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One of the delights of DuPont Circle in Washington DC is Kramerbooks, the local bookstore. Recently, while visiting DC I had dinner with a friend in DuPont and afterwards we spent a bit of time in the bookstore. I had … Continue reading
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In January I found myself somewhere in the middle of France. I was in a BlaBla Car being driven from Lyon to my final destination, Paris. We stopped at a gas station and rest stop. The weather that day was … Continue reading
There are more than 30 countries around the world that the UN considers “post-conflict.” This term means that in the past decades the country has experienced widespread violence, such as civil war or ethnic cleansing.
The road to peace for these countries, and their people, can be long and unfortunately punctured by new episodes of violence. The Contra War ended in Nicaragua in 1990, but despite this, since mid-April, Nicaragua has experienced political protests that have been violently repressed. Peaceful protesters have been met by violent counter-protests. The ensuing repressive police response has resulted in a fatality count nearing 100 people that grows by the day, according to human rights NGO’s.
A recent march for peace and justice in Managua, Nicaragua
Based on academic research, there is evidence that strong social connections and tourism both have a role to play in healing scars and maintaining peace in post-conflict countries around the world. In Rwanda, after the Tutsi genocide in 1994, the reconciliation government used tourism as a stabilizing economic force. Different ethnic groups were brought together to promote the country abroad, rebuild infrastructure, and maintain a welcoming and safe environment for foreign visitors.
Even more importantly, the ability to travel through a country and grow social connections between citizens of different, and formerly opposing groups, promotes dialogue, understanding, tolerance, and trust. Ghana suffered an ethnic conflict known as the Guinea Fowl War in 1994. After the conflict ended, the government made a concerted effort to promote social connections between the opposing groups in the conflict. This effort stirred dialogue between the opposing groups, and they were able to build mutual trust. In 1995 the opposing groups agreed to the Kumasi Draft Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in the Northern Region of Ghana, and there have not been any major outbreaks of violence between the groups since then.
“The ability of political units to generate and sustain cooperation is part of what distinguishes successful states from those that fail, communities with high-levels of service provision from those that lack essential services, societies with well-functioning democratic institutions from those that underperform, and political groups that achieve power and influence from those that find themselves stuck on the sidelines.”
– Fearon, Humphrey, and Weinstein (2014)
Building long-lasting, strong, and resilient social connections requires travel. Citizens need to meet each other, talk to each other, learn from each other, and experience what life is like for other people. These are the keys to empathy which is the critical building block for understanding and co-existence. Transportation is essential to facilitate this process. The importance of transportation was noted during the peace efforts following the Guinea Fowl War, since it facilitated inter-personal exchanges between regions.
Unfortunately, many people in post-conflict countries around the world do not have easy access to transportation. While citizens may know when the buses come and go out of their cities and towns, making transfers and getting further afield is extremely difficult. Most countries do not have a website with consolidated bus timetables. Google Maps, for instance, does not operate in Nicaragua, rural Rwanda, or northern Ghana. This problem can even be exacerbated in post-conflict countries, where social connections have been severed between people from different groups and regions, so finding accurate transportation information for other regions is even more difficult.
My company, ChickenBus, strives for a solution to this problem. We are collecting bus, ferry, and train timetables for the hardest to reach towns and villages of low and middle-income countries around the world. By making them available online we hope to make the healing process easier to bear for Nicaragua, Rwanda, Ghana, and other countries recovering from conflict. Hopefully, one day, ChickenBus can be used to promote peace in Syria, Yemen, South Sudan, and Myanmar as well. ChickenBus does not have to be confined to post-conflict healing. Around the world, we have a vision for students, travelers, and business people to use ChickenBus to seek education, meet new people, exchange ideas, and grow innovative businesses.
“The young people will win” is a mantra that I’m sure many of you have heard if you’ve been attentive to the media recently. It’s a phrase adopted by the prolific Stoneman Douglas teenagers who are advocating for an agenda – our rights to feel secure as humans. We frequently see these individuals behind a computer screen, and therefore we see them as a separate body from us. However, they possess the same capabilities as us graduates. As we enter into the real world, we must remember that we have a voice. Throughout the past four years at Holy Cross, I’ve learned how to utilize my voice to advocate for my beliefs as an ethical individual. I’ve faced opposition in a number of scenarios, but my voice continued to grow in intensity as I faced more adversity. Rather than allowing opposition to silence us, we must utilize it as empowerment. As long as we nurture our minds as youth, we’ll be able to be equally impactful as we encounter the world.
This commencement speech, written by Christian Bales, 2018 valedictorian of Holy Cross Catholic high school of Covington, KY, was banned by the Diocese of Covington. Christian self-identifies as gay and gender nonconforming, and in addition to being removed from the graduation program, Christian was instructed by the school principal to attend graduation “in male appropriate dress,” which includes dress pants and no makeup or hair accessories.
After the ceremony, Christian and the student body president, Katherine Frantz, whose speech was also rejected, used a blow horn to read their speeches.
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Graduation was on Saturday, and today I moved out of North Carolina and headed up to New York. I realize that in my last post I failed to reflect on North Carolina as a place where I lived rather than … Continue reading
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Close readers of this blog since I returned from Nicaragua in May 2016 will surely have observed that I did not love my MBA program. In short, it is too corporate. That being said, it is coming to an end, … Continue reading
This video was made by a current Nicaraguan Peace Corps Volunteer about the recent evacuation that she had to endure. All Volunteers remain in the United States to this date, and it is extremely saddening for myself, all returned Volunteers, certainly the serving Volunteers, as well as their counterparts, friends, host families, and the Peace Corps Nicaragua staff.
Although the major violence of April is over, I still believe there is repression and violence taking place against peaceful protesters. Some were attacked in Niquinohomo, where I lived for a month, on video, and the anti-riot police have been deployed to stop protesters over the past week. There are also accusations that the police continue to harass student protesters in Managua. I also just read online that violent counter-protests may be taking place in Masaya this evening (completely unsubstantiated at this time).
Interestingly, there has been an undercurrent emerging that is accusing the United States, through its various pseudo-imperialistic machinations, of stoking the violence in Nicaragua. While this narrative plays right into Ortega’s hands, I can’t dismiss it. I even heard this refrain going back to when I was a Volunteer from 2014-2016. I have no doubt that the United States continued to immorally meddle in Nicaragua’s internal affairs. The NICA Act is exhibit number one. I’m just not sure if we have much direct influence over the current anti-government protesting taking place. Regardless, inform yourself, share with others, and use your voice for positive change.
