THE HISTORY OF TRACK TWO

2023

In April Track Two convened a gathering at Esalen on the Ukraine War, bringing together participants from both Russia and Ukraine, some working in the war zones. The conference provided a safe place for deep, intimate, at times challenging discussion to take place. Perspectives shifted; insights were gained; and collaborations were initiated.

Track Two recommitted to weekly curation of resources on the Ukraine War, providing varied perspectives and vital news to our network on the war’s effect on both Russia and Ukraine, and the greater geopolitical system. Following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, curation expanded to include coverage of the Israel-Hamas War.

Work continued on the History Project, an effort to chronicle Track Two’s illustrious history from the late 1970’s that traces the enduring nature of our citizen diplomacy with - and despite - the vicissitudinous nature of political relationships between countries and peoples in our program areas. More than forty in-depth interviews were completed, a draft for a book is underway, and videos and podcasts are in the works for 2024. All seek to unlock the mysterious capacity of Track Two’s diplomacy.

One Network, our program to connect participants across our regions of work, spawned several cross-border projects: a prize for Ukrainian and Russian journalists; climate working groups; arts and literary collaborations, and ongoing appreciation for our human potential. These offer new solutions for old and seemingly intractable geopolitics.

Collaborative outcomes emerged and matured following Oceans 22, a project launched in 2022 to unite scientists and negotiators on oceanic marine protections. The crucial goal of this effort is to maintain and strengthen these relationships in a climate that’s seen work to secure oceanic protections thwarted by political resistance. One group has been working with biologists from Russia and China on ocean climate solutions. In December, another group - including a Track Two team member - convened in Turkey to further these discussions and efforts.

2022

A curatorial effort to present resources on February 24th’s Russian invasion of Ukraine launched on February 25th, providing varied perspectives captured on our website daily in the first six months following Russia’s invasion then weekly and delivered via emails and social media to our network. These curations offered vital lenses through which to understand the sociopolitical causes and consequences of the conflict, the history of the region, and the humanity at its core. The weekly effort reinvigorated and reinforced Track Two’s relationships with our Russian and Ukrainian colleagues and friends

Work on global threats continued, focusing in 2022 on the importance of non-state diplomacy to a multitude of cross border circumstances that require collaboration. Track Two instigated a year-long project, Oceans 22, seeking marine protections in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. The project acknowledged the role of our oceans in mitigating climate change. It was conceived in response to a revelation that Russia and China were blocking conservation efforts in the Antarctic’s critical krill habitat. Oceans 22 engaged scientists and negotiators from Russia, China, the US and the EU in virtual and in-person meetings to resolve the issue through cross-border collaboration. The project culminated in a conference at Esalen Institute in October where the root causes of the blockage were examined and unraveled in earnest. This project is ongoing.

The History Project, an archival effort to capture Track Two's history and methodologies in print, media and online, launched. It commenced with a series of interviews with Track Two colleagues and network members whose early involvement with this work was so vital.

2021

In 2021, the coronavirus measures continued to constrain Track Two's work and we pivoted to an online conference on the nuclear arms threat which the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists noted as pulling the world closer than ever to annihilation. In March 2021, "The Third Bomb" conference online gathered leaders and experts in nuclear science and decision-making from Russia, the US, and Europe to shed light on the current state of threats.

In October 2021 a group of 22 met at Esalen to deepen the discussion on nuclear arms and to develop solutions for beginning a pathway to arms reduction. In this conference seven artists lent their perspectives to our work, opening hearts and minds and allowing for deeper discussion of both nuclear and cyber threats and the urgency and creative means of addressing both.

2020

The year was quickly usurped by the rapid spread of coronavirus; We held two zoom-based gatherings in the spring and summer - first with Mac McQuown who discussed Microgrids and his extraordinary installation at Stone Edge Farm in Sonoma County, CA. Later in the summer Masha Vorontsova, PhD, marine biologist shed light on the zoonotic origins of coronavirus and why wildlife trade is so damaging - not only for nature and animals but also for human populations.

We held our first online conference as the Pandemic shut travel routes and offices, hotels and gathering places across the globe. The focus was the Middle East and Iran and how we might find fertile ground for non-state diplomacy in a desperate era geopolitically. A key understanding that nations continue to act against the interests of individuals and therein lies a need for individuals to co-resist and demonstrate that humanity offers hope, love and alternative narratives.

In-person conferences were limited to a small gathering in October 2020 at Esalen of 12 members of the California-based Track Two network. We reinforced the focus on global threats and confirmed an emphasis on nuclear arms and the current state of arms "modernization" as our subject matter for 2021.

2019

In 2019 Track Two broke with its issue-based tradition and invited representatives of our One Network (Russia, Middle East and North Pacific Rim) to explore the connections between technology and consciousness. We looked at how these two topics interact and how one might inform the other. How do augmented reality, artificial intelligence and machine learning, block chain and other emerging technologies impact consciousness, being and the potential of the mind and body to excel and push boundaries?

In September our Russian American Program hosted its second conference in St. Petersburg Russia in the Whom Do We Trust series. Forty-four young Americans and Russians joined our 20 elders for three days of intimate dialog on four global threats: climate change, mass migration, cyber systems and nuclear expansion.

2018

In December of 2018, Track Two participants from all three of our programs reconvened for a second One Network Conference to discuss Track Two’s future. Presentations were invited to “consider” this future. Some provided important backdrops (rate of environmental degradation, state of cyber-surveillance, state of the media, etc.). Strategies and plans were discussed.

The Whom Do We Trust 2018 Conference held in St. Petersburg, Russia, brought together Russian and American college-aged students to discuss their news and information sources, their worries and their understanding of an increasingly complex global arena. The three days of discussions and activities were designed to encourage the open exchange of ideas, to foster new friendships and to inform the Track Two network about how a younger generation is viewing international relations and forming perceptions via news media. The conference was held in collaboration with Esalen Institute’s Center for Theory and Research, The Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University, the Center for International Education and Exchange (CIEE), and Track Two: An Institute for Citizen Diplomacy. More information can be found here.

