The Telos Channel

Apeirogon: a shape with a countably infinite number of sides, and the title of award-winning author Colum McCann’s newest novel. Colum wrote the New York Times Bestseller after meeting Rami Elhanan and Bassam Aramin, featured in Episode 4 of this season, on a trip with Telos to Israel/Palestine. Apeirogon tells their stories, blending fact and fiction in a dazzling dance of 1001 short chapters, immersed in the complexity of their stories and the conflict itself.

In this episode, we learn more about Apeirogon, explore ideas of courage, optimism, and storytelling as essential acts of peacemaking, and ask, “How do we speak truth in a way that people can hear?”

Learn more about Apeirogon

Learn more about Narrative 4, the global empathy building non-profit co-founded by Colum

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In this episode of Undaunted, we hear from fathers, activists, and best friends Rami Elhanan and Bassam Aramin. According to convention, they should be enemies—Rami is Israeli, Bassam is Palestinian. But they’ve been united together through the gravest of circumstances: the loss of their daughters to the conflict. In the face of their shared grief, they’ve committed their lives to writing a different future for their home. One where the cycle of violence is broken, reconciliation is possible, and a just peace is secured for all. They share their stories with us in this episode. 

Rami and Bassam are members of the Parents Circle - Families Forum, an organization of over 600 bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families working to build a reconciliation process as a prerequisite to sustainable peace in Israel/Palestine. 

For more information about the Parents Circle - Families Forum: https://www.theparentscircle.org/en/ & https://parentscirclefriends.org/

Visit the Telos website: https://www.telosgroup.org/

Support our podcast by joining our Patreon and becoming an Undaunted Journeymaker! Receive bonus content, episode transcripts, and chances to connect with our host, David Gungor: https://www.patreon.com/undauntedpod 

This week, we’re releasing a double feature: our peace hero Robi Damelin, followed by Telos co-founder and president, Greg Khalil. Greg co-founded Telos after living in Ramallah and advising Palestinian leadership on peace negotiations with Israel. 

When we talk about peacemaking, we mean so much more than kumbaya credits. Today, Greg shares why. He dives into the challenges peacemakers face, how peacemaking can be hard, gritty, even dangerous, and how story can be both the cage and the key to our freedom. 

In this episode, three stories: the man in the white shirt, the man in the red shirt, and the girl with the pink backpack. 

To learn more about Telos visit our website: https://www.telosgroup.org/

Support our podcast by joining our Patreon and becoming an Undaunted Journeymaker! Receive bonus content, episode transcripts, and chances to connect with our host, David Gungor: https://www.patreon.com/undauntedpod 

We’re back again with Robi Damelin for Episode 2. In Part 1, we heard Robi share the story of losing her son, David, and what she’s learned about reconciliation and nonviolence since. This week, Robi gives us her honest advice on what it takes to be a catalyst for change, and we hear more about the work of the Parents Circle, an organization creating a framework for a reconciliation process in Israel/Palestine. 

For more information about the Parents Circle: https://www.theparentscircle.org/en/ & https://parentscirclefriends.org/

To learn more about Apeirogon, by Colum McCann: http://colummccann.com/apeirogon/

Visit the Telos website: https://www.telosgroup.org/

Support our podcast by joining our Patreon and becoming an Undaunted Journeymaker! Receive bonus content, episode transcripts, and chances to connect with our host, David Gungor: https://www.patreon.com/undauntedpod 

This week on Undaunted, we hear Part 1 of our interview with Robi Damelin, an Israeli mother who lost her son to a Palestinian sniper. The moment she heard the news, she responded with a line that has since rung out across the world: “You may not kill anyone in the name of my son.” 

Since, Robi has dedicated her life to the work of nonviolence and reconciliation: she has spoken all over the world, starred in a feature-length documentary, and worked closely with the joint Israeli-Palestinian organization, the Parents Circle - Families Forum, a group of over 600 bereaved families in Israel/Palestine who advocate for reconciliation and an end to the conflict. 

Tune in next week to hear the rest of Robi’s story. 

For more information about the PCFF: https://www.theparentscircle.org/en/ & https://parentscirclefriends.org/

To rent “One Day After Peace,” the documentary featuring Robi: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/simaonedayafterpeace?autoplay=1

To learn more about Telos, visit our website: https://www.telosgroup.org/

To become an Undaunted Journeymaker and receive bonus content, an episode transcript, and other perks, visit our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/undauntedpod

Final song: Holding the Contradiction,  The Brilliance

*Note: This episode was recorded in New York before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, which is why we were able to interview Robi in person.

Intoducing...Undaunted: Conversations with Radical Peacemakers.

What is Undaunted? It's a podcast about stories. But it's also an invitation.

To heal. Inspire. Unite. And pledge to co-create a better world together. Hosted by renowned musician and producer, David Gungor, Undaunted connects us with the real-life stories of the world’s most daring peacemakers. 

From denouncing the right to revenge after the killing of a loved one in Israel/Palestine, to upending unjust legal systems across East Africa, the stories of Undaunted peacemakers will convict you to live your values more deeply, and inspire you to take up the dangerous, joyous, counter-cultural life of peacemaking yourself.