Shoes, Constraints and Framing
The first of three short films on community/corporate relationships, on the Ambuklao/Binga dams in Luzon, is about to be premiered at the United Nations, in Geneva, on June 16. We are also just about finished the second one, concerning the Tintaya mine in Peru. An interesting coincidence has arisen in editing the interviews: In both films, someone talks about shoes.
In the Philippines, a community member who was displaced and whose rice land was submerged says, “If you were me, if you were in my shoes, I think right now you would also be crying.” And in the Peru film, a corporate manager narrates the leap he made from making sure the company paid taxes and employed people properly to perceiving that the communities’ very livelihood had been unalterably ruined when the mine was built two decades before, by saying “You have to put yourself in their shoes.”
Being reminded of this ancient principle of communication and negotiation prompts a fresh and critical look at some of the practices that parties and mediators engage in. Read more »