 All right. Good morning, everyone. Folks who are standing in the back, there are a couple empty seats over here. So feel free to make your way over to this side of the room. You can work your way around the cameras, if you will, or come here in the front. But we want to make sure that all the seats are filled so no one is left standing if they don't want to. So again, good morning, everyone. Welcome to the United States Institute of Peace. My name is Darren Cambridge. I work here at USIP in the Academy for International Conflict Management and Peace Building. And I'll be your emcee, your host, your facilitator for this morning's event, rhythms at the intersection of peace and conflict, the music of nonviolent action. And we at USIP are proud and honored to be co-hosting this event with the Conflict Resolution and Prevention Forum, CPRF. And it is an honor for me to be sharing this stage up here with three amazing individuals who will be our panelists. First, we have Dr. Maria Stefan, who is a senior fellow here at USIP. She's also co-author of the award-winning book Why Civil Resistance Works, The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict. We're also joined by Timothy O'Keefe, who is a musician, a producer, a DJ, and co-founder of Freedom Beat, which is an educational website and a record label that highlights and explores the role of music and musicians in nonviolent movements and campaigns around the world. And then lastly, but not least, we have Arash Sabani, who is the founder of the underground Iranian rock band Kiosk. And he is also one of the main voices in the film that we'll be screening during this morning's event. So as I said, it's an honor to share the stage with all of them. And you'll hear more from them in a bit as they introduce this subject matter and the film. The agenda for today, you just spent a half an hour getting a sample of music videos from artists that are featured in the film that we're going to watch. Actually, all of the lyrics to these songs are available on some handouts on the tables out there. So if some of you were listening to these music videos, but you didn't know what they were saying, you can learn about that and get the lyrics out there on the table. We'll begin with some opening remarks from the vice president of USIP's Academy, George Lopez. Then we're going to spend some time learning a little bit about all of you in the audience, having scanned the RSVP list. There are some amazing individuals and organizations represented in this room right now. So we want to take a chance and get to know a little bit about you. Then we'll turn it over to our panelists, hear a little bit about their stories, and that will help set the stage for the film. And after the film, we'll have a nice robust discussion about what you all saw and learned from this film. Afterwards, we have a reception at the end of the hall. You just follow these doors all the way to the end. That's actually where the restrooms are as well. We'll have a reception in a large room down there, coffee, tea, cookies, mingling, networking, getting a record deal, I don't know, what have you. And so we'll be meeting down there and hearing some more music from Arash's new album. So that's the agenda for today. I think we have a real treat in store for you. The last thing I'll mention is we have some viewers watching online on our webcast. And the hashtag that we are using for this event is hashtag Freedom Beat. So if you are watching online or you are tweeting from inside this room, we encourage you to use the hashtag Freedom Beat. It's up here on the screen as well. And if we get any good questions or comments from our online viewers, we'll take a moment to have those questions asked as well. So without further ado, I want to hand it over to, again, the vice president of the Academy for International Conflict Management and Peace Building, George Lopez. Darren, thank you. And thank you all for being here. I just want to say a couple of words at the start. Maybe the most important is that door is not the only escape hatch to a restroom. That is, if you're on this side of the room, there is an exit here, but it's pretty tricky because it takes you past the back of three conference rooms and then out back into the hall down so you can go to the restroom. And that's the way you re-enter. And given the size and scope of the program and the fact that we loaded you up with water and coffee before you came, if you're on this side of the room, you don't have to pass out. There is a way out. There also still are two, three, four chairs on this side of the room. For those who would like to sit, please, please join us in whatever way. We have a kind of funny internal rule that we will not set up more chairs for those who are standing while there are unfilled chairs for those who might sit. And on that note, I'd like to tell you that I am indeed George Lopez and have the great privilege of serving as the VP for the Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding here at USIP. And that we're delighted to have you to this session. And I guess session is really too low cut a word. I mean, I think for us, it's and a complete happening of sorts here at USIP, which we're cosponsoring with our good friends from the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Forum. As some of you know, the forum since 1999 has provided an opportunity of monthly meetings, in a sense, below the radar screen of Washington, to provide information not often available or explore possible solutions and venues and interesting places for dialogue, which may not be available in the usual kind of cross-section discussion within Washington, DC. The Alliance for Peacebuilding, Search for Common Ground, Partners for Democratic Change, USIP, number of other organizations and particularly academic institutions are part of this mix. And so welcome to all suspicious characters in the room from that organization. For our part, the United States Institute of Peace, as you may know, is an independent, nonpartisan conflict management center created by your own US Congress, if you're a US citizen, nearly 30 years ago. Our role in the world is to prevent, manage, and hopefully resolve violent conflict. We do so with a particular methodology. That is, we try to engage directly in conflict zones and provide analysis, education, and resources for those who'd be working in their locales for peace. Working in this venue, arts and culture, as it relates to peacebuilding, is not new. Particularly my talented colleagues here from PeaceTech that are deeply committed regional people in Iraq, South Asia, and elsewhere, particularly in Sudan and South Sudan, have been deeply involved in the use of arts, culture, and excellent media programming as a way to draw resources from the local culture and turn it back in to bring new voices. So for example, we sponsor a reality TV series, Peace Youth in Iraq, as a multimedia platform, about resolving conflict differences that youth can engage in themselves. It involves not only a discussion of nonviolent alternatives to conflict, but a competition for those who'd like to be involved for being the country's next peace ambassador. In South Sudan, the programming for Together Youth is a radio drama focusing on how we counter hate speech and promote issues of greater gender equality and inter-ethnic tolerance at a time where those are such in jeopardy in that culture. In Afghanistan, we've engaged with local partners to develop street theater programming. Launched across the country to show Afghans how to identify sources of election-related fraud and violence and find ways to encourage youth in particular to advance peaceful elections as a means for social change. Some of you, I think were with us just a couple of weeks ago when we premiered some of the 62nd Film Festival for Pakistanis who were involved in that in their own home to produce short films that address extremism, intolerance, and help support in particular millennial development goals. In Colombia, we've engaged in arts-based educational programming on the streets of Medellin in order to give students and young people a fuller picture of what it means to have a peaceful society and to provide alternatives from being recruited by militant groups and drug traffickers. Certainly, we've supported it in a direct and often an indirect way. The fine films you see available for your taking, please, on A Force More Powerful, another work that's been done by the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict. We're here today because we at USIP, along with our forum partners and the many creative people in this room, believe very, very strongly that