: Making Peace Stick in the Bangsamoro – May 2023 Crisis Group reportMusic in this episode by Bill Vortex ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

Between democracy and autocracy is an anocracy, defined by political scientists as a country that has elements of both forms of government — usually one that’s on the way up to becoming a full democracy or on the way down to full autocracy. This messy middle is the state when civil wars are most likely to start, and the one that requires the most diligence from that country’s citizens to prevent a civil war from breaking out.This week we're featuring an interview from our friends at Democracy Works, a podcast about what it means to live in a democracy from the McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State University. Host Jenna Spinelle speaks with Barbara F. Walter, political scientist and author of the book How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them. Walter has spent decades studying civil wars around the world and working with other political scientists to quantify how strong democracy is in a given country. The interview covers those findings, how the democratic health of the United States has shifted over the past decade, and more.Barbara F. Walter is the Rohr Professor of International Affairs at the School of Global Policy & Strategy at the University of California, San Diego. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and completed post docs at the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University and the War and Peace Institute at Columbia University.LEARN MORE:How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop ThemBarbara F. Walter on TwitterWe need your help to continue producing Making Peace Visible. Make a one-time or recurring tax-deductible donation here. Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

In the United States, about one sixth of the federal budget goes to defense. This year the country spent more on the military than any year since 2001 – over $816 billion. Why does spending continue to rise in the wake of US withdrawal from Afghanistan? Why are many Americans so passive in the face of the massive expenditures for defense that crowd out spending on human needs like education, healthcare and infrastructure? Why does much of the media accept the status quo? And is all of this spending making Americans and the world any safer?Our guest to help tackle these questions is anthropologist Stephanie Savell. Savell is the Co-Director of Costs of War at Brown University, an interdisciplinary research project focused on the impact of the post 9/11 wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and beyond; the U.S. global military footprint; and the domestic effects of US military spending. Savell's own research highlights US military involvement around the world, most notably in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. In many of these places, American assistance has served to fuel existing conflicts, and provided governments with tools and justification to target Muslim populations. But, Savell says, it doesn’t have to be this way. We need your help to continue making this podcast. Make a one-time or recurring tax-deductible donation here. Read the first issue of our new journal NUANCE. MORE FROM COSTS OF WARStephanie Savell’s map of US counterterrorism operations 2021-2023The Costs of United States’ Post-9/11 “Security Assistance”: How Counterterrorism Intensified Conflict in Burkina Faso and Around the World by Stephanie Savell Why Media Conflation of Activism with Terrorism Has Dire Consequences: The Case of Cop City by Deepa Kumar ABOUT THE SHOWMaking Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin, with help from Faith McClure. Learn more at warstoriespeacestories.org. Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions and Xylo-Ziko ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

Trey Kay knows both sides of America's partisan divide intimately. He was born and raised in a conservative family in Charleston, West Virginia. As a young man he moved to New York City, where he later became a producer on the arts and culture program Studio 360, at WNYC. These days, Trey splits his time between New York and West Virginia to make Us & Them, an award-winning narrative podcast about America’s culture wars, in partnership with West Virginia Public Broadcasting. On Us & Them, Trey treats people with respect, he listens carefully to their point of view whether he agrees or not, and he facilitates conversations that might not otherwise happen. A guiding value is empathy – no matter who the interviewee happens to be. This episode was originally published in May 2023. EPISODES OF US AND THEM EXCERPTED IN THIS EPISODE, with photos and additional contextThe Gun DivideCritical Race TheoryPlease Pass the PoliticsSubscribe to Us & Them on your podcast player HOW TO RATE AND REVIEW MAKING PEACE VISIBLEIn Apple Podcasts on iPhone Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageScroll down to the "Ratings and Reviews" sectionTo leave a rating only, tap on the starsTo leave a review, tap "Write a Review" In Spotify(Note: Spotify ratings are currently only available on mobile.)Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageTap on the star icon under the podcast description to rate the show In Podcast Addict(Note: you may need to sign in before leaving a review.)From the episode page: On the top left above the show description, click "Post review."From the main podcast pageTap "Reviews" on the top left.On the Reviews page, tap the icon of a pen and paper in the top right corner of the screen. ABOUT THE SHOWMaking Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeace. Write to us at [email protected]. Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin, with help from Faith McClure.Music in this episode by Doctor Turtle ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

Western media has often referred to India as the world’s largest democracy. But during the last decade, the world has witnessed the decline of many democratic institutions in India. In a recent Time Magazine article our guest Suchitra Vijayan questions whether India can still be called a democracy.Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government have been especially harsh towards critics of the regime, including journalists. Journalists who have criticized the government have been harassed, detained, imprisoned, and even murdered. Meanwhile, 75% or more of news organizations are now owned by 4 or 5 large corporations, all led by allies of Modi. As you’ll hear in this episode, today’s Indian government uses complicit media outlets as a weapon against non-violent descent. Suchitra Vijayan is a journalist and attorney based in New York City. Her new book, How Long Can the Moon be Caged? co-authored with Francesca Recchia, tells the stories of political prisoners in India today, including artists, activists, academics, and journalists. Vijayan is also the founder and executive director of the Polis Project, a journalism and research organization focused on authoritarianism and state oppression. She was born and raised in Madras, also known as Chennai, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Read Vijayan’s reporting in The Nation about the government’s targeting of Kashmir’s free press.Something we didn’t have time to include in this episode is the legacy of journalism and activism in Suchitra Vijayan’s family. That includes her grandfather, who took part in India’s freedom struggle – and became one of the new country’s first political prisoners. You can find that story and more in our newsletter, which publishes on Thursday, November 9th. To sign up, go to warstoriespeacestories.org/contact. If you’re reading this after that day, email us at [email protected], and we’ll be happy to forward it to you. Making Peace Visible is produced by Andrea Muraskin. We had editing help on this episode from Faith McClure. Peter Agoos is the creative director of the War Stories Peace Stories Project. Our host is Jamil Simon.Listen to a recent interview with Jamil on the podcast This is My Silver Lining: Learning to Walk in the Shoes of Another: a Prayer for Peace with Documentary Filmmaker and Podcaster Jamil Simon.. The New York-born son of Iraqi Jewish immigrants, Jamil’s curiosity about the world had him traveling independently from the age of 15. In this interview, Jamil talks about discovering his love for film and photography, working on communications projects in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, and developing the War Stories Peace Stories project – including this podcast – to illuminate peace efforts. Plus, twists and turns along the way, including a stint as a taxi driver in Boston. Find This is My Silver Lining wherever you listen to podcasts. If you find this show valuable, please consider supporting our work. Visit warstoriespeacestories.org/take-action. You can choose a one-time or a recurring tax-deductible donation. Thank you. Music in this episode by Siddhartha Corsus and Blue Dot Sessions ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

