Peace in the middle east through balls and bucks
The wife and I often get into a heated debate about how to solve the world’s problems.
One such problem is war and violence. My take is that things like sport and business play a vital part in progress, and that politicking and government intervention isn’t enough.
I was reminded about this as I read a posting on nba.com that talked about the Seeds of Peace basketball clinic. The clinic invites kids from Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan and America to learn more about the game and play the game together. By cooperating on the basketball court kids have to learn more about each other and hopefully form a bond. The theory behind camps like this is that when these kids grow up they’ll take these experiences and be less likely to resort to violence against other cultures.
But waiting for kids to grow up can take time that we don’t really have. So companies like New Generation Technology can also provide a helping hand to peace through enterprise. Getting Israeli money to flow into Palestine links the two regions and, hopefully, means that by destroying one another they actually destroy themselves. I love this idea. And it seems like Sir Ronald Cohen is catching the invest in peace fever as well.
I totally think there is a place for governments and peace discussions and whatever else Tony Blair et al are trying to do; I just think roadmaps and peace plans work politically but enterprise and sport actually can work socially.
