ENGAGING SCHOOLS
IN THE
PEACE PROCESS
DISCUSSION FLOW
• Assumptions / Premises
• The “peace process”: expanding our frontiers of
meaning (the Tracks)
• Why be involved in the peace process?
Why teach peace?… “in loco parentis”
• Education for transformation: (the ABC of violence;
notions of peace)
• Toward the enabling and ennobling classroom:
Educating for democratic competence
• Drawing from inherent capacities for peacefulness
• Positioning ourselves toward the peace process
1. We are children of our time
2. Our thinking tendencies …
• Homogenizing our cultures
• Poverty in a vacuum
• People as statistics
• Distrust and blame
• Forget faith and spirit
3. Our peace educ. efforts not new
Lederach, 1995
• Frameworks: all-encompassing,
sufficiently common and “sharable”,
• Skills- and process-based education
• Studies of ourselves and our
cultures reduced to the level of
technique
GPH MILF
GPH CNN
GRP-MILF
GRPMNLF
GPH NDF
TRACK I DIPLOMACY
• Official governmental diplomacy
• “A technique of state action whereby
communications from one government
go directly to the decision-making
apparatus of another".
• Conducted by official representatives of
a state or state-like authority and involves
interaction with other state or state-like
authorities: heads of state, state department or ministry of foreign affairs officials,
and other governmental departments and
ministries
Track I I
Diplomacy
Track 1½
Diplomacy
Track III
Diplomacy
Track I I Diplomacy
• citizen diplomacy
• multi-track diplomacy
• supplemental diplomacy
• pre-negotiation
• consultation
• interactive conflict
resolution
• back-channel diplomacy
• facilitated joint
brainstorming
• coexistence work
INFORMAL INTERMEDIARIES /
NON-GOVERNMENTAL
ACTORS:
•Religious institutions
•Academics
•Former government officials
•Non-governmental
organizations,
•Humanitarian organizations
•Think tanks, among others.
TRACK 1½ DIPLOMACY
• Involves unofficial actors (former government officials,
or religious or social organizations such as the Church or
the Quakers) who intervene in unofficial interactions
between official government representatives to promote
a peaceful resolution of conflict.
•Direct mediation or conciliation by unofficial third
parties
•"Consultation" and facilitation of interactive problemsolving by unofficial facilitators.
•Facilitation of problem solving or confidence-building
by official third-party actors among private citizens in
influential sectors.
TRACK III DIPLOMACY
•Unofficial third parties work with people from all walks
of life and sectors of their society to find ways to
promote peace in settings of violent conflict.
•Aimed at building or rebuilding broken relationships
across the lines of division among ordinary citizens in
communities, in a range of sectors.
•The premise of track three diplomacy: “Peace can and
must be built from the bottom up as well as from the top
down.”
Why be
involved in the
peace process?
Culture as a contact point,
a field of contest in which all ideas, behaviors,
values and power structures are
legitimized / discarded,
“foregrounded” / “backgrounded”/
pushed to the margins,
within the culture
that successfully
draws the people’s allegiance
or confuses them.
- Atty. Michael Mastura
The ABC Triangle
of Violence
BEHAVIOR: Hatred for the
enemy, direct physical
violence, killing, torture,
intimidation, insults, etc.
ATTITUDES: Feelings/ Values
Sources: Hatred, fear, mistrust,
racism, bigotry, sexism,
intolerance
The ABC Triangle of Violence
CONTEXT + System + Struc
Structural/ institutional
violence, discrimination
(e.g. in education, employment, health care, etc.),
globalization of economy,
denial of rights and liberties,
segregation (e.g., apartheid)
ACTION
•Control the behavior
•Violence reduction
to promote
negative peace
ACTION
•Work to change
attitude and context
•Violence reduction
to promote
positive peace
PEACE
NEGATIVE PEACE
Absence of direct/
physical violence
(both macro and
micro)
POSITIVE PEACE
Presence of conditions of wellbeing and just relationships:
social, economic, political,
ecological
STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE
Direct Violence
e.g., war, torture,
abuse of children
and women
VIOLENCE
e.g., poverty, hunger
SOCIO-CULTURAL VIOLENCE
e.g., racism, sexism,
religious intolerance
ECOLOGICAL VIOLENCE
e.g., pollution,
overconsumption
• not just about
the imposition
of "solutions,"
but about
the creation
of
OPPORTUNITIES
the creation of SPACES
(political, economic, social
spaces) in which indigenous
actors can identify, develop,
and use all that
are necessary
to build a
peaceful,
prosperous
and
just
society
Schema of
Knowledge, Skills
and Attitudes/
Values
KNOWLEDGE
• Holistic Concept of Peace
• Conflict & Violence -causes
• Some Peaceful Alternatives
• Disarmament
• Nonviolent Conflict Resolution
• Human Rights
• Gender Fairness
• Human Solidarity
• Democratization
• Dev’t Based on Justice
• Sustainable Development
ATTITUDES / VALUES
• Self –respect
• Respect for Others
• Respect for Life / Nonviolence
• Compassion •Global Concern
• Ecological Concern
• Cooperation
• Openness & Tolerance
• Social Responsibility
• Positive Vision
SKILLS
• Reflection
• Critical Thinking & Analysis
• Decision Making
• Imagination
• Communication
• Conflict Resolution
• Group Building
•Diversity as a learning resource;
•Diversity as a place for compassion
and appreciation;
•Diversity as a point of enrichment
and celebration
•Dissent as an opportunity
for the exercise of reason
•Dissent as a venue for
the search for truth.
