Euphrates Institute

The Euphrates Institute is a not-for-profit educational organization based in the United States, whose stated mission is "to create global citizens through education, travel and community engagement."

The Euphrates Institute’s academic branch is based at Principia College, a liberal arts college for Christian Scientists in Illinois.

The Institute is a cooperation circle of the United Religions Initiative and a partner of the Charter for Compassion.

History

Euphrates Founder and CEO and former CIA analyst, Janessa Gans Wilder, following the US invasion of Iraq, was inspired when sitting on the banks of the Euphrates River, Iraq in 2004, marveling that such a peaceful body of water had flowed through a war-torn city just a few miles north. Inspired by the river’s communication of calm in such a violent space, Wilder decided to leave her position as part of the American war machine to found the Euphrates Institute.

Wilder has written a number of articles on Middle East issues.

Objective

The Euphrates Institute wants to improve relations with the Middle East by engaging the moderate middle and marginalizing the extremists, in an era when they believe security, energy, and religions depend upon it. According to the Eureka Wildwood Patch, a St Louis based online blog, “the Euphrates Institute is an organization that seeks to inform U.S. citizens on the culture and politics of the Middle East. They also offer up-to-date information about the Middle East on the Euphrates Institute's website.”

Their vision is to ensure 20 percent of the population in the U.S. are Informed about Middle East issues; Inspired by trends of change and models of hope; and Transformed–personally equipped with the tools to be peacebuilders. Through IIT—Informing, Inspiring, Transforming–they aim to create a tipping point whereby a groundswell for long-term understanding between the U.S. and the region is fostered.

The 20 percent goal is aligned to Everett Rogers’s research at Stanford, indicating that social change occurs only when a critical mass of people in that society are behind it. According to Rogers’s research, for a social change to be “embedded,” 5 % of people must be behind it. The movement or idea becomes unstoppable when 20 % of the populace is behind it. Anecdotally this has been witnessed in the collective American shift behind every milestone of progress, from voting rights for women to civil rights legislation, attitudes toward the treatment of mental illness, and more. Euphrates believes that when Americans change their minds, government follows.

Euphrates, a metaphorical, geographical and practical bridge between East and West, applies this research to the pursuit of peace between the United States and the Middle East. Euphrates explains that while the problems and conflicts faced are indeed complex, they are not impossible to solve. They believe “there is no need for a battle between doers and dreamers, or so called pie-in-the-sky peaceniks and action-oriented problem solvers.”

They believe that as Einstein said and as liberals, conservatives and moderates can agree, “problems cannot be solved at the same level of thinking at which we created them.” As a grassroots organization Euphrates believes it will be the catalyst to solving East-West problems at a different level from which they were created—beginning with individuals and communities and progressing to a society and nation that is ripe for change.

Euphrates believe they are building a critical mass of leading-edge individuals who they say recognize the need for conducting foreign relations on the same basis as personal relations according to the Golden Rule and in accord with shared interests.

Activities

Warriors for Peace

Seen as the Euphrates’ signature program, launched in June 2011, it is based on the premise that transforming the world requires more than just government effort; it will take citizen action and involvement. The organization sees Warriors for Peace ® as a community of next-generation thought leaders who are focused on solving global challenges. Based on the website, it appears the program may be discontinued.

Media

Euphrates uses the power of original media to bring attention to Middle East issues through print, video, online, and social networking. We aim to provide both the novice and the expert a valuable repository of information: Weekly informative bulletins.

Euphrates Summits

Euphrates holds capacity building conferences, recognizing an annual “Visionary of the Year” who has demonstrated the power of an individual to change the world. Its stated goal is "someone who makes the impossible, possible, and the idealistic, realistic.”

Sami Awad

Sami Awad was the Euphrates Visionary of the Year 2011. According to the Huffington Post, he “is the Executive Director of Holy Land Trust (HLT), a Palestinian nonprofit organization which he founded in 1998 in Bethlehem. HLT works with the Palestinian community at both the grassroots and leadership levels in developing nonviolent approaches that aim to end the Israeli occupation and build a future founded on the principles of nonviolence, equality, justice, and peaceful coexistence.”

According to Tufts Observer “Through his journey to Auschwitz, Awad began to understand what it would mean to feel true empathy for the Israeli soldiers from whom he had long held nothing but hatred and resentment. He watched a group of Israeli teens tour the camps, listening to leaders tell them that to honor the victims of the Holocaust, they needed to be strong and protect their country. These future soldiers, Awad realizes, saw the Palestinians as the new face of anti-Semitism. To end the enmity between them, he would have to help Jews heal."

