Friday, March 27, 2009

“New World Order”

The last few blog entries have certainly been rather heavy, I know, but Jerusalem is a “heavy” place. Let’s come back to things doin’ at KA and what the students are up to. Let’s tackle a subject a little less heavy—how about world peace?!

Last week all three of my AP World History classes joined together for a project I had done twice at Hackley—a simulation of the peace conference talks that led to the tectonic-shifting 1919 Treaty of Versailles following The Great War. It is a fine chance to work on public speaking, logical thinking, cultivating empathy about a point of view, and earning a small measure of wisdom about how crafting peace is so monstrously difficult.

Now, if you were like me, when I took history in high school, even with the iconic Jean Michaels, we never spent too much time on these treaty negotiations. The textbooks always spoke how “The Big Four” took charge (that would be the United States, France, Great Britain, and Italy) and brokered the treaty. You really don’t get a good feel from that about what all went on and what a madhouse it must have been in Paris.

It turns out that 32 national groups (!!) sent delegations to the conference hosted in France. Yes, the Big Four talked the most, and steered the conference, but 32 groups were invited, and a few notable powers not invited (Bolshevik Russia, the Decimated Ottoman Turks and Defeated “See Ya” Germany). And then other people clamored for attention, trying in vain to gain access to the Conference (just a coupla names you may know, a young Chou En-Lai and Ho Chi Minh tried valiantly to meet up with President Wilson).

I informed my young scholars that our job was to simulate an experience of what it felt like as delegates from over 30 national groups met to discuss what the world should be like after this most frightening war in human history. President Wilson spoke glowingly of this opportunity to create a “new world order” and and also enthusiastically of a national self-determination. Ahhhhhhhh…this was the chance to set the world in order.

Our simulation did not re-create all the national groups, but I had the students get in small groups and become delegations from these nineteen groups: from the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Arabs, Zionists, Korea, Japan, China, the Pan-African Congress, Ireland, India, Mexico, Armenians, Orthodox Serbs, Muslim Slavs, Kurds and the Vietnamese.

Frankly, this exercise can go almost any way and be deemed as successful. If they research well, come prepared, and speak eloquently, bully for them. If they speak politely it allows for the chance to reflect on what might have been the reality of the 7 months of these tense negotiations. If they do nothing, it opens a teachable moment to discuss how we need to take charge in the world and act responsibly and do our homework. If they yell at each for the whole time—well, don’t you think there was a little of that going on???

Saturday evening came—the night of the simulation—and I was a little nervous. I don’t know why—all I had to do was open the negotiations, sit back, watch and assess. But I did have some “wildcards” in the mix. As a brief aside, I should boast about how many of my students have improved from the first trimester to the second trimester. In December, I only had 1 student earn a true A. By March, 12 students crowded around that A designation. But I also saw a bifurcation in the grades. Six boys had fallen from grace from December to March from C averages to low D averages (ummm…you must do some work and study occasionally!). Three of those boys had united to be one group, the United States of America. Another boy glommed onto one of my top students, another convinced a good student that he would do some work, and the last of The Six found himself abandoned by any group because as one bold student said, “You don’t do anything and you will bring us down.” Would any of The Six actually show up even?

The three young men of the United States of America entered in suits like gangster suits, immediately identified themselves as actual names of the Foreign Service team in 1919, and took charge of the proceedings. These young men offered the hopeful words of Wilson with golden tongues, nodding in approval when others echoed the words of the Fourteen Points, offering lollipops to the national groups they regarded as silly and childish, and took order as groups got out-of-hand. Those boys were masterful in the simulation. I couldn’t have asked for more. They clearly enjoyed the drama and fun of it, but they also clearly had done their research.

The Pan-African Congress was a group organized by African-American W.E.B. DuBois who hoped that the Wilsonian self-determination would apply to colonized Africans, as well, and not just white groups, and that PAC delegation spoke with such passion about their group, and their plans to write constitutions and end colonial domination. One girl in particular spoke with an articulation and eloquence I had never seen from her. I complimented her afterwards, and she said, “Mr. John, I was so angry on behalf of the Africans, that it just took me over.” And that boy who flew solo? He did work, did his presentation, and acquitted himself well. How exciting when a little project in class can help someone move forward so commandingly.

