Learning from each other
“We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society.”
This blog post contains my reflections from the first few weeks of my first University for Peace course - Global Citizenship Education (GCE). I was talking with a dear friend recently who I know through the yoga world. She asked what had impacted me most from GCE thus far.
Honest answer? My fellow students and the co-instructors. In this group from around the globe, there is:
curiosity about each other and our experiences and challenges that we’re working on;
a level of deep knowledge in the space and humility;
a continuous learning mindset amongst us all;
a reminder that there are amazing humans, folks working towards peace keeping and building who see themselves as global citizens, in this violent and chaotic world.
As mentioned in the previous post, my fellow classmates are truly global representatives - from all corners of the globe. This is not a Euro-centric or US-centric group; this is a global group representing many places in the world. I think of my cohort mates working on making GCE a part of their Finnish classrooms full of immigrant students or supporting Afghan girls’ education or gender equity from the male perspective in South Africa. These people are just a few of the many (all of them are) inspiring and deeply compassionate humans I get to be in virtual class with weekly for this course. These are the people that remind me that as much as I see the world from this US-centric view - particularly focused on the problems of the US and caused by the US - each of these places is tackling challenges and finding solutions. It’s also a beautiful reminder of the power of the individual. There are some, like the Mandelas, or the Tutus or the MLKs or the Ghandis or the Davis (her quote is below) the list goes on, who we hold up as single humans who brought about extensive positive change for the masses. (We also know that none of these individuals was acting alone - there were movements and partners in the fight with them). And, for most of us, we may not be able to see our positive impacts ripple to millions of people across the globe or in our country, BUT we impact this person over here and that person over there, positively. Then they impact people in their lives positively.
“It is essential to resist the depiction of history as the work of heroic individuals in order for people today to recognize their potential agency as a part of an ever-expanding community of struggle.”
Back during Obama’s presidency during the rise of BLM and the first major fight against police brutality in the US 21st century, I remember telling people that I really believed that the way we affect change is one on one. Somewhere along the way, I got cynical about that view. And now, between the UPEACE program and some yoga continuing education training I’ve been doing, I really am feeling into that belief again. In this current climate, it is millions of individual actions that will amount to a lot of something. It’s speaking up against the racist uncle or divesting from that genocidal company or having the conversation with our kids about what it means to respect someone’s diversity and see their common humanity at once.
If this resonates with you and you’re a white-bodied cis-het woman who knows there is more to learn and to do, jump on this liberation and allyship journey together.
I’ll be using the blog and the newsletter (plus a little social media) to share my experiences and learnings from the courses throughout this diploma program. I plan to take what I learn and apply it to Liberation 101 and all of my offerings. I’m leaning into the lion heart of this whole experience.
Liberation 101 Back to School 2025 Cohort Key Dates:
Sept 1, 2025 - Registration Closes
*Sept 2, 2025 - Course Begins
Oct. 10, 2025 - Course Ends
*The Tuesday after Labor Day, let your learning commence!