In June of 2018, participants from the North Pacific Rim Project (NPRP) joined Track Two staff and several Board Members in Northern California. The purpose of the meeting was twofold: first, to widen the circle and introduce those who have not met before; second, to launch planning for a meeting at Esalen in 2019 that will further CTR/Track Two’s citizen diplomacy efforts in China and the North Pacific Rim. Topics of discussion included the impact of Big Data and AI on citizen to citizen communication, the future of media and entertainment, the use and impact of psychedelics in Silicon Valley, Chinese interest in the human potential movement, the current relationship between the United States and East Asia, and global approaches to and impact of modernization.

In April of 2018, the Track Two One Network conference brought together representatives of each of the three Track Two Programs - practitioners and activists from the political realms encompassing the Middle East, Russia and the North Pacific Rim - for a five-day immersive conference at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. The purpose of the conference was for each program to share its wisdom, lessons learned, inspiration, challenges and new thinking in order to cross fertilize, and bring great ideas and new perspectives to entrenched problems that each program might be addressing.

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2017

The Track Two IAN program also held a conference at Esalen in 2017. This was also a planning conference. We received updates from the many projects our network is engaged with – from Huda Abuarquob’s Women Wage Peace and an announcement of her Laudato Si award from the Vatican – to Souli Khatib whose Combatants for Peace is again nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Stories of reconciliation, new friendships and extraordinary giving were abundant and provided much inspiration. The group has agreed to hold a large conference in Northern Africa in 2019 to convene practitioners of the Human Potential and peacebuilding practices to work together, learn from one another and put firmly in place Track Two’s approach to citizen diplomacy in this ever more fractured world.

In 2017 the Russian-American Program held a small conference in Saint Petersburg, Russia to plan for a larger conference to be held in 2018. Fourteen members of our Russia group spent five days calling on Universities, meeting young high school students, visiting cultural venues and developing a plan and topic for the 2018 conference. The 2018 conference, to be titled “Next Generations: A discussion of Russian-American Relations,” will bring together Russian and American students from both high schools and universities to delve into the question, “Whom do we trust?” We held a short, moderated discussion amongst five high school students – four American and one Russian. One interesting observation when asked where they get their news: “Russian young people, Uliyana said, trust the voices on the Internet because they “are dealing with our problems every day.” Despite their different nationalities, the young Americans felt much the same. Emma gets her news from YouTube, Instagram and news apps on her phone. Another American, Katia, gets her news from Facebook, while Ty will get his news from many online places but he does check the sources. Gabby acknowledged that she gets her news by watching social satire.

On April 9 – 14, 2017, Esalen Institute and TRACK TWO: An Institute for Citizen Diplomacy joined colleagues from Russia and the US for a planning conference in New York to prepare for a Russian American Project conference to be held in St. Petersburg in September 2017. In consideration of the increasingly worsening relations between the United States and Russia and mindful of the undercurrents in the government circles of both nations, a renewed need for citizen diplomacy has emerged. Three distinct Projects emerged from this planning session: 1) a Yeltsin visit archive transfer; 2) a possible “Spacebridge”-style media production; and 3) a conference in St. Petersburg in mid-September to focus on youth and their perceptions regarding Russia – US relations.

2016

In early November of 2016, board member Jay Ogilvy and advisor Xiao Qiang represented Track Two in Hong Kong. The purpose of the visit was threefold: to advance relationships formed at previous conferences held at Esalen; to identify potential new participants in order to expand the North Pacific Rim network; and to gain greater understanding of key issues in the rapidly changing region. They met with Bao Pu, publisher and founder, and Renee Chiang, publisher and English editor, of New Century Press, a publishing house known for its memoirs, and historical and political titles. Ogilvy and Qiang also met with Isaac Mao, a Chinese venture capitalist, software architect, and social media researcher. They met with Chen Ping, a media mogul in Hong Kong, whose book will bear a Foreword by Jay Ogilvy. Ogilvy and Qiang spent their last evening with Bao Pu, Chiang, and Mao, several journalists, and the local chair of Amnesty International. During their time in Hong Kong, they were able to witness the increasingly heavy hand of Beijing being protested by demonstrations in the streets.

The International Abrahamic Network (IAN) core group met at Esalen Institute to strengthen established relationships and to introduce influential organizations and individuals into our network. The conference theme was How Can Citizen Diplomacy Fill the Gaps During a Time of Failed Leadership. Participants included experts from Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Israel and the United States who presented their recent citizen diplomacy efforts that included film, broadcast, social media and people to people efforts in the Abrahamic community world-wide.
Because TRACK TWO/Esalen were instrumental in bringing Boris Yeltsin to the United States for the first time, we plan to honor the friendship between our two countries when Yeltsin was president. Meetings are planned in Russia in the fall of 2016 at the Yeltsin Center in Moscow and the Yeltsin Museum/Library in Ekaterinburg. This is the first Russian presidential library in Russia’s history. These gatherings will bring the story of the Russia-USA relationship during that time to a new generation as a model of the friendship that is possible when our two nations cooperate.Accomplishments for this project as well as those of other TRACKTWO/Esalen collaborations can be viewed on this website and on the website for Esalen - Center for Theory and Research.

2015

Participants in our Russian-American Project travelled to Moscow to better understand the worsening relations between Russia and the West. We were accompanied by documentary filmmakers who interviewed political activists, journalists, psychologists and climate change experts. The footage from these interviews will be linked to our website in 2016. This was the second trip into Russia following our 2014 COLD WAR II conference in Paris.

Held a conference at Esalen with Russian and American colleagues and made plans for a 2016 diplomacy trip to the Yeltsin Center in Moscow and the newly opened Yeltsin Museum in Yekaterinburg. (Esalen and its Soviet-American Exchange Program were the sponsors of Yeltsin’s first trip to America). Growing concern about the deterioration of Russian-American relations has prompted calls from TRACK TWO friends Governor Jerry Brown of California and Pentagon Papers activist Daniel Ellsberg for programs to address the issue in the near future.