On Making Peace Visible we usually focus on stories -- narratives about peace and conflict that are told in the news, on social media, and shared in our collective zeitgeist. We’ve seen examples of how storytelling can both stoke the fire of war and encourage peaceful dialogue. In this episode, we look at a different, but related way of creating space for peace: design. Our guest Cynthia Smith is the Curator for Socially Responsible Design at the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York City. She spent five years creating the remarkable exhibition Designing Peace, which includes 40 design proposals, initiatives and interventions from 25 countries, including maps, images, textiles, video games and film.From a teeter-totter installed on the US-Mexico border fence to a crowd-sourced reimagining of war-damaged Damascus, the works in Designing Peace coupled with Smith’s vision present a world of possibility. Designing Peace is on view at the Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco through February 4, 2024. Explore the virtual exhibit here. Purchase the beautiful companion book here. RATE AND REVIEW: In Apple Podcasts on iPhone Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageScroll down to the "Ratings and Reviews" sectionTo leave a rating only, tap on the starsTo leave a review, tap "Write a Review"In Spotify(Note: Spotify ratings are currently only available on mobile.)Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageTap on the star icon under the podcast description to rate the showIn Podcast Addict(Note: you may need to sign in before leaving a review.)From the episode page: On the top left above the show description, click "Post review."From the main podcast pageTap "Reviews" on the top left.On the Reviews page, tap the icon of a pen and paper in the top right corner of the screen.ABOUT THE SHOWMaking Peace Visible is produced by Andrea Muraskin and hosted by Jamil Simon. Faith McClure writes our newsletter and designs our website. Creative direction by Peter Agoos. Music in this episode by Xylo-Ziko, Doyeq, and Blanket Music. Sign up for our newsletter to be notified when episodes come out and learn more about our guests: warstoriespeacestories.org/contact. You can get in touch with us at [email protected], or on X @warstoriespeace. We’re also on LinkedIn. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

One way to cover war is to follow the road offered by the dominant army. In Afghanistan, that often meant journalists were embedded with U.S. or NATO troops, and saw the war and the world around it through their eyes. Guest Bette Dam is a Dutch journalist who covered the war in Afghanistan for 15 years. She began her coverage in 2006, embedded with the Dutch troops fighting there. She’s the author of two books: Looking for the Enemy, Mullah Omar and the Unknown Taliban, and A Man in a Motorcycle, How Hamid Karzai Came to Power. Dam also teaches a class called "Unlearning Afghanistan" at Sciences Po in Paris, and is working on a PhD at the Vrije Universiteit in Brussels on the role of media in conflict. In the course of her reporting Dam realized that most Western journalists were providing a distorted view of the war. It left out the perspective of the Afghan people, and made the country appear more dangerous than it really was. And Dam says the press missed opportunities to hold the U.S. and NATO to account for major blunders – including overlooking the fact that the Taliban surrendered in December 2001. More than 2,000 have died and over 9,000 have been injured in an earthquake that hit western Afghanistan on Saturday, October 7. Dam is partnering with Sense of Humanity and Learn Afghanistan to raise funds for medical aid, food and shelter. Help provide medical aid, food and shelter by donating here. **Copy this link to share this episode anywhere**MORE FROM BETTE DAMTEDx talk: The shortcomings of war reportingBette’s SubstackFollow Bette on X (formerly Twitter) ABOUT THE SHOWMaking Peace Visible is produced by Andrea Muraskin and hosted by Jamil Simon. Faith McClure writes our newsletter and designs our website. Creative direction by Peter Agoos. Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, Zero V, and Doyeq. Sign up for our newsletter to be notified when episodes come out and learn more about our guests: warstoriespeacestories.org/contact. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

We talk a lot on this show about the reasons why peace and conflict resolution aren’t more visible in the news media and our public conversation.Our past guests have presented a variety of explanations: TV news segments are too short to talk about much beyond dramatic events, like battles and coups. For-profit media doesn't cover peace efforts because there's not enough interest in peace to attract advertisers. Conflict and divisiveness drive revenue on social media platforms. Professionals in the peacebuilding field speak in jargon that's not easily accessible to the average person. Or maybe, seeing so much violence in the news, has audiences thinking that peace isn't even possible, and therefore not worth working for. Given all these challenges, we thought it was time to speak with someone whose job it is to make peace more visible.Jack Farrell is Director of Communications for Search for Common Ground, the world's largest peacebuilding organization, with offices in 40 countries. Part of working in communications at an organization like Search is putting human lives before stories – Jack says many of the best stories about peacebuilding never reach the public to protect the safety of the people involved. Nevertheless, peacebuilding NGOs can and do play an important role in the media. With over a decade of experience in nonprofit communications and politics and an eye towards the future, Jack has valuable advice for anyone looking to amplify their message, while exercising sensitivity and humility. To get to know Jack a little better, sign up for our email newsletter, where we've got a more personal Q & A that you won't find on the podcast. Subscribe at warstoriespeacestories.org/contact. Email Jack Farrell at [email protected] and find him on X (formerly Twitter) @JackWFarrell. You can get in touch with us at [email protected], or on X @warstoriespeace. We’re also on LinkedIn. How to rate and review our show:In Apple Podcasts on iPhone Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageScroll down to the "Ratings and Reviews" sectionTo leave a rating only, tap on the starsTo leave a review, tap "Write a Review"In Spotify(Note: Spotify ratings are currently only available on mobile.)Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageTap on the star icon under the podcast description to rate the showIn Podcast Addict(Note: you may need to sign in before leaving a review.)From the episode page: On the top left above the show description, click "Post review."From the main podcast pageTap "Reviews" on the top left.On the Reviews page, tap the icon of a pen and paper in the top right corner of the screen.About usMaking Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeace. Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin with help from Faith McClure. Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

If you're interested in learning about how peace gets made and unmade and then remade, Colombia is an amazing laboratory. Guest Elizabeth Dickinson is a senior analyst with the Crisis Group in Colombia. Dickinson spends her days in discussion with communities most affected by the civil war, as well as former FARC members. She and her colleagues use information gathered in the field to make policy recommendations to the government and help facilitate dialogues. Before entering the conflict prevention field, Dickinson worked as a journalist, reporting for The Economist and Foreign Policy Magazine. In this episode Dickinson paints a picture of a country in the midst of slow and difficult reforms. In the years since the FARC and the government signed a peace accord in 2016, putting an end to 50 years of violent conflict, breakthroughs in peace continue to happen. At the same time, armed groups who have taken the place of the FARC extort communities and fight each other. Violence between the military and guerrillas has decreased in the past year, but clashes between armed groups have increased since Gustavo Petro took the presidency in August 2022. According to one analysis, violence between these groups has risen 85% since Petro was inaugurated. However in August 2023, Petro’s government began a six-month ceasefire with the National Liberation Army, or ELN, an important armed group. Dickinson says the most important peacebuilding work is taking place at the community level, and she’s seen it with her own eyes. For more on the evolution of peace in Colombia, check out our previous episodes: Spotlight Colombia: After demilitarization, a new narrative with journalist Daniel SalgarSpotlight Colombia: Behind the scenes of making peace with documentary filmmaker Juan Carlos BorreroLearn more about Elizabeth Dickinson:Twitter: @dickinsonbethProfile from Crisis Group: "I love understanding people. And I love listening to toads sing at night in the countryside"Recent news and analysis on peace and conflict in Colombia:Colombia's 'Total Peace' 1 Year On: Less State Violence, Stronger Criminal Groups from Insight CrimeColombian gang leaders announce talks to address urban violence from Al JazeeraThe secret to Colombia’s drop in deforestation? Armed groups from Al JazeeraHow to rate and review our show:In Apple Podcasts on iPhone Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageScroll down to the "Ratings and Reviews" sectionTo leave a rating only, tap on the starsTo leave a review, tap "Write a Review"In Spotify(Note: Spotify ratings are currently only available on mobile.)Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageTap on the star icon under the podcast description to rate the showIn Podcast Addict(Note: you may need to sign in before leaving a review.)From the episode page: On the top left above the show description, click "Post review."From the main podcast pageTap "Reviews" on the top left.On the Reviews page, tap the icon of a pen and paper in the top right corner of the screen.About usMaking Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeace. Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin with help from Faith McClure. Special thanks to Samantha Schmidt. Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, Doyeq, Poddington Bear, One Man Book, and Kevin MacLeod. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

