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Inspiring Stories of Peace-building
By Paul van Tongeren*
‘This conference could augur well for the coming century. It would unite into one mighty whole the efforts of all States sincerely striving to make the great idea of universal peace triumph over strife and discord.’ Count Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov, Russia’s Foreign Minister, expressed the hopes of many when he spoke of the prospects for peace at the First Hague International Peace Conference in 1899.
One hundred years later we know these hopes to have been in vain. The first international gathering to promote world peace - the event brought together representatives of 26 countries - proved incapable of stopping Europe and the world from marching toward the general war that was the opening event of what British historian Eric Hobsbawm has called ‘the age of extremes.’ The 20th century was to become the most violent of all ages in history, unprecedented in the scale and intensity of killing and destruction. 1
One of the considerations that played a part in the birth of this book was the fact that, exactly one hundred years after the First Hague International Peace Conference, a large scale global conference will be organised by The Hague Appeal for Peace in The Hague (the Netherlands, May 1116). A few days earlier, an international gathering will take place in Belfast, Northern Ireland, organised by the Coexistence Initiative of the State of the World Forum. The conference (Diversity and Community in a Global Context: Learning from Europe) will deal with creating a greater understanding of the issues of coexistence and community building.
With ‘People Building Peace’, due to be presented at the conferences in Belfast and in The Hague, we aim to promote these issues which are crucial global challenges for the 21st century. The initiative for this publication was taken by the European Centre for Conflict Prevention, together with IFOR (International Fellowship of Reconciliation) and the Coexistence Initiative of the State of the World Forum.
One could argue, however, that the need to organise these events makes clear that not much has changed. At the end of the century, the world seems to be more insecure than ever before. Deadly conflict has become a prominent feature of the transition period from the Cold War to the 21st century. With over 30 active internal conflicts and scores more potential trouble spots within and between states, the international community is anxiously asking itself whether and how such deadly conflicts can be prevented.
Searching for an answer to these questions, the group of prominent people who produced the Carnegie Commission’s ‘Preventing Deadly Conflict’ report2 came to this conclusion: ‘First, deadly conflict is not inevitable. Second, the need to prevent deadly conflict is increasingly urgent. Third, preventing deadly conflict is possible.’
The prevention of deadly conflict, the report argues, ‘is over the long term, too hard intellectually, technically, and politically to be the responsibility of any single institution or government, no matter how powerful. Strengths must be pooled, burdens shared, and labour divided among actors.’
The time was not ripe for this kind of approach at the first Hague conference. But it is now! Modern foreign policy is no longer the monopoly of very small groups of statesmen and diplomats. Gone are the days when diplomats could conduct policies of which the citizens were unaware.
In the past decade the number of peacebuilders working at all levels of society in places of ethnic and civil conflicts around the world, has mushroomed. The contribution of civilians, whether working from the bottom up or the top down, to resolving the conflicts of our time can no longer be ignored. Churches, women’s organisations, the media, and business have all demonstrated their potential for building peace. So too the role of education, the arts and sports is gaining increasing recognition. ‘Multitrack diplomacy’, as it is called, is flourishing, and provides a major reason for hope of a more peaceful world.
This hope is rooted, as one of the great thinkers on peace-building and reconciliation, John Paul Lederach, writes in this book, ‘in the resiliency of people (...) who, in spite of decades of obstacles and violence, keep taking steps toward peaceful coexistence with their enemies.’ Hope is also rooted in the fact that the second half of the 20th Century, though rife with violent conflict, ‘engendered the most prolific advancement of non-violent conflict transformation activities systematically known in human history, setting the stage for a potential singularity of peace-building in the 21st Century.’
In this book the reader will find many excellent examples of the valuable and frequently successful, initiatives taken by citizens of many countries, to resolve conflict, to prevent violence, and to reconcile parties that have been at war. Apart from introductory chapters written by experts in their particular fields, the book also presents a global overview of the most important organisations.
Aiming at a broad audience, we have chosen to employ a journalistic approach. Almost all of these casestudies have been written by journalists, on the basis of their independent research and documents from the organisations involved. We hope to have given credit to all actors involved, especially in projects initiated by Northern organisations in Southern countries where information was sometimes hard to find.