The International Abrahamic Network’s (IAN) Middle East group met at Esalen bringing together new colleagues from Israel and Palestine along with our team of activists, academics, filmmakers and journalists. 2015 was a pivotal year for IAN – strengthening relationships and working on common projects fostering nonviolent solutions. During the conference, the Combatants for Peace Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Celebration was live streamed at Esalen. Later in the year we sponsored a public presentation for Combatants for Peace www.cfp.org, an organization closely aligned with TRACK TWO and Esalen.

IAN members Kim Spencer, founder of Link TV, and Evelyn Messinger, founder of This Planet are creating a documentary that explores IAN activities in Israel and Palestine from footage they have taken during our 2014 trip to Jerusalem, interviews with members of our core team at subsequent conferences at Esalen and other gatherings in the United States.

In November, IAN colleagues played leadership roles in a groundbreaking workshop with the Alliance for Middle East Peace, in Bethlehem. This event was held during a critical time in stalled peace negotiations.

2014

Traveling to Jerusalem in April, the core team of the International Abrahamic Network (IAN) was fortunate to be in the area during a time of relative quiet, as just weeks later war broke out between Hamas and Israel. During our visit, we were invited to Arab and Israeli homes and had access to West Bank communities that can no longer be accessed. We returned to the United States with new appreciation for the ongoing struggle of the Abrahamic family in the Middle East and with new leads to solving some of its conflicts.

IAN gathered its advisory team for a public presentation in Mill Valley, California about our recent trip to Israel and Palestine that included a fascinating summary discussion of the J Street meeting held in San Francisco for the first time – www.jstreet.org. Advisor Huda Abu Arqoub was a keynote speaker at that event and a lively discussant along with our Abrahamic team at the Mill Valley meeting.

Launched the first of several conferences to discuss the worsening diplomatic relations between Russia and the West. The first meeting in this series, titled COLD WAR II: How Intelligence and Media Shape Public Perceptions, was held in Paris in September. More than a few commentators now warn that a new Cold War has begun. With this in mind we brought together retired intelligence professionals, senior diplomats, and seasoned writers from both countries to discuss the Cold War and the future of Russian-American relations in view of current events in Ukraine.

2013

International Abrahamic Network (IAN) hosted a conference at Esalen titled Social Media and The Peace of Jerusalem (TPJ). TPJ is a three-year initiative that was launched at the Esalen meeting and continued in Jerusalem in 2014. This initiative focuses on the fact that social media has the power to shape feelings in ways that can transform entire societies. Focusing on the psychological wounds that both Jews and Palestinians have endured, including those caused by the Jewish Holocaust and Palestinian memories of their catastrophic displacement in 1948. We looked at the religious values in Judaism and Islam that can lead peoples toward peace and encourage reconciliation through each side’s acknowledgment of the hurts it has inflicted on the other. Building on the work of our Esalen/TRACK TWO Abrahamic Network, we studied film and social media and their power to send messages that acknowledge the humanity and value of each people.

The American team, including the winners of the Esalen Pacifica Art Prize competition from the California College of the Arts, traveled to the Far Eastern port of Vladivostok to join their Russian colleagues for the final journey and month-long exhibition of the art produced at Esalen. Hosted by the Far Eastern Academy of the Arts and the ARKA gallery, the gala opening of the exhibition was covered by national media and included a letter of congratulations from the American Ambassador in Moscow.

The Chinese-American Potential conference focused on “What is it to be Chinese in the 21st Century?” The attendees included two former presidents of the Asia Society as well as bloggers, journalists, editors, social commentators, business executives and CEOs, environmental experts, and specialists in the arts and humanities.

2012

The International Abrahamic Network (IAN), formerly the Abrahamic Family Reunion, whose aim is to bring peace and reconciliation to countries in political, cultural and religious turmoil, moved forward with a Social Media project that culminated in Movie Prophets – An International Abrahamic Network Film Festival at Esalen. The Festival was led by Esalen Board of Trustee member Anisa Mehdi and founder of Digital Domain Inc., Scott Ross. IAN also hosted the Abrahamic Reunion Conference at Esalen that focused on international outreach to promote Muslim-Christian-Jewish reconciliation, drawing on the shared values of peace and justice around a framework of political psychology.

The Esalen Pacifica Prize, a project of the Esalen/TRACK TWO Russian Partnership Project was conceived to create new and enduring connections between the artistic and larger communities of Vladivostok, Russia’s largest Pacific Ocean port and the California coastal communities of San Francisco and Big Sur. In cooperation with the California College of the Arts, based in San Francisco and The Far Eastern Academy of the Arts in Vladivostok, four young, talented painters were selected as prizewinners. They spent four weeks in residency at Esalen using the power of art to connect and inspire new thinking about areas of common interest with subjects ranging from Russia’s evolving role in Asia’s economy to the impact of climate change on the Pacific Ocean. The Prize also included two exhibitions of the works produced at Esalen. The San Francisco exhibition was held in February 2013 and the Vladivostok exhibition in June 2013.

Three objectives were proposed for the fifth Potential China gathering at Esalen: first, to deepen the fellowship among those returning to Esalen from earlier meetings; second, to welcome new members to this burgeoning fellowship, particularly Americans. As the prestige of our Chinese participants ascends in levels of influence and accomplishment we were able to match the level of our increasingly impressive Chinese guests, and third, we engaged in creative planning, not only for our next meeting, but for the longer-term direction of the Program.

2011

Sent final set of books to the Esalen/TRACK TWO sponsored Loutchkov Library of Psychological Literature at Moscow State University. We continue to support the library financially and in an advisory capacity. Students and faculty use the well-equipped library to locate psychological data now available through the Internet. Faculty members and graduate students are available for advice and guidance in the library during opening hours. Seminars and lectures sponsored by the library are held on a regular basis.

Held the annual Abrahamic conference that had its roots going back to the 2004 Fundamentalist gathering at Esalen, the group focused on how social media influences outcomes and world opinion of Abrahamic issues. Discussions were also held in response to prevailing Islamophobia, as well as discussions concerning historical approaches to history, both healing and drawing on it. Because of the extraordinary network of individuals from the Abrahamic world that we continue to cultivate, a decision was made to change the project name to the Esalen/TRACK TWO International Abrahamic Network (IAN). The Abrahamic Family Reunion continues as a project of IAN.

