Our History

• Co-sponsored the Judaism Fundamentalist Conference in September at Esalen Institute, bringing Jewish and other religious scholars and activists together from Israel, the United States and Europe to discuss the motives and historical experiences that have generated aggressive and violent behaviors between various religious and ethnic groups.

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• Co-sponsored a reunion at Esalen to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of Esalen Institute’s Soviet-American Exchange Program, now TRACK TWO. Citizen Diplomats from America and Russia gathered to reflect on our shared history and on how the lessons we learned during the 1980s and 1990s might be applied to major conflicts today. See summary and list of the participants who were involved in the development of Citizen Diplomacy.

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• Chronicled and published “25 Principles of Citizen Diplomacy” during the 25th reunion at Esalen. These principles were distilled from our work with Russia and the Soviet Union and can be applied to our complex relationships with Islam, with Iran, and with China over the longer term. (www.trackii.com.)

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• Co-sponsored a Christian Fundamentalism Conference at Esalen Institute in April that brought together scholars, activists, psychologists, ministers and theologians to discuss the religious and political roots of intolerance evidenced by certain forms of Christianity.

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• With Esalen’s Center for Theory and Research (CTR) we held the first meeting of our Islamic Outreach program in the home of David Harris in Mill Valley, California, gathering together Muslim and non-Muslim Americans from the San Francisco Bay Area. The gathering included a black American Imam, an Afghan, a Tajik Ph.D. candidate from UC Berkeley, an Iraqi-American journalist, several TRACK TWO board members including chairman of the board Joseph Montville, and other prominent citizen diplomats. The discussion revolved around the need for educating Americans about Islam and led to proposals for an outreach campaign in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and New York City.

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• Launched a research and development project as part of TRACK TWO’s out-reach to other countries and cultures on the Muslim Diaspora within Russia and Central Asia to explore the possibilities of Russian, American and Islamic cooperation in Russia and Central Asia to address Muslim conflicts with the West.