This has been a rough week. There are very few places that I consider my "happy" places, and while I was in one (TEA at CU Boulder), I watched another unravel through news reports from Ankara and Istanbul. I had just declined a teaching position at a university n Ankara for family reasons, but had sincerely hoped to return to Turkey to present again at the GLOBELT conference in Izmir next May. A few years ago I presented at a conference in California for "Freirean" educators about what I considered the necessity of peace education in the United States and elsewhere. I hope that we can move toward peace so that this is not necessary, but I believe that every child in the world could benefit by education on how to accept and get along, and how to become adults who foster hope and peace and a new world vision.
While trying to process an attempted military coup in a country that I love, worrying about friends there and who have family there, worrying about the impact on friends of mine in neighboring territories and thinking of what repercussions the failed coup will have on the society, I was listening to an incredible talk by Consul General Ito of the Japanese consular mission in Denver. The parallels between what he said, much of which I had certainly not anticipated, and the popular resistance to the coup in Istanbul and Ankara were hard to miss.
Consul General Ito quoted Prime Minister Abe's speech before Congress, where he expressed remorse for his country's behavior that caused so many lost lives in World War II. While I hesitate to listen to Abe's without considering his motives for such a display, it was difficult to hear Ito quote him and not hear the voice of the Japanese people in those words. Similarly, when Erdogan urged the Turkish people to resist the attempted coup by rising up in protest, using a FaceTime interview with CNN Turk, having previously frowned upon public protest and social media, it is difficult to listen to him with any notion of his sincerity. Yet the Turks did go out of their homes, into the fray of declared martial law, to support continued advancements in democracy and to make it clear to the world that military suppression is not the way to reconcile differing opinions. These civilians stormed tanks in Istanbul, risking life and limb, to avoid becoming the victims of repression. Yet they will be rewarded by the world with economic difficulties as tourists avoid traveling through on of the world's major airports once again.
While the world's various national leaders may be insincere, politically motivated or desirous of a historical legacy where their names are remembered, whether for good or for ill, the world's people are good, brave and sincere in their desire to live and get along with everyone else, for the most part. While listening to Ito, I wish I could have recorded the rise and fall of his voice as he spoke of different unpleasant historic legacies that his nation has been known for. A proud Japanese man speaking to a group of American educators about his countrymen's regrets was an astoundingly beautiful, while profoundly sad, thing to see. These things should not necessarily be carried on the shoulders of a man who has spent his adult life in service and in the hearts of every Japanese man and woman because leaders want to play politics with the facts and their repercussions.
I do not know if any of my colleagues in the room felt as I did, but I must say that I have a heightened respect for the average Japanese citizen and will always remember the day that I watched a man express the soul of his people and a people express their collective faith in humanity across the globe.
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