Ahmed Tarik, Jordan Detwiler-Michelson and Myriam Aziz have presented at Park View and Shalom Mennonite churches in Harrisonburg, and they hope to continue sharing in the future. Each has recent experience in Syria or with Syrian refugees.

At Park View, the group presented beneath brightly-colored banners reading 鈥榝aith,鈥� 鈥榟ope,鈥� 鈥榣ove,鈥� and 鈥榡oy鈥� and depicting simplistic imagery that contrasted vividly with the evening鈥檚 subject matter: a clash between the ideals of faith and humanity and war鈥檚 injustice.

A former refugee urges compassion

Tarik opened with a poem called 鈥淗ome鈥� by Somali-British poet Warsan Shire. He read, 鈥淣o one leaves home unless/ home is the mouth of a shark.鈥�

Born in Baghdad, Iraq, Tarik fled his home city in 2006 due to war. He sought refuge in Damascus, Syria for three years. During that time, Tarik worked as a photographer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) documenting the life of Iraqi youth refugees in Damascus.

Tarik directed attention to what is widely considered by the United Nations and other organizations with a history of involvement in refugee matters to be the s since World War II.

鈥淚t is not easy to be uprooted from your home for no other reason than violence,鈥� he said.

Tarik urged those present not to treat Syrian refugees like a burden, as Syrian families readily opened their homes to his other families fleeing the Iraq war.

Roots

Detwiler-Michelson, also a second-year graduate student, was one of the last members of Mennonite Central Committee鈥檚 team to leave Syria in 2011. The school in which he taught is now, he says, headquarters for Kurdish military forces.

The Syrian refugee crisis 鈥渆xists within a complex and dynamic political landscape,鈥� he said.

Using his own photographs of Damascus, Detwiler-Michelson sketched the cultural richness of that city鈥檚 ancient history. 鈥�What does it mean to leave home when home is where your family has lived for 4,000 years?鈥� he asked.

Detwiler-Michelson鈥檚 own sense of Damascus as home developed during his sojourn with members of the Syrian Orthodox Church community, ranging from laypersons to the church鈥檚 archbishop and his retired predecessor. From these Syrian people, many of whom are now displaced, Jordan says he learned about true service, full joy and the meeting of challenges as a community.

In a gesture of solidarity, Detwiler-Michelson played a clip of the Lord鈥檚 Prayer sung in Aramaic 鈥� a lament that evokes the current suffering his Syrian friends now face.

Case worker processes refugees

Finally, Aziz detailed her recent experiences as a UNHCR case worker determining refugees鈥� legal status in in Lebanon. [Aziz returned to Lebanon in December to meet with refugee families and begin work on a CJP-funded film project that she hopes will help Americans better understand who Syrians are.]

Lebanon, a country of 4 million people, is now home to 1.3 million Syrian refugees, she said.

However, as Lebanon does not assign legal refugee status to persons fleeing conflict in Syria, this displaced population is known in Lebanon as 鈥渁sylum seekers.鈥�

Registering with UNHCR is the only path to legal refugee status for Syrians, but that process is long and rigorous.

Aziz used personal photos to show life in the temporary UNHCR camps. She also discussed daily shortages of food and other resources.

One goal is sharing her stories and photos, she said, is to highlight that 鈥渨e fear what we don鈥檛 know — if you know these people then you won鈥檛 be so afraid.鈥�

Myriam Aziz and Jordan Detwiler-Michelson will speak Feb. 28, 2016, at the Harrisonburg Unitarian Universalist Church. Both Aziz and Detwiler-Michelson are available to speak to area organizations during spring semester; Tarik is completing a practicum out of the area. For more information or to inquire about booking a presentation, contact the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.

鈥淲e sought to bring together a cross-section of restorative justice practitioners, theorists and innovators,鈥� said , co-director of the Zehr Institute and the project鈥檚 leader. 鈥淪ome of the invitees were world-recognized in the restorative justice field, but others were invited to ensure that diverse and often-unheard voices would be represented.鈥�

One-third of the 36 participants were from populations that are under threat socially and economically in their regions of the world. The genders were equally represented. One person was under age 21, though two other young adults had been expected to attend.

Conversing about RJ’s ‘revolutionary intent’

The idea behind the unusual mixture of invitees was to foster provocative conversation about the possibilities for restorative justice (RJ), particularly for addressing structural injustices, said Stauffer.

In the prospectus for the three-year project submitted to the funder, , the organizers wrote: 鈥淥n the social margins, there is growing research and experimentation with RJ as a tool for addressing structural harms and injustices. This project will explore and document these emerging practices in order to recapture the revolutionary intent of RJ.鈥�

The organizers called attention in their prospectus to what they viewed as the danger of RJ settling into a 鈥渟ocial service practice鈥� centering on 鈥渞epair at the micro-interpersonal level.鈥� Instead, they wished to highlight the ways that RJ can 鈥減rovide a coherent framework for transforming macro-social structures that cause harm.鈥�

Aware that many of the 36 attendees at the first consultation would not have prior relationships with each other, the organizers devoted about half of the five days to exercises and facilitated conversations designed to establish trust and a common basis for exploring future possibilities. Senior graduate students at EMU鈥檚 served as facilitators for the process.

