Dialogue Across Difference

The State of Hate - Part Two: Hate and Politics
2025-01-23 17:30 - 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
The State of Hate is a multi-part online series co-sponsored by the Friends of Semel Institute and the UCLA Initiative to Study Hate. The series brings together UCLA experts to share new ways of understanding and mitigating hate. The first installment in the series, Hate and Politics, will look at how hate is playing out in our national and international politics. Panelists will discuss what the dangers and dynamics of hateful rhetoric are to our political culture and well-being. They will also discuss what the role of the media is in both spreading and righting hate in our political environment.
Speakers:
Cesi Cruz, PhD
– Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science
David Myers, PhD – Distinguished Professor, founding director of the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy, and the founding director of the UCLA Initiative to Study
Hate Lynn Vavreck, PhD – Marvin Hoffenberg Professor of American Politics and Public Policy at UCLA
Register HERE.

Speaking Across Conflict Workshop for Staff and Faculty
2025-01-23 12:00 - 14:30
The Dialogue across Differences Initiative at UCLA is proud to offer an interactive opportunity for staff, administrators, and faculty to delve deeper into a core skill for having more constructive conversations across charged political differences.
Based on the methodology of Resetting the Table, a nationally renowned organization dedicated to building honest and open communication, this workshop will allow participants to practice speaking about divisive political topics using effective skills. The session will be highly interactive, and we ask that participants be present for its entirety. It will be led by Maia Ferdman.
Where: This session will be held in-person only on the UCLA campus and will not be recorded. Location shared upon RSVP. Lunch will be served.

RSVP: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/7rq6y2m/lp/83c34643-6486-4ef7-8876-4febd9cccb81

Compassionate Conversations: A Kids Book About Israel & Palestine with author Reza Aslan
2024-12-10 19:30 - 22:00 | Skirball Cultural Center
Join Reza Aslan and Miriam Udel, authors of A Kids Book About Israel & Palestine and Honey on the Page, in conversation on charting a course toward peace and understanding.
How can children’s books and families’ shared reading experiences foster empathy, resilience, and the skills for peace building even in the midst of violent conflict? Join Reza Aslan and Miriam Udel, authors of A Kids Book About Israel & Palestine and Honey on the Page, in conversation on charting a course toward peace and understanding.
A Kids Book About Israel & Palestine by Reza Aslan
What is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Why is it happening? Is peace possible? When kids ask questions like these, are grownups prepared to answer? This book was created to provide context for this conflict, open the door to conversation, and lay a path for understanding, peace, and compassion for our shared future.
Honey on the Page by Miriam Udel
This exquisite collection offers a feast of beguiling original translations of stories and poems for children. Arranged thematically—from school days to the holidays—the book spans the Yiddish-speaking globe, taking readers from Jewish holidays and history to folktales and fables, from stories of humanistic ethics to multi-generational family sagas.
This program is offered in partnership with the Skirball Cultural Center, UCLA Dialogue Across Difference Initiative, UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute, and The Jewish Studies Program at California State University, Northridge.
Reza Aslan (he/him) is a writer and scholar of religions. He lives in Los Angeles, California, with his wife and four kids, so he knows a thing or two about trying to solve conflicts.
Dr. Miriam Udel is Judith London Evans Director of the Tam Institute for Jewish Studies and associate professor of Yiddish language, literature, and culture at Emory University.
More Info: https://www.skirball.org/programs/compassionate-conversations-teaching-kids-superpower-empathy
RSVP link: http://27926.blackbaudhosting.com/27926/tickets?tab=2&txobjid=9999ac80-7a62-4062-8c03-34e08eb7a0b1&_ga=2.158833784.351601611.1732574141-271404573.1731696423
***If you are a student and are interested in a complimentary ticket and/or transportation to this event, please email mferdman@college.ucla.edu.***

