Marc Gropin

Marc Gopin, a professor a rabbi and an ambassador of sorts, came to speak to us earlier this week. He is the director of the Center for Religions, Diplomacy, and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University. I have to admit that when I heard he was going to talk about spirituality and conflict (or something like that) I was not expecting much more than some hippie dippy, peace and love sort of pow wow. But I was pleasantly surprised. Professor Gopin is a realist and has done some very impressive things to act on his beliefs, to use his skills and understanding of human nature to make tangible changes.

He talked about the shortfalls of current international relations theory and how it fails to adequately take into account that humans are involved in the process, that decisions made are often not rational or logical according to economic models, and that individuals really do have an incredible amount of power. When we think of individuals having power in the context of conflict, we often think of non-state actors, i.e. terrorists, and states emphasize this threat. Professor Gopin contends that the power of creative thinking and action is actually scarier and more dangerous for the state - they know how to deal with terrorists and what an "appropriate" response is to them, whereas someone looking to create positive change may mobilize people and weaken the regime. That being said, Gopin is suggesting that peace activists can be influential, both on the grassroots level and at the higher levels.

I say that he is an ambassador of sorts, because he has worked with some very influential government officials, and has been able to change how people perceive the conflict on his own and not through any official channels. Despite his independent status, he is seen by others as representing more. He has been working with the Syrians for the last several years and he told us of his first visit to the country. After a fairly adventurous trip up to the Syrian border (by way of Jordan) he was questioned by some of Assad's men. The first thing they said to him was something to the affect of "We've contacted your government (meaning the Israeli government) many times and haven't received a response. What do they have to say?" He was speechless. I never did have the opportunity to ask him how he answered them.

This association with another entity also worked to his advantage at times. When he did something powerful and meaningful, it reflected well on the Jewish people as a whole.

It sounds as though he worked closely with Yassir Arafat for a time. Gropin spoke highly of him in some ways. He said they learned together once. I think it was during the second intifada, but it wasn't entirely clear. Gropin visited Arafat in his compound in the West Bank, and at one point Gropin said to Arafat "without justice there can be no peace," taking a line from the Talmud (Sanhedrin, I think, but my knowledge of Jewish sources is quite limited). Arafat understood that Gropin was saying that without a just solution to the Palestinians' needs, there can be no peace. But Gropin finished the idea, "but without peace, there can be no justice" essentially rebuking Arafat for the violence that was occurring. It sounded like a very powerful moment.

I really liked a couple of other things that Gropin said about peace. First, he talked about the importance of complexity. It is much harder to hurt people, to kill them, to wish them ill when they are not all evil monsters. When complexity enters the picture, as it has here at the Institute, it becomes much more difficult to perpetuate violence. When relationships are formed, when internal dissonance and conflict arise and the world is no longer black and white, whether or not to shoot also becomes less black and white.

Gropin also said that we invest billions of dollars in war and only $100,000s in peace. No wonder peace isn't working. Imagine what could happen if we invested the same amount in peace building activities as we did in war. What would the world look like? Hey, I had to get the hippie dippie in somewhere :)

I feel as though I didn't do justice to the lecture Gropin gave, because he was so articulate. He has had some amazing experiences that I did not adequately capture here, but he was inspirational and really made me think about the nature of conflict and the potential for change.