Global Oneness Project

Interview with Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, founder and director of the Global Oneness Project

gop staff — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:50:35 -0400

Listen to Emmanuel speak about the inspiration behind the project and what he's learned from the many people he has met and interviewed around the world.

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Interview from the radio show Tomorrow Matters with host Deborah Lindsay, KRXA AM540, Carmel Valley, CA,

Reflections on Israel

gop staff — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:05:31 -0400

"Did you love Israel?"

I turned and faced my questioner: a beaming, proud Israeli woman just ahead of me in the customs line at London Heathrow Airport. Looking at her face I could see she wasn't going to take anything less than "I loved it" in return. Contemplating my answer, I couldn't help but notice how fresh she looked despite four hours of security questions from El Al Airlines in Tel Aviv, a 1 1/2 hr delay on the tarmac and 5 1/2 hours of flying, only to be currently standing in another long line awaiting more security questions and another flight. Had we just come from the same place? I had just come from one of the more challenging experiences of my life and she was looking as if Israel was the fountain of youth everyone was looking for.

But I couldn't deny her question. "Intense." was my reply. Despite her obvious leading, I appreciated her question. I had gotten use to this direct interaction and I found myself delving deeper. “Why so many walls?” I asked. I was thinking of the Old City Walls, the Wailing Wall and the Separation Walls: the ancient, the sacred and the new.

I began searching her face for what I knew lay beneath the smiling surface. She has a story. Everyone in Israel does. She has an opinion about the conflict. She's divided. She's experienced a loss, pain, anger—an identity crisis. I pleaded silently: “Reveal it to me. Show me where it's taken you and what you have to teach the rest of the world. Feel pity on me, for this was my first visit. Empathize with me, for war isn’t easy. Understand that check points, gunfire and barbed wire are not part of my normal daily existence. Dare to look into my eyes and see what I have witnessed in your country, where I have judged out of ignorance and truth alike. Remind me of a larger purpose and of our underlying unity.”

"Did you love Israel?"

Her question was still lingering in my mind. What was the experience we just had? And what does it have to do with the other parts of our lives? Torn between remaining in the experience and leaving it for some perspective, I slowly began to understand the gleam in her eye. Yes, I did love it. Yes, the holy land is worth fighting for.

As each of the people we interviewed shared, there is tremendous possibility in Israel, and we were reminded that although the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is unique to the holy land, the whole world is affected by it, and the struggle universal. All the peaceworkers we spent time with pointed to the value in our unique individual, communal, national, and religious identities and at the same time, stressed the need to remember we are all part of the same human identity. In other words, there is diversity of life, but unity of spirit, the unifying thread the source of all our differences.

Again I recall Sami Awad’s words that we are standing on a groundless ground of nothingness. “We need to take our individual identities and respect them, understand them and learn from them, but we are free to create a future that has a sense of independency from the past. We can create a future with a new global identity that encompasses everyone.” And Rabbi Froman’s word’s also apply: “If we can figure out Jerusalem, it can be a bridge for all humanity."

Left with more questions than answers, I have a feeling we have been more deeply affected than we know. We were welcomed with open arms into homes and treated with immense generosity and trust. We symbolically found common ground over coffee and shared meals, and we bore witness to tremendous courage and hope. I shall miss the muezzin’s call to prayer, the hummus and figs, and the golden light over the ancient terraced hillsides and much more. I will even miss the very real reminder of life and death at most every moment. But there is also an impression left by the complete and utter desecration we witnessed as well. Here I am reminded that we have been taught the following teaching: when everything is dying, there is tremendous potential for something new to be born and the light that emerges can be like a torch for all the world.

New Interviews Posted: Middle East Peacemakers Speak from the Heart

Alan — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:32:16 -0400

We have just added a series of new clips from our recent interviews with Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bukhari, co-founder of Jerusalem Peacemakers and the head of the Naqshabandi Sufi order in Jerusalem Rodef Shalom Eliyahu McLean, a fellow founder of Jerusalem Peacemakers and Sami Awad, founder and executive director of Holy Land Trust, a Palestinian nonprofit organization. In these interviews, filmed this summer in Bethlehem and Jerusalem, all three community leaders speak to the challenges and opportunities facing their conflicted region, and offer approaches to peace that can be applied universally.

The Sheikh and the Rabbi: A Jerusalem Fable

elias — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:50:17 -0400

We recently interviewed Rabbi Menachem Froman, an Orthodox rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Tekoa, famous for traveling to the Gaza Strip to meet with the late Sheikh Ahmed Yassin of Hamas and former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. Later, we also interviewed Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bukhari, a Sufi Sheikh of the Naqshabandian Religious Method and head of the Uzbeke Community in Jerusalem.

Both Rabbi Froman and Sheikh Bukhari are interested in inter-religious dialogue and a nonviolent means for attaining peace, and both imparted a similar sentiment: When it comes to matters of Jerusalem, the politicians have their role, but the religious leaders have a role too. As Rabbi Froman shared, the issue here is not gold, nor oil: it's God. And since all three Abrahamic religions believe Jerusalem belongs to God, he asks, "Why not give Jerusalem to God?" Froman's view is also global: "If we can figure out Jerusalem, we can be a bridge for all humanity."

