Making Peace Visible

Making Peace Visible Inc.
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In the news media, war gets more headlines than peace, conflict more airtime than reconciliation. And in our polarized world, reporting on conflict in a way that frames conflicts as us vs. them, good vs. evil often serves to dig us in deeper. On Making Peace Visible, we speak with journalists and peacebuilders who help us understand the human side of conflicts and peace efforts around the world. From international negotiations in Colombia to gang violence disruptors in Chicago, to women advocating for their rights in the midst of the Syrian civil war, these are the storytellers who are changing the narrative. Making Peace Visible is hosted by Boston-based documentary filmmaker Jamil Simon.

  1. 4D AGO

    Making Peace “Possible” with William Ury

    William Ury is one of the world’s most influential peacebuilders and experts on negotiation. He advised Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos in the lead up to that country's historic 2016 peace agreement with the FARC, and played a key role in de-escalating nuclear tensions between the U.S. and North Korea in 2017. Getting to Yes, which Ury co-wrote with Roger Fisher back in 1981, is the world’s best selling book on negotiation. Ury co-founded the Program on Negotiation at Harvard, as well as the Abraham Path Initiative, an NGO that builds walking trails connecting communities in the Middle East.  His new book is called  Possible: How we Survive - and Thrive - in an Age of Conflict. It’s filled with incredible stories from Bill’s career. In this episode, Bill talks about how lessons from the failures and success of the past – in places like Northern Ireland, Colombia, and the Middle East – can be instructive when dealing with the conflicts of today.  He shares exciting ideas about how journalists can tell stories about peace. What’s more, his insights on managing conflict can be applied anywhere from the UN to the boardroom to your own family.  William Ury’s ideas aren’t easy to implement –  in fact they’re incredibly challenging. Ury says conflicts don’t end, but they can be transformed, from fighting with weapons to hashing differences out in a democratic process. And if Northern Ireland, South Africa, and Colombia – places where people said violent conflict would go on forever – could transform their conflicts, then there’s hope for the seemingly “impossible” conflicts of today.  Music in this episode by Joel Cummins, Podington Bear, Kevin MacLeod, Meavy Boy, and Faszo. This episode was originally published in May 2024. ABOUT THE SHOW  The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org Support our work   Connect on social: Instagram @makingpeacevisible LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible Bluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social   We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!

    44 min

  2. DEC 9

    American UnExceptionalism: Resisting religious nationalism in Sri Lanka and Myanmar

    This week we’re featuring an episode from American UnExceptionalism, a limited podcast series that examines the intersection of authoritarianism and religious fundamentalism around the world – looking for lessons that Americans can learn from to resist Christian nationalism and the threat it poses to our democracy.  The series turns the idea of American exceptionalism on its head, asking: What can we learn from others about protecting democracy when the stakes are high? Co-hosts Susan Hayward and Matthew D. Taylor bring their expertise to bear as scholars of religion, religious extremism, and peace.  In this episode, Taylor and Hayward explore Sri Lanka and Myanmar (Burma), two Buddhist-majority countries. In the words of one guest, a “minority complex” exists in both countries – the sense among members of the dominant group that they’re under threat from minority groups inlcuding Hindus, Muslims and Christians. Authoritarian leaders have exploited these fears, but religion has also been used in creative ways as a tool of resistance. And in Sri Lanka, a nonviolent uprising unseated an elected president who had become increasingly authoritarian, amidst an economic crisis in 2022.  Guests are Geethika Dharmasinghe from Sri Lanka, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto, with a PhD in Asian Literature, Religion and Culture, and David Thang Moe from Myanmar, is a Postdoctoral Associate and Lecturer in Southeast Asian Studies at Yale University. American UnExceptionalism is a project of Axis Mundi in collaboration with the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies. This episode was produced by Scott Gill and engineered by Scott Okamoto, with production help from Kari Onishi. The executive producer is Bradley Onishi.  Additional producer by Andrea Muraskin and Jamil Simon at Making Peace Visible. ABOUT THE SHOW  The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org Support our work   Connect on social: Instagram @makingpeacevisible LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible Bluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social   We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!

