Dignity Road Report* - November, 2017

Welcome to Our 14th Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict!

Dear Friend!

Welcome to our 14th Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, titled "The Nature of Dignity and the Dignity of Nature," at Columbia University in New York City, December 7 – 8, 2017! Late Morton Deutsch has been the honorary convener of this workshop series since 2003, and we wish to honor his memory by conducting this workshop also in the future. See the program evolving on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/annualmeeting/30.php!

WELCOME from
Linda Hartling, PhD, Director of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, and the entire organizing team!

Dignity Road Report* - October, 2017

Good News: 2017 Nobel Peace Prize Nomination!

Medal: Erik Lindberg (1873-1966). Front side (obverse) of one of the Nobel Prize medals in Physiology or Medicine awarded in 1950 to researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Derivative of File:NobelPrize.JPG.

Dear Friend!

We warmly congratulate the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 for their crucially important work, Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016, and the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015!

At the same time, we are still very thankful that also our global dignity work was nominated for the 2015, the 2016, and the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. We were nominated by a group of people who, out of appreciation for the prize, wishes to refresh awareness of its roots. We are celebrating all of the remarkable individuals and groups (2015, 2016, 2017) who were nominated as candidates whose work is regarded to be in particular resonance with the original will of Alfred Nobel and his inspirer Bertha von Suttner (see her 1889 book, Die Waffen nieder! or Lay Down Your Arms!). Nobel's intention was "that his prize should benefit the 'champions of peace,' he meant the movement and the persons who work for a demilitarized world, for law to replace power in international politics, and for all nations to commit to cooperating on the elimination of all weapons instead of competing for military superiority."

We are delighted that included in the list as representative of our Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies network, was Evelin Lindner, our Founding President. Her nomination is an affirmation of our global dignity work and her forty years of service and action to bring peace and dignity into the lives of all people, characterized by compassion, equal dignity, diversity, humility, and mutually beneficial collaboration. You can see more here or as Pdf.

Please know that Evelin's nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize is your nomination! As you know, our dignity work is based on the African Ubuntu philosophy of "I am because of you!" and YOUR dignity work is crucial for bringing more dignity into this world! This nomination has been an encouragement for us all.

Altogether, the Nobel Committee received a total of 276 nominations for the 2015 Peace Prize, thereof 227 nominations of individuals and 49 nominations of organizations (this was slightly down from 2014, when a record high of 278 nominations were submitted). See also the preliminary list compiled in 2015 as each year by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) of publicly known nominations prior to the announcement of the actual recipient.

We warmly congratulate the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet with the recognition for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011. The prize was announced by Kaci Kullmann Five, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, at the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Henrik Ibsens gate 51, Oslo, Norway. Please see the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize 2015 on 9th October 2015.

Evelin profoundly thanks all those who included her in the nomination for the 2015 prize, which she views as a nomination for our shared efforts as a dignity community. It is the courage and strength that grows through working in a deeply connected and supportive community that replenishes her energy to keep going, as we hope it replenishes the energy of all involved. As Evelin sees it, this nomination is a celebration of our decade of collaboration in which each of us does our part according to our abilities — in the spirit of Ubuntu. It is also an encouragement of our future efforts as a community. Each of us has an important role to play in this urgent effort to bring dignity and peace into the lives of all people.

You are Warmly Invited to Share Your Reflections and Encourage Everyone’s Commitment to Dignity and Peace!

For us, humility and modesty are at the core of dignity, and therefore also at the core of our work. Bertha von Suttner’s message is manifested in our approach more radically than may be apparent at first glance, for instance, in our emphasis on future-oriented nurturing by way of what we call dignicommunication. To be true to our stance of humility, we have considered keeping our nomination confidential. Yet, it would have been irresponsible to deprive the members of our global dignity family around the world. Since February 2015, the nominations have had invaluable results for our global community. In a world where speaking up for dignity is often difficult or even dangerous, this nomination has brought greater safety and support to members who dare to speak up, even when at risk. And since our work is profoundly in line with Alfred Nobel’s intentions, we feel that protecting the members of our global dignity family through this nomination is justified.

Each of us plays a vital role in bringing greater dignity and peace into the world. In recognition and appreciation of our global collaboration, we would love to hear your reflections, that is, what inspires your efforts and ongoing commitment to cultivating dignity and peace in the world? Thank you for allowing us to share your reflections with the many members of our global dignity family. You are warmly invited to post your message in the comment field at the bottom of this page (your comment will be visible when it is released by the administrators).

Your words will encourage our HumanDHS community and encourage all who work for a world of peace, a world that dignifies the lives of all people.

With loving gratitude,
Linda Hartling, PhD, Director of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies

Dignity Report* - July, 2017

Welcome to the New Book "Honor, Humiliation, and Terror: An Explosive Mix – And How We Can Defuse It with Dignity"!

Dear Friend!

You are warmly welcome to have a look at Evelin Lindner's new book: 

Honor, Humiliation, and Terror: An Explosive Mix – and How We Can Defuse It with Dignity. Lake Oswego, OR: World Dignity University Press, Dignity Press, 2017.

See the book on the Dignity Press website and on the HumanDHS website. From these sites you can download the author's summary of the book, her personal Pdf edition, or buy the printed book (which has shortened endnotes). You see the Foreword by Linda Hartling, the Contents List, the Reviews of the book, and many other details.

