A Decade of A Culture of Peace
by: Valerie Elverton-Dixon on June 12th, 2010 | 8 Comments »
This is the last year of the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World 2001-2010. I was reminded of the concept of a culture for peace this week while watching a Charlie Rose interview with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (Charlie Rose June 9, 2010) He spoke of the various paths to peace between Israel and Palestine. He spoke of Israeli security. However, he also spoke of a culture of peace that was now dominant in the West Bank.
He said that a culture of peace has spread among his people, but that continued occupation could make them step away from this rationality. He spoke of the establishment of security that has provided an environment conducive to economic development. They teach peace in schools and preach peace in the mosques. According to Abbas, Palestinians on the West Bank have moved “from a culture of violence to a culture of peace.”
The so called war on terror swallowed the decade for a culture of peace. The shock of 9/11 led to fear and wars and questions about the balance between security and personal liberty, between the duty of the state to protect its citizens and its obligations to the civil rights of its citizens and to the human rights of all human beings. There are no easy answers to such questions. Then there was genocide in Darfur; ongoing rapes as a tactic of war in the Congo; the continued oppression of the people of Burma by its own military; the assault of Iran against its own people demonstrating for fair elections; Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe refuses to retire; North Koreans still starve; the violence of drugs wars in Mexico is relentless and spills over into the United States; gang warfare leaves young people dead in urban streets in the United States. There are more examples. The list is long. Economic collapse that steals people’s pensions, widespread unemployment, home foreclosures, and people owing more on their houses than the houses are worth are other forms of violence. Then there is the ecological devastation we see most recently in the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico because of the thousands of barrels of oil a day gushing from a BP oil rig.
That this is a decade dedicated to a culture of peace is hard to remember. The Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non0violence for the Children of the World 2001-2010 comes under the auspices of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Part of its constitution says; “since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.”
The resolution also lists the constituent elements of peace: “disarmament, sustainable development, the promotion of human dignity and human rights, democracy, the rule of law, good governance and gender equality at the national and international levels contribute greatly to the culture of peace. . . ”
The idea of a culture of peace understands that peace is more than an end to violent conflict. Peace is a way of being in the world. It is a thought process. It is its own logic. It is a context for interpretation. It is how we know what is rational or not. A culture of peace understands power dynamics differently and chooses power sharing rather than a power over model. A culture of peace grows from the idea that violence is not inherent in the DNA of human beings. It is a learned behavior. If we learn violence, we can unlearn violence. We can learn peace.
A culture of peace begins with each one of us individually. Violence comes from spiritual starvation. We do not take the time to feed our souls, to nourish our relationship with Divine Love, or with each other, or with nature. We have not learned that our self worth comes from these relationships. We fear silence. We have not learned to quiet the chatter inside our own minds. We have not learned to observe our own thinking. Spiritual starvation too often leads to physical overindulgence. We each have our own addiction. Much too much of this or that takes the pain of living away. Overindulgence, much too much of this or that, the centrality of self narrowly understood in time and space, our unwillingness and inability to just bear the pain that life brings leads to violence.
Culture is cultivation. And the cultivation of an expanded understanding of whom and what we are is the first step to building a culture of peace. A culture of peace means that I want for you what I want for myself. I want you to have sustenance and joy just as I want it for myself. Peace will come when we learn to work together, even with our enemies, toward this end.
To hear President Abbas speaking of a culture of peace on the West Bank is a hopeful sign. To hear President Obama speak about economic development and non-violence pathways to peace is also a hopeful sign. The establishment of a culture of peace in the world and within our own souls is not within the power of presidents to achieve. It is our work to do. It will take more than a decade, and we do it not only for the children but for ourselves so that we may be elders in a world at peace. We do it for our posterity so that they may continue to build peace upon a strong foundation that we have laid. We do it for peace itself.
“End Human Bankruptcy”an idea whose time has come.
Time-Dimensional-Tavelers – - – If only they could be capable – or even involving into such – But nope there stuck in there own place and time in History – - – Moses was able to step out of that time – when he saw – first-hand – what his own hand – had done to his own – and gave out grain to them – - – But he also saw the greed – - – That saving there body’s brought forth – - – So the same ole – same ole – for thousands of yr’s – plauges the world – - – - There Chosen – there into slavery – there chosen – there into slavery – there chosen – there persicuted – there chosen – there destoryed – - – Same-ole – same-ole – forever stuck in there dewindling part of time …
Thank you! Soothing words, thoughts and ideals to an individual weary of the media’s constant and urgent
“soup of the day”.
I agree with the goal of a culture of peace. I am reading and writing a review of a collection of essays. “Violence in History, culture, and the Psyche.” The six essays by the Jungian analyst, Luigi Zoja, former president of the International Analytical Association, examine the archetypal recurrence of violence in the three areas I have not completed the reading, but I suggest validity to the findings of this neglected analytical model. In Essay two Zoja examines the encounter of Cortes with Montezuma in the context of differing world views in the process of archetypal interpretation. Jungian insights, that use planet-wide multi-discipline study, do not deny the oppositional proclivities of violence and peace in human existence. They can be valuable in eventual resolution. Whether DNA, learned, or something else, the repetition of violence in the levels, individual to species, and human patterned (archetypal) differences with animal violence are worth exploring.
Does Abbas renounce violence and recognize Israel’s right to exist? Until then there is no peace.
By all means, let us promote a culture of peace, but is it not possible that the widespread resistance to moving in this direction has its roots in a self-reinforcing set of institutions that are part of a globalized economic system which might technically be called generalized oligopoly, a globalized system that is dominated by the “haves” of the U.S., Western Europe, and Japan (with junior partners among the elites of the global South and, yes, the state of Israel)?
Peace thrives within us & around us when the word “enemy” no longer has any meaning, for all people, everywhere, are perceived clearly as “another one of me” & recognized as another face of the Divine w/in all of life. This is sustainable–violence &/or maintaining an “us v. them” in any form is not.
This is in reply to the comment made by Nicholas:
Every day we see Israel challenge its right to exist by denying the rights of their neighbors to exist. I just wish that
Israel would become Jewish.