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Cities Unite to Conquer Violence

In many of the large cities of the world both destructive and constructive forces are at play. The focus of the global ‘Peace to the City’ campaign of the World Council of Churches (part of its Programme to Overcome Violence) is on imaginative efforts to overcome violence through cross-community work; to build bridges between communities drawn into violent conflict, and to bring reconciliation.

At first sight, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, looks like a paradise. Beautiful beaches, the Copacabana, the annual carnival. But for years there has been tension between the haves and have nots. Burglary, kidnapping, drug abuse and other crimes are everyday occurrences. The police response is equally brutal. The violence came to a head in 1993, when a series of ruthless killings shocked citizens and spurred them to put an end to the violence. People formed an organisation which would help bring peace to the city of Rio de Janeiro: Viva Rio.

‘It was fear, not compassion or charity, that inspired Viva Rio,’ says its executive secretary in a documentary. ‘Out of this feeling of fear came the idea that we had to do something, and we proposed a peace movement. Peace on its own can be a powerful argument against violence.’

Today, Viva Rio is a broad based civil society movement which works towards social integration. It is responsible for a range of projects that provide an alternative to violence, encourage community action, and promote public safety. The organisation has created a voluntary civil service, which gives thousands of young school dropouts a chance of education and job training in exchange for community action in their neighbourhood. It has a credit facility for people in the slums, who are not able to borrow money from the official banks. Viva Rio started with community sports groups and education for adults who had left their schooling unfinished.

A considerable part of Viva Rio’s programmes is centred around youth. According to the organisation, it is the young people who create most of the violence and are at the heart of it. Often, the youth of the slums are jobless and do not attend school. They get bored and fall into criminality. The idea behind Viva Rio’s activities is to guide these youth and others to become citizens again, says one of its voluntary workers. The projects are supposed to stimulate people to do something, either to play a basketball game, to work as a volunteer, or to follow an education. Also, a lot of the activities are aimed at getting to know each other better, so different groups won’t rise against each other, but live together in peace.

The Rio the Janeiro success story has been the inspiration for the global ‘Peace to the City’ campaign, which was launched by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Johannesburg in 1997. The Council is an international Christian organisation, built on the foundation of ecumenical collaboration. With ‘Peace to the City’ the WCC wanted to connect people and organisations who are actively committed to pursuing peace with justice. The Council selected seven cities where individuals and groups could share their ideas and current activities to overcome violence: Rio de Janeiro, Belfast (Northern Ireland), Boston (United States), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Durban (South Africa), Suva (Fiji) and Kingston (Jamaica).

Home-page of the Peace in the City programme

Take for example Suva, Fiji. Since 1987, there has been conflict between the Indian and ethnic Fijian population. An Indian political party had come into power, and the Fijian nationalists executed a coup to dislodge the new government. When violence increased, ordinary citizens began to question the dominant move of the nationalists. Church groups and people from other religions started to pray and work together in order to come to mutual understanding. Hindus and Sikhs went to church, Christians to temple. It created a new bond between the different ethnic groups. Nowadays, organisations set up workshops and other activities for bringing the groups together.

Most of the time, the Council works together with a local group, as in Colombo with the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, a secular and politically non-partisan umbrella.

In the South African City of Durban, whose slogan is ‘from capital of violence to model of peace’, fourteen organisations take part in the campaign - from The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (Accord) to the KwaZulu-Natal Programme for Survivors of Violence. Since the early 1980s, the Durban region has been plagued by political violence, mainly related to disputes between the supporters of the African Congress (ANC) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).

Yet Durban has seen some brilliant ideas of peace building. An example is the ‘Peace Monitors,’ a kind of peace police. The provincial peace committee has taught ten members of each party the skills of reconciliation. The ‘Peace Monitors’ patrol the city to help establish and maintain the cease-fire. And they are successful.

In the city of Boston, the ‘Ten Point Coalition’ is a group of Churches working to mobilise the Christian community to help support black and Latino youth, especially those who are at risk of drug abuse, violence and other destructive behaviour. The Ten Point Coalition -named after the ten points that it represents -started a youth centre where violence is forbidden. The kids can feel themselves safe and secure. They are able to use their time constructively.