Book Description

Humankind has reached a boiling point. Violence, hatred, and terror have become deeply entangled with honor, heroism, glory, loyalty, and love. Over the past five percent of modern human history on planet Earth, roughly the past ten millennia, human activity has reached a crescendo of rapid and ruthless competition for domination, a fight for power over people and the planet, where "might" has become "right." Within this context, a dangerous culture of honor has evolved, in which destruction is mercilessly merged with love: “It is my duty, if I love my people, to heroically destroy our enemies and secure all resources for us,” underwritten by an ominous motto: "If you want peace, prepare for war."

Humanity has haphazardly constructed an entire world-system on top of this merger, holding the whole world hostage through never-ending cycles of domination and humiliation. The consequence, today, is the ubiquitous destruction of human and environmental life on this planet. Terror and terrorism are the tools of a twisted honor system that should alert us to the mounting danger while we still have a window of opportunity for change.

With this book, the author encourages us to recognize the immense historic opportunity that is open to us in the wake of these dangerous times. Drawing on 40 years of research gathered on her personal path of living globally, she calls us to action in service of restoring and replenishing the health of human arrangements of relationships, emphasizing the lifesaving necessity of mutually dignifying cooperation. When we overcome the legacy of honor and terror together, in mutual respect, we can address the social and environmental crises of our time and the terror these developments foment. 

This book is a breathtaking, globally informed account of how humanity can reverse the rising tide of terror, making dignity our destiny and legacy… before it is too late.

With loving gratitude,
Linda Hartling, PhD, Director of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies

Dignity Report* - March, 2017

In Loving Memory and Appreciation of Morton Deutsch, February 4, 1920 - March 13, 2017

Morton Deutsch, Linda Hartling, and Evelin Lindner
at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City, December 2014

There are not enough words in the universe to express our sadness as we mourn the loss of one of the greatest visionary leaders of our time, Morton Deutsch, who passed away March 13, 2017.

Morton Deutsch is at the heart of our transdisciplinary global community, Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (HumanDHS). His life’s work is written into every aspect of our path-finding global collaborations, and he is a central source of our energy for building a “global human community,” united by the strength of our diversity, united in dignity. 

Morton Deutsch was—and will always be—our first Honorary Lifetime Member of the HumanDHS Board of Directors and the first recipient of the HumanDHS Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. He was a Founding Member of the World Dignity University initiative and inspired one of our most vital initiatives to building peace and dignity in the world, our publishing house Dignity Press.

The late Morton Deutsch launched the field of conflict resolution during the Cold War, on the premise that cooperation brings opponents to a common ground, while competition undermines trust. He is one of the world’s most respected scholars of Conflict Resolution and the founder of the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution (ICCCR), renamed in 2013 to The Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution (MD-ICCCR), at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City. He has been widely honored for his scientific contributions involving research on cooperation and competition, social justice, group dynamics, and conflict resolution. He has published extensively and is well known for his pioneering studies in intergroup relations, social conformity, and the social psychology of justice.

We are especially grateful for Mort’s extraordinary leadership and support as the founder and honorary convener of our series of collaborative Workshops on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict at Teachers College. He organized the first workshop in 2003, and we are infinitely thankful to the MD-ICCCR for hosting it since then. In December last year, we had our 13th Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict!

Building on Mort’s foundational insights and leadership, HumanDHS has brought together countless citizens in many parts of the world, gathering in the spirit of ubuntu for dignity conferences across continents: since 2003 in Europe (Paris, Berlin, Oslo, Dubrovnik), Costa Rica, China, Hawai’i, Turkey, New Zealand, South Africa, Rwanda, and Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. He will be with us in spirit in our future conferences in India (2017), Egypt (2018), and in the Amazon in Brazil (2019).

Mort’s groundbreaking research inspired a world of scholarship, activism, and research on the dynamics of dignity and the impact of humiliation. Our HumanDHS community, as represented by Founding President Evelin Lindner, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize again this year, for the third time. Mort’s enduring influence can be found in the 26 books published by Dignity Press since its inception in 2012. This includes Evelin Lindner’s books as a global scholar on humiliation and conflict, and her next publication, Honor, Humiliation, and Terror: Humiliation and Terror - Defusing and Preventing an Explosive Mixture, Volume I. This also includes Linda Hartling’s scale to explore the internal experience of humiliation, which has gained global recognition, being translated into Italian, French, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Portuguese.

Morton Deutsch’s enormous contributions are beyond imagination. He was a living beacon of dignity, walking the talk by building relational bridges through mutually empowering collaboration. His work gave the HumanDHS community the courage to transcend the limits of hyper-competitive individualism to co-create an evolving language of connection that constructively nurtures collaboration. Guided by his ideas, HumanDHS shaped a framework of innovative approaches for working together, such as meeting in the spirit of appreciative enquiry; organizing workshops and conferences around conversations rather than lectures and presentations; applying the African concept and spirit of ubuntu; and developing the art and practice of Dignilogue (dignity + dialogue). These approaches can be seen in the more than 200 videos available through the HumanDHS website.

Morton Deutsch’s vision of a global human community is needed now more that ever. We warmly invite you to join us in our commitment to realize his vision of a better world strengthened by collaboration, dignity, and peace. 

Please see Morton Deutsch’ invitation to “Imagine a Global Human Community” and pledge: http://www.humiliationstudies.org/documents/DeutschRemembrance2017.pdf

Please read more about Morton Deutsch’s life and work at: http://www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/deutsch.php

A map of the global collaborations inspired by the life and work of Morton Deutsch: