From Dialogue To Action

Last Thursday, Intersections held the first in a series of three panel discussions in the new series, Intercultural Dialogue to ChangeTheStory. This panel, entitled From Dialogue to Action, featured four renowned presenters representing government, international non-profits and the arts.

The panel began with all four presenters describing specific projects they are working on to promote action. Philip Helmich, Senior Officer for Strategic Philanthropy at Search for Common Ground spoke about cross-cultural training programs and his recollection of his time spent in Africa, "Where your heart gets torn out." Shamil Idriss, former Executive Director of the UN Alliance of Civilizations Media Fund, spoke about the role social media can play in the peace building process. Radha Kramer, Founder and Director of the TE’A Project, spoke about the role of the arts in bringing about personal transformation and some of the lessons learned during the production of their recent web-episode, “Headscarf”.  Fatima Shama, Commisioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, spoke about the commitment from the Mayor’s Office to make informational materials for New Yorkers available in the five most commonly spoken languages in New York City.  The panel was moderated by New York Times consultant, Haris Agha.

Rather than give my own, probably biased, feedback on the panel, I am going to reference one blogger who attended the discussion. One thing became clear to him during the panel: President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize has motivated others to respond to the call to action. As this blog points out, Idriss referenced President Obama’s Cairo speech as the motivation behind Soliya’s, an organization that is now in the process of merging with the Alliance of Civilizations Media Fund, new media outreach strategy. The U.S. Muslim Engagement project is an example of how the Obama Administration has responded to a call to action by following some of the report’s recommendations.

My hope after this panel is that some of the audience becomes inspired to do something in their own communities. Whether it’s to promote an intercultural service project, to write a letter to a senator or to begin to volunteer in their own local settings, it’s never to late to follow the call to action.

The next panel will take place at the end of January. Please check the website for details. 

Listen to a podcast of From Dialogue to Action here.