"At the Euphrates Summit, Awad said ‘One’s political identity is not an absolute truth,’ Awad said. ‘Create your identity from the future, not from the past; from what you want, and not from what you have suffered.’”

Also the Huffington Post said that “in 2006, he ran as an independent candidate in the Palestinian Legislative Council Elections (the Palestinian Parliament). He also established the Travel and Encounter Program, which aims to provide tourists and pilgrims with unique religious and political experiences in Palestine; the Palestine News Network, the first independent press agency in Palestine and a major source of news on life in Palestine today; and Al-Kul Television. He has traveled to several countries to speak about non-violence. Sami is one of the subjects in the documentary Litlte Town of Bethlehem.”

Ronny Edry

Ronny Edry, a graphic designer from Tel Aviv, Israel, was Euphrates’ Visionary of the Year 2012. Edry lives in Tel Aviv, Israel, with his family. In reaction to Israeli-Iranian tension, he started posting pictures on Facebook using his daughter in attempt to convey the message that Israelis were friends of the Iranians. Within 24 hours, many had shared the poster on Facebook, and Ronny started receiving messages directly from Iranians. His poster campaign started the online community Israel Loves Iran, and from the other side—groups like Iran Loves Israel, and Palestine Loves Israel.

T.H. Culhane

T.H., a National Geographic explorer, is the Visionary of the Year 2014.

The Our World Beyond 9/11 Summit, held at Principia College in October 2011, brought together policy experts, social innovators, and public officials from North America and the Middle East to share their vision for a world beyond terror, division, and conflict.m.

Summit speakers

• Sami Awad is the Executive Director of Holy Land Trust, a Palestinian nonprofit organization, which he founded in 1998 in Bethlehem.
• Thomas Culhane, a Mid-east sustainability expert and urban planner, founded the NGO “Solar CITIES”, which provides solar panels and biogas digesters to developing communities in the Middle East.
• Jordan Elgrably, a Los Angeles-based writer, editor and designer, co-founded Levantine Cultural Center during the summer of 2001.
• Henry S. Ensher, current U.S. Ambassador to Algeria. He most recently served as the United States Senior Civilian Representative in southern Afghanistan; prior to that, Amb. Ensher was Director of the Office of Afghanistan Affairs in the Department of State.
• Reverend Canon Charles Gibbs, founding Executive Director of the United Religions Initiative, has worked with religious, spiritual and other leaders in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific.
• Dr. Dick Hoffmann retired in 2007 from the Navy after 20 years of service as a SEAL officer. Currently, he is a defense research analyst at the RAND Corporation.
• Gulten Ilhan, a philosophy professor at Saint Louis Community College-Meramec, is an active speaker on Muslim issues and in the St. Louis interfaith community.
• Dr. Douglas Johnston, president and founder of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy, is considered the “father of faith-based diplomacy.” He was a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and holds a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard.
• Mana, an Iranian-American hip-hop artist who performs in both Farsi and English, lives in the Washington, D.C. area, and is a member of the group “Lipstick Revolt.”
• Dave Oakes, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Ecological Living and Learning (CELL), organizes life-changing sustainability education programs for students.
• Manal Omar, author of Barefoot in Baghdad, is the Director of Iraq, Iran, and North Africa Programs at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
• Tom Quiggin, a court-qualified expert on terrorism and a veteran of 20 years in the intelligence community, is a senior researcher at the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies at Carleton University.
• Rabbi Dale Schreiber has served for the past seven years as a Jewish chaplain at Barnes Jewish hospital and is an active member of the Central Reform Congregation.
• Mark Siljander, former U.S. Congressman and U.N. Ambassador, is now the Chairman of the NGO “Trac5, A Bold Path to Peace” working with leaders in global conflict resolution.
• Dr. Yehuda Stolov, Executive Director of the Interfaith Encounter Association.
• Zainab al-Suwaij, co-founder of the American Islamic Congress, is a native Iraqi, whose grandfather is the leading cleric in Basra.
• Travis Thomas, creator of Direct Life Coaching, and the Jove Improvisation, is a coach, performer, and teacher, based in St. Louis, Missouri.
• Sandy Wilder, Chief Listening Officer and founder of Educare Unlearning Institute, has decades of experience in personal transformation and leadership.
• Dr. James Zogby is the founder and president of the Arab American Institute and author of Arab Voices: What They Are Saying to Us and Why It Matters.

The Observer also stated that for summit participants “the US-Middle East conflict had indeed been transformed.” Wilder stated that she wanted to bring the speakers and change makers to the summit to show participants what they are doing that most people may not hear about otherwise. She believes that the “unity of purpose” expressed at the two days of the summit was palpable.

References

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