Salzburg Global Fellow and Founder of Restorative Justice on The Rise Molly Leach knows from experience that storytelling has the power to restore human connection

*This op-ed article originally appeared at the Salzburg Global Seminar's Media Academy site and is credited thus.

This op-ed was written by Molly Leach, who attended the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change in July 2024.

The central theme of this year's Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change was exploring the deep human need for belonging and the obstacles we face as artificial intelligence (AI) encroaches into every aspect of our lives. Titled “Belonging in The Age of Machines: Reimagining the Soul of Media”, participants from across the world collaborated for two weeks in Salzburg, fueled by the heart and spirit of the 40,000 Salzburg Global Fellows before us who have aspired to make our world the one we know is possible.

During the second week of our intensive and extremely generative space, faculty member Roman Gerodimos invited us all to participate in the "Living Library", a project that was inspired by his long-time attendance at the Media Academy. He offered a space for people to choose to be either a “book” or a “reader” to share personal stories of social exclusion and disconnection. This project is an example of the many life-changing initiatives that have resulted from the Media Academy and continue to this day.

This experience was profoundly moving for me and everyone involved – “books” and “readers” alike. I heard how meaningful it was for “books” to feel listened to deeply, some for the first time, and for “readers” to feel the transformation in themselves through this common humanity across real and perceived barriers.

I participated as a “book” alongside seventeen other people. My title was “Daughter of A Monster”, as I recounted the details of when my mother became criminally insane and was incarcerated; my written essay elaborates on my experience.

The concept of belonging and its interrelationship with the power of storytelling has been at the heart of my work, much of it inspired by my own lived experiences in the United States as the daughter of what society would term a violent criminal. I have experienced the implications of how that impacts life in very subtle and very overt ways and the role media plays in perpetuating destructive narratives.

I have seen firsthand how our criminal justice system destroys lives, profits off of people’s mistakes, categorizes and discards individuals, takes voices away from the already voiceless, and perpetuates a state of discord and destruction.

At the heart of our humanity resounds the deeply important need of belonging - to be seen, heard, and truly understood. Feeling safe in one’s storytelling is unequivocally one of the most urgent and important aspects of creating spaces of connection. We underestimate the power and impact of micro-spaces that are fugitive, and free, and bridge people back from isolation and exclusion. Throughout the Media Academy, we returned to the quote of Salzburg Global Fellow Margaret Mead, who said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

We asked tough questions and dove deep into the challenges and discomforts of our current media hemisphere. If we think of media as a reflection of our current state of connection, or disconnection, we see some challenges. We must simplify and return to the ground level of our hearts, minds, and being-ness, in order to understand the solutions to the gargantuan problem of AI and the way many technological devices have in fact taken us away from each other and out of presence.

The art of presence requires us to be with one another in deeply meaningful ways, like only humans can do. We have imagination, we have creativity, we have will, and we can manifest these key qualities that are not characteristics that come from machines.

The "Living Library" experience offered a space for human connection that reveals a sense of connection and understanding, and a potential to bear witness to the shame and pain of others and find common seeds of experiences. It may seem like there needs to be a more intellectual approach to the answers that we are seeking around how we push back, how we stand for one another, how we defend humanness, and how we rediscover the deeply connected experiences we have as human beings through the stories of the “other”.

One of the keys to our power in retaining our humanity in these times is to return to simple and profound spaces that are intentional; this can include spaces online, in podcasts, libraries, lounges, or coffee houses where people feel heard. These spaces create an unquestionable feeling that it’s safe to be real, human, and vulnerable.

When we ask the question of how to create meaning and belonging in such challenging times, the answer may simply be that we must prioritize slowing down enough to create intentional spaces that allow time for people to be heard, seen, and valued. More than ever, technology offers us a global space to do that and I’ve seen it change lives. I encourage people to consider the possibilities of technology’s role in uniting us, while acknowledging that it can also potentially divide us further.

I’ve had the honor of hosting spaces online and in person where people can build connections, mobilize, be creative, emote, and be real. What comes out of these spaces is beyond any expectation when they are well held; this is the way towards imagining a world we know in our hearts is possible.

Leaving the intensive space here in Salzburg a different person than when I came, and knowing that many Salzburg Global Fellows have come and gone before me, has incited in me what my colleague and teacher in the field of restorative justice, Fania Davis, calls us to rise up to:

“Today, I believe there is nothing more subversive than helping to midwife a new evolutionary shift of the human species into an era where we will no longer be entranced with socioeconomic formations and ways of being and thinking that produce disconnection, domination, and devastation. Instead, we can be present upon the Earth in ways that bring healing, wholeness, and a sense of the sacred in our connection with one another and with all of creation.”

Molly Leach founded the first known restorative-justice-focused podcast in 2011, Restorative Justice on The Rise, a publicly accessible live forum and itunes/spotify stream, which uniquely records interviews with a live, interactive audience. She also has partnered with media companies such as CNN and supported HBO Documentaries in efforts to reach grassroots organizers and communities working to transform systems and lives. Molly is an essayist, researcher, educator, and visiting lecturer and presenter in the USA and worldwide.