arts and culture are an underappreciated source as a powerful tool to educate societies about alternatives to violence and particularly a useful way in this particular moment of social media to mobilize young people to undertake nonviolent action to challenge the injustice and the violence they face. This is a key component of any institution like USIP's vision of how we actually prevent and resolve violent conflict. Every society we know has its own cultural reservoir that can be tapped to advance the counter-narratives to violence which have emerged and so dominate at least seemingly for the moment the political and social dialogue. This particular approach of arts-based peace-building that attaches those cultural reserves gives a kind of strength to individuals and institutions working for peace that we believe needs to be mobilized in new ways. Music, drama, literature, and other traditional approaches within a culture are methods of popular education that highlight everything from the absurdities of repression to ways to amplify the voices for the search for just peace and strengthen nonviolent solidarity and discipline. These we think are the future of independent strong peace-building tools. So we welcome all of you. As Darren said at the start, we're very impressed by the resume that our audience brings to us. We're delighted to have the opportunity to have the time with these creative people on the front and we are very, very much welcoming you and them to this, I think, highly creative day. Thank you for joining us. Thank you, George, for that. And as he so eloquently put it, there's an amazing resume represented in this audience here. So we just wanted to get a sense of what kinds of individuals and interests are represented in this group. So just by a show of hands, how many of you in this audience identify or consider yourself to be an activist or an organizer? Okay, anyone care to share maybe one person, what movement, campaign, or organization of which they're organizing on a part of or on behalf of? Yeah, excellent, thank you, Sally. Thank you very much, good to be here. Show of hands, how many people consider themselves or identify as a musician or an artist of sorts? Raise your hand. Okay, would anyone care to share in what way they identify as a musician? Yeah, please. Hey, thank you very much. Thanks for being here. Show of hands, how many people identify or consider themselves to be an educator or a trainer? Okay, a lot of education trainers. One volunteer share with us a little bit about the education work that they're doing. Who would like to share with us about the education work or training work that they're doing? Yes, sir. Hi, Janus, I come from Peru. I have created Peace Ambassador Program. We strongly believe that peace building starts at very early years of life and children could be the best peace builders for the future. We use all kinds of arts. We use theater, we use movement, we use music, and we are finding very strongly the use of puppetry. Puppetry is a very strong art tool, and now peace ambassador is not only in Peru, but in every different country. And we have our most interesting anecdotes with the green peace ambassadors who are the little ones who are the caretakers of environmental issues. And so they go plant trees and they tell the adults about the importance of good habits for maintaining a much more peaceful cleaning environment. And so how can I say? This is a powerful tool. I consider myself an artivist, a word that I copy from Kayan Hirani, who is working in Afghanistan with Theater of the Press and doing a fantastic work. So artivist is a word I love very much and I'll share all with you because that's what you're doing. I'm an educator. I work strongly arts for personal and social transformation. Thank you. Thank you. And last, how many of you would consider yourself a policymaker or working for a policy type institution? Raise your hand. Okay. Not raising it as high as the other ones here. Don't be ashamed. Volunteer, who would like to share a little bit about maybe what region of the world or what issues you work with in this field of policymaking? Please stand up and we'll wait for the mic as well. Thanks. My name is Veronica Cartier. I have been, I'm an alumni of USIP, with 10 courses for international conflict management. I was a member of American Physics Society which is for nuclear proliferation policy. So I would like to be involved in policymaking in nuclear, but simultaneously music is as strong as the bullet as weapon. And that's why I'm here. And I would like to see how even the power of nuclear is a level of power of music, the rhythm. So when I see this event, I come and I would like to deliberate and to see how it has worked both in my knowledge in nuclear proliferation policy as well as composing powerful music for peace. Thank you. Thank you, thank you very much. And this is actually a good segue into the next thing I want to ask you all to do, just to delve a little bit deeper into your stories and your bios. And our panelists are gonna answer these questions as well when they introduce themselves. I would like you to turn to the person next to you or behind you, ideally someone who you have not met before. So again, turn to your left, your right in front behind and again find somebody who you haven't really chatted with or met yet. And I want, in five minutes, I want the two of you to share your responses to three questions. The first question which you kind of just responded to is why are you here? Why did you decide to take time out of your Tuesday morning to come to this event? In other words, why are you interested in music and or nonviolent action and or the intersection of the two? Why are you here? So that's the first question I'd like you and your partner to share. The second question is, and I'm gonna put an image up here on the screen. I'd like you and your partner to tell each other when you are looking at this image, what do you see? What does this image mean to you or symbolize to you? Okay, be interested to see what people think. What does this image mean to you? And then the third question is, if you could go on tour with any band or musician in the world, what band or musician would you go on tour with? So make it quick and short, five minutes, turn to the person around you, share your responses and then we'll hear back from a couple folks. Let's bring it back to the whole group. Um, we would like to hear just from five of you to stand up, wait for the mic and you can either share your personal response to these questions or if it's okay with your partner, if you learn something about your partner and you're like, wow, this person's really fascinating, you can share out what your partner shared with you. But let's just take five volunteers to again hear a little bit more about some of the amazing folks that are in the audience. Who would like to start us off? Please, right here and here comes the mic. So I have my neighbor's permission. My name's Sandra Malone, I'm with Search for Common Ground and I have the great joy of having sat, not by coincidence, but fate, I think, next to Judith. And Judith is here because her brother was killed by Hezbollah and after he was killed, the first action she took, not only as part of her own healing process, but for the whole society, is to commission a piece of music for healing. So that's why she's here and she's also a healthcare practitioner and for her, this was about the pulse and the heart and the beat of life and therefore of music. And we didn't get further than that, but that was good by me, so thank you. Thank you very much for sharing. Thank you, thank you for being here. Someone else, responses, yes please. I got the permission from Dr. Diane Perlman and I was so fortunate just a few moments talk to her because she's also in the nuclear policy. So we will be together in a conference next year here. She's half this year the bull, which is psychological dimension of nuclear policies and the fear of this armament. So when I talk about that image, it is when is two leaders in a maybe dialogue or diplomacy in a critical moment when we, the leader about nuclear, maybe their heart is beating so hard and I told that it's the same when maybe I was three times in disco when I was much younger, my heartbeat is the same things. So then I am writing the book is under the simultaneously system thinking. It means then how can I transfer that from the beating heart because of angry but to your heart beating because of the rhythm of music. So it is simultaneously is the same beating but in a different, your brain in a different mode. So that's what my image is looking at that. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, my name is Uday Joshi. I'm a doctoral student at American University School of International Service and I'm also a producer with Kennedy Center's Arts Edge and Youth and Civic Action campaigns. But as much as I'd like to talk to you at my research at American University is on the intersection of arts and conflict and peace education. So I'd love to talk about that more but even more I'd like to introduce you to the person I talked to. Sorry. Her name is Gail Prenski and she's the executive producer and project director of the Jewish Kulturbund. Yudhisha Kulturbund. Project. And she's doing it and she just told me just a very briefly about an amazing project studying pre-Nazi and then from 19, can you say? Yeah. So, hi everybody. So it starts in Nazi Germany in 1933 when the Jews are kicked out of everything and this group of performing artists and musicians organized and they brought a proposal to the Nazis and they said, let us have our own symphonies and operas and plays and believe it or not, the Nazis approved it and so from 33 to 41 they performed in 42 cities around Germany until the final solution and I filmed interviews with 15 members and I'm connecting their story to how current day artists respond to oppression around the world. Thank you. All right, let's just hear from one more person right here my friend. Hello everybody, this is Pandor and this is less than six months that I've arrived in the US. About me that why I came here is related to my faith. I'm Bahayan because of my faith I couldn't go to university in Iran and we believe that all the world is one country and all the people are its citizen and all the people have one right of life and about him, Michael, my new friend, his enthusiasm to be here is related to his childhood that was inspired by I think Chilean musician, it's correct. And about this image, he believes that this is the rhythm of life and about in my opinion this is our hearts which are bidding for each other to make peace around the world, just it. Thank you, very powerful, very powerful. All right, well let's turn it to our panelists here. After all, I think most of you probably came here to hear from them so let's go down the line here, Maria, let's start with you. Why are you interested in this subject matter of music, nonviolent action and its intersection? Well first of all, I wanna thank everybody for coming here. I'm really honored to be in the same room with such an amazing audience and to be on stage with three very energetic and creative people and I wanna thank Darren for rallying the forces to organize this event this morning. I guess, I mean I'm here, most of my academic and professional life has involved working with activists involved in nonviolent campaigns and movements around the world in the Middle East and beyond both what I used to work at the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict and then when I worked in the State Department and now at USIP in the Atlantic Council and really I'm interested in exploring with this very talented group how arts, music and culture can be better mainstreamed both conceptually and practically in nonviolent campaigns and movements to improve their effectiveness. I guess the symbol on the screen reminds me of energy and a little bit of disobedience because it's going outside of the line and up and down and it recalls a memory for me. My first experience I guess with music and nonviolent resistance was growing up in rural Vermont I guess all of Vermont is rural but growing up in rural Vermont and every so often I was sent to my room for time out because I committed some sort of transgression and actually that probably happened too often and so I found myself alone in my room and I wanted to fight back against the authorities that put me in my room and my natural instinct was to get out my Mickey Mouse record player and turn it up as loud as possible and then turn over my garbage can and bang away just to create as much a racket as I could in an attempt to annoy the power holder which was my mother and but it so happened that the response was less than anticipated and it just got the timer turned for another hour so anyhow, so that was my first experience with music and nonviolent resistance and if I could travel with any band it would probably be some combination of you two and Lady Gaga. Perocious and also the next time I walk by your office I'll expect to see that Mickey Mouse record player on your shelf somewhere probably displayed. Tim, what about you? Why are you interested in this intersection? Well I've always been making music since I was in my early teens and got involved in like production and my other passion was definitely political science and international relations so it kind of, I never really knew how to mesh those together for a long time to me they were like these different parts of my life and then actually partly through meeting Darren strangely at a wedding we started to discuss our mutual interest in digital media as it related to nonviolent resistance and I was interested also in terms of like how it could be used for diplomacy and through that I just basically I already had an infrastructure set up for a record label I had a small record label and I just kind of the idea came to me to create a label that specifically focused on music of resistance and I approached Darren about that and Darren has also the co-founder of Food and Beaded we basically brought it to the International Center on nonviolent conflict and through their generosity and support we've been able to start the project which is currently in development. Thanks Tim. Arash, thank you Darren. First of all, thank you so much for coming here this morning and thank you so much Darren for organizing this event. About me, I studied architecture and I never thought that music would be would become such an important subject in my life but the reason I'm here is because I'm really interested in about change, about social improvement and I think coming from Iran music has played a very, very important role giving voice to a generation that has been silenced by the government and I think that's what this whole thing is about I think and other than that, if I had to travel with a band I'd probably go with Roger Waters and I'll convince him to stop and tell him as well. Tim, you didn't tell us your band you're not gonna get away I gotta go with David Bowie David Bowie? You're gonna go with me. That's the right answer, if you take my way. Okay, great, well the film touches on a lot of different things and I think that we've already been using some terms and we use these terms in the literature and the promotional materials but we can't necessarily assume that we all have an agreed upon definition of what these terms mean one of which is nonviolent action so we've used this term already several times so far but what does nonviolent action actually mean? So Maria, could you share with us a little bit about how do you describe this phenomenon of nonviolent action or nonviolent struggle to people and what did the research that you did for your book Why Silver Resistance Works, what did it reveal? In other words, why does it work? Right, so nonviolent action also known as people power, nonviolent struggle, civil resistance is really a technique of action in a way for people to fight to advance basic rights, freedoms to challenge unjust systems using nonviolent means. It's a way to apply power in a conflict, social power, economic power, political power without the use of violence or the threat of violence and in the research that I conducted with Erica Chenoweth that led to the book Why Silver Resistance Works we found that remarkably nonviolent resistance campaigns and we looked at 323 campaigns from 1900 to 2006 and we found that nonviolent campaigns which involve tactics like boycotts, strikes, civil disobedience, graffiti, satire, vigils, hundreds of various tactics, this method of struggle was twice as effective as armed struggle in challenging the most formidable opponents. So we're talking about dictatorial regimes that were more than willing to use violence against protesters, against foreign occupations and in campaigns for territorial self-determination. So we found quite remarkably that this method of struggle was quite effective even against the toughest opponents. And if I could summarize the book in maybe a couple of lines, the reason civil resistance outperforms its armed counterpart is because far more people in any given society are able to participate in nonviolent resistance. The barriers to participation are lower, the ethical barriers, the physical barriers, you