After the peace agreement their leaders signed with the Colombian government in September 2016, members of the FARC guerilla group began turning in their weapons to the UN. In exchange, rank-and-file members received amnesty for acts of violence they committed during the country’s long civil war. They could leave their jungle encampments and rejoin society – go to work or school like any other citizen. The FARC ceased to be a group of guerilla fighters and became a political party, with members even serving in congress. But many Colombians saw the FARC as enemies, and were not ready to integrate them into society so quickly. Just over half of voters rejected the agreement in a referendum. Some ex-combatants were killed. And in 2018, the country elected Iván Duque, a vocal opponent of the peace accord. But peace takes time. And our guest Daniel Salgar says that over time, more Colombians, including many journalists, have begun to accept former guerillas as members of society, rather than enemies. The election of President Gustavo Petro in 2022, who ran on the peace agreement, reflects that mindset shift.Salgar counts himself among a generation of journalists who spent most of their careers covering peace efforts. When we spoke with him last year, he was wrapping up a job as an editor for the Colombia Truth Commission Report, which shed light on decades of atrocities and human rights violations that were committed during the civil war. Before working for the Truth Commission, he was a reporter and editor at the newspaper El Espectador, where he oversaw a project on peacebuilding called Colombia 2020. Salgar also served as editor and director of the Spanish news service for Anadalou, a Turkish international news agency. Now working in communications for ACNUR Colombia/ UNHCR, Salgar says he continues to be optimistic about the implementation of the 2016 agreement and the possibility of peace with other guerilla groups in his country. The original version of this episode was published in September 2022. Follow Daniel Salgar on Twitter: @DanielSalgar1View the Colombia Truth Commission Report (in Spanish) Read Daniel Salgar’s interview with former FARC leader Timochenco (in English)Read Daniel’s analysis piece on drug policy in Colombia (in Spanish) Explore the peacebuilding journalism project Colombia 2020 (Now Colombia +20) (in Spanish)Making Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeace. Visit our website: warstoriespeacestories.orgMaking Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin.Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, Phil Larson, Meavy Boy, Podington Bear, Pianobook, and Kevin Mac Leod ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

A main premise of our podcast is that peace efforts are invisible in the mainstream media, or certainly not visible enough. But one place that has grabbed at least some of the world’s attention, is the peace process in Colombia. In 2016, after repeated failed negotiations, the FARC guerilla organization finally signed a peace deal with the government. After fifty years of war, militants turned in their weapons and they began a process of reintegration into society.Our guest, filmmaker and Bogotá native Juan Carlos Borrero, used to run from the guerillas when filming in the Colombian countryside. Everyone he knew had a family member who had been kidnapped or killed. He never thought he’d see peace between the government and the FARC. Borrero’s documentary film “A Call for Peace” tells the story of the peace process in Colombia, through interviews with peace builders who played key roles behind the scenes. Skilled negotiators from places like Northern Ireland, Israel, and El Salvador shared their experience and counsel with then-President Juan Manuel Santos. The implementation of the agreement has been rocky, with continuing violence surrounding the drug trade, and victims still waiting for reparations. In August 2022, newly elected President Gustavo Petro announced a campaign called “Total Peace.” He said he would work to follow through on the promises of the 2016 agreement, and to forge peace agreements with other militant groups. Just last week, leaders of the guerilla group ELN arrived in Bogotá, amidst negotiations – a historic show of cooperation with the government. But on the same day, President Petro’s son Nicolás confessed to receiving illicit donations to his fathers’ campaign. Despite setbacks, there’s no doubt that the 2016 peace agreement was a significant achievement that offers hope and a new way forward for Colombians. This is the first episode in our Spotlight Colombia series, where we look at Colombia as a laboratory of peace, from the 2016 agreement to Petro's election, to today. We first recorded this interview with Juan Carlos Borrero in May 2022. Watch "A Call for Peace."Follow Juan Carlos Borrero on X (formerly Twitter) @juancborrero1SHARE THIS EPISODECopy and paste this link: https://bit.ly/MPVcall HOW TO RATE AND REVIEW MAKING PEACE VISIBLEIn Apple Podcasts on iPhone Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageScroll down to the "Ratings and Reviews" sectionTo leave a rating only, tap on the starsTo leave a review, tap "Write a Review"In Spotify(Note: Spotify ratings are currently only available on mobile.)Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageTap on the star icon under the podcast description to rate the showIn Podcast Addict(Note: you may need to sign in before leaving a review.)From the episode page: On the top left above the show description, click "Post review."From the main podcast pageTap "Reviews" on the top left.On the Reviews page, tap the icon of a pen and paper in the top right corner of the screen.ABOUT THE SHOWMaking Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeace. Write to us at [email protected]. Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin, with help from Faith McClure.Music in this episode by MARiAN. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

“The one embedded bias that we definitely have when we get up every day to cover the news anew is that we're biased for democracy. Let's just admit that. So if you're biased for democracy, then you have to be biased for racial justice, because racial justice is embedded in the democratic promise.” - Deborah DouglasSome of the most polarized debates in the United States today stem from issues of race, from policing to how history should be taught in schools. Our guest this episode, award-winning American journalist Deborah Douglas, believes the answer to polarization isn’t to cloister ourselves in so-called “safe spaces.” Rather, she sees journalism as a “brave space” to excavate the impact of America’s racial history on the current moment. Like previous guests Amanda Ripley and David Bornstein, Douglas practices Solutions Journalism – which looks at how systems work to solve social problems – and how they could work better for more people. Deborah Douglas is the Director of the Midell Midwest Solutions Journalism Hub at Northwestern University in Chicago. She’s also the author of US Civil Rights Trail: A Traveler’s Guide to the People, Places and Events that Made the Movement. In the past, she’s been co-editor In chief of The Emancipator, founding managing editor of MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, and much more. Find Deborah Douglas on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @debofficialy. Learn more at debofficially.com. SHARE THIS EPISODECopy and paste this link: https://bit.ly/MPVDouglas HOW TO RATE AND REVIEW MAKING PEACE VISIBLEIn Apple Podcasts on iPhone Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageScroll down to the "Ratings and Reviews" sectionTo leave a rating only, tap on the starsTo leave a review, tap "Write a Review"In Spotify(Note: Spotify ratings are currently only available on mobile.)Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageTap on the star icon under the podcast description to rate the showIn Podcast Addict(Note: you may need to sign in before leaving a review.)From the episode page: On the top left above the show description, click "Post review."From the main podcast pageTap "Reviews" on the top left.On the Reviews page, tap the icon of a pen and paper in the top right corner of the screen.ABOUT THE SHOWMaking Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeace. Write to us at [email protected]. Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin, with help from Faith McClure.Music in this episode by Xylo-Ziko, Doyeq, and Blue Dot Sessions ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

