“Our common house, a place to start”, Aurora

Notes from the intervention of Aurora, a young participant in session 5 at the round table organized by Marios Attala in Athens on 18 July. She delivers a message on the link between dialogue and integral ecology.

Dialogue and cooperation for peace and integral ecology

“Worry about the future and our own impact

We all worry about the future, either for us or for our future children. It is something I have
heard on the boat but also in my personal life. “How am I supposed to bring a new life into a
world that is crumbling?” So we try to do something to have a positive impact, overcoming
somehow the desperation of feeling like our actions will not be relevant.

This stage of Bel Espoir has united many people who have an impact on different realities,
from self-organized climate-action initiatives to university lectures or green finances.
Seeing their work has given me hope.

The importance of good solutions

But now I am also aware of more realities, more problematics, and I have realized how
important it is to find good solutions.

A good solution has to be based on the truth; it has to take into consideration the reality. Tea
easiest way to create a program, in this case, on climate change, is to find a micro problem
and plan an action that looks bigger than it actually is. That doesn't work. It is greenwashing
and we know it too well. That is why we must dialogue and see what we are working with. It
is the only way to go. It complicated things, it shows us the complexity if the situation, but it
makes our impact more significant.

A good solution takes time. We cannot expect long lasting results with short term strategies.
Cooperation works better if the projects and teams are thought to last. But we all know
human interactions are not easy, and with time, chances of internal conflict appearing
increase. Through dialogue, open mind and a will to find peace and meeting points, long
term action can become a reality.

Meeting spaces

There can not be a dialogue if we don't know each other. This boat is an example of the
results you get if you foster connection and common work among people from different
places. Two weeks ago, we were strangers. Our first interactions were based on small talk
and superficial questions, Names, jobs… Then we started sharing more about ourselves.
Slowly, we moved on to deeper topics, brainstorming of cooperation ideas… All of this arose
from the bond we created.

Every day we had a little explanation about a topic and then some time to discuss in teams.
It was the “official dialogue time”. But the magic of connection is that, once interactions
have started, it is easier to find “extra official dialogue time”. We were constantly meeting
people and having unplanned long and deep conversations about any topic imaginable.

There were some gathering spaces like the deck, the net or the roof. We went there in our
free time, depending on what we felt like at that moment, so there were always chances to
speak to different people about their realities.

It will be hard to repeat the Bel Espoir experience, but we can find a way to promote those
meeting spaces between people living so far away and so close at the same time, just
across the sea.

First-hand information vs. the media

Talking to those experiencing what we see or read helps us rehumanize the information. We
are exposed to constant inputs from the news or social media; we live in the era of
information.

But sometimes we don't pay attention to them or get desensitized because they appear out
of context. We see a video of a city in ruins, of people starving or suffering next to a video of
someone trying on clothes or recommending holiday destinations. How can we understand
the depth of humanitarian crisis while doomscrolling on our bed when we are bored?

Other times we have questions, but no one to answer them, so we assume everything we
don't know based on our prejudices or suppositions.

And sometimes we don't see the humans behind pain or injustice, or we don't want to see
them because we value too much our own comfort of just prefer to close our eyes.

Yet, once things are no longer a text or an image, and we relate them to a person, everything
changes. Maybe we get only one, two or three individual points of view, maybe they are
biased, but it is the basis for keeping researching and exploring on our own putting humans first.

Handling differences

Cooperation and dialogue are not always easy. Trough dialogue we discover our differences.
Realities we are unfamiliar with or that can even make us feel uncomfortable or triggered. It
is not a beautiful part of dialogue, but it is one of the most important ones. Because if we
want peace for everyone, we have to realize that things will not always work out as we had
planned. We have to understand that disagreement is a part of reality, and we want to work
we real issues. There is no point in pretending everyone is like us, or in only talking to those
who thinks alike and creates echo chambers.

When encountering other ways of living, it is important not to presuppose evil in others
people's actions. We can criticize some attitudes, but we have to remember that we have
learned and changed through experience, education and dialogue. Therefore, we have to
hope that what we are doing and collaborating with different people will help others (and
ourselves too) to reflect on topics they might not have been as close to, and that it will
contribute to a greater good.

Our common house, a place to start

Our internship has been focused on environment and development. In cooperation, it is a
relevant area because it affects and concerns everyone. In all religions, creation has a
central role. Even for those who are not religious, nature has a sacred component. We are
seeing how we have an impact on the environment, and we want to protect it.

It is a starting point. Finding ways to connect and collaborate with each other in climate and
environmental action can not only help us find an integral solution but it also opens the door
for broader cooperation for justice and peace. »

Aurora