don't need to be a trained, fit, able-bodied man, trained in explosives to participate in nonviolent resistance. It's easier to use tactics that range and risk from low risk to high risk. And when you have lots of people in any society, workers, professionals, youth, women, bureaucrats, even military who defect, when you have large numbers of people who decide to stop obeying and are engaged in organized dissent and non-cooperation, this can sever even the most brutal opponents sources of power and translate into victory for nonviolent movements. And so not only is nonviolent resistance more effective than armed struggle in places where we would think it is not, but nonviolent resistance also historically and empirically tends to result in societies that both democratize more in a quicker order. So democracy is more likely to happen following nonviolent campaigns and movements and transitions that are driven by nonviolent means are much less likely to relapse back into civil war. So if you care about what comes after the transition, if you care what comes after, if a regime falls or whatever, democracy, civil peace, nonviolent resistance and nonviolent civic organizing has a very, very strong comparative advantage over armed struggle. Thank you. Hey. Yes. Well said, well said. And I will say that some copies, I don't know if there are any left, there are some copies of Dr. Maria Stefan and Dr. Erica Chenoweth's book, Why Civil Resistance Works Available out on the table there for free. So maybe you can mad scramble when we're done here to grab the last few copies. But it's an excellent read. Tim, in the promotional materials, a little bit was shared about the Freedom Beat project that you helped you and I co-founded. Tell us a little bit more about what the vision is of Freedom Beat and you use the term music of resistance. What does that actually mean to you and to the project? Well, the goal for the project is definitely to sort of bring attention to musicians who use music as a form of nonviolent resistance and as the same time to also educate people about the movements that they're associated with through music. I'm, Freedom Beat is a way to sort of get that music out, get there, get those musicians out there. And we've also kind of expanded in terms of our website and our blog to kind of have video pieces that like profile different musicians. We're very interested in filmmaking side of it as well. And I would say music resistance for me, it's interesting because Darren and I kind of put together sort of like list of categories of music or resistance subversion, some of them being like how certain songs become sort of anthems of different movements. But I think that that list is not complete because I see different examples of sort of a marriage that make me realize that there's a lot of ways that music can be used or that it might sort of just manifest into a sort of form of nonviolent resistance. So that's what I would say about it. Great, thanks. And actually what emerged from this project was this relationship with Arash. And the series of films that Tim just referred to was made available and really only possible because of the work that we've done with Arash. So Arash, you've got a fascinating, interesting story. And I think given the context of this event, what does it mean to be a quote underground musician, particularly in the Iranian context? And given your journey that is kind of captured in this film, did your conversations with any of these other artists in the region, did it impact you in any way about how music can be used and viewed as a vehicle for social change? In Iran, a lot of things that the young generations doing is considered underground. You start a relationship underground, you meet people underground, you watch movies underground, you blog underground, and you make music and listen to music underground. It's just everything happening there is basically underground. So, but underground music is a music that's not supported by the government. It's not supported by any other organization entity related to the government or outside of government. Actually, the government tries to silence it because the government's afraid of the message. So that's I think the definition of the underground music. I've been living outside of Iran for quite a while now, but I still kind of relate to that message. And I kind of consider myself part of that movement because even the music I make here today, using Farsi lyrics, is banned inside Iran. And people can get in trouble if the government finds out they're working with us in any kind of way or promoting our music or things like that. Going back to this project, it was really eye-opening experience for me. I grew up in Iran, and I had traveled around the region, but I had never focused on music and culture when I was doing all this trip. And in this project, it was really interesting to see how other musicians in other countries are going through the same difficulties and how the different governments with different backgrounds like military government in Egypt or a secular government in Turkey is enforcing censorship on musicians with different tactics. And it was really interesting to find out we're all being censored. So before we start this film, what's one thing, Arash, that you would like the audience members to think about as they watch this film? What's one question that you want them holding on to while they watch this film? The one thing that I can share with you, with the audience here today, is that it's very important, is how the US is misrepresented and misunderstood in the Middle East. And I keep thinking about this, and it's just really, really bothering to know that how the media is portraying Middle East here for the American public and the image they created ahead is really distorted. It's the same thing over there. They really don't, the US they have in their head is not what these people are and what we are doing here. And the energy and the amount of money that's been spent to make a change in Middle East. We're doing something wrong. So kind of think about and look out for how these ideas of how the US is perceived by these countries and how those countries are perceived by the US, how that's kind of representing the film. Can I add something before we watch the film? The other thing that I wanted to share with you is that, I know a lot of you share the same view that the answer to the Middle East problem is not an economic or a political one, it's a cultural. And I think this film kind of shows that. There needs to be a cultural change to get to the point that we have a piece that's... Tim, what about you? What's one question that you would like the audience to think about as they watch this film? Actually, I'm very interested in how these artists balance their role as entertainer or activist, or entertainer between those two. I think it's... And as a musician who's interested in these things, I think that's kind of... Some people have certain ideas of like, you're a musician, this is your role. And then you're an activist, this is your role. I'm interested in sort of how they as individuals sort of balance that out. How do these artists balance entertainer and activist? Maria, what about you? And what questions would you like the audience to think about? I guess a little bit pragmatically. Thinking about nonviolent resistance as a functional alternative to violence, how can music in particular, but also the broader range of arts and culture, be used to support what I think research have considered to be three key ingredients of success for nonviolent campaigns and movements. And those three are unity, planning, and nonviolent discipline. So what is the role of music and art in enhancing unity within, particularly in divided societies, in helping people think through how to choose goals and methods and teaching people about tactics and strategies. And thirdly, how to help people maintain nonviolent discipline even when they're faced with opponents that are more than willing to use violent repression against them. Okay, excellent, thanks. So how can music be used to enhance unity, planning, nonviolent discipline, these key elements of successful civil resistance struggles? Last thing I'll say before we go to film is I wanna bring it back to this image up here. And I think what folks shared was really powerful. And I think, I agree, I think this image represents all that was shared. I mean, there's obviously no right or wrong answer here, but I think it does represent a heartbeat. It represents a drumbeat. We can see that rhythm. It represents the rhythm of life, as you pointed out. It represents negotiation, dialogue, conversation, sometimes contentious. And I think all of those conceptions are wrapped up in what I see in this image, which is this is nonviolent social change. This is, in other words, the intersection of peace and conflict. I think a key thing to understand about nonviolent action or nonviolent conflict is that it is not conflict resolution. It's actually about waging a conflict, albeit through nonviolent means, in order to disrupt an unjust status quo or a negative piece, a piece that has no justice, has no social equality. And so at the one end on the left side of this, you have some stability. But that stability, like I said, may be unjust. And so you need to disobey. You need to disrupt the system. You need to shift your behavior patterns and shake things up. You need to create a conflict. And that's what the squiggles in the middle are. That's where that rhythm, that pulse, starts to represent, that rhythm. So that the outcome is a new status quo, a new kind of piece. Something has been transformed because people actively engaged in conflict through nonviolent means. And music is the integral part of this symbol. So again, I ask you to also look at this as a symbol for nonviolent social change. And again, the rhythm that music is infused into this system or into this image. So with that, well, we hope you enjoyed the film. We wanna give you just five minutes to digest what you just saw for a little bit. So we're gonna ask you to turn to the same person you chatted with at the beginning of this event and keep in mind the questions that our panelists asked you to think about during this question. So the first one was the issue of perceptions of the United States in this region and then also the perceptions of this region in these countries within the United States. And how did this film uncover some of the issues around that? So that was the question that Arash wanted you all to think about. The question that Tim, as you think about was how are these artists balancing their role or seeing their role as entertainer and activist? So what resonated with you around that question in this film? And then the question that Maria wanted you all to think about was how does music enhance these kind of core principles of successful nonviolent action, that being nonviolent discipline, unity, and planning? So what were some things that were mentioned in these interviews that touch on those points? So just take five minutes chat with your partner and then we're gonna hear from some folks about what they thought about those questions and we'll open it up to the panel. So let's talk a little bit about what we just saw. I'd like to begin with Arash's question. So are there any folks here who have some thoughts about the question of the perception of the United States in the Middle East and that kind of cross-cultural understanding that he talked about? Anyone would like to share thoughts on that? Yes, please, and let's wait for the mic as well. Well, good morning, everyone. My name is Hani El Sayed. I come from Syria. I'm a co-founder of Radio Suriyali, which is an online and FM frequency radio focused on peace building and community building in short. And I absolutely believe in the interplay of media, art and culture and what it can do for social change and impact and Maria who's a good friend and I'm so honored to be a good friend of Maria's. We were having this discussion and like you said, media and art and culture to civil societies like oxygen to fire. But to answer to your question, and I think this is for everyone, I really believe, I've lived in the Middle East most of my life. I was born and raised in Kuwait, lived in Cairo, Lebanon and Syria with an American institution as part of my, since first grade I've been in American schools and in American universities. And I've enjoyed the best of both cultures. But at the same time, I was one of those people who had the opportunity to travel and see the world, but I realized that from the Middle East or from the West, not everybody has that opportunity. So the stereotyping is there. The other thing is there's always this one way flow of information from the United States into the Middle East, which is really not fair also for people from the West and it's not fair for us. So the way we see the West would probably be through Hollywood movies and what we think of the US government's policies. That's not fair, that's not the American people. And in fact, I mean, going from DC to Virginia or to New York, it's just a whole different culture for me that America is not one country and it's actually so many little countries or so many little states. We don't know that in the Middle East and so we stereotype. And again, it's, but we do have, I could walk in Syria in a suburb and find the guy who's selling, God knows what, a little store watching Oprah Winfrey. I don't think anybody here is gonna be watching any of our arts and cultures as such, let's say. So I would love to see more of the region's work through culture because economy and politics has failed us. So culture is one path, let's say, that we need to really work on and have more of that coming to the West. And at the same time, what we see from the West into the Middle East is not just Hollywood and the US government policies. Care to comment or build on that? Yeah, I totally agree with the honey and I think this cultural exchange can really help with us reaching a sustainable piece in the region and I just wanted to add something to when I saw the film, this might be helpful. We talked to a lot of musicians, we had to make a short film so not all of them got to be in this film but to continue this project, a Swedish organization is helping us with a festival to invite these musicians to come there and perform. So these kind of exchanging cultural events I think it's really helpful and really necessary. Well, I would just say, I mean, more from a former State Department cap that I think often public diplomacy is undervalued and it's considered something that soft and sort of an add-on when really it's integral to our foreign policy and I think it is a powerful channel, a course for opening communication, for doing diplomacy better and for connecting with people because diplomacy of course is state-to-state but it's also people-to-people and I think we undervalue that when it's such a powerful force for change and then in this beautiful space of USIP of course a question like that makes me think what can be done here to improve and enhance this type of work in arts and culture and its role in everything we do here to promote peace-building around the world but I don't have the answer to that. Also it reminded me of this kind of cross-cultural blending of ideas and art and the Freedom Beat project I think one of the visions of it is to mention is a meeting place for artists from all around the world whose music is seen or used as a form of resistance and I think from the US context, from my experience, we've definitely seen over the last few years this increase in fusion between different genres of music and that's created a lot of great work and I think this project is an attempt to create a fusion across regions where the sounds and the techniques and the styles from one region of the world can really resonate in another part of the world and all of a sudden people and listeners are exposed to messages and ideas and ways of playing instruments, new instruments, lyrics, turns of phrase that they were never exposed to before and music is one of the best ways to do that. Do you want to add on to that at all or? I mean, you kind of covered it right there but also I see Freedom Beat is not just for artists but for people that appreciate music as well as journalists interested in the role that music plays or the arts by extension and filmmakers, I kind of see it as like, it could be a large group of people, not just artists. Good morning, my name is Zong. My name is Michael Schapler. I'm from Search for Common Ground. One of the things that I was most struck in this also in relation to this question about the relationships was a very positive, which is the influence of our music and our own resistance music on the music that was there. You know, the discussion of Volonius Monk as a path setter to Barack Obama's election and the use of rap and hip hop, which is of course worldwide now, become such a central part of resistance music. You know, we always, you know, here to lament the exportation of our, you know, the worst aspects of our culture, the McDonaldization and Walmartization of the world. But actually, you know, the most power, one of the most powerful influences and positive influences we've had as