People from all around the world have contributed to this publication. That cultural diversity is reflected in both the content and the style of the articles you will find collected in this book.
It has not been our aim to promote certain projects or programmes at the expense of others. What we were looking for were ‘real-life stories’, which give a true account of the possibilities of peace-building by small groups or even individuals, without down-playing the many difficulties involved. We hope the readers will gain more insight into the potential as well as the possibilities of the several tracks involved. We aim to inspire people and local communities working for peace and to support the work of educators, policy makers and international networks. Our intention is to raise the profile of the subject, provide links to organisations dealing with conflict resolution, citizenship, democracy and the longterm promotion of coexistence, peace-building and reconciliation.
Of course, one could argue that despite all efforts for peace in countries like Israel/Palestine, Bosnia or Angola peace is still a very distant dream. We should however realise that peace is a process, to which many of the initiatives described here have given an impetus, relatively small sometimes, but still meaningful. The building of peace is a multiparty effort, including setbacks as well as inspiring steps in the right direction. We should try to learn from both of these!
One of the lessons which can be learned from the inspiring developments in countries like South Africa and Northern Ireland to mention two peace processes which are extensively covered in this publication, is the importance of a coherent and integrated effort involving as many tracks as possible. The multiplier effect which is created this way greatly enhances the chances for sustainable peace. The People to People Programme in Israel is another example of the importance of building peace at the governmental level as well as within the community at the same time.
The potential contribution to conflict resolution, peace-building and reconciliation of some of the sectors described here, is still relatively unknown. Arts and cultural activities as well as sports are tracks that offer many possibilities, amongst other reasons, because of the wide public they are able to reach. Also relatively unknown is the peace-building potential of a powerful segment of society, the corporate sector. Peace is profitable. A fact that has come to be realised by the business communities in South Africa and Northern Ireland. We can only hope that the management of many more companies, Chambers of Commerce, etc. will come to the conclusion that they too can play an important role in the transition from violence to peace and democracy.
Another thing we can learn from the stories presented here is that ‘ordinary people’ as well as minority groups can make a difference. By means of their creative approaches, their perseverance and compassion, many individuals around the world have succeeded in transforming apparently hopeless situations. We are able to achieve much more than we are sometimes inclined to think!
We feel that, apart from anything else, these case-studies clearly illustrate the potential of multitrack diplomacy. A substantial additional investment in these kinds of initiatives – which in many cases are relatively inexpensive would greatly enhance the chances for peace in many places around the world. To stimulate this, more publicity is a prerequisite. We aim to contribute to the making of video documentaries of several of these cases for television broadcast as we believe this is the way to really reach and inspire large audiences. We should also mention here the decision to produce a Swedish-language edition of this publication. We hope more translations will follow and contribute to the aim of reaching as many people as possible.
The response to our initiative in publishing this collection of inspiring stories, has been overwhelming. At the same time, we have noticed how hard it was in many cases to collect the necessary information. Some of the cases presented here have never previously been described! That is why we have already decided to further pursue this initiative by publishing another collection of peace-building stories in the near future. All suggestions of cases which could be included in this second edition are welcome (preferably before the end of this year). We are especially interested in examples of peace-building in sectors which are not included in this edition, like youth organisations, exchange programmes, trade unions, the academic world, the military, etc.
The two international events previously mentioned provided the direct impetus for this publication. however, we hope the influence of this publication extends beyond the immediate context of its birth. Recently the UN launched the International Year for a Culture of Peace in 2000 and the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence in 2001-2010. We feel that these occasions should be used by people and organisations worldwide to invest in this ‘culture of peace’. We sincerely hope this publication will inspire many people to invest in peace-building and create a true culture of peace as we enter the next century. In a way, we owe this to our predecessors.
Notes
1 Ending Violent Conflict, Michael Renner. In: State of the World 1999, Worldwatch Institute.
2 Preventing Deadly Conflict - Final Report of the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict, Carnegie Corporation of New York, New York, 1997
*Paul van Tongeren is the Executive Director of the European Centre for Conflict Prevention and co-ordinator of this project
