Julia Bracha

Make conflicts less violent; have more women in public life. This was the thought-provoking thesis of Julia Bracha in her TED Summit talk.

Her contention runs like this. Since it's futile to try to eliminate all conflicts, what we should be trying to do is to make them less violent. Nonviolent campaigns have two big advantages.  Fewer people are hurt or killed and less infrastructure is destroyed, infrastructure that might be key to recovery after conflict. They also tend to be more successful. And the best predictor of which tactics will prevail (violent or non-violent) is the ideology regarding women in public life. In her research, movements with women in leadership roles have succeeded more often: 53-27*.

It's not that women are less involved in conflicts. It's that they are talented in exercising power and influence nonviolently in the background. Because men are the public face of resistance, we often miss women's quieter, and highly effective, role in the background. Bracha pointed to influential women like Septima Clark in the US civil rights movement who emphasized literacy and education.

The media often underestimates the influence of women in Arab and Muslim communities. Consider the 1st Intifada, where media coverage focused on rocks being thrown at tanks. However 97% of the activities in that Intifada were non-violent tactics (like strikes for instance), and the women were calling the shots in those efforts.

Bracha's film wonderful Budrus, which I saw and loved at Toronto's Hot Docs Festival (reviewed here) highlighted the efforts of the women of the town of Budrus. Budrus was fighting the Israeli security fence, which was slated to go into Palestinian territory and bulldoze olive trees which were their livelihood. The 15-year-old girl who was an inspiration in the battle ultimately planted herself in front of a bulldozer. With the help of Israeli liberals, the Israelis relented and moved the wall to the boundary between Israeli and Palestinian territory instead of its planned incursion into Palestinian territory.

* not sure of the source of this statistic

Budrus

Budrus is a Palestinian village of 1,500 on the West Bank. The Israelis arrive to to build the security fence - well beyond the 'Green Line' marking the boundary between Israel and the Palestinian territory on the West Bank. This will result in the residents of Budrus losing land and olive groves they depend on for their livelihood.

A leader in the village inspires non-violent resistance. At first the protests involve only the men of the village, but they are soon joined by the women. As word of the protests spreads, some international sympathizers join the protesters. But the tide really turns when Israeli activists arrive to stand side by side with the Palestinians. The Israeli Border Patrol is reluctant to do anything that would result in Israelis being hurt, and many cameras documenting the action serve to keep the army's actions moderated. Frustrated youth finally break ranks and start throwing rocks at the Israeli armored vehicles. But the threat of chaos breaking out is averted and the protest continues mostly peacefully.

Ultimately, the Israelis decide to move the placement of the fence near Budrus. By the, the protests have spread to other villages where the fence has swung substantially within Palestinian territory, and the fence ultimately gets built very close to the Green Line. The Israelis state the change is not due to the protests. As the Billy Joel lyrics to She's Only a Woman go - "she never gives in, she just changes her mind."

The film was created from the film taken by many different people over the course of the protests and was supported by the work of Just Vision (click here for their web site). For those sensitive to hand-held cameras, be warned that some portions of the film are subject to considerable motion.

I would recommend Budrus to anyone who has a chance to see it. It's a heart-warming tale of how non-violence can be effective, and how supposedly antagonistic people can work together in common cause.