Brooklyn student interviews Peace and Sport marathon runner
Alyn Ware, a peace educator from New Zealand, has been selected to join the Peace and Sport Team running the New York marathon to raise funds and awareness about youth sports programs for peace in conflict zones. Brooklyn High School student Charlotte Juergens (Edward R Murrow High School, Valedictorian, Class 2012) interviews Alyn on his journey to the NY marathon, and on whether sports can bring peace or whether it reinforces competition and nationalism.
Charlotte:
Why did you join the Peace Sport Team?
Alyn:
I was impressed learning about their programs to bring youth from conflict regions together in activities they all enjoyed supported by sports champions who they all knew and admired. The sports events help the youth to overcome the de-humanisation of those on the other side of the conflict – or from the opposing gangs – and realize that they have things in common and can do things together without having to back-down or lose face.
Charlotte:
But sport is mostly competitive. Sports matches often increase tension between rival teams and their supporters. Does sport really foster peace?
Alyn:
It’s true that sports can increase tension between groups. Look at the fighting that sometimes occurs between fans of rival soccer teams in UK and Europe, and “La Guerra del Fútbol” (the Football War) between El Salvador and Honduras in the 1960s, or the propaganda used by Soviet and Western blocs equating numbers of gold medals with the superiority of their political systems. But these are exceptions, where sports competition has got out-of-hand or captured by political forces. Most sports events and activities are celebrations of team-man-ship, sportsmanship, the pursuit of excellence and the building of comradery. Look at the Rugby Sevens or recent Rugby World Cup for example. Everyone from where-ever they come from and no matter which team they support has a great time with everyone else.
Charlotte:
What about the Olympics? Don’t they encourage rivalry and competition between countries rather than fostering peace?
Alyn:
I think that this was only true in a few cases – the Cold War rivalry, the horrific murder of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics and the attempt by Hitler to demonstrate Aryan supremacy at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. In general the Olympics have lived up to their purpose of providing healthy competition as an alternative to war and the promotion of the Olympic ideal of peace. Competitors have incredible respect and friendly relations to each other and the events are generally a glowing testimony to the ability of countries and peoples to come together. I tend to agree with the International Olympic Committee President who said "Sport alone cannot enforce or maintain peace. But it has a vital role to play in building a better and more peaceful world."
Charlotte:
So what about the Peace Sports events? Don’t the youth from the rival gangs or from different ethnicities/religions or sides in the conflict get aggressive against each other during the competition on the field? Wouldn’t the soccer or rugby games be full of tension?
Alyn:
No. There are a number of reasons that the Peace Sport competitions foster harmony rather than conflict. One is that the youth from both sides share an admiration for the Peace Sports Champion they get to meet – and from whom they are encouraged to develop sportsmanship and tolerance. Also they are prepared for the sports events and ideas for reaching out to the opposing youth by trained Peace Sport facilitators. Also, there is a lot of mixing of youth from opposing sides/gangs in the teams in order to further break down the division and give the youth greater experience of doing things together.
Charlotte:
Where are some of these Peace Sports programs?
Alyn:
In Burundi, Timor Leste (East Timor), Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Haiti and Israel/Palestine. I am running to raise funds for the Israeli/Palestine program which runs in the West Bank.
Charlotte:
We have youth violence in the cities in the US – especially between gangs. Do you think Peace Sports programs would work here, and is your organization thinking about setting such programs up?
Alyn:
Prior to the NY marathon I will be participating in a Peace Sports Forum in Monaco where Heads of State, government ministers (of sports, youth and education) and hundreds of administrators from around the world will come to learn about the Peace Sports programs and discuss the possibility of setting them up in other places including the inner city environments. So yes. These could work and are being considered.
Charlotte:
And who are some of the sports champions involved in the programs?
Alyn:
The Peace Sport Team for the New York marathon is led by Paula Radcliffe (current women’s world record-holder for the marathon), Tegla Loroupe (the first African woman to have won the race, winning back to back in 1994 and 1995) and Wilson Kipketer (triple 800m world Champion). Other Peace Sport Champions – many of whom will go out into the field to meet the youth involved in the sports programs – include Novak Djokovic (World number 1Tennis player), Sébastien Chabal (French Rugby player), Hicham El Guerrouj (World record holder for the mile and 1500m), Cathy Freeman (Runner, Australia Olympic Champion), Dick Fosbury (Founder of the ‘Fosbury Flop’ High Jump), Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia, World Chess Champion) and Jonah Lomu (New Zealand rugby player).
