20160812 Shari
Hi Sejin,
Im smiling as I remember the sweetness of
our connection at the NVC training - and wondering how you are going with
connecting with your son in a new way?
You asked about NVC being used in the
world in creating social change and peace, and I said I would come back to you.
I see this as a really important question as Im constantly asking,
"how can I contribute to creating a world where there is care for all
beings through our systems and structures" . Of course, the
contributions NVC has had often are not captured on video or recorded in an
article, but are part of a dialogue… frequently unrecognised within a worldwide
community… but still potent and having affect. So here are a few of the
examples of what is happening world wide in recent times (with people other
than marshall) that I AM aware of.
---
1. There is for me such an inspirational
documentary which was created in Nepal which was part of the reconciliation
from the civil war. There is a bigger program which has now flowed on
from this documentary. The link to that is…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqA2OydkXgg&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqA2OydkXgg&feature=youtu.be
2. This is an outline of what happened to
bring a group of decision makers together to reform Minnesota’s child custody
legislation. Everyone believed reform had no possibility of happening to
this legislation as there was such diverse perspectives and because people had
become so hostile with each other. This change affects thousands and
thousands of families to create more peaceful families - the basic structure of
society.
Miki Kashtan who headed this reform dialogue is an NVC certified trainer who developed systems based on using NVC as the basis of everything she does. http://baynvc.org/minnesota-dialogues/
Miki Kashtan who headed this reform dialogue is an NVC certified trainer who developed systems based on using NVC as the basis of everything she does. http://baynvc.org/minnesota-dialogues/
3. Dominic Barter has been engaged in Rio
at a grass roots level, working in the favelas and directly with the police
force there. Here is an excerpt from an email he recently sent. The
work he has done there using NVC has reduced killings by large numbers by
affecting systemic systems through creating understanding and engagement.
Sadly, government policy has now changed and much of the work is undone but still there were 100’s if not 1000’s of lives saved in the time it was working. Here is his email…
Sadly, government policy has now changed and much of the work is undone but still there were 100’s if not 1000’s of lives saved in the time it was working. Here is his email…
----
In the next few days and weeks many of you will see news
reports from Rio, and maybe wonder how this experience relates to the NVC work
we do here.
This article, published yesterday in the UK's Guardian newspaper, gives a good summary of the situation as it relates to the police. The article describes the very significant changes brought about by the controversial, significantly flawed but nonetheless transformative programme of Police Pacification Units in the city's favelas. From 2011 to 2014 I was 'orientor' of the mediation programme for the police in these units. This involved basic introductions to NVC for hundreds of police, but mostly it involved intensive accompaniment of them in their daily work as they patrolled communities and worked in their makeshift bases. It also involved supporting them in building different community relationships and creating what I call 'spaces safe for dialogue', with the systemic conditions necessary for offering mediation and conducting Restorative Circles.
The article also describes how the significant drops in death rates and the improvements in community relations were lost in the years since. I hope knowing of both the changes and their recent loss can help you in your work of illustrating the conditions that violence requires to grow and to diminish, and in exemplifying to those you teach how NVC is being used around the world.
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/aug/03/rio-police-violent-killing-olympics-torture?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Today and tomorrow you may see images from the official opening of the Olympic Games. You're unlikely to see the thousands who occupied Rio's most iconic music venue last night, or the many more who'll be demonstrating for a more humane response to unmet social needs throughout the day. Please keep such 'invisible' actions in your thoughts.
This article, published yesterday in the UK's Guardian newspaper, gives a good summary of the situation as it relates to the police. The article describes the very significant changes brought about by the controversial, significantly flawed but nonetheless transformative programme of Police Pacification Units in the city's favelas. From 2011 to 2014 I was 'orientor' of the mediation programme for the police in these units. This involved basic introductions to NVC for hundreds of police, but mostly it involved intensive accompaniment of them in their daily work as they patrolled communities and worked in their makeshift bases. It also involved supporting them in building different community relationships and creating what I call 'spaces safe for dialogue', with the systemic conditions necessary for offering mediation and conducting Restorative Circles.
The article also describes how the significant drops in death rates and the improvements in community relations were lost in the years since. I hope knowing of both the changes and their recent loss can help you in your work of illustrating the conditions that violence requires to grow and to diminish, and in exemplifying to those you teach how NVC is being used around the world.
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/aug/03/rio-police-violent-killing-olympics-torture?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Today and tomorrow you may see images from the official opening of the Olympic Games. You're unlikely to see the thousands who occupied Rio's most iconic music venue last night, or the many more who'll be demonstrating for a more humane response to unmet social needs throughout the day. Please keep such 'invisible' actions in your thoughts.
----
Sejin, This is a small smattering of what
I know and what I can quickly connect with to send you. But without
understanding and moving beyond our enemy images, I cannot see how any shift in
peace can occur - and our inherited language won’t help us.
I will call you separately to explore
attending the ENCT in October. To check it out, http://embodyingnvc.com/.
Blessings Sejin
Shari
----
How did Rio's police become known as the most violent in the world?
