CSC speaks with Monica Macias about her memoir, "Black Girl from Pongyang: in Search of My Identity". She opens up about her sources of inspiration, her approach, and the lessons she gained from her writing journey. In this conversation, we delve into a central question: How does understanding of different cultural perspectives contribute to the pursuit of peace? What inspired you to write this memoir? It all began with research about my identity. Having an African-European background and growing up in Asia, I had a very strong identity crisis. I needed to learn first about my father to unders ..read more

How can humanity achieve world peace? This is a question that has been plaguing human beings for centuries. It is one that I am asked once in a while when people find out about my life’s work. Of course, there are different renditions you hear such as “what do you think we need to do to achieve world peace” or “what do you think are our biggest challenges to achieving world peace?” Although the essence of such inquiries, namely becoming more peaceful, is definitely worth pursuing, it is the framing of these questions that show how abstract our thinking can be about conflict, violence, and peac ..read more

Collaborative Social Change (CSC) celebrated its first birthday on 23 April 2022 by inviting community organizers, Patrick Gregoire and Veronica Mosqueda, from ,Cancel Rent DC to teach network members and our diverse global community about how they collaborate with those who have been most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic to combat systemic disenfranchisement and oppression of working-class, long-standing BIPOC residents of Washington DC. The important work at Cancel Rent DC aligns with CSC’s core mandate: to address direct, structural, and cultural violence in the everyday, and therefore pre ..read more

The Russo-Ukrainian war began in February 2014, with the Russian annexation of Crimea. Eight years later, the war has escalated. On the 24th of February, 2022, Russia proceeded with a full scale military invasion on the state of Ukraine, marking a new phase of conflict in the European region. As it stands, the situation is critical, and the intensification of violence and threat to world peace continues. It is of major concern for the international community. It is unfortunate that it is often only at the very height of a crisis that a wider analysis of global issues can be made. This is becau ..read more

By Marisa Tramontano, PhD And then there are those blessed with the gift of aggression, an overpowering need to protect the flock. These men are the rare breed who live to confront the wolf. They are the sheepdogs” (American Sniper, Warner Brothers 2014) On May 1, 2011, I was standing outside the Woolworth Building in Lower Manhattan when suddenly I heard a commotion close by. I walked around the corner to see what was happening and to my surprise, hundreds of people were congregated by the nearly-completed 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Some were gingerly touching the names of 9/11 victims that ha ..read more

The following post originally appears in CSC's inaugural edition of Radical Review. The title ‘Editor-in-chief’ belies the essentially collaborative nature of a project like this. From early discussions aimed at formulating a theme, to the peer-review, editing, and proof-reading processes, this has very much been a collective effort. With that in mind, I would like to thank Yasmin Jones, Erika Mukherjee, Aalok Vora, Marisa Tramontano, and Nousha Nematzadeh, for their help at various stages and throughout. Special mention is reserved for CSC founder Saghar Birjandian, for coming up with the ide ..read more

The competitive environment in violence prevention and peacebuilding industries, together with the business model of the academy, often work against specialists freely sharing ideas and methods to effectively prevent violence as such capacities have become commodified. Consequently, actors and institutions ill-equipped to implement certain ideas often implement them as a means of survival and other ideas remain under a tight lid so as to avoid invertedly undercutting one’s own ability to generate income or advance professionally from their ideas. Food for Change actively seeks to work against ..read more