A discussion followed between Dr. Peleg of Israel, who advocated a strictly utilitarian approach to emergency medicine, and Omar Ha-Redeye, who pointed out numerous exceptions where this approach had shortcomings.
Omar Ha-Redeye with Dr. Pyrros (L), incoming President of WADEM, and Dr. Kobi Peleg (R), director of the Israeli National Center for Trauma and Emergency Medicine Research
Omar Ha-Redeye was part of a delegation from UWO that presented at the 53 Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations on Efforts by Canadian Organizations to Help Reduce the Social Impact of HIV/AIDS.
For the past several years, Dr. Quinn’s research has focused on various mechanisms of transitional justice, including Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, Peace Negotiations and War Crimes Tribunals. In particular, Dr. Quinn has had extensive involvement in the Northern Ugandan peace and reconstruction process.
Africa is a continent poorly understood by many in North America.
Although Sarah Palin apparently did know Africa is a continent, many people found it plausible that she did not when this news broke last week.
Few people here understand the conflict in Darfur, its causes, the factors, and potential solutions. Another very serious African conflict, and one which does not receive the attention here that it probably should, is the civil war in Liberia.
Pray the Devil Back to Hell chronicles the remarkable story of the courageous Liberian women who came together to end a bloody civil war and bring peace to their shattered country.
Thousands of women – ordinary mothers, grandmothers, aunts and daughters, both Christian and Muslim – came together to pray for peace and then staged a silent protest outside the Presidential Palace. Armed with only white T-shirts and the courage of their convictions, they took on the warlords nonviolently forced a resolution during the stalled peace talks.
A story of sacrifice, unity, and transcendence, Pray the Devil Back to Hell honours the strength and perseverance of the women of Liberia. Inspiring, uplifting, and most of all motivating, it is a compelling testimony of how grassroots activism can alter the history of nations.
Rainer’s review gives the film an A-. He praises the lucid way the documentary portrays the peaceful resolution of conflict in this war torn nation. But his characterization of the antagonists goes a step further. He says,
Liberia, the West African country of 3 million people that was founded in 1847 by freed American slaves, suffered a civil war in 1989 that gave rise to Charles Taylor, who was elected president in 1996 and rapidly descended to dictatorship. A second civil war devastated the country all over again. Rival, mostly Muslim warlords, attempting to depose Taylor, a Christian, raped and pillaged the populace. A quarter of a million people were killed; another million were displaced.
Omar Ha-Redeye found this characterization to be inaccurate and misleading. In a letter to the CSM he elaborated,
Regarding the Nov. 7 film review, ‘Pray the Devil Back to Hell’: I object to author Peter Rainer’s characterization of Muslim warlords raping and pillaging to depose the Christian Charles Taylor in Liberia.
Although it’s true that the group Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) has been accused of atrocities and is comprised of 70 percent Muslim Mandingos, the basis for the conflict was hardly religious in nature. For example, former LURD leader Sekou Conneh was raised and educated in Christian and Methodist schools. The southern rebel group, Movement for Democracy in Liberia, has links to Christian politicians in Ivory Coast. Government forces under Mr. Taylor also engaged in widespread rape and recruitment of child soldiers, especially in Bushrod Island. But Taylor has been described by some as a supporter of Muslims, having close ties to Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi, and providing them with facilities and radio broadcasting in his country.
Rainer’s review does present a touching perspective of people working together for peace across religious lines. But the best way to propagate this kind of peace is to avoid characterizing conflicts in religious terms when there is no basis for it.
Africa unfortunately remains the “dark continent,” surrounded by mystery and poorly understood by many in the West. African leaders claim that media coverage focuses unfairly on negative aspects of African current events, and the reports are highly unbalanced.
It’s not surprising then that such misunderstandings would occur. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies launched a project last month to help address these perceptions, which obviously affect policy makers around the world.
Perhaps eventually activists and commentators will more deeply consult people with backgrounds in African conflicts before attempting to address them in the media and the political stage.
