The mystic and sandals on the ground

Fisher and Ury accomplished enormous things nationally and internationally by their method of principled negotiation. It is so clear and straightforward. In my pantheon of core readings in conflict, I include the little text from Lederach, literally called The Little Book of Conflict Transformation, because he speaks to aspects in a more metaphorical and even mystical manner that I find piercingly revealing. 

I was fortunate enough to attend some of his talks at Notre Dame some years ago and he asked me to lunch one day. His commitment to work with the most disregarded people in the world, people in conflict but not doing so in violent ways, was inspiring. He told me of his work with the most disregarded people in Nepal, the landless tribal people who basically survive outside the official economy, outside the official political structure, owning nothing, living in the forests. 

Lederach said he's told those foundations who fund his work that, while it's a boost to get a one-time grant to do some work for a year, he would no longer seek funding that isn't committed to less than a decade. "The people on the ground--literally on the ground--in places like the indigenous villages along the coast of Nicaragua or the deep forests of Nepal need a sustained commitment to build sustainable structures of justice that serve to shield them from the traditional dominance and oppression inflicted on them from the governments of their countries. This requires long process work, not a flash of only a year." 

It was one of the most illuminating conversations I've ever had. Lederach is revered in the field of Conflict Transformation for his vision, groundtruthing based on lived, direct experience, and his penetrating analysis. Some find his work impenetrable, some find it the most revelatory of any writer in our field.