Potential China: Designing China’s Future was the title of the September 2011 conference held at Esalen. Using the topics of design and information technology as spring boards, artists, designers, writers, journalists and scientists from China and the United States explored the cultural, political and economic forces shaping today’s Chinese society and the ways these forces might be harnessed to address the needs of the global community.

Meetings with the core group of the Esalen Russian-American Partnership project met in New York to set the stage for the foundation of the Esalen Pacifica Prize arts project, and in diplomacy, with the first meetings that led to the COLD WAR II – How Intelligence and Media Shape Public Perceptions conference in Paris in 2012. Jack Matlock, Tom Graham, Mark Garber, Nina Bouis and Nic Iljine, along with Dulce and Michael Murphy were key participants in these meetings.

2010

With support from you and Esalen’s Center for Theory and Research (CTR), we completed another year of the Abrahamic Family ReunionProject (AFR), which aims to bring peace and reconciliation to countries in political, cultural and religious turmoil. This project, now five years old, works to heal conflicts among the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious communities. The future of this work will include more international outreach, especially in the Middle East.

This year’s Potential China conference concentrated on “China’s GreenFuture” by joining young Chinese and American experts in sustainabilityand relate d fields to focus on the rise of the environmental movement inChina. Our guests included leading experts in China’s environmental movement; influential Chinese figures in business, academia and media; U.S. based energy and environmental scientists; and China watchersconcerned with China’s place in the global community

Our long-standing Russian-American work, now framed as the Russian-American Partnership Project (ERAPP), was launched at Esalen this past October with a gathering of outstanding Russians and Americans that included Vladimir Pozner and former American Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Jack Matlock. The rationale for this initiative is based on two facts: first, that relations between Russia and America have deteriorated markedly in recent years; and second, that this deterioration has happened, paradoxically, at a time of unprecedented opportunity for Russian-American collaborations. While we move forward with this new initiative, we recognize that when it comes to our main mission, the cementing of Russian-American relations, we must acknowledge that mission is not fully accomplished. For the first time, we have financial support from our Russian colleagues.

2009

Hosted the third annual conference of The Abrahamic Family Reunion at Esalen. TRACK TWO and CTR with the support of The Fetzer Foundation, coalesced an inter-faith leadership team of clergy and practitioners in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. We shared theories of change, “best practices”, educational materials and models for inter-group work. The powerful group interactions with the Abrahamic faiths helped us with commitments and projects for our ongoing work together.

Met with leading Russian political scientists, journalists, retired foreign-service officers, business executives, writers and filmmakers during our October trip to Russia. Our colleagues, some of almost thirty years, are ready and willing to engage in a new endeavor we are now calling the Esalen Russian-American Partnership Project (ERAPP.) It will build upon the past successes of similar projects sponsored by Esalen and TRACK TWO and will not advance any particular ideology or cause to the detriment of its primary purpose to strengthen the relationship between Russia and America.

Continued the development of TRACK TWO’s Library of Psychological Literature at Moscow State University, which is used on a daily basis by psychology students and faculty members for individual research as well as seminars and lectures. Because psychological studies were halted during most of the Soviet years, access to western materials is vital to the successful training of future psychologists in Russia. We have donated thousands of books, journals and educational CDs that give the library its foundation. We continue to help upgrade their technology so it can access the vast psychological information available on the web.

2008

Traveled to Pondicherry, Auroville and New Delhi, India where Michael Murphy, co-founder of Esalen Institute and Chairman of the Board Emeritus, moderated a conference on Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy and participated in meetings as a member of the Advisory Council of Auroville to further the work of this unique international community. The connections made during this trip to India further the work of our Outreach programs in Citizen Diplomacy.

Began the second phase of the Abrahamic Family Reunion Project (AFR), funded by the Fetzer Foundation and Esalen Institutes Center for Theory and Research (CTR) aims to bring peace and reconciliation to countries in political, cultural and religious turmoil. Leading members of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities met at Esalen to discuss strategic planning for future work. This United States based project works to heal the conflicts of these three great religious communities and their historic relationship.

Continued to support and develop TRACK TWO’s Library of Psychological Literature at Moscow State University by donating books, journals and educational CDs requested by the staff. We also helped them upgrade their computer technology so they can access the vast psychological information available on the web. Our collaboration helps to bring the most up-to-date research available to the library that is vital to the successful training of future psychologists in Russia. Professors from Stanford, Yale and other leading universities continue to visit and lecture there and donate their works.

TRACK TWO became the non-profit sponsor of a cutting-edge documentary film event in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. More than 40 filmmakers and industry professionals from the US, Lebanon, Kuwait, the UAE and Iran, gathered to explore the role of the documentary in cultural diplomacy. “Documentary Voices: Pulling Focus” garnered media attention and support from the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, as well as from the Dubai International Film Festival.

Participated in the Esalen CTR conference on Global Potentials. The conference held at Esalen focused on the BRIC nations – Brazil, Russia, India and China. Participants from each of these countries were represented, as well as guests from Turkey and South Africa.

Worked closely with a new CTR/TRACK TWO project called Potential China. The first meeting was a conference at Esalen Institute that included Chinese journalists who were visiting scholars at the Department of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. Director Xiao Qiang, is a faculty member of the Department of Journalism.

2007

Co-sponsored the first Abrahamic Family reunion Task Force meeting at Esalen, where strategic planning for future work was discussed with leading members of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities. This was the beginning of a project that aims to bring peace and reconciliation to countries in political, cultural and religious turmoil. The first phase of this work will be focused primarily in the United States.

Traveled to India to explore possible working relationships and projects with the Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India and the international city of Auroville. This was the first visit for Dulce Murphy and Michael Murphy’s return visit after fifty years. He gave lectures, worked with members of the organizing committee in Auroville, and collaborated with colleagues on the valuable archives at the Ashram.

Began work on the ongoing project entitled Toward the Abrahamic Family Reunion funded by the Fetzer Foundation and directed by TRACK TWO’s chairman of the board Joseph Montville. This project fosters reconciliation between Christians, Jews and Muslims through a Five-Cities program in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, New York and Boston.