a people is through music and how our music has influenced the world. And I kept thinking when this happened, I kept thinking about this host of, I forget his name, but there was a host of a Voice of America jazz show that used to broadcast in the Soviet Union and into Eastern Europe. And this guy, when he died, was grieved hugely all across and it was after then to the Cold War. And he was, you know, one of the most famous Americans in the world and none of us have ever heard of him here. And it was because of how powerful the idea of jazz as this music which embodies the notion of freedom and lack of constraint and experimentation and how powerfully that resonated across the Soviet Union and the Communist bloc. And that this guy had become this hugely famous figure representing that. And so, you know, when we're in an era where so much of what we see is so anti-American as well and maybe a lot justified, it's quite moving to see our music portrayed in such a way. Up in the front here. Hi, I'm Les Kurtz from George Mason University just down the road. And one of the things I'd like to follow up on that because one of the things I'm interested in is the role of the blues and rock music in preparing the way for the civil rights movement. And it was interesting how that influenced the Lebanese artist who was interviewed. And one of the things that I've felt about the role of the blues and rock is that it had two different kinds of roles and music plays both of them. One is to sort of prepare the ground for change. And this happened in American culture in the 1950s. The blues and rock created an integrated space in American culture when most of the institutions were segregated racially. But people weren't drawn to the music. Black and white young people were drawn to the music because of the beat, because it was about love. It wasn't about racism or discrimination or that sort of thing. So there was this kind of indirect effect. And then there was the direct effect on the civil rights movement itself of music as a mobilizer, inspirer, kind of a way to relate to one another, this discipline and unity and planning that music became a key tool within the movement itself. And so I think both of those roles are important. Yeah, I was just gonna say, in regards to the indirect effect, I think that's something to really recognize because it's harder to figure out like, oh, is this song playing a specific role and this movement, where if the lyrics don't have a specific message or something like that. So it's interesting to think about how that works. I'm also hearing some things connect to the unity piece. I mean, you said something like, young people, black, white, brown, what have you, were drawn to that beat and it brought them together in a space that it just called to them. And all of a sudden they found themselves like, oh wow, we're in an integrated situation. And actually it reminded me of a project that you're working on right now or filming you're working on right now Tim about Pharrell Williams' song, Happy. And actually NPR did a really great story on just a couple of weeks ago about what makes that song and songs like it so powerful and there's a scientific study that was done about how rhythm and beats just naturally get your body moving. So what is it about these songs that get people doing that and that song obviously was hugely popular all around the world. People in different countries made different videos and Iran has its own example of Iranians making this their own dance video to the Pharrell Williams song. What happened in that situation? Maybe both of you could touch on that a bit. Well, it was a very unfortunate and interesting event in Iran that like everywhere else a bunch of kids got together and made a video. I guess you all know the story and then the police arrested them and then the chief of police of Tehran took the city with 12 million inhabitants comes to TV and says we took us six hours to find these guys and we brought them to it was like a crackdown on a big drug traffic and gang was, it was embarrassing. And then after a couple of days they realized that they've made a fool out of themselves and they let them go. But that's the price you pay and you want to be happy. They left them eventually, he's out. Hi, my name is Edward from the Public International Law and Policy Group and I had a question more on the practical side of things. I think in this movie we saw the power of music to really tear down oppressive institutions. Its ability to unite broad segments of the population together. But my question is what role do you see music as building and building up these institutions after all this is done? How can music bring about the cultural change you talked about that will contribute to this peace building in the area after these institutions are torn down, after these politicians are kicked out? Yeah, that's a great, that's a really good question. And a big challenge of course is how you transition from mass mobilization, resistance and confrontation to engagement with institutions and engagement with political legal processes. And I think there's not an easy answer but I think the skills that are involved in building a nonviolent movement which entails coalitions, the building of coalitions between people who normally would not be working together, between people across conflict divisions. And so the skills involved in building coalitions I think contribute to the effective engagement with institutions afterwards. And this is particularly important in very divided societies. And I think the unifying effect and certainly when we're talking about arts and culture it's involved in the protest phase but also the unifying elements of what is common amongst peoples in these societies, especially after years and decades of repression, dictatorship, conflict. The role of music and culture in showing people what unites them I think is very, very powerful. But thinking about how to sustain the coalition building instinct after the regime falls or after the change happens that I think is where it's at in terms of going from confrontation to engagement. Hello, everyone. My name is Huda, I'm from Libya. So, well, I have many comments on the discussion and I'm very interested in it. Well, I remember from my experience when I was in Tripoli during the uprising in 2011. So there was a music also like people created from the street. And I was in Tripoli, it was like different from Benghazi to East because I was under the siege of the regime that time. But when we heard the music, so it was like kind of inspire us. And this is kind of where I disagree with Orish because he said that culture divide us. But that music was really different from the South, from the East. And when I heard the music at first that I was like really looking for something that to be Libyan and to reflect on Lebanese guy in the movie that identity is part of that I have another thing that we use that music kind of nonviolent resistance in Tripoli. So what we did, we put a radio or anything that you have DVD or something on the street and put the music and turn the music on very loud and run, run, run very fast. And then the regime would come and say, who did the music? Oh, I don't know. Like, you know, it's like really bad music. It's not my type. But we just kind of over nonviolence because it was so hard to listen to the music. You know, like, you're like with, you know with the protest, with the revolution. So this is from my experience and I'm going for the movie. Thank you. I just want to say it very quickly. So that's a very interesting example of a unique tactic. And what is interesting about the tactic is rather than concentrating people in a public square like in Takriir or in Maidan which often makes people very vulnerable to regime repression and gets a lot of people killed, sniped, and the like, the idea of coming up with nonviolent tactics that disperse people and that makes it harder, generally speaking, for regimes or opponents to repress them. And so you think about why consumer boycotts are often very effective tactics. Well, it's very hard to crack down on people who refuse to buy certain products from a store as opposed to just coming together for rallies and demonstrations. Walking slow, slowly in the street is very hard for police to repress people just for walking slowly. Banging pots and pans, you know, outside or on the rooftop, all across the country, very hard to repress. So that's another thing in terms of when we were studying what makes nonviolent resistance successful. Being able to diversify tactics and keeping the opponent off guard, which is what your Libyan tactic did obviously very