Our guest this episode, Daniel Estrin, is an international correspondent for NPR based in Jerusalem. There is a human element present throughout Daniel Estrin’s body of work that places listeners in the shoes of ordinary Palestinians and Israelis. Fluent in both Hebrew and Arabic and having lived in the region for over fifteen years, Daniel has a keen ear for both the suffering and the tenacity that coexist side by side. His insights are valuable for any journalist covering a contested place, and anyone looking to connect across deep-seeded divides. WORK FEATURED IN THIS EPISODEA 70-year-old man in Gaza needed open heart surgery. It was a race against time July 2022While Israel is in turmoil, tonight it marks its 75th Independence Day April 2023Hotel Corona May 2020Rooting for a Eurovision singer of the same name May 2023SHARE THIS EPISODECopy and paste this link: https://bit.ly/MPVestrinHOW TO RATE AND REVIEW MAKING PEACE VISIBLEIn Apple Podcasts on iPhone Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageScroll down to the "Ratings and Reviews" sectionTo leave a rating only, tap on the starsTo leave a review, tap "Write a Review"In Spotify(Note: Spotify ratings are currently only available on mobile.)Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageTap on the star icon under the podcast description to rate the showIn Podcast Addict(Note: you may need to sign in before leaving a review.)From the episode page: On the top left above the show description, click "Post review."From the main podcast pageTap "Reviews" on the top left.On the Reviews page, tap the icon of a pen and paper in the top right corner of the screen.ABOUT THE SHOWMaking Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeace. Write to us at [email protected]. Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Interview in this episode by Andrea Muraskin.Music in this episode by Doyeq and Eddy. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

In the mainstream news, we might not hear much about a political movement in America, or in another country, unless it “turns violent.” Building an effective protest movement takes planning, a shared commitment and coordination, and most movements are explicitly nonviolent. In fact, it’s often people unaffiliated with movements who are responsible for violence at protests. The situation frustrates both activists and journalists. Activists complain that their actions don’t get enough coverage, or more important, that the coverage tells an incomplete or skewed story. Journalists counter that activists need to get better at communicating with the media. Our guest Hardy Merriman watches political movements and the media that covers them closely, and he has advice for how both sides can tell better stories. Merriman is Director of the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC), an organization that supports civil resistance movements globally through research and education. He’s deeply worried about the rise and strengthening of autocracy around the world. Authoritarians are cracking down on activists in ways that are hard to see – making the jobs of journalists more difficult, and even more crucial. LEARN MOREChronicling Civil Resistance: The Journalists’ Guide to Unraveling and Reporting Nonviolent Struggles for Rights, Freedom and JusticeBy Deborah Mathis and Hailey Grace Allen, edited by Hardy MerrimanICNC, April 2021Fostering a Fourth Democratic Wave: A Playbook for Countering the Authoritarian ThreatBy Hardy Merriman, Patrick Quirk, and Ash JainICNC and The Atlantic Council, March 2023Read more from Hardy Merriman at hardymerriman.comPlease leave us a rating or review and let us know what you think of the episode.HOW TO RATE AND REVIEW MAKING PEACE VISIBLEIn Apple Podcasts on iPhone Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageScroll down to the "Ratings and Reviews" sectionTo leave a rating only, tap on the starsTo leave a review, tap "Write a Review"In Spotify(Note: Spotify ratings are currently only available on mobile.)Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageTap on the star icon under the podcast description to rate the showIn Podcast Addict(Note: you may need to sign in before leaving a review.)From the episode page: On the top left above the show description, click "Post review."From the main podcast pageTap "Reviews" on the top left.On the Reviews page, tap the icon of a pen and paper in the top right corner of the screen.ABOUT THE SHOWMaking Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeace. Write to us at [email protected]. More at warstoriespeacestories.org. Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Additional sound engineering by Faith McClure.Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, Podington Bear and Bill Vortex. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

“Weapons and war do not keep us safe. Instead, we should put our money and time into programs that ensure real safety and security for everyone, like affordable health care, a just judicial system, and economic opportunities.”Americans were asked if they agree or disagree with the above statement in a 2022 poll conducted by the American Friends Service Committee, an advocacy organization that promotes peace and social justice around the world. AFSC conducted the study for two reasons: to gauge US public opinion on cutting military spending, and to test how people would respond to different messages about why cutting the military budget is important. They found that when Americans across different groups were asked if they would support shifting Pentagon spending to domestic issues like healthcare and education, 60% said yes. Guest Beth Hallowell, Director of Research and Analytics at the American Friends Service Committee, (AFSC) helped design the Pentagon spending study, along with a 2023 study on US attitudes towards peacebuilding. In this episode, Beth shares helpful insights about how peacebuilders can be more effective when communicating to the public and the media. Follow AFSC on Twitter @afsc_org.Leave us a review and let us know how you talk to the people in your life, or to the public, about peace.HOW TO RATE AND REVIEW MAKING PEACE VISIBLEIn Apple Podcasts on iPhone Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageScroll down to the "Ratings and Reviews" sectionTo leave a rating only, tap on the starsTo leave a review, tap "Write a Review"In Spotify(Note: Spotify ratings are currently only available on mobile.)Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageTap on the star icon under the podcast description to rate the showIn Podcast Addict(Note: you may need to sign in before leaving a review.)From the episode page: On the top left above the show description, click "Post review."From the main podcast pageTap "Reviews" on the top left.On the Reviews page, tap the icon of a pen and paper in the top right corner of the screen.ABOUT THE SHOWMaking Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeace. Write to us at [email protected]. Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin, with help from Faith McClure.Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, Podington Bear, Doyeq, and Bill Vortex ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

Trey Kay knows both sides of America's partisan divide intimately. He was born and raised in a conservative family in Charleston, West Virginia. As a young man he moved to New York City, where he later became a producer on the arts and culture program Studio 360, at WNYC. These days, Trey splits his time between New York and West Virginia to make Us & Them, an award-winning narrative podcast about America’s culture wars, in partnership with West Virginia Public Broadcasting. On Us & Them, Trey treats people with respect, he listens carefully to their point of view whether he agrees or not, and he facilitates conversations that might not otherwise happen. A guiding value is empathy – no matter who the interviewee happens to be. EPISODES OF US AND THEM EXCERPTED IN THIS EPISODE, with photos and additional contextThe Gun DivideCritical Race TheoryPlease Pass the PoliticsSubscribe to Us & Them on your podcast player HOW TO RATE AND REVIEW MAKING PEACE VISIBLEIn Apple Podcasts on iPhone Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageScroll down to the "Ratings and Reviews" sectionTo leave a rating only, tap on the starsTo leave a review, tap "Write a Review" In Spotify(Note: Spotify ratings are currently only available on mobile.)Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageTap on the star icon under the podcast description to rate the show In Podcast Addict(Note: you may need to sign in before leaving a review.)From the episode page: On the top left above the show description, click "Post review."From the main podcast pageTap "Reviews" on the top left.On the Reviews page, tap the icon of a pen and paper in the top right corner of the screen. ABOUT THE SHOWMaking Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeace. Write to us at [email protected]. Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin, with help from Faith McClure.Music in this episode by Doctor Turtle ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

