With the current harsh political situation around the world where many countries are enemies, Jiu-Jitsu proves to be a positive ray of hope for unity.
When people have been brought up to hate citizens of another country, training or competing against them can be a problem as seen recently:
No Gi world champion and instructor at Atos San Diego, Josh Hinger pointed out a positive example: his students that come from 3 countries that are traditional enemies Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia, have put aside their differences and train together in peace and harmony even helping each other prepare for competitions:
These guys are a great example of how jiu-jitsu brings people together. They come from three different countries with governments that despise each other. One from Iran, one from Israel, and one from Saudi Arabia. Even though the governments of their homelands don’t get along, these three have come together as teammates to share a common love for jiu-jitsu. I couldn’t be prouder of the good vibes and hard work they put in to jiu-jitsu each week. Right now they are helping prepare each other for the @ibjjf Long Beach Int’l Open. No politics here. Just love and jiu-jitsu. #atosjiujitsu #jiujitsufriends #nopolitics #justlove #bjj #jiujitsu #whitebelts #sandiego #atos #togetherwearestronger
More positive examples:
Serbian and Croatian BJJ teams training and hanging out together. The two countries which were part of Yugoslavia were involved in a bloody civil war in the 90’s
In Israel, BJJ Instructor Unifies Jews & Palestinians Through Jiu-Jitsu