2006

Co-sponsored the Judaism Fundamentalist Conference in September at Esalen Institute, bringing Jewish and other religious scholars and activists together from Israel, the United States and Europe to discuss the motives and historical experiences that have generated aggressive and violent behaviors between various religious and ethnic groups.

Co-sponsored a reunion at Esalen to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of Esalen Institute’s Soviet-American Exchange Program, now TRACK TWO. Citizen Diplomats from America and Russia gathered to reflect on our shared history and on how the lessons we learned during the 1980s and 1990s might be applied to major conflicts today. See summary and list of the participants who were involved in the development of Citizen Diplomacy.

Chronicled and published “25 Principles of Citizen Diplomacy” during the 25th reunion at Esalen. These principles were distilled from our work with Russia and the Soviet Union and can be applied to our complex relationships with Islam, with Iran, and with China over the longer term. (www.trackii.com.)

Co-sponsored a Christian Fundamentalism Conference at Esalen Institute in April that brought together scholars, activists, psychologists, ministers and theologians to discuss the religious and political roots of intolerance evidenced by certain forms of Christianity.

With Esalen’s Center for Theory and Research (CTR) we held the first meeting of our Islamic Outreach program in the home of David Harris in Mill Valley, California, gathering together Muslim and non-Muslim Americans from the San Francisco Bay Area. The gathering included a black American Imam, an Afghan, a Tajik Ph.D. candidate from UC Berkeley, an Iraqi-American journalist, several TRACK TWO board members including chairman of the board Joseph Montville, and other prominent citizen diplomats. The discussion revolved around the need for educating Americans about Islam and led to proposals for an outreach campaign in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and New York City.

Launched a research and development project as part of TRACK TWO’s out-reach to other countries and cultures on the Muslim Diaspora within Russia and Central Asia to explore the possibilities of Russian, American and Islamic cooperation in Russia and Central Asia to address Muslim conflicts with the West.

2005

Co-sponsored in September a conference on Islamic religious fundamentalism at Esalen Institute. We brought together scholars, activists, and religious leaders to discuss Islamic fundamentalism in an effort to promote a greater understanding of and to consider responses to the dangerous rise of religious nationalism in the contemporary world. Members of the Islamic community included people from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Egypt, as well as scholars in various relevant fields and the Pulitzer Prize winning writer Lawrence Wright.

Traveled as a TRACK TWO delegation to Russia with board member Jay Ogilvy, advisor Michael Murphy, and director Dulce Murphy. They met with members of our Russian board of directors, furthered our work with the Loutchkov Library of Psychological Literature at Moscow State University, and interviewed over forty people on the future of Russia and China.

2004

Co-sponsored with CTR the first of five conferences addressing religious fundamentalism bringing together Hindu scholars and activists from Europe, America and India to explore how to respond constructively and creatively to an increasing barrage of hate campaigns, ban movements, and political threats directed against scholars of Hinduism.

2003

Held a meeting with our Board of Directors in Moscow at the Literary Gazette Headquarters, September 23-24, 2003. The purpose of the meeting was to assess the state of the US/Russian bilateral relationship. Those in attendance included Vladimir Pozner, Alexander Tsipko, Davlat Khudonazarov, Sergei Kapitsa, Abel Aganbegyan, Tatiana Kameneva, Valentin Kamenev and Viktor Erofeyev from Russia and Dulce Murphy, Michael Murphy, Joseph Montville and Stephan Schwartz from the United States. We explored the importance of setting a constructive policy toward Muslim minorities in Russia and the United States and we searched for ways to address the down turn in Russian-American relations.

Raised funds to purchase new books and equipment for the Luchkov Library of Psychological Literature at Moscow State University. This made it possible to expand the inventory of books, journals and support technology vital to the library’s expansion. This is Russia’s largest English language psychology library and it is a valuable asset to the university. The TRAC board unanimously appointed Margarita Luchkova, as the director of the Library.

Sponsored the third tour of the “Ballet Beyond Borders” project that includes leading Russian dancers and members of The San Francisco Ballet, who performed in Santa Fe, New Mexico to sold-out audiences. Two of the pieces were performed and choreographed by principal dancer Yuri Possokhov, formerly of the Bolshoi ballet in Moscow and the San Francisco Ballet.

2002

Sponsored its annual conference at Esalen in early October, soon after the September 11th attacks, with a stimulating group of Russians, Americans and Central Asians. The impromptu focus of the conference was “The World as We Know it Has Changed.” The participants agreed to promote solidarity between Russia and America, address Muslim conflicts with the West, and explore possibilities for long-term Russian-American ventures.

Participated in the first phase of an exchange of computer technologists and archivists from Russia, at the University of Texas in Austin, and at the headquarters of Abamedia, in Fort Worth, Texas, the home of the Russian Archives Online (RAO).

2001

Sponsored a conference at Esalen that was open to interested people outside our project who wanted to meet our Russian and American delegates. These newcomers were encouraged to participate in open discussions, to bring fresh life and new ideas to the table. Current Russian-American issues were discussed, as well as ethnic conflict throughout the world. We continued our pledge to work together to eliminate terrorism, and address Muslim conflicts with the West.

2000

Celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Esalen Soviet-American Exchange Program (Track Two)
Dedicated the Viatcheslav Loutchkov Library of Psychological Literature on September 19, 2000 at Moscow State University. The American Ambassador James Collins, the President of Moscow State University, and other prominent Russian academicians spoke at the event.

Organized a lecture by Track Two board member Mac McQuown at the Academy of the National Economy in Moscow to an important group of Russian Bankers and Investment Specialists.

Organized lectures led by psychologist and author Gordon Wheeler and Esalen Institute founder and chairman, Michael Murphy to students and faculty at the Moscow State University Psychology Department.

1999

Developed a project with Abamedia on its Historical Reflections media project, which includes film interviews with major contributors to Russian and Russian-American oral histories and archival research that will eventually become part of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Co-sponsored the third annual Track Two Benefit Conference with the Global Business Network (GBN), a worldwide organization that specializes in futures research and scenario planning. Our program was titled “Futures For Russia.” Representatives from Ford Motor Company, Cargill, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Saudi Aramco, Fannie Mae, and Texaco attended the meeting. Economist Abel Aganbegyan, technology entrepreneur Igor Kulgan, Russian writer and journalist Viktor Erofeyev and sociologist Manuel Castells presented up-to-the minute reports on the situation in Russia.