Compassionate Conversation with Dr. Yasmeen Abu Fraiha
2024-11-13 16:00 - 17:30
CLICK TO VIEW THE EVENT FLYER HERE
The UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute and the UCLA Dialogue across Difference Initiative are pleased to announce a new series called “Compassionate Conversations” featuring speakers who share a deep and humane commitment to engaging others with compassion, empathy, and respect.
The series will commence with a talk by Dr. Yasmeen Abu Fraiha on Wednesday November 13, 2024 from 4-5:30 pm. Space is limited. Students, undergraduate and graduate, from all disciplines are encouraged to attend! RSVP HERE
Dr. Yasmeen Abu Fraiha is a medical doctor with a specialty in internal medicine, a humanist and self-described global citizen who upholds compassion for every human being. As a Palestinian Bedouin physician in Israel, she was a first responder treating incoming victims of Hamas’ brutal attacks on October 7th. On that day she lost many colleagues, friends and neighbors, and in the subsequent weeks and months she lost friends in Gaza during Israel’s devastating military campaign. Throughout this traumatic period in her life, she refused to surrender her sorrow or concern for all innocent victims of violence. Dr. Abu Fraiha is a physician, health policy expert, and activist who possesses a boundless capacity for kindness and love.
She is currently completing a clinical fellowship in critical care medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston as well as a fellowship at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard. In 2019 she co-founded Yanabia, an organization that promotes socio-economic development of the Bedouin community in Israel, while focusing on health, education, women’s employment, housing and community empowerment. In 2023, she was named one of Israel’s 50 most influential women by Globes Magazine and serves on the board of the New Israel Fund. Yasmeen holds a B.S. and M.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School.
Please join us to hear her remarkable story as she talks with David Myers, director of the Bedari Kindness Institute and UCLA professor of history.
After the conversation there will be an opportunity to engage in small-group dialogue and processing.

The State of Hate - Part One: Hate and the Brain (Three-Part Virtual Series)
2024-06-10 17:00 - 18:00 | Zoom
The State of Hate is a multi-part online series co-sponsored by the Friends of Semel Institute and the UCLA Initiative to Study Hate. The series brings together UCLA experts to share new ways of understanding and mitigating hate.
The first installment in the series, “The Brain and Hate” will examine what we know about how hate takes rise in the human brain. Professors Adriana Galván and Mario Mendez will join in the conversation to explore the opportunities and challenges of studying the neuroscience of hate. They will also discuss some of the cognitive processes that advance hateful behavior and how we can counter them.
Click HERE to register for the event.

Transforming Self and Society With Compassion
2021-05-04 08:00 - 17:00
Register here.

Looking Ahead: Science, Facts and the Public Debate
2021-01-11 08:00 - 17:00
Looking Ahead: Science, Facts and the Public Debate
Thursday, January 14
6:00 p.m. PST | 9:00 p.m. EST
As a new U.S. presidential administration prepares for the four years ahead, coping with intersecting challenges including a pandemic, persistent inequality, climate change policy and a sea of misinformation, UCLA experts discuss what role institutions of higher learning will play in addressing the crises of our times.
How can universities help champion science and evidence in a skeptical society where fact-based professions like journalism and medicine are under attack? When we are often divided into disconnected and conflicting media bubbles, how can universities help inspire people to embrace reliable facts as a means to heal our economy, our planet and our culture?
UCLA environmental humanities scholar Ursula K. Heise, public health researcher Gilbert Gee, and internet and society expert Safiya U. Noble come together in a discussion moderated by storyteller and curator Chon Noriega.
Opening remarks by UCLA Chancellor Gene Block
To register and for more information, click here.

World Kindness Day Film Screening of The Antidote Documentary
2020-11-10 08:00 - 17:00
World Kindness Day is Friday, November 13. The Bedari Kindness Institute is hosting a virtual film screening in partnership with The Antidote Movie – a documentary that weaves together stories of kindness, decency, and the power of community in America.
To screen the movie, please RSVP here.

Truth and Nonviolence in Post-Truth Times: An International Conference on Mohandas Gandhi
2020-01-30 08:00 - 2020-02-02 17:00
The UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute is a co-sponsor of Truth and Nonviolence in Post-Truth Times: An International Conference on Mohandas Gandhi, Thursday 30 January – Sunday 2 February 2020 at UCLA; more information at https://gandhi2020ucla.weebly.com/