The right to peaceful protest is considered fundamental in democracies around the world. Nonviolent protest movements, like the Gandhian movement for independence in India or The Civil Rights Movement in the United States are celebrated in history books. Yet if you go looking for coverage of nonviolent protest in the news media, most of the time you’ll come up short. Guest Maria Stephan is a political scientist who studies nonviolent protest movements.Stephan has worked as a Foreign Affairs Officer for the State Department under President Barack Obama, and directed the Program on Nonviolent Action at the U.S. Institute of Peace. With Julia Roig, she co-founded the Horizons Project, which is focused on community organizing as a means of combating polarization and oppression in the United States. Stephan is the co-author with Erica Chenoweth of the book Why Civil Resistance Works, along with other books on the topic.In this interview, Maria widens the lens on nonviolent resistance, and offers tips for how journalists could apply that lens to tell more complete and captivating stories. Follow Maria Stephan on Twitter @MariaJStephan.HOW TO RATE AND REVIEW MAKING PEACE VISIBLEIn Apple Podcasts on iPhone Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageScroll down to the "Ratings and Reviews" sectionTo leave a rating only, tap on the starsTo leave a review, tap "Write a Review"In Spotify(Note: Spotify ratings are currently only available on mobile.)Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageTap on the star icon under the podcast description to rate the showIn Podcast Addict(Note: you may need to sign in before leaving a review.)From the episode page: On the top left above the show description, click "Post review."From the main podcast pageTap "Reviews" on the top left.On the Reviews page, tap the icon of a pen and paper in the top right corner of the screen.ABOUT THE SHOWMaking Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeace. Write to us at [email protected]. Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin, with help from Faith McClure. Music in this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions, Podington Bear, and Xylo-Ziko. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

It’s no secret that digital technology, in particular social media, stokes division in society and sometimes provokes violent conflict. Toxic polarization prevents us from solving problems, from making decisions together, from being constructive in our approach. In In this episode, we’ll explore the dangers of social media, but we’ll also talk about ways technology can be used to build bridges and promote social cohesion., we’ll explore the In this episode, we’ll explore the dangers of social media, but we’ll also talk about ways technology can be used to build bridges and promote social cohesion. Guest Shamil Idriss, is the CEO of Search for Common Ground. SFCG is the largest peacebuilding organization in the world, and has a long history of using media in reconciliation efforts. Almost fifteen years ago, Shamil established a virtual exchange program connecting young adults in Europe and North America to their peers in the Middle East, and he’s been working at the intersection of peacebuilding and tech ever since. In February, Shamil helped launch the Council on Technology and Social Cohesion to foster collaboration between peacebuilders and tech workers. Shamil says it’s crucial for the peacebuilding field to understand technology’s dangers AND to harness its potential for good.Follow Shamil Idriss on Twitter @ShamilIdriss.HOW TO RATE AND REVIEW MAKING PEACE VISIBLEIn Apple Podcasts on iPhone Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast page.Scroll down to the "Ratings and Reviews" sectionTo leave a rating only, tap on the starsTo leave a review, tap "Write a Review" In Spotify(Note: Spotify ratings are currently only available on mobile.)Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast page.Tap on the star icon under the podcast description to rate the show. In Podcast Addict(Note: you may need to sign in before leaving a review.)From the episode page: On the top left above the show description, click "Post review."From the main podcast pageTap "Reviews" on the top left.On the Reviews page, tap the icon of a pen and paper in the top right corner of the screen. ABOUT THE SHOWMaking Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeace. Write to us at [email protected]. Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin, with help from Faith McClure. Music in this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions, Meavy Boy, and Bill Vortex. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

Today, most agree that the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the war that followed was a major misstep. But in the leadup to the invasion and early months of the conflict, a majority of Americans, as well as our media and political leaders, stood in favor. What happened? Guest Babak Bahador is a scholar who studies the relationship between peace, conflict, and the media – kind of like the academic version of this podcast. He teaches at George Washington University, where he directs the Media and Peacebuilding Project, and he founded the Peace News Network in 2015. Babak has analyzed American news coverage of armed conflicts from World War II through the 2003 Iraq War, and he’s noticed a pattern in the way politics, public opinion, and the media inform each other over the course of each war. In this wide-ranging conversation, Babak and host Jamil Simon begin by discussing coverage of the Vietnam War and the 2003 Iraq War. They also highlight the positive role of the media in Northern Ireland’s Good Friday peace agreement; touch on Ukraine, and reflect on how journalists can attract more attention to reconciliation and rebuilding efforts. LEARN MORERead Babak Bahador’s research and analysisMapping the Enemy Image through Different Conflict Stages, University of Canterbury, 2011Did pictures in the news media just change U.S. policy in Syria? Washington Post, 2017Peacenews.comListenPeace Journalism: at least don't make matters worse, our 2022 episode on Peace Journalism and the importance of language with Steve YoungbloodSlow Burn: The Road to the Iraq War, a podcast from Slate that explores the people and ideas that propelled the country into the Iraq war, and the institutions that failed to stop itMaking Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeaceMaking Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin, with hello from Faith McClure. Music in this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions, Xylo-Ziko, and SF Music. HOW TO RATE AND/OR REVIEW MAKING PEACE VISIBLEIn Apple Podcasts on iPhone Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageScroll down to the "Ratings and Reviews" sectionTo leave a rating only, tap on the starsTo leave a review, tap "Write a Review"In Spotify(Note: Spotify ratings are currently only available on mobile.)Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageTap on the star icon under the podcast description to rate the showIn Podcast Addict(Note: you may need to sign in before leaving a review.)From the episode page: On the top left above the show description, click "Post review."From the main podcast pageTap "Reviews" on the top left.On the Reviews page, tap the icon of a pen and paper in the top right corner of the screen.Making Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeace.Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin, with help from Faith McClure. Music in this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions, Xylo-Ziko, and SF Music. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

Herds of goats, pomegranate trees in bloom, and ancient architecture are just some of the things you might witness while walking The Abraham Path, a collection of walking trails established in the past fifteen years through parts of Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, and Iraq. But the trail is also engineered for human experiences. Connecting cities and villages, it offers the opportunity to make one-on-one connections in a contested region. It's a kind of subtle peace-building project, but it's also an economic development project, an education project, and more. The path's development, spurred by American peacebuilders, has been met with some skepticism by journalists. But as locals have taken ownership of the trail, a good deal of stories have been published that convey a sense of hope, including a cover story in a travel-themed issue of The New York Times Magazine in April 2022. Our guests for this episode are Joshua Weiss, a peacebuilder and co-founder of The Abraham Path Initiative, and Anisa Mehdi, the Executive Director of the project and a veteran broadcast journalist. This episode originally published in June 2022. Donate to help Abraham Path homestay hosts and guides rebuild in Southeast Turkey and Syria.HOW TO RATE AND/OR REVIEW MAKING PEACE VISIBLEIn Apple Podcasts on iPhone Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageScroll down to the "Ratings and Reviews" sectionTo leave a rating only, tap on the starsTo leave a review, tap "Write a Review"In Spotify(Note: Spotify ratings are currently only available on mobile.)Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageTap on the star icon under the podcast description to rate the showIn Podcast Addict(Note: you may need to sign in before leaving a review.)From the episode page: On the top left above the show description, click "Post review."From the main podcast pageTap "Reviews" on the top left.On the Reviews page, tap the icon of a pen and paper in the top right corner of the screen.Making Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeaceMaking Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Music in this episode is by One Man Book, Doyeq, and Les Portes Du Futur. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