Co-sponsored the Ballet Beyond Borders project with the Russian Cultural Fund in Moscow. Leading Russian and American dancers of the San Francisco Ballet toured the former Soviet Union, performing in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Donetsk, Ufa, Kiev, L’viv, Alma Ata, Tallin and Vilnius

1998

Sponsored a summer salon in Moscow at the Kapitsa Dacha (country house) that continued work on the Historical Reflections Project and the Memorial Library of Psychological Literature.

Held meetings, during the summer, at the Institute of Polio-Myelitis in Moscow to help further our work to improve vaccine production and distribution in Russia. Prior to those meetings we hosted Professor Sergei Drozdov, the Director of the Moscow Institute in Washington DC, and had meetings sponsored by the Center for Disease Control and the Sabin Institute at Sabin’s headquarters at Georgetown University.

Began collaboration with the Institute of Psychology and Psychotherapy to bring a psychologist to Berkeley, California to join the staff at Berkeley Mental Health (BMH) for a program set up especially for the exchange of information about the delivery of public mental health services in the United States. The psychologist Alexander Zinchenko spent almost a year doing clinical training there in order to incorporate his knowledge into a similar program for the development of public mental health services in Russia.

Sponsored the second annual Track Two Benefit Conference. The theme was “Russia in Crisis,” held in Pebble Beach, California. The conference re-emphasized and strengthened our sense of joint commitment. Well known economist, Abel Aganbegyan, and political scientist Alexander Tsipko gave us up-to date information on the financial collapse in Russia that occurred just days after our return from Moscow.

Began discussions with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University to archive our years of work with the former Republics of the USSR.

1997

Began the Historical Reflections Project. Filmed interviews with Russian and Americans in Russia and the United States who have participated in important ways in the transition from the end of the Cold War to the beginnings of democratic governance and a free market economy.

Inaugurated the First Benefit Conference week entitled Russian-American Dialogues at Esalen Institute. A highlight was the lecture by Russian scholar Valentin Berezhkov who talked about his personal experiences during World War II. He was Stalin’s interpreter and was present at many of the major meetings of world leaders, including the one in Tehran, with Stalin, Hitler, Roosevelt and Churchill.

Published the first in a series of monographs entitled Future Scenarios On Russian-American Relations. These scenarios highlight the risks and opportunities inherent in possible post Cold War outcomes for Russia and the United States.

1996

Sponsored fourteen highly ranked young tennis players from Northern California to the Russian Far East to compete with their counterparts in Khabarovsk and Vladivostok.

Conducted a leadership conference at Esalen, Big Sur, California, that developed alternative scenarios for the future of Russian-American relations.

Initiated a program with Lindisfarne Press to publish English language editions of major Russian philosophers, including Solovyov, Berdyaev and Bulgakov. Nine volumes in this series were eventually published with the help of a generous grant from Laurance Rockefeller.

Participated in the Forbes Management Forum of Management and Policy in San Diego, California. Vladimir Pozner, Mark Garber, Jay Ogilvy and Dulce Murphy participated in a panel discussion with several hundred business leaders about Russian-American relations and “Russia: America’s Blind Spot,” the title of Pozner’s speech.

Established the Library of Psychological Literature at Moscow State University and began collecting psychology books and journals from American psychologists to form the basis of this much needed educational partnership in psychology.

1995

Continued to work with Chernobyl Children's Project. With assistance from Track Two, children from the areas affected by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and American peers worked together to develop new skills, confidence, and lasting personal relationships.

Sponsored twelve Russian teenage tennis players from Russia’s Far East for tournaments with counterparts from the United States Tennis Association NorCal and the National Junior Tennis League.

1994

Sponsored an ethnic conflict resolution conference in Washington, DC. Civil liberties and civil rights in a democratic society were addressed.

1993

Hosted a major conference at Stanford University, entitled “Toward the Further Reaches of Sport Psychology,” where prominent coaches, athletes, and sport psychologists from Russia and the United States discussed current trends in theoretical and applied sport psychology. Notable US participants included Stanford and NFL coach Bill Walsh and NFL and USC coach Pete Carroll.

1992

Organized a conference in Moscow to address the resurgence and persistence of neo-Bolshevism in Russian society. Russian and American participants confronted the Bolshevist mentality and discussed ways to alter it to embrace democratic pluralism rather than totalitarianism. This conference was the first meeting held at the new Gorbachev Center in Moscow, moderated by Joseph Montville and attended by Mikhail Gorbachev.

Played an instrumental role in a conference held at the Vatican in Rome, to raise awareness of the emotional and physical needs of people with disabilities.

1991

Convened a conference on coaching education at the University of Pacific in Stockton, California that included well-known Soviet and American coaches and sport psychologists. The competitive excellence of Soviet athletes during this time boasted 28 coaching educational institutions in the USSR under the sponsorship of the Soviet Sport Committee (Goskomsport). It was from this elite coaching institute that the Soviet participants for this project were selected.

1990

Conducted a Coaching Education Symposium at the University of Pacific with highly respected coaches from the Moscow Institute for Sport and Physical Culture, where all Soviet national team coaches of the time were educated. It was from this elite coaching education institute that the Soviet participants for this project were selected.

Hosted Ivan T. Frolov, then Editor and Chief of Pravda and a Secretary of the communist Party Central Committee, for his first visit to San Francisco. Dr. Frolov was the leading Soviet philosopher of medical ethics and a close personal advisor to Gorbachev. His delegations met with leading American philosophers, sociologists, journalists, educators and political figures for discussion on perestroika, philosophy and social transformation.

