Chapter SevenNeutrality and Advocacy
We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
Elie Wiesel, 1986 Nobel Prize acceptance speech
A mediator shall conduct a mediation in an impartial manner and avoid conduct that gives the appearance of partiality.
American Arbitration Association, American Bar Association, Association for Conflict Resolution, Model Standards of Mediator Conduct
Conflict specialists know there is something amiss in our reliance on neutrality as a fundamental self-defining feature. We are not neutral, at least in any clearly definable way. The concept itself defies easy explanation and also raises major ethical questions (Gibson, Thompson, ...
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