well, is what contributes a lot to success. Yeah, and it creates like, that tactic creates a disruption and it also taxes the security forces. Exactly. It's like going and shutting it off, which is good. Yeah. I saw the man on this side of the room earlier. Yes? Well, I was... Wait for the mic coming around for you. Sarah Kroemer, I was very lucky to be visiting Michael Shippler in Nepal a number of years ago when they were just in the process of developing a project that used music of the different musicians. They brought musicians from all the different warring factions of the country who were just really antagonistic to each other together into a workshop to work with each other to try and understand each other's music and to develop a joint message. And at the beginning of the project, I mean, people weren't talking, they wanted to leave. And by the end of the workshop, they had, people started listening to the sounds of the music they were unfamiliar with and started to appreciate the underlying rhythms that were originally unfamiliar to them or expressed a different culture. And they ended up creating the most wonderful joint concert that they then did as a video and a performance that they started performing around the country for unity. And it was just amazing to be part of this. And I thought something, the question you posed about what to do next, that this is almost a template that one could begin to build this sort of bring people together through music on. Hi, I'm Dina Salah. I'm an Egyptian journalist just arrived to the States last week. And I wanted to touch up about the point on perceptions and stereotyping. I think I was more, I was subjected to a bigger culture shock, realizing that there's rap in Egypt more than anything that I've faced in the States over the past week. And I think this gives a bit of an idea about how we're actually much closer to each other than we think we are. My first paper in university, I studied journalism in the American University in Cairo. And it was just a one-on-one research writing project. And my subject of choice was how, it was about how jazz sort of had a social impact on the American civil rights movement. My professor who was an American citizen was not able to identify with most of the subjects mentioned in the paper. And that too, to see a Lebanese artist who was really influenced by this idea also tells me that we're really so much closer to each other than what we think. And concerning the role of music in unity and in rebuilding organizations, something very interesting is happening in Egypt right now. But also how new indie bands emerge after the revolution, after the protests in Tahir, many, many new genres of music that never existed before came to being. And now the military government, the repressive military government as described by some is actually using the same tactics. So many bands are now coming out and doing really hip songs that sort of promotes the nationalism. And so it's really interesting to see that both sides are using the same tool in the same manner as to influence people. It just acknowledges how powerful music is. Can I make a comment on that? And what Lester and Michael said, there is no doubt that the form of the music, you know, be it blues, jazz or hip hop is universal and people are adopting that. But it's about the content. My experience is that the Middle East, they're more influenced by the pseudo-culture of anti, it's cool to be anti-American for an intellectual. That's what you see in Europe and that's what you see in most of these countries. So when you talk to these artists, you know, they have that background, they have that kind of thinking behind their lyrics. And that's what I'm talking about when I say the US is being misrepresented there. That was, yeah. Thanks, my name is Aaron Schneer. I'm the director of Heartbeat, which is an organization that brings together Israeli and Palestinian youth musicians to build critical awareness and use music to transform their conflict. I'm curious to hear from you all. We've heard a lot about the great things that music can do. I believe that we've only scratched the surface as a global community. And I'm really curious to hear from you all what are the obstacles now and how do we turn up the volume? Well, just from my experience on this project, I was trying to get these musicians to perform together. And I was really, really hoping that I could get a Israeli band to come and perform. But whenever I brought up the idea to my Egyptian friends or Lebanese friends, they just said, don't even talk about it. If we do that, we lose all our listeners and our audience. And that was really shocking for me because I wasn't expecting that to come from an artist. I could understand if somebody from the street, a cab driver told me, I don't like the Israelis. I would understand. But what an artist who realizes what a powerful weapon he has at music, and he says he doesn't want to collaborate with an Israeli musician because he's gonna lose his listeners, that was shocking to me. But I heard it from many, many different musicians and I hope we find a solution for that. I would say another obstacle is just very nuts and bolts. This type of work needs to be resourced. I mean, it needs to be financed. And so at whatever level, the international level, local level, institutional, resources need to be set aside. People need to be designated to lead an arts and peace building initiative. It needs to be their life's work. And there needs to be investment in this area, not because it's touchy feeling kumbaya, but because arts, music, and culture are powerful amplifiers of nonviolent action and peace building. So it needs to be sort of strategically recognized as integral to success of all of these activities and not an add-on, not a wouldn't it be nice if, not a softy sort of thing, which will just get it dismissed. So serious people who care about this have to put money behind it. And that's how you grow a global movement of musical peace builders. One thing, too, to that. And Tim, I'd love for you to chime on this as well. The Freedom Beat project and record labels, it's still in development. It's not a completed project. I don't think ever it will be a completed project. It's always something that's emerging and growing organically. But in conversation with others, there's been a vision of, how do we make the tools that musicians need to record their own music available to them? Sometimes it's just equipment. I mean, how do you record your stuff digitally? And then how do you distribute it digitally? There's a whole infrastructure there, a whole network to get your music out there, to amplify it, as Maria said. And we do have some vision of thinking around how does Freedom Beat as a project help musicians around the world do that? So it's not just the meeting place to kind of be exposed to different sounds and lyrics from other folks around the world. But then also, are there ways that we can provide tools and then the distribution infrastructure to actually amplify that? Yeah, I mean, I feel like in this time, just because of how inexpensive it is to record on your own, I mean, you basically need a piece of software, a laptop, and maybe an interface, which is so low-cost when compared to what it would have cost 10 or 15 years ago to try to record your own record. So that brings the amount down a lot, so a small amount of investment could do a lot in regards to that. And then also, I think, eventually, I would love for Freedom Beat to be able to provide sort of an educational component to people who are maybe in their bedroom inspired by seeing different artists, different musicians, to have a place to go to sort of learn different things about how to produce their own music and how to distribute it. We as a label have distribution that's global, but we also need to figure out how do we distribute in areas that might not have access to those sort of things. Hi, my name's Nadine Block. Thank you all. This is very close to my heart. I'm an artist and an activist. Sometimes we use the word artivist. I don't know if people use that word. But I want to sort of acknowledge the immense diversity of culture that's valuable in our work as nonviolent activists. And I've looked at a huge spectrum of work and identified over 12 big categories of methodologies, everything from regular music to cultural preservation of language, things like that, that I consider on the same spectrum. And the thing that I think that is really critical, and I've also looked at functions, and we've identified a million functions in this room that music and culture plays. The piece that I'm stuck on at the moment