Performing for peace: mobilising cultural assets to leave the Mursi in peace with no-one left behind

民主是未完成的事业，我们争取包容性的努力既是政治上的，也是文化上的。需要在代表和代表之间建立更好的关系、教育和接触，这对每个声称民主的国家都是至关重要的。在全球范围内，高度边缘化和被污名化的少数群体的体面代表性仍然是一个挑战。要在这一议程上取得进展，两项战略是不可或缺的。首先，正如可持续发展目标16所概述的那样，为综合决策和参与提供更好的信息将使政治机构变得更具包容性。其次，国际研究联盟需要实践公平和多方利益相关者国际伙伴关系的原则，以及SDG 17中对能力建设的承诺。该项目将与土著戏剧和电影一起创新，教育政策制定者特定少数群体--南奥莫的穆尔西人--的政治权利，并说服他们，应该让他们和平相处，但不能让任何人掉队。这个联盟由来自南奥莫剧院公司的学者、南奥莫剧院公司的电影制作人和戏剧专业人士以及埃塞俄比亚南部穆尔西社区的成员组成。目的是：加深对高度污名化群体的理解、政治参与和代表性；倡导在深化民主和建设和平中使用艺术；并了解非殖民化伙伴关系。在现有两年合作伙伴关系的基础上，这笔后续赠款将使我们能够实现穆尔西牧民和电影制片人Olisalari Olibui Tolongu和剧作家Tesfahun Haddis Hailu在一部短片中解释的愿景(见https://grnpp.org/olisarali/).埃塞俄比亚的穆尔西人正在通过合作、研究和多媒体手段满足这一民主需求：民族志、纪录片和土著戏剧，以教育决策者和公众了解他们的政治挑战和解决办法。这部剧已经写好了，穆尔西社区的男人和女人已经被招募为演员，建立了网络，南奥莫剧院公司准备表演和广播它的推荐。这笔后续拨款将使这个联盟能够巡回演出，最终在亚的斯亚贝巴的国家剧院演出，在大学放映录音版本，并制作一部记录这一过程的电影，在埃塞俄比亚和英国广泛播出。该小组将与政策制定者举行高层对话，并通过博客、社交媒体、两篇学术文章以及埃塞俄比亚和英国的各种网站和网络交流学习。他们将与民间社会伙伴一道，推动以更全面的方式促进少数群体权利和与土著群体的建设和平。在埃塞俄比亚政治的微妙时刻面对复杂和敏感的暴力、两性不平等和种族主义问题是可能的，因为这个小组在埃塞俄比亚南部、受冲突影响的国家和危险的政治环境中工作以及在建设和平中运用艺术具有丰富的经验。这一倡议的影响将是通过调动文化资产，更具体地说，通过利用戏剧、电影和宣传，包括政策对话、研讨会和数字媒体，提高特定边缘群体--埃塞俄比亚南奥莫的穆尔西人--的代表性。通过产生证据并分享关于利用文化资产与少数群体建立和平以及使全球伙伴关系非殖民化的知识，其影响将远远超出穆尔西的特定群体，延伸到任何因土地、种族、偏远和土著血统的冲突而被边缘化的群体。这可能对其他团体具有巨大的价值，这些团体正在寻求方法，主张保持和平战略，但避免被抛在后面

Democracy is unfinished business and our struggles to be inclusive are cultural as much as political. The need for creating better relationships, education and engagement between representatives and represented is critical to every nation claiming to be democratic. Decent representation of highly marginalised and stigmatised minority groups remains challenging around the globe. Two strategies will be indispensable to making progress on this agenda. First, as SDG 16 outlines, better information for integrated decision-making and participation will enable political institutions to become more inclusive. Secondly, international research coalitions need to put into practice the principles of equitable and multi-stakeholder international partnership as well as commitments to capacity-building contained within SDG 17. This project will innovate with indigenous theatre and film to educate policymakers about the political rights of a specific minority group - the Mursi in South Omo - but by extension all marginalised peoples and persuade them that they should be left in peace but with no one left behind.This coalition, composed of scholars from SOAS's Global Research Network on Parliaments and People and Wolkite University, film-makers and theatre professionals from the South Omo Theatre Company, and members of the Mursi community in Southern Ethiopia, aim to: deepen understanding, political engagement and representation for highly stigmatised groups; champion the use of arts in deepening democracy and peacebuilding; and learn about decolonising partnerships. Building on an existing two year partnership, this follow-on grant will enable us to fulfil the vision explained in a short film by Mursi pastoralist and film-maker Olisalari Olibui Tolongu and the playwright Tesfahun Haddis Hailu (see https://grnpp.org/olisarali/). The Mursi in Ethiopia are engaging with this democratic need through collaborative, research-based and multimedia means: ethnography, documentary film and indigenous theatre to educate policy-makers and the public about their political challenges and solutions. The play has been written, women and men of the Mursi community have been recruited as actors, the network created, and the South Omo Theatre Company poised to perform and broadcast its recommendations.This follow-on grant would enable this coalition to tour the play culminating in a performance at the National Theatre in Addis Ababa, show a recorded version in universities, and make a film documenting the process to be broadcast widely in Ethiopia and the UK. The team will hold high level dialogues with policy-makers and communicate learning through blogs, social media, two academic articles and various websites and networks in Ethiopia and the UK. With civil society partners, they will promote a more holistic approach to promotion minority rights and peacebuilding with indigenous groups. Confronting complex and sensitive issues of violence, gender inequality and racism at a delicate time in the politics of Ethiopia is possible because this team has substantial experience of working in Southern Ethiopia, conflict-affected states and risky political environments as well as the use of the arts in peacebuilding. The impact of this initiative would be to enhance the representation of a specific marginalised group - the Mursi in South Omo, Ethiopia - by mobilising cultural assets and more specifically reimaging politics through the use of theatre, film and advocacy, including policy dialogues, a symposium and digital media. By generating evidence and sharing learning about using cultural assets for peacebuliding with minority groups and decolonising global partnerships, the impact will extend far beyond the specific group of the Mursi to any group marginalised by conflict over land, ethnicity, remoteness, and indigeneity. This could be of huge value to other groups seeking means to argue for strategies to be left in peace but avoid being left behin