Awarded the Furth Ruble Prizes, an international competition for the best proposals offering a practical solution to the question of ruble convertibility in international trade. Prize recipients were chosen by a panel of Soviet and American scholars that included Abel Aganbegyan, Joseph Brada, Ed Hewett, and Nobel Laureate Wassily Leontief.
Sponsored the first Russian-American conference on psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), an interdisciplinary field concerned with the relationship between psychological processes and the functioning of the immune system. This conference led to productive Russian-American collaborative research in the field and to a follow-up conference, held in 1991 at Leningrad's Institute for Experimental Medicine. This collaborative work that led to the signing of a long-term agreement to work with the World Health Organization in health related issues.

Developed a number of programs through our relationships with the USSR Ministry of Health and the USSR National Research Center for Preventive Medicine. Our concerns included disease prevention and health promotion in the workplace.

Signed an agreement with the World Health Organization (WHO) Europe that called for Esalen to facilitate greater Soviet participation in WHO conferences and initiatives.

Welcomed a Soviet citizen as a member of the Exchange Program staff. Psychologist Viatcheslav (Slava) Loutchkov worked in the United States and studied the interplay of psychological, social, economic, and ideological factors in perestroika. Among the many projects developed during his five-year stay: he analyzed the means of applying perestroika to the science of psychology, worked on an English-Russian, Russian-English dictionary of psychological terms and seeded the idea for an English language library of psychological literature at Moscow State that exists to this day.

Hosted an Ethnic Conflict Resolution in the Soviet Union: The Heritage of Stalinism conference at Esalen Institute that included Soviet and American experts and historians dialoging about the Stalin era and its ramifications to world history. Originally conceived as a comparative look at the tyranny of Stalin and Hitler and its impact on the politics and destiny of each society, the symposium was revised to become a collaboration among American and Soviet scholars, officials, and writers on the psychological roots of ethnic conflict and new discoveries on ways to heal the wounds of such conflict.

1989

Facilitated the Bilson-Willens Initiative. Two businessmen, Harold Willens and Wes Bilson, wrote a letter offering pro bono consultation to some Soviet enterprises interested in putting quality consumer goods in the Soviet stores. Their letter was printed in the weekly periodical Argumenty i Fakty, circulation 20 million, and drew over 4,000 replies from across the Soviet Union.

Organized a delegation of Americans to participate in the inaugural conference of the USSR Association of Peace Through Culture, formed in honor of Nicholas Konstantin Roerich, 1874-1947, one of the most highly revered Russian artists in the Soviet Union.

Launched the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) project committed to bringing together Soviet and American specialists to share experiences and develop healing processes. Esalen collaborated with Earthstewards Network and numerous Vietnam veterans’ organizations and treatment centers to host the first group of Soviet veterans of Afghanistan to visit the United States.

Coordinated, in conjunction with the United States-based International Center for Economic Growth and Moscow State University, a conference entitled “Entrepreneurship in the World Economy.” The conference drew participants from around the world, including Hernando de Soto, Peruvian economist and author of The Other Path, Leopoldo Solis, senior advisor to the president of Mexico, Mussamel Huq, founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, Gifford Pinchot, author of Intrapreneuring, and Pavel Bunich, a principal economic advisor to Gorbachev.

Hosted Boris Yeltsin on his first trip to the United States partnering with the Foundation for Social Innovations, USA and USSR. The Esalen Soviet Program arranged meetings for Mr. Yeltsin with President George H. W. Bush, Vice President Quayle, National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, former President Ronald Reagan, and many other leaders in business and government. The nine-day trip covered eleven cities and gave Mr. Yeltsin his first realistic look at our country and our government.

Signed an agreement with the USSR Academy of Sciences Economics Department, headed by Academician Abel Aganbegyan to promote entrepreneurs in the USSR. A first training for the Academy was conducted by Marshall Fitzgerald, founder of Stanford Telecommunications, and Bob Medearis, founder ofg Silicon Valley Bank,and was held in Suzdal, outside Moscow.

Signed an agreement with the Estonian Institute of Management Studies and the Estonian Business School to train managers from the Baltic republics. Esalen has been conducting seminars in Estonia since 1987.

Celebrated, with Soviet counterparts including the USSR Union of Writers, the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Grapes of Wrath. Events were held in Steinbeck’s home town of Salinas, California and in Moscow, with leading Steinbeck scholars at Moscow State University, a festival of Steinbeck films, an exhibit of original Steinbeck memorabilia and photographs by Horace Bristol, as well as lectures on Steinbeck’s life and works were held at the Writers Union in Moscow and attended by large audiences. The five Soviet specialists in American literature visited the United States to participate in the 10th Anniversary of the Steinbeck Festival in Salinas. Steinbeck visited the USSR during the height of the Cold War and was a favorite writer among Soviet Citizens.

Hosted a conference on Stalin and Glasnost at Esalen Institute in Big Sur. A number of Soivet specialists and American Sovietologists, historians and political psychologists participated in this historic meeting.

Began the Esalen Dialogue Project that continued for several years. The participants met at regular intervals to discuss the major changes occurring in both nations, not only in terms of glasnost and perestroika in the Soviet Union, but also in terms of how both nations interact in the emerging information age and global economy.

Evolved the Ethnic Conflict Resolution Project from the Stalin and Glasnost conference at Esalen. The project aimed to promote the political/psychological preconditions for fostering a non-violent, pluralistic democracy in the light of recent historical crimes. Originally conceived as a comparative look at the tyranny of Stalin and Hitler and its impact on the politics and destiny of each society.

Began discussions about a Coaching Education Project that evolved from an Esalen Exchange Program trip to the USSR in May 1989 and from subsequent discussions among the Soviet Sport Committee, Esalen guests, former 49er Head Football Coach Bill Walsh, sports psychologist Glen Albaugh and Dulce and Michael Murphy. Recommendations were made at that time for future Soviet-American collaboration. As a result, Glen Albaugh and Ted Leland, soon to be Director of Athletics at Stanford University, led an Applied Sport Psychology Workshop in Moscow.

1988

Hosted Academician Abel Aganbegyan, then Rector of the National Academy of the Economy, for his first tour of the United States as one of Gorbachev’s chief economic advisors. This led to the development of a management-training program in Moscow with senior executives from across the Soviet Union.