is about systemic analysis. And the fact that what you just said around somebody saying, if you have the Israelis, I'm not going to listen to it, we need, as artists and as activists, to educate and do the hard work of the intersectionality analysis with those people who control, who are leaders in the cultural world, who are artists who don't get that they have power to transmit the actual systemic analysis that needs to happen. So I would feel really uncomfortable, and do feel really uncomfortable, supporting famous musicians who espouse beliefs that I think are dangerous to the world that I want to live in. And so that's part of that trouble. Like how do we actually move that and don't reinforce this negative systems that are locking us into the problems that we face? So using culture in the appropriate ways is really critical in this work. And so, Lady, what do you mean by systemic analysis? Analysis of what? So analysis that there's a problem with racism, homophobia, sexism, the huge pieces that capitalism, dare I say it, in this building is causing a lot of problems for a lot of people. That we're not serving us. And I know that I've had conversations with some people in this room about famous musicians that have a one-off song that actually, oh wow, it's one-off and it supports this campaign, right? But they're not really activists. The artists themselves and musicians or the famous people making the money are not really activists. And then don't promote the actual change. They don't maybe have an educational background or the training that they need to understand what we now refer to as the intersectionality of the relationship of oppressions to each other that don't allow us all to live full fulfilling lives. So I'm just worried about that. Well, I agree just on the analytic end. I think it would be helpful to move this intersection forward if there were serious studies done on the role of arts and culture in various aspects of peace building. I heard a couple people are doing master's theses or some sort of big paper on this topic, but particularly if more in our field of nonviolent action and nonviolent resistance, I don't know of very many serious academic studies that actually put a theoretical framework and look at how strategically arts and music are incorporated in nonviolent campaigns and movements and how that may or may not contribute to success. So if you can strengthen the database and the empirical understanding that can at least help you make a more effective argument for certain audiences. So I'm with you on systemic analysis. Let's go to one last comment and then we'll go to closing remarks. Thank you. Hi, my name is J.J. L. Farr. I'm with the British Council and I just wanted to share something that we're working on currently in partnership with USIP. I don't have as many business cards as I would like to to reach all of you in the room. So I'm just gonna make this announcement and then you can come find me. But the British Council and USIP are working together to plan a summit on culture and conflict regions and it is precisely to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of this type of work to make the case for this value, to make the case for really measuring how this work can be applied and when it's appropriate and where. We hope to bring together the key stakeholders into the room. So that will include representatives from the State Department, from policy, from education, from higher ed, from the cultural sector to really bring the key funders into the room as well to make this case. See you in a bit of a cold. To really make this case and to empower them to come away from this day which will be September 10th in Washington with the tools and the resources that they need to really affect to move the needle on this issue. And the second day of the summit will focus on the higher education sector and we are planning to gather together the key sort of conflict resolution and management programs in the country and make the case for including art and culture in those curriculums. So I would love to talk to anybody that wants to talk about that afterwards. Thanks. Right. Well let's go back to the panel here to kind of close this out. What are some things that you hope people will walk away with from this experience, from this film or from what's been shared and what do you hope will emerge as a result of this gathering of individuals? I hope that we see more of this kind of event. I hope that those people who can organize cultural exchange events start doing that more often. We get musicians to come here and perform and we get musicians to go there and perform. I just wanted one of you guys to picture this. If you're a young kid growing up in any country in the Middle East, you either have to deal with corrupt secular dictatorship or fundamentalism and it's not a pleasant situation to be in. And music and culture can play a big role to change this whole spectrum and I hope that people who can help with that start doing that. Mike, we'll just in this get together. It's really nice to see the amount of sort of energy behind these ideas and to see how passionate people are about it. And I feel like just in conversations I've had also through the process of us working on this project, it's just kind of very exciting. It seems like there's just all these little nodes that just need to be connected to make this happen. And I'm just pretty hopeful actually in regards to what can happen. Yeah, I mean this is a sort of an exciting gathering and great energy and I hope it continues during the reception part. But I think it just makes me think about sort of next steps and how to take this further, how to connect the nodes. As Tim said, I think thinking about arts and culture again as just a powerful, it can be a powerfully subversive force as Darren noted, but also a very powerful unifying force. And I think thinking about ways to get this type of work properly resourced and advanced at the policy level, at the NGO level and beyond and at the grassroots level is very, very important. And we'll I think improve the effectiveness of all of our work in this room. So I look forward to continuing the conversation with you all and figuring out how to move forward in the best way. So a couple closing things here logistically. First, we have some, well first I wanna thank you all for being here. So just give yourselves a round of applause for making it out here on a Tuesday morning. And you probably noticed we don't really even have a sidewalk anymore from the Metro down to here. There is now. They just built one. Well, wow, we're moving on up here. Just don't step in it. And the rain held up. So it's just really great to see all your faces here and kind of all the interest and expertise that you all brought to this room today. So thank you for being here. We at USIP, we have an evaluation form because we'd love to get your honest candid feedback in terms of how you felt this event went and its value that it had for you. So those cards will be given to you or should already have them. So please take the time to do that so we can make these events better in the future. And then also there's a great group here at USIP called PeaceTech doing really innovative work at the intersection of peace building and technology. And one of the great initiatives that they've started is a podcast series looking at this topic. And so today's event was something they were interested in and so they're gonna be producing a short podcast, capturing some of the stories that we've talked about here and some of the stories and experience that you all have brought to this space. So there are two individuals in the back, Meg and Dominic, if you could raise your hands and you could take a look at them. If you were interested in potentially being a part of this podcast, sharing your story, sharing your experience, your insights on music, media and nonviolent action, please connect with them afterwards during the reception and they'll get you on the recorder there. The reception begins now, we have more caffeine for you and now we're gonna add sugar to the mix so we have cookies as well. So if you wanna just have another spike in energy, it's in 203, 204. So if you just follow the hallway, follow all the doors down here to the end of the hallway, you'll see the room there. We've got music from Arash's most recent album will be played and the restrooms are also down there as well so we look forward to seeing you all there and getting ready to mingle. So thank you. And thank you very much to Darren for organizing this event and for the panelists and to the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Forum.