Once in decline, killings by police in Rio de Janeiro are on the rise as the Olympic games approach
A UPP (Pacifying Police Unit) officer patrols in the Babilonia favela, which stands on a hillside above Copacabana beach, an Olympic venue site. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images
Robert Muggah
Wednesday 3 August 2016 21.09 AESTLast modified on Friday 26 August 201604.33 AEST
Are Rio de Janeiro’s military and civil police really the world’s most violent? That is the conclusion of separate studies released by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watchearlier this year. They are accusing Rio de Janeiro’s police forces of routinely torturing and killing citizens – especially young black men – during arrest. They also say the problem is getting much worse as the Olympics approach.
The scale of Rio de Janeiro’s military and civil police involvement in the excessive use of force is chilling. And it is hardly a new phenomenon. In 2003 they were responsible for 1,195 civilian deaths across Rio de Janeiro state, most of them young black men. In 2007, 1,330 citizens reportedly died in the course of police action. These numbers are breathtaking when you consider that in 2015, across the whole of the US (a country with a population more than 50% larger than Brazil’s) an estimated 1,134 people were killed by police.
But those numbers don’t tell the whole story. In fact, although the situation is dire, overall numbers of killings involving police – “auto-resistance deaths” in the sanitised language of law enforcement – have declined over the past decade. Between 2003 and 2015 they actually fell by 46% across the entire state of Rio de Janeiro, and 62% in the capital. In 2013, for example, there were just 416 civilians killed. This is not to excuse the police – violence is intolerably high – but to put the statistics in historical perspective.
So what explains the long-term drop in police killings? Researchers first detected sizeable improvements after 2009 in the wake of a new police strategy in Rio de Janeiro. Auto-resistance killings dropped bymore than 85% in areas where the approach was introduced. The initiative consisted of newly trained pacification police units who were permanently deployed to many parts of the city, often for the first time. A key ingredient of the programme’s early success was the emphasis on rewarding reductions in violent crime.
policeman with guns and residents
FacebookTwitterPinterest
Residents appear unconcerned during a police operation against drug traffickers in the ‘pacified’ Jacarezinho slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photograph: Felipe Dana/AP
Unfortunately, these improvements were short lived. Starting in 2014, the numbers started creeping up. In 2014 there were 584 people killed during the course of arrest; in 2015, the number rose again to 645. So far in 2016, this upward trend continues. From January to May, 322 civilians were killed as a result of police interventions in the state of Rio de Janeiro, a 13% increase over the same period last year according to the state’s Institute for Public Security.
A survey of Rio's military police officers found roughly 18% of respondents witnessed a homicide as a child
So what makes Rio de Janeiro’s police so violent? At least one reason is the officers’ personal exposure to violence, a taboo subject in law enforcement circles. A 2014 Stanford-University-led survey of Rio’s military police officers found that many experienced high levels of violence during childhood. Roughly 18% of respondents witnessed a homicide as a child. Another 25% were victims of a violent assault at a young age and 32% said they had a friend or family member murdered. It is widely known that previous exposure to violence can reproduce aggressive behaviour.
There are several other factors driving the recent spike in police violence. For one, the many political and economic crises wracking Brazil – and Rio de Janeiro in particular – are contributing to a spike in crime and significant reductions in spending in public security. The state’s public security budget was cut by more than 30% in 2016. As a result, innovative programmes – including UPP intervention – have ground to a halt. Police morale has plummeted,partly because they are rarely paid on time, if at all.
Police patrol on the Copacabana promenade in Rio de Janeiro.
FacebookTwitterPinterest
Police patrol on the Copacabana promenade in Rio de Janeiro. Photograph: Nic Bothma/EPA
Another key turning can be traced back to mid-2013 following thetorture, disappearance and killing of a young man named Amarildo de Souza by police officers in Rocinha, the city’s largest favela. Thehighly publicised murder triggered a “Rocinha effect”, similar to the so-called Ferguson effect, or “viral video effect” in the US. There have been a string of flagrant incidents of police violence in Rio de Janeiro over the past few years, often caught on video. As evidence of abuses circulated in social media, officers became much less proactive in high-risk neighbourhoods. Local residents also became less inclined to report crimes or ask for police help, often taking justice into their own hands instead.
Rio de Janeiro: 'It's a deep injustice that gun violence is tolerated'
There is a real danger that Rio de Janeiro’s police resorting to the repressive tactics of the past. Brazilian police have a martial history. Before independence in 1822, law and order duties were the preserve of state-led armies. Reforms in the late 30s led to the creation of state-led police forces, though most retained their military culture. It was not until the creation of the 1988 constitution – Article 144 in particular – that military and civil police were subordinated to state governors.
It is easy to forget that before democracy in 1985 the military police served as the clenched fist of the Brazilian state. During the dictatorship, military police were regularly deployed to crush opposition and undertake clandestine operations, including targeted killings, disappearances and torture. Notwithstanding some reform, the legacy endures. The risk now is that with the crisis of policing in Rio de Janeiro, even the incremental gains could be lost.
Join our community of development professionals and
How did Rio's police become known as the most violent in the world?
