Foundations 1 Why Nurturing Hope and Why Now?

Why Nurturing Hope and Why Now?

We live on hope: the promise that things can and will be made whole, the possibility of a future in which the problems and conflicts of today are set aside, the certainty that something new will happen. Without hope, the world and its problems are a prison from which we cannot escape, and the injustices all around us can never be resolved. Hope is not the same as optimism. It is not dependent on events. Hope remains with us even when things are going very badly. Even—and especially—in times of political, social or natural distress, hope is the inner flicker that reminds us that today’s events are not all there is. Hope is a future orientation; it looks towards what has yet to come. And yet, hope is grounded in the present, our now. Hope is not bound by time. Hope is possible because of the glimpses we catch of it all around us—in relationships, in the natural world, in stories, in moments of insight and possibility. Hope is something we know because of something we already know. For human beings, our hope has to do with the end to fighting for our being, knowing that we are safe from what threatens us and being free to enjoy and create our lives. Today, our world exists between hopelessness and hope; between feelings of despair and powerlessness and the possibility of change. For many, the challenges of politics and society are overwhelming. Even those who are currently in charge fear for the future. What, in this situation, would it mean to ‘nurture hope’ with and for each other?

An Invitation to Readers of ‘Nurturing Hope’

These materials have evolved from our sometimes very tentative and often uncertain working in the midst of different conflicts in: Northern Ireland, between the United Kingdom and Ireland, the Korean Peninsula and the United States. This is not a prescriptive text, asking you to follow particular paths or to accept the ideas within Nurturing Hope uncritically. It is an invitation to reflect by yourself, or with different others, on how we all might better understand those dynamics between us that drive us further apart, within our different groups and societies. It is also about understanding the importance of those relationships and structures dynamics that offer us some new ways forward together, beyond distrust rivalry and conflict. Some readers may be coming to these themes for the first time, out of curiosity. Please engage critically with our ideas and find your own voice and the reasons you can discern about the ways you have acted and currently act. Please also then exercise your power of choice to multiply openness and trust with different others and cut those ways that feed fear and distrust. Some readers might be coming to this text as students Please engage critically with the different lenses used in the materials to explore fear and distrust, rivalry and conflict, openness and trust and reflect on what possibilities you have to be part of relationships, groups and organisations that model freedom and possibilities more than rivalry and conflict between people. Some readers may be new appointments or new volunteers to diverse community and civic organisations involved in building more open and inclusive communities and societies. Please dip into these materials, in whatever ways interest you, in order to consider the relational, organisational and societal dynamics you might be meeting that limit you and others, as well as being more aware of the relationships and structures you now wish to focus on and develop. Some readers might be experienced practitioners in teaching, community work, youth work, trade unions or in running businesses and social enterprises. For you, Nurturing Hope might be a useful refresher about the dynamics you are working to promote and those you are identifying and dissolving, with the help of your fellow staff and group or organisation members. The themes in Nurturing Hope and the forms of relational and structural working we examine, continually need experienced practitioners to be vigilant about how we all can so easily be overwhelmed by ways of working that sow distrust, confusion and hurt. Being principled, and working to high standards in being respectful of others, demands that we do not add to distrust, rivalry and conflict. Rather it is that, with others, we build relationships and structures that model openness and trust, creating atmospheres where people work together in more open and hope filled ways!

Some Definitions

One task informal educators, community workers, youth workers and others have is that of bringing ease and clarity to those they work with. Too often, however, this has meant that people simplify terms too much or decide that people will not understand the terms. This is poor practice and not worthy of the professional standards such work should be carried out with! People trusted by others to work with them and support them explore sometimes contested relationships and structures deserve to be honoured and given terms, insights and understandings with which they can better understand the situations they are in. The goal of securing more open and respectful relationships between people who have previously distrusted or feared one another is challenging work, but worth undertaking. There has been, and continues to be, a tendency to shy away from using what many people too readily say are difficult words to understand, or difficult concepts. Some people think that terms such as mimesis, reconciliation and restorative are difficult, whereas, for us, they are central to our practice and rich in meaning-so rich that we make no apology for using them. So we reach out to readers to take the challenge of unpacking such words as ways of valuing more of your day-to-day practice; ways of honouring the small relationships and agreement made possible through your work.