Tough questions

First, the attendees prepared a history line of RJ, then they explored identity, power and privilege in the field. On the third day, they embarked on a discussion of best practices.

鈥淲e accepted the challenge of bringing together a highly diverse group, especially given that many of the participants are international leaders in the field, [being] accomplished researchers, authors, practitioners and facilitators in their own right,鈥� Stauffer said.

鈥淭he challenge was heightened because the group grew beyond the original envisioned size of 20 to 25,鈥� he added. 鈥淲e needed to go well beyond 25 to have a true cross-section of voices, but it was difficult to develop coherence among three dozen people with strong opinions, especially in only five days.鈥�

Yet the participants were largely positive in their final evaluations, he said, indicating that they had not regretted investing a workweek in wrestling with each other over tough questions, such as the extent to which RJ should be viewed as a social movement, as opposed to simply a set of restorative practices.

Stauffer did not pretend to be neutral on this last point. In his opening remarks to the group, he referred to the U.S. penal reform movement having been 鈥渃o-opted.鈥� In contrast, he said he hopes RJ continues to grow into a social movement in North America, with the aim of 鈥渢ransforming deep structural conflicts and injustices.鈥� Toward this end, North Americans have much to learn from their international brothers and sisters about 鈥渓arge-scale applications鈥� of RJ, he said.

Agreement on RJ’s core values

For a social movement to be successful, Stauffer told the group, it requires political opportunity, resource mobilization, a framing message, and critical mass (or a 鈥渢ipping point鈥�).

On the last day, in a final small-group presentation, a participant observed that the 36 attendees had largely agreed during the week on RJ鈥檚 core values, but not necessarily on how to practice restorative justice.

This first consultation will be followed next year by a public conference attended by up to 120 people. Next time, Stauffer said, his organizing team will work to create a conference format that moves participants more quickly into discussions on the future of the field, with a view of moving into a research and writing phase in the final year of the project.

Participants in the consultation

The 36 participants were:

1. Aaron Lyons, Fraser Region Community, Justice Initiatives, Canada
2. Ali Gohar, Just Peace Initiatives, Pakistan
3. Barb Toews, University of Washington Tacoma / Designing Justice+Designing Spaces, USA
4. , Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, EMU
5. Brenda E. Morrison, Centre for Restorative Justice, Simon Fraser University, USA
6. Carl Stauffer, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, EMU
7. Carolyn Boyes-Watson, Center for Restorative Justice, Suffolk University, USA
8. Catherine Bargen, Restorative Justice Coordinator Crime Prevention and Victim Services Division, Government of British Columbia, Canada
9. Dan Van Ness, Center for Justice and Reconciliation, Prison Fellowship International, USA

10. , Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, EMU and Atlanta (Ga.) consultant, USA
11. Fania Davis, executive director of Restorative Justice for Oakland (Calif.) Youth, USA
12. Cameron Simmons, youth worker with Restorative Justice for Oakland (Calif.) Youth, USA
13. Gerry Johnstone, University of Hull, UK
14. , Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, EMU
15. Jeanette Martinez, Circle of Justice LLC, New Mexico, USA
16. Jennifer Graville , Community Conferencing Program, KBF Center for Conflict Resolution (Md.), USA
17. Jodie-Ann (Jodie) Geddes, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, EMU
18. Josh Bacon, James Madison University (Va.), USA
19. , 草莓社区
20. Katia Ornelas, Independent Consultant, Mexico
21. , (STAR), EMU
22. Kay Pranis, Circle Trainer, USA
23. Kim Workman, Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies, Victoria, University of Wellington, New Zealand
24. Linda Kligman, Vice President for Advancement, International Institute for Restorative Practices, USA
25. Lorenn Walker, Hawai鈥檌 Friends of Restorative Justice, USA
26. Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz, Mennonite Central Committee, USA
27. Mark Umbreit, Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking, University of Minnesota, School of Social Work, USA
28. Matthew Hartman, Clackamas County Juvenile Department, Restorative Justice Coalition of Oregon, NW Justice Forum, USA
29. Mulanda Jimmy Juma, Africa Peacebuilding Institute, St. Augustine College of South Africa
30. Najla El Mangoush, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, EMU
31. Robert Yazzie, Chief Justice Emeritus of the Navajo Nation, USA
32. Seth Lennon Weiner, Porticus, New York, USA
33. sujatha baliga, Impact Justice, USA
34. Susan Sharpe, Advisor on Restorative Justice, Center for Social Concerns, University of Notre Dame, USA
35. Theo Gavrielides, The IARS International Institute and the Restorative Justice for All Institute, UK
36. , Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR), EMU

The facilitators were led by project manager , and included CJP graduate students Janine Aberg, South Africa; Michael McAndrew, USA; Jordan Michelson, USA; Mikhala Lantz-Simmons, USA; and Ahmed Tarik, Iraq.