•Dissent as a self-corrective mirror
Capabilities for Peacefulness
Spiritual
Roots
Scientific
Roots
Public
policies
Social
Institutions
Spiritual
Institutions
Political
Institutions
Economic
Institutions
Educational
Institutions
Security
Institutions
Research
Institutions
Communications
media
Cultural
Resources
Training
Institutions
Social Institutions
•E d u c a t i o n a l I n s t i t u t i o n s : T h e p o s s i b i l i t y o f
basing an entire university upon the multifaith
spirit of non-violence in service to human
needs. (Barefoot College in India, Deemed
University combining disci-plinary studies
with community applications ( pol sci & village
d e c i s i o n - m a k i n g , p h y s i c s & r a d i o r e p a i r,
biology & well-cleaning, Shanti Sena (peace
corps),
•Tr a i n i n g I n s t i t u t i o n s : I n s t i t u t i o n s t h a t p r o v i d e
non-violence training for social change,
conflict zone intervention, social defense,
etc., including Aikido (Peace Brigades, Intl.,
Tr a n s c e n d , N o n v i o l e n c e I n t l . )
• Research Institutions:
Institutions that carry out research on nonviolent
struggles for democracy, security, and justice;
researches to support nonviolent social change;
promotion of worldwide sharing of discoveries in
research, education, and action
•P r o b l e m - s o l v i n g I n s t i t u t i o n s : Institutions
dedicated to solving problems on nonviolence
principles (ex., Amnesty International (vs. human rights
violations & abolition of death penalty, Greenpeace
International (defense of the environment & abolition
of nuclear weapons), Medicins sans Frontieres
(humanitarian medical care for victims of violence),.
Books and media
that educate for nonviolent social change, or that
evoke non-violent thinking on various social issues
• Communications Media:
•C u l t u r a l R e s o u r c e s : Creations of art and
intellect that uplift the human spirit and inspire
advances toward realization of a nonviolent society;
synergizing creativity for peaceful social
transformation in the audio-visual, performing,
and literary arts
ALTERNATIVES FOR PEACE
•Academic departments
•University peace corps
•Universities
•Political parties
•Public service depts
•Common security
institutions
•Civil society institutions
•Spiritual councils
•Problem-solving consortia
•Training institutions
•Leadership study and
revitalization centers
•Centers for creativity
in the arts
•Research and policy analysis
institutes
•Media of communication
•Memorials
•Zones of peace
•Economic enterprise
•Centers for non-violence
WHERE DO WE STAND?
Our Roles in the Progression of Conflict
STATIC
UNSTABLE
DYNAMIC
3. Negotiation
1. Education
4. Advocacy and
Education for
Sustainable Peace
2. Confrontation
Latent
War
Educator, Researcher, Advocate
Conciliator, Convenor, Decoupler
Unifier, Enskiller, Trainer, Envisioner
Mediator, Guarantor, Facilitator, Moderator
Peacekeeper, Observer, Monitor, Enforcer
Reconciler, Enhancer, Rehabilitator, Developer
Some Suggested Entry Points
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Changing Attitudes about the "Other"
Opening Channels of Communication
Improving Quality of Communication
Relationship and Trust Building
Changing Perceptions of the Conflict
Exploring New Options for Negotiation
Changing Conflict Dynamic: Strengthening
Voices of Moderation
• Developing Social Networks: An Infrastructure
for Peace