    1h 4m

  3. NOV 25

    The antidote to polarization may be hiding in plain sight

    In the last decade, the field of peace-building has turned its eye toward the United States, as polarization has gotten worse, and political violence has increased. Our guest Peter T. Coleman is a part of that movement to bring peace-building or bridge-building to Americans. Coleman is a professor of psychology and education at Columbia University, and a renowned expert on conflict resolution and sustainable peace. He first appeared on Making Peace Visible in January 2023 to discuss his book The Way Out: How to Overcome Toxic Polarization. The bad news is polarization efforts in the United States haven’t been very successful, according to an analysis of 77 interventions aimed at decreasing partisan animosity, published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It showed that while interventions can briefly reduce animosity, their effects are small and short-lived.  But Coleman’s not giving up - he's just changing tactics.  In this episode, we discuss some of the most recent findings from Coleman’s lab at Columbia University Teachers’ College, which he says is part of a “radical new science of peace.” In their latest study, Coleman and colleagues focus on the media: using AI to comb through 700,000 news reports from a diverse group of 18 countries, including the United States. What they found points to a new way to understand what makes a society more peaceful –  or more polarized.  LEARN MORE: Peter T. Coleman’s research lab: The Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution Coleman’s Medium post on classifying peace in global media, “A Radical New Science of Peace.” AI for Good? AI Finds Lasting Peace in Unexpected Places in Psychology Today, by Peter T. Coleman and Larry S. Liebovitch. Take the Polarization Detox Challenge Listen to our December 2022 episode with Peter Coleman.  Follow Peter T. Coleman on Bluesky ABOUT THE SHOW  The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org Support our work   Connect on social: Instagram @makingpeacevisible LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible Bluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social   We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!

    35 min

  4. NOV 11

    Shining a light on veterans and their children

    “ Military children serve alongside their parents, except they're invisible.” –  Harold Kudler, M.D.  Millions of American children have had parents serve in Iraq, Afghanistan, or other wars following September 11, 2001. This episode focuses on the wellbeing of those children, who tend to grow up fast.  Susan Hackley is the director of the short documentary film Veteran Children. The film offers a window into the often hidden lives of military spouses and kids. Through interviews and roundtables, viewers meet children who have suffered as a result of their parents’ service, and also those who stepped up to help a wounded parent.  Hackley made the film after a long career in peacebuilding, during which she served 19 years as managing director of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, one of the world’s leading centers of negotiation and conflict analysis. She also served as Chair of the Alliance for Peace Building. Military lives and families are personal to Hackley. She lost a boyfriend in the Vietnam war, and her son served as a Marine Corps infantryman in Iraq.  Dr. Harold Kudler is a psychiatrist and expert on the mental health of veterans and their families, who is featured in Veteran Children. He’s a Medical Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University.  LEARN MORE Watch Veteran Children for free (30 minutes) Statistics and recommended reading from the Veteran Children Project Issue of the journal The Future of Children on Military Children and Families, with chapter Building Communities of Care for Military Children and Families co-written by Dr. Harold Kudler The Military Child Education Coalition Sesame Street’s Resources for Military Families Zero to Three’s Resources for Military Families  The Military Family Research Center at Purdue University ABOUT THE SHOW  The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org Support our work   Connect on social: Instagram @makingpeacevisible LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible Bluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social   We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!

    34 min

  5. OCT 28

    How immigrant and ethnic news media are fighting disinformation

    In our time when rumors and lies spread across the internet with lightning speed, journalists play a vital role in debunking misinformation and disinformation. Media outlets run by and for non-white audiences, while working under great financial pressure, occupy a special role in the information ecosystem. With immigrants and people of color so often targeted, ethnic and indigenous media outlets are often paying closer attention to these rumors and lies about their own communities. So, they’re well positioned to address disinformation before it reaches the general population. And they offer lessons for mainstream journalists and news consumers.  A new report, Disarming Disinformation: United States takes an in-depth look at how disinformation shows up in ethnic and indigenous communities and in their news media, and also highlights ways these outlets are fighting disinformation. It was published in October 2025 by the International Center for Journalists in collaboration with journalism schools at the University of Maryland and Arizona State University. Our guests this episode are: Garry Pierre-Pierre, editor-in-chief of The Haitian Times, an English-language news outlet that covers Haiti and the Haitian diaspora. The Haitian Times was one of five case studies highlighted in the disinformation report.  Sarah Oates, Associate Dean for Research/Professor and Senior Scholar at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. Oates is a co-author of Disarming Disinformation: United States, and of the book Seeing Red: Russian Propaganda and American News.  Special thanks to Nabeelah Shabbir. Music in this episode by Doctor Turtle.  ABOUT THE SHOW  The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org Support our work   Connect on social: Instagram @makingpeacevisible LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible Bluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social   We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!

    37 min

  6. OCT 14

    Could Northern Ireland's lessons help shape the future of Israel, Gaza?

