The Industrial Areas Foundation's Diaspora Caucus in the United Kingdom

The Industrial Area Foundation (IAF), founded by Saul Alinsky in the mid-20th century in the U.S., is a citizen leadership development network with affiliate faith- and community-based institutions around the U.S. and abroad. Alinsky built the IAF on the foundation of one-to-one, relational meetings from which citizen leadership, power, and social equity emerge.

In the UK, I have just noticed a "Diaspora Caucus," organized among immigrant communities to improve their quality of life and connections with their non-migrant, fellow residents. See http://www.citizensuk.org/campaigns/citizens-uk-diaspora-caucus/ for an introductory video. It has a melodic ending, too.

I wonder if the IAF movement might have resonance in the Middle East? It's inter-faith and about as democratic as a civil society organization can be. I wonder if the American Friends Service Committee, Search for Common Ground, or another organization might be interested in engaging with them? Or the Syrian Rights Observatory in the UK?

Food for Peace, at least once a year...

Thanks to Al-Monitor's Lebanon Pulse for this small slice of peacebuilding through artisenal diplomacy: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/contents/articles/galleries/food-for-peace.html

Spanish UNIFIL troops and Lebanese cook together!

This is cross-cultural exchange at its finest!

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Culture/Lifestyle/2013/Apr-16/213843-trading-spanish-paella-for-baked-kibbeh.ashx#axzz2QeohqrZ7

Call for unofficial, citizen diplomacy

Here is an essay by two former diplomats about the possibility of stronger relations between the Iranian and American people. If governments can't work together effectively, at least the citizens can have a go at it, and often with great long-term benefits, as they argue.
http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/let-iranians-talk-to-americans-1.1167469?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WhatsNewInPd+%28What%27s+New+in+Public+Diplomacy%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher#When:06:22:40Z

Thanks as always to "USC's Public Diplomacy in the News." 

Cultural collaboration in a time of war

It's nice to think of this artistic collaboration going on between among Syrian and Lebanese artists in Aley, Lebanon: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Culture/Art/2013/Mar-13/209841-aley-serves-as-refuge-for-syrian-artists.ashx#axzz2Ojtr85zY .

On the edge of nationwide strife?

This article -- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2298080/Peace-Lebanon-dangles-thread-Prime-Minister-resigns-amid-political-crisis.html?ito=feeds-newsxml -- suggests that war is eminent in Lebanon, although one or two mentions of interviews with Lebanese indicate that the PM resigning is fairly expected and normal. I have been comparing the English-language Lebanese press (Daily Star and An-Nahar) and their coverage leans more toward the latter. Let's hope for that. Al-Monitor, though, recently published a piece by Jean Aziz (who also writes for the liberal-leaning Al Akhbar of Lebanon) -- http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/03/lebanon-enters-government-vacuum.html comparing Miqati's resignation -- which is widely reported as because he couldn't get the Cabinet to agree to extend the ISF chief's tenure past March -- and the lack of parliament's passage of an election law for the upcoming general elections, to the months before the Taif agreement, then the Doha agreement. Failing outside intervention in passing an election law and without a strong, credible ISF chief, Lebanon could tumble internally, the article suggests. It concludes with a question about whether the Lebanese people themselves come up with an agreement. It's hard to know how to assess the situation from over here, and not reading the Arabic media. I hope for Lebanese civil society activists across the diverse political and confessional landscape to be at the table. I wish I had time to monitor their activism. 'Rooting for you, Lubnan!

Please, please, please, not again

The situation in Lebanon, with the number of Syrian refugees estimated to be in the range of  220,000-350,000 (http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php) has continued to fester. Reports of Syrian child soldiers, rape, early marriages to protect daughters, severe malnutrition and depression, are increasing. Lebanese, people around the Middle East, and across the diaspora continue to fear another war. An example of the growing concern, with some Sunni Muslim leaders in Lebanon feeling ready to battle Hizbullah forces (that support the Syrian presidency and army) within Lebanon, is reported in  today's New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/14/world/middleeast/lebanons-sunnis-gird-for-a-fight.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 .

Governments need to engage their public diplomacy networks to listen, understand, and take concrete policy steps to quell the Syrian war and the increasing stirrings of war in Lebanon. The world is waiting for diplomatic negotiation to work. I hope that the USG and other UN Security Council and Arab League member states pause, convene, and reflect on what another civil war in Lebanon would look like -- how disastrous it would be. Public diplomacy -- abroad and at home -- is what's needed to inform USG and other stakeholder states' policies so that they are credible. If they are credible to all in the global networks of key stakeholders, then the explaining part of public diplomacy will directly support nonviolent peacebuilding. The global stakeholders include Hizbullah, Salafi Muslims, Maronite and Orthodox Christians, Druze, Israelis -- their political leaders must be at the table with UNSCR. Today. We have reached a crisis in Lebanon that will only make the war in Syria last longer. Please, let's not wait. From experience, we have a good idea of what will happen without emergency, all-inclusive intervention.

Today is a political anniversary day in Lebanon, a reminder of what Lebanon has been through and how the US and Lebanon have a shared interest in peace there:

Anniversary of Lebanon's Cedar Revolution

Press Statement

John Kerry
Secretary of State

Washington, DC

March 14, 2013

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Today marks the eighth anniversary of Lebanon’s Cedar Revolution, when the Lebanese people took to the streets to peacefully demonstrate and demand a sovereign and democratic country free from foreign interference and to call for the truth behind the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others.
The Lebanese people continue to face challenges as they work to ensure a stable, sovereign, and independent state that unifies all Lebanese. As Lebanon prepares for its parliamentary elections, we call on all parties to reject the use of violence and to resolve their differences peacefully and at the ballot box, consistent with the Lebanese constitution. Lebanon’s democratic process is a valuable achievement, and we urge Lebanon and its leaders to uphold their commitment to this process and hold elections on time.
The United States steadfastly supports the people of Lebanon and their advance toward a sovereign, stable, independent, and prosperous Lebanon.

PRN: 2013/0288