Blawg Review #181 by Diane Levin in MediationChannel.com covered a couple of interesting posts by Omar Ha-Redeye this week,
When mistakes happen, conflict resolution can produce apologies and reconciliation. Yet fear of civil litigation can stand in the way of disclosure and apology — although movements across a number of fields are pushing to change that. Slaw reports on “New Proposed Apology Legislation in Ontario” designed to promote accountability and patient safety, together with the speedy resolution of civil disputes, among other goals. With apologies for mistakes in mind, Richard Webb at the Health Care ADR Blog muses, “Do Doctors Confess Errors Only When Caught?”
In an unrelated entry in the same post, she also covers an interesting cognitive test:
Cognitive Daily, a cognitive psychology blog, shares the results of a recent survey it conducted about a popular illusion that depicts a dancer spinning. The illusion, created by Nobuyuki Kayahara, does not, contrary to popular belief, prove whether you’re right-brained or left-brained. What makes it so fascinating is that some people perceive her to spin clockwise, some counter-clockwise, and some are able to reverse the direction in which they see her spin. I find optical illusions useful in teaching negotiation or conflict resolution skills, since they remind us of the unreliability of our senses, and that it is always possible to see things differently, even when you and I find ourselves looking at precisely the same thing.
The illusion appears on your right — which way do you see her spin?
Even though nations share common goals of mutual prosperity, stability and peace, they way they see things are often different. Understanding this, and mediating those differences by working with them, is probably the best approach to international politics.
On Feb. 3-6, 2008, students from UWO Law travelled to New York city. Here is a write-up that Omar did:
“A national law school with an international outlook.”
That’s how Western describes itself, and this February nearly a dozen Western law students made it true.
We were a rather international group ourselves, many of us working or traveling overseas prior to law school. Most of the students were first-years, but we also had several international exchange students from Europe and New Zealand.
Our first stop was the center of international law – the United Nations. We toured the chambers and had the opportunity to speak to two people in the U.N.’s Office of Legal Affairs. Both were Canadians. They shared with us the immensely important role that Canadians play within the U.N., and information on diplomatic legal careers.
We also met with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy. She shared a touching yet heart-wrenching video of children rehabilitated after serving in child armies in West Africa.
The next day we took on an educational focus and visited the Columbia School of Law. Our own Prof. Ooosterveld, who accompanied us on our trip, did her Masters in Law at Columbia. Prof. Oosterveld has published her own book on international law, and considered the school one of the foremost in the field. This was followed by a stop at the Canadian Mission, where some controversial and topical areas of international law were discussed.
We concluded our trip with some exposure to very different areas of international law. We first saw the Open Society Justice Initiative. They set up live website (charlestaylortrial.org) in a war crimes court trying former Liberian President, Charles Taylor. Allegations against Taylor include arming rebels in Sierra Leone, who in turn used child soldiers.
After seeing children in conflicts in the video at the U.N. earlier in the week, this initiative truly illustrated the role that law plays in holding such individuals accountable for their actions.
Our final stop on the last day was at the New York office of Torys LLP. They are unique among the Seven Sisters in that they are the fist and only one to have a branch there. The move was precipitated in trying to meet the needs of their clients, who were doing more business in the U.S.
We were hosted by Mr. Brian Flood, a corporate and commercial lawyer, former chair of the firm’s executive committee, and graduate of Western Law (1968). Another Canadian lawyer, Gavin Sinclair (UVic, 2000) led us through a case study of how an international merger and acquisition was conducted.
The most fascinating thing about the transaction was the number and types of lawyers in different countries interacted with, spanning several continents. They also talked about how Canadian law students can pursue legal careers in the U.S.
When we eventually left New York for London, ON, we truly felt we visited the world. The issues were discussed were dwarfed only by the number of flags at the U.N. The scope of legal practices we observed truly broadened our international outlooks, globally.
This site contains professional information about Omar Ha-Redeye.
Potential publishers, editors, reporters, recruiters, clients and employers are encouraged to contact him at omar [at] FleetStreetLaw [dot] com.