This episode gets to the heart of what our project, War Stories Peace Stories, is all about: How do you talk about peacebuilding in a way where people will pay attention and feel compelled to take action?Our guest Elizabeth Hume is Executive Director of the Alliance for Peacebuilding, the umbrella organization for NGOs working on conflict resolution, bridge-building, and reconciliation in the US and around the world. And she says, peacebuilders have been doing a poor job of communicating with the public—too academic, and not connecting with issues that concern everyday Americans. A few years ago, Liz called on our other guest, Andrew Volmert, for help with this messaging problem. Drew is Senior Vice President of Research for the FrameWorks Institute, a think tank that helps non-profit organizations reframe social issues to gain broader public understanding and acceptance.Drew and his team surveyed thousands of Americans to find out how they think about peace and peacebuilding, and how they’d respond to new ways of framing the issue. They came back with insights that peacebuilders, as well as journalists covering peace and conflict, can learn from.Download the FrameWorks Institute’s reports on reframing peacebuilding:Building the Bridge to Peace: A Messaging Guide for PeacebuildersCommunicating about Peace and Peacebuilding: Challenges, Opportunities, and Emerging RecommendationsFollow Liz Hume on Twitter: @Lizhume4peaceFollow the FrameWorks Institute on Twitter: @FrameWorksInstMaking Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. The associate producer is Faith McClure. The podcast is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Follow us on Twitter @warstoriespeace.Support our work with a tax-deductible donation. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

What does it mean to be Ukrainian? What is Ukraine’s significance to Europe? What is the war with Russia really about? Why should the world pay attention? These are the kind of big-picture questions journalists Anastasiia Lapatina and Jakub Parusinksi tackle on their podcast, Power Lines: From Ukraine to the World. Jakub and Anastasiia (aka Nastya) founded the Kyiv Independent in 2021 as part of a group of journalists who had been fired from the Kyiv Post by an owner who threatened that paper’s editorial independence. On Power Lines, they interview academics, policy experts, aid workers and others with deep insight into the Ukraine-Russia war and regional history, providing vital context to an English-speaking audience. In this episode of Making Peace Visible, Nastya and Jakub speak with host Jamil Simon about topics including Ukrainian identity and values, the politics of language, and the possibility of peace. Also, what podcasting offers that other media do not. Power Lines: From Ukraine to the World is a project of the Kyiv Independent and Message Heard. Listen and subscribe here, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Learn more about the Kyiv Independent at kyivindependent.comFollow Jakub Parusinksi on Twitter @j_parus.Follow Anastasiia Lapatina on Twitter @lapatina_.Making Peace Visible is a production of War Stories Peace Stories. It’s hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin and Faith McClure. Support our work: warstoriespeacestories.org/take-action ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

Photographer Anastasia Taylor-Lind and writer Alisa Sopova create intimate, accessible portraits of Ukrainian civilians living close to the frontlines of the Russian invasion. Sometimes their subjects are picnicking in a park or tending a garden. Other times, they’re repairing a ceiling damaged by shelling or waiting for departure on an evacuation train. Anastasia and Alisa have been working together in Ukraine since the Maidan Revolution, also known as the “Revolution of Dignity” in 2014. And over the years, they’ve returned to visit the same families, witnessing how the war touches men, women, and children over time. An exhibition of their work in Ukraine is showing at the Imperial War Museum in London from February 3 through May 8, 2023. Independent Projects5K From the Frontline (ongoing)Welcome to DonetskInternational media work:NPR: The Ukraine war isn't new. These intimate photos show 3 families enduring it for yearsThe New Humanitarian: How seven years of war and COVID-19 split Ukraine in twoThe New York Times: Opinion: Where There Are Fish in the Tap Water and Women’s Uteruses Fall OutTime Magazine: The Strange Unreality of Life During Eastern Ukraine's Forgotten WarMaking Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. The associate producer is Faith McClure. The podcast is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Follow us on Twitter @warstoriespeace.Support our work with a tax-deductible donation. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

Whether you get your news from social media, read an email digest from a trusted website, turn on the TV, or open up a newspaper, the world through the lens of the news media can feel like a pretty depressing place. But according to our guest, Solutions Journalism Network co-founder David Bornstein, that’s a distorted view of reality.Solutions Journalism provides an alternative model, actively seeking out stories about solutions to societal and environmental problems, and trying to learn how those solutions could be applied broadly. In this episode, we learn the basics of solutions journalism, explore some of the research done on it, and discuss how it may be applied to covering conflict and peacebuilding. Learn more about Solutions Journalism, and the Solutions Journalism Network, at solutionsjournalism.org. Try their story tracker tool to explore news from around the world, or search by topic. Follow David Bornstein on Twitter @dnbornstein. Check out our interview with Amanda Ripley, a solutions journalist focused on conflict and reconciliation. Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Additional production by Faith McClure. Music in this episode by Xylo-Ziko and Bill Vortex. Making Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Support our work. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

Paul Solman, a business, economics, and occasional arts reporter for the PBS NewsHour since 1985, is passionate about bridging the political and cultural divides that Americans face – between right and left, rich and poor, rural and urban, and others. He channels some of that passion into helping run a nonprofit called the American Exchange Project – a domestic exchange program where high school students from across the United States travel to spend a week getting to know and living alongside teens from way outside their own bubbles. Last year, Solman reported a segment about the American Exchange Project and other efforts to counter polarization, as part of a series reflecting on what led up to the January 6th insurrection at the US Capitol. But, he argues the TV news format presents major barriers to telling more stories about peace and reconciliation. In this episode, Paul Solman and host Jamil Simon discuss why it's so difficult to tell peace stories on TV news. Also: how economic inequality factors into polarization, and the power of youth programs to promote the mindset that “we’re all in this together.” Watch Paul Solman's Reports: Political Polarization Prompts Efforts to Bridge the GapWhy Louisianans blame government, not corporations, for pollution problemsLearn about the American Exchange Project at americanexchangeproject.org. Follow Paul Solman on Twitter @paulsolman.Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. The associate producer is Faith McClure. The podcast is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Follow us on Twitter @warstoriespeace.Support our work with a tax-deductible donation. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

If you’re listening to this podcast, you’re probably concerned by the level of polarization we’re seeing in societies around the world. We can point fingers at social media, the news media, political parties, fear mongering leaders, poor education, broken political systems… the list is long. The divides can seem so vast, the problems so huge. It’s easy to retreat into a huddle with people who see the world the same way you do. But our guest for this episode, Columbia University psychology and education professor and author Peter T. Coleman, says there are things each of us can do to help heal these societal wounds. And he says the press and media can play an important role in decreasing polarization. That's the subject of his latest book, The Way Out: How to Overcome Toxic Polarization. Coleman outlines evidence-based practices that you can do on your own- or with a group- to help recalibrate assumptions, and re-create bonds with people you disagree with. Coleman also partnered with the organization Starts With Us to turn the lessons from the book into an online challenge, called Finding the Way Out. It's like an exercise routine, for strengthening your compassion muscles. The book is focused on the United States, but the exercises can be done anywhere. Follow Peter T. Coleman on Twitter: @PeterTColeman1Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. We had help on this episode from Faith McClure. The podcast is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Follow us on Twitter @warstoriespeace.Support our work with a tax-deductible donation. Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions and Bill Vortex ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

Our guest this episode has some advice for international journalists working abroad: "If you work with local journalists, give them a byline - they're not your free fixers. The security of locals is more important than any story. And YOU, international journalist, you are not the story." And she would know. Award-winning journalist and communications consultant Zaina Erhaim comes from Idlib in northern Syria. And she got started in journalism covering the Syrian revolution and the civil war that followed. Her reporting made her a target, and she left Syria in 2016. She now lives in the UK, where she continues to mentor Syrian journalists and report on the Middle East. In this interview she shares razor sharp insights into reporting on conflict, while upholding the dignity of sources and collaborators. This episode was originally published in August, 2022. Find more advice from Zaina including her ten tips for international journalists here.Follow Zaina on Twitter @zainaerhaim. Read her reporting at zaina-erhaim.com. Making Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeace.Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

