These are scary times in the United States.
By a very narrow margin, a new government came into power about 80 days ago that has taken aggressive action to target their political opponents, demonize immigrants and minorities, and undermine law enforcement. By explicitly threatening all the “deep state” / “elite” entities they view as opponents (e.g., universities, law firms, and public sector unions), they are attempting to consolidate power and remove the guardrails that have long protected American democracy from autocracy.
As someone with friends and colleagues around the world, it has been heartbreaking to see our allies recoil at the USA’s new posture and quickly organize themselves in opposition. America is booed at sporting events and perceived as a friend to corrupt dictators. In eight weeks, it feels like this new administration has destroyed a century of trust built meticulously by prior generations through international collaboration and cooperation across wars, pandemics, and economic crises. Now we’re seen as the bad guys.
I could go on about my dismay at these developments, and to distance myself from (and apologize for) my country’s recent actions, but this isn’t a political blog. As CEO of Mediate.com, my focus is on the dispute resolution field, helping mediators and parties manage and resolve their conflicts, and to protect and evolve the professional and ethical standards that govern our work. But even from that focused, non-political perspective, the actions of this new administration have been devastating:
These actions are in addition to the shutdown of whole agencies like the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which funded ADR programs around the world to expand access to justice and reinforce the rule of law, and the Department of Education, which used ADR to resolve student loan disputes, special education disputes, and civil rights complaints. Cuts to ADR programs across many other federal agencies (including the EPA, CFPB, armed services, etc.) are on the agenda moving forward as well.
These programs have played a crucial role in managing conflict and preventing violence for more than fifty years. Well researched scholarship has documented the positive impact of these institutions on both the United States and the world as a whole, and many of the pioneers in our field worked for or were trained by these agencies. To summarily shut them down and fire all their employees in a matter of weeks is a gross violation of the primary obligation of government to ensure peaceful and fair resolutions to conflicts (or, as Alexander Hamilton put it: “The first duty of society is justice.”)
I want to make clear that Mediate.com isn’t about advocating for a particular political party. We welcome all perspectives, from both the right and the left. We believe that helping individuals find peaceful resolutions to their disputes transcends politics and culture. The (mostly accurate) stereotype in the United States is that the majority of people drawn to dispute resolution practice are liberals, but I have good friends who are excellent, passionate dispute resolution practitioners who likely voted for this new administration and are probably sympathetic to some of the goals they articulate for their actions (e.g. reducing wasteful spending, restoring manufacturing jobs, and rebalancing unfair trade relationships).
But as Desmond Tutu put it, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” As my heroes Sara Cobb and Janet Rifkin wrote way back in 2001, we need to question absolute neutrality in our work as mediators. I believe we should instead move closer to Ken Cloke’s omnipartiality, which is rooted in open communication, honesty, and caring. The foundation of conflict resolution work is built on inclusion, respect, empathy, and fairness – and we must be willing to fight for those values, especially when doing so may seem risky or unpopular.
As Bernie Mayer and Jackie Font-Guzman made plain in their excellent book “The Neutrality Trap: Disrupting and Connecting for Social Change“ there is a time for dialogue/negotiation and a time for action/protest (in fact, they are inseparably tied to one another), and I believe we are entering a period that demands the latter approach. As a recent editorial in the New York Times puts it, “Taking on the President of the United States requires courage. This is a moment for courage.”
It is easy to stand for empathy, inclusion, diversity, and tolerance when those values are valued, protected, and enshrined in our institutions. The test comes when they are under threat by the powerful, and when speaking out may draw attention (and possible recriminations) onto yourself. But if you only stand up for your beliefs when it’s easy to do so, how strongly do you really hold those beliefs?
Now is the time for us to speak up and fight for the values of our field. We stand on the shoulders of generations of peacemakers who fought tirelessly in their eras to help people find justice in the face of oppression, and they crafted the tools we use in our work every day. What advice would they have for us? What would our heroes expect from us in a moment like this? Are we ready to make them proud?
To paraphrase Pete Seeger, there is a time to negotiate, and there is a time to resist. As conflict specialists, we need to know what time it is – and to act accordingly. I know where I stand and what I stand for, and if you agree, I ask you to join me in standing up for the values of our field.
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