Pluralism Pizza Party

Last week, I co-organised a pizza watch party with my friend and fellow Obama Leader Jackson Rowland to watch and reflect on President Obama’s speech on pluralism during the third Democracy Forum by the Obama Foundation held in Chicago. You can watch the speech and more here, but here are the key takeaways:

“[Pluralism] is the idea that because we live alongside individuals and groups who are different from us, we commit to a system of rules that helps us peacefully resolve our disputes, and not only tolerate each other, but join in collective action.

 Here are a few principles to consider as we move forward: 

1. Building bridges isn’t contrary to equality and social justice. In fact, it’s our best tool for delivering lasting change.
2. Pluralism doesn’t require us to deny our unique identities or experiences. But it does require that we try to understand the experiences of others and look for common ground.
3. Pluralism works better when it’s about action and not just words.
4. We’re not born with the muscles to make pluralism a habit. It takes practice, and we need to rebuild the institutions that give us that practice.”

— President Barack Obama

We had a nice group of six attend the call. Clockwise from top left: Jackson Rowland (New Zealand/Australia), Catherine Sarah Young (Philippines/Australia), Kyaw Thu Htet (Myanmar), Dan Ilic (Australia), Dina Jezdic (New Zealand), Skye Riggs (Australia).

Using a Miro board, we collaborated on the pizza. The pizza toppings reflect what we think pluralism is:

I had the pizza base made in my favourite local cafe and arranged the toppings according to the board above:

This was harder than it looks. And the blue flower around the pizza stumped me for a bit until I realised I had lavender at home. As an artist, I saw this as an edible sculpture, and it was 10/10 delicious (lavender included)!

We’ll likely do this again in the future. Thank you all for coming!