Stories that Reconnect, a practice of Peace & Elise...

“PEACE CULTURES thrive on and are nourished by visions of how things might be, in a world where sharing and caring are part of the accepted lifeways for everyone. The very ability to imagine something different and better than what currently exists is critical for the possibility of social change.” (Elise Boulding in Cultures of Peace 2000, 29)

This quote by Elise Boulding accompanied the launch of the EuPRA Conference "Towards Utopias of Peace (5-9 November 2024) in Pisa (Italy).

In the following video, you can listen to the presentation that I shared at the Conference “Stories that Reconnect - StR, a practice of Peace”, enriched by images and the map of StR.

Thank you EuPRA board and EuPRA conference participants, for co-creating a space where it was possible to share our research but, more meaningfully, what inspires and gives purpose to it, to express feelings and emotions, to become more aware of some of our blind spots, and connect to a deeper level.

During the wonderful workshop "What about Elise?" (Elise Boulding of the quote!) facilitated by Draga Gajic, I wrote this text that I share as my prayer.

There is nothing.
I mean nothing around us
that anyone of us,
of today from this place,
can recognize.
It's silence around,
not the silence of fear
and dust settling
after bombs and distruction,
There is silence
with chirping of birds
and sounds from nature around.
We became wild again.
We became black.
We became human
beyond humanitarism.
We live in Peace
beyond peacebuilding.
We live constantly in
conflict, and mess,
and
we do not know violence.
I am 73 years old.
My daughters
that I was strongly afraid
might have been living
in more and more violent times,
they live in connection with the forests,
in compassion with the others,
and with meaning and purpose.
This is my prayer,
Amen.

Mitakuye Oyasin,

Ilaria