The French banged the table a lot, and there were slurring comments about the shifty Italians (changing sides in the 1915 secret Treaty of London) and many nasty comments hurled at the pompous Brits—the Irish delegation came dressed in green and attempted Irish brogues, while the Indian delegation insisted that independence was their right after sending one million soldiers to join the British army. The Muslim Slavs had an outstanding—and surprising—argument. The Muslim Slavs compared themselves to the Zionists in how they were often persecuted, and since the Zionists had captured the right for Palestine by the British to form a Jewish state (1917 Balfour Declaration), wasn’t it only fair that they have an independent state as well? I knew the inclusion of Zionists could be a hot potato issue, but the students acted respectfully.

Two of the most brilliant students shouldered the burden as defeated Germany. They even learned some German phrases in their excellent research. But I don’t think even they were prepared for the acrimony hurled at them as they offered a speech claiming that they alone should not bear the guilt of the war.

There were so many little moments that revealed these junior historians had done their homework well and realized how hard peace is to achieve. As a group we noted how interesting it was that less than 48 hours later the entire school of KA would spend the day pondering world peace!

While I had planned my simulation a while ago, in the last couple of weeks a day was organized with speakers and group discussions sessions, capped by an address by His Majesty about the prospects of peace in the Middle East. The King has come before and taught the students, and how fortunate to have him once again explain how he views the on-going process of achieving peace in the Middle East.

King Abdullah II is an excellent teacher. Yes, he is a good speaker, but he is also an excellent teacher, distilling this complicated subject, never talking down to an audience, and outlining and offering paths and scenarios. While he continues to emphasize that the issue of a Palestinian state is the key to such a peace in the region, he explained how the tide is turning, or rather, the discussion, is turning now. The discussions in London are changing to how long of a future Israel has. The King spoke candidly that around the world many thoughtful people recognize that the future of Israel may be very limited—from a lifespan of 50 more years, to perhaps 25 years or fewer. He cites the dwindling population of Jews in Israel, along with the growth of Arabs within Israel. But even more than that—he wonders if Israel is sacrificing its tomorrow to secure a today? The King spoke of Lord Sterling, a British Jewis diplomat, who is supremely interested in creating a two-state solution so that Israel may have a longer future. The King reminded us that about one-third of the world’s nations do not recognize Israel. And there is tremendous pressure on Israel to move forward and create a plan that secures a brighter tomorrow. He said that when he meets with Israeli diplomats and asks them about the future of Israel they do not answer the question, “where do you see Israel in 10 years?” Instead they discuss security and only today.

He spoke commandingly about the position of Iran in all of this—how this “revolutionary government acts as the Policeman of the Gulf and will not be idle” at stirring up trouble.

The parallels of this discussion with our simulation of the proceedings in Paris were not lost on my students. They saw the connections, they saw the importance of moving past revenge, and how to envision a safer tomorrow.

His Majesty soberly explained that this process will not be without bloodshed. He said that “the minute peace negotiations begin, extremists will want to de-stabilize that. But the longer we wait, the more devastating the bloodshed will be. Do we become political cowards?”

In my assignment sheet to my students I wrote that the purpose of the treaty simulation allowed us “to explore what diplomacy is—how countries interact, put forward demands, and create a balance of power. This affects our world today—indeed, this is what His Majesty does all the time, what President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton do, and every power on earth undertakes. This war [World War I] acts as a turning point—the moment when the United States emerged as a superpower in the world.”

This week His Majesty said that he would work for the best deal—a realistic observation, “the best deal we can get” and take it to President Obama and he will broker the deal. “We must have a national referendum and create the peace we need for tomorrow.“

What an intersection of 1919 and 2009…

As I often do, I return to one of my favorite plays, Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. In the play the Stage Manager comments, “Wherever you come near the human race, there’s layers and layers of nonsense.”

One of our KA students made a poster for the Peace Day and her slogan was:

How will you be a dreamkeeper?


Woodrow Wilson hoped that the peace talks would yield a better world order. This true faith endures in the manner of how King Abdullah operates in peace talks. I don’t know if he knows Wilder’s play or not, but his true faith is echoed in that title—the key word is our and that collective our, the notion that a world order must all rise and fall together is the ideal we still yearn to claim.

No comments: