Rajmohan Gandhi greets Otis Moss (Photo: Karen Elliott Greisdorf)The Voyage of Dialogue and Discovery rolled into Washington, DC, June 7, on the heels of a number of  public events in support of Trustbuildinga recent book release from IofC National Director, Rob Corcoran. The themes of the book and the tour dovetailed well as Rajmohan and Usha Gandhi spoke throughout the week about building trust through honest conversation, personal conviction and trustworthiness.

Urs Ziswiler, Switzerland’s Ambassador to the United States, opened the week’s events by hosting a June 8 benefit at the Swiss Embassy on behalf of the Caux Scholars Program and the Caux Forum for Human Security. In his remarks, Ziswiler, a two-time visitor to Mountain House, shared his experiences: “I believe that the conversations and work that take place in Caux are of great importance in helping to change the world a little bit in these very complex times.”

Swiss Ambassador Urs Ziswiler (Photo: Karen Elliott Greisdorf)

Professor Gandhi provided key remarks about Caux’s role in the world. “Caux is a place for honest conversation, for deep dialogue, a place where we seek inspiration, and sometimes reconciliation takes place. I often say to myself when I am in Caux that this is exactly what my grandfather would have wanted.”

Other speakers included veteran civil rights leader, the Rev. Otis Moss, Jr., Former Assistant Secretary of State, Harold Saunders, Katherine Marshall, a senior fellow at Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, and two Caux Scholar alumni, Ajay Rao ’03 and Taameem Al-Maliki ’09.

The next night, a near-overflow crowd packed the National Press Club's First Amendment lounge to hear Gandhi speak about his experience with freedom of speech and the public debate. The audience listened intently as Gandhi shared stories of how he tried to “defy, outwit and fight” censorship as editor of the weekly “Himmat” magazine during the period of Emergency in India (1975-77). (Read more)  

Historic Rankin Chapel (Photo: Karen Elliott Greisdorf)

Later in the week, the Voyage stopped by historic Rankin Chapel on the campus of Howard University. Professor Gandhi spoke on the theme, “Building Trust across the World’s Divides – Lessons Learned from the Work and Teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Howard Thurman and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”

Gandhi offered a series of pictures from the lives of each of the aforementioned men, many of them personal moments of change and conviction. A story visited later in the day illuminated the moment when Thurman stood at the Khyber Pass in 1936 with a steely resolve to commit his life to ending the color bar. His life’s work would alter the trajectory of the Civil Rights struggle in America. ( Read More) 

Rajmohan Gandhi speaks at Howard University (Photo: Karen Elliott Greisdorf)

Shortly thereafter, Gandhi met with Young Professionals in Foreign Policy at the Aspen Institute in DuPont Circle. The interview style format allowed the professor to speak widely about a number of issues while focusing in on key methods of IofC’s work around the world. Gandhi mentioned the central component of listening: “Listen to the other. Listen to the conscience. Listen to the planet.”

When asked about how one could hope to bring change in difficult or seeming intractable situations, Gandhi offered, “First, start with yourself. Be a trustworthy person. Then develop a quality of winning friendship and trust and find people who are willing to speak the truth to their own side.”

As the week finished, the theme of trustbuilding had been amplified in a number of ways, both in public events and private meetings. Gandhi explored dialogue, trustworthiness, and personal conviction as critical parts of building trust across the world’s divides.

The week marks the beginning of the second leg of the Voyage of Dialogue and Discovery, which will travel through Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil before concluding in Caux, Switzerland in July.