Charlotte:
You are also working on other aspects of peace in the Middle East?
Alyn:
Yes, in my role as Global Coordinator of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, I am building dialogue between parliamentarians in the region and support from them and other parliamentarians around the world for a Middle East Zone free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Charlotte:
Sounds a tall order. Any possibility of success?
Alyn:
Well it will take a lot of negotiations and good faith by the countries in the region including the Arab countries, Iran and Israel – supported by key global players like the US, Russia, UK and France. A big step forward is taking place next year when the United Nations will host a conference of these countries to begin such negotiations.
Charlotte:
So you came all the way from New Zealand to sweat it out for 26 miles with 20 Peace Sports team-mates and 40,000 other runners. Is this madness or fun?
Alyn:
Well the Marathon in New York is like the mass celebrations of the carnival in Rio de Janeiro or the Rugby World Cup final in New Zealand. Hundreds of thousands of spectators line the route of the marathon along with musical bands, dancing and community togetherness. The spectators are cheering everyone – from the front-sprinters to the middle-joggers to the dawdlers at the back. So I expect it really will be fun, even if I get sore muscles afterwards.
Charlotte:
Your trip from New Zealand to New York was not direct – but to other places for peace and conflict resolution along the way?
Alyn:
Yes. I went to Geneva for an international conference on the abolition of nuclear weapons and London for a mock trial in the UK Supreme Court on Ecocide – we call it the Save the CEO trial, as we want CEO’s of corporations to be aware that if they continue wrecking the environment to maximize their profits, they could be subject to such criminal trials. I was also in Kazakhstan for a meeting with the Speaker of Parliament and an International Forum commemorating the 20th anniversary of the closing of the Soviet nuclear weapons test site (along with US Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller). Then to Bern (capital of Switzerland) for an international conference of parliamentarians, and I am in New York early for United Nations Day – when I helped organise an event for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to speak on nuclear disarmament.
Charlotte:
With all this travel how have you managed to train for the marathon?
Alyn:
It’s not hard to throw my running shoes into my bag and find places to run on my travels – whether it be along the shores of Lake Geneva, in Hyde Park in London, along the banks of the river in Astana (capital of Kazakhstan), in Prospect Park (Brooklyn) and Central Park (New York) along the banks of the Rhine river in Bern.
Charlotte:
You received the Right Livelihood Award – otherwise known as the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize – in 2009. What was that for?
Alyn:
That was for my work in developing peace and conflict resolution in New Zealand schools, including my role in the development of the Peace Studies Guidelines, Schools Peace Week and the Cool Schools Peer Mediation Programme where primary and secondary school students become official mediators for conflicts that arise in schools. The award was also for my international disarmament work including a case we took to the World Court against nuclear weapons and the drafting of a model treaty on nuclear abolition which is now being circulated by the UN Secretary-General as part of his plan for nuclear disarmament.
Charlotte:
So did you get a special degree in peace education or nuclear disarmament to do this work?
Alyn:
No. I started as a kindergarten teacher and learnt most of the information and skills in the field… Working to make New Zealand a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the early 1980s was good training for working internationally on nuclear disarmament. And training as a teacher is good background – as you know that to help people (whether students or individuals in governments, diplomats and non-governmental organisations) understand new ideas or proposals, you have to start from their perspectives and levels of understanding – and provide good arguments and research/facts that will help them think differently.
Charlotte:
So do you think young people can get involved, or do they need to study these issues for years first?
Alyn:
Young people can definitely get involved. They can easily advance the core principles of peace and disarmament which is to try to understand other people’s perspectives, to advance one’s own perspectives and ideas in non-violent ways, and work for win-win solutions to conflicts.
Charlotte:
So back to the marathon. What time are you aiming for? Are you trying to win?
Alyn:
I am running as part of the Peace Sport Team and the main thing is to run together, promote the Peace Sport visions and programs and finish the marathon. That will be winning for us.
Charlotte:
Thank you. All the best for the marathon.
