Speaking Our Peace

Your hosts get together for one more conversation.

Next season is already in the works. Thank you to everyone who listened, shared, and enjoyed the podcast.

In this episode, you'll hear four different interviews Pria recorded with educators from all over the world as they navigate their work, and their work towards a more just and peaceful world.

Anindo Marshall is a dancer, percussionist, lauded musician, and educator based in Los Angeles, but she is originally from Kenya. You'll hear how her current work seeks to bring her life full circle, as she is working to open a school in Kenya to give youth opportunities she did not have as a child. To learn more about Anindo and her projects, check out the following:

Marshall Dance Company

https://www.marshalldancecompany.org/

Abukuts Arts Academy (the school she is starting in Kenya)

https://www.abukutsartsacademy.net/

Siva (SHI-va) is a visual artist, writer, poet and musician. He also has been a teacher in India for over 20 years. He comes from Madurai, a city in the very southern tip of India, and he continues to teach in the city where he grew up. This interview was recorded when Pria was in India in 2019, which feels like a lifetime ago, long before the inception of the podcast as it exists today. Siva's interview was a main inspiration for what Pria hoped the podcast could become.

Kristi Mahood is a teacher in Edmonton, Alberta. She connects peace work and ahimsa to the everyday actions she takes as a teacher. Pria also met her in India in 2019, and that's where this interview was recorded.

Finally, Pria interviewed Reva, a professor of education at the University of Toronto and producer of this podcast, to underline and connect these interviews. 

Janmejay Singh is one of the participants in the Jai Jagat march. He has worked with cinema, fiction and documentary, as director-editor and occasionally cinematographer for a variety of projects in India.

https://www.jaijagatinternational.org/marchers/janmejay-singh-india/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqqKcpg2gVKekXZT6VFf7Gg/featured

Sigrid Roman is a doctoral candidate in education at the University of Toronto. Her principal teaching and research area concentrates on education and political violence and conflicts, intervention, prevention and social change. Sigrid is also a visual artist whose work explores and examines the embodiment and shifting perceptions of peace, violence and human connection.

https://ca.linkedin.com/in/sigridroman

Instagram @signyaucafe

Alejandra Barahona, known as Bara, is an active artist, illustrator and educator from Guatemala. She specializes in characters inspired by her daily life and paints subjects that address questions regarding social interests, philosophy and human behaviour. Bara is the founder of El Nido Art Studio, exhibiting her work around the globe and has an amazing number of followers on Facebook. Her workshops focus on women’s empowerment through art.

http://alebarahona.com

https://www.facebook.com/colormebara/

Sakura Saunders is a member of World BEYOND War’s board, an environmental justice organizer, Indigenous solidarity activist, arts educator and media producer. She is a cofounder of the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network and a member of the Beehive Design Collective. She currently resides in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she works in solidarity with the Mi’kmaq resisting Alton Gas. She is also a board member of the Halifax Workers Action Centre and volunteers at the community arts space, RadStorm.

https://weestore.myshopify.com/collections/posters/products/mesomerica-resiste

https://twitter.com/sakura1979?lang=en

www.speakingourpeace.com

Twitter and IG: @ourpeacepodcast

Facebook: Speaking Our Peace

These two interviews were recorded in 2019 in Tamil Nadu, India.

It's amazing to me that, even though I feel like a different person than I was when I recorded them, the truths and passion of Vijay and Inamul come through so clearly. I'm grateful and lucky to have spoken with them when I did, in person. I hope to see them again someday (before too long).

Lorena Julio is a human rights advocate based out of Argentina. She spent some time discussing her work with her nonprofit, "Fundacion Comparlante." In Argentina, she works to secure rights for people with disabilities in varying forms.

Lorena was also one of the 50 marchers who agreed to take a year away from their normal lives to march as a part of the Jai Jagat 2020 campaign, from Delhi to Geneva. For Lorena, this meant so much travel, and so much connection to different cultures. Though the march was postponed in March 2020, Lorena has been busy. In this episode, you'll find out what she's been up to, and hear some words of encouragement for all of us who find ourselves on the path towards peace.

In late September to early October, twelve North American activists agreed to participate in a relay fast - one activist fasting on each day, all in support of causes of their choosing. In this episode, you'll hear from five of the people who participated in that fast, including two of your podcast hosts (Annie and Pria). You'll hear their different reasons for fasting, and their impressions after the fact.

Javier Leal Garcia was one of the marchers who committed a year of his life to marching for peace from Delhi, India, all the way to Geneva. The march was suspended due to the pandemic, and all the marchers dispersed and returned to their home countries.

Javier lives in Spain now. He is a medical doctor, and he shares some of his perspectives about being a doctor, being a doctor while marching, and just being a human being on a massive peaceful undertaking like the Jai Jagat march. This interview is lovely and moving - he is a beautiful speaker. It is wonderful to hear him speak with Ashima, who marched alongside him on the Jai Jagat march.

As an educator, Jamie Beck is deeply immersed in the challenges that have been faced by members of our society during this pandemic. During this interview, you will hear how her stalwart focus on peace and nonviolence has offered her a unique perspective on how to navigate our current challenges. During this interview, she offers advice to educators who may be dealing with undue stress. For me, the examples she gave could be extrapolated and applied to our day to day lives.

Jamie is one of the co-chairs of the Mahatma Gandhi Canadian Foundation for World Peace. She also teaches at the University of Calgary. 

Julie is a retired professor from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, specialized in Russian language and literature. Irakli is the chair of the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation Georgia. In this episode, Julie and Irakli talk about how they met back in the 1990s at George Mason University and how they are now collaborating on a television program called War & Peace Times in Georgia which has the objective to elevate the discussion of peace in this challenging time in the South Caucasus.

We're back after our two week holiday break. We couldn't be happier to be bringing you more stories of people who care about their world. This time, the guests you'll hear from are your very own hosts.

This special episode was recorded months ago, shortly after we began recording and listening back to our interviews. It's strange to listen to something that doesn't seem to be "old" by any means, but still feels like it was happening to a "me" from a long time ago. Time is passing strangely this year (and last). I know that since we recorded this interview, we have all grown as people, and this podcast has grown as well.

I wonder how things will change in the upcoming months. I suppose we'll find out along with everyone else, and who knows? Maybe we'll even record an episode about it, later on down the road.