Dr. Nof Atamna-Ismaeel is on a mission to bring about social change through food. A Palestinian Israeli citizen who operates in both Arab and Jewish cultures, she says “being stuck in the middle is the best place to be.” After winning the Israeli cooking competition show MasterChef– the first Muslim Arab to do so– she founded an annual food festival in the city of Haifa to showcase dishes with roots in the region. And she added a twist: Arab and Jewish chefs are paired together to recreate “extinct” or little known dishes. The award-winning 2020 documentary film Breaking Bread showcases the friendships that emerge through these collaborations, along with mouth-watering food cinematography. Our guest, American filmmaker Beth Elise Hawk, discusses how making the film challenged preconceived notions about Israeli society, and choices she made to avoid inflaming attitudes in a place where politics is inescapable. Breaking Bread is now streaming on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and Google Play. Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. The podcast is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Support our work with a tax-deductible donation. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

In the news media, war receives more attention than peace. But some wars get more attention than others. From November 2020 to November 2022, a civil war bloodier than Russia's war in Ukraine was fought in Tigray, a region in northern Ethiopia. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, and millions were displaced. Yet depending on where you get your news, you may have heard very little about it. One reason for the shortage of coverage was the communications blackout in Tigray. Ethiopia’s government shut down internet and phone communications across the region, and barred journalists from entering war zones. But that didn’t stop our guest. Freelance journalist Lucy Kassa investigated some of the worst atrocities of the conflict, including those carried out by all sides. Her reporting helped show the world that Ethiopian troops’ actions inside Tigray amounted to an ethnic cleansing campaign. Her articles have been published in major international outlets, including The Guardian, Al Jazeera, and the LA Times. While a peace deal was signed in November, Lucy continues to investigate reports of human rights violations in Tigray. She spoke with host Jamil Simon about how she verifies accounts, how she approaches interviewing survivors of sexual violence, what she sees as her role in the conflict, and what it will take for real peace to hold. Follow Lucy Kassa on Twitter: @berhe_lucy. Read Lucy’s report for Al Jazeera. “‘A Tigrayan womb should never give birth’: Rape in Tigray,” awarded a 2022 Amnesty International Media AwardRead Lucy’s account of the raiding of her apartment in 2021 by Ethiopian government agents Learn more about the Tigray conflictStart Here from Al Jazeera: The Conflict in Ethiopia“How a new ‘Great War of Africa’ is raging under the cover of a media blackout,” by Will Brown, Lucy Kassa, and Zecharias Zelalem for The Telegraph“Tigray forces in Ethiopia say 65% of fighters have left frontline,” by Al Jazeera Making Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter @warstoriespeace and on LinkedIn at War Stories Peace Stories.Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Music in this episode by Podington Bear, Zero V, Doyeq, Meavy Boy, and Bill Vortex. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

“Understanding Dignity means understanding a profound aspect of what it means to be human.” - Dr. Donna HicksGuest Donna Hicks has worked in conflict resolution around the world, including Israel/Palestine, Sri Lanka, and Northern Ireland. A few years back, she realized that all conflicts shared an essential commonality: someone’s dignity had been violated. This episode explores where dignity violations showed up in the midterm elections, how peacebuilders can partner with the media to have a greater impact, and more Donna Hicks is an associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, and a co-founder of the Dignity Index. Find Donna’s book here. Making Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter @warstoriespeace and on LinkedIn at War Stories Peace Stories. Sign up for our biweekly email newsletter to be notified of new podcast episodes, new films in our Peace Docs series, and events. Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin, with editing by Faith McClure. Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, Doyeq, and Podington Bear. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

On Making Peace Visible, we cover national peace processes like the one unfolding in Colombia. But we also interview journalists who’ve made their careers covering violent conflict. So what’s the connecting thread? This episode gets at that question– looking through the lens of the practice of Peace Journalism.Guest Steven Youngblood is a professor of communications and peace studies at Park University in Parkville, Missouri, and the founding director of the Center for Global Peace Journalism there. He has organized and taught Peace Journalism seminars, and workshops in over 30 countries and territories. Steven is the editor of The Peace Journalist magazine, and an advisor to the initiative behind this podcast - the War Stories Peace Stories Project. Learn more:Side-by-side comparisons of traditional journalism and Peace JournalismPeace Journalism definitions, characteristics, and guidelinesPeace Journalist MagazineMaking Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeace.Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

On September 16, 2022, a twenty-two year old Iranian woman named Mahsa Amini died in police custody. The Tehran police said she was arrested for not wearing her headscarf properly. A few days after the arrest, a photo surfaced of Amini in a hospital bed. The police claim she died suddenly of a heart problem, but many Iranians believe she was beaten or killed. In the weeks following, a protest movement has spread around the country, with young women chanting anti-regime slogans and demanding their rights. Since Amini’s death, the regime has arrested and imprisoned at least thirty-one journalists, according to the nonprofit Reporters Without Borders. In a country without press freedoms, and especially at a time of unrest, it’s very difficult for journalists to do their jobs. So, most news reports are coming from outside of Iran. On social media, a mix of posts by protesters, regime-backed news agencies, and others paint a confusing picture. And now, the government has blocked major social media platforms, further restricting the flow of information.So for this special episode, we invited Tehran-based journalist Reza Sayah back to the show to help us make sense of what’s going on in Iran. Reza has reported on Iran for CNN and Al Jazeera. Lately, he’s been covering developments there for PBS Newshour and France 24. We recorded this interview on October 10, 2022. For more of Reza Sayah on the news media, listen to our previous episode: Reza Sayah: a bias towards peaceMaking Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeace.Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin.Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, Meavy Boy, and Bill Vortex ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

Imagine living next door to a person who murdered your father, raped your sister, or even killed your child. This was the case for many people in Sierra Leone who endured a brutal civil war from 1991 to 2002: the majority of the 50,000 who died were those killed by their own neighbors. While working with a program that facilitates ritual reconciliation processes in Sierra Leone, a process known as fambul tok (or “family talk”), peacebuilder and philanthropist Libby Hoffman learned that justice for Sierra Leonians isn't about punishing or ousting a perpetrator. Rather, justice comes through making the community whole again. “When you hurt somebody, you don't just hurt them; you hurt the community as well,” says Hoffman. In this episode, host Jamil Simon speaks with Libby Hoffman about fambul tok, a process she calls “building peace from the inside out.” Fambul tok is an ancient tradition where disputes are solved through community-wide conversation around a bonfire. In this post-war context, Hoffman and her team facilitated the revival of the practice for Sierra Leonians. Hoffman also documented this remarkable peacebuilding process in her award-winning documentary film Fambul Tok, which has itself catalyzed further reconciliation within Sierra Leone’s war-torn communities. Hoffman has now written a book on her experiences called The Answers Are There: Building Peace from the Inside Out.Libby Hoffman is the founder and President of Catalyst for Peace, a US-based private foundation building peace from the inside-out – creating space for those most impacted by violence to lead in building the peace, supported by healthy, inclusive systems. A former Political Science professor, Hoffman has a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from Tufts’ Fletcher School of Law and a BA in Political Science from Williams College.The film Fambul Tok is available for private viewing through War Stories Peace Stories' Peace Docs initiative. Watch the film here: vimeo.com/26644766. This episode was produced by Andrea Muraskin, with help from Faith McClure. Music by Xylo-Ziko via freemusicarchive.org. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