Initiatives like the Durban’s ‘Peace Monitors’ and the youth centre in Boston are exactly what ‘Peace to the City’ is all about. The campaign highlights existing, creative initiatives for peace and community building during conflict situations. The goals are to make them visible and recognise the value of their approaches and methodologies. The seven cities and other cities and groups in the campaign form a network. They can learn from each other and exchange ideas. An important means for this is the internet, where anyone can swap ideas on the ‘Peace to the City’ web-page and read the latest news. The campaign is supposed to give others a reason to attempt something similar in their own context. The WCC’s aspiration is to shape a broad and bold ecumenical movement to overcome violence.

The idea of using a ‘city’ in the campaign is not a coincidence. As centres of population, commerce, finance, political power and culture, cities form a metaphor for the modern world. Cities experience most forms of violence. They house the people and institutions that shape systems of globalisation and national military rivalries. Urbanisation takes its toll. People crowded into small spaces often creates severe stress on the environment as well as on human morals.

Yet people in cities also organise to reconstruct their communities, form new civic alliances to rebuild the potential for living with greater justice and peace. People bring about social change. Also, churches and other Christian and religious groups are in the cities. An initiative focused on the city gives new possibilities for partnership between those already involved in ecumenical networks and other faiths. To the Council, the city is the place where Christians can give ‘dramatic, concrete and effective evidence’ of their commitment to overcome violence.

Overall, the formula seems to succeed. The early results show a considerable willpower of the people in these cities to fight for change and participate in the campaign. According to the Council, ‘a new peoples’ movement is emerging’. This was affirmed at the WCC’s Eight Assembly held in Harare in December 1998. There the delegates overwhelmingly approved the call for an eucumenical Decade To Overcome Violence for the years 2001-2010.

The Peace to the City campaign is part of the World Council of Churches’ Programme to Overcome Violence (POV), launched in 1994. It was a reaction to the upheaval of violence in all parts of the world, even though the Cold War had come to an end and the Iron Curtain had come down. According to the churches, the current global ‘culture of violence’ should change into a ‘culture of peace’. The POV can be regarded as a broad framework within which churches and groups can find their own place. There is room for many creative, interrelated initiatives.

With its origins forged in the midst of the Second World War, the World Council of Churches’ engagement on issues of peace and justice did not begin with the Programme to overcome Violence. For fifty years now, the Council has been engaged in efforts to avoid war, minister to its victims, and to reconstruct societies destroyed by war.

After decades of experience in active programmes as well as theological reflection, a renewed emphasis on joining work for peace with engagement for justice came at a number of points in the 1990 Seoul Convocation on Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation. Soon after that, the Programme to Overcome Violence was established.

The churches are confident that the Programme can make a difference in many places of the world, although they know that it is one of the most ambitious initiatives undertaken by the WCC. After all, two decades ago Christians and their churches took a lead in building a popular movement against nuclear weapons, which brought millions into the streets of the cities. Broad citizen coalitions were formed linking churches and their members with others seeking to halt the nuclear arms race. To the Council, that ‘hope-giving’ and empowering movement showed that when people join hands and put faith into action, change for the better can happen.

The World Council of Churches definitely has confidence in the vision and the power of the churches to work for peace with justice. In its early years, the WCC was dominated by Western countries, but, in the course of time, the churches of developing countries have gained more and more influence. The 330 member churches come from a wide range of social, cultural, economic and political backgrounds and represent nearly every Christian tradition. Although the Roman Catholic Church is not a member, staff of the Vatican co-operate in many different areas of work. WCC programme work is divided into teams, one of which is ‘Justice, Peace and Creation.’

Apart from the Peace to the City Campaign, the WCC has developed other activities. It has created a data-base of church-based and church related peace groups which is now available for consultation. Groups can share their own experience or provide training or help.

The WCC has also organised consultations on non-violent approaches to conflict resolution and sponsors small inter-faith gatherings. It has designed training sessions on non-violent conflict resolution and produced education material. The Council is also initiating a survey of church initiatives that address the production, sale and use of small arms and light weapons.

In its battle against violence, the WCC gives special attention to the more vulnerable groups in society who are easily victimised and require support in their struggle for justice. Special attention is given to violence against women, and the WCC has just completed a Decade of the churches in solidarity with women. It helps ethnic minorities to find justice. Each year, prior to the UN meeting on Indigenous Peoples, the WCC hosts a weekend meeting. The Council supports the representatives financially, but, most important, is the provision of a ‘safe place’ where indigenous people can openly discuss and from which the governments must keep a distance.

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