Perhaps the moral lesson of Jerusalem is simple and best described by Sheikh Bukhari: "Respect is like a mirror: if you show it, you will receive it in return." For him it's obvious that our destinies are entwined. "We all live here together and we are all going to die together. So why not support each other?"

Interview with Ibrahim Ahmad Abu El-Hawa, a peacemaker living in East Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives

elias — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:31:06 -0400

We were received as family members into the home of Ibrahim Ahmad Abu El-Hawa, and this we were told, is not unique. "I speak Hebrew, Arabic, Russian and English but my family taught me the most important language of all: the language of welcoming. I don't have a lock on the door and I never know who will be in my home. Everyone is welcome."

With a view of the separation wall from his window, Ibrahim's wish to make peace is visceral. "It is our destiny to live here in the holy land together, and only our heart can change the world."

A Global Vision for the Holy Land

gop staff — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 10:31:45 -0400

"I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees." —Ecclesiastes 2.6

BETHLEHEM, West Bank—We sit beside the ruins of King Solomon's Pools, backlit by a large and modern conference center that has only been used once since it was built. Behind it, a gun fight has broken out. It's graduation day, and celebrations respond in kind by shooting firecrackers. Surrounded by olive trees and broken glass, I notice—despite all the odds—a single, purple wildflower grows: a symbol of what is still possible in this land so full of bloodshed. At least that's what Sami Awad believes. Sami is the founder and director of the Holy Land Trust, a Palestinian NGO in Bethlehem working to provide Palestinians with the means to build a future founded on the principles of nonviolence, justice and peace.

With a view of the world as one body, Sami reminds us that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not unique, and we all suffer because of it. The real question, he asks, is how do we begin to heal? His answer is that we need a new vision for the Holy Land. "There is a light in humanity and every single human being has this light. Only, for some, it is covered in layers of dust." The dust of history, for example. "History puts nails in one's feet and doesn't allow for change. But the future is actually void and empty. We are all standing on a groundless ground."

His words are powerful and surprisingly full of hope. Like the purple flower growing in this barren landscape, near the springs that have long dried up, his words remind us that the future hasn't been written yet. Anything is possible.

When the camera stops rolling, he admits that in fact a little craziness is needed too—not only to hope but to dare the impossible to happen. Walking back to the car, I ask him how he raises the spirits of those who have given up hope, and his answer reminds me that—especially in this land—we are not alone with our struggles: "Maybe the spirit moves us."

Later, while sitting together over fresh lemonade, an ex-Israeli soldier who was present at the interview expresses the value of what Sami has shared. With deep sorrow and the weight of meaning, he tells us how rare someone like Sami is, and again I remember something Sami said earlier: "A simple cease fire is not enough, we also need the human spirit".

We certainly witnessed the human spirit today.

We Are All the Other: "Works & Conversations" Interviews Our Very Own Videographer Denise Zabalaga

gop staff — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:24:45 -0400

Prior to her work here at Global Oneness Project, Denise was traveling and documenting her experiences through photojournalism and film in Switzerland, New York City, Syria, Iran and Afghanistan. It turns out that not only does Denise have an amazing sense of composition and an obvious ability to connect to her subject, but she also has an uncanny aptitude and love for language.

We've always been awed with Denise's ability to learn and speak five languages but never really made the connection that the openness and total lack of fear that we see behind the camera and in the editing room is so interconnected with the ease that she learns language and the way she approaches life in general. It was a lot of fun reading the article and it will definitely have a lasting effect on how the rest of us at GOP approach our own work, obstacles and fears.

Read the interview and pass it on.

Goonj Wins Indian NGO of the Year Award

gop staff — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:24:44 -0400

Goonj, a volunteer-run recycling center in New Delhi—profiled in our short film “Not Just a Piece of Cloth”—was recently awarded the Indian NGO of the year award.

In April 2007, we spent a day at the Goonj headquarters talking with founder and director Anshu Gupta, who along with more than 300 individual volunteers and 100 grassroots agencies recycles and distributes over 20,000 kgs of material throughout India. Not only does Goonj collect and distribute large quantities of ready-to-go recycled materials, like clothing and blankets, but they also specialize in creative alterations, like children's backpacks made from old jeans, school notebooks from discarded paper and sanitary napkins from sheets and cloth.

Watch our short film "Not Just a Piece of Cloth" and then go to the Goonj website to learn more about their innovative project and how you can contribute.

Pack 'Em Up!

gop staff — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:43:13 -0400

In the past 48 hours we’ve received over 500 requests for our Living LIbrary DVD and right at this moment our highly skilled shipping team is busy boxing and addressing DVDs that will go to an assortment of diverse places including Suriname, India, Poland, Kenya, Croatia and New Jersey.

Enjoy the films and the conversations that grow out of them and don’t forget to share your viewing experiences and to pass the DVD on to friends, families, co-workers or complete strangers.

Submit Your Sustainability Questions!

evaughanlee — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:12:15 -0400

We are gathering discussion questions for a Sustainability and Oneness film fest, which will be traveling across the US this fall. Join our WiserEarth group and tell us what questions do you think would spark the most meaningful conversations.