Once in decline, killings by police in Rio de Janeiro are on the rise as the Olympic games approach
A UPP (Pacifying Police Unit) officer patrols in the Babilonia favela, which stands on a hillside above Copacabana beach, an Olympic venue site. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images
Robert Muggah
Wednesday 3 August 2016 21.09 AESTLast modified on Friday 26 August 201604.33 AEST
Are Rio de Janeiro’s military and civil police really the world’s most violent? That is the conclusion of separate studies released by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watchearlier this year. They are accusing Rio de Janeiro’s police forces of routinely torturing and killing citizens – especially young black men – during arrest. They also say the problem is getting much worse as the Olympics approach.
The scale of Rio de Janeiro’s military and civil police involvement in the excessive use of force is chilling. And it is hardly a new phenomenon. In 2003 they were responsible for 1,195 civilian deaths across Rio de Janeiro state, most of them young black men. In 2007, 1,330 citizens reportedly died in the course of police action. These numbers are breathtaking when you consider that in 2015, across the whole of the US (a country with a population more than 50% larger than Brazil’s) an estimated 1,134 people were killed by police.
But those numbers don’t tell the whole story. In fact, although the situation is dire, overall numbers of killings involving police – “auto-resistance deaths” in the sanitised language of law enforcement – have declined over the past decade. Between 2003 and 2015 they actually fell by 46% across the entire state of Rio de Janeiro, and 62% in the capital. In 2013, for example, there were just 416 civilians killed. This is not to excuse the police – violence is intolerably high – but to put the statistics in historical perspective.
So what explains the long-term drop in police killings? Researchers first detected sizeable improvements after 2009 in the wake of a new police strategy in Rio de Janeiro. Auto-resistance killings dropped bymore than 85% in areas where the approach was introduced. The initiative consisted of newly trained pacification police units who were permanently deployed to many parts of the city, often for the first time. A key ingredient of the programme’s early success was the emphasis on rewarding reductions in violent crime.
policeman with guns and residents
FacebookTwitterPinterest
Residents appear unconcerned during a police operation against drug traffickers in the ‘pacified’ Jacarezinho slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photograph: Felipe Dana/AP
Unfortunately, these improvements were short lived. Starting in 2014, the numbers started creeping up. In 2014 there were 584 people killed during the course of arrest; in 2015, the number rose again to 645. So far in 2016, this upward trend continues. From January to May, 322 civilians were killed as a result of police interventions in the state of Rio de Janeiro, a 13% increase over the same period last year according to the state’s Institute for Public Security.
A survey of Rio's military police officers found roughly 18% of respondents witnessed a homicide as a child
So what makes Rio de Janeiro’s police so violent? At least one reason is the officers’ personal exposure to violence, a taboo subject in law enforcement circles. A 2014 Stanford-University-led survey of Rio’s military police officers found that many experienced high levels of violence during childhood. Roughly 18% of respondents witnessed a homicide as a child. Another 25% were victims of a violent assault at a young age and 32% said they had a friend or family member murdered. It is widely known that previous exposure to violence can reproduce aggressive behaviour.
There are several other factors driving the recent spike in police violence. For one, the many political and economic crises wracking Brazil – and Rio de Janeiro in particular – are contributing to a spike in crime and significant reductions in spending in public security. The state’s public security budget was cut by more than 30% in 2016. As a result, innovative programmes – including UPP intervention – have ground to a halt. Police morale has plummeted,partly because they are rarely paid on time, if at all.
Police patrol on the Copacabana promenade in Rio de Janeiro.
FacebookTwitterPinterest
Police patrol on the Copacabana promenade in Rio de Janeiro. Photograph: Nic Bothma/EPA
Another key turning can be traced back to mid-2013 following thetorture, disappearance and killing of a young man named Amarildo de Souza by police officers in Rocinha, the city’s largest favela. Thehighly publicised murder triggered a “Rocinha effect”, similar to the so-called Ferguson effect, or “viral video effect” in the US. There have been a string of flagrant incidents of police violence in Rio de Janeiro over the past few years, often caught on video. As evidence of abuses circulated in social media, officers became much less proactive in high-risk neighbourhoods. Local residents also became less inclined to report crimes or ask for police help, often taking justice into their own hands instead.
Rio de Janeiro: 'It's a deep injustice that gun violence is tolerated'
There is a real danger that Rio de Janeiro’s police resorting to the repressive tactics of the past. Brazilian police have a martial history. Before independence in 1822, law and order duties were the preserve of state-led armies. Reforms in the late 30s led to the creation of state-led police forces, though most retained their military culture. It was not until the creation of the 1988 constitution – Article 144 in particular – that military and civil police were subordinated to state governors.
It is easy to forget that before democracy in 1985 the military police served as the clenched fist of the Brazilian state. During the dictatorship, military police were regularly deployed to crush opposition and undertake clandestine operations, including targeted killings, disappearances and torture. Notwithstanding some reform, the legacy endures. The risk now is that with the crisis of policing in Rio de Janeiro, even the incremental gains could be lost.
Join our community of development professionals and