Five years ago, the government of Colombia signed a historic peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, putting an end to a fifty-year civil war. The agreement allowed FARC members to turn in their weapons and begin to live as civilians. The Colombian Truth Commission was established to shed light on decades of atrocities and human rights violations that were committed during the war. This summer the Truth Commission released its full report. Over 1,000 people worked on it, interviewing 24,000 Colombians. And in August, Gustavo Petro – a former guerilla combatant, and a vocal proponent of the peace agreement – took office as President. Our guest this episode, Daniel Salgar, served as editor for the first volume of the Truth Commission Report, which focuses on Colombia’s history. Salgar is a journalist who’s worked in national and international media in Colombia for the past ten years. He was a reporter and editor at the newspaper El Espectador, where he oversaw a project on peacebuilding called Colombia 2020. He was editor and director of the Spanish news service for Anadalou, a Turkish international news agency. He teaches Journalism, Conflicts, and Migration at Externado University in Bogota.Daniel counts himself among a generation of journalists who spent most of their careers covering peace efforts. With the Truth Commission report and the historic election, Daniel is optimistic about peace in Colombia, despite ongoing violence in the country. Follow Daniel Salgar on Twitter: @DanielSalgar1View the Colombia Truth Commission Report (in Spanish) Read Daniel Salgar’s interview with former FARC leader Timochenco (in English)Read Daniel’s analysis piece on drug policy in Colombia (in Spanish) Explore the peacebuilding journalism project Colombia 2020 (in Spanish)Watch the documentary “A Call for Peace” for an intimate look inside the process leading up to the 2016 Colombian peace accord between the government and the FARC: vimeo.com/305983614. Enter password peace2019.Listen to our podcast interview with the film’s director, Juan Carlos Borrero, on the episode “A Filmmaker’s Perspective on the Colombian Peace Process.” Special thanks to Juan Carlos for connecting us with Daniel! Making Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeace. Visit our website: warstoriespeacestories.orgMaking Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin.Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, Phil Larson, Meavy Boy, Podington Bear, and Pianobook ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

Our guest this episode has some advice for international journalists working abroad: "If you work with local journalists, give them a byline - they're not your free fixers. The security of locals is more important than any story. And YOU, international journalist, you are not the story." And she would know. Award-winning journalist and communications consultant Zaina Erhaim comes from Idlib in northern Syria. And she got started in journalism covering the Syrian revolution and the civil war that followed. Her reporting made her a target, and she left Syria in 2016. She now lives in the UK, where she continues to mentor Syrian journalists and report on the Middle East. In this interview she shares razor sharp insights into reporting on conflict, while upholding the dignity of sources and collaborators. Find more advice from Zaina including her ten tips for international journalists here.Follow Zaina on Twitter @zainaerhaim. Read her reporting at zaina-erhaim.com. Making Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeace.Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

Reza Sayah is an Iranian-American journalist, currently based in Tehran. He’s reported on major events around the world including the Ukrainian Revolution of 2004, the Second Iraq War, and the Egyptian Revolution. Reza has spent much of his career working for major broadcast news networks including ABC, CNN, and Al Jazeera. In those roles, he’s had to explain complicated conflicts - in the form of very brief segments. And he says the corporate news model often works to perpetuate conflicts. But, another way is possible. Watch:Reza Sayah reports on Iran’s Jewish community for PBS NewshourReza Sayah: How This Iran-Backed Militia Helped Save Iraq from ISIS for PBS NewshourReza Sayah’s Tedx talk: How to Spot News that is NOT NewsMaking Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeace.Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin.Music in this episode is by Holizna, MARiAN, and Meavy Boy. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

After over two decades as a journalist, including ten years covering terrorism and disasters for TIME Magazine, Amanda Ripley thought she understood conflict. But when momentum started to build around the candidacy of Donald Trump, she questioned what she thought she knew. Ripley interviewed psychologists, mediators, and people who had made it out of seemingly intractable conflicts for her book, High Conflict: Why We Get Stuck and How We Get Out. In this conversation with host Jamil Simon, she shares insights about how journalists can change the way they cover conflict, in service of the public good.Order Amanda Ripley’s book, High Conflict: Why We Get Stuck and How We Get Out. Listen to her podcast How To! from Slate. Watch Amanada’s talk on High Conflict for The Alliance for Peacebuilding.Find our episode on the Colombian peace process here. You can watch the film “A Call for Peace” for free here: vimeo.com/305983614. Enter password peace2019. Learn more at acallforpeace.org.Making Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeaceMaking Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Music in this episode from Blue Dot Sessions and Pianobook. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

Herds of goats, pomegranate trees in bloom, and ancient architecture are just some of the things you might witness while walking The Abraham Path, a collection of walking trails established in the past fifteen years through parts of Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, and Iraq. But the trail is also engineered for human experiences. Connecting cities and villages, it offers the opportunity to make one-on-one connections in a contested region. It's a kind of subtle peace-building project, but it's also an economic development project, an education project, and more. The path's development, spurred by American peacebuilders, has been met with some skepticism by journalists. But as locals have taken ownership of the trail, a good deal of stories have been published that convey a sense of hope, including a cover story in a travel-themed issue of The New York Times Magazine in April 2022. Our guests for this episode are Joshua Weiss, a peacebuilder and co-founder of The Abraham Path Initiative, and Anisa Mehdi, the Executive Director of the project and a veteran broadcast journalist. Making Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter: @warstoriespeaceMaking Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Music in this episode is by One Man Book, Doyeq, and Les Portes Du Futur. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

When Colombian filmmaker Juan Carlos Borerro worked on films or TV shows in the countryside as a young man, the crew would have to stop shooting and run from the FARC when the guerillas came near. Everyone he knew had a family member who had been kidnapped or killed, and he never thought he would live to see an end to the war in his country. So when the government and the FARC forged a peace accord in 2016, he set out to document how the agreement came together. Borrero’s documentary “A Call for Peace” tells the story of the peace process in Colombia, through interviews with international peace builders who played key roles behind the scenes.In this episode, in conversation with host Jamil Simon, Borrero tells the story of peace in Colombia as not just a singular occurrence, but an unfolding that drew on past peace processes, and can inform future ones. You’ll also hear clips from the film. You can watch the film “A Call for Peace” for free here: vimeo.com/305983614. Enter password peace2019. Learn more at acallforpeace.org.Making Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to do everything possible to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts.Making Peace Visible is produced by Andrea Muraskin. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

Mari Fitzduff, is a peacebuilder and the author of a fascinating new book, Our Brains at War: The Neuroscience of Conflict and Peacebuilding. Mari’s book is deeply relevant to the polarization and violence that is happening right now in America. Our Brains at War explains a lot about the brain chemistry that’s driving the anger and violence we are seeing, almost every day in the U.S.Making Peace Visible is brought to you by the War Stories Peace Stories Project, working to connect journalists and peace-builders to accelerate and elevate stories on reconciliation efforts in the mainstream media. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! 

This is an interview with Nina Streich, the Director and Founder of the Global Peace Film Festival, which operates out of Orlando, Florida. Nina and her partner, Kelly DeVine have probably seen more films on peace than any two people on the planet. Nina talks about the nature of films on peace and what motivates filmmakers to make them. This year, the festival will be celebrating its 20th anniversary. Making Peace Visible is brought to you by the War Stories, Peace Stories Project, working to connect journalists and peace-builders to accelerate and elevate stories on reconciliation efforts in the mainstream media. ABOUT THE SHOW The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.orgSupport our work Connect on social:Instagram @makingpeacevisibleLinkedIn @makingpeacevisibleBluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!