Sri Lanka has passed through one of the most tragic periods of war and division in its long history. Despite undoubted progress with economic reconstruction, the painful memories and the reality of continuing conflict remain everyday realities.

This exhibition seeks to contribute to the much-needed process of healing by supporting dialogue and reconciliation across the boundaries of continuing difference. Rather than focusing on the familiar images of war, destruction and personal suffering, or on post-war reconstruction and the growing material wealth, it seeks out ambivalent images that encapsulate both the challenges facing the country and the hopes carried by all for a different kind of future.

Read More

For decades, women’s football was banned in Brazil. Now ex-drug traffickers are tackling prejudice in the game by training future soccer stars from the favelas.

The Astroturf on the football pitch in Rio de Janeiro’s Penha favela complex is torn and covered with litter, while graffiti on the bullet-ridden, pockmarked walls vows “death to the police”.

“Stray bullets are part of my life here,” says Jessica, a 17-year-old football coach. “Sometimes you have to jump into a house to dodge them.”

Read More

In the wake of 9/11, it seemed to Paul Komesaroff that something was being lost from the world.

What was being lost, he feared, was the ability of people to communicate, to enter into dialogue, across what he calls ”difference” – cultural, racial and religious difference. As well as being a professor of medicine at Monash University, Komesaroff is the director of the university’s Centre for Ethics in Medicine and Society.

After 9/11, his concern initially manifested in a ”loose workshop” – organised by Komesaroff and colleague Professor Paul James from RMIT – which was held in Melbourne in 2002. These workshops were then held overseas. In 2006 in Sarajevo, precisely because they were from outside that country, the two Australians persuaded both Serbs and Muslims to attend.

Read More

An international summit bringing together more than 300 reconciliation experts from around the world to tackle global cultural, racial, religious and political difference will be launched at RMIT University this week.

The launch of the Pathways to Reconciliation Summit at RMIT Storey Hall at 5.30pm on Thursday, 1 October, will include the inauguration of the Global Reconciliation Desmond Tutu Fellowships and a performance by the gifted and inspiring artist, Archie Roach.

Supported by HRH Prince Hassan of Jordan, RMIT and Monash University, the Pathways to Reconciliation Summit will be held in Amman, Jordan, in December.

Read More