    Our guest Megan K. Stack began a recent op-ed in the New York Times describing a contentious debate about anti-immigration riots in the Northern Ireland Assembly, “each speaker straining to upstage the last in outrage and fervor.” But unlike many opinion writers, she doesn’t go on to expound on the importance of civility in public discourse. Instead, she marvels that this debate is happening at all – amidst the children of Protestant paramilitaries and I.R.A. bombers, people who grew up in communities that battled each other bitterly for about 30 years – but now share power under a peace agreement that’s endured for almost as long.  Megan K. Stack is a  journalist and contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, who’s reported from several conflict zones including Israel/Palestine and Northern Ireland. In this episode, she analyzes key moments and actors in the negotiations that ended the “Troubles,” the 3 decades of violence between Irish Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. And she makes the case for applying lessons from that peace process to Israel’s negotiations with Gaza – including on the sensitive issue of disarmament. Read Megan Stack’s essay Northern Ireland, Gaza and the Road to Peace. Use this link to share the episode: www.makingpeacevisible.org/megan-stack Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions and Joel Cummins.  ABOUT THE SHOW  The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org Support our work   Connect on social: Instagram @makingpeacevisible LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible Bluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social   We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!

    37 min

  7. SEP 30

    How Viktor Orbán hacked Hungary’s Democracy

    Since his election in 2010, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has transformed Hungary from a democracy into a quasi-authoritarian country. In Hungary today, elections, economic policies, and the media are warped to benefit Orbán and his conservative Fidesz Party.  Orbán’s government, with its consolidation of executive power, Christian nationalist and anti-LGBTQ policies served as inspiration for Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s plan for Donald Trump’s second term. Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts has called modern Hungary “not just a model for conservative statecraft but the model.” A new documentary film, Democracy Noir, shows how Orbán changed Hungarian politics. In the words of Budapest-based journalist Babett Oroszi, Orbán has “hacked democracy” – quietly using the levers of democracy, rather than a violent revolution, to accomplish his aims.  The film tells the story of modern Hungary through the eyes of three female members of Hungary’s resistance – reporter Oroszi, nurse and activist Niko Antal, and Tímea Szabó, an opposition leader in Hungary’s parliament.  Our guest, director Connie Field, has followed Hungarian politics since the country’s first years as a democracy in the early 1990s. An American progressive and award-winning documentarian, she has a shrewd eye on how Orban’s actions are being mirrored in the United States. The episode also includes discussion of a new leader who observers think has a real chance of upending Orbán’s hold on power in the 2026 election. LEARN MORE: Stream Democracy Noir now!  Watch a trailer for the film, find out where it’s being screened, or request a screening Download the discussion guide. Connie Field bio ABOUT THE SHOW  The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org Support our work   Connect on social: Instagram @makingpeacevisible LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible Bluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social   We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!

    31 min

  8. SEP 16

    In Modi's India, journalists must fall in line or risk jail time

    When we first read Suchitra Vijayan’s reporting on the media in India we were shocked to learn that much of the press in the world’s largest democracy, had fallen in line with Narendra Modi’s authoritarian agenda. Now it feels like a portent of what could happen in the United States. In India today, 75% or more of news organizations are now owned by 4 or 5 large corporations, all led by allies of Modi. In contrast, journalists who have dared criticize the government have been harassed, detained, imprisoned, and even murdered.  Suchitra Vijayan is a journalist and attorney. She is the author of two books: How Long Can the Moon be Caged? Voices of Indian Poltiical Prisoners, co-authored with Francesca Recchia, and Midnight's Borders. Vijayan is also the founder and executive director of the Polis Project, a journalism and research organization focused on authoritarianism and state oppression. She was born and raised in Madras, also known as Chennai, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and lives in New York City.  Read Vijayan’s reporting in The Nation about the government’s targeting of Kashmir’s free press. Follow Suchitra Vijayan on Substack. This episode was originally published in November 2023.  Music in this episode by Siddhartha Corsus and Blue Dot Sessions ABOUT THE SHOW  The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org Support our work   Connect on social: Instagram @makingpeacevisible LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible Bluesky @makingpeacevisible.bsky.social   We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!

    31 min
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About

In the news media, war gets more headlines than peace, conflict more airtime than reconciliation. And in our polarized world, reporting on conflict in a way that frames conflicts as us vs. them, good vs. evil often serves to dig us in deeper. On Making Peace Visible, we speak with journalists and peacebuilders who help us understand the human side of conflicts and peace efforts around the world. From international negotiations in Colombia to gang violence disruptors in Chicago, to women advocating for their rights in the midst of the Syrian civil war, these are the storytellers who are changing the narrative. Making Peace Visible is hosted by Boston-based documentary filmmaker Jamil Simon.

Information

  • Creator
    Making Peace Visible Inc.
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2025
  • Episodes
    95
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © makingpeacevisible.org
  • Show Website
    Making Peace Visible

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