MIMESIS describes the reality of who we are as human beings. We exist in relationships. We react to and are being shaped by one another in millions of conscious and unconscious ways. For better or for worse, we exist and have our being in relationships with one another and the world as a whole. Human beings change and grow through learning in relationships, in both positive and negative ways. Mimesis—this process of interaction, learning and meeting with each other—comes before consciousness, we are never aware of it. Mimesis is a central idea that we do not often use in daily life but is continually surrounding us and the actions we take. Mimesis needs unpacked and understood for its practical application to relationships and healing, as well as assisting us understand how rivalry and conflict can so quickly dominate our lives.

Others are central to who we are! We are made from the relationship between our parents or carers, and, whether they loved or hated one another; were certain or unclear. Parents and / or carers, to a large part, have made us who we now are. As we have grown up, other people have had relationships with us, and they have shaped us too. Whether we are at ease, distant or fearful of others depends on the many ways we have experienced people in our lives.

RECONCILIATION is a word that many run a mile (or kilometre) from-some say it is too big a word; some say it is too complicated; some too wooly; and for others, it is irrelevant. For us reconciliation is a key concept. Reconciliation is a word that invites us all to live well with one another. Reconciliation comes from a Greek word ‘allos’ meaning ‘other’. It also draws on a Latin root meaning ‘to bring back together’ The element ‘re’ indicates a return to, or a finding ways back to or finding ways into: being at ease with ‘others’ we have become distant from; or those we have had a disagreement with; or those we have hurt or who have hurt us; or those we have been brought up to be fearful of, or those who had to be fearful of people like us. So reconciliation is about a process of returning to, or moving on to, a new more open, easy and just state of relationships.

Reconciliation refers to:

• Friends who have become separated by misunderstanding, re-establishing their friendship in a new, re-envigorated way.

• People having a deep distrust or fear of one another, finding a new, often unexpected, relationship being possible, through saying sorry, or expressing regrets, or allowing bygones be bygones.

• Family members who have become distant and stiff with one another, finding it possible to get into a new more open and supportive relationship again.

Reconciliation is often both about relationships and structures: the relationship being freshly established or re-envigorated the structure of friendship, family, group, cultural or freshly agreed ways of being with one another becoming strengthened. Sometimes, but not always, reconciliation involves expressions of forgiveness.

Restorative Is:

We draw on Jenkins’ future oriented definition of restorative as giving new strength and vigour (Jenkins, 2006, 153) to all aspects of societal life together. The term Restorative has been, too readily, predominantly associated with restorative justice programmes in the criminal justice system. Although important, this is too narrow a focus for such an important term. The term restorative, and its use in restorative practices, points to actions, relationships and structures that generate something new, renewed or nourished, something better and healthier. It associates restoration with revitalisation, new possibilities and a different future together. There are restorative learning practices that need experienced and learned together. Eventually such practices may underpin more restorative relationships, structures and systems.

In practical terms. The Five P’s - Five Practices to Move The Restorative Agenda On Through:

• People- developing small practical initiatives together that heal or address division.

• Pilots- modelling possibilities though new ways of working together.

• Programmes- growing new programmes.

• Policies & Practices- embedding & supporting new policies and practices.

• Public Advocacy- challenging and inviting people to explore what restorative means.

Examples in each strand might be:

1. People - Promoting Restorative Processes in Various Institutions- Schools-Youth Projects-Community Programmes.

2. Pilots - Establishing Restorative Principles In the Organisational Cultures of Public Bodies; Charities; Schools; Colleges.

3. Programmes - Promoting Restorative Processes in a Variety of Institutional Settings as a Way of Handling Conflict e.g Councils; Health; Banking; Credit Unions.

4. Policies & Practices - Aligning Restorative Economic Practices with Inward Investment, Social Inclusion and Economic Development. Promoting Restorative Practices in Practices addressing Social and Economic Inclusion.

5. Public Advocacy - Restorative Practices supporting a more just society, ‘defined as a society in which all human needs are met’. Restoring an enhanced Urban Environment.