Speaker Events - Thursday, October 14, 2010
"Most Important Struggles Within Religions, Not Between Them"
“The most important and overlooked religious struggles of our time are those inside of religions, not between them,” said Eliza Griswold, author of The Tenth Parallel, Dispatches From the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam, during an IPI event on October 14th. “They’re the struggles between liberals and conservatives over who is a true believer and who’s not. They’re the struggles inside Islam between different sectarian beliefs of Sunni, Shia, Sufi, as well as questions between liberals and conservatives over what contemporary transpositions, what it means to be a Muslim in the twenty-first century and how one lives that faith.”
Ms. Griswold, a journalist and poet who is the daughter of Frank Griswold, former Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, shared her personal stories of meeting heads of state and terrorists while traveling over a seven-year period along the tenth parallel, where Christian and Muslim communities often live side-by-side. Her journey took her to Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
“As I traveled, I was looking less for conclusions than for simple realities,” Ms. Griswold said of her explorations. “I realized very early on that I was not interested, nor was I capable of, explaining away anyone’s belief, or just putting a context on who was who. So what I decided to do is try to bring those stories back whole cloth, and let believers on both sides of this divide, people who had perpetrated great acts of violence in the name of their religion, people who had given their lives to build peace around their religion… to spend time telling their stories as they told them to me.”
Read transcript
To listen to the podcast, click the "play" button:
The Global Observatory
Interview with Patricia Flor, European Union Special Representative for Central Asia
Ambassador Flor said the European Union is engaging with Central Asian governments that have a long-term view of transformation and thus have a slower pace of reform.
Key Global Events to Watch in May
A list of key upcoming meetings and events with implications for global affairs.
Top 10 Issues to Watch in 2013: The Multilateral Arena
Ten key issues that are likely to impact global affairs in international peace, security, and development.
The Global Observatory, produced by IPI, provides timely analysis on peace and security issues, interviews with leading policymakers, interactive maps, and more.
Recent Events
May 14, 2013
2013 Vienna Seminar: The Dangerous Nexus of Crime, Conflict, and Terrorism
On May 14-15, the IPI Vienna Seminar took place, focusing on the dangerous nexus between crime, conflict and terrorism, particularly in failing states. This 43rd session of the Vienna Seminar–which was held in the historic Marble Hall of the Austrian Ministry for European and International Affairs–was attended by over one hundred participants from around the world,
May 10, 2013
SRSG Ramos-Horta Optimistic for Stability in Guinea-Bissau
In his briefing to the Security Council the day before appearing at IPI on May 10th, José Ramos-Horta, Special Representative to the Secretary-General on Guinea-Bissau, told the Council that the beleaguered country “exists in name only.”
May 08, 2013
Holmes on the Reality of Relief Aid
“People fail to understand that what we’re saying is something intensely practical and down-to-earth and not something rather theoretical and ivory tower,” said John Holmes, author of the book, The Politics of Humanity: the Reality of Relief Aid, at an IPI Beyond the Headlines event on May 8th.