HOW DO you convince people who are bent on hating each other that they share a common ground? How do you promote social harmony and moral education to an international audience brimming with internal conflict and social dilemmas?
There is no easy way, but Shamil Fattakhov of Tatarstan in Russia, has found a stepping stone on the right track. Founder and co-ordinator of the training workshops for the ZIPoPo Show, Fattakhov has developed a programme designed to promote moral and ethical behaviour through discussion, responsible attitudes and positive behaviour.
Adaptable to all ages and social groups, ZIPoPo provides a public forum for group discussions on important and topical issues. Actors perform a short drama, which illustrates a sensitive topic and encourages discussion amongst the audience, allowing long-held beliefs and views to come out in the open.
Fattakhov’s underlying belief that we all have inner talents that can be utilised to learn new issues about ourselves is the basis for the show’s aim to provide ‘Ethics training through interactive drama’. The very nature of ZIPoPo, including the encouragement of dramatic art (script-writing, acting and directing), allows for instant creative debate to touch on real-life dilemmas, and very often for the first time.
The show aims to develop consultation in the search for positive solutions, while encouraging dialogue, positive behaviour and moral responsibility in every individual. A driving objective is to force participants to analyse assumptions about right and wrong and develop the courage to think independently.
The TV format of the show was broadcast for five years in Russia and has been promoted in Europe as a method of building a culture of peace. In 2001, ZIPoPo won the GLOBArt Award for Innovation for peacemaking activities in the Balkans, awarded in Pernegg, Austria. More than 1,500 enthusiasts have been trained to organise and host the show in more than 40 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.
Visiting Cyprus this week to promote the international moral education project and to prepare for next summer’s training project offered to theatre groups, drama schools and educational institutions, Fattakhov and his associate, Allen Duncan, spoke to the Cyprus Mail about their experience with ZIPoPo.
“There needs to be a civilised way to touch on sensitive social issues through effective consultation. When strong opinions clash, this very often brings out a spark of truth, which is much better than having people clash,” says Fattakhov. ZIPoPo touches on many issues, from hatred of minorities to the role of the family and is always directed at solving the problem.
Fattakhov gave an example of the last seminar conducted under the supervision of the United Nations in Kosovo for participants from both Serbian and Albanian communities. “I and another teacher stayed in a hotel in Kosovo under the protection of UN soldiers and US marines to make a one-week seminar with 30 Serbian and Albanian youths. There are currently troops from five different armies there. Communities are surrounded by barbed wire. If they pull out there will be a lot of bloodshed.” The Albanians and Serbian adolescents had to be brought to the heavily guarded hotel with military escorts. “There were kids with their lips shaking when they arrived. They were physically scared,” he said. Within the group, Fattakhov explained, he had former members of both opposing armies. “One came up to me and said, ‘don’t worry, I have a kitchen knife and I will protect you if necessary’. And these were the brightest children that were chosen for the seminar.”
As the week progressed and dramas were performed, homework was given for scripts on sensitive issues, the group soon found that they had little time for suspicion, fear and hatred. Scripts were written about moral values, personal responsibility, tolerance, violence and religious prejudices. “During the week, they were happy working together. They were kept busy all the time, working on really important issues and being creative. When it ended and they had to part outside the hotel, they hugged, kissed and cried. And you cannot fake crying – that’s real.” One UN official witnessed the scene and said, “We have spent three years and millions of dollars on bridge-building, and you did this for a couple of thousand!”
A similar seminar in Romania started off with one man standing up and saying, “I hate gypsies”. By the end, he apologised and said that he had made a mistake.
“It brings people together, and pushes for a positive solution. Very often I have a problem that I can’t solve. I suggest it as a topic and then get 75 people discussing it and giving amazing feedback, analysis and understanding.”
Fattakhov and Duncan will be back in Cyprus next summer to train interested parties but also hopes to start a ZIPoPo group in schools as well so that children get a chance to discuss and solve present-day dilemmas.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