Hosted a delegation of Soviet economists from Academician Leonid Abalkin’s Economics Institute, USSR Academy of Sciences. On this trip came an initiative from the Furth Foundation to generously donate funds to create an international competition for the best proposal offering a practical solution to the question of ruble convertibility as a problem of international trade. Esalen committed itself to work with the Furth Foundation and the USSR Academy of Sciences to conduct the competition. Prize money totaling $42,000 was awarded to the authors of six of the over 600 papers submitted to the competition. Award recipients were chosen in May 1990.

Hosted a second delegation of eminent Soviet writers including Vladimir Karpov, First Secretary of the USSR Union of Writers, satirist Mikhail Zhvanetsky, playwright Viktor Rozov and short-story writer Tatiana Tolstoy who toured the United States and met with Susan Sontag, Norman Mailer, Kurt Vonnegut, and other American writers to facilitate the entry of the Soviet Writers’ Union into the International Pen Club, which monitors government censorship and freedom of expression around the world. The Writer’s Union did indeed join the Pen Club as a central event of Soviet glasnost. Esalen and TRACK TWO consider this to be one of their most important contributions to the Soviet Union’s opening to free speech and democracy.

1987

Organized and sponsored the first visit to the Soviet Union of energy specialists and physicist Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado. The group was received by Academician Yevgeny Velikhov, Vice President of the USSR Academy of Sciences and continues to act as a consultant to a number of Russian institutes on matters of energy efficiency.

1986

Co-produced a spacebridge on Chernobyl and Three Mile Island with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the USSR Academy of Sciences, and Internews.

Signed the first agreement between a non-governmental agency and the USSR Union of Writers, beginning a long-term collaboration between Soviet and American novelists, playwrights and poets which eventually led to the founding of the Russian International Pen Club.

1985

Helped create the Association of Space Explorers with Astronaut Rusty Schweickert, the first forum in which Russian and American astronauts and cosmonauts could share their experiences in space and their hopes for the future of space exploration.

Signed one of the first agreements between an American private-sector group and the USSR Ministry of Health. This agreement has facilitated work in the areas of health promotion, productivity in the work place, and non-pharmacological methods of treating disease and stress, as well as agreements with the European branch of the World Health Organization, responsible for the USSR in Copenhagen, Denmark.

1984

Spent the winter in Moscow furthering the early work of the Esalen Soviet-American Exchange Program. Through Soviet colleagues, Dulce and Michael Murphy were able to legally rent an apartment at a time in Soviet-American history when that was almost impossible. They were among a handful of Americans aside from diplomats and media correspondents to live there at that time.

Met Norman Mailer and introduced him to the Soviet Writers’ Union, a friendship that led to a long involvement with Soviet and American writers and eventually to Russia joining the International Pen Club.

Met with Werner Erhard, founder of Erhard Seminar Training while the Murphy’s were living in Moscow. This was his first visit to the USSR. Werner gave lectures and met with many of our colleagues in Moscow during his first visit to the USSR. His primary translator was Vladimir Pozner, well-known Soviet and Russian radio and television personality.

Furthered the work of the Health Promotion Project through meetings of high-level Ministry of Health officials including Yevgeny Chazov, who is a member of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. He was charged with promoting research on the probable medical, psychological and biospheric effects of nuclear war. The group was awarded the Nobel Peace prize on December 1985. On the occasion of the award, Chazov gave the acceptance speech in Oslo. Meetings such as this led to continuing seminars, conferences and personal connections among medical specialists from the United States and the USSR/Russia. These gatherings continue to this day.

Hosted Sam Keen

Hosted Michael Harner

Hosted Linda Tellington-Jones, a Feldenkrais practioner and founder of Tellington-Jones Equine Awareness Movements (T.E.A.M. Club) and an expert on animal healing. She was invited, under the Esalen Soviet-American Exchange Program to work with the veterinarians and horses at the well-known Arabian horse auction in Pyatigorsk, Russia. This meeting led to further work with animals and veterinarians at zoos, race-tracks and farms throughout the Soviet Union.

1983

Initiated the first of four Erik Erikson Symposia on the political psychology of Soviet-American relations with career diplomat Joseph Montville and psychologists Erik and Joan Erikson. The Erikson meetings resulted in a special edition of the quarterly journal Political Psychology entitled “A Notebook on the Psychology of the US-Soviet Relationship,” Joseph Montville was editor.

Co-sponsored a conference entitled “Faces of the Enemy.” Speakers, including Sam Keen, Ashley Montagu, Robert Bly, and Soviet diplomat Valentin Berezhkov, discussed the psychology and politics of enmity, propaganda, and projection.

Provided a forum for Robert Bathurst, a Naval Attaché at the US Embassy in Moscow in 1962 and was Adjunct Professor of National Security Affairs at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California. He developed the first seminars at Esalen bringing Americans together with Soviet exiles and émigrés to compare Soviet and American cultures.

1982

Pioneered the first spacebridges, allowing Soviet and American citizens to speak directly with one another via satellite communication, an innovative new technology at the time. These spacebridges inspired subsequent satellite teleconferences between Soviets and Americans, including an ongoing Congress-to-Supreme Soviet teleconference.

1981

Sponsored the first of six conferences on “Citizen Diplomacy” where the term “track-two diplomacy” that refers to private-sector initiatives between Soviets and Americans and supplements formal diplomatic channels was coined by TRACK TWO’s Chairman of the Board, Joseph Montville..

1980

Visited the Soviet Union during the US boycotted Olympic games and gave speeches prior to the Olympics in Tbilisi, Georgia on human potentialities and possibilities for Soviet-American cooperation in various fields.

Gathered a group of diverse Americans at Esalen Institute to discuss the worrisome state of the US-Soviet relationship. It was at this historic meeting that the decision was made to found the Esalen Soviet-American Exchange Program. And it was also at this meeting that TRACK TWOs chairman of the board, Joseph Montville coined the term “Track Two Diplomacy,” diplomacy that parallels government diplomacy. Founders of the Exchange Program, Dulce and Michael Murphy, first Executive Director and founder Jim Hickman and founder Mary Payne were in attendance, as well as current board member Jay Ogilvy and advisor John Marks.

1982

1981

1980